One thing is certain: the Internet will never be the same again. If the forecasts on upcoming developments in the web environment seem obvious and inevitable, it is true that they will lead to marked changes in our experience of using the Internet. Here in Europe (with significant peaks in our country) too many have recited the 'de profundis' for Facebook by identifying Zuckerberg's product with all social networks: nothing could be more wrong. Social networks will still be the masters, maybe in a decade Facebook will be supplanted by other more valid platforms but this possibility is not yet on my horizon.
Anyway, here are my 4 observations:
1 - Technology will move.
Twitter is in fact the first social network designed to be easily ported to mobile (the first startup even provided SMS as a means of dialogue between users). Facebook was not born with this vocation, and suffers precisely in the smartphones component. To date, 10% of the world traffic generated by the Internet passes through mobile devices: don't be fooled by the figures, this is an average. In India the figure is close to 60%, in Egypt 70%. And how many of us put our smartphones next to the bed before going to sleep? :) We know how it will turn out. The mobility needs of people and the spread of increasingly performing smartphones (and at a lower average cost) will make the internet “take away” soar.
2 - The social is the new starting line.
More than 50% of smartphones connected to Facebook. Social lines (Fb), Lines of interest and theme (Twitter, Pinterest) and Lines of influence (Klout) are the new frontiers of the web. What is the future of research, the action that people today identify as the one that starts their experience on the Net? You turn on your pc, start your browser, look for something. Finished. For many today we start directly from the Social Network: Google and Microsoft are moving quickly to make up for this social shortage of their products (Google+ is still at stake, a Microsoft social network is expected and I expect it). Finally, Facebook Search: some balance will start to shift.
3 - Another internet.
The Universe of the 'traditional' Internet is no longer expanding: will it collapse on itself? Facebook has ushered in the fashion of its "adjacent web and not searchable by Google". Apple and other giants have lined up closely. From an internet as an open border we are moving towards an internet of "neighborhoods". And after recent political developments (blocking the Internet in China, blocking the Internet in Iran) will we have one Internet per continent in the future, with 'digital borders' to cross?
4 - Video. Videos everywhere.
Many successful companies were born and thrive through the Internet, they have not yet entered the media production perspective. The future of TV is truly exciting, a huge part of the innovations will come from that world: I am not entirely convinced by 'smart TVs' made of closed apps: I believe in a TV that renews and supports its contents in real time with the contribution of those who make it as well as of those who observe it: 85% of tablet users fiddle with their device while watching TV. Do one plus one: what is it doing? What will it do to us? What can he do about it? Companies worldwide are working to answer these questions.
