A post last week on Catablog described 10 major trends for 2013 – and they are nearly all related to technology. Here are the first five of them, together with my comments:
1. Content on demand. To draw people’s attention, you need to be producing or curating content that people find interesting. Marketing has now become all about producing interesting and valuable content rather than producing promotional messages. Sometimes it is possible to sell content, but mostly people expect to pay the usual Internet price: nothing.
2. Tech in everything. Expect to see more Internet-and-bluetooth-enabled watches, wearable devices, appliances, cars, etc.
3. Smart phone as the centre of your world. In the past you left your phone at home and people left messages on your answering machine. Now you take your phone with you and your answering machine and your email computer and your street directory and your news service and your social network, so that you are always in contact with everyone and everything.
4. Integrated social media. Social media is no longer something you dabble in; it has become an integral part of how you relate to the world.
5. We are all leaders. No longer are we condemned to sitting back and absorbing what the TV tells us. Now everyone can build a social media platform on which to gain influence and compete for attention with everyone else.