The New “Facebook”, The Next Big Thing, The Social Network That Will Change It All – the promise of the platform that will revolutionize social media has become a reoccurring theme in today’s world. New products are continuously being speculated as the next big thing, often evolving into little more than social media dinosaurs. Remember Friendster, Reddit, del.isio.us, StumbleUpon, Tripit, and Digg? In the spirit of the New Year, let’s examine what happened to some of these not-so next big things in social media and take a closer look at where they stand today:

Google+. Perhaps the most anticipated social network of 2012, Google+ offers unique privacy settings, targeted circles, and one-of-a-kind hangout features. The platform’s personalized capabilities often lead consumers to rank it above Facebook despite the fact the network continues to be unsuccessful in attracting a dedicated user base. Today Google+ is considered to be a ghost town with traffic quickly declining and very few users returning to the network after setting up their profiles. It seems as though even with its unique features, Google+ does not have enough to motivate users to change their habits and fails to entice users to get started on a new social network.

Myspace. In 2008 Facebook overtook Myspace sparking the social network’s loss of membership and general disappearance from the social radar. So when Myspace made the decision to relaunch this past fall, the network was not willing to make the same mistake. The new Myspace does not attempt to challenge Facebook, but instead to serve a more specific vertical. The network focuses on music with a mission to connect artists and music lovers in an online community. This vertical focus allows Myspace to provide users the option to sign in through both their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Foursquare. When Foursquare first debuted in 2009 at SXSW, the location-based social networking website quickly had users across the globe checking in at their favorite locations. Three years later and many would argue that the check-in features of Facebook Places have made Foursquare insignificant. With only 25 million active users compared to Facebook’s more than 600 million, Foursquare clearly cannot compete in audience size. Instead, Foursquare has most recently taken a ‘if you can’t beat them, join them” approach. This past summer the network relaunched with a new design as well as some new features that replicate that of Facebook. Foursquare added the option to ‘like’ check-ins and redesigned its interface to resemble more of a news feeds than its previous list appearance.

While 2012 certainly had some social media letdowns, it’s important to take note of the platforms that achieved success this year. Facebook continues to be the most visited social network in the US earning the title of most popular web brand this year. Pinterest recorded the largest year-over-year increase and Instagram set the new record for single day photo shares at 10 million. With competition like this it’s no wonder becoming the next big thing in social media is no easy feat. It seems as we move forward into 2013 we can only be sure of one thing- social media will not be going anywhere but up.