So 2008 is just about in the books and its time to reflect. 2008 will probably be remembered as one of the most tumultuous years of our generation. We faced a Recession which felt more like a Depression, potential deflation, $140/barrel of oil, a financial crisis (thank you SEC for not monitoring OTC credit swaps), a $60 Billion Ponzi scheme, a bank bailout, a automaker bailout, and a real estate correction! With all this stuff it’s a wonder that most of us survived 2008 (I guess what doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger?). That’s a preposterous number of things to go wrong in one year, but there were a few bright spots in 2008. How will you remember 2008?
I’ll remember 2008 as the Year of Social Media. Social networking, micro blogging, wireless applications, crowdsourcing, and widgets/apps on networks were a big part of the what I saw grow up this past year.
Facebook continued to develop its platform with Facebook Connect and is still growing at a fast pace. MySpace grew its application platform, and LinkedIn even joined the fray with an application platform of its own.
Twitter leaped the chasm from innovators to mainstream, while Pownce closed its virtual doors.
Wireless phones became all-in-one machines and text messaging appears to be like breathing air for many teens and even some adults. The iPhone brought useful web applications to the palm of your hand.
Hulu, the online tv/video provider, amazed users with it’s vast library and ability to actually monetize content.
And for so many advancements this year, what really excites me it the infancy of the Web 2.0 or as it should be called now, Web 3.0. New expressions with ample bandwidth and tools to share new content to users across the world are enabling creative minds to redefine what was commonplace. At some point a picture will become a long portrait, social networks will learn how to monetize their services, and new ways of communicating will become commonplace.
Here’s to looking forward to 2009!