The State of Australian Social Media 2009

[Article published by Michael Watkins for technation on 1st Jan 2009]

Happy New Year to all!

I thought I would start off 09 with a few predictions of how I think the Australian Social Media Scene will play out for the next 12 months.

• There will be a big increase in Australian companies starting to really dip their toes into Social Media Marketing. This will be mainly due to the delicate economy and organizations wanting to get as much ROI on their marketing strategies as possible. As Social Media offers a highly targeted and measured approach and the fact that Social Media is currently cheaper than the alternatives, it will appear an attractive option to advertisers.

• The Australian Startup and Social Media community will become much tighter and closer due to the increased recognition the sector will receive. New work spaces such as Pollenizer’s co-working space which is opening in March will serve to fill in the gaps of who’s who in the scene and ultimatley pull the community closer together still. The ramifications of this happening is huge, with a tighter scene, more people meet one another and share ideas, most of these idea’s are left as ideas. But some will make the jump from ideas to real startups, the more Startups there are, the bigger the entire scene becomes, which is what we all want!

• With most other economies around the world in recession [or quickly heading that way] and Australias still in the black, it will give AU startups a healthy global platform to start from. There will be less global competition which will only help smart Australian startups grow faster globally. Think of it as a head start.

• Lastly, Australia is yet to fully embrace the Twitter phenomenom that has gripped the US and some parts of Europe throughout 2008. 2009 will be the year that Twitter does start picking up serious traction in Australia. I realize most early adopters in Australia are avid Twitter users already, but I am looking more towards when Twitter goes mainstream and what implications the micro blogging site will create for us here.

These are only four quick thoughts for the Startup and Social Media scene in Australia in the coming year. I have many more, but these appear to be the most relevant at the moment.

If you have any thoughts or insights regarding the year ahead for Startups and Social Media in Australia, please leave them in the comments.

I hope you all, like me, are looking forward to an amazing 2009.