Over the course of the holidays I took some “unplugged” time to do some reading and play guitar. My intent was to clear my mind a bit and get my thoughts settled for what looks like a busy 2009 year coming up for the strategic social media side of our business (CEPSM). How can it possibly be busy you ask?
- Participating in social media is significantly cheaper than “buying” traditional media
- Social media channels are highly measurable when proper objectives are set ahead of time
- Social media allows organizations to reach niche audiences
- Social media has unlimited reach and eternal visibility
- Social media is a perfect marriage for public sector and non-profit initiatives; Nobody is trying to sell you anything.
So what’s the downside (if you could call it that)? Time investment and dedication.
Social media engagement actually forces organizations to think strategically in their marketing endeavors as opposed to simply pushing out “stuff” . What do I mean by “stuff”? Brochures, pamphlets, posters, billboards, tv ads, etc…Social media participation puts you in the spotlight and in front of the mic not just at a press conference, but rather 24/7.
Here are some of the key things that I think will be crucial for you to pay attention to in 2009:
- Mobile Web Apps…forget WAP browsers and scaled down text websites, I’m talking full out browsing capability of new 3G phones such as the iPhone, Blackberry Storm, Google Phone, HTC Touch, etc…You should be creating applications dedicated to this platform (think Google Mobile).
- Netbook computers. You’ve heard it on the news, laptop sales have finally surpassed desktops. However even within the laptop segment, there is an incredible sub-segment of something called netbooks, which are essentially light-weight, low-cost, very small laptops created primarily for web browsing. My prediction is that there will finally be a closing of the remaining gap between rich and poor in terms of Internet accessibility.
- Growth of Lifestreams. I must admit, even for a social media junkie like myself, adoption of using lifestreams has been slow (I’m still waiting for the perfect platform that rises once the dust settles). However this is clearly a logical next step for social media users. Essential it’s a chronological aggregated view of your life activities both online and offline. Rather than logging into Facebook, Twitter, Jaiku, Bebo, etc…you simply log into one LifeStream application such as FriendFeed or Plaxo and all your updates are aggregated into a new custom “lifestream” feed.
- Twitter and microblogging in general. All you Twitter deniers out there should at the very least be “listening in” through filtering tools such as Twitter Search. Twitter grew by 752% in 2008. There are now 4.5 million daily users. My prediction is 10 million users by the end of the 2009.
For those of you worried about the ongoing “lack of access” issue. I personally think that there will be widespread unblocking of social media related web sites in government organizations (starting with Com branches). Those of you in government probably think I must be dreaming. Well guess what? I’m seeing it with my own eyes. Numerous ambitious branches within government  have prepared cases to senior management as to why certain sites need to be unblocked. One by one, permission is being granted to individual users. My prediction is that this will start trickling down as government wakes up to the new reality. If you’re worried about people wasting time at work…good luck solving that one unless you ban mobile phones and the Internet in general. Even then, there’s always solitaire! Someone who wants to waste time will ALWAYS find a way to do so…
What are some of your key predictions for this year?
Mike, My predictions are pretty close to yours, I have first hand experience of “seeing with my own eyes” that maps.google.com, for example purpose’s, is being used more and more in the workplace. Canada411, Canada Post, maps.google.com for address confirmations etc. the list goes on my friend but the web is now a powerful force for marketing, information, research, efficiency & productivity.
Everything we do now days we want to take with us as we go, mobile this mobile that. Micro this and micro that, but your 100% right micro blogging is huge and will continue to be. The main key is finding the next trend out there, MY prediction is it will be a video streaming/recording site that you can use on your cell phones and either stream right to the website or upload your recorded video once you have finished recording. Ustream.tv is huge and an industry leader in the respect of mobile internet streaming, fast, clear, crisp 7 quality video straight from your home computer. Imagine when it goes mobile, or wait it has just check out http://www.ubcam.com/ . This site is still in beta mode clearly but this is the way things are going. You alongside millions of North Americans will be streaming their nights out to whoever wants to watch, some say stupid, some say genius and I think the latter of the two. Not because of the innovation so much but the foresight and execution.
Great blog Mike, good luck and talk to ya soon.
Beerwolf from O-Town
Thanks for this Beerwolf,
I agree widespread instant mobile video sharing is the micro platform of the very near future as well. In the meantime government folk need to figure out how to work their Blackberry’s…I conducted a workshop a few weeks ago where the participants were astonished they could browse the web on their own phones.
Several of us in Comms at CIC just got access to YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
Great to hear that Rob! Baby steps…
merci à google d’avoir concus des outils reflettant sa grandeur dans le monde des nouvelle technologies de l’information et de la communication,cependant un africain comme moi dans le contecte de crise ne peut meme pas assurer la nouriture cotidienne n’en parlons pas l’achat dun outils aussi formidable que le gphone. merci de m’avoir acorder ce credit de discours .Merci
microblogging is really useful when you want to broadcast short updates. i am still leaning towards traditional blogging.;:;
i always watch streaming videos online, they are sort of my past time.-;`
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