“If 2013 showed us one thing, it’s that there’s a growing global business in accumulating friends and followers.” Katy Finneran from Bloomberg put it perfectly in her recent write-up, Five Biggest Social Media Lessons of 2013. Social media is proving itself to be a powerful advantage for large and small businesses alike. Let’s be honest, social media isn’t just for kids anymore.

The 2013 year saw the launch of the now famous app, Vine, the new-and-improved formatting for photos posted on Twitter, the constant growth of Snapchat, and the introduction to Instagram Direct, a whole new way to send photo or video messages to friends.

Pretty soon, we’ll be ringing in the New Year, welcoming more surprises, technological advancements for the long year ahead.

The Gossip Genie team shares their predictions for social media in 2014:

“It’s all about visuals, and storytelling that’s compelling, but to the point. Twitter has been around long enough for users to master the infamous, 140 characters or less ordeal, but what about creating an intriguing video in only a few seconds? The Vine concept is new, but growing in popularity. Concise videos may just become the new social media, storytelling tool, for individuals and businesses.”

– Tara Golenberke

“More businesses will spend money advertising on social networks, especially since Facebook’s algorithm is continuously changing. Boosting posts and running Facebook ads will need to become part of every brands’ social strategy if they want to effectively reach their audience.”

– Elizabeth Ryder

“Gamification will be a heavy component in brands’ social media strategies.”

– Darryl Villacorta

“Revenue sharing daily deal sites like Groupon will become obsolete because businesses will turn to Facebook Advertising offers as a cheaper, more effective method to promote discounts.”

– Jacqui Liberman

“Instagram was the fastest growing network in 2013 with 150 million users and 40 million photos being uploaded each day and in 2014, Instagram will only become bigger, with busisnesses placing a higher priority on it as a way to reach out to their audience in a unique way.”

– Anthony Less

“Companies will move more toward platforms such as Instagram and Vine for marketing. In 2013 we saw the rise and popularity of these image-centric social sites. I expect to see a lot of 6 to 15 second advertisements in 2014.”

– Mathew Patria

So, what do you predict for 2014?