Online PR Podcast

OPRP 052 – top 10 social media trends of 2010 – 01.13.11

The Online PR Podcast episode 52 with Pete Codella of Codella Marketing and Mark Polson of Code Greene discusses the top 10 social media trends of 2010.

With last year history, it’s time to focus on what tools and trends were noteworthy in 2010 and what’s likely to be big news in 2011. With that background, here’s . . .

The Online PR Podcast Top 10 Social Media Trends of 2010

10. Niche networks - Especially health-focused online communities like those created by Alliance Health Networks (disclosure: they’re a client of Codella Marketing).

9. WikiLeaks - Should all information be public information?

8. Power to the people - We’ve witnessed a psychological shift where people know they now have a voice with the potential to reach as far and as many people as any large media conglomerate.

7. Video storytelling - The power of YouTube for corporate communicators; the video communication revolution is just beginning.

6. Social buying, using coupons - Groupon. Need we say more?

5. Social media optimization - Branding consistency across platforms and the importance of making all online content shareable. Viral campaigns like Old Spice are included in our social media optimization discussion.

4. Location-based services - Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook Places, Google Places, etc.

3. Mobile apps - Mobile is our gateway to the world and apps are becoming an increasingly important part of Web and mobile technology. (We’ve already opined that apps could save the newspaper industry.)

2. Facebook – Facebook is face-time online. It takes social interaction and makes it virtual, extending physical boundaries. How much Internet time is spent on Facebook? Too much! In 2010 Facebook was the subject of a movie, received tons of traditional media coverage, and hit the more than 550 million user mark. Facebook is huge!

1. iPad - Tablet computing. We’ll see a lot more development in this area in 2011. (And Pete loves his iPad.)

Pete and Mark also include a couple of postscripts:

In 2010, where the Online PR Podcast is based, Salt Lake City was ranked #8 in NetProspex Social Business Report for the level of social media engagement among working professionals. SLC has, by far, the lowest population of any city in the top 10.

Additionally, in December Walmart did a Facebook food drive, awarding $1M to the city with the most votes for its food bank. Salt Lake City came in first place and a nearby community, Ogden-Clearfield, placed fourth, receiving $100,000 for its food bank (read the article in Utah’s Deseret News).

Finally, we could have included online gaming in the 2010 top 10 social media trends, but Pete’s not really a fan of playing games online. However, corporate communicators shouldn’t overlook the role online gaming could play in their Internet strategies and tactics.