Taking a look at predictions I made for 2008, it seems they were pretty close to reality. To summarize:
- Business websites will increase the range of information they offer offer on their sites, starting to include more audio and video.
- Business websites will include more user generated content.
- Community and social networks will be important to the business community.
These may not have been all that hard to predict, but social networking has really taken off in 2008 for business use. Not only have LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. grown in use, but so have smaller, more niche social networks.
So what about for 2009?
We’ve recently seen Twitter use explode among business users. There are still some industries where useage is small, so I’d expect Twitter to continue to grow. Look for it to be integrated into all sorts of social networks, websites and new applications. While it already has been incorporated into many of these, I think it will continue to be used in new and interesting ways.
Blackberries, iphones, the google phone, etc. have increase competition for very smart phones which allow browsing on the web and interaction with websites via phone applications. This trend will continue and many larger business sites will start seriously providing mobile versions of their sites and services. This has already started to happen, but I think the trend will vastly increase to the point that even smaller sites will start to explore this medium.
Due to the recession I think we’ll see more business websites spending a bit more time providing more content – in the form of blogs, video, audio and ways to interact with their customers. Sales may be down, which means a bit more time to spend on tasks that have fallen to the wayside.
What are your predictions for 2009?
(photo by Bitterjug @ Flickr CC)