Comments on: Social Media is the 3rd Era of the Web

By: Social Media labeled as ’3rd Era of the Web’ | The Realtime Report | #RLTM

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:24:51 +0000

[...] the world wide search volume on Google for new media, web 2.0, and social media, Justin Kistner of socialfresh states that “we’re in the 3rd Era of the Web and it’s The Era of Social [...]

By: Agam

Agam — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 03:02:00 +0000

thanks bro, his articles helped me to work on-campus job.

By: Batman

Batman — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 01:53:51 +0000

Hmmm… I guess I should post this comment to Fakebook then….

By: deangroom

deangroom — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:01:28 +0000

awesome research – makes sense, unlike lots of research

By: SocialStacy

SocialStacy — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:35:07 +0000

From reading the comments, it appears as though the consensus is that “Social Media” may evolve into something else, but it most certainly will not go away. And like most things it will likely peak at some point, but I think it will be an integral part of how we communicate.

By: Investmentwanker

Investmentwanker — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:23:34 +0000

Technical chart analysis for search keywords — that's the new era. Position disclosure: short 'social media', long 'telephone'.

By: justinkistner

justinkistner — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:20:48 +0000

Yes, the Google Trends graphs are measures of searches. But, the 7 other stats (3 of which are graphed) are measures of traffic and usage that confirm what the search data indicates. What peaks is interest, not that the technology goes away. Simply that social media is the driving innovation paradigm of the web right now and will be until around 2015 before the next era dominates our attention.

By: justinkistner

justinkistner — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:18:02 +0000

Ari, the Google Trends graphs are a measure of interest, not just people looking things up in the dictionary. I also cited several other sources based on traffic that backs up the shift in interest from web users toward social media. All that being said, I do believe that social media functionality will become a ubiquitous part of the overall Internet. In fact, I think the next era is replacing social media features with open standards.

By: Ari Herzog

Ari Herzog — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:53:49 +0000

The fact less people are using Google to search for “web 2.0″ and similar terms is not indicative the concepts the terms describe are fading, but that 1) the terms are becoming ubiquitous like “internet” and don't need to be looked up, and 2) more people are using web services.

But let's not forget best practices and case studies and blog posts like this. Should I assume you are suggesting blogs will die in 2012? Of course not. Companies may be using Facebook and Twitter en masse — but they still need helpful lessons on using it and guidance how to make them integrated in business operations.

By: rdsieber

rdsieber — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 06:41:22 +0000

Justin:
The search for the terms you cited may indeed peak in the years you suggested, but I believe that social media has long legs that are just being discovered, and thus the terms may not pinpoint when social media as a search and use tool for the Web will diminish.

However, if your thesis is that that social media will flourish, peak, and then diminish, you are right on the mark when looking at other media off the grid. Historical data on subscriptions, viewerships, and ticket and copy sales to newspapers, radio, movies, and then television all show a skewed-left bell curve with discovery, adoption, peak use, and then decline (with a long, tapered "tail" in the decline part of the curve). However, look at how long the movie industry has been losing audiences: by the data, at least 40 years. Decline can be a long, slow process. Methinks social media, as it diminishes, will still have a long and fat life. I believe that we are still at the discovery end of the curve, and great opportunity awaits those who take advantage.

Provocative article!