Insights into Trends

The Online Spin Blog at Mediapost.com had an interesting analysis yesterday from Cory Treffiletti outlining a few key trends he sees for 2007. They were

1) solving the copyright problems surrounding user-generated content (particularly user-generated content on sites like YouTube where creative types "snag" pieces of someone else's stuff for their own purposes). He suggests that a compensation model of some sort will be developed and that Google is going to figure it out.

2) burn to order business models for television -- rather than Tivo'ing "Nick at Night" reruns of Gilligans Island, networks will put their archives online, allowing fans to burn their own DVDs -- for a fee, of course.

3) the long tail and social networks -- rather than broad and generic networks like Myspace and Facebook, he predicts will see more segmented sites focused on specific audiences. Rather than being everything to everyone, sites will cater to people who feel passionately about a particular topic or aspect of their lives. Dogspace anyone?

4) the Internet will become increasingly personalized with more personalized start pages -- he points to the digital dashboard concepts being developed by Google, Yahoo and others. These are gaining more popularity, particulary with a segment of the population that wants what they want when they want it.

The key to all the trends, in my mind, is that they are driven by the increasingly engagist culture. As I've said ad nauseum, people expect to engage and use technology to focus their time and attention on the things that matter most to them. In the context of these trends:

Copyright restrictions aren't going to stop them from creating their own content;

The "clunkiness" of the television isn't going to stop them from watching their favorite shows;

They seek opportunities to connect with the people and issues that matter most to them, and more segmented social networks will be the key;

They want a dashboard that allows them to quickly and easy direct their attention to what THEY CHOOSE to pay attention to.

Here's my own predicition -- 2007 will be the year of the engagist. If yo udon't know what that means, you might be left behind.