Facebook will grow gangbusters, expanding ad revenue and getting into a bunch of new businesses.
After social media was defined in 2012 by Facebook's IPO debacle, the social network will make 2013 all about making money. CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg will lure more big brands to spend more on ads, they'll dramatically expand mobile ads, and they'll look for new businesses. We can expect a Facebook ad network to serve social ads across the web, a new approach to search ads, more shopping businesses beyond gifts, and experimentation with distributing entertainment, building on the partnership with Apple's iTunes for Facebook gifts.
Twitter will get ready for an IPO.
Twitter will build its advertising business, with more ad options, even closer targeting, and better measurement of ROI, drawing in more and bigger advertisers. It will experiment with additional services—Twitter to make restaurant reservations or order takeout. And it will revamp the site to make it the ultimate news feed for people who want to have their finger on the pulse of the world, who don't want to Tweet.
Retail will become more social, and social platforms will embrace retail.
While online retailers weave Likes, Pins, and Tweets into e-commerce, social platforms like Pinterest, will embrace online sales. Meanwhile deal-a-day services like Groupon will continue the push into a range of social shopping options—like Groupon's Goods.
LinkedIn will continue to dominate global business networking.
Not only will LinkedIn grow its three revenue streams—advertising, recruiting, and premium accounts—but I wouldn't be surprised if they get into more businesses, perhaps offering more business tools for workers and companies. Facebook's job boards won't pose a threat to LinkedIn.
