David Shing DCWEEK 2011
When I tweeted that David Shing, Digital Prophet for AOL, was blowing my mind at this morning’s Future Media Trends Keynote presentation I wasn’t kidding. He shared so much information with us I could hardly keep the gray matter in my head from exploding.
To say that David Shing is a dynamic, energetic, and entertaining presenter would be an understatement. He wowed the crowed with the sheer magnitude of his passion for and overflowing knowledge of digital media trends across the globe. Here are some delicious highlights and ideas in digital he wants us all to keep in mind:
Mobile Merits are the next big thing. Gamification of your life and chasing after badges has become a cultural way of life, but many of these location based services such as Foursquare, only give soft merits. The next hot trend will be in Mobile Merits. That is, merits that give you real, physical rewards in real time. David used Shopkick as an example of the the first mobile app that gives you rewards and discount offers simply for walking into stores.
Augmented Reality is where the future lives. AI will be a valuable addition for retail in particular. Think about walking into a store holing a box of legos up to a screen and then being able to see the lego model displayed from inside the box in 3-D, before you even open the it. Hot, right?
The Power in Partnerships. Why re-invent the wheel? Align yourself with a partner and strengthen your brand. You don’t ned to build new communities. Harness the power of pre-existing ones. David gave us the example of Nike who partnered with singer Ellie Goulding. Now you can run to Elle’s music and get her fitness routine, it’s made both of their brands stronger as a result of this successful partnership.
Humanizing the Web. If we are spending more and more time on the web it better make our interactions offline all the better for it or why bother?
Other tipbits of note:
- Enable the crowd to create, participate and ultimately control, your product.
- Consumers are now editors, we’ve gone from push to pull.
- If you have a brand people love, allow them to participate.
- More than 50% of all humans are under 30, they’ve never known life without the Internet.
- Encourage a remix of your brand and give people the tools to do so.
- Consumers are now editors, we’ve gone from push to pull.
- Like and follow are being completely diluted. We’re not listening anymore.
- If it’s good content, people will pass it around.
Here David Shing talks about what he hopes people will take away from his panel:
My favorite David Shingism “Your social footprint can be small but your influence is what is most important. I’t's about the power in your numbers. We aren’t ten years old, this isn’t a popularity contest tracking the amount the people who are following us… communities are all about engagement… “.
You can connect with David Shing from his About.Me page. I strongly suggested you set up one of your own About.Me page as well because to quote David Shing, “Attention is the new currency”!
