Social media in 2022 — Expectations, predictions and everything new that may arrive on the platforms

With the introduction of Reels for Facebook in September 2021, you can expect the growth of short video content on the most popular social media platform. Apart from this, its Live feature and Audio Room where creators can host audiences are likely to grow in 2022. It will bring new tools to engage its younger users.From early next year, it will remove detailed targeting options relating to polarising topics such as health, political affiliation, race or ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation.With Meta (formerly Facebook) looking to focus and build a metaverse in the future, the company is likely to add or introduce augmented reality and virtual reality into its platforms. The company also has planned to launch new AR/VR headsets in 2022 which was teased by CEO Mark Zuckerburg, codenamed it as “Project Cambria” for VR headsets and “Project Nazaré” for AR headsets.According to the Instagram chief, Adam Mosseri, the platform will make a paradigm shift towards entertaining video content, given the user demand. Having started as a photo-sharing platform will no longer remain so as it tries to build new experiences primarily in four areas — creators, videos, shopping and messaging. Instagram has combined IGTV with its feed videos to call it Instagram Videos. Plenty of new features may come in this space that will enable users and content creators to leverage it to monetise their content through the platform. Twitter has updated its developer policy encouraging developers to build third-party applications based on the platform. Just like Tweetbot, Twitterrific and others, the company wants more third-party applications for its users. The company aims to become a platform like Android or iOS where other developers create applications to enhance the user experience without Twitter having to work on it.Just like Super Follows where users can charge their audience for their tweets, and ticketed Spaces, Twitter may bring more monetisation elements to its platform. The company may also follow competitors like Facebook and Instagram to bring short video content. Twitter has announced a feature called “Communities” where people having similar interests can interact with each other. These features are likely to come in 2022. Snapchat continues to be on the growth path over the years. In India, the platform reached 100 million monthly users for the first time in October 2021. The company plans to invest more towards its growth by providing more localised features. It continues to develop in the AR/VR space by providing personalised filters to its users. It will also bring new elements such as new lenses, content creation tools, and others to engage its users.In 2022, we expect it to continue being a trendsetter to evolve and bring new features as it has done in the past. Like the disappearing messages which were adopted as Stories on Instagram, Status on WhatsApp and Fleets on Twitter, we may see something new from Snapchat that may then be adopted by other platforms. Although a messaging platform, WhatsApp continues to grow as a social platform. With the introduction of WhatsApp Pay and its Business directory features, users may soon be able to order food, groceries, clothing and other essentials straight from the app. WhatsApp will continue to target businesses to use its platform and the number of chatbots will continue to grow next year. The instant messaging platform is looking to become a one-stop solution for its users, by providing them with features to interact with business, make payments and build communities. WhatsApp generally brings slow changes to its platform, however, it is planning to double down the number of UPI payment accounts in India. In terms of chatting, we may see the company offer more customisations and themes to its users. WhatsApp should also use AI tools to curb the spreading of fake news and hateful messages.

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Social media in 2022 — Expectations, predictions and everything new that may arrive on the platforms

Facebook

AR/VR

Instagram

Instagram videos

Twitter

Features

Snapchat

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WhatsApp

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