Location services are present in the market for some time, but 2018 will probably be the year in which the most important players will pay more attention to user data. Of course, in addition to Foursquare we can not forget Facebok and Google, who trace the path that the others follow, but the real challenge will come from the hand of linking this data with other services such as maps, shops and images.

A perfect example we have in Instagram. When you enter the markup or geotagging into your service, a potential revenue area comes from being able to offer those localized photos to businesses for a price. The new conditions of service recently made public suggest that the best way to be able to carry this out is through sponsorship rather than through labeling.

The possibility that Foursquare is acquired by some of the big ones, like Apple, Facebook or Google, is relatively high. We can not forget that Instagram was sold for more than USD 715 million, and the service has not yet been able to monetize. However, Foursquare has a lot of data and some income generation lines that make it more attractive.

Claiming the data

One aspect of social media that we often forget, especially after a data privacy crisis occurs, is that as users become more aware of their rights, they will be platforms rather than their policy changes Of privacy, who will take into account and decide what data are those who decide to deliver freely to the network and platforms.

The different services will be minimally adapting their privacy policies in order to appease the masses, but third party services like Privacyfix will grow in importance as users can have their details presented in a way that is easy for them to understand. Are faced.

Another area that will grow in popularity will be significantly of applications with available content, such as Snapchat and Facebook Poke. The emergence of the latter has created a great global interest, although its popularity has fallen as fast as it grew, but the secret of its success will come from the hand of its images, something that the majority of the applications of messenger and image can incorporate. And this brings us to the next point.

Improving Image Editors

We can not forget the strength of the images when it comes to getting the messages across the confines, so no wonder that we face another trend of 2018. Facebook, Twitter and Flickr have already introduced their own versions Of Instagram filters, but the next step will come hand in hand with a higher level of customization in the hands of users.

The purchase of Snapseed by Google last September, gives us a realistic image of where the sector is going, by making available to users more tools, such as those that allow you to customize and edit the images before being uploaded to the network. These applications will be designed with mobile devices in mind, since it is necessary to keep in mind that most of the images are loaded from these devices. Nor should we wonder if the popular camera applications of Twitter and Facebook go beyond the filters and other options that currently offer.

Focus on retention, not growth

Facebook is clearly the leader. Twitter and LinkedIn still have a long way to go before being able to reach the billion users. 2018 will be the year in which we will see the leader giving a real turn to his strategies, worrying more about retention than growth. The reason is that the popular platform is in many countries very close to the point of saturation, as is the case of the United States, which makes it necessary to change strategy in those regions. But that does not mean that the platform stops growing, on the contrary, because there are still important opportunities in places like Asia and Latin America. Even so, Facebook’s next moves will be more user-oriented and making sure its current members do not abandon it.

The foundation of Social Search

While social media have benefited from considerable development in recent years, the searches do not seem to have had the same impetus. It is not something that seems especially terrible, but it is necessary to recognize that the search engines do not seem that they are well prepared to handle all the immense volume of data available. The reason for this problem is that the search engines do not have authentic means to filter the information as the users want it. Search engines have become outdated and can hardly do basic searches

Probably the only site that has enough potential is Google+. The introduction of Google+ communities, provided rapid growth takes place in the coming months, will provide G + with the necessary context for the data, making it easier for the most relevant search results to appear.

2018 will not yet be the year in which social searches will emerge, but will be the time that will allow these companies to create the basis to improve the machines that will perform this type of searches. There is still some time left, but when it does, the transformation of the way we find and consume the data will change completely. Meanwhile, little by little we will receive news of the progress as they develop.

The appearance of augmented reality

Augmented reality (AR) has been around for a long time, but has not yet been consciously established in the public. Ads and campaigns with AR surprise and impress when presented publicly in public spaces, but only a few have dared to ask us to take our phones and discover new experiences. AR is more versatile than QR codes, and if companies do not use it as a way that we could call elitist to access web pages, having a mass audience support will be simple. If most consumers are migrating from simple mobile phones to smartphones or smartphones, why not put this technology into use?