New Social Media Platforms Marketers Should Watch in 2019
Over the past ten-to-fifteen years, we have seen many social rise and fall. Apps like Facebook have taken over the internet and spawned entire businesses and industries. Whereas apps like Vine have risen out of nowhere and fell just as fast.
Currently, there is a lot going on in the realm of social media, that is why in this blog I want to discuss different up and coming social media platforms that marketers should keep an eye on in 2019 (and the coming years).
TikTok – (formerly Musical.ly)
Have you heard of TikTok? It’s very likely that you have. During 2018 TikTok launched a massive marketing campaign on YouTube and Facebook. On YouTube, their ads were played on a vast majority of videos – pushing the app to millions of people. TikTok currently has over 500 million users, making it the 4th largest social media app behind Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
The way that TikTok works is that you can create short-form videos (15 seconds to 60 Seconds) similar to Vine. The difference between TikTok and Vine is that you can add effects, add music overlays and also cut videos up. Say you want to record a 15-second lip sync video, you can record your first part and when you stop recording you can get into another position to record the rest of the clip. You can also edit (to an extent) the video after you’ve recorded everything. You can add filters and static effects in “post-production.”
Lasso by Facebook
You have probably not heard of Lasso. That’s because Facebook quietly launched this new platform back in November 2018. Lasso is essentially Facebook’s answer to competing with TikTok. Lasso is still relatively new, however, with it being owned by Facebook, Lasso could soon be as big as TikTok by taking advantage of Facebook’s user base, technology as well as financing.
To explain a bit further, Lasso is a video sharing app where users can create short videos with filters and music overlays. Just like TikTok – Lasso will appeal to people under the age of 30, but also to people who work within the creative sector EG: Design, Videography etc.
Caffeine
Caffeine.Tv is a livestreaming platform which was created by ex-Apple developers. The broadcasting platform allows you to create livestreams for your friends and followers to watch. Caffeine is a direct competitor to Twitch.TV and has currently raised over $140 million from investors, the biggest of which is 21st Century Fox. Caffeine has a lot of potential to grow as a livestreaming platform, with livestreams becoming more prominent.
As well as doing a standard livestream, Caffeine also allows you to stream video games or your PC screen.
The company is already doing really well, despite not releasing any information on the number of users on the platform. Gen-Z is the most prominent demographic with the app. This is because the younger generation is generally very active within the livestream scene (mainly within Twitch.tv)
Steemit
Steemit is a cool new app. It’s very similar to Reddit but with a cryptocurrency twist. When a user gains more upvotes on Reddit then the user will be “rewarded” by their post being pushed to the top of feeds. The difference with Steemit is that they will also give you “Steem” coin if your post is doing well. Steem coin is a new cryptocurrency, so you essentially get paid if people enjoy your content.
Steemit hasn’t got the best of reviews (on the Android Play Store) so there may be bugs and other fixes coming soon that will be well needed, so keep an eye out.
Conclusion
To conclude, social media is taking over the world and with new platforms coming around every year, it is best to keep your eyes peeled so you know what platforms to focus on to market your products.
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