Emerging Social Media Platforms to Keep an Eye On

New(ish) social media platforms that are gaining traction and could be relevant for universities to explore.

in Strategy

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Tired of me talking about the TikTok ban, yet? I’m not quite done. (Sorry.)

Since coming to terms with the fact that a TikTok ban could very well be in our future, and with the mess that is Elon Musk’s X, I’ve started researching other emerging social media platforms that we could consider shifting our focus to (pending an actual TikTok ban and/or collapse of X) and that might fill the void in my heart.

While we’re nowhere near taking the plunge into a new social media platform, I thought I’d share some of my research with you.

LinkedIn’s Vertical Video Feed

While LinkedIn itself isn’t new to the social media scene, its new vertical video feed is. The vertical video feed appears to still be in test mode and has yet to be announced publicly by LinkedIn. My guess is that LinkedIn is finally joining the other social media copycats.

The question on my mind: What will a vertical video strategy look like for a professional social media network like LinkedIn? Is it all about job-hunting and resume tips? Perhaps Q&As with leaders of different industries? It will be interesting to see how users mold and shape this new video opportunity on the app.

Will this replace TikTok? Let’s be honest, no. But, it will still be good for managers of company pages to keep an eye on.

BeReal

BeReal is also no newcomer to our smartphones, having been available for download in app stores since 2020.

If you’re not familiar, BeReal is a photo-sharing app that prompts users to share a photo at a random time each day, emphasizing authenticity and real-time engagement.

What is new(ish), however, is their launch of RealPeople and RealBrands, which invites celebrities and brands to get in on the BeReal experience and provide “real” content to their brand loyalists. And many real brands (including universities) have hopped on the BeReal train, like Adidas, Chicago Bulls, the University of Arizona, Southwest Airlines and more.

So, what should brands post to BeReal? Here’s what BeReal said: “RealBrands will be sharing the same real, spontaneous moments that you all love to see and they will be playing by the same rules you do. Specifically, RealBrands will be posting within two minutes of getting the notification ensuring you will be seeing authentic, creative, behind-the-scenes content.”

They go on to provide examples of brand-generated content, like a member of the marketing team sharing a photo setting up for an event, or a photo of the team celebrating a product launch.

Okay, but what about universities? Your strategy could take the form of a takeover approach, having a different (vetted) students post to BeReal each day/week/etc. You could have a mascot own the BeReal account. Or, you could simply have a faceless account showing off your beautiful campus and electric events.

The concept of BeReal is simple, sure. But the content strategy is going to take a little creativity.

Noplace

Noplace is a social network targeted toward Gen Z that is described as a “mashup of Twitter and Myspace.” Remember customizable profiles on Myspace? Noplace is bringing it back. The app is largely text based, similar to X, and is starting to see lots of downloads in app stores.

As a millennial, I’m honestly not mad about a Myspace-like app return.

Ten Ten

Have you noticed how much people are embracing voice-to-text in their communication? Ten Ten is taking that to the next level by offering a walkie-talkie-like experience for users to send voice messages to their friends.

Airchat

Speaking of a walkie-talkie-like app, Airchat is very similar to Ten Ten in that it’s an audio-first platform that encourages users to send voice messages and updates to their followers.

YouTube Shorts

Shorts is not so much young as it is a teenager in the social media world. However, with Gen Z and Gen Alpha spending so much time on YouTube, transitioning your TikTok strategy over to Shorts isn’t a bad idea (pending a ban).

Interested in the differences and similarities between TikTok and Shorts? Check them out here.

Bluesky

Conceptualized in 2019 by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Bluesky has been rumored to be a potential X/Twitter replacement and acts essentially like Twitter does…or, used to. While 6 million users is nothing to scoff at, Bluesky still has a long way to go to catch up to X’s 360+ million users.

Making the leap

There are far more new social media apps hitting the stage every month, but these are really the standouts I saw in my research.

Do I think it’s worth ditching TikTok and X for these platforms, yet? Mmm…no.

I don’t think any new social media platforms are replacing TikTok, X or Instagram anytime soon, but staying up to date on what’s percolating across app stores keeps you in the know, not only for your social strategy, but also with your Gen Z interns 😉