Why The Next Social Media Frontier Is The Past

Where does all of that real-time chatter go when the moment has passed? Some entrepreneurs think it could fuel the next generation of disruptive products.

“What are you doing right now?” Facebook asked its users in 2007.

The social network, and its peers, have since become less dedicated to the present moment. Facebook has created Timeline, a historic presentation of daily posts. Foursquare has turned its vault of real-time check-ins into a valuable recommendation engine. And Twitter recently launched a feature that allows users to download their tweet archives. For the first time, social media platforms are looking back.

By facilitating constant, real-time conversation, these platforms inevitably created a detailed log of the past. As a habit of sharing and an emerging quantified-self movement merge, the potential to recycle our real-time content grows.

The next big thing, some entrepreneurs believe, will leverage not “right now,” but “then.” Here’s why:

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