Social Media in 2011: Thoughts From The World

I hope you all enjoyed the Trends series from our writers and guest contributors. It looks like 2011 will see social media embraced by the masses, along with some serious growth in the Android platform, as more and more affordable smartphones hit the market.I had the opportunity to ask several businesses, agencies and individuals outside of New Zealand what they see as the key social media and tech trends in 2011. I have picked some interesting and thought-provoking answers and am delighted to share them with you below.Jon Gelberg - Chief Content Officer for BLUE FOUNTAIN MEDIA:1. A continued expansion of location-based services. 2010 was an explosive year for businesses like Foursquare and Groupon. This will grow exponentially as businesses begin to figure out the most effective ways of marketing through these sites.2. As social media sites become more sophisticated at gathering personal information, they will continue to hyper-personalize their services. Users will find that messaging directed at them, whether it’s purely social (finding people who share your interests) or business-related (having offers targeted at your specific needs), will be dead-on target.3. The privacy war will continue to rage, with those trying to take away your privacy the likely winners.Saverio Mancina - Marketing/Communications Advisor for Hetrick-Martin Institute:1. Twitter and Facebook will become the new research tool. Key word searches on both allow individuals as well as reporters to quickly discover who is connected to certain topics. The impression remains that the fastest breaking news and insider tips are appearing on social media first2. Remember that Twitter and Facebook are 24/7. When posting comments on either, remember that you're reaching a global audience and even more so into 2011 as use of the two communication channels increases around the world. Be mindful of posting at different times of the day/night to capture eyeballs in different timezones.3. Email is dead. Long live Facebook. 2011 will see the continued demise of traditional email and the increased use of text messages and Facebook messaging as a form of two-way communication.Richard Harmer - Brand Strategiest for Brady Media Group:Social media in 2011: We're going to see immunity set in. People will start getting immune to the "sales" part of "how" companies are using social media. With that said, the here are the trends: More faces - in other words, we will see less "logos" and more real people on the platforms.1) More specialists - less "college" kids. Companies will hire real PR people that know new media for business.2) A narrowed focus - companies are studying their audience better. Instead of trying to be "everywhere" they're going to be where their captive audience is. So, more audience evaluation in 20113) Less trying to get "everybody"!! Companies will focus on those they know versus just trying to "spam" those they don't know.Jeff Esposito - Public Relations Manager for Vistaprint:MEASUREMENT - For the past two years companies have been jumping on the social media train. The fad phase is over as social media is serious business. People won't be able to say look we've got a Twitter and a Facebook account and think that their bosses will accept that as success. People will need to figure out how to measure success in traditional and nontraditional ways to show the true ROI. Fact of the matter is that the networks are free, utilizing them on the other hand is a different story.GEOLOCATION - With the onset of Facebook Places, geolocation was brought to the attention of millions of social users. We will see much more buy in to these systems and a clear winner should emerge in the space.SOCIAL = REALITY TV - Sure Tila Tequila was a smash hit for a hot minute and there are many YouTubers that have large audiences. It is only a matter of time before someone looking for social media immortality will create a true real-life streaming reality show on a network.Marc Pitman - A Fundraising Coach:1. We'll see a continued integration of social media into normal life. Facebook is still growing quickly. Even those really late to adopt technology are joining some level of social media. And the increasing availability of tablet computers and smarter-and-smarter smart phones will make social media ubiquitous, even for those that dont consider themselves geeks. This is great for charities! Social media costs employee time but little else so it offers a dynamic way to get their story in front of both donors, government funders, and people that dont yet know about their cause. And being able to weave video, text, and images on social media sites lets them tell their stories very compellingly.2. We'll see an increase in location-based social media. Foursquare, Facebooks Places, and similar competitors will be increasing used. Whether for the game aspect or simply for the need for location based search help, people will be checking in more often. Yet another boon for charities and small businesses. These tools can literally be put them "on the map." These let them offer specials and raise awareness with more people in fun ways.3. Email will see a resurgence. While seemingly old school, outages at Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites will have charities and businesses scrambling to build their email lists, lists they own, control, and can access even when other sites are incapacitated. As they grow their list, theyll be surprised to find how much more responsive email subscribers can be than theyve experience on other social media.Paul Macchia - Titanium PR:1) Trends - I think that social media is a Must Have (not a nice to have) for all companies who wish to drive their business. It is as essential as electricity. For the most part, people's attention spans - and conditioned mindsets - have shifted from taking the time to pick up a print publication and is now directed at a quick, online, "let's see what is happening" mode.2) Engagement and enrapturement. Social media must be a positive lure and offer the reader/viewer/listener a feeling of involvement and contribution. The takeaway is that the audience wants to get something out of it and walk away feeling their time was well spent.3) It doesn't matter if you are a consumer or B2B company (business to business as we say here in the USA), EVERYONE at some point IS a consumer outside the office. There is no real divide anymore on how to "pitch" your idea.4) Finally - Mobile. This is the uniter of everything. Take a walk down a busy - (or even NOT so busy) street. What do you see? Folks staring at their mobile device. Opt-in technology needs to be sharpened to get more "fans" and eyeballs to sites. They will eventually press the "purchase" button.---As you can see, there are some interesting thoughts in all of this. What are your predictions for 2011?