Social media - how much faster can it get?

I read recently that there are something like 11,000 apps for Twitter alone. I defy even the most the Twitter-addicted geek on the planet to be up to speed on all of these.

The Twitter app explosion in many ways symbolises the breakneck speed at which social media is growing. Those of us in public relations have had to pretty much start from scratch in the past year or so and completely relearn our trade to use these new digital tools. For most PR pro’s, I suspect the social media revolution has been bewildering, scary and exhilarating – all at the same time.

How much faster can this rollercoaster ride get? Moore’s law states that computer capacity doubles roughly every two years, so there is nothing to stop the internet growing at an exponential rate to carry much more digital data at even faster speeds.

New York University Professor Clay Shirky has stated: “The moment we are living right now, this generation, represents the largest increase in expressive capability in human history.”

The question for media professionals is how can we possibly keep up if the flow of information becomes even more rapid?

I don’t have the precise answer – otherwise I’d be a billionaire – but I suspect we are going to see the emergence of some digital super-tools that will help us make sense of all this white noise that will gain market dominance. There are already lots of platforms out there like Google and Addictomatic that monitor multiple online platforms that allow us to track what’s being said about oursleves, our businesses and our clients in cyberspace.

Social media has matured from something used by kids to keep in touch with their mates to a more mainstream business tool. Right now, there are just way too many options for consumers to make a sensible choice about what digital platforms really work. (I known this runs counter to the whole self-publish, everyone can be a content creator, ethos of social media).

My sense is that in the next year or two, things are going to settle down a little and some really clever people are going to come up with solutions that will make life online a little bit easier for us all.

I could, of course, be completely wrong, but I’d welcome the thoughts of others on this.