Complete this Sentence in 140 Characters or Less: “2009 will be the year of ___ because ___.”

In so many ways, 2008 was a predictable year.  When the year began, the economy was heading in the wrong direction, while Twitter was being born into “wow, this is way cool.”  The Republican Party was one political faux pas after another, while smart phones were going from luxury to necessity with each new glorious app and feature.

Google was at its peak with no place to go but down.  The automotive industry was already feeling like a step-child before they became an orphan.  The Dark Knight was phenomenal while Speed Racer was phenomenally bad.

None of these things were surprises, but there were a few unexpected happenings.  Gas peaked (for now) and bottomed out just in time for holiday travel.  The Detroit Lions were worse than anyone thought a team in 2008 could be.  John McCain fought back from obscurity within his own party to win the nomination, then threw us a VP curveball that flew over the catcher, over the ump, and on towards the talkshow circuit.

2009 seems to be starting with quite a bit more uncertainty.  How will it end up?  Nobody knows, of course, but at least we can speculate.  I would like comments, please, with your predictions of what 2009 will be.  Here are a few to get it started:

• 2009 will be the year of the social hybrid because people are tired of going to Twitter, then Digg, then Facebook, then Yahoo, then everywhere else they go.  Put it all together into one nice website, please.
• 2009 will be the year of online television because the networks are starting to figure out that people spend a lot of time in front of the new boob tube.
• 2009 will be the year of organic diets because organic food prices will drop as distribution becomes easier.
• 2009 will be the year of Twitter journalists because you can say enough in 140 characters or less and get it out to the masses instantly.
• 2009 will be the year of family gaming because parents won’t be able to interact with their children any other way, giving them an excuse to join clans and build monsters.
• 2009 will be the year of computer-talk because text-speak and internet-speak will become so commonplace that you’ll have to learn it to truly be part of web communities.
• 2009 will be the year of solitude because America will be the only true remaining ally to Israel and the balance of power will shift.
• 2009 will be the year of 100,000,000 YouTube views because the magic number that has only been achieved twice (technically 3 times, but one cheated) will be hit by at least 50 videos, many of which will be brand new in 2009.

Wow, it’s fun to speculate.  Help out.  Who cares if you’re right or wrong?  If you’re right, you can point back to this post next year.  If you’re wrong, you can forget you ever participated.

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