The beginning or near the end of Social Media?

So we are all in agreement that social media is alive and kicking and has a strong grip on a growing number of adults across the UK, more people spending more time on these platforms being the constant reports of independent surveys.
We do from time to time hear that certain stats showing that the popularity of some platforms are fading, recently Facebook being one of the major portals where it was rumoured that membership figures are down, or at least the rate of growth is decreasing. So, is social media slowing down and coming to an end, or is it just beginning?
Time flies and it is already approximately 10 years that we have had social media in our lives and in the last 3-4 years it has been firmly adopted by businesses and media channels as one of the most responsive marketing techniques for their products and services. Is it now time that we are all a little too bored with likes, tweets, hashtags and shares in our lives – Are we now in need of something new?
Social media still has many new advancements up it’s sleeve with the likes of Pinterest and Twitter venturing in to allowing users to sell products on their platforms by sharing images / tweets opening up a whole new selling channel for businesses to take advantage of. This would suggest that we’ve still someway to go with social media, with many new additions for them to offer us still and keep us onboard and importantly for businesses, new ways for us to spend money whilst spending time on them.
So, is social media soon to be a thing of the past? What about me sticking my neck out and saying “can we live without social media now, has it too much of an important part in our lives“? We can now sit on the sofa whilst watching television with a second screen in our hands (our mobile phones, tablets, laptops) and catch up with the latest in news, what our friends/family are upto, view promotions from our loved brands, order takeaway food, engage with popular TV shows via hashtags and even tweet directly to the celebrities and stars themselves. Surely this form of communication, social media, has no chance of leaving us anytime soon?
I reckon 2015 will see the spending by the big corporations being increased for social media, surveys will report that consumer spending on social media will show positive upward figures that it will soon be rivaling spending via websites. There will be many more news stories shared on businesses being launched and becoming successful purely via social media, maybe we’ll have more and more ‘social media millionaires’.
I can certainly share that I meet more and more people / small businesses that are growing their profits from social media, many people have the likes of Youtube channels that bring in £1,000’s every month from advertising revenues or have Twitter accounts / Facebook groups that they can charge to share content across them. One person has a LinkedIn group of over 200,000 within one industry sector and has it sponsored by a national company.

Property search activity will increase on social media and no doubt there’ll be more platforms / softwares launched to take advantage of consumers spending leisure and research time on social media. Rightmove, Zoopla and other major property portals will stay and rightly so have their strong hold in the industry, but I am sure they will be investing more time in to social media and making things easier for property listings to be found – They’ll want to be on the channels that their target audience are frequenting (I am sure that estate agents will want them to be most active on the most active channels).

Christopher Walkey

Founder of Estate Agent Networking. Internationally invited speaker on how to build online target audiences using Social Media. Writes about UK property prices, housing, politics and affordable homes.

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

Breaking Property News 20/12/24

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   Why estate and letting agents must embrace innovative technology in 2025   As we step into 2025, the UK property market continues to shift, and estate agents face mounting pressure to meet the evolving expectations of buyers and sellers. The days when static images sufficed…
Read More
Breaking News

Breaking Property News 19/12/24

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   High street Auctions’ initiative launches to revive Britain’s town centres   This month the UK Government rolls out its highly anticipated ‘High Street Auctions’ scheme, a flagship measure of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023. This initiative grants local authorities the power to take…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

Moving Up In The World: Finding Your Dream Home

Finding your dream home is one of life’s most exciting and transformative experiences. Whether you’re looking to upsize, relocate, or finally purchase that ideal property you’ve always envisioned, the journey is both thrilling and filled with important decisions. As you embark on this path, it’s essential to plan carefully, consider your priorities, and approach the…
Read More
new build home fronts
Breaking News

These cities are the keenest to move house in 2025

Bournemouth is the keenest area in the UK to move home, with 38,132 average monthly searches for moving-related topics per 100,000 residents. Plymouth is second, with 35,198 average monthly searches for moving, and Birmingham is third, with 35,181. Derry is the least keen area to move house, with only 3,170 average monthly searches related to…
Read More
Love or Hate Rightmove
Breaking News

Number of rental enquiries still double pre-pandemic, as rents predicted to rise 3%

The average number of enquiries sent to agents about each available property they have to rent is still nearly double the level it was in 2019, despite improvements in the balance between supply and demand: Each available property receives an average of 11 enquiries, nearly double the 6 at this time in 2019 This is…
Read More
bank of england interest rate
Breaking News

Response to the Bank of England interest rates decision

Response to the Bank of England interest rates decision, thoughts from the Industry Rates were left unchanged at 4.75% MPC voted 6 to 3 in favour of holding rates flat, with three members preferring to cut rates by 0.25% to 4.5% In the near-term inflation is expected to “continue to rise slightly” The market was expecting rates to remain…
Read More