Are You A Follower When It Comes To New Social Platforms?

Blab.im. It’s sleek. It’s what the cool kids are using or where they are hanging out. And who doesn’t want to be cool? Or better yet, who doesn’t want their brand to be cool?

The cool place seems to continuously move and well, if you blink twice it may have just relocated once again. Do you move or do you stay? Or just hang back to see where everyone goes next?

Let’s say you’re a mover. You move right in to the latest platform. Testing it out. Inviting your friends. Listening to experts tell you why you should stay or jump ship to another one. You go from Vine, to Instagram to Meerkat and to Periscope.

While I love the viewpoints of those who really know the industry, those I consider way smarter than I; it is worth noting to the average user, you need to carefully evaluate all platforms to determine which to use to expand your brand.

I mean let’s think about it. Just when experts were trying to convince brands today’s viewers only want short videos, like on Vine or Instagram and longer videos on YouTube are falling out of style, in walks Meerkat and Periscope. Apparently we do have the capacity to watch video footage for longer than mere seconds after all. Perhaps it really is about the content being shared and if it appears of interest to the viewer within the first several seconds or minutes.

As we’ve seen, Periscope, a Twitter mobile application which allows users the ability to stream what is going on in their world for extended periods of time, was winning the attention of live streaming video platform fans. Then Blab.im appeared. I have seen people who’d normally spend their time on Periscope, practically live on Blab now. It really isn’t a competitor to Periscope though, more to Google Hangouts.

If social media were poker, Blab just upped the ante on Google with good cards in hand. Why not stream 4 different people together in large blocks on the screen and add instant messaging to the group video chat? Indeed, Blab is picking up where Google left off. However, for many, this is not a surprise. Failing to listen to complaints and suggestions from its users, perhaps Google is OK with a new platform coming on the block. But it is probably too soon to count out Google Hangouts altogether. Blab still has some growing of their fan base and potentially new features to consider.

While I’m impressed with the ease of use of the platform, I turned to colleagues from various groups online to hear their pros and cons on Blab and how they compared it to Google Hangouts.

Want to know what they said or what I think about the new platform?

Come back next week for more.

(Cue The Clash’s song, “Should I Stay or Should I Go”.)

Have you tried out Blab.im yet? If so, leave your comments below, and don’t forget to check out part 2.