Welcome to Upshot’s 2012 Trends Report! We’re so glad you could make it.

After you’ve clicked the link above and given your brain a totally unfair advantage, please be excessively generous about passing around this trend report. Click right here and we’ll automatically tweet on your behalf, or just pass the following link around to friends, family, followers, foes, and former flings: j.mp/upshot2012.

Here’s a quick peek at our 10 course menu for 2012:

• Guruism (SourceRank 83): Will your brand be the go-to guide on a given topic?
• Collective Curation (SourceRank 91): Credible brands can become hubs for Collective Curation, bringing a focused theme to life through the voices of others.
• Anarchy in the Aisle (SourceRank 82): The Path to Purchase is dead. Long live the Path to Purchase.
• Mindfulness over Matter (SourceRank 65): Situated between a tumultuous past and an uncertain future, consumers are increasingly finding solace in the present moment.
• Seamless Tech (SourceRank 60): Technology-enhanced marketing will increasingly provide seamless, simple experiences.
• Gender Bender (SourceRank 68): Between better-educated women, drastic household changes, and shifting collar colors in the workplace, traditional gender roles are fast becoming relics.
• Cause with Effect (SourceRank 82): With the lingering threat of a “cause bubble,” cause marketing must increasingly focus on making relevant, visible, and inspiring impacts.
• World of Wellness (SourceRank 80): Brands must reevaluate their roles in the diverse wellness ecosystem, ensuring that they’re contributing to a better quality of life for consumers.
• Recession Rejection (SourceRank 86): Shoppers are on a quest for control. And when they set their sights on smaller, more personal spheres, they’re optimistic about their prospects.
• Hack My Brand (SourceRank 53): Marketers are embracing benevolent hacking for innovative, entertaining, and practical solutions.

Keep checking back in with The Awesome Blog to see how these trends grow and evolve throughout 2012. For now, enjoy!

Stay tuned. Full 2012 trends report arrives soon.

Sara
What I’m reading: “The Woman in White” by Wilkie Collins
Why I’m reading it: I was inspired by an article I just read in the New Yorker about Wilkie Collins and the creation of the detective novel genre.
On deck: I don’t know yet what’s on deck. The beauty of owning a Kindle is being able to decide what I’m reading next while I’m on my commute in to work.

Paul
What I’m reading:“I’m Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59” by Douglas Edwards
Why I’m reading it: It’s the inside scoop on Google’s first director of marketing and brand management complete with the evolution of the company’s famously nonhierarchical structure and the many ideas that never came to pass. I’m anxious to see if it ends with him cashing out as a kabillionaire.
On deck: “21: The Story of Roberto Clemente” by Wilfred Santiago

Stacie
What I’m reading: “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” by Stieg Larsson
Why I’m reading it: I started reading the series because pretty much everyone I’ve talked to has raved about it so I was interested in seeing what all the hype was about. TGWKTHN is the last in the series and now I just want to know what happens!
On deck: “Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger

Leah
What I’m reading: “Lit: A Memoir” by Mary Karr
Why I’m reading it: I’m a sucker for a sad/true story. In this one, Mary Karr recounts the desperation of trying to be a mother and wife while battling alcoholism and mental illness.
On deck: “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption” by Laura Hillenbrand and “The Hunger Games” (Series) by Suzanne Collins

Adam
What I’m reading: “The Lost City of Z” by David Grann
Why I’m reading it: It’s about the legendary explorer Percy Fawcett who went missing in 1925 while trying to find a “lost city of gold.” With our lives surrounded by technology, it’s fascinating to read a true story about an adventurer that explored mosquito-filled jungles without a GPS (or a decent pair of boots).
On deck: “Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers” by Dave Gray, Sunni Brown and James Macanufo

Mary
What I’m reading: “Embers” by Sándor Márai
Why I’m reading it: NPR profiled another one of Márai’s books earlier this year, which I read and loved. “Embers” is supposed to be even better.
On deck: “IdeaSpotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea” by Sara Harrison (From the Source collection!)

Jaclyn
What I’m reading: “The Interwebz” by Al Gore, a robot or two, you & me
Why I’m reading it: To be smarter, learn what’s up and laugh.
On deck: I don’t think I’ll ever stop reading it. Sooo tmrw’s pixels, probably.

Neil
What I’m reading: “Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer” by James L. Swanson
Why I’m reading it: The story of Lincoln’s assassination turns out to be surprisingly interesting. The modern equivalent would be like if George Clooney killed the president and escaped into the woods for two weeks. Bizarre.
On deck: “In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin” by Erik Larson

Liz
What I’m reading: “Sex, Sleep, Eat, Drink, Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body” by Jennifer Ackerman
Why I’m reading it: I’ve become a science junkie over the past few years. My intellectual crushes now include Atul Gawande and Jonah Lehrer. Swoon!
On deck: “Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It,” a collection of short stories by Maile Meloy

Kelly
What I’m reading: “The Hunger Games Trilogy” by Suzanne Collins
Why I’m reading it: Kind of got sucked into it. My tween cousins raved about it so I figured I was too old. Then I slowly heard chatter at work, so I caved, got ridiculously sucked in, and read all 3 books in a week. They’re perfect, mostly-mindless, quick reads that were so good I tuned out all the background noise on the train—not an easy feat!
On deck: A fellow Upshotter suggestion: “Girl in Translation” by Jean Kwok.

Taylor
What I’m reading: “In the Garden of Beasts” by Erik Larson
Why I’m reading it: I loved “Devil in the White City” and wanted to check out what else Larson had written. Plus, non-fiction in the guise of a novel is truly wonderful.
On deck: a collection of short stories

Julie
What I’m reading: “How We Decide” by Jonah Lehrer
Why I’m reading it: Always been curious how I (and we) make decisions and the mechanics of the process. Some decisions are quick, some are right, some are wrong and some just take too long! Why is that?
On deck: I can’t decide, ha. (Get it?) No really, it’s a toss-up between “The Bedwetter” by Sara Silverman and “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett.

Go ahead and share what you’re reading in the comments.

It’s about time they said these things to a bigger audience.

Starting Monday, we’ll be adding a whole bunch of new voices to The Awesome Blog. You’ve heard from some of them before. Others are highly-touted blogging rookies with “tremendous upside potential.” Either way, it’s going to be… well, it’s going to be friggin’ awesome.

Please welcome them with open arms!

Nice work, Upshot! (And thanks for giving us something to post while work keeps us from our SXSWrapup. We’ll be back with Part 3 next week. We promise.)

Meet our SXSW Interactive visualizer (at sxsw.upshot.net), which’ll help you navigate the onslaught of tweets that are cascading out of Austin. Click on any of the five featured hashtags to monitor the conversations about those panels, or just watch the steady stream of tweets in the background.

Plus, as shown in the image below, you can scroll to the bottom of the visualizer to see what Upshot’s own four correspondents have to say about the proceedings. Either way, we hope that this’ll help you feel like you’re here too. Except for the 80° weather part – not much we can do about that.

Of course, stay tuned to the blog all week for the big-picture takeaways and in-depth analysis of the panels. Don’t miss a thing – follow us on Twitter and/or subscribe via email through the link at the top right of this page.

But don’t worry, we’re bringing the music.

Yes, Upshot’s SXSW Interactive coverage team has arrived in Austin, and just like last year, we’ll be covering the town with our QR-coded stickers. (Unlike last year, we’ve got a slick new design, shown above.)

If you’re in town – or if you’re just curious about what’s happening in town – scan the QR code above to make sense of Austin’s music scene during Interactive week. (Need a QR code reader for your phone? Shoot us a message with your handset type and we’ll recommend a free reader.)

And that’s not even the last trick we have up our sleeve…

In the meantime, we wanted to thank you for tweeting the trends, Liking them on Facebook, emailing the shortlink (j.mp/11trends), blogging about them, and spreading the word around the world. It looks like we’ve already made a lot of people smarter about what to expect in 2011.

So, we wanted to give you a little something in return (especially before Hanukkah ends!). Click the link below for a printable (11″ x 17″) version of the highlights from our trends report. Slap it up at your desk, stick it on your fridge, wrap it up for the kids, put it on the ceiling above your bed – whatever. It’s a sure-fire way to look trendy and smart.

2011 Trends Printout

Enjoy!

Trend Arc: We’re not looking for fads – we’re long for long-term shifts in attitudes and behaviors.

• Each trend was graded on a scale of 20 possible points regarding the trend’s momentum. A trend at its peak would be closer to 20 points, while a trend that is only just emerging (or, potentially receding) would be closer to 10 points. We also accounted for potential counter-trends here, since some trends tend to generate backlashes or opposite responses (oh that’s right, we’re dropping some dialecticism on all y’all!).
• For the other 30 points of the trend arc, we used a variation of PEST analysis to ensure that each trend was consistent with various macro-environmental forces. In addition to Political, Economic, Social, and Technological factors, we added Health, Environmental, Art & Design, and Demographics as categories that were relevant to our trends. (Therefore, you can say that we used a PEST-HEAD analysis, but you probably shouldn’t.) Each trend received 5 points (up to a max of 30) per category where the dominant forces were consistent with the trend.

Trend Breadth: We want trends that are relevant to a broad audience, not just specialized niches.

• Consumer Breadth considered whether the trend impacts all consumers equally (for a maximum score of 10 points), or if the trend is more likely to affect different groups of consumers in distinct ways.
• Industry Breadth asked whether the trend impacts all industries equally (for a maximum score of 10 points), or if the trend is more likely to benefit certain industries at the expense of other fields.
• Geographic Breadth looked at whether the trend plays out uniformly across all types of geographic areas. If a trend is likely to impact urbanites and also be seen in the heartland, it received a maximum score of 10 points.
• International Breadth ensured that our trends were not simply confined to outlier countries (either unusually advanced or struggling excessively). If the trend impacted a wide swath of the international community, it received a maximum of 10 points.
• Finally, we are a marketing company, and wanted to ensure that our trends were applicable and actionable for marketers in particular. Our final 10 points were awarded if a trend impacts a broad range of the “marketing mix” and a variety of consumer touchpoints. For example, if a trend impacted in-store shopper marketing, guerrilla marketing, and above-the-line advertising, it would receive a maximum of 10 points.

That’s the secret potion behind our 100 point scale – you can imagine why were so proud to display our SourceRank scores to the world. If there are any questions we haven’t resolved about the SourceRank system, please leave them in the comments below and we would be happy to share our answers. In the meantime, go back and take another gander at the trends with a new-found understanding of the magic behind the scenes!

Please be excessively generous about sharing these trends! An easy way to do this is to pass along the following link, which will take you right back to this page: j.mp/11trends. (Actually, the easiest way is to click right here and let us tweet on your behalf.) Also, you can print out our handy, smart-looking reference guide to the 2011 trends by clicking here.

But, if you’re the frisky type who likes a little teaser, here are the topline takeaways from the full report:

• Sized Right (SourceRank 82): Consumers are making a big deal about smaller solutions, and it’s influencing ideas about everything from convenience to curation to consumption.
• Game On! (SourceRank 85): Brands are discovering the significant motivational power of gaming mechanisms, and consumers are happily playing along.
• Driven by Data (SourceRank 81): The future of show-not-tell marketing is using clever, compellingly-curated data to enable new experiences, solutions, and opportunities.
• Find Your Place (SourceRank 63): Real-time location data provides a world of new opportunities for brands to delight consumers with enticing occasion-based marketing.
• Demographic Divergence (SourceRank 86): Growing gaps between demographic groups will require inclusive strategic ideas, implemented with laser-targeted precision.
• Future Fear (SourceRank 85): As Americans begin to temper their eternal optimism about the future, marketers must be there to offer reassurance.
• Cause with Effect (SourceRank 69): With a possible “cause bubble” threatening the legitimacy of cause marketing, it’s time for brands to make a more significant impact.
• War on Whiners (SourceRank 71): Now that consumers have found their voices, self-assured brands will learn when to react, when to ignore, and when to respond with their own two cents.
• Life in the OOC (SourceRank 80): Online-Offline Convergence – a.k.a. The OOC – is no longer on the horizon; we’re living in it.
• Primitive Simplicity (SourceRank 56): What was once a vague preference for simplicity has now (d)evolved, with consumers increasingly believing that our sophisticated society creates more problems than solutions.
• Brand Patronage (SourceRank 55): As creative industries collapse, more artists will turn to marketers for innovative, mutually beneficial promotional partnerships.

Ohhh, so this is awkward. We didn’t realize you could count all the way to eleven. Well, consider the extra trend an early present for the holiday season. And that’s not the only thing we’ve been generous about. You may have noticed our other new gift to the world: our SourceRank trend scoring system! Click here to get all the skinny on SourceRank.

Finally, you’ll notice that these trends come with a slimming-down of the blog design. That’s no accident; the new format emphasizes our Potty Postings, Smartshot Webinar series, and the blog’s role in tracking the ten(ish) trends throughout 2011. You’ll notice that the menu at the top of the page now features our current trends, with all of our other categories getting pushed off into the archives. What can we say, we’re moving forward!