2007 Predictions

I have just been tagged by Allen Stern and Cameron Olthuis to share my predictions for 2007. So here goes:

  1. Digg - It seems that a lot of marketers are leveraging Digg for links and some go as far as trying to "game" the system. I think Digg is going to make it very difficult for new comers to game the system and less power is going to be placed on the friends feature.
  2. YouTube - Google acquired YouTube this year and it's all about eyeballs and ads. During '07 I think there will be ads merged within or at the beginning of videos. Users will probably get ticked off at first, but most probably will not care after a while. It also looks like branded YouTube channels are going to become more and more common, just as branded MySpace profiles have become very popular with big brands.
  3. MySpace - Social networks are something that corporations are increasingly leveraging to engage their customers, increase brand loyalty and to appeal to new audiences. MySpace marketing is going to really start taking off soon and more design shops are going to begin specializing in MySpace designs.
  4. Google - Although Google is all about algorithms and not having humans do the work, I think they are going to start getting into the social media space a lot more. Yahoo has their del.icio.us, will Google have Digg?
  5. Women - Millions of men surf the web on a daily basis and have nothing good to do. Due to sites like YouTube that make it easier to reach these men, I think more women are going to start vlogging for companies because even if the vlog sucks thousands of guys will watch just because they can watch a girl on the screen for free.
  6. Lonelygirl15 - Deception is a great way to get a lot of hype. So who's going to be Mesotheliomagirl15?

Instead of tagging a few people leaving out thousands, I am tagging everyone. So if you want to play along, feel free to make some predictions about 2007.

Have a Happy New Year!

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Trackbacks (1)

Webdigity webmaster forum, December 30, 2006

“2007 predictions in the IT market” — Another year is in front of us, and it seems

Reader Comments (4)

Cory O'Brien, December 29, 2006

Great stuff. Here's what I think 2007 has in store: Predictions.

Amrit Hallan, December 30, 2006

Oh, well, Neil...not knowing that someone else had already started the predictions tag I "started" one on my blog and even sent you an invitation...but I see you've already responded :-). Please ignore my request.

Robert, January 2, 2007

Your predictions feature heavily on social sites. I agree that this will be a big growth in 2007: - They have valued added features (e.g. sophisticated bookmark storage, organisation and search by the social bookmarking sites) - They provide a new level and type of interaction - They provide an organic bottom-up alternative to the search engines top-down search results

David Mihm, January 2, 2007

Being fairly new to SEO in general and social sites in particular, I'm not sure if this prediction has already come true?

Someone will come up with a browser widget that allows for push-button digging/delicious tasting/stumblingupon/myspace favorites, etc. (as many sites have a similar organizational structure) at once.

I think in order for these sites to gain mass appeal with a non-tech crowd (and thus widen the base for advertising), they have to be something more like Amazon's "one-click" ordering.

It seems a bit of a stretch for an everyday person to spend even five-ten minutes marking a favorite piece of content for five-ten different social sites--closer to thirty seconds would be more manageable?