by joey marchy
There are a thousand different Internet trends out there buzzing to be the next big thing. I’m muting all that noise and telling you the current state of the Internet is: video, user generated content (UGC) and the mobile web. These are the 3 trends that will consume you and your Internet in the coming year.
If 2005 was the year of the blog and 2006 was the year of MySpace, 2007 will be the year of video. The blistering rise of YouTube and a hundred other video hosting, sharing and remixing sites have proven the Internet is ready for the video revolution.
Bandwidth-intensive video is the new reality thanks to the widespread adoption of broadband. In the year 2006, high-speed Internet use grew twice as fast as it did in 2005. This trend will continue as the competition between DSL and Cable Internet providers heats up, driving prices lower. Because bandwith and storage is so cheap, start looking for online video versions of everything: every network television show, live network news feeds and, of course videos, from your next-door neighbor. Watch as this video gets distributed in entirely new ways like being pushed to your mobile device and even your TV.
The iTunes Store has made it simple for anyone to download and watch video over the Internet. Even your mom was able to subscribe to your video podcast without your help. Go mom! A new peer-to-peer file sharing technology called bitorrent has made downloading full-length, high-definition movies possible in a matter of hours instead of days. Not to mention humanity is poised at the starting line of a new race for television, Internet and computer convergence called IPTV, Internet TV for short. New services from Apple (AppleTV) and Microsoft’s Xbox360 Video Marketplace will mashup your computer and television like never before.
The great thing about the unfolding video revolution is big networks aren’t the only ones with a TV channel. Welcome to “You TV” where every family or person who wants their own show can have one.
Who’s making all this new video content? Who’s mixing the best new Gwen Stefani single with the worst Sanjaya Malakar (R.I.P.) American Idol performance? Whose blog is an essential window on the neighborhood you live in? You Are! We All Are!
Anytime you comment on a blog, upload a video to YouTube or post an audio interview with your dentist, you are creating user generated content.
User generated content, or UGC, refers to various kinds of media content that is produced or primarily influenced by normal people using the Internet, as opposed to traditional media producers, licensed broadcasters and production companies.
A Pew Internet study cited 48 million American adults have contributed some form of user generated content, that’s 35 percent of Internet users. Expect to see this number rise in the coming months as news sites like USA Today offer innovative ways for people to join into the conversation. Watch the newspaper industry around the country begin innovating as if their life depended on it. Check out MyClaySun and BostonNOW for examples of how the newspaper industry is tapping into user generated content.
Now more than ever, people feel compelled to create and contribute something to this globally-wired, networked-super-brain called the Internet. Derek Powazek, the cofounder of JPG Magazine, says: “User-generated content is nothing new online. In fact, it’s what the network was designed for.”
Derek calls for an end to the debasing term “user generated content” and opts for the warm, cozy term “authentic media.” I do agree, the phrase “user generated content” sounds like something marketing guys thought up in a dark, cherry-paneled room, drinking scotch and rolling in their MySpace money.
Want to guess how the majority of the people in the world access the Internet? Outside of the U.S., most Internet users access the web on their phones. Look for more rabid competition in the mobile phone space in the U.S. and abroad as carriers rush more features and services. Carriers already have their sights set on the third world pocketbooks. Developing nations in Africa and Central America are money in the bank.
Did you think I would write this whole article without mentioning the new techno-crack everyone is dying to get their hands on? iPhone! YES! The iPhone will be the biggest technology crush since the iPod and should knock the iPod off its 80GB throne. At least until Apple drops the new widescreen iPod with multi-touch. Oh yes, it’s coming. The iPhone will alter people’s Internet access habits in unprecedented ways. Look for more video and audio content along with software applications specifically for the mobile web user to tap into the more robust feature sets of mobile handsets.
Crazy as it sounds SMS aka text messaging will increase, yes I said increase, in popularity. SMS stands for short message service and is a message of 160 characters or less sent over a mobile network. The discrete nature of text messaging made it popular with kids and people who don’t like broadcasting their conversation to everyone around them. Look for Twitter and similar mobile based services to capitalize on this market.
We are just beginning to tap the potential of the Internet. If the last 5 years were a warm-up, the next 10 years will be mind-blowing.
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