| 2005 literally took the world by storm. The tragedies | | | | a common feature of cell phones.Wireless growth is |
| of the Asian Tsunami, the Hurricanes that blew | | | | still worth noting, as it has moved from hotspots, to |
| through the US Gulf Coast and the earthquakes that | | | | hot zones, to hot cities. Philadelphia and San Francisco |
| swallowed parts of Pakistan have left an indelible | | | | are leading the way as wireless cities in 2006.What is |
| mark on 2005. While mother nature cast a shadow | | | | in store for 2006? Privacy is a hot topic that is not |
| on 2005, it was technology that delivered the impact | | | | going to disappear. Google and the US Government |
| that resulted in a huge outpouring of donations. The | | | | are battling a Big Brother image. Data mining has |
| world was touched by the human element seen | | | | made the collection of data meaningful. Anti-Google |
| real-time in pictures and videos. Today's technology | | | | sentiment is growing. Google has fallen from grace, |
| was able to deliver the graphical grittiness that | | | | while Google has made friends on Wall Street, it has |
| portrayed the nightmares occurring half a world | | | | disappointed surfers who have turned to Yahoo and |
| away.Technology is usually thought of as impersonal, | | | | MSN in growing numbers. 2006 will likely result heat |
| but something needs to be recognized; without | | | | up the search engine war with MSN and Yahoo |
| technology the personal elements of the 2005 | | | | scrambling for marketshare and Google walking a |
| tragedies would not likely have been conveyed to | | | | tightrope with privacy advocates on one end and |
| the extent and timeliness they were. Reflecting on | | | | monopoly theorists on the other end.Google wants |
| 2005 and looking forward to 2006, technology will | | | | to make money, and like it or not data, is a |
| undoubtedly continue play a significant role in the | | | | commodity. Google will likely use the data from their |
| future both on a personal and impersonal level.In 2005 | | | | various ventures to develop new technologies and |
| Blogs gave birth to splogs, where senseless web | | | | personalize content. Conspiracy theorists believe that |
| scrapers generated massive amounts of senseless | | | | the Google's aggregate data will also be used to |
| content. Spam reached a whole new level, right along | | | | optimize the fees charged for pay-per-click, influence |
| side the ethical debate of content scraping. | | | | organic ranking, or worse yet, sold.Google's growth |
| Copyrights have been stepped on and I foresee a | | | | will continue to motivate privacy advocates and |
| new host of tools that will emerge to protect | | | | those in the technology field behind the Attention |
| content.SPAM and phishing scams were easier to | | | | Truste movement, to work together, to improve |
| recognize, but to their credit, spammers showed off | | | | how personal information and subscription information |
| their creativity, finding additional channels to inundate. | | | | is used online. I expect we will see a lot of energy |
| From splogs to forum spam, 2005 tech users saw | | | | and effort in this area.Personalized content will be a |
| spam as one of life's continued annoyances. Looking | | | | buzz word for 2006. Whether it is users selecting |
| into a crystal ball, I fear that social bookmarking will | | | | Podcasts, iTunes, or purchasing Amazon |
| become the spam vehicle of 2006, weakening the | | | | recommendations the web is learning how to cater |
| value of a collective voice.Sadly the blog saturation | | | | content based on user selections and choices. Web |
| has resulted in web clutter. Due to increased | | | | surfers see personalized content as regaining control |
| competition and vast quantities of blogs on free | | | | of what they want to watch, see, or listen to. From |
| hosted blog networks services, bloggers competing | | | | Tivo to podcasting, users are taking back control. Yet |
| for audiences and web traffic will result in significant | | | | when the web serves content that is based on past |
| abandoned content, cluttering the web with useless | | | | surfing habits, who is really in control?In 2005, |
| ramblings. The ease of blogging that resulted in | | | | marketers were told in no uncertain terms, if they |
| saturation will be its downfall. Credibility will again | | | | are not using syndication and RSS, they will not |
| become important. Journalist, who have suffered | | | | survive. Well, they have one more chance to get it |
| from the blogosphere in 2005, will have a reprieve as | | | | right. In 2006, marketers must use RSS as an |
| credibility becomes an issue for bloggers. In 2006 | | | | alternative communication channel. It will no longer be |
| web surfers are going to look for multiple sources to | | | | cutting edge, it will be a must to survive. Web |
| confirm facts, and rely on reliable respected sources, | | | | surfers no longer expect to provide personal |
| community content, and collaboration like Wikipedia is | | | | information (an email address) for marketing |
| going to suffer and become less relevant in 2006. | | | | materials, they expect to have a choice about how |
| While Wikipedia scores well in search, it does not | | | | they wish to receive the content.Vendors selling |
| perform as well with accuracy. The Wikipedia | | | | through affiliate programs lost ground in 2005. |
| community is haunted by spam and like DMOZ, it's | | | | Publishers found the easy money of pay-per-click |
| success will be its downfall. The relevance of | | | | advertising not fraught with the inherent problems of |
| successful community wiki's will fade in 2006.Cell | | | | affiliate tracking and cookie-killers. The increase in |
| phones have become personal homing devices, and it | | | | click-fraud and content scraping on AdSense sites will |
| is near impossible to locate a cellular phone that is not | | | | even the playing field and make affiliate programs |
| capable of manipulating or taking photos, videos, | | | | more attractive in 2006.The world is getting smaller, |
| graphics and text messages in addition to the | | | | and technological advancements has not only brought |
| traditional voice calls. It is likely the PDA will become | | | | us tragedy, but also has opened doors and the global |
| extinct in 2006, as travelers move to a single | | | | market is now a viable option for small businesses. I |
| multifunction device. In 2007 MP3 players will likely be | | | | believe the globalization trend will continue in 2006. |