Is there any hope for a new great Social after Facebook?

In a Facebook dominated social media scenario, is there any chance for a new giant?

Facebook is widely dominating the social media scene today and it’s the number one for users, who have an account, but also for active users. Below is a chart, created by GlobalWebIndex, where are listed the most used social media platforms. (data Q3 2014)

Facebook has recently introduced video ads in its marketing offer and, looking at this chart, it’s easy to understand why videos are the next big challenge for the Giant since his direct competitor is YouTube.

Region by Region

But what about regions? Is the situation the same? As you can see Facebook is leading the chart, except for Global visitors, where YouTube takes the lead.

The other social growth

How are the other social networks growing? Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram are seeing a large increase of new members and active users. Tumblr, in particular, registered a 120% active users growth and Pinterest the 111%.

-> SEE ALSO: HOW TO DOUBLE YOUR PINTEREST ENGAGEMENT 

Instagram is also seeing a double-digit growth since Q1 2014 and the motivation behind new members subscription is mostly to follow celebrities, to keep up to date and to network for work. Apparently the leading reason behind these social media sign ups is to follow celebrities and gossip news.

-> SEE ALSO: 3 REASONS WHY INSTAGRAM IS THE KING FOR FASHION 

If you want to see the full report you can find it on GlobalIndex, or you can get it now just sharing this post. (I will be happier for this :-))

http://bit.ly/GloblalWIDownload

A CHAT WITH LUCA COLOMBO, COUNTRY MANAGER ITALY AT FACEBOOK

Well, after these numbers, I think it can be interesting to talk with a protagonist of this social media revolution, to hear what his ideas are about the future of social media and if there’s any chance for a new social to be the next Facebook.

I am really glad to host Luca Colombo, Country Manager Italy at Facebook.

Hi Luca, thanks for the chat. In the startup scene there are many different new social platforms popping up every week. What do you think they need to succeed today and where they should focus on?

The ability to connect millions of people with friends and family everywhere in the world and to let them share and express the stories that matter the most to them is the key of Facebook’s success and the core of our mission, which is to make the world more open and connected. Together with our commitment to constant innovation and research, this is what made us the place where 864 million people connect every day. As a matter of fact, people and their needs are the center and the heart of the platform, and this why Facebook is able to impact society leading positive changes on cultural, economic and social levels. Indeed, everything starts with people and this is the crucial factor that any startup should focus on in order to success.

Privacy is a hot topic and some people is worried about their personal information. That’s why new social as Hello are getting popular today. How is Facebook’s position about it?

Protecting the privacy of people connecting on Facebook and their data is a top priority for us. We are constantly committed to develop new features and tools, which are more and more accessible and easy to use, in order to allow people to connect and share contents in a secure and safe way. We recently updated our Terms & Policies Document, simplifying its language and length to make it even more understandable and immediate to consult. At the same time, we introduced Privacy Basics, an educational center where people can get tips and interactive guides for controlling their information on Facebook. Education is, indeed, one of our top priorities, as we consider it the first instrument to help people make informed choices and maintain a responsible behavior.

Facebook has recently introduced video ads. Do you think it will be the primary content source in the next years? 

Video is one of the most engaging and immersive ways to tell a story. And this is clear as more and more people discover videos on mobile and in their News Feed, making Facebook particularly relevant as a video platform. This is creating new opportunities for content creators to reach and engage their audiences in a more personal way. In the context, we have recently decided to offer new and updated tools for video advertising, such as auto-play feature that makes it easier than ever for people to experience video as they browse content from their friends and favorite sources of content. Besides, with video insights data it is also easy for content creators to understand who is viewing their videos and how each video is performing. This is why advertisers are turning to video as a primary call-to-action to engage with customers. And numbers testify the value of this strategy: since June, about 1 billion videos have been watched on Facebook every day, with an increase in video fruition on the platform by 50% between May and July this year.

Facebook latest quarter delivered strong results. Mobile revenue are increasing constantly. What is the next feature Facebook could integrate to better serve a mobile experience? 

Only in Italy, every day 16 million people access Facebook from their mobile devices to share and connect with the people they care about, whenever and wherever they want. Significant numbers that grow up to 703 million people globally. As this number continues to grow, we want to make sure that everyone has a great experience regardless of the mobile device they choose to use. Indeed, we are strongly committed to continuous innovation and research to further improve our mobile experience for people and offer more and more new features. And being mobile first is working: mobile now accounts for 66% of our ad revenue. As mobile is clearly the way, we’ll continue improve and innovate, working together with hundreds of thousands of developers, ranging from publishers and game-makers, to the most popular mobile apps in order to realize the platform of the future.

Ok, what are you thoughts about this topic? What will be the trends on social media for the next year? Drop a line below! and if you enjoyed this content, share it!