In little more than a decade, the impact of social media has gone from being an entertaining extra to a fully integrated part of nearly every aspect of daily life for many. Recently in the realm of commerce, Facebook faced skepticism in its testimony to the Senate Banking Committee on Libra, its proposed cryptocurrency and alternative financial system. In politics, heartthrob Justin Bieber tweeted the President of the United States, imploring him to let those kids out of cages. In law enforcement, the Philadelphia police department moved to terminate more than a dozen police officers after their racist comments on social media were revealed. And in the ultimate meshing of the digital and physical worlds, Elon Musk raised the specter of essentially removing the space between social and media through the invention at some future time of a brain implant that connects human tissue to computer chips. As quickly as social media has insinuated itself into politics, the workplace, home life and elsewhere, it continues to evolve at lightning speed, making it tricky to predict which way it will morph next. Its hard to recall now, but SixDegrees.com, Friendster and Makeoutclub.com were each once the next big thing, while one survivor has continued to grow in astonishing ways. In 2006, Facebook had 7.3 million registered users and reportedly turned down a $750 million buyout offer. In the first quarter of 2019, the company could claim 2.38 billion active users, with a market capitalization hovering around half a trillion dollars. In 2007 I argued that Facebook might not be around in 15 years. I am clearly wrong, but it is interesting to see how things have changed, says Jonah Berger, Wharton marketing professor and author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On. The challenge going forward is not just having the best features, but staying relevant, he says. Social media isnt a utility. Its not like power or water where all people care about is whether it works. Young people care about what using one platform or another says about them. Its not cool to use the same site as your parents and grandparents, so theyre always looking for the hot new thing.