Forecasting for a social network: Trend analysis in 2004 and today

Forecasting, the study of possible future through trend research and analysis, may be applied to design processes in order to guide project decisions. This work examines the use of trend analysis in one case study: youMe, a social networking app for mobile devices, developed in 2004. Design forecasting was an important part of this project, with the research of sociocultural and technological trends. Here, we describe trends identifi ed then, and compare them with the current reality, in order to observe similarities and differences between the then imagined future and the actual situation today and in the recent past, especially when it comes to online behavior and the use of mobile devices. Keywords: design, trends, Forecasting, internet, social networks, mobile devices.