Going by the World bank Global Economic Prospects report for 2009, the world GDP growth will be 0.9% for 2009. Developing countries will likely grow by 4.5% next year, down from 6.3% in 2008, while growth in many important high-income countries will turn negative.

Welcome 2009!

Since the ad expenditure in a market shows direct correlation to the GDP growth hence a troubled economy is bound to take its toll on adex growth. Irrespective of the pessimism around - online marketing still seems a solid choice.

We are presenting here the outlooks & predictions of various industry watchdogs & notable influencers on Online Marketing. This grossly enlists the major trends & what you should expect out of 2009.

The Slideshare link to this deck is here .
We wish you a Happy new year 2009. We welcome your feedback & requests to get a copy of this deck as a comment here.

Also Read :

• Mobile 2009-2020 Predictions From TrendsSpotting
• Social Media Trends 2009 From TrendsSpotting
• 2008 Marketing & Tech Trends From TrendsSpotting
• Trends Review 2007 From TrendsSpotting

No doubt 2009 was expected to be the year of the mobile. Considering the economic downturn- would it still? What could be expected? what are the most promising trends? Read here what we gathered from experts and analysts.

What’s your take?

Also Read :

• 2009 Online Marketing Predictions From TrendsSpotting
• Social Media Trends 2009 From TrendsSpotting
• Trends Review 2007 From TrendsSpotting
• 2008 Marketing & Tech Trends From TrendsSpotting

Over the next few days, TrendsSpotting will be publishing a series of Trends and Predictions as presented by influencers and experts in different consumer fields.
Our first issue is the Social Media.
We have reused Peter Kim’s wonderful predictions gathered from social media influencers, we summarized the predictions, used tag clouds to help you focus, added insights gathered from Read Write Web and of course, added our own inputs.
So here it is - the first from the influencers and experts collection.

It will be great to receive your insights!
TrendsSpotting wishes you all Happy Holidays: Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Kwanzaa!

Also Read :

• 2009 Online Marketing Predictions From TrendsSpotting
• Mobile 2009-2020 Predictions From TrendsSpotting
• Trends Review 2007 From TrendsSpotting
• 2008 Marketing & Tech Trends From TrendsSpotting

Two links you should follow:

A great chronicle for video games design years 1990-2008, presented by webdesignerdepot.com

Gaming Trends presented by advertisingpawn.

Remember: Online games have gone mainstream

Many of us came to believe that since Google is powering our search behavior– it has the power to predict the future.
We at TrendsSpotting used Google Trends to throw lights on brands , products, and of course the US elections.
We understand that it does not only reflect current needs and interests, but, if analyzed correctly it can help us build future patterns in any field you choose.
I find it amazing that by following human search you can actually decrease uncertainties and gain predictability even in fields which were perceived to lack human influence and control.

Today, by following the crowds, Google can share insights on the spreading of epidemics as the flu. It turns out that Google can accurately estimate current flu levels one to two weeks faster than any other professional report.
Marketing wise, health care and pharmaceutical companies can plan their marketing efforts more accurately, and effectively choose the right timing to advertise medicine and cold relief products.
Assuming marketing budget cuts– and a need for smart planning - the next graph indicates that it is much to soon to start advertising… (but for those of you in the health business – follow this trend as it will soon change its pattern!)

Current USA Google Trends Flu Graph

This comes as a strong evidence for Google as the perfect handy tool for marketers to plan their marketing activity by location and seasonality.

About Google Flu Trends:
Each week, millions of users around the world search for online health information. We have found a close relationship between how many people search for flu-related topics and how many people actually have flu symptoms. Of course, not every person who searches for “flu” is actually sick, but a pattern emerges when all the flu-related search queries from each state and region are added together.

Google Flu trends works!
Comparing Google’s query counts with data from a surveillance system managed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that some search queries tend to be popular exactly when flu season is happening. By counting how often we see these search queries, we can estimate how much flu is circulating in various regions of the United States. Google flu Trend results have been published in Nature.
During the 2007-2008 flu season, an early version of Google Flu Trends was used to share results each week with the Epidemiology and Prevention Branch of the Influenza Division at CDC. Across each of the nine surveillance regions of the United States, we were able to accurately estimate current flu levels one to two weeks faster than published CDC reports.

This graph shows five years of Google query-based flu estimates for the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, compared against influenza surveillance data provided by CDC’s U.S. Influenza Sentinel Provider Surveillance Network. As you can see, estimates based on Google search queries about flu are very closely matched to a flu activity indicator used by CDC.

Can Google search queries predict better than 1500 doctors?
CDC uses a variety of methods to track influenza across the United States each year. One method relies on a network of more than 1500 doctors who see 16 million patients each year. The doctors keep track of the percentage of their patients who have an influenza-like illness, also known as an “ILI percentage”. CDC and state health departments collect and aggregate this data each week, providing a good indicator of overall flu activity across the United States.
It turns out that traditional flu surveillance systems take 1-2 weeks to collect and release surveillance data, but Google search queries can be automatically counted very quickly. By making our flu estimates available each day, Google Flu Trends may provide an early-warning system for outbreaks of influenza.

Benefits to disease detection:
For epidemiologists, this is an exciting development, because early detection of a disease outbreak can reduce the number of people affected. If a new strain of influenza virus emerges under certain conditions, a pandemic could emerge and cause millions of deaths (as happened, for example, in 1918). Google’s up-to-date influenza estimates may enable public health officials and health professionals to better respond to seasonal epidemics.

Note:

If you remember Google’s team April 1st joke: “Google lets you see search results one day in advance” (Google predicts tomorrow) – well that’s probably no joke at all – it might as well be Google’s new business model..

Talk show diva & world’s most powerful celebrity Oprah Winfrey spilled the beans on her “embarrassing” weight gain. Due to her thyroid problem her weight went from 160 pounds a couple of years ago to 200 pounds today. Winfrey says : I’m mad at myself, I’m embarrassed. I can’t believe that after all these years, I’m still talking about my weight.” During her upcoming “Oprah’s Best Life Week” show Oprah plans to talk about how to get back on track to lose weight in 2009.

However some of our observations here :

• As we people make our New Year’s resolutions , fitness searches surge. Here is Google Trends for ‘diets’.
• Not all that we wish - we can achieve. For example : losing weight remains one of the toughest goal to achieve.

Call it her publicity stunt or another “oversharing” -Yahoo buzzlog reports surges in “Oprah Weight” look ups. May be all she needs , adding up this years one of the most wanted product -”wii fit” - into her holiday shopping list.

All the best Oprah !

Ok -its official now - having sex is the favourite free activity in US , atleast for the male. And here is what I am also seeing in Ask Top 10 question searches. The Top 5 being

#1 How do I get pregnant?
#2 How do I lose weight?
#3 How do I write a resume?
#4 How much is minimum wage?
#5 How much is my car worth?

Recessions have long been linked to an increase in birthrates & Malcolm Gladwell advocates recession is the best time to start a family.

But why 8 out of Ask top 10 questions are “How”?? Interestingly -Taly earlier pointed out the DIY trend & highlighted that the top search queries under “how to” can be categorized into three groups:

1. Accomplishing a task (how to: tie a tie, make a movie, solve a Rubic’s cube, draw (specifically Japanese anime characters!)
2. Sexual needs (yes, indeed..)
3. Self improvement (how to: lose weight, gain weight, write a resume)

A quick research in edicts lexicon index vis-a-vis Google trends shows following outcome :

As it turns out in our daily conversations we are only twice likely to phrase a question with “How” than “Why”. Whereas in our search behavior we are 10 times more likely to phrase a question with “How”.

Any answer “why”?

As we are wrapping up the year - two more “oversharing” news hit our desk. A couple of celebrities announced their pregnancies this week, sparking an unexpected amount of buzz. Kelly Rutherford, best known for her role on “Gossip Girl,” confirmed that she and her hubby are expecting their second little miracle. Yahoo buzz reports searches on the 40-year-old thespian surged an astonishing 54,275% — by far the biggest jump of the week.

Elsewhere, Olympic champion Kerri Walsh announced that she was going to be a mom for the first time. The gold medal-winning volleyball player saw her queries nearly double. Related searches on “kerri walsh pregnant” and “kerri walsh pics” also spiked.

Continue watching the ‘oversharing’ in 2009.

If the most looked up words are any reflection of the mood of our society , it is no wonder that “bailout”—a word ubiquitously featured in discussions of the presidency & fiscal policy—took home honors as Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2008.

Bailout (noun) :a rescue from financial distress

The origin of the word bailout here. Infact the top 10 list reflects politics & the economy were foremost on the minds of many Americans during 2008. For example - second on the list -”vet” means to evaluate a candidate’s suitability and qualifications for a position. And in third place, just in front of “maverick” - a word used during the long presidential campaign to describe Republican candidate John McCain - was the word “socialism”.

With social media on rise all across the globe , there is just excess of personal information we are divulging on blogs & SN profiles. Not a big surprise again - “overshare” is Webster’s New World Dictionary’s word of the year.

Overshare (verb): to divulge excessive personal information, as in a blog or broadcast interview, prompting reactions ranging from alarmed discomfort to approval.

Blogs surged with “Oversharing” this year from a New York Times Magazine cover story in May by Emily Gould , a former editor of Gawker.com. Gould spilled the goods on her ongoing professional and romantic dramas on her own blog, and then wrote about the perils of oversharing. Gould wrote. “Technology just enables us to overshare on a different scale.”

Two other candidates for Word of the Year 2008

Cyberchondriac (noun): a hypochondriac who imagines that he or she has a particular disease based on medical information gleaned from the Internet.
Selective Ignorance (noun): the practice of selectively ignoring distracting, irrelevant, or otherwise unnecessary information received, such as e-mails, news reports, etc.

Infact the words underscores that in the year 2008 has seen one element of ‘Attention Economy‘ shaping up - “consumer attention”. However privacy challenges are around. A recent IDG’s study found that only 3% of users surveyed are OK with publishers using their contact information for advertising.

Will 2009 be the year of “attention services” ? Feel free to overshare in the comments!

Getting lost in London is inevitable & Indians, along with Brazilians, are most likely to get “completely lost” abroad - suggests results from the Nokia Maps survey.    The study was conducted among 12,500 people early in October 2008 in UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Australia, Brazil, China, UAE, Russia, Singapore, India, & South Africa. It gives a good idea of how people get lost and get found, excuses asking directions, and who we blame the most when we get lost. Outcome from the survey.

1. Lost Cities

• London is the most confusing city, with one in ten (10%) people finding it impossible to navigate around. Followed closely by Paris (9%), Bangkok (5%), Hong Kong (5%) and Beijing (4%), making up the top five ‘lost cities’ on the planet.
• New Delhi is among the easiest cities across the globe for tourists to navigate around, with less than 1% singling it out as a confusing city.

2. A sense Of Direction

• 93% of the world get lost regularly. An average person wastes 13 minutes when lost.
• Germany is the country with the world’s best sense of direction, with a third (34%) of people claiming to have never lost their way.
• One in five (18%) people believe a sense of direction is genetic. One in ten (9%) Spaniards consider a sense of direction matures with age, like fine wine. In Hyderabad, nearly one in ten (8%), double the Indian average believe that a sense of direction was genetic.
• One in ten (11%) people miss a job interview, an important business meeting or flight because they lost their way. One in ten (10%) people who live in Mumbai, Bengaluru & Pune will miss a job interview.
• Affecting people’s personal lives, one in ten (9%) Brazilians miss out on a date because they got lost en-route. Indian men are the most likely people in the world to miss the birth of their child (2%). The people of Pune missed a quarter of weddings (24%)

3. Laying The Blame

• Almost one in two (49%) people of the world get lost when rushing or when they are in busy crowded spaces during commuter rush hour. One in ten (10%) residents of Ahmedbad get lost on the way to catching a flight, train or bus to their holiday destination. Nearly a third of Hyderabad residents (31%) blamed being in rush for making them lost.
• Nearly a third (30%) of people blame their partner for getting them lost.
• A third (29%) of surveyed people admit to frequently losing their way when they are tired. A third (30%) of residents in Kolkata blame tiredness as the cause for getting lost. In South India, the residents in Chennai get lost the most when at home (11%).
• The most popular excuse for getting lost by Asians is bad weather (24%).

4. Digital Navigation Overtakes Traditional Maps

• One in ten (8%) people admit they can’t read a map. One in ten women (11%) are unable to read a traditional map, twice the number of men (5%).
• More than a quarter (26%) of people surveyed rely on online and mobile navigation tools to find their way around. 13% of people use a mobile phone as their primary navigation tool.
• Germany is the country with the highest reliance on satellite navigation (48%). Nearly a quarter (22%) of Italians rely on mobile navigation devices to find their way. One in five Indians are more likely to rely on a mobile satellite-navigation device to get them from A to B. Kanpur is the “most disorderly Indian city”. However, Kanpur residents were most reliant on technology, with nearly a third losing their way (30 %) without their navigation device

5. Keeping Up To Date With The Ever Changing Landscape

• When approached by strangers asking for directions, many people use iconic landmarks (18%) such as statues, churches and bridges as recognizable ‘breadcrumbs’ to a destination.
• People in Britain prefer to use local pubs to signpost directions to others (18%). The Chinese typically use skyscrapers to give directions (10%). Indians clearly love shopping as they are the top nation for using shops as a point of reference when giving directions (15%). In Bengaluru, the people prefer to put faith in nature, as nearly one in ten (7%) guide themselves by the stars.
• Over a third (38%) of the world rely on other people for directions to get from A to B. 31% of Indians like their Brazilian counterparts were the most likely nationalities around the world to get lost when abroad. People living in Mumbai are the “most stubborn” in India, with one in ten (10%) never asking directions from a stranger.
• Almost one in two people (43%) admit to giving the wrong directions on purpose. One in three Londoners admit to deliberately giving people the wrong directions. Indians are the most trusting when giving directions, with less than a quarter (23%) admitting to deliberately sending strangers the wrong way.
• Russians have an alternative motive when it comes to asking for directions, with one in ten (9%) using it as an excuse to flirt. In India , Pune emerged as the “flirtiest city in India”, with 16% asking for directions as a chat up line. One in ten (8%) residents in Pune bizarrely believe that a sense of direction is due to the magnetic pull of the earth.
• Surat has turned out to be the “most organised Indian city,” with over a quarter (26%) of residents meticulously planning their route before heading out. Over a third (39%) of shopaholic residents in Surat use shops to signpost directions to others.

I can see GPS is certainly a ‘cool’ trend picking up.