] HipMojo.com » What to Look Out On the Web in 2007 (and 2008)

What to Look Out On the Web in 2007 (and 2008)

A colleague of mine asked me what I thought would be a major trend of 2007, by no means do I think I am the first person to call any of the following, there are thousands of writers, soothsayers and bloggers who have probably called some or all of this for sure.

Here are two major trends I envision really a) taking off and b) crystalizing in 2007.  It’s important to note that every year, something that is adopted by early adopters online in the previous year takes off with mainstream masses the ensuing year; while something that was already very much in vogue with mainstream audiences the previous year takes off and crystalizes.

A look back at history reveals a familiar pattern:

We’ll start from 2004.  After all, 2003 can be viewed as the turning point and renaissance of the Web. 

2001 was the abyss, no doubt.  In 2002, things began to stabilize, and 2003 marked the turnaround.  This was confirmed and highlighted with Google’s IPO in 2004, which left no doubt that the Web had shaken its hangover off and would go on to become a viable medium, and a very viable one at that. 

In 2004, blogs were the buzz word (even though these were around for years).  The macro-level phenomena to draw blogs into the pop culture lexicon were clearly the escalation of troubles in Iraq (and the mainstream media’s reluctance to cover them) as well as the Presidential Elections.  For example, as the mainstream media sugarcoated Iraq, bloggers covered the facts as they were, or rather, as they viewed it. 

In 2005, it was social networks that became hot while blogs became more and more mainstream.  Think of how many more people started blogging in 2005.  The reason why social networking took off, frankly, had to do both with demographics and technology.  Social networks like Tribe, Friendster and MySpace had been around before 2005 of course.  Demographically, the so-called trend-setting 16-17 year old crowd had entered high school at a time when the Web was part of the curriculum and de rigueur in classrooms.  Technologically, broadband had taken off, camcorders and cell phones made digital media commonplace; the two were a match made in heaven and social networks like MySpace took off. 

2006 will surely go down as the year of online video, partially due to broadband becoming prevalent in more than 50% of homes and the falling price of hosting.  Similarly, the adoption of social networks became very commonplace.  Today, for example, it was noted that the average age of someone with a profile on MySpace was much older than expected: over 50% are 35 and older, up from under 40% last year.  I know, not exactly fossile-status, mind you, but you get the point.  In the meantime, every one now has a blog, even the President of Iran… (he’s even set up with RSS feed and all!)

So with that in mind, what will be hot in 2007?  Well, first, it should be noted that video consumption amongst users will become even more commonplace.  Smart media companies like News Corp. are putting a lot of their good stuff online, even those who do not put it all out there and experimenting, like Walt Disney’s ABC. 

Advertisers too will begin to better deploy video in their mix.  How so I prefer not to get into just yet, I do have a business to run, after all.

But, what I see becoming more and more mainstream is something that has been brewing louder and louder this year.  People will begin to increasingly get their “virtual newspapers” (proverbially speaking) delivered to them; via RSS (Real Simple Syndication) and other means, be it in their inbox, on their blogs or social network profiles (see how everything gels?).  It’s important to note that CAN-SPAM and anti-spam technologies have successfully cleaned up the spam problem.  People trust publishers to once again give out their email messages; email marketing will make a comeback, so that cannot be called a new trend per se.

Sure, people will still go to sites, but when they do, it will begin to become personalized… and the level of personalization will further take off in 2008.  So there, something for 2007, and 2008.

What’s going to be hot in 2008?  You’re pushing it… but one wild card for 2007 remains mobile, and mainly, the disparity between mobile use in North America and the rest of the world.

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Posted By: Ashkan Karbasfrooshan | Oct 6th

4 Responses to “What to Look Out On the Web in 2007 (and 2008)”

  1. HipMojo.com - IT, Video, Web, Technology, Gadgets » The Largest Video Sites On the Web Says:
    October 18th, 2006 at 10:22 am

    […] 2006 will certainly go down in history as the year in online video.  For more on that, click here; for more on what we think will get bigger in 2007, click here. […]

  2. HipMojo.com - IT, Video, Web, Technology, Gadgets » Rupert Murdoch’s Worst Nightmare Happening Before His Eyes Says:
    October 29th, 2006 at 12:38 pm

    […] Social networking video site YouTube surpasses MySpace’s “it factor” and gets bought out for $1.65B by Google.  Google can drive traffic, handle all bandwidth needs, monetize the site if need be (or avoid all ads) and eventually aggregate a larger audience as the “gray-ification and mainstream-ization” of MySpace continues… next thing you know, the only person or people remaining on the site are people selling stuff and sexual predators. […]

  3. HipMojo.com - IT, Video, Web, Technology, Gadgets » 2007 Spotlight: RSS Says:
    November 5th, 2006 at 4:38 pm

    […] To our earlier post on trends to look out for in 2007, click here. […]

  4. Holger Dieterich - Web Konzepter » links for 2006-12-30 Says:
    December 29th, 2006 at 8:26 pm

    […] HipMojo.com - What to Look Out On the Web in 2007 (and 2008) (tags: trends 2007) […]

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