Many of us would say 2016 was, well, quite the year to say the least. In many ways it was a tremendous year for change. With so many new things having been introduced, it should be no surprise that innovations were also made in social media. This is an industry that must keep up with the fast growing demands of online users and online marketing companies in order to survive.
Research has proven social media to be a major source of news and entertainment for many Americans as well as users across the globe. As the number of users continues to increase, social media platforms seem to constantly be planning, developing, and implementing new website designs and features. Some, of course, are better than other. In this blog, we will explore some of the changes made in 2016 to the most popular social media sites.
Just as it has been in prior years, Facebook continues to be one of the most popular social media networks in the world. In fact, it boast nearly 1.9 billion unique users each month. That is almost a billion more than YouTube. As they sometimes say, “the bigger you are the harder you fall” and even though Facebook has not fallen they have certainly hit their fair share of bumps in the road to site redevelopment. However, the typical personal user was likely unaffected by those hiccups and only took notice of the site’s improvements. Advertisers may not have been so lucky.
For Facebook page admins, the glorious day finally arrived in 2016 when the profile picture was moved aside the cover photo. In the past, page cover photos had to compensate for the overlapping profile picture and overlapping tabs but, no more! Other changes on Facebook pages include the location of the tabs, introduction of a username, additional post styles and post call-to-action buttons. Overall, the appearance of both pages and profiles has changed for the better in 2016.
Another major social network worth mentioning is Google. Yes, Google is a social media network too and more specifically Google Plus (Google+). Google accounts tie together many different Google products including but not limited to Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, Hangout, YouTube and Google+. Most of these products had an update in the past year.
Google+ is where the biggest change occurred with a complete overhaul of the site. For most of 2016, as changes were still being made, user had the option to Switch back to Classic but, no more. One thing Google+ Profiles and Pages both lost in the update was the ability to display multiple tabs. The main tabs that used to be available were “Post”, “Reviews” and “Videos”. Now user only have a main page that displays posts and an about section.
Other social media networks that implemented some big changes last year include Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. As the world continues to develop and technology becomes more a part of our everyday lives, social media networks are sure to be working hard to keep up, especially with each other. Not only are they trying to keep the regular user satisfied, social media networking companies must also appease those marketing on their sites. In the meantime, we will be here to observe, share and utilize the innovations to come.
If you are a small business owner, it is important that your business be seen online. As we mentioned before, consumers now more than ever rely on the internet for information. That includes information about your business.
Not sure where or how to get started? Simple visit our website and request a meeting to learn how Leads Online Marketing can help your business stand out across the website. We can even help you setup and maintain social media for your business.
