Who will be the Web’s company of the year in 2008?

It depends on many variables. The macro environment will affect the outcome, for sure. As more and more companies lay employees off to account and adjust for the slowing economy, expect networking tools like LinkedIn to gain momentum.

Business social networking is gathering steam regardless of the economy, but as people get pink sleeps, the first place they will head will be to LinkedIn to connect with their network, then they will update their resumes. I must admit, I have come full circle on LinkedIn. In fact, I owe an apology to Reid Hoffman and his entire team: LinkedIn is in fact one of the most useful, indispensable tools for business. Mind you, that has a lot to do with the evolution of LinkedIn and the fact that they executed their business plan and became so widely used. But what was a somewhat crass tool has now become a must for entrepreneurs, investors, executives, members of the press and any stakeholder imaginable.

But LinkedIn will remain a niche tool for business types, and net-net, the slowing economy will probably hurt LinkedIn a tad more than it will help it.

Another very niche tool that many will jump at to suggest is Twitter. I do not think Twitter will gain mainstream adoption, and in fact, another company could very well overtake Twitter’s lead. It won’t be the first that a first mover gets surpassed by someone else. Lastly, let’s face it, Twitter is a fringe tool. Blogging is just entering the mainstream, and even there, most of the normal population is not vain enough to narrowcast their lives for the world to see. Sorry, just being candid (though not judgmental, since I am rather open myself).

Speaking of blogging and blogs, a wild card pick I have is none other than Gawker Media. Yes, Nick Denton’s empire did face a reduction in pageviews to close out 2007, but judging by the most recent figures, it’s back up… to record levels.

Either way, as Gawker evolves, they’ll focus on quality of readership rather than quantity. Two weeks into the new year, Gawker has tried to shake up the compensation system in publishing, its Gizmodo blog has been kicked out and banned from CES, and in the context of the macro landscape, in an election year where mainstream media will continue to fail to actually do any reporting, blogs will do well and as the leading blog network and publishing empire, I think Gawker Media will shake the foundations enough to gain mindshare. Case in point, the Tom Cruise video on Scientology that many other media have yanked remains - at least until now - live on Gawker here. I think Gawker Media’s properties and Nick Denton in particular will become an ongoing subject of conversation, interest and fascination… especially given the company’s status as a privately held company.

Of course, it seems unfair to mix technology and media, but that is the future: a meshing of the two as demonstrated by acquisitions of aQuantive by Microsoft and 24/7 RealMedia by WPP. As the world of media and technology mesh, one company seems to be in the lead, and that is Apple. In fact, were it not for Facebook’s awesome 2007, Apple deserves much consideration. I think it will be very challenging for Apple to do more in 2008 than it did in 2007, especially with the launch of the iPhone (which garnered 20% market share) and saw its stock double.

Other companies will be in the news, for sure:

- IAC breaks up into five distinct units.
- Yahoo! will probably face some kind of shareholder revolt, with its stock at a 52-week low.
- Google will have a hard time to maintain its stratospheric rise again. But YouTube remains a shining star.
- Second Life will get its mentions here and there as the virtual world hype train continues and curious mainstream journalists cover the story.
- News Corp. will only get stronger: with Dow Jones under its wings how could it not?

Last year I called Facebook the company of the year as early as April 2007 and it was an easy choice… 2008 is way too premature to call, but those are some of the companies I expect to be in the limelight come end of year.

Who do you think will be the Web’s company of 2008?