The Future of Digital Content
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The Future of Digital Content Richard MacManus @ricmac http://ricm.ac
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21-Oct-2014 -
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Technology
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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.
Transcript of The Future of Digital Content
The Future of Digital Content
Richard MacManus@ricmachttp://ricm.ac
About me
I founded ReadWriteWeb (now ReadWrite) 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 health technology.
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
- 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)
- Real-time info; e.g. events, tips for things to do today / this weekend.
- Conversations with tourists
- Use hashtags so you can track conversations
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.
Horses for Courses
- Scenic destinations would benefit from being on Pinterest, the current trendy photo-sharing site (the Flickr of 2013).
- Utilize specialist networks; e.g. if you’re promoting a music festival, check MySpace, SoundCloud et al.
• Mobile: video, context, focus
• Beyond Social: niche, topical
• Internet Everywhere: wearables, objects, AR
The Digital Content Future
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”).
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.
Mobile: Do One Thing Well
Themes:- Mobile apps that focus on a single task.- Download and use when you need to.- Targets specific 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
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.
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.
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.
Internet Everywhere: objects
Themes:- Real world objects get connected to the Internet.
Example: London City Airport’s “Smart Airport” project; among other things, it will track your luggage in real-time.
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.
New Forms of Storytelling
• Video
• Virtual Hangouts
• New Narratives
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 of YouTube.- Also watch out for more blogs incorporating video.
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.
Storytelling: New Narratives
Themes:- New forms of storytelling; e.g. Citia’s “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.
3 things to think about this year
• Make sure you’re 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,...)
3 things to watch in coming years
• Mobile video; play with Vine, 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+,...
Q&A
Richard MacManus
Feel free to contact or connect with me:
Email: [email protected]: http://ricm.acTwitter: @ricmacFacebook: www.facebook.com/ricmac
