So in the spirit of making yearly predictions right before the upcoming new year, I’ll make mine.
“Social media” will evolve. Much the same way we have thousands of pro bloggers worldwide, we will have lots of people earning their living from social media. New ways of earning income will abound, look for the first paid plugs in a videocast, or more importantly, the first paid PRODUCT placement. Think Lonelygirl15 starts drinking lots of diet coke for a reason?
- Social marketing will explode. The number of videos online will triple, but the number of ads attached to those videos will rise by 10x. Who this is good for: interactive agencies, media planners, video production companies, CDNs, video sites, YOU.
- Podcasting will change. Gone will be the 30 minute long weekly shows in favor of 5-10 minute segments which can be better monetized, and better distributed. People have ADD as a collective whole, and don’t want to listen to poorly edited talk radio.
- Online advertising will grow more than experts think. Google will post huge gains, but the efficiencies brought to light by Yahoo’s Panama search marketing platform, and MSN adcenter, and I’m guessing AOL will have something neat too, will all change the ways that people buy ads. I’m betting ebay will partner with yahoo or aol on a method to track CPA ads better (yahoo/aol sell the ads, track the ads, and then people buy through paypal, and use skype to speak to the merchant).
- Widgets, widgets, widgets. 2007 is going to see a number of new delivery methods for widgets, more useful widgets will emerge. We’re already seeing the emergence of video chat and regular chat widgets making any site a lounge of sorts. My guess: widgets will further decentralize the web. We’ll also see a growth in widgets on blogs, and social sites. We might want to look for a social widget that ties into a user’s browser, so they can tell people where they are hanging out on the web, or tie together their countless social networking accounts.
- Social Networking will change. I think we’re going to see the vertical encompass everything social networks morph to more topic oriented sites. People like to socialize with other like minded individuals. Whomever can capitalize on this, and tie together a few smart hubs will make some decent money. Remember its easier to market to niches than to everyone at once.
- Smart startups will embrace SEO, PPC, SMO, SMM and the other marketing venues. As people start their search more and more on search engines and information hubs (or portals), people will need you to prepare yourself to be found by them. You can’t just cross your fingers and hope people stumble upon your site.
- More events outside of the valley will emerge. Wouldn’t you rather go to Miami in the winter? 🙂
- Web+ will be the evolution of web2.0
So, what are your predictions for 2007? I’m tagging Alex, Carlos, Chris, and Xavier.
Brian is right about the Widget’s. They are going to be one of next years boom advertising vehicles on the net. They will be lapped up by users on sites like Myspace and Secondlife, take the new Colts Widget for example.
Simon
Brian is right about the Widget’s. They are going to be one of next years boom advertising vehicles on the net. They will be lapped up by users on sites like Myspace and Secondlife, take the new Colts Widget for example.
Simon
Please have more quality conferences in Florida! Although I love San Francisco and other cities, it’d be nice to be able to go to somewhere locally for once.
http://www.thoughtandtheory.com/fowa
Please have more quality conferences in Florida! Although I love San Francisco and other cities, it’d be nice to be able to go to somewhere locally for once.
http://www.thoughtandtheory.com/fowa
Dennis,
We’ll try our best! Thats an awesome idea for the FOWA conference. If you get too many sponsors and want me to come too, let me know 🙂
Dennis,
We’ll try our best! Thats an awesome idea for the FOWA conference. If you get too many sponsors and want me to come too, let me know 🙂
In 2007, user-generated content will focus on “design online†rather than just sharing photos and videos online. For the millions of users who already have their content online it is a matter of “what can I do now?â€. In 2006, you could already see hints of this trend in services like RockYou and Slide.com. But the tools they provide are linear (step-by-step) which takes away most of the creativity. Users simply want an enhanced experience that allows them to express themselves and tell stories in a creative way. Services like Scrapblog will unleash the creativity of users and empower to go beyond online sharing and start designing their stuff online. Multimedia scrapbooks is only one example of how this vision will soon materialize. Services like Zazzle, CafePress and Shutterfly will have to reinvent their product creation tools. Blogs will become rich-media, so you can design or re-design them from the Web to the Web without knowing HTML or CSS. Wallop is a good example of what the design online vision could do to social networks.
In 2007, user-generated content will focus on “design online†rather than just sharing photos and videos online. For the millions of users who already have their content online it is a matter of “what can I do now?â€. In 2006, you could already see hints of this trend in services like RockYou and Slide.com. But the tools they provide are linear (step-by-step) which takes away most of the creativity. Users simply want an enhanced experience that allows them to express themselves and tell stories in a creative way. Services like Scrapblog will unleash the creativity of users and empower to go beyond online sharing and start designing their stuff online. Multimedia scrapbooks is only one example of how this vision will soon materialize. Services like Zazzle, CafePress and Shutterfly will have to reinvent their product creation tools. Blogs will become rich-media, so you can design or re-design them from the Web to the Web without knowing HTML or CSS. Wallop is a good example of what the design online vision could do to social networks.
I think you’re right about widgets. Question will be how they get monetized, or if they are just a marketing tool. Here are my predictions for 2007. Details after the link if you’re interested
1. Ecommerce 2.0 arrives
2. Widgets find a business model
3. Lead generation breaks into new categories
4. Social Networking finally becomes a feature
5. News of TV’s death are greatly exaggerated
6. Software as a Service gets customer facing
I think you’re right about widgets. Question will be how they get monetized, or if they are just a marketing tool. Here are my predictions for 2007. Details after the link if you’re interested
1. Ecommerce 2.0 arrives
2. Widgets find a business model
3. Lead generation breaks into new categories
4. Social Networking finally becomes a feature
5. News of TV’s death are greatly exaggerated
6. Software as a Service gets customer facing
I definitely agree with number 8! Good points on 4, 6 and 7.
Thanks for tagging me, I replied and tracked back.
I definitely agree with number 8! Good points on 4, 6 and 7.
Thanks for tagging me, I replied and tracked back.