My apologies for missing Trend Tuesdays last week; I was down for the count with some sort of coughing cold thingy. So, a week late, is the fifth installment of my commentary on trendwatching.com’s “10 Crucial Consumer Trends for 2010.”

We started with Business Unusual, followed by Urbany, Real-Time Reviews, and (F)luxury. Today I bring you MASS MINGLING.

More people than ever will be living large parts of their lives online in 2010. Yet, those same people will also mingle, meet up, and congregate more often with other ‘warm bodies’ in the offline world. In fact, social media and mobile communications are fueling a MASS MINGLING that defies virtually every cliché about diminished human interaction in our ‘online era’.

So, forget (for now) a future in which the majority of consumers lose themselves in virtual worlds. Ironically the same technology that was once seen to be—and condemned for—turning entire generations into homebound gaming zombies and avatars, is now deployed to get people out of their homes. 

Basically, the more people can get their hands on the right info, at home and on the go; the more they date and network and twitter and socialize online, the more likely they are to eventually meet up with friends and followers in the real world. Why? Because people actually enjoy interacting with other warm bodies, and will do so forever.

There’s nothing terribly revolutionary about these ideas. Any student of human nature could have told us that online communities would never replace real communities because, let’s face it, the computer can do lots of things but it can’t give you a hug. It was only a matter of time before people began to find ways to use the online technologies that originally kept the proverbial anti-social loner types locked to their computers to get them to venture out to interact with kindred spirits in the real world. And voila – suddenly they aren’t so alone or anti-social after all. There’s a reason it’s called “social” media. Duh.

In all seriousness though, social media – because of its immediacy and ubiquity – is the perfect tool to spread the word about opportunities to “mingle, meet up and congregate” among audiences who have proven their level of interest and engagement through the very fact that they gave their permission (to employ a phrase from the guru of modern marketing Seth Godin himself) to connect. Friend requests have to be accepted. Fans and Followers have to click a button. Social media is a marketer’s dream because you know that the people you are contacting wouldn’t be there in the first place if they weren’t interested in what you were doing.

Some intriguing factoids:

A list of MASS MINGLING facts and drivers:
• Social media is all about other people to begin with. 
From a recent Pew report: “When we examine people’s full personal network – their strong ties and weak ties – internet use in general and use of social networking services such as Facebook in particular are associated with having a more diverse social network. Again, this flies against the notion that technology pulls people away from social engagement.”
• The most popular and/or hyped online services, from Foursquare to Google Latitude to Loopt to FireEagle, are currently all about following, finding, tracking, connecting to, and ultimately (spontaneously) meeting up with interesting people (friends and strangers). For some users of these services, ‘life-streaming’ is now a reality, especially when combined with their blogs, tweets, and Facebook updates pages.
• Terabytes of online (local) content is about informing and alerting people to make the most of their time with others in the real world.
• Last but not least: The mobile web has bridged the gap between either being offline in the real world, or being online but in one location (mostly living rooms and offices). Thanks to a dozen years of predicting an imminent, mass-breakthrough of mobile internet, no one gets really excited about the prospect of no longer being stuck when online. However, it will dominate 2010, and it will fuel MASS MINGLING like there’s no tomorrow, as online will be offline by default, and vice versa.

Let’s take point number one. According to a recruiter friend of mine, the more networked a candidate is via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, the more attractive that candidate is because the use of social media demonstrates an awareness of and the ability to utilize these tools to create and promote a personal brand. An important indicator that the candidate is keeping current with the latest trends and will be able to bring these skills to the job. Even better when someone adds a personal blog to the mix and an obvious interconnectedness among this tool kit of contemporary cultural tours de force. A mastery of technology in this case is evidence of more effective social engagement, not less.

Which leads us to point number two. Those who are particularly adept at utilizing social media for networking and promotion are streaming real-time, real-life information to an increasingly interconnected group of friends and strangers. Eventually, some of these online strangers become real friends and thus the real-life circle expands. Especially important if you are a brand who is intentionally looking for new “friends” who can be transformed into consumers. Even if you are using social media purely for social purposes, this ability to expand your network simply makes it more fun. But one of the beauties of social media is that the line between social and commercial blends when we are talking about brands that have become cultural phenomena (as in lululemon – see my post on Business As Unusual).

It’s true that more and more frequently, especially given the proliferation of mobile devices and social media applications, we can update our status no matter where or when we are. And we do. And we will.

Next for MASS MINGLING will be even more impromptu, temporary meet-ups of strangers, mobs and crowds with similar interests, hobbies, political preferences, causes and grievances. Many of these (temporary) meet-ups will revolve around generating public attention, or getting something done. And here too, Twitter will lead the way (tweetmobs, anyone?).

The opportunity is obvious: Anyone involved with anything that helps people get and stay in touch, that gets people from A-Z, or that accommodates those people before, during or after meeting-up with others, should not only rejoice in MASS MINGLING, but make it even easier for customers to meet up in any possible way, too.

Yes, Twitter makes it possible to ensure respectful attendance at that impromptu birthday party for the friend you thought was going to be away scuba diving. But the implications of this trend toward using social media for marketing and event promotion are exciting. I’ve already explored opportunities with restaurant clients to fill empty tables on any given night by tweeting availability and dining promotions to followers. Not exactly “mass” mingling but it speaks to Twitter’s ability to facilitate immediate, dynamic and ultimately results-driven communication with consumers who are already engaged.

The California hotel group Joie de Vivre is hugely successful at activating its customer base with “Twitter Tuesdays” and “Facebook Fridays” that offer special room rates and other deals to fans and followers who are tuned in on those days. Over time they doubtless have built a truly captive audience.

For brands that are truly effective at building community through their use of social media, the possibilities for mobilization are endless – whether it be to assemble a group of volunteers to clean a neighborhood park or to create a publicity stunt that generates a few minutes of footage on the nightly news for a newly opened business.

I like the idea of a “tweetmob.” Let’s see who can be the first to make it happen!

Next week: Eco-Easy

Source: www.trendwatching.com. One of the world’s leading trend firms, trendwatching.com sends out its free, monthly Trend Briefings to more than 160,000 subscribers worldwide.