Features and tRends

(January 2010)

8 Social Media Predictions for 2010


2010 will be a year of exponential growth in social media. It’s always changing, always improving and always at the top of our minds as marketers. Think about it. Many analysts continue to predict that the processing power of computers will continue to increase at a 10-fold rate this decade based on Moore’s Law. And just as many experts believe transistors will continue to shrink towards atom size… and that the cost of computer power will drop at alarming speed. What does this all mean? So much more of our lives will be conducted online. From iPhone apps to digital scanning, far corners of our communities and of our world will soon be inter-connected. Though the changes to come will be vast, we chose eight topics in particular to explore:

1. HOW AM I DOING? – More companies will begin to implement social media campaigns and they will want more accurate analytics to measure Return on Investment (ROI) and Return on Engagement (ROE). The emerging sentiment analytics will help brand management measure and develop their communities. Brands will want – make that need – to verify and track their various audiences and their levels of engagement. After all, if it isn’t measured…did it really happen?

2. WHAT’S REAL IS “REALER” – Augmented reality (AR) will continue to superimpose graphics, audio and other sensory enhancements from computer screens (or mobile devices) onto real time environments, creating a mixed reality. We’ve all been amazed by the recent Avatar 3-D buzz. “How can we increase our user experience?” is what’s being discussed in the boardroom today.

3. THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT – How we use our smartphone mobile applications and loyalty point purchasing programs will be leveraged to predict behaviors for markets to determine their better and best target audiences. Mashable recently featured some amazing AR iPhone apps that are only the beginning. Check out this AR app that will help you find the nearest subway station :

4. GET YOUR HEAD INTO THE CLOUDS – The amount of information in the world nearly quadruples every day. The investment in information technology, infrastructure, security, hosting, software and equipment will continue to increase for companies… while opening up opportunities for brands. Cloud computing may well provide some of the solutions to exploding capacity needs. Instead of increasing bandwith on our computers or in software and networking devices, information and technology will reside “out there” in the clouds. How our brands interact in this new space will gain in importance.

5. DANGER FROM WITHIN – Yes, malware will continue to grow. Cyber-criminals will find more ways to infect systems and networks. Some ways will be through search engines and “drive-by-download” infections from Web pages. We’ll need to be more aware of who resides in our social media communities, much the way we remain aware in other public places. The upside? Better integration and closer connections. Who our brands connect with and the intent of their behaviors will become vital for security. And as an added benefit, marketing dreams to better align with them!

6. DISCONNECT TO BETTER CONNECT – With more devices hogging the bandwidth, more of our information will be coming from the use of smartphones.While some will disagree, saying that PCs are easily infected, it’s important to realize that 90 percent of the world’s PC runs on Windows platform. What is an opportunity for Microsoft is also an opportunity for mal-intent. On the contrary, smartphones and mobile devices are less homogenous, hosted on multiple platforms and running on varying operating systems with more complex hardware…adding security and diversity to attract our best customers.

7. WORK WILL BE MORE SOCIALBLE – Even in the wake of companies trying to filter employees from accessing social networks and platforms at work – and attempting to control how staff should behave online – we’ll experience further expansion of social media in Enterprise software. Company intranet sites will soon have even more social capabilities through systems such as SharePoint, SocialText and IBM’s Lotus Connections. In fact, Sharepoint was used in 2009 by 7 of the Top 10 Corporate Intranet sites in the U.S. We’ll see more CEOs and staff blogging on their corporate intranets with better use of social networks and communities built to reach stakeholders. The “conversations” are going to occur anyway, the better brands will want those communities to be inclusive rather than disassociated. The more we connect as an expanding community, the better for us to align our sales and marketing platforms and brand positioning opportunities.

8. Web 3.0 – THE SEMANTIC WEB – Sometimes we must be careful with the “semantics” of how we say things. The same will be just as important on the Web. It’s semantics versus syntax. When the technology can understand the meaning of what we are searching for, we can find the information much faster and with more relevancy. Instead of searching for keywords, Web 3.0 will search for meaning and context. Imagine computers understanding the relevant meaning behind mere keystrokes, allowing brands to become more intuitive. Not only will we need to search for key words and phrases, but the three to five words that precede and follow as well. We’ll need to know how someone arrived, where they’ve been and where they’re going as well as to which brands they are loyal. While we concern ourselves with the political correctness of “Big Brother” watching and “profiling,”they will contribute to a goldmine of opportunities for marketers!

What predictions do you have for your brands and the opportunities for social media in 2010? Share them with me @stevekleber.