The most popular social media channels, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr, have changed the digital landscape for the long-term and continue to evolve daily. As the new economy continues to shift towards entrepreneurship, start-up businesses and freelance opportunities, social media is also changing to incorporate new ways of thinking, sharing and processing information.

• Photos, graphics and other images are all important.

Images often trump text in the digital age, a phenomenon which is intimately tied into busy work days and short attention spans. Rather than long blog posts or blocks of text that are difficult to wade through, infographics that are readable, accessible and understandable have become the new way to share information. Photos and graphics, using image-heavy platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest, are the best way to captivate a viewer and draw them in to whatever message you are trying to convey.

• Customization and personalization are king.

People want to engage in information and images that are exclusively relevant to them, without being bothered by universal messages or news that applies to other groups or individuals. Social media channels are increasingly releasing features that allow users to customize their viewing and sharing preferences to their wants so that it is possible to curate and filter the web into exactly the experience you want to have.

• Speed is essential.

 There is no doubt that average attention spans have shortened somewhat over recent decades, and the role that social media has had in this transformation is important. More and more, social media posts, blogs and pieces of sharable information are becoming bite-sized and digestible. Tweets, for example, have a short character limit and can be read in less than the blink of an eye.

No matter what message you have to send over social media, conveying your information efficiently using unique wording, customization and eye-catching images is the way to go.