If 2009 was the year that social media really burst on to the scene, the theme in 2010 will be how social media is embraced and leveraged by a growing number of companies. With this in mind, here are some fearless predictions about what’s on the horizon.
1. Social media monitoring and measurement will gain even more traction as companies recognize the importance of being able to listen and understand what’s happening so they can engage with key influencers and opinion leaders. The adoption of these services will also be bolstered by the growing focus on return on investment (aka ROI) as companies look at what they are getting for the money being spent on social media.
2. Geo-location will become a major trend as more social media users broadcasts their locations, not only to friends, family and colleagues but to retailers as well. This will give businesses the ability to send the right advertising offers to people at the right time and the right place. Look for services such as FourSquare and Twitter to drive the geo-location market.
3. Facebook’s impressive growth will continue but users will have to live with the reality that Facebook wants to make more of its information public so that more of its content will be monetized. Twitter’s user base will expand as well but not as wildly as 2009.
4. Blogs will come back into style again as individuals and companies realize they are powerful and effective tools to really communicate with customers, potential customers, partners, investors and employees. In 2009, the pendulum swung hard to micro-messaging but expect macro-messaging (aka blogs) to stage a rebound.
5. Video will continue to grow aggressively as more companies realize it’s an effective way to communicate amid a sea of text. For more on the world of video, check out our video engagement report.
Tags: blogs, geolocation, Social Media, sysomos, video
6. Business (Enterprise 2.0) outside U.S. (already on track) will make investments in online community in order to connect customers, partners and employees to the company at home space.
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