5 Future Features for Social Media

Social Media changes in the blink of an eye. Opinions can turn, perceptions can flip, and tone may reverse at the drop of a hat…or upload of a post. The most exciting changes, however, come in the form of new features, re-designs, and mobile capabilities for the various social media platforms. It’s important for page owners to be ahead of the curve on these updates and to understand how to utilize them in the most impactful ways.

Probably the most talked about in-the-works feature for pages right now is Facebook’s “want”, and “buy” buttons. For just a few select retailers, they are testing the functionality of these newly captioned buttons, specifically for a new type of album for pages titled “collections”. These capabilities will be similar to those already found on Pinterest. If you sell retail items, this is definitely a feature launch to anticipate.

Facebook is also in the midst of testing different login landing pages. You won’t see them every time, but many around the net have uploaded screenshots of the Facebook-themed background art they’ve encountered. Could this be the future site of paid advertising for the now shareholder-pressured social media giant? Maybe. Stay tuned.

Twitter is also hard at work for brands. Currently in beta is a snazzy new feature called “Surveys”. Users will see the surveys in their feeds, much like a promoted tweet, and will be able to answer questions in-tweet (without leaving the site or app). The resulting data will give a more complete set of metrics and data for the brand. Twitter expects to launch Surveys in 2013.

YouTube is testing a “Video Questions Editor Beta“. The beta boasts a questionnaire that appears at the top of the video during playback. If it does launch, this feature could very well be used similarly to the Twitter surveys in retrieving quantifiable data from consumers.

In third-party app news, a rousing buzz has been created around the brand new “Just Sayin” app. This savvy web/mobile app allows users to post in-message voice and video to Twitter and Facebook. While this app is already fully launched, the test lies in how brands will use this technology to remain innovative in their social media connection with their target audiences. A voice message from the CEO, a radio commercial, or podcast post are just a few explorable ideas for how to use this platform.

How any of these changes work for a brand’s social media strategy is purely in the hands of the strategist, and the best first step is planning for how to use these features before they’re launched. Ilfusion’s social media strategists constantly watch for what’s next and plan for how it can be used in the most savvy way for our clients. Contact us to learn more.