The few years has seen a boom in trendspotting, most noticeable in the shape of blogs as they are the ultimate way for trendspotters to reach out with ‘new news’. But have trendspotting finally reached its peak?
The sheer abundance of “source” trend blogs, boosted by other social media, and the demand for trends have turned them into an omnipresent, realtime phenomena. Everyone is a producer and consumer of trends.
In this perfect information society, the trends seize to be trends in the sense that they lose their exclusivity: they are no longer part of the new and the latest, but part of the “now”.
If trends can no longer be seen as predictive or exclusive tools for getting ahead, they’re no longer useful for planners and marketers. If this is the case, maybe it’s time to stop following trends (which aren’t trends anymore) and start being original?
The few years has seen a boom in trendspotting, most noticeable in the shape of blogs as they are the ultimate way for trendspotters to reach out with ‘new news’. But have trendspotting finally reached its peak?
The sheer abundance of “source” trend blogs, boosted by other social media, and the demand for trends have turned them into an omnipresent, realtime phenomena. Everyone is a producer and consumer of trends.
In this perfect information society, the trends seize to be trends in the sense that they lose their exclusivity: they are no longer part of the new and the latest, but part of the “now”.
If trends can no longer be seen as predictive or exclusive tools for getting ahead, they’re no longer useful for planners and marketers. If this is the case, maybe it’s time to stop following trends (which aren’t trends anymore) and start being original?
Indexed is a real gem worth visiting for a dose of intellectually humourous insights visualised into graphs like this.
Indexed is a real gem worth visiting for a dose of intellectually humourous insights visualised into graphs like this.
Paleo-Future is, according to a Flickr group, "a term that refers to outdated future-visions. Any evidence of a past interpretation of what is to come." The blog Paleo-Future is totally dedicated to this phenomena. Great stuff.
My personal favorite so far is the abandoned Taiwanese housing/resort project (depicted above).
Since this is a blog about planning, the question is: where will the trend and future analysts of today end up tomorrow? On Mars perhaps?
Paleo-Future is, according to a Flickr group, "a term that refers to outdated future-visions. Any evidence of a past interpretation of what is to come." The blog Paleo-Future is totally dedicated to this phenomena. Great stuff.
My personal favorite so far is the abandoned Taiwanese housing/resort project (depicted above).
Since this is a blog about planning, the question is: where will the trend and future analysts of today end up tomorrow? On Mars perhaps?
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