2014: digital, social and mobile realities

1. Social shock redux:
Today’s digital, social, and
mobile world
Perry Hewitt :: January 2014

2. social shock:
[soh-shuhl shok] the rapid shifts and collisions
in people’s online behavior resulting from
digital technology advances and adoption

3. fast and ephemeral
mobile
visual
social
apps
email
MOOCs
beyond the screen

6. TRENDS :
mobile

8. 7.1B
6.5B own
cell phones
4.1B own
toothbrushes

9. Mobile is eating the world.
– Benedict Evans

12. “What’s the
mobile use
case?”

13. implications & impact
 Mobile is personal and intimate – never a
shared device – with unique capabilities to
leverage.
 Internet is always with your audience – so
information will be delivered instantly.
 The expectation is that everything – websites,
media files – is optimized for mobile.
 Mobile apps are exploding in both downloads
and share of time spent.
 Design conventions from mobile are creeping
into desktop web interface design.

14. TRENDS :
social

15. “Why people use social media:
a uses and gratifications
approach”
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
social interaction
information seeking
pass time
entertainment
relaxation
communicatory utility
convenience utility
expression of opinion
information sharing
surveillance/knowledge about others
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=17090758

17. http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Social-Media-Update/Main-Findings.aspx

18. http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/social-networking-sites/Findings/Social-networking-sites.aspx

19. http://www.journalism.org/2013/11/14/news-use-across-social-media-platforms/

23. implications & impact
 Focus on ways to listen to your audiences
and identify influencers.
 Anticipate and watch for technical and cultural
changes in social platforms, and then develop
and optimize accordingly.
 Recognize news distribution possibilities, and
refine content as needed.
 Beyond “should we?” and official accounts,
recognize that the third wave of participatory
social media is here.

24. TRENDS :
visual

25. rise of the selfie
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2011051/Black-macaque-takes-self-portrait-Monkey-borrows-photographers-

27. 2013
2012
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Creators: 54% of adult internet users who post
original photos or videos online that they themselves
have created
Curators: 47% of adult internet users who take
photos or videos that they have found online and
repost them on sites designed for sharing images with
many people
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Photos-and-videos/Main-

28. video illuminating
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJis9TSw1rE

29. video storytelling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMK33cGjBIg&list=PL2SOU6wwxB0syTRtslTvAzur6jQUtWiG-&index=2

30. visual apps dominate

31. implications & impact
 Show don’t tell wherever possible: create and
curate visual content.
 Watch the different specifications – a little
optimization can go a long way.
 Measure to see what resonates.
 Re-purpose existing visual assets for new
channels, e.g., event videos  YouTube 
Instagram.

32. TRENDS :
beyond the screen

33. http://gizmodo.com/google-just-bought-nest-for-3-2-billion-1500503899

36. http://www.kohler.com/numi/

37. implications & impact
 Embrace the COPE model so that your
content is more flexible and less dependent
on devices.
 Consider digital experiences beyond the
screen. Are there ways to fuel connection
through participation in quantified self
activities?
 Explore immersive experiences for events
and development.

38. DIGITAL STRATEGY @ HARVARD
approach

39.  Communicate and amplify
Harvard’s mission of
excellence in
teaching, learning, and
research while making the
University and its contributions
relatable and relevant in an
always-on world
aggregate
curate
build
amplify
COPE
data
 Enable communications and
engagement approaches to
live digitally, and often digitalfirst to enrich our constituents’
experience of Harvard
ship
measure
iterate
mobile
social
video

44. built for mobile, social
April-June 2013
desktop
mobile
tablet
Sept-Nov 2013
desktop
mobile
tablet

45. collapsing nav
social in margin

51. planned social and engagement

52. news-driven social and engagement

53. 2,783 shares
10,489 likes
321 comments
1,300,480 people saw post

54. events-driven social and engagement

55. 55

56. develop and share best practices
Image goes here

57. parting thoughts






balance control and
influence
launch, listen, iterate, relaunch
recognize the magic
happens at the intersection
of the message and the
medium
aggregate and syndicate
content to amplify reach
use data to inform decisionmaking
experiment, and fail forward
aggregate
curate
build
amplify
ship
measure
iterate
COPE
data
mobile
social
video

58. thank you
Perry Hewitt
@perryhewitt
perryhewitt.com