While writing this blog post, I have the 1984 cult classic "Big in Japan" from Alphaville stuck in my head. So, I encourage you to hum the refrain from "Big in Japan" in your head as you read this blog post.
I have been thinking about this blog post and what will be “Big in 2010” for a while now, but the recent announcement of Google Buzz really validated my thinking. The three big trends I’ve seen growing over the last 6 months or so are: Local, Mobile, and Real-Time. Stick with me and you’ll see why Google Buzz is the manifestation of these three trends into one application and will be “Big in 2010”.
I'll start off by talking about "Local." Towards the end of last year, local really started becoming more and more prominent - from the Google caffeine update that incorporates more and more local results via maps to local social media apps such as foursquare. Now, when you search for "pizza" you not only get the results of Papa John's, Domino's, and Pizza Hut, but also a map with local pizza place results. In addition, when you think about the much talked about and discussed Google algorithm (there are actually three different algorithms): the standard result page algorithm, the Google Maps algorithm, and finally the algorithm for Maps included on the Google Results page. With Google Buzz I can tag my updates with a location so they become searchable via location and by looking at a map. Want to see what people around you are saying? No problem anymore thanks to Google Buzz
Next up is "Mobile." According to some estimates, by 2013 more people will access the Internet via a mobile device than via a desktop. Beyond being portable and always in the pocket of your consumer, this trend is here to stay for good. There are close to 5 billion mobile phones worldwide. There are many different ways to market to mobile – from SMS and display ads to Apps. However, the most important thing is to offer your potential customers a mobile optimized experience, which may be a mobile website or a mobile app via iTunes or the Android Marketplace. Enter Google Buzz on your mobile device and you are catering to the heavy social users. No iPhone app for Google Buzz? No problem! Just like with Google Voice it runs via HTML 5 directly in the iPhone’s built in browser: Safari.
The final of the trends I want to talk about is “Real-Time.” Real-time search is here. It’s not the future anymore. All search engines are pulling in real-time results from all over the place, including press releases and Twitter. Most social media platforms offer real-time search, with Twitter being the most prominent. Just go to search.twitter.com and type in your brand or company and watch the magic happen. Real-time search can be scary. Real-time updates are what Google Buzz is all about, just like Twitter it offers a constant feed of what people are saying and sharing around you. It’s like having a constant conference call going on and listening in on what people are saying.
Below is the dissection of a typical search results page – notice the real-time results in purple.
How big are all of these three trends? Big enough that Google introduced its newest invention, “Google Buzz,” which incorporates and excels at all three of these trends in one application. So: are Local, Mobile and Real-Time here to stay? If Google Buzz catches on, it will defiantly continue to grow and be the “it” thing in 2010 – Or, “Big in 2010”.
In a nutshell, Google Buzz is the newest social network and sharing product built by Google. Buzz offers a stream of status updates, pictures, links, and videos from your friends. You can “like” these items and you can comment on them. Real-time updates from Flickr, Picasa, Google Reader, or Twitter can also be automatically imported into a Buzz stream.
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