Home Report: The Top 5 Trends of 2010

Report: The Top 5 Trends of 2010

As part of our ongoing year-end analysis of what shaped the Web this year, we’ve created a report – The Top 5 Web Trends of 2010 – that looks at the most important topics: mobile, the Internet of Things, location-based social networks, the real-time Web, and structured data. Using Adobe’s new PDF Portfolio, we take you back through the year’s news and events and then describe what the key issues to watch in 2011 will be.

Here’s a brief preview of what’s inside the report:

Mobile: Key trends to watch in 2011 include: New versions of Android will challenge Apple’s software with a focus on music and other cloud-based features. Apple will likely release a new iPhone and OS in the middle of 2011 as well and go in the same direction. Can Windows 7 carve out a niche for itself? Will other tablets besides the iPad become popular?

Internet of ThingsWhile more and more people world- wide are becoming Internet users, their number is dwarfed by networked objects. An estimated 35 billion devices are now connected to the Internet. Major developments this year include: July: News breaks that IPv4 running out of addresses, in part because of increasing networking of objects. August: Intel cites securing the Internet of Things as part of its rationale for buying McAfee.

From Adobe, the report’s sponsor:

“Adobe Acrobat X is taking information sharing to new heights by including all the capabilities Adobe Acrobat has always offered, and adding an enhanced feature called PDF Portfolio.

Through this improved Adobe Acrobat X feature, users will have a powerful set of tools to create, compile, and access information originating from a variety of source documents, whether by conversion or direct scanning. Think of the software’s PDF Portfolio feature as a way to organize and present numerous files and attachments without the digital clutter. Combine files that follow a common theme from multiple applications such as video, audio, articles, and graphics, and link them together in a single Portfolio. You can then use the program’s customization options to add a unified layout or your company’s branding.

Take a look at our portfolio – The Top 5 Web Trends of 2010, accessible as a PDF Portfolio complete with articles and images in a theme that emulates our site’s own design. The best part? While it takes Adobe Acrobat X to create Portfolios, they can be opened with the free Adobe Reader, making them accessible to an even wider audience.”

Location-Based Social Networks: The focus in 2010 was strongly on location-based social networks. While this trend will continue in 2011, we will also see even more location-enhanced services that use the user’s location to provide more relevant search results and local information.

Real-Time Web: Real-time entertainment dominates web traffic globally, constituting 43% of all Internet traffic. Major developments this year include: January: Massive earthquake in Haiti; reactions and responses – from seismologists, from the media, and from international relief agencies – rely on real-time technologies. June: The World Cup becomes the most popular Web event ever.

Structured Data: Structured Data is an important component of the Semantic Web, the way in which we understand meanings and connections between meanings on the Web. Trends to watch in 2011 include: Semantic mark-up will be more widely implemented by businesses, publishers, governments. Even though RDFa is known for being difficult to implement, more datasets will be made available in general, whether or not they comply with standardization efforts.

You can find the full report here.

About ReadWrite’s Editorial Process

The ReadWrite Editorial policy involves closely monitoring the tech industry for major developments, new product launches, AI breakthroughs, video game releases and other newsworthy events. Editors assign relevant stories to staff writers or freelance contributors with expertise in each particular topic area. Before publication, articles go through a rigorous round of editing for accuracy, clarity, and to ensure adherence to ReadWrite's style guidelines.

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