Predicting the future is the fun part of being a pundit, and a necessary part of giving advice to corporate clients. Thinking about 2008 and beyond, I took a look at my predictions for 2007. Seven months in, I was half right.

1. 2007 will be the year of collaboration and intellectual partnership, internally and externally.

For the digerati, and intrepid corporate types, that’s true. Social networks like Facebook are home to much collaboration; as are Ning forums, LinkedIn and newer social networks.

But most companies are just as oblivious to what’s going on outside their walls as they ever were. It’s still true that most people in big companies don’t know what most other people who work there do.

There’s huge waste from duplicated efforts as, for example, the marketing department of one division works on the same problem as the marketing dept in another division. Often, they’ve never even met, let alone discussed how they might work together.

Not this year, but it will happen. Lots of smart people are working toward that goal.

Blog ad spending is up, and prices are rising according to Henry Copeland at Blogads. But most agencies are copying old blog ad formats or trying to squeeze traditional ads into blogs. Bor-ing.

Widgets have gone wild! Yes there are widgets on Macs and PCs, but the real widget action is in social media. Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and a ton of other sites let us download content onto blogs, websites, desktops and phones.

Just look at the sidebar on my blog and you'll see a widget from Flickr, and another one with my blog post headlines. Or look at your customized Google, Yahoo, NY Times, etc home pages and you'll see that all the content you gather is actually a collection of widgets pulling content from their sites.

What's in your crystal ball?