Pinterest had quite a year with its boost of notoriety earlier this year, with reports of up to 400 percent growth month-over-month. Widely popular amongst the ladies versus gentlemen, you can find a plethora of images of cats, food recipes, wedding dresses, and an endless gallery of fashion pictures.
Instagram & Twitter: Facebook purchased Instagram and allowed non-iPhone users to join in on all the fun. With this purchase came the bitter end to the relationship with Instagram and Twitter, which resulted in Twitter launching its own set of photographic filters.
Facebook: Causing an uproar from its users with the introduction of automatic photo syncing, which uploads every photo you take on your mobile phone to Facebook. Luckily, this is an opt-in feature… * wipes sweat from forehead *
Snapchat: This mobile social network allows friends to share images that disappear forever after a few seconds. It may not sound catchy immediately, but they’re pulling in 30 million users a day, according to Forbes. A growing concern amongst users has been that although images disappear from Snapchat, there is no stopping anyone from taking a screenshot and sharing it.
Other 2012 social media highlights:
Facebook:
• The social network went public and quickly lost money for founder Mark Zuckerberg and lots of speculators: Zuckerberg loses half his personal fortune in the slide as shares go for $18.75.
• Facebook was the subject of a widely circulated, viral hoax that seemed to imply users could add copyright to material they posted to Facebook.
• The ubiquity of the social network became unquestioned in 2012. For example, 80 Percent of Social Network Users Prefer to connect with Brands through Facebook, according to Kevin Jorgensen, on the Business 2 Community blog.
Twitter:
• The network surpassed 500 million users.
• It has the highest percentage on mobile, with 50 percent of users accessing Twitter on a mobile device.
• It became an important player in conversations around the November elections: Election 2012 Breaks Records with 31.7 Million Political Tweets.
| Platform | Major Development | Impact on Users / Industry |
|---|---|---|
| 400% monthly growth, strong female user base | Visual-first marketing and brand showcases | |
| Acquired by Facebook, split from Twitter | Expanded user base, rise of photo filters | |
| IPO struggles, auto-photo sync controversy | User trust issues, but strong brand links | |
| Snapchat | 30M daily users, disappearing photo feature | New sharing style with privacy concerns |
| 500M users, election & disaster coverage | Reinforced role in real-time communication |
Hurricane Sandy proved how helpful social media can be: From self-organized clean-up crews organizing around social media sites to social media making helping personal, it was clear that the super storm had created a deluge of social media responses. The good that came from this included government agencies realizing that they can now listen in real time to the needs of citizens, and weather forecasters realizing that on social media, they can find out what’s happening on the ground.
The Bigger Picture
From record-breaking user numbers to innovative (and sometimes controversial) features, it proved to be a transformative year for social media. The platforms evolved from simple networking tools into critical parts of daily life, shaping everything from political conversations to disaster relief.
As social media continues to grow, one thing is certain: the future will bring even more experimentation, competition, and integration into the way we live, work, and communicate.
