By Chris Lee

According to a US study of 895 “technology stakeholders and critics”, by the year 2020 the Internet will be viewed as mostly “a positive force” on those experts’ social world. 85 per cent agreed with this hypothesis put forward by the Pew Research Center.

Just 14 per cent disagreed, saying they believed it to be a negative force on their social world. If the majority of experts are right and the Internet is a force for great social good in the next ten years, then what will the implications be not only for individuals and the way we conduct our friendships, but also for marketers?

NMK’s Chris Lee opened his contacts book and asked around.

Social circles

Online friendships are creating a “share and compare” economy where traded opinion increasingly determines purchasing decisions, according to James Cherkoff of London-based consultancy Collaborate Marketing. People share items with their social networks and enjoy comparing what comes back, Cherkoff argues, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that tradition marketing techniques will die out.

“Brands will need to recognise there’s not much point in targeting the individual with a branded message, if it’s not in line with what’s being delivered by their trust-powered grapevine,” he told NMK. “Customers are already joined up and talking about brands, but soon they won’t have to even make the effort to find one other.  The Web will whisper in their ear with the latest gossips and shopping tips from friends and family.  And then they'll go shopping."

A very social decade

Pew Research Center’s hypothesis was based on the Web in 2020 and, as social media consultant Rax Lakhani explained, there is no way we can predict what online platforms we’ll be using in ten years time. Whatever it is, Lakhani says, the Web will be at the heart of social communication.

“Think of the impressive history of the telephone. What started out as a ‘social’ communication tool rapidly became an essential part of how we do business,” Lakhani said. “Over the last 100 years, the telephone has evolved from being a purely social tool – one which allows us to stay in touch with our nearest and dearest, into something that is now an integral part of how we do business. The more comfortable we became as a society with the concept of ‘the phone’, the more its ubiquity and functionality grew and it is now a core part of our lives - both in work and at play. The exact same is happening with social networks.”

According to Lakhani, society as a whole needs to start thinking a bit more imaginatively about how we use online social networks culturally and “stop obsessing about the technology that lies behind them.”

Online personalities

Xavier Adam is managing director of marketing and communications consultants AMC Network. He believes that going forward both individuals and businesses will develop stronger online presences. While the positives of the social Web means speedy and global communications, Adam believes digital relations can lack reality.

For Adam, face-to-face interaction will always be important and, because we cannot predict what social platforms we’ll be using in 2020, marketers need to keep up with the latest developments and not get left behind.

“The world is never as different in the future as we imagine it will be,” he concluded.