11 Digital Trends to Watch in 2011

According to Steve Rubel, Senior Vice President, Director of Insights at Edelman Digital, one of the most interesting parts of his job is working with David Armano each January to curate the key trends they think their clients and teams need to think about in the year ahead.

For this year’s installment, they have identified 11 trends. If there’s a common theme that runs through it all, it’s that there will increasingly be a lot of information coming at us, yet the same amount of time to digest it all. This, as Auggie Ray from Forrester notes, will make standing out more challenging.

In this slideshow, you will find the same recommendations they are sharing with their clients and helping them bake into their strategies.

Click through for 11 digital trends from Steve Rubel and David Armano of Edelman Digital.

Marketers will begin to realize the value of attention and not just reach in driving conversion.

The plethora of content will give rise to digital curators who can separate art from junk.

Marketers typically don’t try to court developers, but that’s all about to change.

If there’s one constant it’s that humans crave stories. Technology creates new expectations.

Companies recognize they must activate credible individual expert voices who can create content.

Social media efforts can no longer exist in fragmented, non-formal initiatives. They will begin to integrate.

As mobile device competition heats up, consumers are closer to being socially connected anywhere.

If 2010 belonged to solely Foursquare, it’s likely that Facebook will rain on their parade in 2011.

Social overload is no longer a problem for tech mavens, but the broader population.

Google proves that the best way to beat Facebook & Twitter is to do what they do best: index them to pieces.

Businesses realize that integrating social functionality into their existing websites is what users now expect.