This morning I was contemplating what I should write for this weeks post. I have already written a few posts about Social Media and Technology and showed my party animal side, so now is a good time to put on my thinking cap and outline a few predictions for 2010. Of course they are going to be Social Media and Technology focused as that is what I know and what I work with day to day.
1) We will see a significant rise in the use of real-time video streaming from events and conferences, using services like Qik, uStream, and Justin TV. I’m actually surprised these services are not used widely in the gaming space, they really increase the reach of your content and are free. You can embed these streaming videos anywhere on your site(s). uStream has an additional feature which I really like, Social Chat, which leverages Facebook and Twitter functionality to enable discussion beside your streaming video. A couple examples of successful usage of this technology that come to mind are: Techcrunch50, Shakira Music Video debut, and lets not forget that Barack Obama leveraged Social Media and real-time streaming video to help win the election.
*uStream now has an iPhone App (iTunes link).
2) Traditional Cable TV, Newspapers, Magazines, Fliers, etc will become less used as Internet services and cell phones take over all Media formats. The future is Mobile, as 4.1 billion people have cell phones compared to 1.7 billion who have desktop based Internet access. Here at the Tablog we will be using Mobify.me for our Mobile site, which will be coming soon!
3) Facebook will become an even bigger household name as every website integrates Facebook Connect, including MySpace. Facebook Connect has really advanced over the last year. I look at Facebook more as a platform for communication and sharing then as a destination.
4) Friendfeed will finally be absorbed fully into Facebook and will no longer exist as a stand alone website. Friendfeed was acquired by Facebook for $50 million US.
5) Business owners will realize that real-time communication is not only good externally but internally, as more business owners start to use services like Google Wave for ongoing workload and internal discussion.
I found a really inspiring video on Youtube that sums up what I’m trying to say here, you can view it below. Real-time here we go!
