I predict a riot!

Okay, maybe not a riot. But since everyone seems to be making predictions for 2008, I feel I’d better have my own thoughts on record. One thing to note… predictions are more likely to happen when you have direct influence over making them happen. So these are not only predictions, but some of the ideas we’ll be working towards in 2008 (as we’ve started to do in 2007). Oh, and we’re not going to talk about some of the easy predictions… gaming, mobile, privacy… as these are givens.

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Social confluence sites
As new social networking sites come online, and the genre becomes both more popular and more specialized, people won’t be defined by their profiles on one site. They’ll be defined by their profiles on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, I’m In Like With You, Flickr, del.icio.us, Plazes, Dopplr, Twitter… Much as RSS readers like Google Reader, Netvibes and Pageflakes have made RSS content easily accessible online, sites that gather all of your social networking content into one place will become the destination du jour (that’s destination of the day) to find out what your friends, colleagues, and enemies are up to. Sort of what Flock has started to do, but web based.

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User Generated Content (UGC) will become a term of the past
The concept of “user generated content” will soon be dead. It’s just going to be content. The line between “users” and “professionals” will dissolve, so the term “user generated” will have no meaning. For example, look at the TV commercials our friend Mike Byrne and Anomaly have created for Converse.

I read somewhere that Anomaly made this ad (and others) themselves, on their computers. The DIY movement is moving beyond crafty sites like Etsy and into the mainstream, way beyond content. Let’s call it HuGS – Human Generated Stuff. Etsy sells anything and everything made by people, companies like Ponoko help you make anything you can imagine, sites like Threadless put your shirts out there. The difference between amateur and professional will be negligible. Oh, and it’s not created by users. It’s created by people – you and me.

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Greenwashing becomes Philosophy-washing
Everyone has been talking about how the “green” message has become so overused that it has lost it’s meaning and impact. We agree. Being environmentally aware is now table stakes for doing business as a responsible corporation. What’s next is talking about why it’s important, and how it reflects back on the core of a business philosophy. For example, our client bambu produces beautiful products for the kitchen and home using sustainable materials. The sustainable, environmental story is part of their overall philosophy of supporting communities: doing well by doing good. It’s not enough to say you’re being “green;” what’s the belief behind it? Which leads to the final prediction…

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Making Meaning will trump Making Money
Companies like Wal-Mart, ExxonMobil and Amazon will continue to make lots of money. But the companies that will become incredibly profitable are going to be those that make meaning. Companies that make meaning will have a smaller market, but an incredibly passionate, evangelical market. They won’t make the vast sums of money that the behemoth companies are raking in, but they will make more profit. People who find meaning in the companies that make meaning will spend more for products, services and experiences. It will follow the trend of localvores in finding what is important philosophically and emotionally. People will be more brand loyal to these companies that make meaning… after all, they build a meaningful relationship based on shared philosophy.

Conveniently, making meaning is the root of everything in 2008. It allows you to build the social confluence sites that mean something to people and create the “stuff” that humans want (both the stuff they want to create, and the stuff people will want to purchase). Making meaning requires brands to state and explain what they believe, and starts the conversations and relationships that call on companies to do better.