2011 was a year dotted with major redesigns and new features for many popular social media sites. Below I’ve compiled a list of social media news that I saw had the biggest affect on my friends and clients in Dallas and the rest of the United States. Find out what you may have missed, plus get a heads up on the changes and social media trends to watch for in 2012.
1. Facebook Redesigned Your News Feed
- …which upset a lot of people
- …and provided marketing lessons in how not to introduce new features
2. Google+ Launched
- …25 million users signed up in the first month
- …then no one used Google+
- …not even the Google executives
- …and thus Google+ is still dominated by male early technology adopters
3. Facebook Redesigned User Profiles with a Timeline
- …giving users easy access to all of their old content
- …while smartly using a beta version to give people time to welcome the change
4. Online Privacy Issues Got Political
- …even though Facebook implemented major privacy improvements this year
- …the FTC will now regulate Americans’ future on Facebook
- …while Germany is suing Facebook for using facial recognition technology
5. Facebook Got More Useful for Marketers
- …with redesigned Pages that looked like Profiles
- …more details and “People Talking About This” in Page Insights analytics
- …and Sponsored Stories that make Ads more relevant to users
6. Twitter Redesigned Itself, Again
7. YouTube Got a Redesign
- …with better Analytics that replaced Insights
- …and a new interface design that improved usability
8. Foursquare Went Mainstream
- …added a new recommendation engine
- …and allowed users to create lists of favorite spots
- …which may have helped triple Foursquare to 15 million users in 2011
- …plus, it doesn’t hurt that Facebook bought Gowalla, so now there is less competition
9. Twitter Became the 1st Third Party API Integrated in Apple’s iOS
10. Instagram Went Mainstream
- …with seamless photo-to-social integration on multiple networks
- …and an improved photo filter interface
- …Instragram now has the same number of users (15 million) as Foursquare
11. Daily Deal Sites Lost Popularity
- … daily deal sites over saturated their customers
- …and small business owners spoke out about their Groupon horror stories
- …which may partly explain why Groupon shares fell below their IPO price
Check out my follow-up article: Social Media Changes to Watch for in 2012.
[...] I wrote “11 Best of 2011: Important Changes in Social Media“, so today I bring you the future—a list of 2012 social media changes that I predict will [...]