Social Media, Internet And Other Tech Predictions For 2010

From buyouts to advances in technology to facelifts for old familiar friends, 2010 is going to bring about a lot of changes to the web, as each year prior to it has also accomplished. While many moves will leave us scratching our heads, others will hit the nail right on the head. Here are my 10 predictions for the internet, social media and tech in 2010.

1. Google will purchase PostRank and GetClicky. With the almost instantaneous minute-to-minute visitor updates offered by GetClicky and the excellent social media analytics offered by PostRank, Google Analytics would finally be at the point where Google could offer an all in one analytics platform that can properly gauge on and off site user interactions. A premium will be charged for full analytics reporting based on the new system, but it’s still cheaper than running PostRank, GetClicky and various other services on a website all at once. A “Basic” Google Analytics service based on the companies current platform will still be offered for free.

2. MySpace says “see you later” to social networking and branches out further as a content network for musicians and aspiring videographers. They take that success and continue to rebrand MySpace Records into a more viable alternative to major labels. Facebook Connect will also continue to be further integrated into the website, giving Facebook users an outlet for multimedia.

3. Facebook announced an IPO, which in turn becomes the number one IPO of 2010. It becomes the greatest amount of money ever made for evading everyone’s privacy and confusing customers with constant changes to company policy.

4. Google Android gains many more top mobile app developers as Apple App Store fallout pushes developers away from the cluttered app store and towards the ever increasing in popularity Android system. Google will claim the number two spot behind Apple in the U.S.

5. A new “symantic search” engine will begin to gain traction among users looking for quick updates to recent stories. That search engine may be a Bing or Google improvement over their current systems or something completely new developed by some college or high school kid who get bored on a Monday night.

6. Twitter will begin displaying ads across their network, they won’t go public in 2010, but their estimated valuation will continue to increase as their API is more widely adapted, possibly across major blogs/websites looking to offer their own form of trending search capabilities, while creating programs that keep users on their websites for longer periods of time, while still providing those users with access to their Twitter accounts, sort of like the Meebo Bar found at the bottom of our site.

7. Google Chrome OS will become the standard OS for netbooks at various manufacturers. Netbooks will also increase slightly in size and processing power, leading to a new in-between device that’s larger than a netbook but smaller and less powerful than a full sized notebook.

8. Demand Studios will continue to grow their market share throughout 2010, including new partnerships with large traditional media companies, especially newspapers and magazines. They will lose their “Content Mill” feel among many writers as they continue to increase the number of opportunities available to freelancers. Demand Studio writers will become household names to much of the public internet consuming demographic as they continue to increase their exposure among many top websites.

9. HTML5 will become the golden child of 2010 web programming code. YouTube will continue to implement HTML5 videos on their website, while top developers will become even more drawn to the code for it’s ability to scale their projects. Videos will become much more interesting and interactive and we’ll see our browsers crashing a whole lot less with Flash Player and Silverlight removed much of the time from the equation.

10. Top Social Media sites will get venture capital funding as traditional media investors look to subsidize their losses from old media industries. Mashable will be one of the first companies to receive that type of funding. Consequently Pete Cashmore will become so exchausted from constantly staying connected that he’ll hide out on a small island where he’ll spend his days drinking beer and playing guitar for a group of his Twitter list friends. Huffington Post will also receive more funds to extend their “investigative journalism” practices.

Some of my predictions will probably fall flat on their faces, but given the atmosphere surrounding the internet at this moment, you just never know. In any respect, It should be a fun year for the web. I can’t wait to see what happens.

What are your predictions for the internet, social media and technology for 2010. Leave us a comment with your thoughts.