1. Twitter will personalize Twitter feeds
Twitter will start customizing its feeds based on the algorithm that social media experts call TwedgeRank or TweetRank in 2013. This algorithm will measure the influence of the person tweeting based on follower ratios, the average number of retweets, favorites and mentions, influence followers and additions to Twitter lists. Other factors to be measured will include engagement, alignment, severity, and interests. When brands start complaining about low engagement levels on Twitter, an advertising platform will let them buy TwedgeRank for their tweets.
2. Google+, the new essential place
A Google+ presence will be a must, not because of the social elements, but because it will be the control center of your official online presence. Google will offer new products and services connected to Google+ forcing companies to use it to benefit from certain advantages. In the purely social field, Google+ will be limited since it has not captivated users like Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter. Even if your friends or clients aren’t on Google+, they still need to be there.
3. Google+ has appeal to niche segments
Google engineers have created features like communities that can further improve engagement on this neglected social platform. Google Communities offers similar features to Facebook, but Google+ has an advantage due to the integration of video with Google Hangouts. Google Author Rank has immense potential to build connections between authors and their content, where authors will receive scores based on the content’s location and connections in their field. Google+ will influence your findability in searches in 2013.
4. Instagram gets bigger
While Instagram is a relatively smaller platform still, 2013 is going to be a big year for the newer social network. Research shows that users plan to increase the use of Instagram at a much higher rate than any other social network. 85% of Instagram users log into their profiles at work, far more than any other similar network. The success of Instagram lies in its ease of use for content creation and its ability to increase posts on other social networks.
5. Mediapreneurs focus on building email lists
2012 saw a trend followed by media entrepreneurs like podcasters, blogs, and web show creators encouraging people to subscribe via email instead of Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. The reason is research showing that buyers and engaged audiences are more likely to come from your email lists. This does not mean that social networks will lose their importance, just that people will focus more on asking for email addresses during 2013.
6. Marketers use fewer social websites
Social media users are now becoming more savvy and will spend their time on fewer social media websites and marketers will adapt accordingly. Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are now in the latter part of most of the adoption curve, while Pinterest, Google+, and Instagram continue to gain users. Marketers realize that it is better to have a strong presence on one or two platforms rather than spread resources across all platforms. Entrepreneurs, consultants, and small businesses will have to choose where to invest their resources to engage followers and fans for maximum impact in 2013.