Ask HN: The Big Trends | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: The Big Trends

5 pointsphoton_off2 comments

I'm curious -- what does HN think are the "big trends" in the digital space right now, or in the near future? I've seen a lot of ideas shot down, deconstructed, etc (eg: Groupon, AirBNB), and frankly the only things I recall seeing strong support for are coding libraries.

So, what do you think the current and next big trends in the digital space are? Cars that drive themselves? "Taking offline online" (Groupon, LS, etc)? Local ads? Personalized recommendations? Bitcoin (lol)?

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Really think the next batch of big companies are going to be those that bridge the digital-physical divide. Seamlessly integrating physical products into the digital world. It'll start off in the entertainment space (there are a couple already) and then branch out into other areas. The problem, there aren't many people that have experience in both web based and physical product areas.

Also I'm waiting on the mobile and social game companies to take their brands into the physical world with television, merchandising, movies, and everything else. Huge opportunities to build continuing long-term brands. Hollywood is so risk adverse, if you can bring a proven property to multiple media types with a known market, it's a no brainer.

There are also huge opportunities in the developing world, they rely far more heavily on mobile devices which presents a huge opportunity.

I don't think we've yet exhausted all of the opportunities that collective action has brought. Obviously, we believe in crowdfunding at CivicSponsor, but I think it's a demonstration of the potential for (as the previous commenter discussed) integrating online interactions with the real world.

Check-ins sort of got us there, crowdfunding is a step closer. Anything that draws real connections that have value from the easy-to-create online connections that social networks offer has the potential to be huge. I'd say Groupon and AirBnB are really part of that trend, and I don't think it's over just yet.

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