The advent of social media is changing the way we live and interact and the pace of change is pretty fast so it’s always great to know what the next big thing might be. But it’s not just technology that is changing our lives, there are many other things are play such as how we spend our spare time and react to climate change and the economony. There are 10 Crucial Trends for 2010 according to trendwatching.com which are going to make for a very interesting year.

Always keen to get the inside story, I asked Reinier Evers CEO of trendwatching.com how he imagines brands talking to consumers in 2010 and what they should expect.

“We expect brands to be more opinionated, more transparent, and in some cases, more risqué and daring. Mainly because conversations among consumers in the online world are so much more daring and opinionated, and thus the gap with traditional corporate lingo is getting too big (and too painful). Time to get real! “

He’s picked out two trends for us at lastminute.com which are Maturialsim and Mass Mingling – which you can read more about here.

With trendwatching.com predicting that 2010 will be rawer, more opinionated, more risqué and more in your face than ever before, here’s your opportunity to grab a quick preview of what’s coming.

1. Business As Usual
Forget the recession: the societal changes that will dominate 2010 were set in motion way before we temporarily stared into the abyss.

2. Urbany
Urban culture is the culture. Extreme urbanization, in 2010, 2011, 2012 and far beyond will lead to more sophisticated and demanding consumers around the world.

3. Real-Time Reviews
Whatever it is you’re selling or launching in 2010, it will be reviewed ‘en masse’, live, 24/7.

4. (F)luxury
Closely tied to what constitutes status (which is becoming more fragmented), luxury will be whatever consumers want it to be over the next 12 months.

5. Mass Mingling
Online lifestyles are fueling and encouraging ‘real world’ meet-ups like there’s no tomorrow, shattering all cliches and predictions about a desk-bound, virtual, isolated future.

6. Eco-Easy
To really reach some meaningful sustainability goals in 2010, corporations and governments will have to forcefully make it ‘easy’ for consumers to be more green, by restricting the alternatives.

7. Tracking and Alerting
These are the new search, and 2010 will see countless new services that will help consumers expand their web of control.

8. Embedded Generosity
Next year, generosity as a trend will adapt to the zeitgeist, leading to more pragmatic and collaborative donation services for consumers.

9. Profile Myning
With hundreds of millions of consumers now nurturing some sort of online profile, 2010 will be a good year to introduce some services to help them make the most of it.

10. Maturialism
2010 will be even more opinionated, risqué, outspoken, if not ‘raw’ than 2009; you can thank the anything-goes online world for that.

If you’re a cool hunter or trend spotter, do you agree with these? Why don’t you let us know what you think in the comment section so we can get the conversation going.

Thanks.