by Gerrie Coertzen and Brad Thiele
Most organisations have realised that the internet is now social. Users now experience life as a mash-up between real-life interactions and those they have in social media. You only have to walk down the road to witness this. People are on their mobile devices consuming online content, taking pictures and videos, sharing, liking, pinning, and adding contacts to LinkedIn or to their circles, while interacting with the world around them.
In this article, the first in our series on The Social Internet and Data Privacy, we will be discussing the changing landscape of the internet, and the new issues facing users and companies.
Brands are no longer satisfied by designing or producing the number one product, getting that established A-list celebrity to endorse their product, or attracting attention by focusing on established success. They are now concerned on spotting the next big thing, and spotting it early. That up-and-coming artist, the latest tech start-up, the next number-one-selling album, or the next big gadget that will change our lives. Organisations want to predict the winner, and they want to get there before their competitors do.
The role of social media
It makes sense for organisations to follow this route. In the past, organisations needed to develop those break-through products themselves, they needed big names, those endorsements and established number-ones to help them win. Now, they only need the tools to predict the winners before their inevitable rise to success. This ability to predict success, not only helps organisations to stay ahead of their competitors by taking early calculated decisions, but it also helps them to build their brands online. By backing the ‘dark horse’ the ‘unknown’ gives them a sure-fire win in social media and brand development (increased equity). This process, with the help of social media, allows organisations the opportunity to acquire new products and services with added value, nearly immediately, at the fraction of the cost of the usual business development or product design strategies.
The internet is now social, but under threat
The amount of information shared in social media has dramatically increased over the past couple of years as more users sign up to different accounts (many are members of two or more social networks) and more people use social media as an entry point to the internet (and company websites).
People expect to find content from newspapers, broadcast media, retailers and more on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, just as much as finding this content on their websites. Some users primarily use social media applications to browse online content, using these apps as news feeds, bypassing the actual websites. Using Google+, for example, users may receive news and updates from people, organisations and the media in their circles, with the content and groups they interact with (and want to hear from most) pushed to the top.
Facebook’s launch of their new ‘Paper’ app for iPhone illustrates how the landscape is changing. Essentially, all news is no longer created equal. The internet as we know it, is changing very fast. The way we are provided access to information is changing, and individuals will have to adapt their approaches to searching for information.
In the next article in our series, we will discuss the changing advertising landscape, and how users are starting to take their privacy more seriously.
Gerrie Coertzen and Brad Thiele are directors at Modelling Design Partners, a business intelligence company implementing the latest techniques in data analytics and machine learning.
