Tech Trends

mHealth,
Geolocation and
Mobile Memes...
30 tech trends that will impact
your business in 2011

Webbmedia Knowledge Base: 2011 Trends Updated

© 2011 Webbmedia Group, LLC http://www.webbmediagroup.com 1.1.2011
 Table of Contents
Executive Summary 3

Trends Affecting Our Clients

IPv6 is Here 3
Hyperlocal Hype Cycle Wanes 4
Here Come Tablets 4
Next-Gen Checkins 4
Data Streams For All 5
Facebook Stores 5

Behavior-Changing Trends
3D Printing 6
Web Apps 6
Interactive Advertising 6
CAPTCHA Advertising 6
Mapping Apps 6
E-book Sharing 7
Human Recognition Advertising/ Marketing 7
Real-Time Pricing 7
Mechanical Turkification 7
Mobile Memes 8
Near Field Communication 8
Personal Interest Graphs 8
Social Browsers 8
YouTube Network 8

Consumer-Facing Trends
Video Calling 9
Group Buying 9
Mobile Scanning 9
Dynamic Curation 9
mHealth Apps 10
Internet Rules the Living Room 10
Price Wars 10
Wired Babies 10
The End of Privacy 10

About This Report 11

About Webbmedia Group 11

Webbmedia Knowledge Base: 2011 Trends Updated

© 2011 Webbmedia Group, LLC http://www.webbmediagroup.com 1.1.2011

2
 Executive Summary
In the past year, we’ve seen the launch of the iPad, a handful of connected
television options and a wide array of social networking tools. The pace of
innovation has shifted dramatically. Smart entrepreneurs are now iterating
every few days or weeks (instead of months or years). And some of the best
new products are being developed not just by Stanford dropouts, but also
by former big-name CEOs, high schoolers, journalists, musicians and
sports fanatics.

This report includes three sets of trends we expect to see emerge in 2011:
those which will impact our clients, those which will cause a fundamental
shift in media consumption behavior, and those which will affect consumers
in the near-term.

For Our Clients: We’re Out of IP Addresses

Every device that connects to the Internet, from mobile phones to MiFis to
computers to TiVOs, needs a unique ID number (also called an IP address)
in order to make contact with other devices on the network. The world is
projected to run out of addresses by March 2011. This means that for those
in developing areas like China and India who finally have access to
technology, they won't be able to get online. But it also means that large-
scale U.S. providers such as Comcast won't be able to support new
customers as they have in the past. Why? Our current standard, IPv4, is the
Internet Protocol developed in 1981. It's been 30 years, and we're out of
numbers. The next iteration is IPv6, which is ultimately more secure and is
much more extensible. Eventually, ISPs will have to make the switch and
migrate all of their customers. However, those people connecting via IPv6
won't be able to access content that's being housed on IPv4. The New York
Times, Washington Post, CNN, NPR, local blogs -- basically any content
producer who hopes to continue reaching a worldwide audience -- will
either have to start migration now or will face losing millions of visitors
starting Q3-Q4 this year. 

Webbmedia Knowledge Base: 2011 Trends Updated

© 2011 Webbmedia Group, LLC http://www.webbmediagroup.com 1.1.2011

3
 Hyperlocal Hype Cycle Wanes
Lots of new hyperlocal initiatives will launch before summer 2011 by a vast
number of traditional media organizations. Millions and millions of dollars
will be spent recreating templated sites based on zip code or geography
alone. All of the local ad dollars being counted on will instead shift towards
social commerce sites like LivingSocial and Groupon, which have started to
include compelling editorial content. Interest among journalists will grow,
while consumer interest continues to stagnate. Only the hyper-personal
sites that focus on niche content and geography rather than neighborhoods
alone will succeed.

Here Come the Tablets

2011 will be the year of the tablet. We'll see close to two dozen tablets
come to market, most running some version of Android. Consumers will
continue to love the iPad, while publishers will continue developing what is
essentially a web-centric experience for a device that does much, much
more. Smart entrepreneurs will leapfrog traditional news organizations by  
focusing on dynamic content curation via algorithm. Think Pulse v2.0,
Flipboard (http://flipboard.com/), Wavii (http://www.wavii.com/) -- but
even more engaging.

Next-Gen Checkins
Geofencing will become an integral part of the checkin experience in
2011. Right now, many mobile social networks use a fuzzy radius to locate
members, and it's easy to game the system. But it's also harder for retailers

Webbmedia Knowledge Base: 2011 Trends Updated

© 2011 Webbmedia Group, LLC http://www.webbmediagroup.com 1.1.2011

4
 and others interested in social commerce to effectively use networks like
Foursquare and Gowalla because it's difficult to verify that a user is actually
inside of a store or at a specific location. For news organizations trying to
syndicate content, the best many can do now is to leave vague tips around
town. Geofencing technology requires very strict location parameters,
allowing a number of interesting possibilities. For example, check-ins can
be triggered automatically, expiring assets (such as event tickets or
breaking news alerts) can be pushed to users, and a moving target -- like a
parade or car chase -- can be tracked/ commented on. And with
geofencing, someone can't check into his favorite restaurant repeatedly
while driving past it his way to work.

Data Streams For All

Data-filled firehoses will spring leaks everywhere in 2011. And not just
WikiLeaks. Twitter is releasing a personal metrics dashboard soon. Other
social networks are discussing how to release data streams about/ for their
users and the content being discussed. News organizations will soon find a
fantastic opportunity to harness all of that data, to parse it and to develop
stories about everything from the U.S. government to our cultural zeitgeist.
DocumentCloud (http://www.documentcloud.org/home) is a breakthrough,
an essential tool developed by journalists for journalists.

Facebook Stores
In 2010, we saw a few brands, including Pampers, JCPenny and 1-800-
Flowers.com, launch full-fledged stores inside of Facebook using the
Amazon Web Store backend. We expect to see hundreds of new Facebook
Stores launch in 2011 -- as well as many new third party tools to monitor
penetration, customer satisfaction and various other KPIs.

Webbmedia Knowledge Base: 2011 Trends Updated

© 2011 Webbmedia Group, LLC http://www.webbmediagroup.com 1.1.2011

5
 Behavioral Gamechangers: 3D Printing
We’ve been tracking 3D printing since 2004, and it seems as if this year the
technology will finally become more affordable and practical for
mainstream use. While HP already has a printer available for purchase,
Cornell is working on a model that prints edible food.

Web Apps
Apple will launch its new App Store the first week of January, and Google
has already released its Chrome Web store. Both are a harbinger of what’s
to come: less reliance on the OS, and more on cloud-based systems and
services.

Interactive Advertisements
The first iAd from Apple may not have found critical success, however the
model has sparked the interest of marketers everywhere. In 2011, look for
banner and other ads that offer compelling video, games, microsites and
even the ability to curate for others, save and view later, a la Instapaper.

CAPTCHA Advertising
Rather than typing in nonsensical phrases or words from Old English, we
will start to see CAPTCHAs requiring users to type in marketing copy. For
example, a CAPTCHA on a Citi site might be “live richly,” the company’s
tagline.

Map Apps
In 2009 we showed our clients Micello, and in 2010 Point Inside. We’re
tracking a number of new apps to be released in 2011 that offer digital,
interactive maps of stadiums, malls, convention centers and more, which
not only help consumers find what they’re looking for but offer curated
content and discounts.

Webbmedia Knowledge Base: 2011 Trends Updated

© 2011 Webbmedia Group, LLC http://www.webbmediagroup.com 1.1.2011

6
 E-Book Sharing
A chief complaint of the current e-book format is that content isn’t
“borrowable” or even sharable between devices. In 2011, we anticipate a
crop of new readers for the iPad as well as new business models at Amazon
and even public libraries that will allow readers to borrow a digital book for
a week or two at a set low price.

Human Recognition Advertising/ Marketing

A clever group of developers just engineered a way to use Kinect for
monitoring consumers who stand in front of train station billboards. Some
billboards can now recognize gender as someone walks by and change
messaging in real-time. In Japan, vending machines are able to scan faces
to collect marketing and consumption data. We expect to see more human
recognition technology come into mainstream use in 2011.

Real-Time Pricing
Last year, Japanese brand Uniqlo combined social media with commerce to
develop its “Lucky Counter” system. As people agreed to purchase an item,
the price decreased. More retailers will incentivize shoppers to tell their
friends about deals and to participate in what many are now calling
“entertainment shopping.”

Mechanical Turkification
Amazon launched its Mechanical Turk program to wide success. For just a
few cents, anyone can hire an army of workers to perform micro-tasks.
We’re now seeing other businesses using the same model: connecting the
crowd to individuals or small businesses for creative work, problem solving,
even administrative work.

Webbmedia Knowledge Base: 2011 Trends Updated

© 2011 Webbmedia Group, LLC http://www.webbmediagroup.com 1.1.2011

7
 Mobile Memes
A meme captures our imagination and quickly becomes viral. (See our
“Meme-ories: Three decades of Internet memes” infographic on the
Webbmedia Group site under Research.) With the proliferation of
smartphones, we will see mobile memes take over in 2011. Smart content
producers and advertisers will start to own this space with editorial content,
ads, games, videos and interactive applications that take full advantage of
the mobile platform.

Near Field Communication

NFC and RFID both enable the exchange of data between two devices. Chips
inside of mobile phones allow consumers to make easy purchases from
vending machines, to swipe their phones at ticketing turnstiles, or even to
open their garage doors.

Personal Interest Graphs

We expect to see social networks, search and e-commerce driven by
personal interest graphs in 2011. Software that tracks (and mine for) user
behavior will be combined with predictive analytics to help people find what
they’re looking for faster.

Social Browsers
Rockmelt launched in 2010, and while we haven’t yet seen widespread
adoption of social browsers we do think that more consumers will start to
use elements that combine Internet browsers, search and social.

YouTube Network
The folks at Google announced recently that they intend to turn part of
YouTube into a full-fledged original content network. Combined with
Google TV, we anticipate the broadcast format starting to change on many
fronts: interactivity, length and action-based advertising.

Webbmedia Knowledge Base: 2011 Trends Updated

© 2011 Webbmedia Group, LLC http://www.webbmediagroup.com 1.1.2011

8
 Consumer Trends: Video Calling
Video calls and chat will become ubiquitous. With Skype announcing free
video chat services for iPhone, the expansion of FaceTime and updates
coming to Android and Nokia phones, video chat via mobile and tablet
devices will become commonplace.

Group Buying
Consumers will continue to group-buy with your friends. Groupon made
headlines worldwide this winter with a rumored Google acquisition worth
$6 billion. Why? Most people love to save money and to use their social
networks to tell others about the great deals they’re finding. Expect to see
lots of Groupon clones and new iterations that improve on our social
shopping experience.

Mobile Scanning
Consumers will find many new opportunities to scan objects in the real
world using their phones. Using everything from two-dimensional barcodes
to easy image scanning apps like Google Goggles, consumers will use their
mobile phones to scan real-world objects to find deals and information
virtually.

Dynamic Curation
Dynamic curation will start to replace traditional news publishing. Flipboard
debuted this year as one of the most promising new technologies we've
ever seen. It's an iPad application that automatically finds content
consumers want to read, paginates it beautifully, and allows users to share
what they find with others. News organizations everywhere are now trying
to learn how to replicate the Flipboard experience for their own audiences.

Webbmedia Knowledge Base: 2011 Trends Updated

© 2011 Webbmedia Group, LLC http://www.webbmediagroup.com 1.1.2011

9
 mHealth Apps
Consumers will sync their bodies to their mobile phones. We've started to
see a number of weight tracking and health monitoring tools launch that
allow you to see how the body is functioning in real-time. For example, the
BodyMedia armband tracks, in detail, a user’s daily health habits (sleeping,
exercise, body temperature, caloric intake) automatically. It syncs
automatically to an iPhone or Android, and data can be reviewed and
shared. There are also a number of apps coming to market that allow
patients to connect in real-time with their doctors.

Internet Rules the Living Room

The Internet will come to the living room in full-force. Using a Roku, Wii,
iPad, Galaxy Tab, Apple TV or one of the new Google TVs, users will start to
surf the Internet, share tweets with friends during live broadcasts and
stream web-only content...right from the couch.

Price Wars
Price and access wars will erupt. While the FCC and major carriers work out
the details of net neutrality, many consumers will start to see their
bandwidth interrupted and the price of data change.

Wired Babies
While there are a number of applications available for kids, we’ll start to see
more content and apps aimed at 12 to 18-month-olds. Apple's iPad topped
the Christmas wish lists of kids aged 6 to 12 this winter. Leapfrog just
launched a mobile handset for 18-month-olds, and in 2011 we'll see a new
crop of tablet computers aimed specifically at children.

The End of Privacy

Our privacy will be invaded, but only because we allow it. There are a
number of new search tools coming out of private beta as well as upgrades
to existing social networks, such as Foursquare and Facebook, that will
make it much easier to track down just about anybody.

Webbmedia Knowledge Base: 2011 Trends Updated

© 2011 Webbmedia Group, LLC http://www.webbmediagroup.com 1.1.2011

10
 About This Report
Webbmedia Group is constantly trend-spotting using a combination of
traditional research, personal observation, focus groups, social outreach
and networking. We use an observation-driven methodology to track
trends, and we do this daily so that we can advise our clients.

Parts of this report originally appeared on the website of the Neiman

Journalism Lab at Harvard.

About Webbmedia Group

Webbmedia Group is an award-winning international digital strategy
consultancy that offers mobile, platform, social and emerging tech/ media
strategic services and workshops to Fortune 500 companies, media
organizations, mid-sized businesses, governments and universities
worldwide. In short, we track technology trends and advise companies on
how to take best advantage of what's next. That might mean mobile
strategy, corporate training on social media or selecting the right vendor
for an iPad app. We're a single destination for your digital media needs, and
we're known for our immediate response and creative ideas. Our clients
refer to us as "inspiring," "tenacious," "incredibly intelligent" consultants
who "out-pace and out-work their competition."

For more information, please contact our office:

Webbmedia Group
101 Saint Dunstans Road
Suite 100
Baltimore, MD 21212
Tel: 267-342-4300
Email: info@webbmediagroup.com
http://www.webbmediagroup.com

Webbmedia Knowledge Base: 2011 Trends Updated

© 2011 Webbmedia Group, LLC http://www.webbmediagroup.com 1.1.2011

11