Lots of things are going to change and happen in the online world over the next decade. These are things that every aspiring or current entrepreneur needs to at the very least be aware of.
10 Online Trends to Watch This Decade
Opportunity is everywhere especially when change happens. It’s time to start thinking ahead and planning out your next million dollar move!
Increased competition:
Everyday it gets easier and easier for people to start businesses. Websites are going up every second in every industry. This is great for all of you aspiring entrepreneurs because it’s becoming easier to test your ideas. However it also means that customers have more options everyday. Many of these companies will be gone in the next couple years. But in their stay here they will make it just that much harder for the companies that survive to push through to the top.
Remember to hold on! Just because someone throws up a website does not mean they are here to stay. Only the strong survive.
Fall of traditional advertising:
This has been in the works for awhile but now the time has come. Advertisers will be pushing more dollars online and into more niche markets. Communities like twitter are making the banner ad irrelevant and instead are replacing it with community and conversation to get customers. It’s time to think of creative marketing strategies and invest that banner ad money into something else.
Remember that niche will become more powerful for advertisers. Your tight nit online community can be a great asset to an advertiser.
Social media overload:
What to use??? More networks are popping up everyday. We all know about Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. But what about those Ning communities you are a part of? Not to mention that almost every company is creating networks for their customers to join and interact in.
Remember to focus on YOUR value. You might need to drop some of the networks and focus on a couple. Just because a network is trending does not mean you need to jump in.
Noise Noise Noise:
The noise online is increasing drastically everyday. How do you sort through all the crap? Things like twitter updates have been added to google search results. This is good and bad. It’s more information so how much information is just to much to handle? This is a major question online because the amount of information out there is seemingly unlimited. Expect more noise in the coming years as companies integrate real time and more people jump online creating content.
Remember don’t try and keep up with it all. Find what you like and make plans to keep yourself up-to-date.
Online video – Especially mobile:
Online video is on the brink of exploding. Things like Flip have given everyone the ability to make easy quick videos and now it can all be HD! More people are asking themselves how their blog can be a little different from the next guy and that answer is increasingly video.
Mobile will also become a major player as 4G networks get integrated into everything. New phones can handle video and soon networks will also be able to keep up with the load.
Remember you don’t have to use or love video. But you should understand the opportunities moving forward and understand how your competition is using it.
Monetizing the social web:
Remember how things like facebook, twitter and countless other sites aren’t profitable? That won’t continue forever. This decade is where all of our favorite sites will either make money or disappear.
Imagine if facebook or youtube had to shut down? What would you do?
High quality on the web will rule:
Quality of everything from text to video will make major strides. No longer will bloggers that treat their sites like a hobby achieve great success. Content sites will push forward by trying to produce better content but also better looking content. Text sites will pay more attention to format and feel of their articles. Video will continue to move from web cams to flip cams to HD flip cams. Video will look more produced and edited.
Remember that this will be a main form of competition between sites. You may have great content but someone is about to come along with great content and publish it with great quality.
Organization will rule:
Organizing and limiting all that “noise” will become more valuable then producing new content. Sites will continue to try and organize all of the best information. This is not just reserved for search engines like Bing and Google. But will also emerge in niche and local markets.
Forget the newspaper. How about all of the best food bloggers in NYC to cover restaurants and bars. Or how about all of the best soccer blogs coming together for the best soccer information.
Remember that your greatest opportunity may not be in adding to the content but instead organizing your favorite content in a unique and better way.
Social good will increase:
The social good movement has been making great strides in recent years. But in the next decade social good will push towards mandatory at companies. Companies will have to take into consideration and implement “social good” causes or else they will receive criticism from the public.
Remember you don’t have to raise millions or make headlines. Work with your niche community and produce something meaningful no matter what the size.
Absolutely no privacy:
Your privacy is gone. Gone forever. Everything you do will be captured in some format. If your not tweeting your buddy will be tweeting that they are with you. If your not on facebook your buddy who is will be posting pictures of you when your out with them.
Controlling you online image will never be more important. But in the end you have to be ready for the idea that a potential employer might find something they don’t like or you might be an instant celebrity because of a photo or video you never meant to leave your hard drive.
It’s not a scary world. Just understand that you are online some where and that you should know what that profile of you looks like.
