Which Social Media Tool will be the First to Become Irrelevant?

By Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer, the 60 Second Marketer

Social Media is like the Wild West. If you don't like how things are today, just wait 24 hours and it'll be completely different tomorrow.

With that in mind, weconducted a survey with marketers from around the globe to find out which social media tool they thought would be the first to become irrelevant. The choices included YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

In the survey, over half (51%) predicted My Space would be the first social media site to become irrelevant. Heavy competition from Facebook could explain the gradual demise of My Space in our poll results. Facebook has gone from a Harvard-only phenomenon to a college-student-only networking site and has now evolved into a networking site for adults of all ages.

Twitter may also be facing some challenges. In our survey, 35% of the respondents indicated that Twitter would be the first social media tool to become irrelevant. Twitter offers a completely different paradigm in networking which clearly appeals to some and not to others. While Twitter continues to grow at a rapid pace, high rates of attrition continue to plague the service. 

Currently, more than 60 percent of U.S. Twitter users fail to return the following month, according to a report from Nielsen Research. This kind of churn rate could plague the service for the foreseeable future.

LinkedIn, essentially the only ubiquitous career-networking site, continues to be very relevant as job seekers use the site for potential job opportunities. And YouTube, despite intense competition from Hulu and other websites, was seen as a social media tool that wasn't going anywhere soon.

There are a few things marketers can learn from the results of our survey conducted on the 60 Second Marketer website:

• The life span of some social media tools might be no longer than the life span of the pet rock: That's not to say that MySpace won't be here for the long-term. It is, after all, the Granddaddy of All Social Media tools. It's just to say that if you thought internet time was rapid, wait until you experience social media time.
• If you're targeting young people, MySpace is still a valuable tool: The fact that millions of young people from around the globe visit MySpace each month shouldn't be ignored. If you're smart, you'll find a way to leverage that traffic for your own brand.
• Users may end up migrating back to MySpace: Once people under 25 who are on Facebook get "friended" by their Aunt Myra in Iowa, you can be sure a certain percentage will migrate back to MySpace. Just watch.
• Reports of the death of MySpacemay be greatly exaggerated: To assume that MySpace isn't aware of some of these trends that were spotted in the 60 Second Marketer research would be wrong. Trust us, they're evolving the product right now as we speak. Stay tuned. You might be surprised with where they take their platform next.