We’re not fortune tellers (we’re not that kind of medium), but that doesn’t mean we haven’t thought about what’s in store for us in the coming year.

We’ve gathered our team together to make predictions on the topics we think will most likely affect us in the coming year. Some are sober speculations, others manifest from our worst fears, and a few might offer a glimpse of hope for the coming year.

The Team

Katie Patterson – Founder | CEO
Steph Holmes – VP of Product
Kodie Grantham – Lead Engineer
Doug Choi – VP of Creative
Jenna Sallen – Visual Designer
Alec McFarlin – Web Developer

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

SH

I see a huge benefit for sales teams, digital product managers, and marketers because AI has the potential to help segment customers more granularly to direct efforts and spending to a more refined target market to improve conversions.   

KP

As an agency we’ve used it for foundations, ideation, etc…I think in 2024, users outside of the tech industry will start to find ways for AI to assist their days. I also think we’ll start to see more clarity on laws and regulations with AI in 2024

KG

I myself am trying to use it more as a tool in my belt. Mainly for writing out a boilerplate for a function I’m about to write but of course the code that the AI gives always needs some manual conditioning to get right. I’ll be interested to see how much AI improves over the next year and if the code it writes will get better.

AM

I’m excited to see its capabilities, but would be lying if there wasn’t at least a dash of concern with how far those capabilities can go and what kind of effect they will have.

DC

People who are already skilled at what they do will use AI to help them get even better. People who are looking to use AI as a way to do things they don’t know how to do (and aren’t willing to learn) will run into a wall.

People are frustrated with missing content they want to see because the algorithm chooses for them, so I predict that tools to help in this area will come to fruition next year. 

Steph Holmes

Data-driven Decisions 

KP

Although gathering data can take years, we’re seeing more companies committed to the work and getting clear answers. We always say use data, not feelings to make decisions. In the past that could have been met with resistance, but with how available data is now, using it to make business decisions is vital to success. We help so many companies figure out what data to use and how to use it to build business cases for why they should move forward in a certain way

SH

I imagine there will be a lot of data gathering and meetings discussing the data gathered, but I’m skeptical that companies will put in the effort to create strategies and governance policies, and set goals around the new capabilities to ensure that the data is being put to good use.  

DC

People will get a better idea of what’s going wrong or right. What will likely still lag is qualitative research. We’ll know what’s going wrong or right, but we won’t really understand why.

Progressive Web Apps

SH

I predict PWAs will get easier to develop since they’ve been around for a while now, are more mature, and more No-code/low-code development tools are becoming mainstream. The appeal of not having to invest time and support of a native app is pretty high  The area that might be tricky is app store bias, since you can still download them as an app, will the app stores start making it more difficult for them to be available in app stores? 

KG

PWAs have been around for a while and are only getting and going to get more popular. React and React Native is mainly what we use when implementing something like this. Even using something like WordPress as our main backend but using React Native to turn it into a mobile application is really cool.

AM

I think people will see a lot of value in moving forward with a system like this, but new languages and improvements to languages make it hard to predict.

Accessibility

JS

In 2024, having an accessible website will be paramount to creating a functional experience for visitors. Building a site with features like keyboard-friendly navigation, an option for text-to-speech, and high-contrast color palettes will go a long way to engage all viewers.

AM

I think the accessibility of software is going to take on a higher priority in 2024. Even this year, I have seen campaigns from GitHub supporting and bringing attention to the importance of accessibility and will be happy to see what kind of new technologies could be used to improve the web experience for all.

KP

This has been important for a while, and the conversation in the world now is also matching what tech has been working towards, I think in 2024, those who have accommodated accessibility may also use it as good PR to share with their customers and clients as part of the intentional accommodating they do

Rising API Prices

SH

The API providers will continue their pattern of shifting away from traditional per-call or per-transaction pricing models to subscription-based or usage-based tiers with variable costs depending on the level of service and data usage. All roads point to higher overall costs for the majority of users.

KG

Businesses such as Reddit and Twitter/X have shown that they will raise the prices regardless of user backlash but from this, you start seeing people come up with interesting ways to get data without an API (mainly using custom scraping implementations) and that just becomes a game of cat and mouse. No matter what the end-user is the one that ends up suffering from this. 

KP

As with so much of commerce, the number one way to grow profit is by passive income. Software subscriptions are no different.

Future of Social Media

KG

I think (and hope) that people start taking their personal data more seriously. I would like to see more decentralized forms of social media. With the crazy stuff that has happened recently with Reddit and Twitter/X that is becoming more popular but still not anywhere near the scale of the big names. 

SH

I hope social media trends become more community-focused where it becomes less about broadcasting and more about building genuine connections. I hope to see more features that foster deeper engagement within communities, like group chats, virtual co-working spaces, and hyper-local interest groups. I’d love to see more personalized feed curation tools integrated into platforms.  People are frustrated with missing content they want to see because the algorithm chooses for them, so I predict that tools to help in this area will come to fruition next year.  

JS

General social media fatigue will lead users to primarily use social media to connect with friends and family.

DC

Curating your social media feeds against platform advertising demands is going to get more labor-intensive in 2024. My only hope is that advertising AI gets better at funneling relevant ad content to me, or that someone creates an AI product that will curate my feeds for me.

KP

My prediction for social media, as data is more regulated, social media will become a less curated experience on its own. Consumers will either become aware their feeds no longer are as relevant to them and they will only engage with what suits them, or they will be less attracted and engaged in their social media reducing their time spent with platforms.