Saturday, January 17, 2009

Microtrends – the small forces behind tomorrow’s big changes

Microtrends – the small forces behind tomorrow’s big changes



Just finished reading this book.
I suppose thru-out the years, this microtrends has been around us all this time, just that we never really pay much attention to it.
Although this book context is mainly emphasizing in US, but I feel some of the micro-trends mentioned can be widely felt through out the whole world.
Author has remarkable gift for detecting patterns and identifying trends.

Some of the interesting micro-trends (and my brief description)



Internet Marrieds – Nowadays, with most time buried in work, a lot of people found their other half via internet. Trend is steadily increasing though.

Interracial Families – Love transcends all races.

Sun-haters – Though sun offers free vitamin D, well, it also comes with the risk of skin cancer.

30-winkers – Number of people who sleep less than 6 hours is rising fast. Not surprisingly, 7 out of 10 night owls is from ASIA..haa..
Ranking top is Taiwan, with Singapore ranking 5th spot.(not bad)
But surprisingly, asian nations make up half the early-bird nations as well.(those who wake up before 7am).
Great.. So generally, most asian sleep very late and wake up very early..haa

DIY doctors – With internet, it is possible that everyone can play a doctor themselves, buying medicine over the counter.

Aspiring Snipers – Most young listed being a sniper as dream job. Sleath covered yet inflict maximum damage to enemy

High School Moguls – Internet entrepreneur from high school.

Shy Millionaires – Millionaires can be classified into 6 categories. One such category is “Satisfied Savers”, group who live frugally and below their means.
And their traits are that money is emphasized on 1) investing, 2) letting their children attend private schools 3) Giving to charity..

Educated Terrorists – What causes highly educated beings to join terrorist group to cause harm to people?Lack of warmth/love from family friends + disillusioned and disappointed with political systems.

Office romancer – “Don’t mix business with pleasure”

Neglected Dads – Little emphasis and attention on Dads.

Social Geeks – With networking sites like friendster/face-book, the average insocial geek is turning social

Young knitters – Knitting has evolved to being a cool activity for youngster.

Southpaws unbound – Lefties unite! Didn’t know that the word “left” was associated with a lot of negativity meaning in different languages.
Ie, Sinister = from Latin “LEFT”
French “LEFT”= gauche = awkward.
Over the years, lefties has been denied a comfortable space of living…ie most things are designed for righties..
However, most great people are lefties! Like, Leonardo Da Vinci, michaelangeolo, Picasso, Beethoven, Einstein, Isaac Newton, Ben
Franklin, Alexander the great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon….

A lot more trends..

I suppose when micro-trends start to get big, maybe its time to think of $$ making ideas to deal and cope with the trend...haa..



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