Should the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout be Sponsored by P&G's Puffs?

Being from Cincinnati, I can assure you there is no greater college basketball rivalry than the Xavier Musketeers and UC (University of Cincinnati) Bearcats. These two teams play each other in the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout every year. UC beat Xavier 66-46 this year.

I have some sympathy for Xavier fans, so I am offering a Puffs tissue so they can wipe their tears away from the loss.

On another note, I found an interesting correlation between blog postings about Xavier and tissue paper (see graph below). Could this indicate an opportunity for Cincinnati's own Proctor and Gamble (P&G) to sponsor the event in the future? I think the "Puffs Tissue Crosstown Shootout" has a nice ring to it. Fans rooting for the losing team could get free tissue paper after the game.

Don't worry Xavier fans. I say these things jokingly. Or am I?

Do you have any thoughts on the graph above? Feel free to comment.

Social Media Predictions in 2011

Last year I wrote a blog posting, Social Media Predictions in 2010, on New Year's Day 2010. Given that, it only makes sense that I review last year's predictions while offering several for 2011.

2010: Year in Review

2010's predictions consisted of the following:

• Mobile News Apps will Gain Popularity
• Mobile Usage Increases in 2010
• Video Blogging Increases and Gains Popularity
• E-mail will become more "Real-Time"

A few of my predictions for 2010 held true, while others did not. The success of the iPad, iPhone 4G and Droid X mobile devices was attributed to the growing popularity of apps. In fact, I recently switched from a Blackberry Storm ll to a Motorola Droid X based on the number of apps available. Numerous apps allowing consumers to view news content on their mobile devices became available this past year. 2010 holiday promotions for reading devices, such as the Amazon Kindle, illustrated consumers have an appetite for reading on the go.

Mobile usage increased in 2010, according to some sources.

News about Facebook beating Google in website traffic also revealed YouTube's popularity as a top five site, in terms of web traffic.

My prediction of e-mail becoming more "real time" dwindled with the short lifespan of Google Wave. All is not lost though. Video and e-mail are predicted to drive social media in 2011.

2010 Conclusion

Based on the above, my 2010 predictions were not a complete disaster. Perhaps my biggest oversight pertained to geolocation services. I did not include any prediction about geolocation services, despite website traffic to Foursquare increasing significantly. I made sure to redeem myself with a blog posting titled, "Intro to Geosocial Networking for Marketers" in April 2010.

Overall, 2010 was a year of mixed successes as it pertained to my social media predictions. Fortunately, I am not going to let that stop me from going out on a limb in 2011.

2011 Social Media Predictions:

2010 placed a lot of economic demands on people. It was no different in the social media landscape where Facebook battled Google to become the leading site for website traffic. The claim for most website traffic will continue throughout 2011, but I think Facebook will hold the title throughout 2011. This is largely due to the Facebook bringing out the best aspects of search, social media and marketing. Facebook's unveiling of E-mail should more than solidify its position as the leading site in 2011.

I have several other predictions, besides Facebook retaining the number one position for website traffic in 2011. These include the following:

• Tumblr will emerge to help rejuvenate blogging; Twitter will need to modify its business model as a result - Tumblr .com is gaining website traffic at an alarming rate. It could overtake Twitter at some point in 2011. Several bloggers already point out why Twitter users should switch to Tumblr. Twitter will not being going away in 2011; however, it will need to modify its business model due to increased competition from social networks like Tumblr.
  

• Mobile advertising spending will double in 2011 - It is estimated that total mobile advertising spending will reach $11-$20 billion. This is up from $6.5 billion in 2010. The advent of geolocation services in 2010 will further refine where mobile advertising dollars are spent.
  

• Mobile photos will catch on - Ben Parr of Mashable.com published his own predictions for social networks in 2011. Among those include the growing popularity of mobile photos. Ben says, "While social photography is nothing new (Flickr and Facebook dominate), mobile photography is just beginning to blossom, thanks to apps like Instagram, PicPlz, Path, and Dailybooth. Other services like Tumblr, Gowalla, Posterous and most recently Foursquare are only pushing the trend further. 2011 will be the year mobile photo sharing becomes all the rage. These services will hit critical mass as smartphone users install apps in order to keep up with their friends."

I hope everyone likes my predictions. Hopefully a few of these will come to fruition. If not, I'll be here January 1, 2012 owning up to my miscalculations. And like many people, I'll be starting over. What are your predictions for social media in 2011? I'd love to hear.