What technology advanced the industry the most in 2007?
Chad Currie, T3: The steady march of broadband ubiquity is quietly changing the industry under our noses. And it's not just in video. If not for the always-on nature of broadband, widgets, desktop push apps, data-driven banners and web office apps could not run. Those millions of tiny pings required to keep Web 2.0 utilities going depend on a bedrock of server availability. The increasing tolerance for high K sizes in banners is diminishing our tolerance for low-value production in digital advertising. Advertisers will have to up their production game to stay with customers.
Deierlein: Some may say something like widgets, but the reality is that video did the most for the industry by far. I am not sure that advertisers and media companies have quite solved the puzzle -- but even from the upfront and consumer behaviors and video consumption numbers it would be hard to argue that anything other than video in it's various formats and underlying technologies or platform did the most.
Andreas Roell, Geary Interactive: Analytic tools simply based on increased competitive forces led to significant improvements this year. We are starting to normalize the data variances from one tool to the next and are able to start integrating with offline data as well.
Schumacher: Widgets. They've gone from simple content embeds to push out an entire site in a couple years. Not many technologies progress that quickly. They place low demands on the user, they can push your brand out everywhere and they build search optimization. Not bad for something called a "widget."
What technology was the most overrated?
Currie: Second Life again. Put all marketing complaints aside for a moment. I have not yet found a consumer computer with enough juice to run it adequately.
Deierlein: Anything associated with user-generated content.
Roell: Social networks and the ad promise behind social networks is overrated. Consumer engagement levels have started to top off and are actually in decline. It is a lot of burden for time constrained individuals with hundreds of options to keep their profiles up to date. So besides an already identified low advertising in social networks, we will start to see declining usage data in all networks. The only growth will come from international expansions.
What technology was the most overlooked?
Currie: Google code. Okay, it's not one technology, but the concept is simple and powerful. Google solves all the common coding problems one at a time. They give those solutions away. The barrier to entry for making a compelling web app is now much lower, and the computing public will reap the benefits very soon.
Roell: We are still not embracing mobile as I thought we would do this year. Have you ever travelled to Australia and obviously Asia and Europe? Ads on cell phones, special web campaigns for mobile devices are very common and found everywhere. I thought that we would start seeing more traction around providing users tools, information and fun. I guess I have to wait another year.