Social Web Strategies

Once upon a time, MySpace ruled the socialsphere, then comes Friendster who rocked the Philippines for several years.

But these two social networking sites, are now considered “jurassic” by mainstream social networkers, at least in the Manila. Facebook rules and dominates the socialsphere. According to facebakers.com,  Facebook has more than 12M users in the Philippines, and RP ranked # 8 in the world where Facebook is no. 1

But soon, the rule of nature will catch up with Facebook, “what goes up will have to go down”. It is not a question of “if”, but an interesting question of “when”. As to how long Facebook can stay in top depends on it’s developers can recreate Facebook and continue to be relevant to end users. And of course, it is dependent on how they respond to issues on privacy and malwares.

I guess  to get a hint of who will be the next Facebook  is to look at where the next generation are flocking to? Where are they Y and the Z generation heading? A friend once told me that it seems young people are quietly moving to Tumblr because their parents, aunts and grannies are now invading Facebook [I don't have stats to back this up though]. But if this is an indication, not long ago, Tumblr is looking for a country ambassador for the Philippines. Since the Ad was already taken down, it appears they have hired someone already.

This blog is not meant to promote Tumblr, but as a social web strategist, I believe we must be ready for the next Facebook. Since marketing 2.0 is about making your brand accessible, it is only wise to ensure our brand’s presence to where the market is and will be. Regardless of how distant that future is.

Some said the next Facebook is People Spring, others think it’s Ning, still others predict it’ll be FoursSquare, and because the functionality of Twitter, Flckr and Facebook is synergyzed in one platform, other’s believed it will be Tumblr .

Based on my limited experience, Tumblr makes publishing of photos, blogs and status updates easier. And it also makes sharing easier because it can interface with your Facebook and Twitter accounts. What is cool, to my opinion is your ability to create multiple blogs under one account. Cooler is the ability to use your personal domain to your Tumblr account.In terms of customization, I guess this is an area where they need to build on.

Do you already have a Tumblr account? You can check mine at www.sonnie.santos.ph