For many in the dotcom world, 2007 was dominated by one story: the rise of Facebook. The success of the social networking service has increased optimism about the Internet industry. After all, if Microsoft is prepared to buy a 1.6 percent share for US$240 million, there is evidence that good ideas can be worth a lot of money. It is no surprise then that investors are looking for the next big thing -- and these are some possible contenders.
ETSY
The New York-based Internet retailer says it is "your place to buy and sell all things handmade." Where Amazon revolutionized online commerce and eBay made its name allowing people to sell off their unwanted possessions, Etsy hopes to tap into the growing trend for hand-crafted and personalized items.
With thousands of craftspeople selling everything from clothes and ceramics to jewelry, the site has quickly become an Aladdin's Cave of the Internet.
Its innovative sales approach -- such as letting shoppers browse by color or allowing geographical searches to support local suppliers -- has drawn a legion of followers. Etsy now has more than half a million registered users and 60,000 sellers.
Founded by 27-year-old Robert Kalin from Boston, the site was launched in 2005 and now has more than 40 staff in New York and San Francisco.
Some critics find it a contradiction -- a mass market dedicated to niche products -- but Kalin says: "Etsy is a distribution platform for any kind of content that isn't mass produced ... that's not just craft-based, it might include music."
Twitter.com
Twitter is a service with a simple selling point. It lets you text message large groups of people simultaneously, and for free. Sign up and send it a message -- from a phone, Internet or instant messaging service -- and it will be sent to your contacts.
Updates are limited to just 140 characters, leading Twitter's creators to call it "microblogging."
The craze caught on with the technology cognoscenti this year, but many pundits expect it to reach out to the mainstream in the coming months.
Some say it is a simple way of keeping a connection with friends and family, regardless of time and distance.
"Twitter is about the intimacy of details," said author and academic David Weinberger. "Through it I see small events in the lives of friends about whom I otherwise might only learn the big events when we catch up after long intervals."
Crucially, it has also been picked up by businesses as an easy way to push messages out to their customers.Co-founder Ev Williams helped popularize blogging with Blogger.com before selling it to Google in 2002 for an undisclosed sum.
Dopplr.com
With Facebook so prominent this year, many copycat services are expected in the next few months. But Dopplr.com is trying to find a different angle. Aimed at frequent travelers, the site lets users keep track of where their friends and colleagues are and enables them to meet up in unexpected places -- or keep tabs on who is visiting their home town in the next few days.
The site had a public launch this month. During the test phase the audience was limited to international jet-setters and conference veterans, but thanks to a series of canny features -- including integration into Facebook -- it is ready to break out and gather many more users.
The site, founded by an international team of respected Web technologists, is run from a small office in Hoxton, London. This year two of its masterminds, Matt Biddulph and Matt Jones, were named among the capital's most influential people.
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