Year in review — The Biggest Social Media Moments of 2021
With 2020 taking over the world of technology and digital mediums, it is no shocker that the year 2021 was all about massive trends and evolution in the digital front!
The year 2021 saw some amazing new trends and features adapted by platforms to make the user experience fruitful and effective. With that, we saw a lot of platforms completely changing media consumption. We have audio platforms, short-form content, long-term engagement, and more became possible this year.
Here, we bring to you some of the most highlighted moments of social media in 2021.
#1 Augmented Reality created an impact in Digital Marketing
Unless you live under a rock, you might have used or come across filters on social media, where a teddy bear replaces someone’s face or sparkles shoot out of someone’s mouth as they open it.
The pandemic-induced lockdown may have inadvertently caused this sudden spike in interest. Thus, Augmented Reality turned out to be one of the greatest hits of 2021! From influencer marketing campaigns to filter launches to layout the tried and tested features for products, brands tried to channel a massive awareness about their objective and niche. With little to no coding or design skill required, augmented reality crafted customizable interactive experiences for customers and surpassed print, online, campaigns and advertisements in terms of marketing effectiveness. Use of AR filters, lenses and incorporating augmented reality characteristics onto brand strategies was a showstopper this year!
#2 Parent company of Facebook was re-branded to Meta
Mark Zuckerberg changed his company Facebook’s name to Meta this October. The name change was announced last month following the concept of Metaverse, the sci-fi term, following their vision of making an entire virtual world. Metaverse goes beyond social media where users can interact with each other in a more immerse way.
Zuckerberg said that they want to break the notion of Facebook being a mere social media company, but their aim is to create a brighter and technologically advanced world. A future that the entire world is heading towards. Following this, Facebook has extended its work processes to cryptocurrencies as well. In short, Metaverse is a shared virtual space that utilizes emerging technology to allow Internet users from around the globe to engage in virtual experiences. Emerging technology includes extended reality, artificial intelligence, machine learning, social media, wearable tech, cryptocurrency, NFTs, and much more.
#3 Instagram took over digital marketing
Instagram has been one of the most used platforms across all ages over the entire year. Instagram has upgraded itself and has made the platform more appealing for creators and audiences alike.
It has come up with remixes, collab features, along with more technical features like deleting a specific picture in a carousel. Instagram rolled out multiple stickers for the users. We had a link sticker feature that helps anyone to add links to the stories. Along with these the music library has also been upgraded.
Map search was launched last September where one can use the feature to search for locations or places they wish to on Instagram itself.
#4 YouTube Shorts and live streaming became popular
With many platforms for short-form content coming up, YouTube launched Shorts last year. In 2021, Shorts hit a complete year after its launch. Shorts was generating over 15 billion global views a day. Shorts have been gaining momentum and many creators are taking to creating more shorts. With time, there are new features being launched to improve the experience of creating and viewing shorts. There have been plans to launch monetization of shorts.
Similarly, live streaming has picked up the momentum of late with many gaming creators taking streaming to the next level. However, currently, live streaming is not only limited to gamers, but every creator has their own eccentric streams. Live streaming on YouTube has made the audience feel closer to the creator, and the popularity of live streams is a testament to that.
#5 Twitter went madhouse with memes when Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram went down!
Talking about the biggest moments, we cannot forget the one where Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp blacked out and faced a major outage for the longest period of 6 hours. Taking advantage of this unexpected digital outage, Twitter took over the internet and basked in glory! Putting out a tweet which said, “hello literally everyone”, was a wakeup call for brands to pick up Twitter Marketing! Brands and microblogging aficionados took this opportunity to wallow in nostalgia and went on furiously typing out jokes, memes and responding to tweets. And that’s how we learnt to make the best use of moment marketing!
The microblogging website has always been touted as one trailing behind the other social media giants. This changed in 2021 with Twitter taking over other platforms. Twitter has been consistent in analyzing what its users expect from it and upgrading accordingly. Twitter discontinued its Fleet feature after users found it unuseful. Spaces were launched in mid-2021 where users can host live audio chats with fellow Twitter users. This has captured users and made interaction and engagement easier.
#6 LinkedIn updates became a boon for businesses
When the world of social media is constantly changing with updates and new features, how could LinkedIn not be upgraded! The largest professional network released a grad’s guide that compiled a report highlighting industry trends, top roles, and more to find the right job despite the uncertainty for graduates and freshers in August, 2021. Among other updates, LinkedIn also added its first Indian regional language with Hindi being supported in the app.
Not to mention, the Creator Mode of the platform had some interesting updates and tools that will help businesses maintain connection with their audience. In November, 2021, LinkedIn also launched new features for company pages to help businesses align better. Using these, companies would be able to mark whether their employees are ‘remote’, ‘hybrid’ or ‘on-site’, enabling more transparency. In short, LinkedIn pulled the curtains to show brands, businesses and creators how Gen Z consumes and engages with content on the platform.
#7 The out of control rise of Clubhouse
With over a year of their launching Clubhouse has become the next big thing. Clubhouse, a platform that started slowly, has grown faster than any other platform has ever. The clubhouse is slowly becoming a more democratic and decentralized version of what radio was before.
Slowly brands are tapping into the potential of the platform, and the platform has also released a recording feature. With this feature, people can listen to their rooms even after it has been done and closed.
Conclusion
2021 has been a year full of new changes in the digital era. With the pandemic and everything going digital, we have seen a myriad of trends on all platforms alike. Social media has become an integral part of businesses, institutions, and organizations.
Businesses have completely changed and social media is now becoming a place for creators, businesses, and brands to create adversity. It is no more a place for individual use and personal experience.
With the new year looming in the corner, it is sure that there will be more better and exciting trends. It will be interesting to note how social media changes every aspect of our life.
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