Social media seems to be the wave of the future, and there??™s no doubt that social media sites do accomplish their purpose. They can integrate technology, share information, encourage social interactions and facilitate telecommunications. Everybody knows that when it comes to blogging, LiveJournal and WordPress are there to keep you informed.
For microblogging, Twitter and Pownce whet your appetite for interaction. Social networking sites like FaceBook and MySpace keep everyone connected while Wikipedia stirs up collaboration and Digg keeps tabs on the latest news. Lastly, you have photo and video sharing sites like Flickr and YouTube for enjoying more visual content.
Social media is slowly but surely changing the world. This technology is causing people from all across the globe to become informally introduced. It is improving communication and simplifying tasks. However, is all this social networking a good thing? You might even ask if social media is bound to kill membership websites in the near future. Why so?
Consider how a social networking site like MySpace would affect a dating site like MatchMaker.com. Why pay a monthly membership fee to find someone you fancy when you can learn all about that person through their MySpace page for free? Besides this scenario, many social media sites are starting to focus on very unique, niche topics.
The simple answer is that the popularity of social media is only likely to kill worthless websites or membership sites that have no particularly interesting or original content. Membership sites that charge money for niche content may not die but will be beaten severely by the social media revolution that gives web viewers tons of free content!
This is why you often see top membership sites today adding more psychological elements into their content along with more highly specialized writing. They know they have to really ???up the ante??? to keep up with free social media sites and give their paying visitors a satisfying experience.
As new technology and new social trends arise only the websites with the most valuable content will be remembered. This includes both social media sites and membership sites. If anything, this trend will be a good one, as it will require membership sites to publish a higher caliber of content, something unavailable from free social networking sites. The more competition that is unleashed in any given market (and in a way, social media sites are the competition) the more that visitors will benefit.