Astonishing Shift In Social Media Landscape In Just 3 Years
- No Comments
- August 16th, 2010
Video is all about the power of imagery. So what happens when you apply visualization techniques to the social media landscape? In the beginning, you just have fun. That was what Randall Munroe, founder of XKCD did in 2007 when he illustrated the relative size of social media sites like MySpace, Friendster, Orkut and others.
Now, 3 Years later, Flowtown, a company that “helps businesses turn email contacts into engaged customers” has updated that map – with the same art direction in a nod to XKCD – and when these two maps are compared side by side, the differences are astonishing. [click a map to enlarge full-screen]
Gone is Classmates.com. The People’s Republic of MySpace.com has shrunk to the size of a former Soviet satellite. Facebook now dominates the “landmass” as do newer entries like Twitter and Habbo.
But What Does This All Mean To You?
- If you’re already using social media to market healthcare products or educate patients. it means a constant reevaluation of how to allocate you spend.
- If you’re just getting into social media, consider taking meetings with both big and boutique agencies. Maybe the up and comers have something you need at the price and risk point you can live with.
- If you’ve been in this business a while, it means applying new tools to the tried and true. While you can’t change DDMAC, you can change how you honor the letter and spirit of those regulatory commitments with new properties on the emerging social media landscape.