Last year, consumer Internet startups sprung up left and right, looking for U.S. traffic growth and relying on the robust growth of the advertising market to make money. We enter 2009 looking down the barrel of a recession. In this environment, I predict the following trends for consumer Internet companies:
1. Consumers seek cheap thrills
2. Trading real money for virtual goods
3. Web 2.0 leaders pull further away from the pack
4. Online ad prices continue to fall, alternatives help make up some of the ground
5. Getting serious about monetizing non U.S. traffic
Photo by ilco/woodsy.