As we wrap up this first decade of the 21st century, lots of things have changed… in tech, in our lives, and just the world around us. And as the saying goes, the only guaranteed to stay the same is change!

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.  
–Alan Cohen

So lets get into it… how is our world going to change in 2010? What change is going to power our near future? Here are a few of my ideas.

ONE: Mobile Become King
I’ve written a lot about the end of personal computing, especially the way we think of it. The advances in mobile platforms in just the last six months only reinforce my conviction that the days of the beige box relegated to the corner of the living room are numbered. Even the days of the laptop may be coming to a close. Look for big advances in computing power, battery life, geospatial awareness and constant, ubiquitous connectivity this year. These will be the enabling technology breakthroughs that enable more power in a smaller footprint, and THAT means…

TWO: Smaller Footprint Requires More Efficient Delivery
If you’ve ever tried to lookup a website on a smart phone, even an iPhone or Droid, you know that its not the most fulfilling experience. Lets face it, the vast majority of sites out there today are designed for the desktop monitor. Even with vast improvement in connectivity and bandwidth, users will begin to cull the download pigs from their experience. Google has even said they will begin factoring in load time of a site in their ranking formulas. In 2010, look for sleeker, faster loading, faster-to-the-content data sources. So what loads quickly and has a tiny footprint?….

THREE: Rise of the Feeds
More and more users get their daily fix through feeds and feed readers. Heck, all my daily reading now begins in the feed reader. In fact, the only reason I wind up on a destination site these days is to leave a comment or because a link (probably to a past post HINT HINT) took me there. If I’m following your blog because of the great content you create, then I can get it all right there in one place. Oh, BTW, stop already with only including the first paragraph in the feed. Unless I REALLY like you, that’s a fail and immediate un-follow from me. And with a rise in the popularity of reading feeds, we get…

FOUR: VAST Improvements in Content Aggregation
Ok, so that covers a little more than feed readers, but that’s where we’re going. In addition to reading what Chris Brogan, Rod Kirby and Jeff Jarvis have to say today, at varying times of the day I’m interested in local news, weather, sports, best gas prices, menu specials at my favorite eateries… all those play a part in my interest stream. The trick is filtering those nuggets of news based on my location, mood, activity, destination… any number of parameters. For instance, I’m not particularly concerned with traffic conditions at 10am, because I’m not driving anywhere. But at 5pm, you bet I’m interested. Look for big time improvements in filtering, maybe even learning filters during 2010. And with filters, come…

FIVE: The Need to Monetize the Stream
I’m going to adopt the word stream rather than feed because referring to the feed make me feel like I have to consume it all to get my big-boy, happy-plate sticker. A stream is constantly flowing and I can watch it, dip my toe in it, or jump in head first… then climb out again when I’m ready. Combining that flowing concept with smaller footprints and the ever present need to make money, there will have to be major improvements in how we monetize the stream in 2010. Face it, we all need to get paid and if the only way we’re doing that is with AdSense… an our visitors drop off because they’re reading us in the stream… ??? Following the Google model, it seems that an advertising supported aggregation service would work well. Thing Google Reader with Gmail type ads.

SIX: My Own Private Library
Because the stream is always moving and I still have to sleep every once in a while, I tend to miss things I may be interested in. Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a way to tag, group, and store content and links so I could check them out when I’m back in the game? That is what I refer to as aggregation and it would be totally awesome! It would be even better if it learned from my actions and was able to find new content I might be interested in… kind of like Pandora does for music and Tivo does with Suggestions! Now THAT would be a newspaper I’d be interested in reading every morning… as long as I could read it on my phone or Kindle.

Ok, so there are my 6 Guaranteed Game Changing Predictions for 2010. What do you think? Like ‘em? Hate ‘em? Think I’m way too far afoot? Let us all know in the comments below.

I’m really looking forward to 2010 and I hope you are too. Have a wonderful, productive and profitable year! BTW, if you’re a programmer type… and need some product ideas… re-read this post!

@jtrigsby

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