Three Social Media Trends to Watch

One of the biggest questions facing social media strategists all the time is "What's next?"

As Facebook is set to unveil its latest attempt to take over the world via email, we're watching closely to see what new trends may pop up.

There are three trends that I am tracking very closely:

1. Location-based social media platforms. Gowalla , Foursquare , Facebook Places , Whrrl, etc. are all an interesting concept to watch unfold. Right now, all are still in the innovator and early adopter phases. It remains to be seen if they will achieve mainstream status. One thing is certain, location based social media platforms offer businesses the best chance at measuring their precious ROI in a dollar amount. 
2. Content clutter. In today's online world "everyone can be a publisher of content!" The interesting trend to watch however will be, "whether or not the number of people publishing content will decrease to a small confined group?" With so much information all over the internet it can be difficult for an unknowing consumer to judge the quality of content posted on a website, blog, etc. Will the top media dogs such as CNN, MSNBC, and Fox find a way to rule in the online market? We'll see.
3. Social Media Optimization. Since the dawn of search engines SEO has reigned supreme. But now with strong partnerships between Bing and Facebook and the growing use of social media influences in search, social media optimization will slowly take over. 

These are trends that I'm watching, would love to hear what your watching for in the world of social media?

Follow Whitney Breaux on Twitter @wbreaux or on Facebook . Connect with Whitney on LinkedIn.