I attended a public relations industry event the other day with a panel of technology journalists who are rockstars in the industry. The panel was hosted by the Silicon Valley arm of the Public Relations Society of America. This group talks about best practices in the profession. One is knowing what your audience is interested in so it was valuable information.

The participants were Diane Brady of Forbes, Eugene Kim of Business Insider, Kristen Nicole of SiliconAngle, and WIRED's Lauren Goode. Goode's cat Nougat was also present which amplified the popularity of remote work this year.

Here are their predictions of the top trends of 2022:

  1. Web 3.0 - This is the next iteration of the world wide web. It includes the Metaverse, however, I don't believe the words are interchangeable. It includes NFTs, cryptocurrencies and a host of other uber-cool and nifty-sounding things. Goode mentioned it.
  2. Metaverse - Metaverse was made famous by Facebook's recent branding name change to Meta. It's a whole new world including augmented reality, virtual reality, and so on. Imagine working, playing and meeting in an online environment. The funny thing about it is it's kind of like Second Life, which is super outdated at this point. But Metaverse has way more capabilities. By the way, some of my friends are in the Metaverse already. 
  3. XR - HP's website defines it like this: "XR, cross reality, or extended reality, is a catchall term for several different but related technologies. It rolls together similar acronyms like VR (virtual reality), AR (augmented reality), and MR (mixed reality). Once you know that tidbit, understanding XR gets a whole lot simpler." So when you see "MR" in reference to 2022 trends it doesn't mean "Mr." Like don't say "Mr. Metaverse."
  4. AR and VR - The definitions of AR and VR are included in the XR paragraph above. And, yes, there are a lot of 2022 realities predicted. A group of panelists at a VLAB event a couple of years ago discussed AR and VR in depth. VLAB is a group that brings together various people from academia, big companies and startups to discuss what's hot. Many on the panel seemed quite skilled in creating things with these tools. They said that the future of media, advertising, collaboration and many other things will include a combo of AR and VR. Imagine this. You sit in your living room and a 3D digital T-Rex walks into the room and sits down in front of you. Then a 3D King Kong appears and the two fight. This may be the future of watching movies. 
  5. Digital Transformation - This one was mentioned by Diane Brady at Forbes. This makes sense because digital transformation, according to a November 30th HBR story, is about achieving better business outcomes. It may involve things like robotic process automation, machine learning, and cloud computing. That HBR story goes on to say it's not necessarily about innovation. 
  6. Fintech like contactless payments and cashless transitions -- In the area of fintech, Eugene Kim says he's following how people pay for things closely. He mentioned that Amazon Go is of note. Mr. Kim commented that contactless payments are safer, timely due to the pandemic. Good point so I included it here. I need to start doing that. 
  7. Biotech and pandemic solutions -- Perhaps this is stating the obvious. If you are marketing a product that effectively alleviates problems caused by the coronavirus or any of its variants, e.g. right now it's omicron, then you are probably in the right business. Just don't "fake it till you make it" like Theranos is accused of doing.

It was interesting that they did not say quantum computing or self-driving vehicles. Ms. Brady did mention a wide variety of items including hybrid work. Also of note is that the SiliconAngle journalist said they care a lot about cybersecurity breaches. I did not list all of them in order to keep the list tight.

In summary, I think that the main trend that will be discussed in 2022 is completing tasks digitally and in other universes or "realities." This creates efficiencies and keeps people safe from problems like pandemics.

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Michelle McIntyre is a Silicon Valley public relations consultant and IBM vet who enjoys staying on top of the latest trends. She works at a PR firm called Aircover Communications. Follow her at @fromMichelle on Twitter. Author's note: Thank you PRSA-SV for hosting the panel and networking event. It was co-chaired by Michelle's Aircover Communications' colleague Caroline James. 

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