What to Expect in 2010 – Part 2
2009 was so last year. In the ever-changing world of online marketing and social media, the trends and best practices of 2009 are quickly becoming things of the past. So what do we have to look forward to in 2010? Here is part two of a three part series detailing what we feel deserves to be watched in the next year. In this post we’ll talk about the next two trends to keep an eye on, Mobile Marketing and Information Filters.
4. Mobile
One of the reasons I believe social media is not just a flash in the pan is because social media has developed in the mobile age. People might still use various applications while sitting at their desks or on their couch, but so many more use social media because it’s mobile. Think of Foursquare, a relatively new location-based social media application that is creating a lot of buzz. The whole purpose of Foursquare is to “check in” at various locations around a city or area. The app would be virtually pointless if it didn’t have a mobile component. Who cares to check in at a Starbucks if you’re not at Starbucks.
Devices such as the iPhone, smart phones, smaller laptops, and cutting edge technology allow us to bring our social world “off” of the internet and into real life. And that’s what makes social media so powerful. It’s not just limited to the four walls of our desktop monitors. Expect social media applications to continue to flourish and push the boundaries of mobile technology in 2010. And businesses and brands that utilize mobile initiatives combined with social media initiatives will find great success in the upcoming year.
5. Information Filters
Pete Cashmore of Mashable has said that the Web’s biggest challenge of recent years is that content creation is outpacing our ability to consume it. Information overload is no longer just a euphemism, it’s actually a pretty common reality for most of us. We really don’t need all of the information we have access to, and more often than not the amount of information that bombards us on a daily basis is more of a hindrance than a help. So how do we best consume information in this attention economy? Well, in order to do so, we need to be able to manage the level and amount of information we consume, and we have to find a way to keep the information relevant, so we’re not mindlessly shuffling through information we really don’t care about.
Enter 2010 and the need for passive and active filters. With technologies like Facebook Connect and Google Social Search just now starting to gain traction (and both of which are major game changers in my opinion), expect these and other passive filters to help weed out unnecessary information via our friends and social networks. To reference Pete Cashmore again, he says that “Increasingly, your friends are becoming the curators of your consumption, from web links to movies, books to TV shows”. Without you really having to do anything, how you interact with your friends, and what social networks you are a part of can filter content so that what hits your “inbox” is stuff that’s generally relevant to you.
But we don’t just need a passive filter. If you’re anything like me you likely actively seek out information as well. My method of choice is an RSS reader where I can pick and choose what information sources to link into, sort of like choosing which channels I plug into to achieve the best sound as a musician. RSS applications such as Fever, and customized Google Reader programs have some great features that increasingly allow you to customize how you receive information. In 2010 expect more innovations to be made in this area, and expect mainstream applications to tap into these technologies to produce a better social experience.
This is part two of a three-part series on what to expect in 2010. Stay tuned for more. You can also subscribe to our RSS feed, or you can also follow us on Twitter.
Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Bookmark on Delicious Share on Digg