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Social media in 2022 — Expectations, predictions and everything new that may arrive on the platformshttps://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/social-media-in-2022-expectations-predictions-and-everything-new-that-may-arrive-on-the-platforms/slidelist/88595320.cms2021-12-31T07:30:00+05:30

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

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Shadab RabbaniDec 31, 2021, 07:30 IST

Social media in 2022 — Expectations, predictions and everything new that may arrive on the platforms — Social media continues to grow and we expect more than 5 billion people to be actively using the platforms in 2022.
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter will continue to be the most popular platforms.
AR/VR features, monetisation and more is coming to these platforms.
In 2021, there are about 4.5 billion people actively using social media in the world and this number is expected to grow further in the coming years. Now coming to 2022, if we go by the growth percentage of the past two years, we can expect the number of active users to go past the 5 billion mark. Whether you are a consumer, a marketer, an advertiser, a business or a content creator, knowing what to expect from the social media platforms in the future may help in numerous ways.

Facebook, Instagram and Twitter continued to be the most popular social media platforms in 2021 and that is likely to be the case in 2022 as well. Although TikTok has grown in popularity, we are not counting it as it is banned in India. Let’s take a look at what we can expect from the popular social media platforms in 2022.

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Facebook

Facebook — Unsplash
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.

AR/VR

AR/VR — Unsplash
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.

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Instagram

Instagram — Unsplash
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 videos

Instagram videos — Unsplash
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.

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Twitter

Twitter — Unsplash
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.

Features

Features — Unsplash
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.

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Snapchat

Snapchat — Unsplash
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.

Trendsetter

Trendsetter — Unsplash
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.

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WhatsApp

WhatsApp — Unsplash
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.

New changes

New changes — Unsplash
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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