I don’t usually ask to get my photograph taken with celebrities, but yesterday I had the opportunity to spend an hour with one of my childhood heroes – Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, and also in the same day, listened to The Facebook co-founder Randi Zuckerberg; (that’s Mark’s sister in case you are wondering).
Wozniak chatted in a small group to about a dozen of us, about all things gadget like. It turns out his watch runs on 140 volts! Just a REALLY nice guy. My first ever computer was an Apple II (well – an Apple IIe clone to be absolutely honest), and I remember many happy hours programming a Paddle Squash game in Basic. I was way too engaged in the conversation to make any notes – but I DID make a few notes from Randi Zuckerberg’s presentation – which was handy really – because she had some interesting insights for me to share with you. She also conveniently made them in a 10 point list. There were other useful pointers about Facebook – like how they managed to translate it into Farsi in 48 hours, as well as 70 other languages through crowd-sourcing. My Facebook has just been changed to Pirate English.
I was there with Majestic SEO US Ambassador Mel Carson, so I also found it amusing that she talked about the questionable practice of Sharenting (posting a live stream of your kids).
But then she went into 10 digital trends that she saw as important. Things that we should understand and embrace. I hope my notes help convey the basic points correctly. The headings are hers… but I may stray into my own thoughts in the observations. Here goes…
10 Digital Trends We Need to Pay Attention To:
1. Branded Newsrooms
Brands like Red Bull in particular are turning their branded newsrooms into real attention grabbing portals. I remember seeing the guy that parachuted from Space last year – and I knew it was a Red Bull sponsored stunt, but had not realized that this event was streamed through their Newsroom on Facebook. From Katie Perry to Barack Obama, people and brands are creating the news and reporting on it directly at the same time.
Has Majestic SEO reacted to this trend? Well we do have our newsrooms on Facebook and Google+ but we could make them work for us more I am quite sure.
2. Teens are the Holy Grail of Tech
Randi wasn’t a fan – but pointed out that Teens are trending heavily towards anonymity. Messaging like SnapChat that disappears in seconds, and a desire not to be noticed mean that it might be harder to get to these people. Yet, these people are the holy grail of tech. Get the teens loving your product and the world will follow.
Has Majestic SEO reacted to this trend? I guess it’s good that Majestic’s new Search Explorer doesn’t personally track or even personalize results. She also noted that they have an increasing fear for “missing out” on some bit of gossip in their circles.
3. The Maker Movement
46% of people making anything think they will make a living at it and 1/3rd of teens think they will make something soon. This has been the driving force behind websites like CafePress which makes it really easy to set up your own store online selling your own artwork on trinkets, mugs and T-shirts.
Has Majestic SEO reacted to this trend? We have tried to, yes, with our OpenApps API system which allows developers to engage with our data in a way that let’s any paying subscriber, (not just those with full API access), engage with the developer’s applications directly.
4: The Rise of the Entre-employee
More and more, individuals are being employees and entrepreneurs at the same time. They want the security of a job, but the opportunity to aspire for more and control their own destiny. Companies like Google have a rule that encourages employees to spend 20% of their time on non-core projects. Others set up internal incubators. Embracing this without allowing your staff to run amok is, she says, a good thing to do if you want to keep the best and the brightest in your team.
Has Majestic SEO reacted to this trend? I guess I am living proof of this. I’m an employee of Majestic (well… OK… a Director) but also run a Murder Mystery Games site as one of a small number of sidelines.
5: Life-logging
Did you know that 66% of teens find looking at their own browser history therapeutic!? I mostly spend my time deleting mine… but there you go. The trend towards life logging with the impending and inevitable arrival of Google Glass is probably unstoppable.
Has Majestic SEO reacted to this trend? Well I am struggling to find something here. The best I can come up with is our Tracking reports that aim to record your website, (or your blog’s), performance over time. I wonder if adding the ability to annotate those reports might play more to this trend?
6: Girls in Tech
Randi observed that the youngest App developer on iTunes was a 7 year old girl. Randi was keen to be an instrumental part of pushing this trend – rather than seeing it as an inevitable tidal wave.
Has Majestic SEO reacted to this trend? 60% of Majestic SEO’s hires this year have been women. Which is a good thing… because before 2012 the company was entirely male driven!
7: Gamification for Motivation
Randi gave some compelling app examples that showed just how much we are all enjoying gamification to help us learn, earn and stay healthy. From running apps that cheer every time someone “likes” the fact that you are running, to apps that start naming and shaming you when you forget the gym!
Has Majestic SEO reacted to this trend? Have you got our Majestic Million badge on your site yet?
8: Passion as a Side Job
Increasingly – people are using the web to help turn their passion into a side job. Designers on 99 designs, and Freelancers on Odesk, are great examples of how people are able to do this with relative ease these days.
Has Majestic SEO reacted to this trend? Not directly – but again releasing OpenApps is an enabler for passionate programmers.
9: Addiction to our Devices
Well – I think we know we are addicted to our devices…. ’nuff said
Has Majestic SEO reacted to this trend? We need a mobile site don’t we? 🙂
10: Unplugging and Tech Mindfulness
Randi finished up with a trend that she thinks we’ll have to embrace. The need for us to unplug from all this technology from time to time, if only to recharge! She had a brilliant idea… next time you go to the pub; everyone stacks their mobiles in the middle of the table. The first to reach for the phone stack pays for the next round!
Has Majestic SEO reacted to this trend? Hell no! We love our tech! Although Alex doesn’t have a smart phone…. #littleknownfact.
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66% of teens find looking at their own browser history therapeutic! – I look at my browser history and wonder how I can have wasted so much time on dubious websites – I’m not including Majestic SEO in that by the way!
December 18, 2013 at 9:47 amI think for me personally, reviewing my history would be alarming altogether. I guess the younger generation use it to understand themselves! Psychoanalysis for the techno-teens!
December 18, 2013 at 10:58 amNice one guys, thank you for the write-up!
January 10, 2014 at 5:29 pm