This time of year prompts many people to write lists of their predictions for the future of their industry.  At Metrica, we're obviously particularly interested in the future of public relations, media evaluation and social media measurement. Some of the better posts of lists that I have read include the excellent Steven Waddington of Rainier PR and David Mullen over on his blog Communications Catalyst.  Both are well worth a read.

But I thought it would be interesting to turn our minds more toward the future of our industry as a whole.

The video below is 5 minutes long, but well worth watching.  Did you know...

- that to reach a market audience of 50 million, it took radio 38 years, TV 13 years, the Internet 4 years, the iPod 3 years and Facebook just two years

- that a week's worth of the New York Times contains more information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th Century

- that 4 exabytes of unique information will be generated this year, more that the previous 5,000 years

- that a company in Japan has successfully tested a fibre optic cable that can push the same amount of data as contained on over 2,600 CDs down a single strand every second. 

This and many other fascinating statistics are covered in the video. The world is clearly changing at a phenomenal speed which is going to bring great change to all of our lives, the way we consume media and even the way we conduct business.  How all companies adapt their business strategies to respond to our ever changing world is going to be crucial.   The PR industry faces a year of great changes, challenges and opportunities.  It's an exciting time, happy new year everyone!