Many of us are happy to have 2009 behind us! I've enjoyed looking over the predictions and forecasts for
2010. I thought it might be helpful to provide a roundup of some of my favorites - and add my reflections to kick off the conversation.
What are your favorite Internet Marketing and Social Media trends for the upcoming year? 2010 breakthroughs may present themselves as shiny, new technologies... but the biggest surprises might come from mainstream business use of stuff thats been around for some time.
Here are some of my favorite predictions for 2010.
1) Harvard Business Review takes an industry level peek into how we organize our social media, business scaling, gaming, mobile and more.
2) Dan Zarella, A Social Media and Viral Marketing Scientist who also works at Hubspot, talks about Social Media trends toward more IRL (In Real Life) translation, micro-segmenting, small business Social Media Marketing and the Real time Web.
3) StartupNation has a terrific set of Top 10 Internet Marketing Predictions for 2010 from Tom Now covering everything from the explosion of the US Hispanic Market online through the rise of video blogs, Digital Portfolios and your digital footprint, Location-based Marketing and Integrated Marketing.
4) Trendwatching wins my creative insight award though... by taking a wide angle lens on all of society and culture they forearm us with predictions of embedded generosity, intention-based online profiles and Tracking & Alerting to manage our INFOLUST. They wrap with some reflection on the opinionated, risque, outspoken - and (might I add) rude - brand speak of 2010 that emanates from the mouthpiece of the online world. Hmm... sounds like a teenager to me.
My Takeaways and Favorites...
Favorite #1 - INFOLUST and too much noise. While I haven't heard the term before, it seems to me an accurate perspective on many of our online pursuits. This necessitates the need for Attention Filters like alerts, automated search tools, RSS feeds and aggregation tools. Twitter Lists, Google Sidewiki and other ways for the collective to annotate our ramblings reminds me of how folksonomies are being taken to the entire Web.
Favorite #2 - Craving of life to meet life. IRL (In Real Life). As a Meetup organizer, I appreciate the value of online meetups. Meetup passed the 50 Million RSVP mark this year, with 5 Million Meetup groups per Scott Heiferman in this YouTube video on Meetup in 2009.
Favorite #3 - Portfolio thinking - Digital portfolio/digital footprints. For the past year, I've been realizing and advocating that we are all going to have start thinking in terms of portfolios. In the highly fragmented world we call 2010, it is more and more likely that our money, time and attention will be coming from/directed to a wide range of sources. How many income sources do you have? (I can count six and growing). How many social (online and offline) outlets do you have (I'm well over a dozen). Have you Googled yourself lately to see your Digital Footprint?
Favorite #4 - Embedded Generosity. The idea of seeing tighter, micro-embedding of cause-based efforts is one of the more positive trends that helps tighten the weave of our global blanket.
What are your takeaways or favorites? What would you add?
BTW - I know I'm missing some great trends and predictions. If you have one, please add it to the comments below.
Thanks - and here is wishing you a life-inspiring 2010!
-Skip
Photo credit: www.brainygamer.com
