Phads

In Consumed: How to package trends into consumable ideas.

One of the things that have changed in the last few years is the number of people saying that lots of things have changed in the last few years. There are more of them, and what they have spotted are trends. Many trends. In fact, Reinier Evers has taken to saying that “trends are the new trend.” He says this with a bit of a wink, but still, he’s in a position to know: he is the founder of a company called TrendWatching, which by his reckoning has identified more than 60 trends since 2002. Each is backed by examples culled from a far-flung network of trend tipsters, and each has a name, like “Tryvertising,” “Life Caching,” “Transumers” (not to be confused with “Twinsumers”) and “Youniversal Branding.” Moreover, TrendWatching’s coinages compete with those of futurists, bloggers, business-book authors, advertising agencies, consulting firms, freelance gurus and even magazines. From “IDvidualism” to “Crowdsourcing” to “the One Life trend,” these new concepts are legion. …

Continue reading at the NYT Magazine site via this no-registration-required link.

Additional link: TrendWatching.com.