As I was stuck in the airport for a bit over the weekend, coming back from a (great) trip up to Canada, I heard one of the TV hosts talking about the jobs of the future, as part of a piece on advice to today’s young people. He said that 70% of the jobs available in 2030 don’t even exist yet.

Think about that for just a bit. 70%? That’s a huge percentage of new jobs. And what will they look like? Well, you have to assume that the great majority of them will be online, though there will certainly be a good number of more “hands-on” jobs in new manufacturing industries such as the highly touted Green energy field. And even these manufacturing jobs will be incredibly high tech. But how to prepare for a position that doesn’t even exist yet? Being flexible and well versed in current technology is the best way to be ready for even newer technologies.

What does this mean for the web and online content? Like everything else, it will be a rapidly evolving process. The mediums that you use to reach online visitors may change dramatically in the next 20 years. Very few could have foreseen the huge rise in mobile apps, content and marketing 10+ years ago, and now this industry has become a giant. In similar fashion, knowing what will happen over the next decades is also just a guess at this point. But the critical thing for businesses today and in the future is to identify these trends as soon as they are revealed, and have the flexibility to take advantage of them as quickly as they can too.

We all understand that being nimble and decisive is a great advantage for any business, and those traits simply become more important every year – every time a new innovative product or service is unveiled, or a new communication platform or breakthrough is introduced. Web content as a concept may change drastically in the next 20 years, but there will always be a need for those to create original information to share, write and analyze news, and persuade consumers or voters or human beings in general. So there will always be a need for great online content, regardless. So even if we don’t know what a whopping 70% of the jobs in 2030 will even be, I can at least be confident that mine will be part of the mix…and that companies that make a real commitment to producing and sharing great content will still be the most successful online.