Last week I took a look back at the cringe-worthy Web design fads of the past in an effort to offer some cautionary perspective for those thinking about jumping on today's "hot" new tech.

Today, as promised, I wanted to follow up by looking at what might very well be the Web fads of the future that we're all going to be cringing about five years from now.

First off, though, what I'm not saying is that any of the fads on this list are bad in and of themselves. A lot of them are good; most of them make many technophiles very happy.

Nope, what I'm saying is that while they may be good when used appropriately, they can be very, very bad (not to mention dumb, embarrassing and huge wastes of time) when used inappropriately.

Click here to read Associate Editor Stephen Bryant's Podcast recommendations for creative professionals.

Secondly, if you've been forced to use these technologies in your recent projects, I know it's not your fault.

Nope, most likely you've been forced to do something dumb because some freshly minted vice president of marketing has heard about it from his or her pals (or worse yet, his or her boss) and is hot on the trail of appearing cool.

You know how it works. You're sitting at your terminal, minding your own business, when the Powers That Be rush in shouting some new term. "Blogs!" they yell, "Blooooggggsss! We must have a blog!" while wildly waving some business magazine article in your face. Erk.

While you don't have much of a choice in the matter, the fact is that many hot new technologies aren't always appropriate for everyone. While they may seem hip and get written about with breathless abandon by business magazines, not all new trends are worthwhile.

They can often turn into giant time-sucks or, worse yet, end up mouldering on the server, starved for the content they need to keep going, making the company look worse by the day as the "last updated" date ages ungracefully.

How do you know if a new technology is a fad or not? Mainly by looking beyond the technology at everything that's going to have to go into maintaining it, and then examining whether or not your customers even want it. Just because some hipster's making good use of it doesn't mean that your company needs it. Before leaping, here are a few issues to look at:

1. Does it meet a need? If your salesfolk and your Webmaster aren't receiving any request for it, chances are your visitors don't need it or don't want it.

2. Who's going to maintain it? Web sites are monsters that eat content. If you're having a hard time keeping the news room updated now, who's going to create that Podcast every week?

3. Does it match your overall site strategy? If your site is designed to be a service for your customers who want to look up part numbers, do you think they're going to want to engage in any social networking or download nifty videos of your widgets in action?

4. Does the company have the resources to maintain it? If your management considers providing the development staff with a bathroom a "fringe benefit," chances are they aren't going to commit the dough to professionally record a Podcast or videocast every week. If you can only afford to do something once, don't do it.

5. Can your customers/visitors handle the technical demands? You can't just rely on published Web statistics to know the answer to this: You have to know your customers. Believe it or not, not everyone has access to the latest tech. If you're in an industry that sells high-tech gadgets, chances are your customers have access. If you're selling to the Amish … well, take a look at how many Amish Podcasts exist.

All that being said, if you are able to answer "yes" to those questions, you may want to give some of the newer stuff a try.

Unfortunately, many companies can't answer "yes" but do dumb things anyway, jumping on the bandwagon just because everyone else is doing it.

Here's my list of the greatest potential future fads out there today:

1. Podcasting: Oh yeah, everyone likes Podcasting. It's hot, hip, and with every new announcement made by Apple about zippy new iPods, getting hotter. And while there may be many legitimate uses for Podcasts in your business, you need to think long and hard before you really commit. Do you have professional-quality recording hardware? Do you have people with decent voices (or can you hire them)?

Who's going to write the content and research the Podcasts? Who has time? Do your customers actually want to hear from the vice president of operations and listen to his or her ramblings about the state of the factory every week? Can you offer something they can't get anything else?

If you're a college student, sure, recording your Podcast in your dorm room is fine. If you're a major company, making audio recordings may be a bigger bite than you're willing to chew. Do a couple of test runs before you commit.

2. Weblogs: Marketing folk really love blogs these days. They're hip. They're now! All the kids are doing it! Anyone who has something to say can have an important, well-read, influential blog if they want, right?

Probably not. With hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of blogs out there, there's a lot of competition for eyeballs. Readers won't come just because you're blogging. People read blogs because they actually provide interesting links, insightful commentary and, most of all, authenticity. Corporate blogging is tough unless the higher-ups in PR are willing to give away editorial freedom. Chances are they won't.

There's nothing worse than a contrived PR-written blog that screams "marketing." Unless your company has the stones to let bloggers actually blog (rather than write news releases), the talent to actually write the blogs, and the time to keep them fresh, don't do it.

3. Video: With the launch of the new video iPod, you can bet that video's going to be a hot topic in marketing circles (often populated by the kind of folks who are the first ones to buy iPods in the first place). Video's already gotten a lot of attention as The Next Big Thing (see the many articles on PSPcasting) and a lot more video content is being released to the Web. Unfortunately, video is expensive and difficult to produce. Think long and hard before deciding to jump on this bandwagon: All the questions I asked before apply doubly.

4. RSS: Yes, RSS is a useful method of disseminating information outside of e-mail channels. Yes, RSS is handy for those of us who have to keep tabs on lots and lots of sites and information feeds. But RSS isn't a magic bullet. Just putting an RSS feed on your site doesn't mean diddly if people don't want to read it.

Sure, analysts who follow your company, major suppliers, big customers and some members of your local press might need to follow what goes on in your site's news room, but don't expect any but your most loyal customers to subscribe without some major prodding. Don't believe me? Go check out Nooked.com (a business RSS directory) and honestly tell me how many you'd subscribe to.

5. Social Networking: I mentioned this last week, but it bears repeating: Just because social networking is hot doesn't mean that you need it on your site.

Unless you've got a stable of really engaged customers who want to meet each other, can stomach user-submitted content, or care if your customers think that the XB3337 Floor Scraper is "hot" and the W45XJR Lard Tender is "not," chances are that building social networking functionality into your site isn't going to be a major competitive advantage unless you've got a really new and innovative idea of how to use it.