Hurrah for January, the time when experts everywhere can make their predictions for the year ahead, safe in the knowledge that in 12 months time, they'll have been forgotten, ready for the next round of futuregazing.
Deloitte's Technology, Media and Telecoms industry group has just unveiled its predictions for 2007. The most relevant (to this blog at least) are:
The evolution of social networking. Including improvements in identification, and making it quicker and easier for services to remove copyrighted material quickly. I'm wondering if 2007 could also some lawsuits being flung around in this area, likely aimed at the few user-generated content services that are actually making money.
Mobile TV to be the next killer application. But hang on, don't snort in disdain. Deloitte sees video and TV content being taken off the phone and onto devices with more suitable screens. Which maybe ties into yesterday's story about mobile TV not living up to the hype on handsets.
Consumers becoming media moguls. Didn't Time magazine already do this one? Either way, Deloitte thinks that blogs, amateur film-makers and other web-heads are creating content that complements "or perhaps threatens" traditional media outlets. The firm suggests that smart companies will use user-generated content as a promotional vehicle, and will also scout new talent on the UGC sites. I think this means BBC newsreaders lip-synching to Backstreet Boys songs, but I can't be sure.
There's a bunch of other predictions too, including technology getting greener, biometric technology on the rise, and internet capacity woes. More at the link below.