Buzzwords and bandwagons

March 4, 2008 in Uncategorized
Tags: 3D communities, facebook, google android, mobile, myspace, secondlife, smartphones, social network apps, social networks, ugc, virals

I was recently asked to cast an eye upon the web and make a few comments on what I see coming up soon. Of course, any decent star gazing activity should be accompanied by some up front historical context and grounding. Lets begin.

2006 was the year when UGC and virals really came to the fore, created by a few and watched by many. This has since been absorbed into our routine understanding of the internet although the buzzword ‘viral’ does still continue to crop up. Definitely read ‘All Virals are Black Swans‘ by Jerome Courtial on Knitware for a quick reality check and then wade in on ‘Are Marketers hiding behind UGC?‘ asked out aloud by Martyn Perks on Netimperative for some good insight and a quick recap.

2007 was the year of Social Networking, and social networking as we know it has not at all passed and probably won’t, but instead will become more integrated into the finer parts of our day to day communications and interactions in the contexts of our personal lives, our businesses and our passions (politics, sports, gaming, fashion ..).