What were the top online media stories of the year? As 2008 draws to a close, here’s our take on the top five trends to which AIMGroup readers should be paying attention (inspired by a post on the MediaShift blog).

1. Barack Obama and social media

There’s no question that the entire game has been changed in terms of how political campaigns will be conducted in the future. Barack Obama’s use of MySpace and Facebook (where he amassed 3.5 million supporters, far more than Facebook’s 5,000 friends limit) helped get younger voters involved. His custom social network MyBarackObama.com further demonstrated the President-elect’s understanding of new media.

Already copycats have sprung up around the world. In Israel, for example, with national elections coming up in February, Likud-leader Benjamin Netanyahu copied Obama’s Web site nearly pixel for pixel. And the right wing religious Shas party has plastered “Yes we can” (in Hebrew) posters on buses across the country.

2. Print newspapers crater, push readers online

We’ve reported extensively how the print side of newspapers are in big trouble, from The Christian Science Monitor to the Detroit metro papers, all pushing readers online. Newspapers still haven’t gotten their online acts together yet (see our story about the need to add more niche social networking mini-sites), but with the advertising crunch, the more innovative papers will be poised for success.

3. Twitter becomes an important news source

Twitter has been much bemoaned by newspapers who don’t yet see the appeal of the obsessive micro-blogging community. But increasingly, Twitter is scooping mainstream journalism. The terrorist attacks in Mumbai are the best most recent example. AIMGroup staff comb Twitter daily for reports from our favorite tech and social media writers. Newspapers need to get on Twitter immediately to disseminate news and push their authority in the new media.

4. Recession speeds ad moves online

Advertising was already increasingly moving online. The recession is only speeding that trend. There are different predictions on online spend in 2009. EMarketer analyst David Hallerman says total U.S. Internet ad spending will increase to $25.7 billion in 2009, an 8.9 percent growth rate and more than all other types of media. Online video ad spending, he adds, will rise 45 percent in to reach $850 million in 2009. Zenith Optimedia puts online advertising worldwide up 18 percent next year.

5. New models for newspapers and journalists

As newspapers face increasingly tougher times, several interesting alternative models have cropped up. VoiceofSanDiego and MinnPost tried to raise funds by following a non-profit donation model. Spot.us (covered by us here) launched to support freelance journalists with “crowdfunding” micro-donations. Can newspapers jump on the alternative bandwagon?