It was 2006 and was sitting in my orientation class at Oakland University. The guy sitting next to me was on his dinosaur laptop, uploading an image of himself to some website called facebook. I leaned over to ask him what it was, and he said he wasn’t really sure but you had to have a .edu email to sign-up. That night, I registered my facebook account. That year I realized how impactful it was in my life. The year after that I dropped out of college to pursue a career in social media marketing.
From My Laptop To My Phone
In June 2004, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, invested $500,000 in facebook, and that was considered a very substantial investment. Today, it’s said that facebook is worth $100 billion and has over 1.3 billion users, with over 50% being mobile. Facebook has been pushing mobile usage since 2012, by purchasing mobile-focused companies such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and Snapchat. In 2015 facebook launched the app, Hello, which matches phone numbers of incoming and outgoing calls with profiles to show more information about the caller/callee. If anyone can drive data usage through the roof, it’s facebook.
We’ve seen the affects of social media and all of the technology that has developed because of it. As of July 2015, there were 1.6 million apps available for download with the majority of these apps being used for social media and gaming. Mobile apps are only the start of the social media journey. Companies such as Mevato, are finding ways to monetize its rewards and capitalize on its steadfastness through digital signage. Others have created entire careers out of social media, such as our foodies and Fashionistas. It’s an ever-growing industry and I wouldn’t be surprised if it continues to morph into subcategories of paid advertising.
From My Phone to My Television
Lets dive into one recent technology that social media is affecting, and dissect it’s success to predict the future; Digital Signage. What’s better than seeing someone share your post on facebook? Seeing it on television of course! Companies are constantly promoting their brands through commercials and paid ads. Why not add your social media feed right to the commercial? With Mevato’s advanced technology, such as filters, your organic message gets across immediately and gives those tuning in to your commercial the chance to “appear” on television. I see this concept being used to report live happenings on the news, sport teams during the games, grocery stores for their brands, and so much more.
