Nick’s 2012 Predictions

FourSquare explodes to over 25 millions users

In June of 2011, FourSquare hit 10 million users and I think they’ll more than double in size in 2012, reaching at least 25 million users.  It’s a powerful social media tool, a fun game with friends, and offers great benefits to organizations and consumers alike.

Hello Tablet!

For many companies, 2011 brought about mobile web design.  With a number of our clients and other companies finally jumping on the mobile bandwagon, I expect to the same for the tablet in 2012.  Some say that tablet design is different than mobile which is different than web.  I think responsive web design is going to be big in 2012 with some big companies moving away from being device specific, and more moving to one site to rule them all.

The Return to Creative

Over the past 3 years, businesses have cut back on marketing budgets to the bare minimum, leaving sales promotions and anything that drive sales to the forefront.  ROI was the premium.  However, as the economy begins to slightly improve in 2012, I think you’ll see larger companies begin focusing on creative, experiential marketing efforts to drive brand awareness again as marketing budgets increase slightly.  This will start with this year’s Super Bowl commercials.

Zynga

Zynga, the creator of all great games on Facebook including “Farmville” and “Mafia Wars,” issued an IPO last year and since then, their stock has dropped 20% since their initial offering date.  Most of the concern revolves around recent stories regarding their treatment of employees and a slow decline of users playing these Facebook games.  Unless they become more involved in the mobile / tablet app space, or do something inventive, I think you’ll see this continue. How many times can you plant digital trees?