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The Social Media Industry: Where is it heading?

Posted in: Feliciano School of Business, Management

Feliciano School of Business professors Yanli Zhang, Will Nguyen, Gabriel Jung, and Isabelle Yi Ren from the Management department recently had their article The social media industry: where is it heading? published in the Journal of Business Strategy.

 Using publicly available data and reports, the paper analyzed the current challenges and new trends influencing the major social media platforms.

 “This study identified five major trends in the current social media industry: 1) content is king, and that content is moving to visual; 2) artificial intelligence is key to competitive advantage; 3) network effects still matter, but business model innovation can overcome that barrier; 4) the need to broaden revenue sources; and 5) the strive for the everything app. In this changing environment, social media companies need to adapt and innovate their business models proactively to stay ahead.”

In addition to outlining current challenges, the paper determines industry-wide trends that may impact across all social media platforms.