Hard to say, but a lot of people are having some success with Pinterest...

Some up and coming sites for social media would be,
Google+, Instagram, Pintrest and possibly so.cl (Microsoft's social network)

If I told you, I'd have to kill you

Abul

In my opinion, whatever you THINK the "next big thing" is going to be - it probably isn't! When MySpace was dominating, who would have guessed there was a need for Facebook?

What's the fascination with Twittering with its 140-character limitation?

All the brilliant minds at Microsoft thought people wanted a better search experience - yet Google still dominates.

Humans behave irrationally, so it's almost impossible to predict what's going to take off next. We no longer live in a "find a need, then fill it" world.

But...as Dennis Miller says "that's my opinion...I could be wrong."

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3d printing.

Hello iJonathan,

I think all of the ones bhmseoservices mentioned are certainly on the radar:

- Google+ has been expected to take off for a while now. While the take-off has taken longer than many have expected, the fact that SEO is relying more on social networking sites, such as Google+, and the fact that Google+ is rolling out the ability to video-chat with your contacts (something you can't do to my knowledge on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn), and Google+ is bound to make more inroads. Plus, I seen some statistics recently that show that Google+ is holding its own (i.e. behind Facebook and Twitter, but with solid market share, especially among certain age demographics) further shows that Google+ is around to stay for the long haul and will likely have the spotlight before too long.

Instagram- in some ways, Silly Me (Marc) is correct in that it is already huge, but the potential is still there to grow even larger. After Facebook acquired it, it's going to gain even more publicity (which it has)- I get instances of more and more people joining it everyday amongst my contacts and friends, so I still think it has more room to grow for a while.

Pinterest- it, too, has grown, but like Instagram, I still think it has room to grow. Some of the smaller and medium-sized companies are just getting on board and really making a go with it. There were some reports I read that the economic effect is wearing off or that only luxury retail is working now with it, but that's likely just a wave, perhaps due to the economy. Still, with as much usage as Pinterest has, including more men jumping on board, it's bound to continue growing for a while as well.

so.cl- I'm not really familiar with this; I think I read about it briefly once. The fact that Microsoft is behind it, though, and the fact that they are not really much of a factor in the social networking scene, I think it's a safe bet that so.cl is at least something to keep an eye on for potential growth and opportunity.

Other possibilities could include Cinemagram (similar to Instagram, but where you can include video along with photos) and Tout (a social networking site where you can follow people and see all of the videos they post over a period of weeks and even months).

It will certainly be interesting to see what develops!

I think internet marketing in general is going to be the next big thing....or a bigger thing at least. Seems like I'm hearing about more and more people going online to make a side income. I'm not talking about what I see online, I mean what I hear people talk about out in the "real world". Just a couple years ago when I'd talk about my work with friends they'd have no idea what I was talking about and get that glazed over look, but nowadays it seems everyone is asking me about wordpress, seo, amazon, etc.

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Plastics!

(Did you get that movie reference, Joe?)

Seriously though, I think this is the wrong question to ask. Always chasing after the next big thing takes too much effort for too little return. You may get a few hits, but most will be flops.

Instead, focus on the principles that always work.

Then, if you must, you can use those principles to respond to the next big thing.

All the best,
Michael

Techno-Luddites will seek to ban all mobile phones - people caught texting will have their thumbs removed...(and if they are caught sexting ? )

next big thing............
each and every person in the world having his own website............. would be tough competition.... even low and medium searched keywords would turn into competitive words..

Hmmm interesting question OP, I haven't got the answer, nor the funds to invest even if I did have the answer lol.

But I do want to touch on an idea MyiMall brought up, in terms of finding a need to fill, I think that it's not necessarily that we have moved past this strategy, simply that the evolution is slightly further along. For example - perhaps you don't know you need it until you use it, thus experiencing the convenience it offers - and eventually creating a need (or want, whatever gets the money spent lol).

Take the GPS - I never thought I needed one, I can find my way around, I can use a map and I have an innate sense of direction. But once I used a GPS, then I HAD to have it lol. You don't always realize how much you need something until you start using it ALL of the time.

Furthermore, a lot of new inventions arose from improvement on old inventions. Teflon for example was created accidentally in an effort to find a new refrigerant.

What do you guys think?

I think Instagram

Hmmmm? now let me see, OH YA, the next big thing will be, what ever the people of the universe decides it is.

We are the GREAT robots we control the world.

As much as I didn't agree a year ago, Google+ is going to be pretty big I believe, especially with Google incorporating it into more of their products.

Pinterest is doing vary well but not sure if its the next big thing. It could be anything.

Your post is the big thing now

IPv6...already in place.

I bet people are selling courses on the difference between this and IPv4, and how to use/understand it.

I have to agree with Sam Wainwright -- plastics.

Also, the end of the world is still coming. That's always a "next big thing". The method and date changes, but the concept stays the same.

Rose

I think that the next big thing is going to surprise most of us.

Well. I was expecting some real good answers here. Next serious thing need not be from a huge Corporate office somewhere across the world. It can be from your own need as well. What it is that you would like to improve that couldnt be done with the present technology levels. Its from the needs of the common the popular solutions arise.

So many people spend too much time chasing the Next Big Thing when in fact simple marketing like list building and email marketing work and will always work. Other simple marketing practices work as well, but only if you take the time to WORK them...

You cannot pin all your hopes and dreams into the next big thing... instead build a real business on a real foundation of time-tested marketing principles. Through ever marketing challenge from print to radio to TV to the internet... having a list of prospects and customers has always been the way.

Can't understand why people don't GET IT...

We're gunna be rocking those google glasses baby:

Project Glass: One day... - YouTube

It seems like it has taken FOREVER to truly take off but video is growing fast & steady -- specifically, LIVE streaming via internet and now mobile. We have invested heavily into this technology for our business and new ventures, too!

i dot not know what the next big thing, but what i do know is that some tricks have been working and have been working for thousands years. Why not take time to master those proven working strategies and generate money, instead of chasing next big, shinning thing. It will kill, but it will be a flash in the pan.

Next big thing will be Google+, I am sure they will build it to be the leader.

Google+ , I love hang out very much.
In my country hang out can not broadcast. If this function available , there are a lot of idea for me to create marketing plan for offline business

I think the next thing would be related to mobile, something development!

Dark Knight Rises - Part 2

I can not tell you about the future but now google+ and pinterest is very popular in the internet.

The next big thing will be cloud computing - and a new social media site that is driven with a stronger hold on virtual reality. But I wouldn't necessarily call it the next big thing, for me anyways, I"m already living in the clouds!

If I knew the answer to that, I'd be developing it and make millions. :p

bacon, there will a shortage of bacon in the coming years

imagine a world without a double cheese bacon

What's already worked in the past.


Bill


.

Do you have proof? Is there an OTO?

Rebelmouse seems to be looking pretty huge. Check it out. They have a mass of funding.

The next big is Pintrest and Google+.

Rebel Mouse, social media site created by former HuffPost CTO Paul Berry, raised $2.5 million from a group of well-known investors.

Rebel Mouse launched three months ago and functions as an aggregator between Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The site gets 1 million monthlies and will start to roll-out paid options, like custom URLs and apps.

Rather it works out or not is yet to be seen.

I'm telling you this because lots of big name marketers has already locked in their own name.

The other day Rich Schefren published a new report - the profit prophecy. He keeps repeating in that that the businessman is the most important factor in his business.

Maybe something here:

http://mashable.com/2012/04/04/predi...igital-future/

Revolution in the mobile phone sector. Recently one of my friend bought Samsung Galaxy S3. and I was amazed to see the technologies used their.

From which point-of-view? Because for marketing I think it will be sites like Pinterest, the social media networks and Web 2.0 sites/communities...

Technically speaking there would be others... someone here said cloud computing - indeed!
And I'd add: desktop search, mobile technology, social search.

The typical old-fashioned SEO will drop a lot in importance, the entire technical basis of internet is already changing. Shifting towards more mobile, more personalized technology.

So optimization becomes more difficult, more complex to marketers...

Well the next big thing would be "Wikipedia going commercial" Think how it is going to impact Google

Well, people above have forgotten to mention LinkedIn and hundreds of photo sharing sites such as Pinterest, Path, Instagram, Behance

Ultimately, we will see this world to be the most creative place to live in and the Internet is instrumental to such change.

Sixth Sense by MIT researchers looks awesome, absolutely stunning. It can be a game changer. See the video here.

Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry demo SixthSense | Video on TED.com

Okay, I only read through the first page, so if someone mentioned these, bear with me.

There are two "next big things," and I'd be willing to bet money on both of them increasing in market size and value by at at least 25% over the next 5 years.

1. Mobile Advertising. There's a reason Facebook's stock value fluctuates with speculation regarding how they're going to incorporate advertising into their mobile devices. More and more consumers are going straight to the smart phone, and completely ignoring their clunky old desktops/laptops. Whoever figures out how to implement an effective advertising network into smart phones, and can corner the market in it, will make billions. The challenge is that people browse non-stop on their phones, but buy less often. How do you get that to change.

One idea I have, which I haven't heard much discussed, would be to create an operating system for a phone that is mobile ad optimized. You could then sell it the big carriers, and perhaps even persuade them to give away ad-optimized phones for free, or very cheap. The closest thing we see to this now is the basic Kindle from Amazon. Why not follow that model with phones?

2. Local Advertising. The irony of the Internet is that, spanning across all times and geographical locations, the trend is now towards local, neighborhood based marketing. Obviously, people are already helping local business (aka "offline clients") advertise right now, but this is an area that is ripe for explosive growth.

What we'll eventually see, or what we should see, is the emergence of one or two firms that corner the national market for this. If you can standardize a local advertising business, with set services that are clearly defined and affordable for a variety of clients, you could easily build a billion dollar company.

I know my response is back in the "boondocks" of this post, but I think this is the most prescient answer you'll receive....

- Stefan

Hey

Allegedly its webinars?

Small, subscription/membership funded, niche Social Networks, run by everyday people.

-h

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It's "build a list and chukem a bone".

The next big thing will be marketing something of value, helping people to solve their problems and charging them some money for your products and services along the way.

It will involve you being online and building credibility around your brand (either you're the brand or your product / service is the brand).

But you better hurry up and jump on the bandwagon. This is gonna be bigger than Twitter and MySpace combined!

And helping folks and providing value is going to get quickly saturated and might become an antiquated technique the with the next Google Algo update.

Enterprise startups (like Yammer), for the next 5 years or so, and then consumer startups (like the ones you listed... Twitter, Dropbox, etc.). It's all cycles.

Right now, the "trend" is kind of shifting towards enterprise startups, and a lot of people, it seems are developing enterprise products. There's really good money in it but it's difficult to break in (not any more difficult than consumer startups anyways).

And of course, a lot of innovation in the mobile and tablet space. You will also see things like Square, etc. grow a lot (not that they are small right now; grow as in get ubiquitous). I'd love to see us do more with hardware and automate more. :-)

Um, wait a minute, dropbox? How was dropbox ever a big thing, I must have missed something if that is the case can anyone redirect me to where this question can be answered?
I know the "big thing" that everyone is tackling is still considered the big thing, because all that matters it that it works.

Msot of these fields of Internet marketing still very much work, now more then ever, and integrate well with each other.
Facebook is the best by far, because their ad system is the most laser targeted system to getting a targeted prospect.

To create something big (in terms of websites), you need other people to build it for you. You also need other people to spread it for you.

The "big" things on the internet are "2.0" in the sense that the content is user generated. Things like YouTube, ebay, and even more specialized stuff like funkyjunk, and Deviantart.com is another good example.

This idea is simple to apply to anything. My brother thought of a peer-to-peer loan lending platform in 2005... but never did anything with the idea. My big idea was to make a peer-to-peer music creation and sharing/sampling site... but of course Soundcloud had already started

Anyway, you apply the principle to anything I know someone who even did a Tennis website in the UK. People can arrange matches with other enthusiast, they create tournaments and everything.

Some people are saying RebelMouse will become the next big social site, I'm on the fence still about that.

there's nothing new under the sun,
but if you can make something "new", "different", "fun" "extremely helpful" then you have the "next big thing"

I've always teased my friends that I would make a facebutt website where people take pictures of their butts.
maybe you should try it, it might take off just due to the humor factor !

2 words - Google Goggles!

the next big thing would probably be google porcupine update

all sites building more than 20 backlinks per day will be sandboxed

I think this is an interesting discussion. You know, the thing is, if one could discover the next big thing, then that person might be the 1 in a million who rises to the top of the internet next year.

The question is, do you really want to take a 1 in a million chance at a year of your time? probably not. It's like spending $100 to maybe win the $200 million sweepstakes. You probably don't.

So I think a better approach would be to instead think about what people's needs are TODAY and meet those needs. Then you have a 100/100 chance of meeting needs instead of guessing at the future.

My WSO think I'm kidding just wait... it will change IM for ever.
Just like in 2000 when I created eCover actions they changed the design industry

No intention to be a plug either, because I have had it for some time and I may never release it. I started a couple of times then canceled the WSO... who knows?

Richard