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

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)

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

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: richard@ricm.acHomepage: http://ricm.acTwitter: @ricmacFacebook: www.facebook.com/ricmac