We all know that 2016 will be remembered as the year that social media propelled an unpopular presidential candidate to the height of power. It was a time when common sense seemed to be turned on its head, when people were convinced to abandon the institutions we had formerly held so dear.

It’s logical to assume that in 2017 we won’t be seeing the deterioration of social media any time soon. If anything the platforms are growing, after profiting heavily from the increasing digital presence of just about everybody who wants to find out anything. It’s all online.

So, what does 2017 have in store for us?

Is it even real anymore?

Virtual reality and augmented reality will be the main beneficiaries of the year to come, with social media giants taking dips into digital oceans in an attempt to input images into people’s minds as well as their phones. With the success of apps such as Pokemon Go there will undoubtedly be much jumping on bandwagons.

And it’s not just for fun that we are losing touch with the real world. Businesses are also beginning to realise that chatbots, digital customer service robots, are helping keep their clientbase far more happy than any real person could ever manage, especially given the fact that people just don’t call each other anymore. Soon enough actual employees will be a thing of the past.

It’s all happening now

Another recent trend is for people to lose any notion of how to elongate an attention span. In this world of instant gratification we are becoming obsessed with live video streaming, as are all the social media channels, with Instagram naturally the latest to trial it. It’s an incredible revolution in terms of the capability of spreading up-to-date news quickly, though this has also created another problem.

With so many people now relying on social media sites for their news, there has been a substantial rise in fake news circulating the web. It is proving increasingly hard to track and prevent, not least due to the sometimes comical nature of the stories, though in Germany they are said to be considering fines for the platforms that exacerbate the problem by letting fake news spread online.

But we’ll still communicate, right?

The good news is that messaging apps are growing, in fact, they reportedly have an even larger user base overall than the normal social media channels. Direct messages it seems, are here to stay, though even that simple form of technology is set to evolve in 2017.

For instance, clicking on Facebook adverts can now take you straight to a chat screen in their messaging app with the company you’re interested in. Presumably it will be a chat with a robot, but you can rest safe in the knowledge that it will be a helpful and attentive one.

Not sure what direction to take your social accounts in this year? Get in touch – we can help.