2014 SOCIAL MOBILE PREDICTIONS

Well, it´s about that time of the year: Predictions' Season is back. Our Social Media Feeds invaded by links to blogposts and opinions about next year´s big stories and developments to watch. They come in all shapes and sizes and about almost any topic you can imagine. I'm gonna limit mine, or maybe it´s broadening, to the world of Social Mobile. Here go my 6 cents on the subject:

1.- FLEXIBLE DISPLAYS

Ok, I admit it: it is not a new topic, but I believe advances on it are gaining momentum. I was particularly impressed with Samsung's Flexible OLED presentationa at CES2013. If they're that advanced already, the near future looks bright and shiny.

I foresee not only cell phones taking advantage of this tech, but all sort of wearable devices as well. And that takes me to my second topic to pay attention to for the year to come...

2.- WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY

Watches, rings, glasses... you name it; all incorporating connectivity not only to the web, but to other devices as well. We´ll see more and more reaching the market in 2014.

3.- MICROVIDEO INVASION

Social Media will be overtaken by content in microvideo format. 10 secons or less will be the rule of thumb regarding video consumption. Marketers, beware! Pay attention to platforms like Vine and Instagram. See what users will create and consume, and adapt your content to this format.

4.- NEWSJACKING

With the FIFA World Cup in the middle of the year, 2014 will be fed up with news about this magnificent event. This will represent a myriad of challenges for our content to resonate. But, where there is challenge, there is an opportunity. More and more we´ll see people, institutions and companies molding their content to the Trending Topic of the moment. Prepare for announced events (Movie/TV Awards Season, the Soccer World Cup, Superbowl, Playoffs...) as well as Breaking News. The eyes of the consumer will be looking for them, you should try to capture and captivate their attention.  And remember: Forget TV! Second, and even Third, screen is where the avid marketer should place his content.

5.- FROM SEO TO OSEO

SEO is not dead yet, but it's facing decadence. Bots and marketers ruined its relevance. Big data is an animal yet to wild to tame. Even Facebook recognizes it is going to be difficult for our stories to reach people just through unpaid organic searches. But, like Game of Thrones' winter... it's coming. Search Engine Optimization will leave its place to the more important and rich Organic Search Engine Optimization.  2014 has to be the year in which we'll see the balance flipping from SEO to OSEO.

and last but not least... 

6.- CROWDFUNDING

My last development to watch for 2014 is Crowdfunding. We´ll see more and more initiatives to be financed this way. Fans and advocates of projects and causes will take advantage of the only funding tool trully social.  Crowdfunding   is Social Native. There are already places like Kickstarter or even Paypal to help develop this tool. I see this field ready to blossom.