Internet Trends 2019

We left 2018 and slipped into the new year wondering what 2019 would bring.

14:05 14 January 2019

Last year we saw the improvement and building up of 2017’s social media trends with influencer marketing, augmented reality and video content all increasing in volume and quality.

Attempting to predict what a new year will offer in the way of trends in the forever changing digital market is a gamble but again, everyone likes a bet don’t they?

For the home the rise of the smart speaker like Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Apple HomePod are expected to carry on. Over 60% of those who have a Smart speaker love them and would not go back to a life without their voice activated and controlled assistant.

I, personally own an Amazon Alexa and like many other owners, I have come to rely on her for many simple tasks from timing my cooking to playing music for me. I even like her corny jokes! I know that I do not use Alexa to her full capacity and this year I intend to do something about that, but what I do use her for, I love...and yes, I called a Smart speaker ‘her’.

Many statisticians are predicting that 2019 will be the year that the internet will catch up with television in terms of the hours that we watch it. The percentages which are being talked about say that we shall be spending 2.6 hours a day online and 2.7 hours a day watching television. This will probably lead to less money being spent on television ads, but more being spent on web video, web ads and social media advertising.

That being said increasing numbers of us are becoming more cynical in this era of ‘fake news’ and this is leading to CEOs as well as other top executives having to be social. Companies need a good reputation to be successful and being social helps to build the trust between the company and the users as well as being more appealing to prospective employees.

Blogging, Tweeting, or making YouTube videos are all being used by those CEOs that want to get their views and faces out there.

In fact, it is expected that social media will carry on the trend of integrating their services into third party applications. For instance, users of LinkedIn and Facebook allow users to sign up for third party services with their accounts and then share data with third party services.

The gambling industry is expected to continue its online presence as more players are turning to their mobiles to have a bet or wager. For those that enjoy a bet there are now real money NZ online casino sites on offer as well as other high-end online sites that provide casino games.

The gambling industry is also under some deal of scrutiny and it is expected that the rules and regulations that surround online gambling will be scrutinised and tightened up wherever possible to combat the threat of gambling addiction.

Chatbots are also expected to trend during 2019 as their growth shows no sign of waning as they are seen to be more ‘normal’ as time goes on. Sometimes when a novelty fades so does consumer interests but that does not appear to be the case with the Chatbots.