I made three predictions of what would happen in social media in 2011, and the forecasts came true.  Let’s take a look at what I predict in 2012, and we’ll see how I fare in the coming year.

Curation
The explosion of users and traffic on sites like Pinterest and Instagram indicates that there is a strong desire to curate and discover.  Instagram makes each person a photojournalist, giving “Average Joes” the ability to create interesting photostreams. Pinterest lets users collect both photos and ideas on boards organized by their interest as well as subscribe to the boards of others.

Social Channel Surfing
Watching TV is turning into a social activity as we connect with those around the world who love to watch such shows as “Glee“, “Grey’s Anatomy” or “White Collar“.  In 2011, networks introduced hashtags and mobile apps for shows, and these opportunities will only grow as networks find innovative ways to connect with watchers.

MoSoCom
Mobile + Social + Commerce = MoSoCom.  We are connected consumers and regardless of where we shop or what we are shopping for, we rely on the recommendations of friends, reviews and ratings.  With smartphones in hand, consumers are not only researching products while still in store, they are finding deals and coupons that may not be in the store.  The convergence of mobile and social will bring about large change in retail as educated consumers have price transparency and availability at their fingertips.

Influence (Who Matters Metrics)
There has been a surge of influence measures and this will continue into 2012, not because Klout or Peer Index is right, but because in a world of 800 million Facebook users and 300 million Twitter users, marketers want to connect with those who have influence in their target audience.  Metrics will grow, but for a true index of influence, the services will need to spread past the practiced social media set and include everday users of social media services.

Simplicity
We’ll see the proliferation of sites and services that make it incredibly easy to do one thing really well.  Sites like Kickstarter, Gumroad, PicPlum and Postcard on the Run are at the forefront of using social media and technology to make real world tasks simple. Here’s what they do:

Kickstarter, fundraising for your project
Gumroad, making it easy to sell anything digital
PicPlum, a service that automatically prints and mails photos every month
Post Card on the Run, a mobile app (Android and iOS) that makes it easy to send real-life postcards.

These are just a sampling of services, and I’m sure 2012 will bring us a number of sites that will do other tasks really well.

Overall, the megatrend we’re seeing is convergence between online and offline activities.  New Year 2012 is going to be exciting!

Be sure to watch the video (below) of my discussion about social media trends 2012 with Hillary Lake on WBIR.