Latest trends in online marketing and behaviour

So what’s going on out there? This is our very brief review of the changes that are taking place in online, mobile internet and social networking.

Mobile internet

It seems that more poeple own a lot more devices (especially younger ones), especially mobile phones. Does this mean that mobile internet is taking off? I don’t think so. Unless the issues with common standards, security, cost of devices and connection, and especially usability are resolved, mobile internet will not take off.

Social Networking

Given the number of people who now have access to the internet via broadband, we don’t believe there will be a significant growth in usage driven by new people accessing the web. We believe usage will continue to grow, but this will come from people spending more time online and via new technologies. Social computing is still growing, and we believe a significant number of niche social network sites will emerge over the next few months. The business model behind these is still uncertain, but it’s likely to start free (and be paid for by advertising), followed by the development of real value community sites and some sort of subscription model or sponsorship.