In today's rapid-fire social media climate, it's important for PR pros to watch for signals that forecast the next social media platform to take off and grow exponentially with users. Here at PR News, we're invariably curious about the next social tool communicators can use to grow their brands' audience.
With that in mind, we asked you, as top communicators and public relations strategists, to predict the next social media platform that's going to explode in popularity and user growth, tweeting at @PRNews with the hashtag #social16. So, what's next in social? The PR News community's suggestions are below.
Periscope
Many members of the PR News community think live streaming is here to stay, with Twitter's live streaming app Periscope as their top pick for the next booming social media platform. Periscope has been proving its worth as a major player in the mainstream media news cycle, coming to the rescue during the CSPAN blackout in June 2016.
Pokémon Go
Could the addictive augmented reality app be the next route for brands to grow their audiences? PR pros are saying yes, especially with the game drawing millions of users mere days after its release. Fortune has reported that brand partners will soon be able to nab sponsored placements by location, and that businesses are already seeing an uptick in foot traffic due to in-app purchases that keep the augmented reality creatures swarming.
Snapchat
With Snapchat's recent growth in users above the age of 35, the PR News community thinks Snapchat is just going to keep growing. Its growth may prove invaluable to communicators, especially given the recent Memories update allowing for content generated outside of the app to be posted.
Musical.ly
The 15-second music video app is holding a lot of sway in the teenage demographic, and may prove even more important to brands if teenagers ditch Snapchat now that their parents are using it. The app's parent company has even released a live streaming component via sister app live.ly.
We selected one Twitter respondent at random to win a free pass to our Big 4 Social Media Summit and Visual Storytelling Boot Camp Aug. 9-10 in San Francisco. Congratulations to Corinne Jupton! Her winning tweet is below.
#Social16 @periscopeco has the staying power with the rise of live streaming! https://t.co/GH8GFXpVGk
— Corrinne (@corrinnejupton) July 13, 2016
Follow Sophie: @SophieMaerowitz