Many of us could see things like coming but many people continue to focus strictly on website SEO rather than how they will implement their social media optimization. With local trends it gets even more important to think about how you will combine locally targeted search with real time SEO.

By watching trends and acting in real time on a local level the targeting is more focused since the “heat of the moment” is on and you know in real time what people are looking for and WHERE they are looking for it at.

I remember testing location based services when I was in a product house at Lucent Technologies (Bell Labs) around 2001 or so, it is amazing to see how far things have come. We could see where things were headed then but the the move to social media was not foreseen.

It is amazing how even very non-tech focused people are moving easily into services that  a few years back they would of considered too geeky or complicated.

Why? Because with local and trusted peer relationships on social networks they feel comfortable because all their friends are there….

In summary, we know  these trends will not always be based on search terms that are business focused but creative ways to take advantage of this tool will come to light, I look forward to seeing them.

For more info check out Mashable.