The key to thrive tomorrow is to have a pulse on today's trends. Become a student of your surroundings and the emerging tech trends to be a next generation catalyst. Here is 1 man's perspective on what's to come...
Better Search: Facebook Graph Search is the first of this trend. Expect sentiment and interest based search to be what fuels the next generation of search.
Immersive Gaming: New technology like Microsoft's IllumiRoom allows for entire rooms to become the screen. The exploding industry of gaming will continue to rapidly expand and offer users a more real and immersive type of play. This new technology will also make your home movie night that much awesome-er!
Immersive Media: The new Hawaii 5-0 show became the first TV show ever to have it's ending determined by Twitter. Viewers voted on Twitter for which ending they wanted to see. Glee was a first mover when they showed hashtags on screen during the show and allowed viewers to live chat with the cast over Twitter. Other shows allow you to text or call characters to unlock and participate in side stories. Expect more media immersion in 2013 as audiences leverage technology to get in on the action.
Millennial Nostalgia: As the Millennials begin to enter their high-potential earning years, I fully expect companies to begin leveraging the nostalgia of the Millennials. The rebirth of old TV shows, toys or new installments of classic movies (i.e. Ghostbusters 3) could prove very lucrative due to the 80 million strong Millennial market.
Mobile Integration: Smartphones are a big deal…no DUH! The next big step is mobile integration. How will your phone sync with your car, home, game console or TV?
Pic/Video Sharing: On the heels of the success of Pinterest, Instagram and SocialCam…you should expect more social networks to be focused on picture and video sharing versus heavy text. Emerging generations will look first for videos or pictures before reading text.
Personal Branding: As the workplace becomes more and more saturated with talent, workers will have to rely on a strong and robust personal brand to elevate their career. Millennials are not allowing themselves to be defined by their jobs and prefer to allow their social networks and personal websites to communicate their identity.
3D Printing: Printing 3D tangible objects is now a consumer reality. Like most technology, 3D printers will reach critical mass as they become less expensive but it is important for brands to begin thinking how they will integrate their services with this new technology.
The Millennials are driving many of these innovations so embrace these trends to better position your brand for next generation success.
Question: What other trends will explode in 2013?
