As 2007 arrives, the New York Times has asked a range of leading internet advertising figures what they think the future holds for the online world.

According to the experts, upcoming trends include more user-generated ads as well as those targeted more specifically to the individual. This will mean that consumers may soon be seeing adverts that differ from those seen by their neighbours.

Social networking will also play a major part on websites and intranets, the experts predict, and user-generated tools will become more commonplace too. Symbolic of this trend is the news that the founder of Wikipedia is to launch an ‘open-edit‘ search engine, to be funded by ads in much the same way as Google.

The new year is also likely to see a more socially responsible consumer emerge, with clued-up individuals questioning what certain brands stand for and asking what they can learn from them.

And as they become more aware of brand values and processes, the consumer is to be invited more often to contribute to the creation of commercials. Brand consultant Allen P Adamson of Landor Associates said: “Consumers are demanding and getting a seat at the table and defining what the brand experience is about.”

Personalised advertising will see web analytics used to target specific consumers with highly relevant ads, which will greatly increase the all-important click-through rate.

As well as this, a predicted increase in broadband uptake will allow advertisers to be more creative with their commercials as users are able to handle bigger downloads.

According to Internet World Stats, more than a billion people around the world use the internet.