#Trendsetter

Posted August 13, 2021 by Jasmyne Harris

It seems like there’s a new social media trend every week, and they change just as fast as my “Top 10” would during the MySpace days. OG social media people will understand. Over the years, there have been new apps to connect people while working from home, apps to chat with friends, online shopping of course and many more. I bet there’s an app to tell us about all the new apps. Along with new apps comes new on-the-rise trends or ones on the decline. Some trends are designed to last, and some are gone just as quickly as they came. Here are some new and not-so-new social trends.

Story Time

Aimlessly scrolling through your timeline gets long winded and you can miss quality posts. Companies are opting to use the story function of a social media platform to post attention-grabbing content. The LinkedIn app recently joined the story team by allowing users to post temporary snippets of content. Using the story feature allows viewers to look into a glimpse of a company’s day without taking up quality time. Stories only last for 24 hours and then disappear. Each individual story can run up to 20 seconds by using music, stickers and text to generate a mini video or image. 

Not So Hot Off the Press

Depending on your birth year, believe it or not, TV, radio and even newspapers were the main channels of marketing. Do Gen Zers get newspaper deliveries anymore? Newspapers are on the descending side of trends. According to Pew Research Center, the estimated circulation of U.S. daily newspapers has significantly dropped in weekday and Sunday reads by about 20 million since 2010. More and more of the population are turning to digital media to get the news, and the phrase “hot off the press” may be only for a panini sandwich.

Trends Becoming Standards

As challenging as 2020 was, companies had to shift focus on how to target their audience. We started seeing more comforting and sensitive content to ease the pain of staying indoors. Now more than ever, companies are taking a stand on speaking out against unethical practices. Corporate activism against racial inequality, climate change, gender pay gap and more injustices will become the standard. Corporate America is working together for a cohesive workspace environment. It’s unfortunate that social issues like those weren’t tended to long ago, but there has been positive change.

Here Comes the Boom

Make room, Baby Boomers have entered the chat. Baby Boomers are learning how to navigate the social media world even more and make for a large target audience. Post Beyond states that “82% of Boomers who use the internet also have at least one social media account.” We all have a parent, aunt, uncle or even grandparent that fits the description. If they haven’t already, companies have shifted their focus to target Boomers. After all, most are hitting retirement and need to fill the void.

Social media is a trend within itself and is constantly evolving. As 2022 creeps up (HOW?) be on the lookout for the newest trends. It’s going to be dope … cool … funky fresh or whatever the kids will say.

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