Not long ago we were waiting for the friendly neighborhood postman or the long distance call for that matter. More recently, it is the ubiquitous email. The present arrives and things have improved. We experience tweets, Facebook posts, and updates continually. Not to mention the instant look of it all. This evolution in gaining social participation will reach new heights in the future. There will hardly be any difference between the real world and the virtual one. With this, we will see the potential trends that will shape the near future.

The rise of location-based features

Location-dependent services such as Gowalla, Foursquare will dominate the future. Brand agencies will continue to shape the service that is already expanding across diverse demographics, topographies, and regions. People will like to take advantage of content related to locale. In addition, they will share said content, making it a closer social connection and at the same time relevant. Today, location-dependent services via mobile phones number more than 50 million users. This will further benefit 500 million users by the end of this year. By 2014, the services will contribute around $ 12.7 billion.

Share content

Currently, sharing video content is a crucial aspect to maintain social engagement. This trend will only move north due to technological growth in video streaming. Such technology encourages the exchange of motivations for both marketers and potential customers. In reality, video-based sites are controlled by consumers, not brand agencies. The masses create and view the content they want to see. Every minute more than 35 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube’s mobile access accounts by almost 10%.

Augmented reality: the true experience

This real-time mechanism of combining live information or action with the real world will play a key role in future social interactions. Augmented reality brings life to both social and real events. In addition, it will give life to places such as museums and tourist attractions and, at the same time, it will generate social participation. Technological mechanisms, for example, Layar are becoming more and more popular across the Android platform. It will continue to drive growth exponentially. Brand agencies using augmented reality will play a key role in e-commerce, where potential customers can ‘try on’ different outfits and accessories.

Games: the social way

Zynga is to play what Henry Ford is to cars. They both made their offer affordable to the common man. By Zynga the $ 15 billion valuation is a testament to that fact. By now, social games have changed the way we do business and trade in different ways. Let’s face it, almost everyone is guilty of protecting their virtual livestock and preserving the green of their villages. The direction of these applications is only in one direction: progressive. As brand agencies continue to alter our lives and create more interactive experiences. In short, turning social engagement into a forward-looking future will make people choose your market, and in turn, the market will reach them.