5 trends that will define the tech space in 2011

2010 has been filled with overwhelming tales of growth and innovation in all things digital. Many people the world over have become more involved in online activities than they would have ever dreamed of. What can we expect to see from businesses and innovators in 2011?

Here are five trends to watch out for:

1. Mobile interfaces becoming app-like sites

2010 will be thought of as the year that mobile internet transitioned from being “the next big thing”, into “THE big thing”. There are already a plethora of innovative mobile websites and services and creative platform-specific apps that use internet services as a foundation. In 2011 we will start seeing mobile application style interfaces being used far more on mobile websites.

Mobile sites are now being seen less as just a smaller, paired down versions of main traditional sites, and more as an opportunity for unique experiences in their own right. Mobile app interface elements, such as large and simplified buttons rather than text links, dynamic, animated transitions between views and an emphasis on functionality over content will all become more common features of mobile sites.

2. More creativity in online advertising

Spend in all forms of online marketing and advertising is growing at a rapid pace at the expense of the budgets for more traditional, above the line mediums like TV, print and radio. Ten years ago online advertising was largely created and managed by geeks. Pay Per Click and display/banner advertising was all about the numbers, and often used cheap tactics to get people clicking through.

There has already been a large influx of creatives into the online sphere, but increasingly campaigns need to use high levels of creativity to differentiate themselves. Browsing the web is an experience peppered with corporate messages and different forms of advertising, and the term “banner blindness” is certainly not just restricted to banners.

Creativity in both concept and execution, spanning not just individual banners or text adverts, but entire, cohesive campaigns will become more and more prevalent. Bigger budgets will be put aside for large and innovative campaigns intended as branding exercises, as well as driving sales.

3. Micropayments emerging

The decline in print media over the past few years has been mirrored by the rise in online consumption of news and content of all sorts. The business model of online content suppliers has been a slightly grey area in terms of success. Most have adopted an advertising model, but many companies find that ad revenues are not large enough on their own to support the content production teams. Other content suppliers, especially some established print media companies have opted for subscription models, allowing full content only to be read by those who pay a monthly subscription cost.

The jury is still out on whether or not this kind of model will work well in a marketplace saturated with free, premium quality content.

PayPal released its micropayments service in 2010, with a large emphasis on integration with Facebook. Hopefully in 2011 more competitors will enter this marketplace, especially as the trend in mobile payments also seems to be on the rise. Quick and easy payment of small amounts of money for premium content could be a phenomenal solution for a lot of content producers, and 2011 may well be the year that it really gains some traction.

4. Localised content

As mobile has begun to dominate, so with it comes location based services. As more and more people consume content and use services on devices that are location aware, opportunities abound for companies and developers to create location-specific online experiences. There are those intended for pure enjoyment, such as the magical Google and Arcade Fire HTML 5 ‘Experiment’, more functional services such as Facebook Places, Google Places and Waytag, and simply the powerful ability to provide relevant content such as local restaurant reviews to a user.

The potential for adding value by the use of localisation spans almost all industries and business types. The growth in localised content and services also starts to bridge the divide between our ordinary and our digital lives, a theme that will certainly be prevalent in 2011.

5. Curatorship and aggregation

Sites such as TechMeme, and services such as Paper.li have garnered a lot of traffic and attention in 2010. We will certainly see a lot more innovation in the realm of aggregation and curatorship in 2011. Whilst there is definite competition between these two systems of arranging and supplying content, both ultimately have the same goal of improving user experience in various areas of online activity.

There is a seemingly unstoppable rise in online content of all forms – one only has to read a few of the mind blowing statistics describing the scale of YouTube’s content base and content growth rates to see that. With that trend firmly in place, and more people engaging in social media and social networks, we should certainly see an increase in curatorship and aggregation services. Here’s to 2011 being a year full of creative solutions to the problem of ‘too much content’.