The Future of Digital Content
16 likes6,511 views
The state of digital content and what to look for in the near future. Presented at the annual conference for Regional Tourism Organisations NZ (RTONZ), in Wanaka, New Zealand, 22 May 2013. The audience was travel and tourism professionals, so the examples in this presentation are geared towards that industry.
The Future of Digital Content
- 1. The Future of Digital Content Richard MacManus @ricmac http://ricm.ac
- 2. About me I foundedReadWriteWeb (nowReadWrite) in April 2003, building the business into one of the leading technology blogs in the world. I sold the company to SAY Media in December 2011. In October 2012, I left ReadWrite to begin writing a book about consumer healthtechnology.
- 3. The Digital Content Present The Big 2: Facebook & Twitter Social Galore: Google+, Foursquare,YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, ... Horses For Courses: Pinterest (visual), SoundCloud (sound), niche social networks
- 4. Facebook - Sharing, e.g. beautiful scenery photos - Highlight events in the area - Tourist tips - Tourist comments, photos, etc - Connect to social graph of tourists (a form of advertising)
- 5. Twitter - Real-time info; e.g. events, tips for things to do today / this weekend. - Conversations with tourists - Use hashtags so you can track conversations
- 6. Other Options May not be as big as Facebook or Twitter, but options like Google+ could be useful; e.g. here is a G+ power user who lives in Queenstown.
- 7. Horses for Courses - Scenic destinations would bene鍖t from being on Pinterest, the current trendy photo-sharing site (the Flickr of 2013). - Utilize specialist networks; e.g. if youre promoting a music festival, check MySpace, SoundCloud et al.
- 8. Mobile: video, context, focus Beyond Social: niche, topical Internet Everywhere: wearables, objects,AR The Digital Content Future
- 9. Mobile: video Themes: - Story-telling using mobile. - Give people a glimpse of the action. - Will get easier both to take video and consume it. - Flickr, Pinterest et al made mobile photos popular; similar transformation happening now with mobile video. - Big opportunity for user-generated content. Example: Vine, 6-second videos, owned by Twitter (Twitter for video).
- 10. Mobile: context Themes: - More context using mobile. - Tips & recommendations using your location. Example: Foursquare; started off as a location- based social network, but pivoted into discovery and recommendation service.
- 11. Mobile: Do One Thing Well Themes: - Mobile apps that focus on a single task. - Download and use when you need to. - Targets speci鍖c user base (in this case business travelers). Example: HotelTonight;HotelTonight is a very well-funded app built to do one thing and one thing only: Book last-minute, same-day hotels in the city you are in. Skift.com
- 12. Beyond Social: topics Theme: - Topical-based organization. The Web is chaotic, topic pages will add a layer of organization on top. Example: Medium.com; a new type of blog platform that lets people organize content around topics.
- 13. Beyond Social: niche Themes: - Niche social networks, e.g. for travel. - Will connect to Facebook & sometimes Twitter (social graph). - More niche social networks will pop up, especially mobile ones. Example: TripAdvisor; user-generated reviews are what drives its service.
- 14. Internet Everywhere: wearables Themes: - Wearable computing. - (Virtually) Everything is connected. Example: Google Glass; visor device. Glass can take photos and videos, get turn-by-turn directions, execute Google searches, and more.
- 15. Internet Everywhere: objects Themes: - Real world objects get connected to the Internet. Example: London City Airports Smart Airport project; among other things, it will track your luggage in real- time.
- 16. Internet Everywhere:AR Themes: - Augmented Reality - 3D, real-time experience - Geographically-relevant information Example: Wikitude;the king of all augmented reality browsers. digitaltrends.com; includes Wikipedia articles for landmarks, ATM locations, Youtube videos, Tweets, Foursquare locations.
- 17. New Forms of Storytelling Video Virtual Hangouts New Narratives
- 18. Storytelling: Video Themes: - Short videos (e.g. this one is 3 mins). - Lots of potential for UGC (mobile phones, iPad video, etc.). - Promote / Highlight via social media (FB, Twitter, et al). Example: -Vimeo, a classier version ofYouTube. - Also watch out for more blogs incorporating video.
- 19. Storytelling: Virtual Hangouts Themes: - Gather people together virtually. - Opens up events to global audience. - Taps into social graph. Example: - Google+ Hangouts; live streaming an event.
- 20. Storytelling: New Narratives Themes: - New forms of storytelling; e.g. Citias card-based narratives. - Optimized for tablets like the iPad. - The reader/user is in control of organizing content (i.e. not linear). Example: - Citia; modular content, uses HyperCard concept. - Snoop Lion used Citia to promote his latest album.
- 21. 3 things to think about this year Make sure youre tapping into Facebook (for sharing) & Twitter (for real-time updates). How are your customers using photo sharing? Esp. Pinterest & Instagram. Are your customers uploading video from their trips? If so, where? (FB,YouTube,Vine,...)
- 22. 3 things to watch in coming years Mobile video; play withVine,Vimeo, et al. Or have someone in your org who experiments with it. Be prepared for Internet Everywhere (Google Glass, wearables, real world objects). Keep an eye on mobile/tablet apps doing strange new things with UI -> Citia,Wikitude, G+,...
- 23. Q&A Richard MacManus Feel free to contact or connect with me: Email: richard@ricm.ac Homepage: http://ricm.ac Twitter: @ricmac Facebook: www.facebook.com/ricmac