Social media in 2010

23/12/09 posted by Liz Niland

TrendsSpotting Market Research have released their social media trend predictions, compiled from “tweets” by digital and marketing experts. Identified as the main influences on social media trends in 2010 are: Mobile, Location, Transparency, Measurement, ROI, and Privacy. And as they point out, these influences are not unlike those seen in 2009. The differences come 2010 though, will be related to the various advancements in the scope of features like augmented reality and position tracking devices and the way we both use and deal with these.

It is also noted by many of the contributors that businesses will discover and harness the power of social media in the new year. A tweet expressed by Marta Kagan, (Managing Director, US Espresso) put it this way: “Business finally admit that social media aint some fad for kids and B-list movie stars”. Given this increased move by business into social media, two situations will likely arise: Firstly, a huge focus will be put on ROI, measurement and tracking. David Armano, (Senior Partner, Dachis Group) even states that your company will have a social media policy come into effect in 2010.

Secondly, given the increasing corporate presence and higher population within the more mainstream social networking sites, a splintering effect is likely to be seen with a move toward mini-microblogging sites by those wanting to escape the “sell sell sell” of the new High Street. Chris Brogan (President, New Marketing Labs) makes two points regarding this development: “I see velvet rope social networks, where some kind of gating to keep out the commons will occur”. He continues: “I see a thousand specific Twitters popping up for places internally and externally, each using OAuth to validate who we are.”

Our hot tip? Don’t wait a second longer to maximise your social media efforts. Now is the prime time to win fans - wait any longer and you’ll simply look like one of the crowd.