Ho, Ho…Holy-Crazy-Busy-Year-In-Social-Media! Things have been rocking and rolling in the virtual world this year and SocialSpark is ecstatic to be a part of it! And so, in the spirit of the holidays, we are bringing you the Twelve Biggest Things In Social Media, 2013 style (like the twelve days of Christmas, only better).
1. In January, social media (in this case Twitter) gave to us…Vine! Sharing snippets of video is a reality! Yay!
2. Instagram came in and rained on Vine’ s parade with Instagram Video in June…says Instagram, “we see your 6 seconds, Vine, and we raise you 9 seconds and 13 filters.” (not a real quote from Instagram…just how I picture it going down in my head). Burn.
3. Since we are talking about video, we need to cover the craze that took over the internet this year….twerking. Whether sincere, or a hoax, everyone was twerking– talking about twerking, tweeting about twerking, or shaming people for twerking. Fan or not, there is no denying the reality of the twerk as even the Oxford English Dictionary added “twerk” to its lexicon.
4. In 2013, social media hacks and hoaxes were like Bigfoot sightings. They were everywhere. Personal favorites include Burger King and Pace Salsa (even though it turned out to be a prank).
5. Another thing that people caught an eyeful of on social media was Amanda Bynes, who barraged Twitter with hate for everyone from rapper Drake to the president and first lady. She gained over 500,000 followers who wanted to tune in for her antics. Sad, yes. Social media folly/comedy…also, yes.
6. While celebrities, both sane and insane, capitalize on social media, the platforms themselves are also capitalizing! Both Facebook and Instagram implemented content advertising on their platforms this year.
7. In other insane social media developments….Facebook tried to buy Snapchat! And was unsuccessful! It turns out that Evan Spiegel is not that impressed with three billion dollar cash offers. Way to stick it to the man Evan! (Facebook IS “the man” of social media, right?)
8. Facebook was leveraging itself in other ways though. Piggybacking on the #hashtag success that Twitter experiences they decided to jump on too! Because we all go to Facebook to check out trending topics/news! Not. People still seem confused about hashtags over on The Book. And by “people”, I mean my mom.
9. To round out their year, our true love (social media is the true love in this story…trying to stick to the twelve days format here) gave to us…Instagram Direct! Just one more way that Instagram is edging out other visual platforms. I got my first Instagram direct TODAY actually…it was an illustration of Cinderella twerking. Cutting edge stuff here, people. And also, thanks for that Lynda.
10. It doesn’t stop with Cindrella twerking. Memes were everywhere in 2013. And it doesn’t look like there is any end in sight. But keep them coming interwebs, because we love it! For four days. By then it is saturated and we are over it and never want to see that sad cat/weird eyed girl/old looking twelve year old ever again.
11. Pinterest jumped into the mix this year with Place Pins. Pinterest is trying to help us to not just pin beautiful places…but actually get to them/find them on a map! Now if only they could buy all the supplies and come over and DO the adorable crafts for me. Maybe in 2014.
12. And on the twelfth day of Christmas (and every day of the year really) our true love gave to us…BUZZFEED! Is there any denying Buzzfeed’s total world domination of lists? Or, of its ability to endear itself to people through its community posts? Buzzfeed can make you laugh, cry, and drool over beautiful food/places all in the course of a fifteen minute eating-lunch-at-your-desk session. Or, is that just me? Buzzfeed, you have certainly brought more joy to our offices than we can ever give you in return. And for that, we thank you!
It has been an epic year for social media. And we can’t wait to see what 2014 has in store for us here at SocialSpark! What was your favorite social media moment of 2013? And what are you looking forward to next year? Any psychic predictions?! Tell us in the comments!