About Social Media Today
Since the dawn of time, man has tried to grasp what will always be in front of us: the future. Great prophets told us of divine visions. Shamans read the unseen from bones, tea-leaves, or dice. Weathermen use scientific theories. Financial analysts use math and statistics. Political forecasting is done through the use of opinions. I use none of this. I simply give a hypothesis based on a proven history of mental instability.
What will 2010 show true ?
Google Wave will be another near miss. Select users that have already found its value, will undoubtedly [continue] to use the service. However, the platform that is already being seen as confusing by those who have no one to wave with will never visit it again. As a group collaboration tool it may find itself a home among people who use the internet as their primary occupational medium... but not mainstream.
Facebook's decline begins. Bet on it. Even at this time Facebook doesn't realize that they actually have "customers"... and they are still always right. Unless they begin to put their ear to the street and tune in their audience, they will begin to [slowly] crumble. Take that into consideration with my next point.
Online advertising continues to show less value. For a long time I've been blind to online advertising. My brain no longer flexes even the most solitary dendrite towards noticing ads. I, however, am the minority, for I make a living using the Internet as my playground. Similarly, the general masses are also changing their prescription eye-wear to match my own. Now, even grandma knows that the picture shown is not a "sexy single in her area ready to party tonight."
Content is no longer king - it is a senate. Online publications that have multiple faces behind the broadcast will show areas of growth at a much faster pace. The newspapers are dying, and yet the consumer still wants a viable "source" over a viable "person". TechCrunch and Mashable are still blogs, yet they have grown to Wall Street Journal status to those who consume it. Give this consideration if fresh content is a solid growth strategy for you.
Off-shoring and outsourcing explodes. Due to the economic strains many "Great Idea" gaps were left wide open. However, with the venture-capitalists and investors using this year to ramp back up, many of these "Great Idea" concepts will be boot-strapped. This of course means getting production done as cheaply as possible. You can imagine where most people will go for their work [or virtual assistants].
Mobile will get a light bulb. More and more companies will finally take their mobile strategy into heavy consideration. Mobile geo-tagging will also be a serious sub-heading of this drive. Interacting with your environment through the use of your mobile device will also show large signs of growth.
Twitter should take what they can get. Before moving my content over to posterous, I wrote a post entitled "Why Twitter was better 6 months ago [now 9 months]. Taking a quick glance over the latest trending topics, we can quickly see that the service has now been taken over by the general masses and beginning to be left behind by its original champions. Somehow I can't see popular topics such as #ThingsWhitePeopleSay and #RememberBackInDaDay being a positive blip on the acquisition radar.
Survival of the social. Businesses who understand the full potential of collaboration will thrive as an agile unit. Here we will see smart companies develop their own platforms that allow their employees to talk, discuss, provide feedback, resolve scheduling, and even provide merit reviews, all interactively.
SEO gains further organic soil. While there are many ways to get routinely discovered on the internet search engines will have greater focus into your online buzz and social aspects. The crystal ball tells me the future will take out a lot of the well-known science behind SEO, even to a point where we may have to un-learn what has been so deeply embedded into our memories. Take into consideration that Page Rank for example has [allegedly] over 2,000 variables. What is another 500 more?
Digital, Digital, Digital. If it is possible to get a digital copy of something online as opposed to going out and buying it, consumers will do it this 2010 at an exponentially higher rate than 2009. Be sure you're taking notice of this no matter what area of industry you're in. If you CAN offer it digitally, do so. There is no greater impulse buy available.
Online television jumps. While online television has considerably jumped already, it will continue to do so in 2010. I think that Hulu, however, is jumping the gun on their subscription model. Even if your content providing companies are sticking it to you with terrible rates, now would be a great time to focus on having your own content. Hulu is very well positioned to have such status as HBO or similar if they grasp the "original programming" wheel by year-end.
Regular people want to do it. The do-it-yourself title is not held exclusively by home-repair enthusiasts. A variety of online models this year will focus on people taking things into their own hands as opposed to working through a middleman or even a consultant. Like home-repair savants, giving people the tools to make informed decisions on their own will show a heavy reduction in overhead.
Have predictions of your own ?
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Anthony Richardson is an interactive marketing consultant for startup companies. His consultancy, Fugitive Marketing, operates out of Orlando Florida.
