The big questions that will be asked this year: can America wait for change, will the economy bring down the country"s iconic brands, and will Facebook ever make any real money?

2009 has been flagged by tens of millions of people as a year of change and this new, uniquely fluid currency must irrigate through our industry as we prepare to market to an ever evolving and elusive audience, more than ever aware of what we say and what we sell.
 
"Change or Die", Alan Deutschman told us in his landmark book. As someone involved in social networks (I have to confess I"m the editor of ASMALLMAGAZINE,

Be relevant. Be small. Be quick
US advertisers will spend close to $1.3 billion this year on social networks, down from

That money, big or small, isn"t solely going to Facebook and MySpace, it"s being spent on the new bespoke social networking tools like

These products are also fast; users can go from social zero to community hero in hours -- not weeks or months. And the more relevant the social currency or content, the more users will visit and "stick".

Sites like

Share your audience -- your audience is sharing you


If you want to comment on

Either way, for the big ones, it"s going to mean a harder fight for revenue. The sites that will grow are the ones with specific audiences that engage consumers with messages and content relevant to them -- and enable them to share, across social network platforms, their information.

Curated content rules
Andrew Keen, author of "The Cult of The Amateur", makes a good case against web 2.0, arguing that the rise of consumer generated content is destroying culture. It"s certainly a concern when a so-called professor on Wikipedia turns out to be a 24-year-old writing from home. But the point here is desperately simple and yet incredibly important. Stupid will listen to smart, but smart will not listen to stupid. There comes a point when your wall on Facebook has too many widgets, hugs and pigs being thrown, and not enough relevance for friends or even advertisers.

2009 must see a rise in "quality content". Online audiences want and deserve content that"s engaging, original and relevant. From online magazines, to curated social content -- and by that I do mean bringing back editors -- the words we read have to work harder than ever to earn the dollars; so let"s make them the very best we have.

Political social networks
Much has been said about the power of social networks to engage voters. We all know the power of the Obama online campaign, and what it helped deliver. It may not, however, have delivered revenue (in terms of donations, as we"ve now learnt), but it does deliver loyalty and the illusion of two-way communication. 2009 should see more time given to social networks (both bespoke and the big guys) by policy makers, politicians and parties.

But the caveat here is ensuring that when you get your way, your vote, or your feedback, that you keep your audience engaged. 2009 will see push back from spurned communities, that may have signed up to support a cause or candidate and then feel distinctly dropped. This is where social networking needs to learn from the CRM model, keeping the consumer engaged and valued. Beware the ignored subscriber at your peril.

Social shopping
Finally, will 2009 be the year that the ever-elusive social shopping phenomena finally take off? Or did it already? The availability of "wish lists" from Facebook applications like Style Feeder, and Amazon"s dominance of lists, should start to evolve into collective shopping.

The model might not be what"s been predicted. It might become more like an online CostCo, i.e. membership based social communities who through subscription and recommendation will save. Given the current economic climate, this really could be a way to lift online transactions -- and advertiser traffic.

Finally, I"d suggest that the most likely thing to happen would be the most unlikely thing. During times of pressure, economic, creative or otherwise, brilliant ideas seem to occur. Who knows what the next social product will be?

But ultimately can this industry evolve and change as quickly as our consumer?

Yes, we can.