Facebook remains the monolith of the social network scene, although the usual security and privacy outcries and scattered reports about user numbers declining in the US led to mass (and completely incorrect) hysteria that ‘it was dying’. Huge changes, from Tickers, to Timelines to OpenGraph all caused huge waves, and the consequences of each remain unclear. Despite such turbulence, by December, a huge $100billion IPO was rumoured to be in the cards as the network remains not only the biggest now, but arguably the best positioned social network in terms of revenue growth and managing future developments too.

Twitter continued to grow in user numbers and public interest, with the super-injcution Ryan Giggs furore revealing the chasm between the old and new media worlds (and causing a massive spike in Twitter signups). Elsewhere, Quora disappeared from the consciousness of the internet
almost as quickly as it arrived, marking it as the winner of the over-hyped service of the year (with Color finishing in a commendable second place). Myspace was sold to some people and Justin Timberlake, who will roll the dice in 2012 for what must be the website’s last chance saloon. Path began to get some serious praise towards the end of the year, as it became clear that one of the years buzzword concepts ‘frictionless sharing’ was a perfect fit for such a deliberately restrictive social network.

However, for better or for worse, 2011 was the year of Google+, which magically appeared one day, with the most valuable piece of real estate on the internet as its launch pad. There isn’t much to say that hasn’t been said about the service, other than that its appearance certainly shook the entire social network landscape up, forced Facebook’s hand in making changes and improvements and that it remains completely unknown whether it will still be around in 2013.

2011 will be remembered for Rebecca Black, who broke every record ever when it comes to going viral. But that shouldn’t be a surprise – over half of the most popular YouTube videos of all time are music videos after all. Spotify finally landed in the US and, alongside Pandora, continues to grow. Unfortunately, both are still losing money, highlighting how monetisation remains the fundamental problem for music in the digital space.

However, the number of bands and artists doing innovative things online remains mystifyingly low. Radiohead’s newest album tried with an offline/online idea but to be honest was hugely underwhelming. The best example was Manchester Orchestra, who allowed users to preview their album if they could solve a puzzle by roaming round popular music sites. The band have also done further digital bits off their own backs, including the ability on their website to record yourself singing a chorus, which will be compiled with other entries and released by the band.

However, innovation was provided by Turntable.FM, a brilliant concept that brings a truly social element to listening for music. Spotify apps and Facebook ‘frictionless sharing’ was another step in this general direction. Bringing digital social forces and music together tightly will inevitably be a major trend for the industry in 2012.

2011 started with everyone looking at Facebook Places. 2011 ended with Facebook buying Gowalla, after pulling the plug on Places and deciding to start again. Meanwhile, Foursquare continued to grow and remains the leading pure location-service du jour. The real question is, can location based mobile or online technology actually do something more substantial than get you 20p off at Starbucks or find someone nearby who wants to have sex with you?

Facebook should certainly not be written off however. Killing ‘check-ins’ was 100% the correct move, as was their quiet but clever integration of location with status updates in the summer. Either way, the location-centric model (i.e. having users say Look! I’m here!) is on the way-out (as proved by pioneers Foursquare beginning to run away from it themselves) and value add, and depth of experience is where everything will be heading in 2012.

Anyone pretending to know what they are talking about will often mumble the phrase ‘Mobile is the future’. They do this for a reason (because it is), and as a result, 2011 was a very busy year for the industry.

Firstly, Nokia teaming up with Microsoft and Windows Phone 7 was a surprise and caused a massive shake-up for the industry, leading to the effective deaths of both Symbian & Meego. In November, the Nokia Lumia 800 launched to much fan-fare, although sales figures have been kept secret. 2012 will be make or break for Nokia in the smartphone market, but they have, for the first time in half a decade, got a bit of momentum.

The iPhone 4S disappointed everyone by not being an iPhone 5, but still sold in record numbers
(4 million units in 4 days), reinforcing Apple’s position as the dominant market player. However, Android is now picking up 700,000 activations a day across its range of phones, making it no longer a challenger, but the biggest mobile operating system in the world. With Google's purchase of Motorla, expect big plans and announcements this year.

Windows Mobile efforts itself remain weak and unable to become a viable no.3 option – although the position might not be one they particularly covet, as it was last held by HP’s webOS around the time of the PalmPre launch in 2009 (HP pulled the plug on webOs in August). However, Windows 8 for tablets is without doubt a viable challenger to iOs and Android, the latter of which has struggled significantly, meaning Windows could be no.2 in the tablet arena by the end of this year. The eco-system knock on effect this would create could yet prove the kick that their mobile platform effort requires.

All in all, the mobile industry remains tribal for consumers and cannibalistic for businesses; numerous lawsuits between all the major players remain ongoing and Nokia & RIM in particular need good 2012’s to stay in the marketplace. Elsewhere, near-field communication technology (the most exciting example of which his Google Wallet) could make a huge splash. Predicting exactly how things will end up this side of CES and Mobile World Congress however is spurious folly at best, but whatever happens, it will be an eventful 2012.