After a year that saw some serious milestones tip in social media, such as Facebook reaching the 500 million member mark, you might be wondering what’s in store for 2011 trends in this lively medium.

Maz Nadjm

I met up with Maz Nadjm, Ogilvy Group UK’s now Head of Social Media, who formerly headed Sky’s online social media strategy,  to pick his brains about what he thinks is in store for the new year in social media.

Here’s his insight for what to watch for:

1) Social Viewing and Social TV

Social media is making watching television a more engaging and participatory experience. With Twitter, it can be like sitting in a room and being able to talk to thousands of people. As curious voyeurs, we want to know what other people are thinking. Any programme can invite viewers to comment on topics of politics, sports, entertainment, the weather, or even live surgery as Channel 4 did by suggesting a hashtag for Twitter users to add in opinions to the thread of conversation. Over the last year we’ve seen this happen with trending topics like Britain’s Got Talent (#BGT) and #Eurovision.

For 2011, Maz says watch for more use of chat services that allow for privacy, where you’ll engage with your choice of friends and family to discuss TV programmes. Picks include the examples of Sofanatics and Picklive for sport’s fans.

He says failed experiments in convergence of social media with television have helped shape out how to use the medium best. When Fox News ran a Twitter feed on a topic across the bottom of the screen, viewers complained by the millions that it was distracting. Stay tuned to see more and more creative developments crossing broadcasting with social media.

2) Social Gaming

With Zynga’s Farmville Facebook game exceeding 80 million players this past year, Maz says expect to see more and more opportunities for social gaming. He says it is the kind of fun that any age group can partake with, and you’ll even find your Mum getting addicted to online farming.

With access to these games through mobile phones, with the increasing proliferation of smatphones, people are folding the game events into their lives throughout the day.

Watch for social gaming to become more and more mainstream and prevalent with big brand involvement. He’s spotted that you can even buy social currency at Tesco and give it to someone as a gift.

3) Locality and Social Buying

Providing consumers with a right here, right now approach to social media engagement will continue through 2011, with mobile applications like foursquare becoming increasingly popular. Maz is currently the Mayor of the Hanger Lane Roundabout through foursquare and proud of it! The powerful concept of linking people to their geographic area with games like foursquare, Groupon-style shopping deal offers and mobile apps like Flirtomatic and StreetSpark using geo-location ability to help single people meet, will grow throughout 2011.

Maz says keep an eye on Voucher Cloud, a service that gives you deals for restaurants, bars and shopping in your immediate vicinity. In the USA, consumers are crazy for Groupon, a service offering deals in your local area. With a social approach, the company encourages you to invite your friends to join in getting the deal. With major profits showing, Google made a bid to purchase Groupon for $6 billion, but the company turned down the offer. The service is just becoming popular in the UK, with a few celebrities.

Groupon’s model for social buying is gaining huge momentum, especially in the face of a recession economy of job losses and budget cuts. The approach is possible through the online medium, but for the average high street shopping, it just won’t work. Many deal sites let you promote a deal of choice to your friends and family, sharing it through Facebook and Twitter.

For more from Maz, Follow @Mazi on Twitter.