What will be the new leap in social networking?

Social networking is one of the most popular reasons people access a computer and the internet. It gives us a means by which we can keep in contact with friends and family, keep up to date with news around the world, keep track of our favourite personalities and many more. Some of the the most used are Facebook, Twitter and Google + which offer an on line profile for someone to give out information about themselves and connect with people.

There are also other means of conversation via the internet such as Skype, Windows Live Messenger and others in the same category. These programs offer the ability to text chat instantly with contacts and video/voice chat also.

If we can access peoples on line persona's via the existing social networks, what possibly could the next advancement be? How can we improve on what we already have?

My Ideas

I think the next advancement will come from the current young generation which I myself am a part of being 19 years of age. I have been brought up around the internet and it has played a huge role in my life and how I have socially developed as an individual. The internet has allowed me to interact with friends, access any information that I desire and most importantly gave me the freedom to access the content that I want.

The current internet set up and social networks cover nearly everything that we could desire, we can talk, see and hear each other at the click of a button, what can be introduced that can better this? Well I think the next big thing in social networking is real world interaction. Let me elaborate on this a little more...

If we can use these networks to interact with anyone in the world over the internet in sub communities of personal interests and opinions then what's stopping social networks becoming more of a place to organise mass events such as protests, activities, clubs, sports events etc. I know this is done now with the current set ups but what about the introduction of HD streaming of these organised events? Live commentary? Something that will give the people watching on line a feeling of being present at the location.

I think the biggest advancement we are about to witness is the implementation and use of communities on line. Here at HubPages is a great community of people with diverse interests and knowledge all combining together into one to provide quality content and support for those seeking such help. What if communities that had branched off come together and form movements that could possible revolutionise something we see as normal today.

Implementation of a virtual world will be introduced soon in my opinion. Such as the PlayStation Home feature and Xbox Live Avatars. They allow customisation of virtual people to look like ourselves and we can behave how we do in the real world on line. This can lead to a whole host of new interactions. What if Facebook implemented a new "game" that allowed you to create a character that could be let loose into a virtual world where you can have your own community, home, career.

Some of these ideas are used right now, but are not fully implemented into our everyday lives. The internet in the next 10years is only going to increase in size and speed. New faster internet speeds are being created every years, computers get faster every year, HD is common now, 3D is making another big push, 2160p is in development for formatting content.

This opens up a whole new world for social media and how we interact with it. The Xbox kinect gave me an idea recently too. What if the virtual character that you use on the Xbox was your social media character? Where you control the character physically not just with a mouse and keyboard. How awesome would that be?

These are just some of my ideas on where I think social networking/media will head in the next 5 years. I hope I gave you some food for thought and maybe one day these will be used for our benefit.