What do you think is next in terms of social ...

Several years ago, before non-students were allowed to join Facebook, MySpace was the non-professional complement of choice for LinkedIn (which, itself has evolved from a techno-geek networking site to something with a much wider scope) users. Once the grown-ups were let into Facebook, MySpace was no longer THE social networking site. MySpace is trying very hard with its music ventures (MySpace Music, a collaborator with iLike.com) is trying very hard to find its niche once again. I have learned not to predict anything anymore...but will break my rule and predict that MySpace Music and other things like it that I am sure they are busily working on will save MySpace. How many times has Apple Computer and AOL come back from near death!?

While we are on the topic, I am beginning to wonder about Twitter's future. A year ago it seemed a lot more active than it does today.

I agree with Don concerning Twitter. Nevertheless, it's still a useful tool in terms of generating traffic to a blog and some other unconventional business uses. I don't see Myspace bouncing back anywhere. Facebook is killing it now. I think they're trying to be the hub of the internet; with their "like" button, upcoming search feature, ecommerce, etc. I think their dream will be realized. And it is too late for Google to stop Facebook now even though they have more resources.

Kwame from Sociatic.

This is a great question and one that a lot of people are wondering about these days.  In regards to MySpace, it's unlikely that it will come back and really give Facebook or Twitter any real competition. History has shown us that once a social site is abandoned, it rarely comes back to its former glory. Instead MySpace has settled into a niche and created partnerships with Twitter & Facebook, supporting areas they don't excel at.

The niche markets/sites are one that are experiencing a lot of growth and attention right now, and I would predict this will continue.  Many people are starting to leave Facebook for one reason or another.  The teens feel it's gotten to big and their entire families are watching over them.  Adults are concerned with the direction of privacy.  I would expect that Facebook will have more longevity than most social sites we've seen come and go, but the smaller networks will take on new life, and aggregators will be more important to keep track of friends and business connections on different networks. 

We're moving away from individual websites and toward a world of meta-sites like Facebook.

In other words, a webpages (AKA profiles) that are hosted within a much larger website. A great example is Delta's Facebook page- which you can now book tickets from.

To be honest I think we will see Facebook just dominate the social scene for a few more years to come at least. Even right now its potential as a marketing tool is unrivalled and I am including Google with that.

Whether you use Facebook free marketing rersources it offers to market with or you use its paid services, they both have such a targetted capability that its impossible to ignore.

I do believe Twitter has peaked and for me it never became anything like what some people were predicting.

Blogs I see as a very important part of social marketing and this I feel will only increase. They are such an adaptable way to market with and very accessible to create for anyone regardless of their budget. Platforms such as wordpress.org will allow you for a few dollars a month create a blog any way you like.

Most probably since they are miles away behind facebbok and twitter.