Social Influence has Changed the Web

By Appinions

In the web world that existed prior to the explosion of social media, it was easy for users to dominate chat rooms or to manipulate early SEO rules. The last five years has seen a dramatic shift, the biggest being the rise to prominence of influence within social media. Users, brands, agencies and even those slow to adapt to the web have begun to notice that there are some very loud personalities and voices throughout popular social media forums.

Whereas one use to be able to make some noise in niche chat rooms, it takes individuals creating their own personal influence strategies, and then measuring the results. It is in the hands and ability of any user to become an influencer, if they are willing to put in the time and thought. This is a dramatic shift in how we operate on the web, and how brands and agencies need to approach it.

Users are gaining credibility at an exciting rate through activity and opinion. This will only grow as our reliance and enjoyment of social media grows to greater heights. The next wave of change for the web will involve influence, and might even be driven by the influencers.

One part of the evolution that might occur will be a greater diversity in the social landscape. Influencers might spread their activity beyond Twitter, Facebook and blogging to include Google+ and other forums. This will create greater online presences and even more influence for those who can handle the time it will require, and have the proper strategy to succeed.