I was reading an article the other day about things that technologies that may disappear in 2009.
- Microblogs
- Targeted Advertising
- Social News sites
- Online Video
- Streaming Music
- Enterprise Social Networking
1. Microblogs
I won’t be entirely sorry to see these go – they’re a bit interesting for a while, but otherwise, well, who cares that you’re going out for a coffee in your lawnchair?Â
It IS a concept that could be more effectively implemented, and it could potentially find its way in to certain enterprise applications – wouldn’t it be great if you could send an SMS from your mobile phone and it would turn up in your enterprises CRM system?
The other thing is, private accounts – following a single person’s activities is a bit dull – following a bunch at once might be better… instead of being somewhat linear and scattered (John Doe has gone out for a lunch with a customer), it could be grouped by company or team or something (John from Marketing is going to meet a customer for lunch – invites Daniel, James and Vivek from Engineering)… or… well, I’d have to draw a picture to explain what I mean better.
2. Targeted Advertising
I don’t actually see why they think this is going away – but in saying that, I’ll be glad if it does. Call me paranoid or whatever, but it’s creepy – especially in some implementations (here’s talking to you, Facebook).
3. Social News Sites
Again, I’m not sure why they think these will be going away. Many will die, for sure: there is too much choice, and too much choice is too much of a good thing (though far better than a monopoly from the consumers end) – but when there is too much, there isn’t enough to go around, and the business becomes unsustainable – that is, unless you corner (and capture) a niche.
4. Online Video
Again, many will die. CNet I think does alright in this arena – the videos are focused, and the advertisers probably get good value for money – its just a 30-second, usually high-impact video at the beginning of the broadcast, and that’s it.
Youtube is good because it has Google and is immensly popular, although I would say there are some sites superior to Youtube.
I also like a lot of the Chinese streaming video sites (like guba.com – but only when I have a decent amount of bandwidth) because like me, they don’t care so much about copyright.
Not that copyright is a BAD thing, per sé, but the implementation of it these days is flawed, and more of a burden than what it was intended to be. But that is a whole other debate altogether.
5. Streaming Music
I will sort of be sad to see this go, although I’ve pretty much stuck to the major players which I think will survive, I’ve been a happy user since 2000-2001 with Shoutcast, and more recently, Last.fm and things of that nature (when I have had the bandwidth).
Like streaming video, I will be happy if the big players hang about, but like social-news sites and streaming video – too many players are making the business models of most sites unsustainable.
I like both of these technologies because, in countries with decent bandwidth, I can use them. They do engage me more, and I discover more on the web than I do with TV. (I’ve turned on my TV but twice since I arrived in India on 27/11/2008.)
6. Enterprise Social Networking
To be honest, I don’t know about this one. I use LinkedIn and Ecademy fairly regularly, but I think it fits in with my previous points with regards to too many players – Sure, I might be a member of Plaxo and about 15 other sites, but I log in to them… almost never… unless I get sent an email.
The majority should go away, or at least define themselves a niche – I mean, there are far too many social networks for IT workers, but only a few for other industries. Although I could be wrong, as I haven’t really researched that fully – but my point remains. I would like to consolidate all my details in to a couple of places and be done.
(Based upon the article at http://www.internetevolution.com/document.asp?doc_id=169817&print=yes)
