As social media continues to grow and become increasingly critical to our day to day lives, the number of niche platforms available for us to express our likes, dislikes, hopes and dreams is at an all-time high. No matter what you need to talk about – be it a new TV programme or a new girlfriend/boyfriend – there is always an app to help you get chatting and connecting. From eBay to Tinder and Instagram to Snapchat, our social platforms continue to adapt and develop the PR and marketing landscape. We all seem addicted to checking for WiFi everywhere we stop, and that compulsive need to be connected to those around us is stronger than ever. I lecture at universities and at various social media conferences and I was acutely aware that I was often talking off a poorly designed timeline and I felt I could do a better version which included the main channels. So I had one created back a couple of years ago and I called it the top 10 game changers in social media. However, that included a lot of sites such as Friends Reuntied – remember them? So now we are back with a new and improved timeline that includes a few more recent additions. We welcome the inclusion of Vine, YikYak, and Instagram – demonstrating how visual, and easy to use platforms, are the perfect channels for connecting not just friends but brands to almost all demographics. But all is not well in social right now, many brands have tried to create social platforms have failed such as Apple’s Ping and Google’s many platforms and Twitter is struggling with an identity crisis right now as the millenuals and the next generation move to anonymous a more fun networks. Here is my timeline for social media.

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About Chris Norton

Chris Norton is the founder of Prohibition and an award winning communications consultant with more than twenty years’ experience. He was a lecturer at Leeds Beckett University and has had a varied PR career having worked both in-house and in a number of large consultancies. He is an Integrated PR and social media blogger and writes on a wide variety of blogs across a huge amount of topics from digital marketing, social media marketing right through to technology and crisis management.