Top 5: New Social Media Trends of 2018

With Twitter expanding the number of characters that can be used, it seemed like social media couldn’t get any better with the arrival of 2018, but the year is here and there are some changes on the horizon.

Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality is on the rise. We thought Google Glass was just not practical and fell out of favor, but, apparently, it was just biding its time. Augmented reality is on the upswing for 2018 and will begin to play out on a broader range of platforms.

Streaming Video

Streaming video will dominate the written word. Internet content already trended toward an image-based model, but it seems text is not nearly as appealing as the image, and now people prefer to watch video than have to read through most content.

Instagram

Instagram is going to become more popular than ever. Stories will become more influential and with the start of the Instagram shopping feature, it is expected the brand will take off as never before.

Gen Z

A shift away from millennials to Gen Z means the preferred social media of Gen Z will gain some attention this year, which includes Instagram and Snapchat.

Digital Hangouts

And on a related note, as a shift toward Gen Z, digital hangouts will become more widely marketed. The app Houseparty is so popular Facebook is looking to develop something that can compete with it.

The trends seem to point toward a greater amount of visual content that can bridge the gap of physical distances. Whether those distances are interpersonal or consumer ones, 2018 looks to be a more video-saturated year.