Listmania.

It's that time of year when we are inundated with opinions on past and future happenings that will make our lives more fulfilling or bring us crashing down to earth via the compulsion to put everything into a list from the past or predictions for the future. Lists containing the 10 most viewed cats of 2011, 10 tweets that should never have see the light of day, the 10 unluckiest TV celebrities caught in their under wear all the way through to the 10 good, the 10 bad and the 10 ugly in technology in 2011. The more stupid and inane a list, the more press coverage it got as they pandered to the outlived reality TV concept that the dumbest people watch and read, so why work any harder than needed putting lists together.

Even veritable press media like Time and The New Yorker, know the more salacious and voyeuristic the list heading, the more likely a readership is found. It seems a fundamental human need to classify the good and the bad in our lives, to validate or excuse behaviour over the last 12 months. The lists then lead onto predictions for 2012 by people supposedly informed and expert in their fields. It would take no more than an hour Googling the hottest topics of today, to come up with predictions that mirror the experts, making their predictions less expert and more mundane.

So far be it from me, to vary too much from the news cycle and not put forward my own list of predictions for 2012. They are in no particular order, nor are they any more informed than the current experts in the press, who read the same information we all do.

Having seen the movie and marveled at the special effects, especially John Cusack's driving skills, I don't think the world will end in 2012 as predicted by the Mayans. After all the Jetsons predicted we would be living in bubbles and driving flying cars by now and that hasn't happened yet. I'll take George Jetson over someone from the jungles of Central America any day. I know my good friend Karsten Horne will achieve great things via his micro financing site Rehope and make a difference in the lives of many in Malawi. I think Mark Zuckerberg will eventually go to an IPO but will have learned the lessons from counterparts like Zynga and RenRen and look to be more like Google and do a partial float, while keeping greater control over his product.

I think Qantas will use 2012 to once again take a place in the hearts and minds of Australian travellers via a marketing frenzy aimed right at our nationalist pride. As Boomers age another year, nostalgia will become an even bigger money spinner for concert and media events aimed squarely at those wanting to remember a simpler time, especially with a sound track from the 60's and 70's attached. These same Boomers will become the back bone of global volunteerism as they figure out, it's time to give back for a life well lived. After all, they changed the world in the 60's, so why shouldn't they try and do the same again.

With 2012 being the year there will be more phones than people in the world, the six degrees of Kevin Bacon will make way for the one degree of Poke-ability as social media becomes the norm for all communication. Like Elvis before him, Steve Jobs will start turning up at supermarkets, packing bags, as the conspiracists among us feed the need for his return. I know my friends and colleagues will hit significant milestones and accomplish more than they set out to, and because of that, my world will be a better place. I will of course continue to write so my Mum has something to do on Tuesdays and Thursdays and with any luck the NY Times will come a calling.

Enjoy the coming year and have an interesting, fulfilling and happy 2012.