It’s been a rough ride, in an online climate that has seen a dizzying number of historic events in the last few years. There have been political coups allegedly spurred on by twittering and tweeting revolutionaries; the Beijing Olympics, and the uproar caused by promises broken to bring more “openness” to Internet coverage of the Games, and subsequent media interaction; video has exploded onto the mainstream media outlets; newspapers and traditional journalism have apparently finally accepted the fact that online content is nudging them out of the race; and for expats and a growing number of citizens in China, there is still no legal access to sites like facebook, Twitter, or YouTube, to name only three.

Where did everybody go?

Not all the news is bad, however. There have also been some significant Internet-based innovations that have come to light, perhaps as a result of the negative impact brought about by these and other happenings. We’ve seen amazing changes to the business of shipping and dropshipping, been witness to online security getting stronger and more sophisticated, and marveled at the success of Internet censorship-breaching software like VPNs and proxy sites, coincidentally in their own incredible advertising dollar growth. Many experts agree that these new opportunities are a direct result of the gloom and stresses brought upon the Internet community, the economy, and global trade. New problems lead to new solutions.

With regard to the twisting caverns and realms of wholesale and retail, it’s largely been a case of good money after bad – at least that’s what it looked like during that frightful September of 2008 – as the global recession worked its black magic on retail, and forced dealers into a stranglehold that left many of them barely conscious and writhing on the floor. Slowly but surely as 2010 comes into full  bloom, things have been picking up again, and there is a new and fresh attitude that seems to permeate every part of the industry as people who make the critical decisions are resorting to more personal relationships and methods of bridge-building that don’t fall under the usual and traditional models anymore. In short, this is the age of online communities being the place for everyone to meet, and the voices of users and netizens are making a bigger and more direct impact than the murmurings of a few uptight guys in expensive suits who obligingly sit around a boardroom table, between rounds of golf.

Let’s take a look at the miraculous explosion in online marketing, for example. Long ago, the Internet was immediately recognized in its infancy as a premier place to slap ads and logos up, and to build a forum for making transactions that required little more than a valid credit card number to initiate. These days, the game has not necessarily changed, but the rules certainly have, as netizens have gotten wise to unsophisticated old schemes, and the level of choice has become such that comparison-shopping online is rapidly replacing window-shopping in the real world. There is major power behind effectively utilizing the tools of online marketing, and there is a lot of evidence supporting the notion that spending in this area will increase as those tools are refined and updated to reflect the growing awareness of an intelligent consumer market.

Double-digit growth is expected by some this year, as US online spending proved to be rather recession-proof in the last year, with the ability to spread its protective influence upon other related fields. December spending may have dipped slightly at over 4.5% to $22 billion, but forecasts show a pendulum effect resulting in figures closer to a full percent increase of 5.5% this year. Many leading firms are predicting less conservative growth figures, claiming that ad spending will see a steeper climb. According to UBS, Deutsche Bank, and Citi Investment Research, figures from 7% to 14% shouldn’t surprise anyone.

Since January, spending seems to have shown a lot more flexibility, with a notable bit of upward movement in the area of search advertising and display ads. With signs of continued economic recovery, there are indications that these figures will continue their ascent, bringing predictions into the $24 billion range, possibly even pushing closer to $30 billion, according to IDC.

Non-advertising marketing, and a trend that is particularly visible online, is showing that marketers are focusing more on social media, and revamping their Websites or brand microsites, blogs, and news feeds to reflect the new directions their audiences are taking. This will make it harder still to nail down the actual figures and exact results of online spending, since these are difficult to track and often unreliably reported through conventional media.

Even the Federal Government, in a decision to uphold free speech, has created some unexpected influence upon advertising dollars at work, by a Supreme Court decision in January of this year that overturns a 20-year old restriction on corporate an union spending on political ads, leaving only restrictions in place that affect direct donations to candidates. While the decision was 5-4, it passed, and its effects will be felt as revenue shifts to promote candidates who are favored by corporations who need their support in Congress and local government offices. While this may create some concern over the influence of big-money businesses who try to keep politicians in their pocket, it is undeniably a major example of spending in the online industry getting some new stimulus of its own.