The 'Social Media Phase Of The Internet' Is Over

• Jay Yarow
• Dec. 31, 2014, 9:26 AM

Fred Wilson says "the social media phase of the Internet ended" in 2014.
Wilson, perhaps more than any other venture capitalist, spotted the emergence of social media early and profited from it. His firm, Union Square Ventures, invested early in Twitter, Tumblr, Zynga, Foursquare, and a few others.
In a post looking back at what happened in 2014, he says social media is pretty much dead.
"Entrepreneurs and developers still build social applications," says Wilson. "We still use them. But there isn’t much innovation here anymore. The big platforms are mature. Their place is secure."
Messaging apps have replaced social media apps, says Wilson.
"Messaging is the new social media ... Families use WhatsApp groups instead of Facebook. Kids use Snapchat instead of Instagram. Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp in February of this year was the transaction that defined this trend."
Wilson thinks messaging and mobile moved into the enterprise in a big way in 2014. He says Slack, the fast growing group chart, is the "poster boy" for this trend.
Here is Wilson's complete list of what happened in 2014:

1/ the social media phase of the Internet ended. this may have happened a few years ago actually but i felt it strongly this year. entrepreneurs and developers still build social applications. we still use them. but there isn’t much innovation here anymore. the big platforms are mature. their place is secure.

2/ messaging is the new social media. this may be part of what is going on in 1/. families use whatsapp groups instead of facebook. kids use snapchat instead of instagram. facebook’s acquisition of whatsapp in february of this year was the transaction that defined this trend.

3/ the “sharing economy” was outed as the “rental economy.” nobody is sharing anything. people are making money, plain and simple. technology has made renting things (even in real time) as simple as it made buying things a decade ago. Uber and Airbnb are the big winners in this category but there are and will be others.

4/ the capital markets have moved to the internet. we call it crowdfunding but what is really going on is raising money is a great application of a global platform that connects billions of people in real time. i don’t know the total amount of capital that was raised on the internet across all sectors (equity, debt, creative projects, charity, helping a person in need, real estate, energy, etc, etc) in 2014 but i am sure it is in the tens of billions.

5/ mobile OS has become a stable duopoly around the world. but android is splintering into google android and non google android and that may lead to new large players. 2014 was a big coming out party for xiaomi. if and when they come to the US, things will get interesting. they are the new (and better) samsung.

6/ mobile and messaging has started to impact the enterprise. slack is the poster boy for this trend in 2014.

7/ youtube became a monster. it always has been. but in 2014 youtube emerged as the place for entertainment consumption for anyone under 16. and these youngsters are going to grow up quickly. watching The Interview on YouTube was a fitting end to an amazing year for the king (and queen and joker too) of Internet video.

8/ we finally got rid of files. dropbox, google drive, soundcloud, spotify, netflix, hbogo, youtube, wattpad, kindle, and a host of other cloud based services finally killed off three letter filenames like mp3, mov, doc and xls. spending a week in the caribbean with young adults and bad internet was the tell on this one for me. they don’t even have mp3s on their iphones anymore!

9/ the net neutrality debate emerged as a national political issue with Obama’s endorsement of Title II regulation of the last mile of the internet. it is unclear how this issue will resolve itself but the public has spoken loudly and clearly and politicians understand that the internet needs to remain open for innovation and we can’t let the monopoly carriers and cable companies mess that up.

10/ cyberwarfare, cybercrime, cyberhacking, and cybersecurity was by far the dominant theme of 2014. if anyone had their head in the sand on this one before this year, they don’t anymore. this is our new normal. the US takedown of North Korea’s internet last week, and the state department official’s comment that “i guess accidents can happen” is a moment to remember as we head out of 2014 and into our future.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/fred-wilson-on-what-happened-in-2014-2014-12#ixzz3NtBexNsm

What Comes Next? 5 Social Media Trends for 2015

Dec 31, 2014

Facebook got off to a rocky start in 2014. In January, a study revealed that the popular network had lost nearly one-third of its US teen users in the previous year. Headlines pronounced Facebook “dead and buried.”

But fast forward to the end of October, and Facebook was reporting record growth. The company earned $2.96 billion in ad revenue in the third quarter of 2014, up an impressive 64 percent from just a year ago. More notably, the network had gained over 100 million monthly active users.

All of this goes to show how difficult it can be to predict the future—especially when it comes to things like social media. With that caveat in mind, here are five ways social media will (likely) evolve in 2015:

1. Major social networks battle harder for your wallet
Hacks released in October show a hidden payment feature deep inside Facebook’s popular Messenger app. If activated by the company, it will allow the app’s 200 million users to send money to each other using just debit card information, free of charge. Meanwhile, the network has also already rolled out a new Autofill feature (a kind of Facebook Connect for credit cards), which allows users who save their credit card info on Facebook to check out with 450,000 e-commerce merchants across the web.

So why does Facebook want to handle your money in 2015? Right now, some of tech’s biggest players are battling it out in the mobile payments space, including Apple with its new Apple Pay app, upstarts like Square and Stripe and even online payments veterans like PayPal. The endgame at this stage isn’t exactly clear. Facebook may eventually charge for its money transfer services, leverage customer purchasing data to pull in more advertisers or even try to rival traditional credit cards like Visa and Mastercard (which make billions on fees). One thing’s for sure: You can expect to see major social networks jockeying more aggressively to handle your transactions in 2015.

2. Niche social networks continue to rise … but will they last?
2014 saw the rise of a number of niche social networks, many built specifically in response to the perceived failings of the big boys: the lack of privacy, the collection of demographic and psychographic data, the increasingly pervasive advertising. Newcomers range from Ello, which launched in March with promises to never sell user data, to Yik Yak, which allows users to exchange fully anonymous posts with people who are physically nearby, and tsu, which has promised to share ad revenue with users based on the popularity of their posts.

Will these networks grow and stick around? New social platforms that try to replicate the Facebook experience while promising, for instance, fewer ads or more privacy, have the odds seriously stacked against them. The biggest challenge—one that even Google+ has struggled with—is attracting a sufficient userbase so the network doesn’t feel like a ghost town compared to Facebook’s thriving 1.3-billion-user global community.

On the other hand, new networks that map onto strong existing communities or interests (interest-based networks, as opposed to Facebook-style people-based networks) have a much better chance. In fact, thousands of these networks are already thriving below the radar, from dedicated sites for cooks and chefs like Foodie to sites for fitness junkies like Fitocracy.

3. Shopping finally comes to social media
Earlier this year, both Twitter and Facebook began beta-testing “buy” buttons, which appear alongside certain tweets and posts and allows users to make purchases with just a click or two, without ever leaving the network. Expect e-commerce and social media integrations to deepen in 2015. In fact, it’s a little surprising it’s taken so long.

For starters, this approach eliminates one key dilemma all merchants face—how to get customers in the door (or to your website). On Facebook and Twitter, you’ve already got a receptive audience, happily chatting with friends, browsing the latest trends, sharing photos and videos, etc. Once their payment details are on file, purchases are a tap or two away. Then it’s back to cat GIFs and updates on weekend plans.

In addition, since Facebook and especially Twitter are real-time media, they’re perfect for short-term deals tied in with fleeting trends. With time-sensitive offers literally streaming by, consumers may well be inclined to act quickly and seal the deal, forgoing the obsessive comparison shopping that characterizes lots of Internet transactions.

Finally, there are major benefits to advertisers. Connecting individual Tweets and Facebook posts with actual purchases has thus far proved a huge analytical challenge. But with the advent of buy buttons, concrete revenue figures can be attached to specific social media messages in a way that hasn’t been possible until now.

4. Smart devices get even smarter, to users’ benefit
Cheap sensors have led to an explosion of smart devices. Everything from home appliances like thermostats, bathroom scales and refrigerators to wearables like fitness bracelets and smart watches are now collecting data and zapping it off wirelessly to the Internet. Lots of these devices are also pushing notifications to Facebook, Twitter and other networks, a trend that will continue in 2015. The question is: Is that a good thing? The prospect of growing legions of washing machines, smoke alarms and even Nike FuelBands spitting out Facebook posts isn’t exactly something to get excited about.

The challenge in 2015 becomes how to more intelligently integrate the fast-growing Internet of Things with social media. In short, smart devices need to improve their social intelligence. This might start with tapping users’ social graph—their unique network of friends and followers—in better ways. A very simple example: a smart fridge that tracks your Facebook Events, sees you’re planning a party and how many people have RSVP’d and alerts you to make a beer run. By listening to social media in more sophisticated ways—tracking users’ activities and interactions with friends and followers, then responding accordingly—smart devices stand to get even smarter in the year ahead.

5. Increasing demand for (truly) private social media gives way to the real thing
2014 saw a number of anonymous and ephemeral social networks—Snapchat, Secret, Whisper, Yik Yak and Telegram, to name a few—surge in popularity. Not everyone wants every conversation over social media broadcast to the world, after all. At the same time, savvy users are increasingly aware—and concerned—about ways personal data is being collected and later sold to advertisers, manipulated in tests or accessed by government agencies.

The problem is that few of these “private” networks fulfill their mandates. Snapchat has been hacked, repeatedly, with hundreds of thousands of sensitive—supposedly disappearing—user photos posted on the Internet. And in October, it was revealed that the anonymous network Whisper was actually saving users’ posts and locations and compiling this information in a searchable database. As Venture Beat points out, real anonymity and privacy on the Internet is extremely difficult to achieve. While it’s easy to make promises, it’s nearly impossible to deliver.

But demand for anonymous social media will only get bigger in 2015. In fact, there are signs that even the major players are beginning to acknowledge the issue. In October, Facebook rolled out its new chat app Rooms, which allows users to create chat rooms around shared interests, with no requirement to reveal name or location. Meanwhile in November, Facebook became the first Silicon Valley tech giant to provide official support for Tor, the powerful, open-source anonymizing service—popular among journalists, political dissidents and law enforcement—that allows users to conceal their identity, location and browsing history.

Confessions of a social media strategist

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Anonymous | May 27, 2014

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A couple months ago, I woke up, as I hope to be doing for many years to come, and went to work. I sat in a brainstorm. We came up with a bunch of content ideas for our brands’ social channels – images, GIFs and lines of witty copy. I went back to my desk, opened a container of leftover lo mein and realized I’d wasted the last four years of my life.
It wasn’t the MSG talking, and it wasn’t one of my typical bouts of chronic self-loathing. In fact, the feeling of worthlessness had been lingering for the past couple of years I’ve worked in my agency’s social department. And for some reason, that “lingering” manifested into a full-blown epiphany after three heaps of Mott Street’s finest noodle.
My role came into existence not long ago, as platforms like Facebook and Twitter began to amass huge user bases. Advertising agencies established social content departments (or “community management” departments) to specialize in setting up and managing brand pages across various social networks. Over the last five years, the social content populating those channels has gone from thoughtless copy and primitive design to, well, less thoughtless copy and less primitive design. But as you might infer from my tone, that evolution is painstakingly slow. And egregious social strategies and executions are wasting money, deteriorating the value of brands and have me sweating over greasy noodles.
The underlying issue is that social departments place too much value on engagement. Those “likes,” “comments,” “shares,” “re-tweets” and “pins” are the metrics that social content creators use to 1) judge success and 2) dictate what future content looks like. Here’s the catch. The people who are engaging with that content are predominantly worthless. Seriously. That’s not to say that all users on social are worthless. But the ones who mindlessly “like” a brand’s Facebook post because an overt call-to-action told them to are. And wouldn’t you know it, those are the users who are dictating a brand’s social content strategy. This is why the last five years have brought an influx of mindless social creative like “SHARE this post!” and “RT if you love Brand X.” They get engagements, and engagements supposedly equal success. And the vicious cycle keeps on turning.
The other abhorrent trend has been the pathetic attempt by brands to “keep relevant.” In and of itself, relevancy is important for any company attempting to message modern-day consumers. But for me, relevancy comes from a general understanding of current social norms, vernacular, visual aesthetics, etc. For instance, the bravery of showing a same-sex couple in your creative. What isn’t “keeping relevant” is creating “real-time content” that references Miley Cyrus twerking or #Whaling. And it’s certainly not celebrating the day’s obscure holiday, whether it’s National Donut Day or Wear A Hat To Work Day. But without fail, and because social content creators typically need to meet a certain quota of tweets and Facebook posts, you’ll see brands celebrating these momentous holidays each week of the year.
For brevity’s sake, I’ll only list one more gripe before I reveal the light at the end of the tunnel. The lack of creativity and innovation exhibited by those who create this social content is baffling. Well not baffling, because in most instances, they’re chartering waters only mildly understood by them — and never understood by clients. And to be fair, the demands of producing massive amounts of content in short periods of time isn’t exactly conducive to producing smart work. But the demands do not warrant the limitless imitation that happens in social. Blatantly repurposing work between competitors, ripping off popular Internet memes, no intention on differentiating one’s brand within the space. A traditional creative department aims to deliver work, whether good or bad, that’s memorable and different. The antithesis is true for social.
Of course, despite all these concerns with the industry, and the realization of a worthless life, I didn’t turn the ignition and shut the garage door. There is light at the end of the tunnel. For starters, Facebook’s change in algorithm, and the case studies they’ve been circulating, de-emphasize engagement and re-emphasize frequency and reach. We’re returning to a normal advertising structure, where creative is given media support, ensuring it’s seen by the right people. Additionally, Facebook will start penalizing brands who post creative that panders to these worthless users (e.g., “LIKE our post!”). Twitter, despite not having an algorithm, will hopefully make moves to reward smart creative, too. But perhaps the brightest lights are the increasing media and production budgets being allocated to social. This money will ultimately increase the scrutiny from clients, the need to prove what leads to ROI, and it’ll ultimately bring stronger talent to social creative departments.
It has made the last few months a bit more manageable from a self-worth perspective. But maybe that’s because I work at one of the leading digital agencies in New York. For the 90 percent of agencies or brands that continue to employee these corrosive practices, let this be a wake up call. Until then, I’m going to finish my lo mien in peace.

10 Experts Predict Digital Marketing Trends for 2015

Are you wondering which digital marketing trends are going to dominate 2015 and which ones will die?

I asked 10 marketing experts what their thoughts are on digital marketing trends for 2015 and was shocked to hear a lot of similar predictions come up. I didn’t brief any of them on what the other experts had said so every answer was genuine and unprovoked.

One thing is certain…there is a dramatic shift towards paid social media advertising in 2015 as organic reach continues to decline on Facebook and potentially other networks as they surge in popularity. There is only so much attention to go around and 2015 will see businesses fighting tooth and nail to get their slice of the action.

Here’s what the experts had to say when I asked them which digital marketing trends they see dying in 2015 and which trends they see catching more steam.

1. Get Ready For Paid Social

NealBioPhoto

2015 will see both the death of unreasonable expectations from organic social media and the corresponding further growth of paid social.

Countless business owners have come up to me and said that they’re doing everything they should be doing on social media but achieving little, if any, results.

This is happening because every business owner is competing for your attention against other people as well as bigger brands with more resources to spend on both organic and paid social.

If social media was made for people and not for businesses, businesses will always be at a disadvantage. This disadvantage is clear today and the only way to both beat your competition and compensate for those disadvantages is to establish a budget for paid social to supplement your organic storytelling.

Neal Schaffer

Founder, Maximize Social Business

http://maximizesocialbusiness.com/

@nealschaffer

2. Content Libraries Are The New Attraction

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I see the act of list building via the single bait piece such as an eBook going away and being replaced with the use of content libraries that attract community members.

In other words, instead of signing up to get blog posts or a generic email newsletter, list builders will offer access to a growing library of useful information that someone will join and consume based on the content that interests them most.

John Jantsch

Founder, Duct Tape Marketing

http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/

@ducttape

3. Communities Will Overtake Pages

As social networks like Facebook gear more and more towards “pay to play”, more people are gravitating towards platforms, groups and communities that allow for one-on-one conversations with others and a feed that is minimally “filtered”.

Awesome organic reach on Facebook is still possible and you can get great results with paid ads but the hey-day of businesses solely relying on a profile or page has passed.

777f3f5d52007c7ad21b437fb772902a_400x400Across social networks there is a shift towards Facebook and LinkedIn Groups, Google+ communities, Twitter chats, Pinterest boards and hashtag conversations. It’s a shift back to conversations that we control vs. newsfeeds that are out of our control.

It’s in our DNA to tell stories, connect, debate and discuss. It makes sense to me that we will see marketers get creative to find more “human” ways of interacting with fans and pay more attention to platforms that allow more direct communication. It’s a more enjoyable interaction, builds trust and ultimately results in sales and revenue.

Donna Moritz

Founder, Socially Sorted

http://sociallysorted.com.au/

@sociallysorted

4. The Death of Silo Marketing

Gingerich1Silo marketing will die by necessity in 2015 and rightfully so. Silo marketing in social media began early on as businesses gravitated to one social network and focused solely on that platform for their marketing. This was the restaurant that only had a Facebook Page or the business that had a great YouTube channel but nothing else.

In 2015, that doesn’t work…it’s about integration.

Content on your blog is critical. It must be amplified and engaged with on social media to drive visitors back to your site where lead capture moves them into your email nurture process! Content, social media and email will all work in tandem to deliver results.

Mike Gingerich

Founder, Tabsite

https://www.tabsite.com/

@mike_gingerich

5. Pinterest Is Out, Instagram Is In

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I have noticed a distinct drop in the interest and discussions around Pinterest recently and a sharp rise in folks interested in Instagram. As a caveat, I have never been very good at Pinterest as I’m a B2B company servicing B2B clients.

I find this rather fascinating, as they are both similar and absolutely reliant on visuals. From what I can see in my very focused world, for some reason, Instagram is pulling ahead of the game and that’s where I’ll be investing more of my time in 2015.

Viveka Von Rosen

Author, LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour A Day

http://linkedintobusiness.com/

@LinkedInExpert

6. Social Media-Specific Campaigns Are No More

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One digital marketing trend that I think is dying is social-media specific campaigns. In 2014 we started to see a small shift in businesses no longer using Facebook to host their apps (campaigns) but a majority of businesses were still relying on the single social network as their “hub.”

In 2015, I believe we’ll see a big shift towards businesses being “platform-agnostic” and using campaigns that work everywhere with differing levels of engagement.

Zipcar UK is an example of a business who stopped hosting their campaigns on Facebook and embedded them on their website instead. As a result, their participation has increased 717% and campaign page visits have increased 203%.

Building a marketing campaign for multiple channels is expensive and with audiences expanding their presence, businesses will shift their offerings to be “everywhere” so their messages can be seen.

Jim Belosic

CEO, ShortStack

http://www.shortstack.com/

@shortstacklab

  7. No More Algorithm Chasing

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The trend I hope that is dying in 2015 is lazy marketers chasing the Facebook algorithm. You should be aware of it and pay attention to changes, but chasing the algorithm is like a dog chasing its tail. It leads to nothing but heartache and pain.

In 2015, I think we’re seeing businesses move back to posting more original content (videos, graphics and blog posts) and posting less memes and fluff on social media. We’ve lost the human touch on social media and it’s time we got it back!

Scott Ayres

Author, Facebook All-In-One For Dummies

http://postplanner.com

@scottayres

8. The Content Marketing Revolution

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I see a lot of social media marketers shifting towards re-branding themselves as content marketers in 2015.

This is part of a bigger trend among all kinds of marketers, especially search optimizers and PR professionals.

A year from now, when everyone calls themselves a content strategist, clients and employers will need to dig deeper to learn what the preferred channels are for that professional.

2015 will also be the year that people learn the difference between marketing automation and content marketing. Too many companies have signed up (and pay big money) for marketing automation tools but they’re really only using these tools as glorified email marketing systems.

This will be the year that businesses get smart about this. Many will cancel their marketing automation contracts and others will learn that they need to actually be active in marketing before it makes sense to automate it.

People who drank the kool aid are putting down their cups and realizing that they don’t need an expensive marketing automation platform to do content marketing. This will be a revelation for many businesses in the New Year.

Andy Crestodina

Author, Content Chemistry

http://orbitmedia.com

@crestodina

9. Paid Fans & Followers Services Will Die

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The number one digital marketing trend I see dying in 2015 is the “get more fans & followers” trend. As crazy as it may sound, it’s still a goal too many businesses are pursuing. Don’t believe me? Go in Google Keyword Planner and check the volume of searches for “get more fans”, “get more followers” or even “buy followers”. You’ll be shocked.

This is not sustainable. Businesses will soon all realize that this was useless and that they need to take a different approach.

The trend I see growing in 2015 is that businesses will start to be much more selective with their social media efforts and reducing (or even stopping) them when no evidence of benefit can be demonstrated.

On the other hand, they’ll become smarter at figuring out what works and then focusing their energy there. The market is maturing and that’s a good thing!

Emeric Ernoult

Founder, AgoraPulse

http://www.agorapulse.com/

@eernoult

10. The Year of Social Advertising

Andrea Vahl2015 is the year of social advertising. Now that many of the social sites have some type of ad platform, and Facebook is basically requiring businesses to have some ad budget for anything promotional, it is time for business owners to understand social ads.

The targeting that you can do on social sites is amazing and businesses should be taking advantage of it. Plus, there is a great capability to track your conversions and understand which targeting and platform works best for you.

Understand how to do split testing, optimize your ads and track your conversions on each platform and you will be effective.

Andrea Vahl

Author, Facebook Marketing For Dummies

http://www.andreavahl.com

@andreavahl

Digital Marketing Trends For 2015: Key Takeaways

• Businesses will increase budgets for paid social in 2015
• We’ll be seeing a shift with social media experts re-branding themselves as content marketing experts
• Businesses will get “platform agnostic” and leverage multiple social media platforms as opposed to putting all their eggs in one basket
• Chasing algorithms is not a sustainable strategy in 2015
• It’s time to take Instagram more seriously (especially for B2C businesses)
• Decrease focus on one social media platform in favor of a more integrated approach
• More focus on one-on-one communication via groups on Facebook, LinkedIn and through Twitter chats
• The big attraction for email subscribers in 2015 will be content libraries instead of free eBooks or reports
• The paid fans/followers trend will die

5 tech trends that will dominate CES 2015

New Year? It might have been memorable for Ryan Seacrest and Taylor Swift, but for technology, the clocks don't really change until this weekend, when the annual International CESgets underway in Las Vegas.

In recent years, CES has been a showcase for some of the biggest trends in tech. The show accurately reflected the rise of 4K television (2014), the emergence of Ultrabooks (2012) and the coronation of the smartphone as the centerpiece of our digital lives (2011).

SEE ALSO: Samsung debuts an all-in-one PC with a curved screen

Of course, there have been pseudo-trends, too. 3D TV, pushed heavily in 2010 and 2011, never took off. Last year Qualcomm unveiled a chip made specifically for smart TVs, the Snapdragon 802, then cancelled it. And many of the e-readers that appeared at CES 2010 never appeared on store shelves after tablets and cheap Kindles ensured they could never compete.

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That's why it's good to look at the tech trends at CES — even the bigger ones — with a skeptical eye. Just because something is to be found at every booth at the show doesn't mean it'll ever be found in actual living rooms. At the same time, the show has probably been more accurate than not in predicting future tech: Flat TVs, soundbars and HDTV were common at CES long before they went mainstream.

With that in mind, here are the main trends we expect to see at CES 2015, and our thoughts on how influential they'll be in the coming year.

1. Rise of the smart home

Smart home devices like the Nest Protect smoke detector will be one of the biggest trends at CES 2015.

IMAGE: MASHABLE, NINA FRAZIER HANSEN

CES has been showcasing smart refrigerators and connected lighting for more than a decade now, but this year's show looks like when it all comes together. A litany of companies — big and small — will be peddling connected appliances, from washing machines to bathroom scales.

At the same time, plenty of software companies will be vying to be the next big platform in the "Internet of Things" (IoT), claiming how their tech is the most effortless, letting you control your entire house from a smartphone or tablet. They might even be right, but they'll have to figure out how they fit into a world with Apple's still-to-launch HomeKit platform and Google's Nest, arguably the biggest drivers of this trend.

Bigger companies aren't waiting around. Samsung will certainly have a lot to say about the connected home in its keynote, and Honeywell and Schlage have a big presence at the show. The plethora of smart-home devices at CES may not transform every household by the end of the year, but the category appears on the edge of critical mass. With some direction, 2015 could be the year our houses really started to get to know us.

2. 4K everything

4K TVs will be the norm at CES 2015.

IMAGE: FLICKR, JOHN KARAKATSANIS

We already knew 4K was going to become the standard in high-quality video — we reached that point at last year's show. At CES 2015, 4K — which has four times the resolution of full HD video — will assert its dominance by being everywhere.

The portion of 4K models in TV manufacturers' lineups will increase dramatically. It'll be a given that any set with premium features (e.g. better color, ultra-slim design, etc.) will be 4K. And the Sonys, Sharps and Panasonics will certainly follow Vizio's lead and finally make smaller models affordable.

4K won't just be limited to TVs, either. You can bet pretty much any camera that records video will be able to capture footage in 4K. Computer monitors with 4K resolution and ultra-wide aspect ratios. Even phones will get in on the pixel action, although for those devices, 4K will be more about streaming to TVs and recording video, and not necessarily having 4K screens themselves (although that's on the table, too).

3. Wearables get smarter

Like many wearables, Fitbit's trackers are getting smarter.

IMAGE: MASHABLE, LUKE LEONARD

Passive fitness tracking is so 2014. For CES 2015, the smartwatch — or at least the smarter tracker — will assert itself. This is partly because of engineering; tiny screens and better mobile tech means it's easier to build at least some interactivity into wearables. But everybody in the wearables game is also racing the Apple Watch, which will change all the rules when it finally launches early this year.

At the same time, more efficient chips mean today's wearables can do much more than their predecessors. Continual heart-rate monitoring, already coming in big-name devices from Fitbit and others, will become more common. And using a smartwatch as a remote control — for TVs, smart-home gadgets and even cars(!) — will be a rising feature.

4. Connected car 2.0

Apple's CarPlay is one of the leading contenders for making cars truly connected.

IMAGE: MASHABLE, ADARIO STRANGE

The auto companies are all over the roster of CES 2015, and with keynotes from Ford and Mercedes-Benz, you can bet in-car tech will be a big focus. Although you can't throw a rock at CES without hitting sophisticated dashboards, this year's show comes after last year's launch ofApple CarPlay and Android Auto, not to mention the revamped Ford Sync.

The connected car, one whose built-in systems communicate effortlessly with the driver's smartphone, is an idea that makes too much sense to fail. There are a lot of cooks in this kitchen, though, including carmakers, software companies and tech giants, so it may not always be a smooth ride.

At least we don't have to do all of the driving anymore: Self-driving cars are getting closer to a reality, and there will be several examples at the show, including a novel solution from the likes of BMW: parking via smartwatch.

5. Virtual reality gets real

IMAGE: MASHABLE, CHRISTINA ASCANI

Facebook's acquisition of Oculus Rift has electrified the field of virtual reality, and the effects will definitely be felt at CES. Not only will Oculus be demonstrating its latest tech at the show, but it's safe to say anyone building a VR headset will be at CES 2015.

Also, Samsung and Google have shown how easy it can be to transform a smartphone into a immersive VR environment. With mobile cameras getting more sophisticated and 3D imaging technology getting common, software makers will be lining up with ways for users to create their own VR experiences.

15 Mobile Trends to Watch in 2015

What will the next year hold for mobile tech?
As developers march toward a 5G moment — analysts suggest the next-level network milestone will arrive as soon as 2018–2020 — the size, shape, and functionality of our now ever-present portable devices are evolving in numerous and different directions.
Here's some of what we know: the number of mobile devices has now "surpassed the global human population," according to Steve French, global vice president at Amdocs' OpenMarket, "with nearly 90% of consumers owning a mobile phone and 30% a tablet."
Proliferation isn't the only factor in play, however, when it comes to mobile in 2015 (and beyond). Demographics are influencing the space as well.
"Millennials are changing the mobile landscape," French said. "The group is projected to have a purchasing power of $2.45 trillion by 2015 and prefers mobile as their number-one way to be reached and interact."
Only time will tell what comes next, for certain, but we can still venture some plausible yea-end predictions about what happens over the next 12 months. For additional insight, we'll turn to some of the experts in the mobile and technology field.

Here are our 15 trends that will shape mobile in 2015.

1. THE BATTLE FOR THE WEARABLES MARKET IS ABOUT TO BEGIN.
Make no mistake, mobile tech is about to enter a brand new phase when it comes to wearables. Google Glass may have found more of a home in the business than the consumer sector — but nothing is set in stone, yet. And with the Apple Watch ready for tech-store shelves, prepare to see a push to win territory from all players. "I'm eager to see Apple Watch, how it works, how it looks," said Andrew Whiting, vice president of marketing at Solstice Mobile (he said his company was an early adopter of Google Glass as well). "I believe that having that push from Apple is going to make all the difference." In other words, Android Wear developers, start your engines.

2. BRANDS WILL PUSH TO ENGAGE MANY TIMES VIA MOBILE (RATHER THAN SELL JUST ONCE).
What if your relationship with many of the brands you already use became more like a subscription for services? What if your bank, for example, interacted with you more like a Fitbit experience — your device telling you how much free cash you have at the start of each day, or helping you identify an opportunity to spend your credit card's loyalty points in the moment at a store, airport, or event? That's one idea on which Heather Cox, chief client experience officer at Citi, is training her eye for the next 12 months (and more). "The days of companies selling products to consumers is coming to an end," Cox said. "The whole element of moving the position from sell to buy is something we're going to be working on over the course of 2015 and beyond: how to engage customers with products and services very differently … the notion of the marketing funnel marketing fundamentally changes. It becomes much more about a lifecycle, that circular notion of over time — how do we catch people, using data, and actually help them in the moment?"

3. MOBILE PAYMENTS WILL GROW AS A LOCAL PHENOMENON.
Only a few weeks after its launch, Apple Pay supports cards that represent 90 % of the credit card purchase volume in the U.S. and can be used at 220,000 outlets – from national retail chains to your neighborhood store. With Starbucks' mobile payments success as validation," said Pascal Caillon, general manager of Proxama's North American operations, "consumers will soon be more inclined to use their phone to purchase low-value, daily items as a starting point. Merchants in these sectors will set the industry standard and will be the ones to watch."

4. THE MOBILE-PAYMENT RACE WILL ENTER ITS GLOBAL STRETCH.
"Move over mobile payments — it’s all about global mobile payments now," said Nataly Kelly, vice president of marketing for Smartling. "With a surge in global tourism fueled by the emerging middle-class in markets such as Asia, combined with the fact that more apps than ever are being localized into 10 or more languages, now app developers and mobile marketers will be challenged to support international currencies for people who might be traveling abroad." Or, for that matter, to support travelers and residents who are downloading the app in another country. Point is, mobile payments will move toward an international level of functionality.

5. COMPETITION FOR THE CONNECTED HOME WILL INTENSIFY.
With Apple's HomeKit already out there, and the Thread Group's wireless networking protocol poised to capture a similar audience, the charge is on for a slice of the smart-home sector. "In the coming year, expect these two camps to furiously court developers into their ecosystems," said Coby Sella, chief executive officer at Sansa Security. "Early rumblings suggest that Apple's HomeKit will be a closed ecosystem, akin to the company's App Store, while Thread Group will be more open, much like Google Play. No matter which protocol becomes the de facto standard, telcos and service providers such as Comcast and ATT, and alarm-systems companies such as ADT, will have to make sure everything they deploy works with both."

6. VEHICLES WILL EDGE TOWARD NEXT-GEN MOBILE INTEGRATION.
Disruptive trends in 2015 will not be limited to portable and body-worn devices. They'll also continue to find their way into our vehicles. "Today's traffic-aware GPS will evolve to providing in-vehicle Wi Fi and enhanced location-aware, pushed information services downloaded to the vehicle," said Stu Lipoff, IEEE Fellow and engineering consultant. "Heads-up display should roll out on some premium vehicles to display status, guidance, and augmented virtual overlays on the windshield."

7. THE INTERNET OF THINGS WILL EXPAND ITS FOOTPRINT (BUT HOLD ON A MINUTE).
Keeping in mind the probability that wearables will make some kind of significant mark in 2015, the advent of these Internet of Things accessories may well amount to part of what is more a reset than a revolution, in the coming year. "The technology is there, but consumer awareness is not," said Matthew Davis, vice president of product marketing at StepLeader. "Companies and marketers haven't convinced the U.S. public that wearables, smart homes, and connected cars are must haves. They are still nice to haves."

8. PREPARE FOR A DATA-REQUEST PUSHBACK.
Developers will increasingly feel pressure to cut back on building mobile apps with data collection that's unnecessary for core functionality. "Examples such as a flashlight app that taps a user's geolocation and accesses user's cameras and their calendars are raising some red flags," said Domingo Guerra, president and co-founder of Appthority. "The argument by developers, that they need to monetize, will increasingly hold less water as enterprises and users recognize the true cost of 'free' apps and require more transparency and stronger reasoning from developers … Developers that recognize this trend will be able to differentiate their app in a sea of competition by offering better security and privacy than their competitors."

9. 2015 WILL BE THE YEAR WHEN MOBILE BECOMES A TARGET.
Attendant to the rise of our increasingly mobile-savvy ranks and widespread mobile penetration, someone somewhere is going to attempt a bad thing. "At least one corporate data breach will be traced back to a compromised mobile device which was used to access corporate networks after the compromised device is brought into the enterprise and connects to a trusted enterprise wireless network," said Dwayne Melancon, chief technology officer at Tripwire. "iOS will continue to see a gradual increase of malware that's targeting both jail-broken and non jail-broken devices." Companies and security systems and consumers themselves will need to be vigilant and enable two-factor authentication and other security measures to protect their data.

10. THE SCREEN-AGNOSTIC EXPERIENCE WILL GROW, ALONG WITH BROADER PLATFORM INTEGRATION.
"Seamless context transfer across devices will be the new big app feature," said Sravish Sridhar, founder and CEO of Kinvey. "Apps are increasingly becoming experiences that live across multiple endpoints — from wearables to phones, tablets, and web applications." As this trend proceeds in 2015, offerings that can seamlessly transfer between these states as you move from one device to the next will have a huge advantage.

11. BRANDS AND RETAILERS WILL PAY ADDITIONAL ATTENTION TO M-COMMERCE OPPORTUNITIES.
Retailers' native apps will further leverage the barcodes that shoppers often scan with their mobile devices. That can mean stores and brands that are better equipped to keep customers engaged, drive sales, and increase customer loyalty and retention. "Retailers now recognize the power of barcode scanning in the context of high performance and reliable native mobile applications," said Samuel Mueller, chief executive officer at Scandit. "We expect the trend of mobile-enabled commerce to continue throughout the 2014 holiday shopping season and into 2015 and beyond."

12. TRAVELERS WILL INCREASINGLY SWITCH TO BRANDS' APPS FOR BOOKINGS.
"Companies such as TripAdvisor, Hipmunk, Skyscanner, trivago and Dohop are going to make it increasingly easier next year to book flights and hotels right within their apps instead of sending consumers off to airline, hotel, or online travel-agency websites to complete their bookings," said Dennis Schaal, news editor at Skift (full disclosure, James O'Brien provides independent analysis to the company). "Another thing is that Expedia, Hipmunk, and others are increasingly making it easier to start your trip research on a smartphone, continue it on a laptop, and then pick it right up again on a tablet or smartphone — right where you left off."

13. HEALTH AND NUTRITION MONITORING WILL EXPAND.
"In 2015, health and nutrition monitoring will achieve previously unthinkable breadth and depth," said Rameet Chawla, founder of Fueled. That means that your mobile and wearable devices will generate real-time data regarding your individual body — tracking blood glucose levels following meals, sleep quality as indicated by REM cycles, carbon dioxide levels in your muscles, and the like. Not to mention smart armbands for workout-related notifications, and smart shirts that can notify you about stress levels or an elevated heart rate.

14. BYOD POLICIES WILL SHIFT WITHIN COMPANIES.
"In the face of distributed workforces and project-based working groups that include third-party contractors, apps need to be shared across borders without the limitation of BYOD policies to secure devices," said Art Landro, chief executive officer at Sencha. "Instead of practicing intrusive control over internal and external devices, enterprises will be turning to web-based tools that efficiently silo private and corporate data on the same device," he said. That means allowing IT departments to secure corporate information without mucking about with this one smartphone or that one employee's tablet. Prepare for more across-the-board solutions.

15. BUSINESS WILL DIVE DEEPER INTO INTERNAL MOBILE-FIRST DEPLOYMENT (AND DESKTOPS WILL FOLLOW THE FORMAT).
"For years the value proposition has been utterly obvious," said Matt Calkins, chairman and CEO at Appian, "and yet business have held back from mobile-first behaviors." In the coming months, companies that aren't already mobile-centric will start to cross the divide to increasingly screen-agnostic mobile platforms — allowing employees to keep working, no matter what devices they're using. Furthermore, Calkins predicts, desktop iterations of software will start to emulate those of the relative mobile interface. "The result of the battle between mobile and desktop apps will be as follows," he said. "Mobile wins, the device wins, the format wins on the desktop environment."

LOOKING FOR A BOTTOM LINE?
Consider the following takeaway, as given by Tolga Onuk, CEO of Thunderbolt Studios: "2015 is, more than anything else, the year the smartphones and mobile tablets will be used more than all other devices in the market," Onuk said.
And the way we will use them? It will lead us to expect more, to get what we expect from our mobile devices sooner, and to have access to options wherever we happen to be located at the given time.
"Large on-demand applications such as Uber, Lyft, Amazon Fresh, InstaCart, Curbstand, and Postmates are also going to grow," said Onuk. "And they will help determine and inspire new on-demand platforms that will be built in 2015."

3 Keys to Thrive as Facebook Gets Less Promotional

By now we are all aware Facebook’s organic reach plummeted in 2014. An Ogilvy analysis found that organic posts’ reach fell from 12% to 6% over the five-month period of October 2013 to February 2014. Unfortunately for brands, this number is about to take another dive... and not in a good direction.  Facebook announced last Friday that, effective January 2015, it will be suppressing posts that “feel too promotional.” A post will be deemed too promotional based on three aspects:

1.     Pushing people to buy a product or install an app

2.     Pushing people to enter promotions and sweepstakes without context

3.     Posts that reuse the exact same content from ads

Since its infancy, Facebook has pushed for a customized user-experience with a tailor-made algorithm.  Their argument is that consumers would rather receive ads that they deem relevant.  Facebook is a user-based platform that gives people, not brands, the ultimate control.  Also known as: the power of the like.  As a brand, it’s time to once again roll with the punches – your content’s success is in the hands of Facebook, and following the rules isn’t a choice; it’s your only option.  So, in that spirit, here are three factors to consider before promoting your next post.

Customization Is Key

Social media managers can no longer simply push content and expect to reach their entire audience. The good news?  Messages can be tailored and targeted granularly, but it will take a little extra work. Consider the copy and, particularly, the image and segment your audience accordingly.

For example, a pet food brand’s post featuring two kittens playing should only target feline enthusiast instead of their entire fan base. Facebook has a plethora of data available to advertisers we should take advantage of it. Remember, if you’re targeting everybody then you’re targeting nobody.

Match The Device With The Desired Action

The first question you should ask yourself is what is this post ultimately trying to achieve? Is the objective to generate likes, shares, comments or anything else that can easily be accomplished with thumbs? If it is, mobile probably makes the most sense considering that according to TechCrunch, Facebook accounts for 20% of all mobile media time in the US.  Because of this heavy consumption costs are typically more efficient on smartphones and tablets than desktop.

Is the goal sales or a more cumbersome action? If so, desktop is best given the information input required to complete a purchase. In fact, according to MarketingLand, in the first half of 2014, desktop accounted for 81% of all US e-commerce sales.

When crafting the ad remember posts for smartphones should have significantly less copy given the smaller screens.

Have A Starting Point

Your first foray with paid media can be similar to shooting in the dark – no previous benchmarks make measuring success difficult. Unfortunately, industry standards offer little guidance because each brand’s parameters are unique. Instead, focus on improving each Promoted Post compared to the previous one. Start this process by establishing key-performance-indicators (KPIs). Benchmarks are important since you cannot optimize what you do not know. Track everything from target audience, device, geography, post type, posting time, etc. then let the data influence the next campaign.

Labeling is also key. Consensus on a naming convention before the first post assures everyone is one the same page regardless of who is actually promoting the post. Finally, when evaluating creative, test one variable at a time to ensure performance can be attributed to only one change.

All of these changes which will require payment to reach even existing fans, mean that  brands must have a broader strategy- over arching any single channel strategies. Yes, you should have a strategy for each channel, but it should fit into an overarching engagement strategy.

One question we can’t help but say out loud: Can brands afford to continue running campaigns focused solely on growing their fan base? As Facebook and other platforms continue trending in their current direction, fan growth will be an incredibly pricey strategy.  Brands will need paid media to simply reach their own audience, let alone new fans on the outside. But, that’s a question for another day.