It certainly was a big year for social networking — and, it’s a good bet that there will be lots of excitement in 2008.

So what about some predictions?

Gary Hall, who is the president of Pringo (a social networking platform), has some thoughts on it:

1. In order to maintain stickiness in 2008, brands will need to employ social media tools and user-generated content (UGC). To keep their competitive edge, they will be proactive in understanding and identifying their users’ specific interests, providing a more relevant and feature-rich community.

2. The greatest growth in social media will be in affinity groups and niches. The largest social media sites will become less relevant and attractive to those who want social media to be intimate and useful, rather than broadly distributed.

3. Social media sites will reap the benefits from an increase in advertising dollars being spent, but consumers will reject advertising that is not tailored for their specific needs. The growth in highly-targeted sites will attract advertisers looking for a quicker return on investment. This will further reinforce the ad-revenue sharing model between organizations and social-media platform providers. In addition, we will see emergence of advertising-based standards.

4. Customer-facing companies that do not employ social media tools in their external communications and customer relationship management strategies will lose to competitors who actively adopt these. Individuals will expect companies to leverage this type of technology so the consumer voice can more easily be heard.

5. People will continue to spend more time on the Internet; however, they will hop from one web site to another less frequently, only spending time on social media sites and networks that fully engage their interests and values.

6. In 2008, a more mature audience will embrace online communities, even though the young early adopters acted as the initial catalyst for social media. Although growth in terms of quantity will still be largest among teens and 20-somethings, the highest percentage rise will come from parents of children who use social media, professionals and senior citizens, among others.

7. Major corporations will use social media tools for building better communication with employees, replacing outdated intranet systems. The increase in popularity of social networks and online communities in corporate environments will create a demand among businesses for customizable, scalable and feature-rich platforms.

8. Mobile social media will take off in 2008. Up until now mobile services have played a minor role in the development of social media. Consumers will want to take social media with them everywhere, driving the development of more mobile applications.

9. We will start to see market consolidation. Larger social media players will acquire smaller, common interest sites so that the established portals remain competitive, attractive and relevant.