We at Twingly hope you had a good start into 2011!
To kick of the new year we will present you a few predictions from the Twingly team about what could happen in the next 12 month on the web. We did the same last year so Twingly predictions are slowly becoming an actual tradition.
But before we jump into what might happen in 2011 let’s have a look at how we performed with our 2010 predictions. This is what we expected to witness during the past year:
1. Facebook will continue their path towards social and realtime search:
Yes, Facebook did in fact put more effort into offering search features based on your friends and your friends likes. And US users of Microsoft search engine Bing can get their search experience enhanced by what friends have liked through Facebook.
2. Twitter clients like TweetDeck and Seesmic will open up to other services than Twitter
We nailed it: Seesmic for example opened up their desktop client to more than 40 applications in order to be less depended on Twitter, and even TweetDeck added other services such as Google Buzz, LinkedIn and foursquare.
3. It will become valuable for users to be at the scene of events and to publish visual footage
Kind of. Certainly media has picked up eye witness reports from Twitter (for example when the Quantas A380 flight had to make an emergency landing in Singapore and one passenger used Twitter to report about it from inside the plane), but we are still waiting for success stories of tools dedicated to eye witness reports.
4. In the end of 2010 it will not only be Twitter and Facebook to represent the realtime web towards a larger audience.
Here we have to admit that we weren’t right. It’s still those two sites that get most of the realtime audience, and both are stronger than ever.
That makes 2 correct predictions, 1 false and 1 that can be counted as both. Let’s see if we can reach a similar hit ratio for our 2011 predictions. Here they are:
Google buys MySpace
The demise of MySpace has been going on for a while, and one has to question if the recent relaunch will be able to save the “entertainment network”. It has been reported that Rupert Murdoch has plans to sell MySpace. It’s not impossible that Google which is desperately looking for a social product to use against Facebook will come and save MySpace from the digital death.
Everything goes mobile and local
We admit that the first prediction involves a high risk of failing. So here is a more secure outlook: mobile and local will be the two big themes for many startups in 2011, both existing and new ones. Millions of people are carrying GPS-enabled smartphones and tablets around, and an increasing number of web companies will try to capitalize on that.
Tablet newspapers will find success if they include content from several newspapers
The “old media” won’t stop experimenting with the iPad and other upcoming tablets. While there are many reasons for questioning the potential of selling a single newspaper as an app (if not the price is very convincing), combining several tablet optimized newspapers into one app will prove successful.
Facebook launches Facebook phone
There have been rumours about a Facebook smartphone before, and the company has denied such plans. We still believe that Facebook will figure out a way to release a Facebook phone which heavily integrates with the Facebook universe.
Facebook watches LinkedIn IPO
Not really a prediction, rather a safe bet: LinkedIn has said to do an IPO in 2011. Facebook will watch carefully and learn from LinkedIn’s mistakes.
Realtime commenting will be everywhere
If you today comment on an item on Facebook, it appears in realtime for you and anybody else who can see the initial item. 2011 is the year when commenting will go realtime anywhere on the web, even on blogs and news sites, opening up for a new, more dynamic, more interactive way of commenting.
Gowalla pivots like crazy to try to catch up with Foursquare
Gowalla was really popular for a while in the Nordics and some parts of Europe. The reason? Foursquare simply wasn’t available here. There is something in the 4sq recipe that has allowed them run in circles around their hipster little brother, Gowalla. Gowallas tactic will be to add meaning to check-ins. Let’s watch them closely and see if they succeed. With the advent of Facebook Places here in Europe as well, things are looking harsh for them. But always be rooting for the underdog!
These are our predictions for 2011. What do you think? Are we crazy or could these things happen?
This post was a collaborative effort by @martinweigert, @martinkallstrom and @agaton.
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kwl/ / CC BY 2.0
A great read :)) Regarding the Gowalla/ Foursquare competition – I’d also keep an eye on German based Friendticker which expanded at least to larger European cities (including Stockholm), offering discounts etc. with partnering shops and restaurants. There is a great commercially based engagement among users, much more than with Gowalla, Foursquare and Facebook Places which focus still more on the social aspect. Until now at least.
A sensible outlook on Social Media for this year, as we do hope that
these top sites will improve privacy protection as well.
Wonderfully foreseen!