10 Ways Businesses Can Earn Their First 100 Twitter Followers

Starting a new Twitter account can be a daunting task. You have to consider branding, content, networking, campaigns, promotions, etiquette, management… not to mention building up an audience to actually see your tweets.

Here are 10 ways to grow your first 100 Twitter followers, so you’re tweets won’t fall on deaf ears.

1. Follow others. One of the quickest ways to get more Twitter followers is to actively seek out and follow others. The more accounts you follow, the more likely they will follow you back – so follow a few hundred, and 100 of them should follow you back within a few days!

2. Purchase ads. If you don’t have the time or patience to grow your first Twitter followers organically, you can purchase promoted account ads and get your account in front of thousands of targeted potential followers. This is a great option for businesses that need to grow quickly.

3. Use search. Search for your local connections, industry experts, business connections and more. If you find interesting accounts, give them a follow. Many will not follow you back, but if you do this consistently, you will start to see more and more following you back as your account grows.

4. Update your business cards. Add your Twitter handle to your business cards, and new connections will be likely to follow you. This can be a great way to increase targeted followers, since everyone you share your business card with is a potential prospect, partner or other business connection.

5. Tell everyone. Chances are, you know more than 100 people. So why not tell them that your business has a Twitter account? Leverage your existing network by asking them to follow you on Twitter. Send them an email, a text, a message on LinkedIn… however you normally converse with them, just send them a little note to let them know you’re on Twitter, and you’d like them to follow you.

6. Use hashtags. By using hashtags in your tweets, you will ensure they are seen by a wider audience than just your followers. This means that even if you have only a dozen or so followers, your tweet could be seen by hundreds if you use the right hashtags. And, while not all of those who see your tweets will follow you, a handful might each time.

7. Host a Twitter chat. By hosting a weekly or monthly chat on Twitter, you’ll quickly become a central node in your community. If you can advertise your chat to your target audience, you should see dozens or possibly hundreds of participants each week. As the host, participants will nearly always follow you at some point during the chat, and you should hit your 100 followers in no time.

8. Offer a giveaway. Want to incentivize people to follow you on Twitter? Give them something for free! A $5 gift card to your nth follower, or entering every follower’s name into a draw for a larger prize are both viable options for a Twitter follower giveaway.

9. Add a Twitter widget to your website. If you are tweeting regularly (which, of course, you are!), it is a great idea to add a Twitter widget displaying your latest tweets to the sidebar of your website. This will show visitors that you have a Twitter account and that it is active, and they can follow you with a single click.

10. Retweet others. It’s better to give than to receive. If you’re looking for more followers, reach out to others by retweeting their content. This interaction will show up in their notifications tab, and they might give you a quick follow.

(Growth chart image via Shutterstock)

Love the skin you're in: 9 uplifting body-positive blogs

Among the fashion, entertainment and media industries, body-shaming and impossible beauty standards are exceedingly commonplace. But bloggers are fighting back.

Using platforms like Tumblr, an important intersection for young people and issues of social justice, bloggers are changing the conversation and showing it's possible to love the skin you're in.

See also: The 25 Best Tumblr Accounts for Book Nerds

From the inclusive Stop Hating Your Body Tumblr, which promotes self-love among all people, to PsychCentral's body image blog, Weightless, these nine blogs are worth your attention.

Certain images or content within these blogs may be triggering or NSFW; be sure to check Tumblr tags before you scroll. Read more...

More about Blogs, Social Media, Tumblr, Features, and Social Good

The Benefits of Solar Energy

The use of solar energy or energy from sunlight has many advantages. Let’s take a closer look at each of them. • Solar energy saves money. In 2006, we saw the highest jump in residential electricity rates. In some regions, increased to 60% was observed. Many experts agree that the trend will continue in the ...

Millennials Love Snapchat Because It’s Not Facebook

Snapchat seems to have become one of the most important apps in the social market. The announcement of a recent drive for venture capital funding could make it the third-most valuable VC backed company in the world. The value of Snapchat is being driven by the users, and Business Insider surveyed some of them to see why millennials love Snapchat.

One of the big appeals for Snapchat users is the way they app deletes content. One users said:

I was drawn to the social engagement loop and ephemeral appeal of the network. I like a social network that treats content as disposable. Snapchat is in the head space of our generation.

Snapchat users also noted that the messaging service is often more personal than other social sites like Facebook, which makes them more inclined to share. According to another survey respondent:

Snapchat provides an easier answer to Facebook’s ‘What are you doing right now?’ I use it personally to stay in touch with friends and show people what I’m doing, but I’ve used it for just about everything.

Yet another stated:

Snapchat is a way of seeing the world through the eyes of other people that Facebook and Instagram just don’t offer, and I have no idea why that is.

One reason Snapchat users may feel different when using the service is because it doesn’t function as an archive, like other social sites. Facebook is especially archival, often functioning as a family photo album more than a \"social network.\" TechCrunch contributor Sarah Perez sees Snapchat as a response to Facebook’s ever shifting privacy policy.

She wrote:

It’s a reimagining of a social network for the generation who grew up chastised for over-sharing on Facebook and other social media platforms; for those who watched as Facebook shifted the ground underneath them, tricking users into public sharing with privacy policies that were moving targets.

Snapchat walks a fine line between intimacy and distance, because user posts can last no longer than 24 hours at the most. It doesn’t require users to polish themselves or their online personas, they can simply share pictures that give a short-term glimpse into their lives. And this is what has given the app its staying power and its value.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

How Customer Expectations Can Affect Your Conversion Rate

Richard Lee McNair was a convicted murderer. He’d just broken out of federal prison and was on the run. Police were everywhere, and he needed to get out of sight fast. He ran for a few hours, until he was stopped by Officer Carl Bordelon. For most prisoners, this is where the story would end, […]

Delete a Tweet? Careful, You Could Catch Some Heat

For many companies, nearly every tweet involves a process aimed at making the post as perfect as possible — on brand, on message, and on target. A single 140-character statement gets input from the social media, marketing,…

The post Delete a Tweet? Careful, You Could Catch Some Heat appeared first on Sprout Social.

The Science of Posting on Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]

Did you know that studies have shown that the optimum number of tweets to send per day is three, and that for maximum engagement you should aim to post between 9am and 3pm Monday through Thursday?

And the worst time to tweet? Every day after 8pm.

When you think about it, it kind of makes sense. Twitter users are just regular people, and people are far more likely to be active online earlier in the day (i.e., goofing around at work) and particularly lunchtime (1pm to 3pm is a great time to tweet) than they are late at night.

On Facebook, aim for two posts per day between 1pm and 4pm, while Instagram content generates maximum ROI between 2pm and 5pm.

Check out the visual below for more insights on a number of social media platforms, including Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn, and comes courtesy of Setupablogtoday.com.

(Source: Setupablogtoday.com.)

Google backpedals on its Blogger porn ban just 3 days later

Days after announcing that it would begin cracking down on sexually explicit content on its Blogger platform, Google has reversed its decision

The changes, which would have forbid public access to sexually explicit blogs, were slated to go into effect next month. But the policy change generated substantial backlash. Major criticisms pointed out that some users had been posting non-commercial pornographic content for years; to many, the move seemed too sweeping and random

See also: One woman is trying to pressure Google to bury revenge porn

Google posted on its product forum on Friday:

Hello everyone,

This week, we announced a change to Blogger’s porn policy. We’ve had a ton of feedback, in particular about the introduction of a retroactive change (some people have had accounts for 10+ years), but also about the negative impact on individuals who post sexually explicit content to express their identities. So rather than implement this change, we’ve decided to step up enforcement around our existing policy prohibiting commercial porn.

Blog owners should continue to mark any blogs containing sexually explicit content as “adult” so that they can be placed behind an “adult content” warning page. Read more...

More about Google, Social Media, Sex, Pornography, and Tech

Wooga Launches Hidden Object Game Agent Alice on iOS, Android

Pearl’s Peril developer Wooga has announced the release of its latest hidden object game, Agent Alice, on mobile devices. The game takes players to the 1960s, as they solve a series of supernatural crimes, starting with a murder at the Oberon Theatre in New York City. The game has been designed specifically for mobile devices, and will see players completing hidden object scenes as they search for clues, followed by completing puzzles to analyze the evidence.

In Agent Alice, players take on the role of Alice Wallace, a detective in The Agency, assigned to solve cases taking her around the world, meeting new and colorful characters along the way, including a hard-hitting journalist, a Korean War veteran and even a \"scoundrel-turned-love-interest.\"

The game’s story is split into episodes, with each episode offering different locations to explore and hidden object scenes to complete. Players spend rechargeable energy to access scenes, and are challenged to tap on the required items on each scene’s list as quickly as possible.

The faster players find these items, the more combo points they’ll earn. In turn, these points help players earn mastery stars on each stage, with stars serving as a kind of currency to help Alice solve each case. It’s worth noting, a hint system is also available to instantly point out objects players can’t find.

Stars can be used to trigger timed actions, like tracking down a suspect, or to complete mini-games, including jigsaw puzzles. For timed actions, players can spend premium currency to skip the waiting time and move on instantly.

Since stars are required for each case’s completion, gamers will need to play the same hidden object scenes multiple times to earn additional stars. To keep things fresh, the scenes change over time, offering new items to find as players master the previous star levels.

In a statement, Sebastian Nussbaum, head of Adventure Studio at Wooga, commented on the game:

We are delighted to finally be able to introduce Agent Alice to our players. Our first hidden object game, Pearl’s Peril, resonated incredibly well with our audience and we have been working hard on creating an adventure that surpasses that. Agent Alice promises exciting mysteries and an even better player experience. We’re convinced that our fans will fall in love with Alice and her friends.

Agent Alice is available to download for free on the iTunes App Store and Google Play. The game will be supported with weekly content updates going forward, including new environments and story-related content.

4 Key Strategies for Smarter Social CEOs [INFOGRAPHIC]

CEOs are getting social.

Increasingly so. By 2017, Forbes predicts CEO engagement on social media will double. And with good reason – 82 percent of people are more likely to trust a company whose CEO is active on social media.

But what makes a good social CEO?

Posting with an agenda in mind is a big plus. Stay on brand-message and create clear talking points about your area of expertise.

Try to balance personal updates with professional messaging. The best social CEOs appear engaging and approachable.

Don’t force anything. If your presence on social media improves your business then go for it. Otherwise, take a step back and reevaluate.

And remember: you don’t have to tweet. (Just ask Twitter’s CEO). Better to say nothing at all than post simply for the sake of it. And there’s still huge value in being an active consumer of social media – even if you’re the boss.

Check the visual below for more insights, which comes courtesy of the Borenstein Group.

(Source: Borenstein Group.)

15 ways you're probably misusing social media

Facebook was founded in 2004, Twitter in 2006. Even Instagram's been around for almost five years. So you can't say this stuff is new anymore.

For some strange reason, however, more marketers and brands than not are still struggling to make heads or tails of social media. Whether they're surprisingly misinformed or just plain lost, they're wasting their time and missing the boat. They're failing to take advantage of what may just be the biggest revolution in communications since the printing press.

To say that's unfortunate would be an understatement.

After all, done right, social media marketing can be a big game changer. It can be an incredibly effective way to attract the attention of your target audience, engage with them, and curry their favor. Far too many go into it without doing their homework, though, their false assumptions and inexperience undermining any chance they have for a successful social media program. Read more...

More about Social Media, Business, and Marketing

How The New York Times Creates Different Content for Engagement Versus Clicks

Jake Silverstein, editor-in-chief of The New York Times Magazine, interviews Alex MacCullum, assistant managing editor of audience development, and Jenna Wortham, staff writer for the magazine, in a panel titled \"Innovative Digital Storytelling in an Era of Tweets, Vines, Instagrams and More,\" at Social Media Week NYC. Photo by Tim Sohn/Social Times.

It’s clear The New York Times is trying to get its act together when it comes to social media. But it still apparently has a long way to go.

As part of Social Media Week NYC on Wednesday, Jake Silverstein, editor-in-chief of The New York Times Magazine, interviewed Alex MacCullum, assistant managing editor of audience development, and Jenna Wortham, staff writer for the magazine, in a panel titled \"Innovative Digital Storytelling in an Era of Tweets, Vines, Instagrams and More.\"

MacCullum, whose desk resides in the newsroom, said that when she first started at The Times, multiple departments were handling different social media platforms. This is still happening to an extent.

One audience member asked MacCullum how sponsored content fits into The New York Times strategy – that she recently saw a sponsored post on Facebook promoting an article. MacCullum didn’t know anything about it, saying that it didn’t come from her department.

Innovation Report: Social Media Lessons Learned

MacCullum explained that The New York Times’ Innovation Report, which was leaked in May 2014, made it clear that The Times wasn’t thinking through distribution of content online. She said the newsroom was enthusiastic about changes:

One of the things the Innovation Report pointed out was, a lot of our competitors really think about, obviously the creation of good journalism, but they think about it all the way through the distribution. The Times newsroom really approached it as, we put out an incredible paper, we obviously have a really robust digital presence, but it kind of stopped there for the most part. Unlike BuzzFeed and The Huffington Post, we weren’t really thinking about how to get the content in front of the people where they are.

Implementing Change

The former Huffington Post co-founder grew a team that focuses on search strategy and operations, social strategy and operations, analytics, community, and engagement. The engagement editors are training each desk at The Times in terms of best social and search practices, and the desks will take over social and search responsibilities eventually, according to MacCullum.

She said that when she started her job, she said, \"Let’s just change things this way,\" but that was easier said than done at a newspaper the size of The Times, noting that 75 percent of the paper’s revenue still comes from print.

How to Use Social Media Effectively?

Wortham, who is constantly trying new social platforms and started using social media early on, said that at first she was nervous about combining her personal and professional life online. She explained Twitter, Instagram, Vine are like your online calling card:

I kind of think I got more out of Twitter when I stopped treating it as bombarding people with what I was working on. I would only post something if it was relevant or appropriate, like if I was up late at night, I would write: Uh, late night, pulling an all-nighter. Just documenting and presenting my real life online.

She explained that she does have a strategy around big stories she works on. For example, if she knows a big story is going out the next day, she thinks about if she’s going to Instagram it or tweet it:

I’ll tweet the photo when the story goes on the web to engage people visually. Then, when it comes out in the magazine or the paper, I’ll Instagram it.

Wortham pointed out that she doesn’t use social media solely as a promotion tool, that she actually enjoys it.

She said that for her Sunday business column, she always sends out the illustration that goes along with it on Instagram. \"It wasn’t just like, ‘read this, read this, read this,\" she said.

Social Media Engagement Vs. Clicks

Silverstein asked MacCullum if it’s true certain social platforms drive traffic back to The Times’ website.
She said there’s been a 150 percent increase in referrals since she’s been in the newsroom, and there are certain strategies used at The Times to drive traffic versus engagement.

For example, the team will post the core nugget of a story and a beautiful visual on Facebook. Whereas, on Twitter, they will use a Twitter card that gives the crux of the story. For the Paris attacks, they created social assets providing \"here’s what we know, and here’s what we don’t know, and there were three bullets for each of them. There was really no reason to come back,\" MacCullum said.

She explained that she does see a correlation between the number of people that engage with The Times on social media, and the number of fans.

MacCullum really likes what National Geographic is doing on Instagram, that it has made them relevant for a young audience. She said that The Times is launching an Instagram account in March that is focused on visual storytelling.

A photo editor is asking photographers to take additional photos for Instagram – so they can tell the story behind the story.

The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Killer Explainer Video

Have you ever thought about putting an explainer video on your site? It could be an easy way to convert more visitors into customers. When we added one to Crazy Egg, it helped us make an additional $21,000 in monthly income. So, how do you create an explainer video that will increase your conversion rate?  [click to continue...]

Twitter Releases New User Safety Tools

Twitter’s problem with harassment and abuse on the platform is well documented, with the company repeatedly coming under fire for not doing more to tackle this mounting issue.

Back in December Twitter made an update to the way that users can flag abusive tweets on the network. Yesterday they announced a new round of updates to their safety tools, and outlined the changes that they are making as part of their long term plan.

The new improvements will include more efficient measures to report impersonation, self-harm and the sharing of private or confidential information.

The release was documented by Tina Bhatnagar, vice president of user services, on the Twitter blog.

Over the last six months, in addition to the product changes, we have overhauled how we review user reports about abuse. As an example, allowing bystanders to report abuse – which can now be done for reports of private information and impersonation as well – involved not only an update to our in-product reporting process, but significant changes to our tools, processes and staffing behind the scenes.

Ms Bhatnagar noted that while Twitter is now reviewing five times as many user reports as it did previously, they have tripled the size of the support team to handle abuse reports.

These investments in tools and people allow us to handle more reports of abuse with greater efficiency. So while we review many more reports than ever before, we’ve been able to significantly reduce the average response time to a fraction of what it was, and we see this number continuing to drop.

Twitter is also taking steps to better tackle problem users.

We are also beginning to add several new enforcement actions for use against accounts that violate our rules. These new actions will not be visible to the vast majority of rule-abiding Twitter users – but they give us new options for acting against the accounts that don’t follow the rules and serve to discourage behavior that goes against our policies.

The safety updates are rolling out now and over the coming weeks to all users.

(Source: Twitter.)

Social Media Newsfeed: Net Neutrality | Kanye Apologizes to Beck

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Net Neutrality: FCC Reclassifies ISPs as Common Carriers (SocialTimes)
After months of planning and political wrangling, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has finally voted on Net Neutrality rules to reclassify internet service providers as \"common carriers,\" which means that ISPs are subject to the same rules as other utilities. The legislation passed in a 3-2 vote, but the fight isn’t over yet. The New York Times Explaining the reason for the regulation, Tom Wheeler, the commission chairman, a Democrat, said that internet access was \"too important to let broadband providers be the ones making the rules.\" Mobile data service for smartphones and tablets, in addition to wired lines, is being placed under the new rules. The Wall Street Journal The move marks a turn in the government’s approach to the internet — from a hands-off policy dating back two decades to encourage the Web’s growth to a more interventionist posture as commercial issues have multiplied. It was spurred on by companies — such as Netflix — worried that they could face more onerous terms for carrying their traffic and by President Barack Obama, who made an unusual public plea for the rules late last year. The Huffington Post Proponents like Tumblr CEO David Karp say net neutrality protects the little guys, ensuring that their voices have as much of an opportunity to be heard as those belonging to large conglomerates. Opponents, including several ISPs like Verizon, AT&T and Comcast, argue that services like Netflix and Amazon should have to pay for the disproportionately high bandwidth they use.

Kanye West: ‘I Would Like to Publicly Apologize to Beck’ (MSNBC)
Kanye West tweeted an apology to Beck on Thursday, two weeks after storming the Grammy stage and later alleging the singer’s Album of the Year victory was fraudulent. \"I would like to publicly apologize to Beck,\" West tweeted, seemingly unprovoked. \"I’m sorry Beck,\" he added.

Facebook Allows Users to Add Their Own Gender Identities (SocialTimes)
Facebook added 58 custom gender options for its users last February, and the social network announced No. 59 Thursday, offering a free-form field for them to populate as they see fit. Stanford University gender identity researcher Alison C.K. Fogarty told AP giving users more control over their identities is a significant step.

Facebook to Offer New Options to Help Those Feeling Suicidal (CNET)
You may be able to save someone considering suicide — with the help of new features soon to be available through Facebook. In a post published Wednesday, the social network said it has expanded the support available to potentially suicidal people.

Nielsen: Viewers are Ready for T-Commerce (LostRemote)
Riding on its Super Bowl success, Delivery Agent announced Thursday that it has partnered with Toyota for a t-commerce shopping experience. Instead of making a purchase, though, viewers will be able to check out the new Camry through the ShopTV app.

How Three Ordinary Americans Are Getting Paid for Their Social Media Posts (ABC News)
A new social media upstart called Tsu gives 90 percent of its revenue back to its users. In an interview with ABC News’ chief business and economics correspondent Rebecca Jarvis, founder and CEO Sebastian Sobczak explained the name Tsu means \"aesthetic ideal” in Japanese.

Five Critical Tips for Growing Your Social Media Fan Base (SocialTimes)
Growing your social media fan base is something of an art, but there are a few critical components that will get you noticed quickly and effectively. You are your most important source, so here’s how you can use your time wisely for the greatest impact on your social media footprint.

Cable News and Social Media Go All in on #LlamaWatch (CNN Money)
Thursday afternoon, social media and cable news were captivated when two escaped llamas ran free through Sun City, Ariz. As for social media, Twitter gave interesting color commentary on the escaped animals.

How Social Media Shaming Leads to Careful Reputation Management (SocialTimes)
Lindsey Stone, a caregiver with LIFE (Living Independently Forever), posted pictures to her social pages wherein she disobeyed signs. One such picture, of Stone at Arlington National Cemetery mocking a sign that read \"Silence and Respect,\" went viral a month after it was posted.

'House of Cards' fans are confused about when Season 3 arrives on Netflix

If American history has taught us anything it's that new seasons of House of Cards arrive at 3:01 a.m. ET, not 12:01 ET, you confused East Coasters

Mashable confirmed with Netflix that all 13 episodes of Season 3 will come out on Feb. 27 at 3:01 a.m. ET and 12:01 a.m. PT, so you still have time gather snacks and beverages

See also: 'House of Cards' Season 3 Sneak Peek Wins April Fools' Day

Even House of Cards showrunner Beau Willimon can't keep the release time straight:

Sorry folks, had my math off with the time diff here in London. To be clear @HouseofCards launch is 12am PT, 3AM EST, 8AM GMT. Game on!

— Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) February 26, 2015 Read more...

More about Entertainment, Netflix, Tv, Social Media, and House Of Cards

What We Can Learn From the Social Networks of Tomorrow

The internet is a rapidly changing landscape. Although Facebook and Twitter are relatively old compared to most other forms of social media, their downfall has been predicted by many. There are several characteristics of newer social media sites that are expected to determine social media success in 2015:

• Simplicity: Many users are turning towards simplistic, stripped-down user interfaces when looking for new social media networks, a fact that is starting to hurt sites with cluttered profile-views like Facebook.
• Mobile-oriented: A growing number of people are using smartphones for their sole connection to the internet. Developing an app better-suited for phone users is a big advantage for new networks.
• Analytics: Instead of relying on the amount of data collected, how social networks analyze and use data is going to make an enormous difference on the amount of resources and attention a social media site will receive.

Here are examples of how a few social networks expected to make it onto the scene this upcoming year.

Ello

According to its manifesto, Ello is all about being ad-free. Because other social networks track enormous amounts of user data for advertising purposes, Ello claims to avoid this altogether.

How It’s Unique:

• Ello boasts a super-minimalist, easy to use design.
• Ello does collect some data for non-advertising purposes, but there is the option to opt-out.

What We Can Expect:

Although it has the bare-bones look and simple interface expected to be a hit this upcoming year, its lack of data collection (although admirable) and advertising could render it less resourceful and less competitive than other sites in 2015. Although the site claims to be gaining users, it’s still much too small to gain traction soon.

Line

Line is a free text, voice and video message app that allows for the creation of avatars and an overwhelming amount of available stickers– 10,000 to be precise. It’s the belief of this network that stickers and emoticons allow for more emotional and personal communication by text.

How It’s Unique:

• Thousands of available stickers and emoticons.
• Available for smartphones and computers.

What We Can Expect:

The most widely anticipated social network on this list, Line is expected to make a huge entrance in the American social media market in next year. Its images-plus-messaging would make certain kinds of content, such as QR codes, possibly see a resurgence in relevance. Many people have already predicted that its value will skyrocket.

Quora

Quora’s official mission is to \"share and grow the world’s knowledge.\" Users can choose from more than 400,000 different topics and blog about their knowledge of the subject. They can also answer questions asked by other users.

How It’s Unique:

• Interesting mix of social media and user-created wikis.
• Platform allows for blog-style content writing, but in smaller packages similar to a Facebook or Twitter post.

What We Can Expect:

Although Quora has several of the trendy aspects of new social networks, it’s difficult to say how this one will fare. The interface looks clunky and similar to Facebook, but the originality of the idea could make it a big contender in 2015.

Medium

Medium is a blog-hosting platform designed to cultivate small-scale journalism. Created by the founders of Twitter, it allows for more characters, but relies on smaller posts than a typical blog. It’s been described as \"part publication, part platform.\"

How It’s Unique:

• Posts are sorted according to topic, not by users.
• Allows for easy to write, shorter blogs.

What We Can Expect:

Because social media is moving away from in-depth, time consuming posts to simpler models, Medium may have a difficult time competing in the current social media environment. Some users have also claimed that platform is easy to use, but that the entire network lacks direction and focus. Although the idea is interesting, this network will likely have a hard time next year.

Snapchat

Perhaps the most popular of the up-and-coming social networks, Snapchat has recently come into competition with other popular photo-sharing sites like Facebook and Instagram. Up from 60 million snaps sent per day in February, 2013, users sent 700 million per day by May, 2014.

How It’s Unique:

• Unlike other sites, the photos (\"snaps\") on Snapchat can only be viewed for up to 10 seconds, at which point they are deleted.
• Recently introduced is \"Snapcash,\" which allows users to send peer-to-peer payments.

What We Can Expect:

Snapchat’s recent growth has surprised nearly everyone following social media, and its simple, mobile-oriented platform will probably allow it to continue expanding in 2015.

Only time will tell which of these (if any) will go viral in 2015, but the face of social media is changing. The days of the complete user profile and time-consuming posts and picture uploads are ending, and the future lies in shorter, user-posted content.

Owen Andrew is a tech writer and multimedia enthusiast based in Southern California who has spent several years writing for publications both in print and on the web. When he’s not writing or editing the work of his close peers, he enjoys attending EDM concerts, hanging with his children and watching terrible movies.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.