As editor of a trade publication for digital marketers, I've read, written, and edited my fair share of interactive marketing predictions over the past couple months. In doing so, I'm always amazed by the vast variance in outlooks for the coming year. The recession will end. No, the recession will persist. Twitter will flounder. No, Twitter will find new wings.
At some point, it all seems so silly. Odds are, very few of those who look into their crystal balls will ever actually look back to see how on target their predictions were. The only time past prediction pieces will be referenced will be when certain forecasts prove out, and only so the author can declare, "I told you so." On the rare occasion that someone is called out on a faulty prediction, the person is sure to be prepared with a "Yes, but..." rebuttal.
But I digress. The reason I bring up annual predictions at all is that, of the dozens of digital marketing outlooks I've encountered, one consistency has emerged: Foursquare. A good portion of those digerati who are predicting are predicting location-based status updater/mobile game Foursquare will be the Twitter of the new year.
Obviously the folks over at Foursquare are aware of the buzz -- and they're wasting no time in getting ahead of the pack. According the paidContent, Foursquare has rapidly moved beyond its North American roots. It rolled out to 15 European cities last November, and now it's gone global.
Certainly Foursquare is not alone in this space. Gowalla, Loopt, and Brightkite -- all are early movers in the location-based social media market. But Foursquare is the name that is finding its way into countless 2010 outlooks. Is it because of its global presence? Or is there some other magic to the service that has yet to be duplicated by its rivals? Regardless, I'm looking forward to seeing just how clear the crystal-ball image of this new social media darling turns out to be.
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