What Will Be Big In ‘08? We Have No Idea
February 28th, 2007By IPDI
Patrick Ruffini is right. Yeah, YouTube may be popular now, but don’t be so quick to say that it will have the most impact in ’08.
Online video is far from being mature yet. But assuming this cycle plays out like the last one, the killer app of 2008 hasn’t been invented yet. It will be invented in a garage in August of this year, start gaining critical mass by the end of the fourth quarter, and be on the tip of everyone’s tongue by the middle of next year.
He cites YouTube as the perfect supporting evidence: the user-generated web video site
was became big in early 2006; its political impact reached its height during Macaca-gate that August.
Likewise, Facebook and MySpace was reaped of its political benefits during the ‘06 campaign, during the height of its popularity. And just look at Meetup.com: remember how big of a deal that was in ‘04? Where was it in ‘06.
While Facebook’s constant rollout of new features and its clear interest in politics gives it some lasting power, we have no idea what will make or break this presidential election.
That said, we can still postulate. And what better forum to do so than the 2007 Politics Online Conference, where the best and the brightest in online politics will gather to hash out what works, what doesn’t work, and what can/will work. If you haven’t registered yet, there’s still time. Click here to check out our panels and here to register.
Visit http://polc.ipdi.org anytime for more information.
