Heading into the new decade we took a moment to examine what digital trends would have a significant impact throughout 2010. As we pass the first quarter of this year we have been able to watch the continued emergence of some of the digital and web trend predictions discussed including:

• Social gaming and virtual currencies: This can be seen with the continued popularity of games such as Farmville, which now has over 80 million users. Women ages 35-55 continue to be the largest demographic for social gaming, so expect to see more social network games geared toward this group’s interests.
• Mobile and GPS based advertising and services: As discussed in a recent article, MillerCoors has crossed the threshold to mobile advertising and will be utilizing SnapTag technology to promote their latest craft beer.  GPS based services such as Foursquare continue to grow along with mobile and GPS dating services. Expect to see a continued growth in geotargeting as marketers continue to find better ways to deliver relevant real time content to consumers.
• Improved social-media monitoring and analytics: This can be seen with the increase and improvement of the analytics tools available as marketers and brands seek to justify social media campaigns.

Now that we are well into 2010 it is time to start looking forward at the next wave of digital trends, to try to stay ahead of the curve. Freddie Laker discusses his predictions for the social media landscape in 2012 in his AdAge article, “What Social Media Will Look Like in 2012”, which include:

• Decentralization of social networks: We are already seeing the early-stages of this with the emergence of Facebook Connect and the functionality of the new Windows Mobile 7 Series.
• Growth of content aggregators: This is increasingly important as the amount of content available continues to grow and is scattered across multiple channels. Brands will need to find ways to manage content, filtering it through the appropriate channels and delivering in the right context.
• Interaction with search engines and influencer marketing: New platforms like Google’s Social Search will change the way people interact with search engines by permeating search results with content that is relevant to their personal networks. This will increase the significance of influencer marketing and will give brands the opportunity to reach their potential consumer base in more focused and effective ways.

Laker believes that in order for brands to stay relevant in the future, they will need to be on board with the idea that share of voice, point of view and community influence will be more important than brand ownership. It will be interesting to see if all digital experiences will become socially-enhanced, rendering the term “social media” obsolete as everything becomes digital media as Laker predicts. Regardless of how the digital world evolves as we move forward it will be imperative for brands to stay ahead of the curve and adapt to the changes if they want to stay relevant in a constantly changing marketplace.