Here’s a heads up on what may happen this year on the web. Using the amazing online network called twitter (we’ll chat more about this social network soon.) I gathered opinions from some smart online natives. The main opinions and predictions we received were very similar, which means that they’re likely to happen in my opinion.

09 (or ‘Oh Mine’ as many are calling it) will be a very exciting year in SA for online developments:

1. Bigger, better, faster

Once the ‘big web cable’ (yes, that’s a technical term) is finished by the middle of this year more of us will have access to faster, cheaper bandwidth. This means more web usage on average and perhaps more ‘out there’ online design and campaigns that use more bandwidth chewing technologies like Flash.

2. It’s all about me

Last year we had the Facebook explosion…. now many of us are realizing that if we haven’t spoken to certain people in 20 years then perhaps there’s a reason for that. A big social network like Facebook has brought with it a lot of ‘noise’ and many of us are looking for people who share similar, niche or specific interests.

Henre Rossouw lists the creation of niche social networks as one of the top trends for 2009. Andy Hadfield, the social media guy at FNB said “People retreat to niche communities or groups centred around more focussed topics. This is where you find real value for advertisers.”

From my personal point of view my money is most definitely on niche social networks. ‘Oh Mine’ is all about me…. if my passion is Yellow Ford Cortinas or 2D scrapbooking then I want to talk to people who share my interests.

3. All a Twitter

Twitter is a micro-blogging social network where you share a thought, link, picture, video etc. within a 140 character limit. It is my main online source of info at the moment (because I have built up a trusted network) and I for one most definitely think that Twitter and Twitter related services will explode this year.

Nick Jackson says “twitter means that you’re able to get recommendations and request services from people you’ve actually built (micro) relationships with. Twitter tomorrow could become as useful as Google is today.” Henre predicts that we’ll experience more tangible twitter marketing interaction where brands use twitter to speak directly to consumers.

Tech and the web is supposed to make life easier, if you, as a twitter user, could get quick short updates from a local airline for example, on latest special offers, plane delays, airport problems etc. it would be very valuable.


4. Mo’ Money

All the experts we chatted to feel that there will be a bigger investment in online activities, good news if you’re thinking of perhaps opening an internet based business or service.

The online gurus from AlterSage predict that there will be more interaction between offline and online so expect to see more websites and blog addresses appearing on magazine and tv ads.


Next week we’ll chat about another 4 major trends for 2009 – mobile, GPS, crowdsourcing and cloud computing


Thanks to:

Altersage
Andy Hadfield
Emerging Media
Henre Rossouw
Nick Jackson