Once upon a time, there was no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube. Our lives did not revolve around a stream of status updates, tweets, videos and filtered photos. That was just 10 years ago.
Since Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook in his Harvard dorm room on Feb. 4, 2004, we've seen social media evolve from a fad to a phenomenon that has triggered a paradigm shift in the way the world communicates. It has empowered individuals to voice their opinions and concerns and share content on their mobile devices in ways no one could have imagined. Along the way, geopolitics and the world of business has been radically transformed.
We saw the dramatic impact social media wielded four years ago. It was a tool that helped spark the Arab Spring—a democratic civil uprising in the Middle East that began in Tunisia in December 2010 that helped force rulers from power in such countries as Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Thanks to Twitter and other social media, people were able to protest and raise awareness in the face of repression. The revolution continues.
No doubt, the power of social media is exponential. Numbers tell the story. Today there are 1.3 billion active Facebook users, with 82 percent of them coming from outside the U.S. and Canada. Twitter boasts 270 million active users that send 500 million tweets per day. And each day, 4 billion videos are viewed on YouTube (that's 46,296 per second) and 60 million photos are uploaded on Instagram.
The trend has helped these tech disruptors go public at hefty valuations. Facebook, for example, went public in 2012. At the time, it was the biggest in technology and Internet history, with a peak market capitalization of more than $104 million. At press time it had reached a whopping $206.4 billion.
Fast-forward to the future, and we should see global social media usage continue on its upward trajectory. In just four years, eMarketer projects it will nearly double by 32.7 percent. By then 2.44 billion of the world's population will be on social networks.
While estimates through 2039 are not available, experts agree that by then, use of social media will be ubiquitous and integrated into our daily lives in a multitude of ways. It is expected social media will be integrated into wearables that track our habits, and virtual experiences will be part of the package. The challenge will be coping with the massive amounts of data that will deluge the masses.
While there's no crystal ball, we asked industry experts to give us their predictions on the future of social media.
Scroll through to see the "11 Predictions for Social Media in 2039"...
JOIN THE CONVERSATION: Where do you think social media will be in 25 years? Share your prediction using #Social25.
When news breaks in the future, it will be covered by a multitude of eyewitnesses streaming live video. These streams will knit together into a single immersive video, enabling the viewer to virtually experience the event in real time. For better or worse, the world will feel like it’s right around the corner.Cory BergmanBreakingNews Co-Founder
TWEET THIS › "When news breaks in the future, it will be covered by a multitude of eyewitnesses streaming live video." @corybe
In 2039 we'll be reading a fascinating long read about the last remaining social media expert. The article will describe that like a 2014 typewriter repairman, this expert is running around helping luddites who still try to communicate with antiquated social networks. While younger readers will need to look up words like "tweet," "Instagram" and "Snapchat" using their brain augmentation devices, those of us over 50 will feel a twinge of nostalgia as we ingest the article while our self-driving hovercrafts transport us.Gregory GalantCreator of the Shorty Awards
TWEET THIS › "In 2039 we'll be reading a fascinating long read about the last remaining social media expert." @gregory
TWEET THIS › "I think a shared consciousness and a version of telepathic communication is all very likely." Piera
Twenty-five years from now, the way in which we both input and observe media will have completely shifted. Keyboards on desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones will become increasingly irrelevant, as interactions on what was once called social media will largely be voice-controlled. Holographic displays will be shifting into the mainstream, making the debate between the benefits of a 4-inch vs. a 4.7-inch smartphone display a thing of the past.Jeremy GoldmanAuthor of “Going Social,” Firebrand Group CEO
TWEET THIS › "25 years from now, the way in which we both input and observe media will have completely shifted." @jeremarketer
TWEET THIS › "The internet will operate like electricity does today, as an unseen part of the infrastructure around us…" @skgreen
Matthew KnellAbout.com, VP Social Media & Community
TWEET THIS › "The term 'social media' will fade out of common use well before 25 years from now." @matthewknell
TWEET THIS › "[Social media] will become part of the fabric of our clothes, the glasses we wear and the shoes we put on…" @mkramer
Wearables will completely replace tablets, and social media will hyper-accelerate Big Data. Social media will allow publishers and brands to focus on the story rather than the telling of it. WhatsApp, SnapChat, Line and others will continue to open up avenues to reach millennials, but who knows if the social platforms of today will even exist in 25 years!Niketa PatelRebelmouse, Director of Content
TWEET THIS › "Wearables will completely replace tablets, and social media will hyper-accelerate Big Data." @Niketa
All I do all week is look at my phone, reading articles, liking posts, sending emails/tweets/messages. In the future, I will "disconnect" by putting on Oculus virtual reality glasses when I get home—and suddenly I'll be sitting courtside at the Knicks game with my Facebook friends. You can’t make it to the beach in Italy on Tuesday night after a hard day of work, but you can achieve a very similar emotional effect of being there via Oculus glasses while on your terrace with a glass of wine. VR helps you disconnect by putting you in a new, fully immersive world, and it will transform every industry—concerts, sporting events, education, tourism, travel, business meetings, doctor appointments and more.Jason SteinLaundry Service Founder & President
TWEET THIS › VR "will transform every industry." @jasonwstein
TWEET THIS › "I'm not even sure if people will be talking about [social media] in five years." @ellie
(Disclaimer:NBC News owns BreakingNews)
