2010's web trends to watch

CNN just listed next year's web trends to watch, and I have to say, I'm pretty disappointed.

Real time events and news, geolocation information, augmented reality, curation of content, cloud computing, social gaming, and watching tv online are things that many of us are participating in in 2009. The only news here is that those of us who aren't participating in this probably will start in 2010.

For those of you who'd like to start before the rush, here's a primer:

*For real time events and news,

join Twitter or Facebook. Lots of news sites such as CNN, MSNBC, and others are offering this as well. Watch for live streaming events.

*For geolocation,

try Brightkite, Loopt, Foursquare, Gowalla, Google Lattitude, or Twitter. There are many others out there, so try some!

*Augmented reality is best understood by watching a video. Here's one of the best informational videos I've seen to describe it.
Stay tuned until 2:29 to see an example:


*Curation of Content is available.

Sites like flickr have this. Our Music LibGuides are an example. As more people turn to the internet for information, more people will want to "curate" the information so that you can find what you need quickly.

*Cloud computing is also very popular right now. It basically is a secure online place to store your born-digital documents, photos, videos, etc. You can keep these items private, or send a link to share them with others! If you don't currently have a Dropbox, or Skydrive (and even Google docs, wave and calendar could be considered this to some extent...), then get an account and send your stuff up to the cloud!

*Social gaming is nothing new for those of us who grew up with an NES or Playstation. Today's gaming, however, has definitely evolved. You can play Wii with anyone from around the world who also owns a Wii. On Facebook, you can play Farmtown or Mafia Wars with your parents or high school choir director. On XBox, you can play and see your friends even if you live across continents!

*Online videos and tvI hope by now we've all watched a video on YouTube, or Hulu. One upcoming website you should try out is Clicker. It brings you the best video content from all over the web, and my favorite thing it features is retro cartoons from when I was a kid! [Advice to anyone who watched the cartoon She-Ra as a kid- don't go back and watch it now. Trust me on this one.]

Hope you've enjoyed this post, and as always, if you have any questions, let us know!