Independent Thinking » mobile

7 Digital Trends to Watch in 2012

Daria Steigman — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 06:01:14 +0000

From l-r: Steve Radick, Dan Horowitz, Daria Steigman, and Rick Dunham

Integration, mobile, and consolidation were all topics under discussion at the January 12 IABC/Washington panel on trends in digital communications.

Here are my top seven takeaways:

1. Silos will start to fall. According to Steve Radick of Booz Allen Hamilton’s Digital Strategy and Social Media Practice, government agencies will better integrate their social media initiatives. He noted, in particular, that people are starting to understand the disconnects that happen when customer service is not integrated.

2. Government social media will be in “wait and see” mode. Radick said not to expect a lot of big Government 2.0 initiatives. He suggested that most agencies will be in waiting mode during this election year.

3. Companies will start to clean up their act. Dan Horowitz of Fleishman-Hillard’s Digital Group and Social Media Practice pointed to a new Altimeter report that found that large companies have an average of 178 corporate-owned social media accounts. In 2012, he said, they will consolidate and coordinate better–which involves, of course, aggregating efforts via smart tools (e.g., Buddy Press).

4. Social media reaches maturation. Horowitz pointed to Forrester’s just-released research on social media adoption that found that 86 percent of adults who use the Internet use social media.

5. The press release is dead. Okay, Rick Dunham, Washington Bureau Chief of the Houston Chronicle and chief author of the Texas on the Potomac blog, didn’t really say this. But he did say that he’s relying more and more on Twitter search and other social media to discover trending stories and breaking news–and to get ideas for news stories–and not so much on press releases.

Plus two trends from my remarks:

6. Mobile has arrived. eMarketer estimates that there will be 113.9 million mobile Internet users in 2012–an increase of 17.1 percent from 2011. This includes 72.8 million mobile shoppers and 37.5 million mobile buyers. This means that every business–large and small–needs to have a mobile strategy.

7. “Find-ability” will be more important than ever. With Google rolling out “Search Plus Your World,” having a solid content marketing strategy (and quality content) will be more important than ever. Businesses that are still relying on static, corporate-brochure-type Web sites will be left in the dust.

Bonus Trend: Platforms. I just read Phil Simon’s The Age of the Platform (review coming soon), and I haven’t really had a chance to sit down and think through how small businesses will be able to take advantage of what he calls “extremely valuable and powerful ecosystems” (think Amazon or Apple) that allow you to scale, morph, and bring in partners, users, vendors, and so forth. While the business concept may not be new, technology has made doing this very different. I think Simon’s on to something. This is one emerging trend to watch.

Agree with these trends? Disagree? Think something’s being over-hyped? Please weigh in below.

Photo courtesy of Capitol Communicator.

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Is Groupon the Next Lycos?

Daria Steigman — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 13:10:22 +0000

Lycos used to be a big deal.

Lycos was one of the first ad-supported search engines. It completed one of the fastest IPOs in history. It was one of the first profitable Internet companies. And it barely exists today.

Look at the home page, and you see a flashback to the old Web.

Lycos developed a model, then other companies came into the space. They did it better. They saw opportunities. They innovated.

Which brings us to Groupon, which has been hemorrhaging for months.

Groupon’s founders never understood that the $6 billion offer from Google was never about Groupon’s business value. It was about buying an infrastructure that Google could build out.

Being the first on your block to do something doesn’t make you special. Or gifted. Or the best. It just makes you first.

What do you think: Is Groupon the next Lycos?

Photo by blathlean (Flickr).

Why Tablets Are the Next Big Thing

Daria Steigman — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 09:04:39 +0000

Amazon just unveiled the Kindle Fire, a lower-priced entry into the tablet market that seems to be more e-reader than productivity tool. Add that to the Vizio tablet, which sports a more conventional Android interface, and tablet wars may be coming to a superstore near you.

Of course, it didn’t take Amazon to tell me that tablets are the next big thing.

Here are two stories, one business and one consumer, that illustrate this.

Exhibit 1: Potbelly rocks the lunch line.

In my experience, sandwich shops with long lines at lunch time are doing something right. By that measure, the Potbelly on 3rd Street, SW, is a pretty special place.

At the store near my home, you wait in line, order at the counter, and then wait again for your sandwich to come out of the heater before picking out your toppings.

Not the 3rd Street store.

This store has equipped an employee with a tablet, and he places orders about 10-15 customers back in the line. This means your sandwich is ready to customize when you reach the counter. It’s efficient, and it creates a more-seamless process. I’d go back there anytime.

Of course, the live music helps too.

Exhibit 2: My mom wants an iPad.

I’m going to push for a Galaxy Tab instead. But I digress…

Before my parents went off on a road trip last month, I started getting lots of questions about data rates and where she might be able to read her e-mail while out of town.

Then they stayed with friends who had a summer home equipped with wifi–and an iPad. And my mom not only checked her e-mail daily but also caught up on the news without being tethered to one place.

My mom is online regularly. She has a digital subscription to the New York Times, leaves comments on news sites and the occasional blog, watches videos on YouTube, skype[s] with her grandson, and even dipped one toe into Twitter. And she and my dad watched a recent presidential candidates’ debate online. But that’s all on a desktop computer.

Until now, she’s been comfortable with the Web as a destination. Now she wants the Web where she is.

Mobile matters, and I think tablets are going to be game changers. But what say you?

Photo by isawnyu (Flickr).

Is Mobile Search Different?

Daria Steigman — Mon, 02 May 2011 17:34:13 +0000

Is mobile search different?

Neicole Crepeau pointed me to some interesting statistics about how people search when they’re using their mobile phones. One statistic, in particular jumped out at me:

40 percent of smartphone users say that they’re more [influenced] by users’ opinions given within the last 24 hours than by those expressed 30 days ago.

My initial reaction: I bet this is a combination of how search results are weighted (more-recent items often rank higher) and the fact that we don’t often deep dive on a phone-sized screen. So it may be that the newest results rank higher in people’s minds because they pop up first.

If I’m in Costco, for example, and looking for information on a printer that’s being hawked, I’ll look at the most recent two or three results that come up via Google. I might also go to cnet if the initial reviews look promising–or I might just buy it and try it. But I’m not searching all over the Web while I’m on the go. Contrast that to when I’m sitting in front of my computer: I’ll look at credibility, sources, and surf around until I’m satisfied I have complete information.

The one exception: health care. Even if I’m looking up a health condition on my mobile from the ER, I’m going to make sure the source is credible–even if it means surfing through a few extra screens.

Our customers, clients, and prospects are increasingly looking for us–and for information about us–online. We need to understand not just how they’re doing it, but also why. Then we can start to optimize for that.

Photo by J.D. Hancock (Flickr).

Second Look: Philanthropy, Flight Attendants, and Happy Interns

Daria Steigman — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:16:26 +0000

Second look is back. I’m highlighting 3 or 4 posts, surveys, and other news that I have read and/or tweeted about that you may not have seen. As the name implies, I think they deserve a second look.

Small Talk Matters: We talk about the importance of networking, but how many of us do it well? John Baldoni offers some good tips for chatting up the boss (or anyone else). It’s all about preparation, personality (yours), and keen perception.
Customer Service, Flight-Attendant Style: Watching flight attendants is a good way to learn about business, says Neil Patel in a useful post about customer service, rules, and the small things that make a difference.
Interns vs. Assistants: Mary Deming Barber has a thoughtful guest post for Solo PR Pro that looks at how to get the most from (and for) your intern–and when you should be hiring an assistant instead.
Texting and Philanthropy: “Rapid information sharing and [people-to-people] connections have already turned several major industries upside down. Philanthropy is next,” writes Timothy Ogden in a terrific post about how texting is transforming the way we give.

Photo by kudumomo (Flickr).

Data, Mobile, and Other Trends to Watch

Daria Steigman — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:33:27 +0000

How has the communications landscape changed? And what do these shifts mean for businesses and the people charged with marketing, communications, and so forth? In advance of next Thursday’s IABC/Washington panel on 2010 trends in communications, I talked to Shonali Burke about data, mobile, real-time, and other emerging trends.

A couple teaser quotes:

“Our communities may no longer be bounded by geography, but they’re just as strong.”

“It’s not like blog posts and videos are replacing old-school marketing, because not everyone’s using social tools or using them the same way. So our jobs are just getting bigger.”

Read the complete interview here.

Second Look: Netflix, Social Media Side Trips, Mobile Trends

Daria Steigman — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:37:02 +0000

A double-decker second look covers two weeks of top posts, surveys, and other news that I have read and/or tweeted about that you may not have seen. As the name implies, I think they deserve a second look:

Netflix, Innovation, and ROI: The second place team in the Netflix $1 million contest lost the money, but their search for a better predictive model yielded huge insights. Great article looks at why companies spent millions on the Netflix contest and the innovation payoff.
Social Media Side Trips: Paul Chaney, author of The Digital Handshake, talks with Toby Bloomberg about social media. A sample: If social media is a road trip, then “the ‘side trips’ have to do with the people we meet and the relationships we forge along the way.”
Business Loans, Personal Collateral: Should you use personal assets as collateral for a business loan? While it might be unavoidable, you need to negotiate carefully, borrow only what’s essential, and recognize the risks. Open Forum article looks at how to manage those risks. Shout out to Gini Dietrich for alerting me to this one.
Mobile trends: Rather than another post about apps and geo-location, the Economist takes an in-depth look at how mobile technology is changing the rules in the developing world. Key trends: availability, Chinese telecom companies, and the rise of mobile services.
Negotiating Tips: Three keys to good negotiations–empathy, win-win, and it’s not about contracts–by Palo Alto software founder Tim Berry.