The last week of the calendar year always means two things in the media world: slower-than-average news days and a bunch of predictions for the upcoming year (the former often begets the latter). With that in mind, we thought we would take a look around the Web for a few of the most interesting technology predictions for 2012 and add some thoughts of our own.

Social Media and Politics

No matter which side of the aisle you inhabit, it is difficult to argue that President Obama ran a better 2008 campaign than Republican rival John McCain. Obama and his advisors leveraged the power of social media tools to their maximum benefit, helping them reach a younger, more technologically-advanced group of voters who were mostly ignored by previous campaigns.

The 2012 presidential election will be a different story, says CNET's Rafe Needleman, with every contender embracing social networking as a chief strategic tool.

"In 2012, the major political campaigns will be even more dependent on social networks, possibly to the extent that effective social campaigns will be more important than broad-stroke and increasingly expensive TV ads," he wrote. "Certainly, no candidate will be able to succeed without a strong following on each of the major social networks."

While I agree with Needleman's prediction, an interesting study recently popped up that suggests that the social networking realm is not always on par with other digital media sources.

The Pew (News - Alert) Research study examined the tone of more than 20 million tweets about presidential candidates, finding that the poll leaders receive more negative Twitter reviews than positive ones. Oddly enough, Ron Paul – who is buried on most ballots and receives less traditional coverage than any other Republican candidate with the exception of Rick Santorum –is the most popular candidate in the social media world.

It will be interesting to see if the winners of the social media race in 2012 can take their victories to the polls like Obama did four years earlier, or if the platforms are merely an outlet for those with the loudest voices.

Tablets in the Enterprise

Tablets will change the way that business is conducted in 2012, with mobility being the chief differentiator, says Information Week's Eric Lundquist.

"Instead of sitting around a darkened conference room, surreptitiously doing e-mail while enduring PowerPoint torture, you will hold meetings at a moment's notice," he wrote. "These gatherings can include in-person and remote workers, discussing and swiping at the tablet's contents in a communal manner, rather than the meetings of old that felt like a college lecture."

The most interesting question for 2012 is not whether tablets will make their mark in the enterprise space, but rather which company will be leading the charge.

The obvious answer is Apple (News - Alert) – whose iPad device still dominates the market – but other close competitors may come as a surprise. Supply chain analysts have recently speculated that other early adopters such as Samsung, Blackberry and Dell (News - Alert) will soon be left behind by companies that can offer one major differentiator: content.

Companies like Apple, Barnes & Noble and Amazon can undercut other tablet manufacturers on price because they can make the money back through the sale of apps, e-books and other online content – a strategy that hardware specialists can't employ. Tablets like the $199 Kindle Fire and the $99 Nook Simple Touch may soon pare the market down to a select few, both in the consumer space and the enterprise market.

Enterprise may need to turn their back on traditional partners like RIM to take advantage of the mobile workforce evolution.

Android (News - Alert) to Become a Playground for Hackers

The mobile market will be an area of great concern for many in the security space in 2012, with Android devices being particularly attractive targets for hackers, says cloud security specialist Trend Micro.

The proliferation of smartphones and tablets has given hackers and malware purveyors good reason to steer their attention away from PCs and toward mobile devices. With its current app distribution model and its open source nature, Android sets up as an ideal breeding ground for cyber attacks.

We will have to wait and see if this affects the iOS/Android battle for supremacy in the mobile space, or if it's just another bump in the road or Google (News - Alert).

Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Rich Steeves