10 Web Trend Predictions for 2010 (Part 1)

We're now in February, which has given me a chance to reflect back at the end of 2009, beginning of 2010 and what I foresee for the remainder of the year and beyond.  Below are my top 10 predictions for web trends on the rise for the remainder of the 2010.  None of these predictions are earth-shattering, but that doesn't make them any less important.

1. Bing will gain more ground in the search world.  Google isn't going anywhere.  Where they continue to take users from is Yahoo.  It's a bit confusing at first how that changes anything, since Microsoft now owns both Bing and Yahoo.  What is does setup is a more focused initiative to eventually steal ground from Google.  Evolutions in search engines, such as real-time searching (see #10) and handling of social media relevancy (see #9), will determine a lot about where the market share shifts.
    
   
2. Social Media API's will find their way onto more homepages.  2009 showed a big increase in the amount of companies listing their social media platforms (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc.) on their homepages.  API's, which dynamically display the actual updates and posts from Social Media platforms onto a site, only began to scratch the surface last year though.  The drive for more dynamic and updated content will feed this growth.
    
   
3. Social Media will become more deeply rooted in online strategies.  The companies that were ahead of curve have already been doing this for much of 2008 and 2009 with fantastic results.  The trend that is going to increase is the rest of the web world starting to catch up.  Even the organizations who setup their Social Media platforms recently are often finding they don't know how to make the best use of them or run an effective online strategy based on them.  I compare this to companies getting basic web site up in the late 1990's.  Many of them knew they wanted to be online, but didn't know why or how to capitalize on their site.  I see companies becoming much more educated and creative with Social Media this year.
    
   
4. Online advertising increases and become more diversified.  The prediction of online advertising increases is a no-brainer.  The interesting part will be the diversification.  Companies are no longer just looking at just Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Advertising.  Social Media Advertising and online video advertisement are just a couple examples of evolving online marketing strategies.
    
   
5. Cleaner and more to the point designs.  Web 2.0 already started to enforce this design trend.  It's big headings and effective use of negative space.   As things become more real-time and concise, design and layouts need to be to the point so users can skim.  The days of reading are long over (if they ever truly existed) and skimming is king.  We live in a Twitter-like world, say it quickly and now!
    

Continued next week in part 2 (Predications 6-10)...

Posted February 4, 2010 | Read all posts by Ryan Deyer