# Social Media, Quo Vadis? Prospective Development and Implications
## 2 Theoretical Background and Development of Projections
### Platform Development  
Social media platforms emerged as a sub-segment of the internet. In this section, we address possibilities of merging social media with other internet segments and other social realities. Whereas social media platforms are rather separated from the World Wide Web, as much content is only visible for logged in users, a closer approximation of both segments is conceivable. We therefore conclude as follows. P9. Social media and the World Wide Web will merge. Similarly, social media could merge with e-commerce. Sales in e-commerce are projected to further increase in the future [35]. Social commerce relates to e-commerce activities on social media platforms that also include interactions by users [36]. First attempts to integrate e-commerce into social media are visible [37]. For example, on Facebook, users can offer secondhand goods. Similarly, Instagram offers businesses to integrate shopping features into their account, so that users can directly purchase goods from pictures and videos posted in the app [38]. In 2018, about 32% of the respondents of a survey in the United States used the option to directly shop on social media [39]. This leads to the following proposition: P10. Social media and e-commerce will merge. So called \"edtech\" (educational technology) startups try to disrupt or at least bring technological innovation to the current education sector [40; 41; 42; 43]. While these platforms often offer elements of social media, also the large social media platforms could further develop into the education sector. They already partly serve for educational purposes by supporting social interaction and collaborative learning [44]. However, currently academia is rather retrained regarding the use in higher education [45]. Nevertheless, Facebook groups are used as online co-learning groups for students, in order to communicate and interact [46]. In regard to these considerations, we posit: P11. Social media and educational platforms will merge. Another potential platform development relates to the automotive industry. It is predicted that social media will be connected to users' vehicles via its infotainment system [47]. Moreover, in autonomous vehicles, social media could be integrated so that it enables users to connect with people or share and consume content on the go, like a smartphone [48]. We therefore conclude: P12. Social media will move into the automobile industry. Similarly, fintech (financial technology) startups attempt to disrupt or innovate the financial industry [49; 50; 51; 52; 53; 54; 55; 56; 57]. Social media platforms could also engage in this sector. An already visible advance in this direction is the Libra payment system [58]. Further developments like this are conceivable. As a consequence, we posit: P13. Social media will expand in the Fintech sphere. Currently, users have to have several accounts when they want to use different platforms. In the future, one access point or even the merging of separate social media platforms to a unified platform is conceivable. This leads to the following notion: P14. There will be one unified social media platform. However, also the opposite is possible, i.e., national governments regulate social media operators more strictly to break their predominant market power. For example, Facebook, which operates the Facebook platform, Instagram, and Whatsapp, could be forced to split up into three separate companies. A possible development could be: P15. State governments will break social media platform providers to de-monopolize the market. Recruiters already use social media platforms to screen and select human resources despite ethical, legal, and practical concerns [59; 60]. However, job seekers may also research an organization on social media, so that their perception of the potential employer might be influenced [61]. LinkedIn is the most suitable social media platform, when it comes to employment recruitment, as it is a professional networking platform for business professionals to connect [62]. In that sense, we state: P16.