Meet the smart fork, the smart light bulb, the smart egg tray. Why are they so smart? Because they know you better than you know yourself. The smart fork texts you when you've hit your daily calorie limit. Your light bulb senses you prefer a dimmer glow by intuiting mood from your music choice. Both might send you a text message offer from a retailer, right in time for you to realize that you were looking to buy that new coat or pair of shoes, after all.

The era of the internet of things - marked by the arrival of a now mass-marketed new species of wi-fi enabled, data-sharing objects - is upon us.

Messages can now be delivered based on real-time behavior with algorithms created to target you when emotions run high. Of-the-moment engagement rates have the potential to drive ROI through the roof.

Consider this: In January 2014, Google purchased interactive thermostat maker, Nest Labs. Like many others, such as AT&T and Time Warner, Google wants to know more about what you do "offline," so that it can expand its data collection net and, subsequently, its targeted advertising offerings.

Our advice? It's not too early to re-imagine when and where your messages might be delivered. The promise of real-time targeting and delivery may just transform today's smart gadgets into the communications tools of the future.

A 21-hour speech to block the enactment of the Affordable Healthcare Act? Sure. A government shutdown lasting more than two weeks? Why not. Given the current state of legislative affairs, nothing surprises the voting public anymore. Amidst frustration and bleak political forecasts, attention now turns to a new player on the policy scene: the private sector.

Driven by more than corporate social responsibility missions or the desire for "good PR," private corporations are taking action, shifting debates and getting results. For communicators, this development opens doors to a new era of stakeholder identification and engagement strategy.

Think about education reform or recycling. Rather than waiting for government to act, social enterprises like EverFi and TerraCycle are developing the tools to address these challenges. Students now have access to skills-based courses and trash is transformed into saleable goods because of private companies, not government-funded initiatives.

Emboldened by visible change, advocacy organizations are also starting to realize that the private sector can generate the momentum they need more quickly and easily than Congress. If the end result is all that matters, does it matter if there is a corporate logo on it?

It's time to think differently about the groups you target as stakeholders and change agents. The private sector, while undeniably profit-driven, is outperforming the government when it comes to creating and implementing solutions to public problems. As Washington stagnates, look for breaths of fresh air to come from a more unexpected direction.

Edith Ramirez, chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission, is the only person to make our list this year. Why? Native advertising. What's at stake? The future of how companies and organizations will promote their owned content.

The Online Publishers Association reported that 73 percent of their members offer native ad options, with that number projected to rise to 90 percent. Native ads, often identified on a website with a small "sponsored by" icon, are paid placements designed to the mimic the site's own editorial content. Companies and organizations are happy to pay, because many believe a native ad carries more gravitas than messages relegated to banners or right rails. Up until this point, the publishing industry has self-regulated the practice.

At a December 2013 workshop titled "Blurred Lines: Advertising or Content?" the FTC invited "publishing and advertising representatives, consumer advocates, academics and self-regulatory groups" to explore the issue and the possible impacts on consumers. Ramirez's concerns about native advertising have been established, but no one knows yet if and how she will move to regulate the practice, or aim to put a stop to it altogether.

No matter how the debate nets out, communicators must focus on maintaining trust and transparency at all costs. Regulated or not, native ads are only as powerful as the audience's willingness to see them as valuable and reputable information sources.

Audiences are mostly content to sit behind the figurative fourth wall - that imaginary line between stage and audience - but communicators are no longer willing for them to be so passive. Is breaking that wall and pulling your audience into an experience worthwhile? Many are answering with a resounding yes.

Most communicators pinpoint engagement as the most important outcome of a successful campaign. What better way to engage then by shattering the barrier between the physical and digital worlds where your brand lives? Take WestJet's holiday stunt, in which fliers were asked during pre-boarding, "What do you want for Christmas?" When they deplaned just a few hours later, they were surprised to find personalized gifts on the baggage carousel. The giving culture of the WestJet brand was captured on video with CEO commentary and the inspiring result was shared thousands of times via social media.

The lesson for communicators? In a digital age, tangible moments, actions and events stand out more than ever before. If you are willing to put your brand on the line to achieve unscripted, in-person interactions with your audience, your campaign can excel in the categories that matter most - relevance, memorability and believability. Breaking the fourth wall is not without risk. But the reward can be priceless.

You have a decision to make: Lead with a doomsday downer or an uplifting hurrah? Communicators face this question daily. Now, scientific proof that a positive spin outperforms the negative may finally provide a definitive answer.

Per Time, MIT researchers discovered that on social networks, "up votes" on articles, videos and other posts lead to more votes and comments, whereas "down votes" fail to prompt sharing or engagement. At U. Penn., Jonah Berger studied the New York Times' most e-mailed stories and found that positive angles outranked gloomy perspectives.

Analysts from Upworthy and BuzzFeed - the internet's viral elite - corroborate. They say that humorous and heart-warming stories continue to outperform snarkier fare, particularly when it comes to engagement.

As communicators, we do not always have the option for optimism. Winning a public affairs fight often hinges our ability to create a burning platform. When dealing with a crisis, an overly optimistic message comes across as tone deaf.

However, we urge you to reconsider the power of "nice." Crafting a communications persona that embraces the positive may be the most direct path to leading the conversation on even the toughest topics. Push your audience to start a revolution with a motivational nudge and give them content that spreads a message and changes opinions, one smiling friend at a time. How empathetic. How modern. How nice.

Something has happened to the web page. Gone are clunky breadcrumbs and the persistent staccato of the mouse clicking "next." Busted is the myth that the audience will never venture "below the fold."

As with many of aspects of the early web, the page is a concept borrowed from print and forcefully applied to digital environments. In years past, pages were embraced by site managers and advertisers who found that subdivided content was faster to load and could garner more per-view revenue.

But today, we proclaim that the web page is dead. The single scroll website experience is the new best practice.

Made possible by internet speeds that render load-time concerns irrelevant, this new approach to web design gives a strong nod to tablet users, who would much rather navigate in broad, sweeping strokes than by jabbing a fingertip at the finite area of a button or arrow.

Communicators take heed. This news is for you as much as it is for your web developer. Along with a preference for long scrolls and uninterrupted browsing, audiences are itching for immersive content that gives them swipe after swipe of beautiful imagery, nuanced writing, engaging video and lively graphics. They expect these elements to come alive within the story, not as separate windows or new browser tabs.

Long-form, interactive content that borrows more from cinematography than from the printed page is what your audience is coming to expect. Is your team ready to produce what audiences now crave?

No, we haven't misspelled the name of the popular sci-fi icon. But we do want to introduce you to the newest communicator. A preditor, specifically, is a multi-disciplinary who can write a script, manage the shoot, edit the footage and deliver the video - along with appropriate promotional copy for social channels - straight to the client.

Communicators, both agency and in-house, are rethinking traditional roles, and the preditor is just one of the many new titles to consider. For example, PR giant Golin Harris recently announced plans to replace industry-standard positions (e.g., account executive) with a new nomenclature that describes team members as "catalysts" and "strategists."

New names may seem superficial, but the underlying change in the industry is not. Today's preditors, ambassadors of buzz and code ninjas point to the rising demand for original content, the significance of evolving technologies and the importance of data and analytics.

This year, take the time to evaluate your needs, and ask: Does my team have the specific skills necessary to achieve our goals? When considering an agency partner, don't gloss over the bios in a proposal. Be open to new team models and unorthodox roles, and consider investing in staff with skills that were, in the past, relegated to specialists.

Do you believe everything you read in your social media feed? We didn't think so. That's why we predict a renewed investment in traditional media relations in 2014. Get your fast ball ready, the pitch is back.

For the past few years, social media has been integral to nearly every brand's communications and touted as the answer to spreading the news far and wide. Alongside social, owned content has also made massive strides as part of a successful integrated communications program. But now we're realizing that - while important - neither social nor owned media can supplant the validation derived from earned coverage.

With everyone vying for attention - how does the public discern the truth from fiction? It's not easy, as illustrated by the New York Times article that details the Sisyphean battle of Hawaiian Councilman Greggor Ilagan, who tried in vain to comb the internet for facts on genetically engineered crops.

As clutter breeds more clutter, earned media rises to the surface as one of the last bastions of reliable, objective information, giving brands the third-party validation their cynical and savvy audiences demand. Whether delivered in a feature story, opinion piece or blog post, the words of independent journalists still resonate.

So don't avoid the spotlight. Pursue the front page and seek to get your stories told by those who aren't on your payroll. Aim for the strike zone and put your ball in play.