What Social Media Means for the Data Centre: Part 3

by | Aug 14, 2014 | Articles, News

The Rise of Social Media

In 2013, trends in social media showed the rise in popularity of visual mediums. Services such as Instagram and Pinterest are becoming the prevalent platforms with their photo- first agendas, so it’s no surprise that new social networks are emerging all the time. Not every platform will hit the ground running, mind. Many start-ups find that building a large, data-driven business by offering free web services to a fast-emerging user base costs money, a lot of money. The promise of scalable storage capacity for very little upfront capital is a beneficial and cost-effective method for growing a social media platform, and that is where data hosting companies can take advantage.

One of the most noted examples is Netflix that still use Amazon’s web services even as it scales to colossal heights. By the end of 2013, Netflix reported a staggering 33 million subscribers to its platform in the US alone. However, it is also not unheard of for a start-up to leave web hosting behind when upon mass adoption. It soon becomes apparent that there are many reasons not to remain in the cloud. The cost of building complex high-performance web applications on a virtual infrastructure may simply no longer be beneficial. Many of the larger social media platforms will opt to lease or build their own datacentres to deliver an always-on, always-optimised user experience that is critical to the success of their business.

In 2014, up-and-coming social networking sites such as Pheed, Sulia, ShareBloc and Learnist are platforms that experts are watching closely. It wouldn’t be unanticipated for these companies to consider building their own data centres should they reach mass adoption. In most cases, data centres are a sign of success, and some of the largest, most technologically advanced data centres in the world belong to the likes of Facebook and Google, who famously spent billions of dollars to build them.

With the social media phenomenon continuing to gain momentum, it is little surprise that data centre companies such as Telecity and Interxion have seen their share prices rise with it. One thing that social media companies have in common is that they require data centre specialists to design, build and maintain the nucleus of their business. Specialists like Future-tech.

So, while data centre hosting benefits from upcoming social media platforms, data centre construction benefits from the ones that take off. Where there is a future for social media, there is a future for the data centre.

Click the links to read Part 1 and Part 2 again. If you have any questions relating to what social media means for the data centre please contact Future-tech today.