To imagine the Internet in 2020, the Pew Research Center set up in-depth interviews with over 800 experts. The responses are revealing and give us a glimpse at how technology is changing us.
"Google will make us more informed. The smartest person in the world could well be behind a plow in China or India. Providing universal access to information will allow such people to realize their full potential, providing benefits to the entire world." - Hal Varian, Google, chief economist
Technology's effect on reading and writing:
"When I was a boy, homework consisted of writing a paragraph. Now, youth writing paragraphs in a blink of an eye. They are mastering language only to reinvent it. They are using it in new forms. Tags. Labels. Acronyms. And the game becomes a written game of who can use written word most effectively. Reading, writing, and communicating will become much more fluid as youth are more engaged in the practice of these skills, and have a greater motivation to practice their skills." - Robert Cannon, senior counsel for internet law at Federal Communications Commission
How we'll adapt to transparency:
"'It will be an archipelago of named users, who get a lot of value from participating in that part of the ecosystem, but still set in an ocean of anonymity." ‐‐ Clay Shirky, professor, Interactive Telecommunications Program, New York University
Pssst, there's something in your Gmail, and it's called Buzz. No one really knew what to expect when Google began livestreaming their entry into the social space yesterday, but the end result looks like a combination of FriendFeed, Twitter, and Facebook. With open data standards and a mobile presence, this appears to be a piece in the puzzle for Google's grand intuitive search plan, knowing what you want before even you do. From the Telegraph:
Mayer thinks the key will be when Google can include people’s friends’ personal updates from social networks such as Facebook in search and serve these results personally to the correct people. Right now Google can only include the updates and information from these networks if the users’ privacy settings are ‘public’. According to Mayer – the ideal will be to get access to your friend’s updates in search: “Understanding the social network structure and the permission rules around social networks status updates when they are not public – will really empower us in terms of search.”
All updates on Buzz, which you can post to directly or pull in from connected sites like Twitter and Flickr, are by default public. This means that unless you change your privacy settings, your activity on Buzz is searchable.
Why does Google want all your real-time data to be public and searchable? It all comes back to getting users' context (location, time, identity, activity), which can reinforce their ad-targeting systems and make them more valuable. Through Buzz, users can "check-in" at a place through Google Maps (location). Accounts are tied to all the other data Google has on a person -- everything from a self-completed Google Profile to credit card information on Google Checkout (identity). Through Buzz, Google can now build out this identity through the content of user's updates, as well as track more of their online and offline activities. Add the data point of WHEN users do all these things--Buzz works in real-time--and Google has pretty robust contextual data. And the truth is, people are fairly predictable, so simple pattern analysis will help Google "guess" what you want and when. The goal is to serve up "intuitive" results and ads, ones that are so relevant and so helpful, it's like Google read your mind.
Fast Company has done a thought experiment around this idea of intuitive ad targeting, taking us through a day and how Google Buzz could eventually be used. The day would start out like this:
7 a.m. Smartphone alarm wakes you, and you quickly scan it for emails, SMSs, and Buzz. Since Google knows you were at the bar last night, it offers you an ad for a hangover cure.
7:30 a.m. Commuting to work. Browsing your tablet PC on the train, among the string of emails, light web-browsing, and casual Buzz-chatting you do, Google serves you with an ad for a new coffee shop that's opened on your usual walking route from the station to the office. It also knows you're late, and a Buzz-linked local taxi company Buzzes you to check if you'd like a ride from the station so you can make that 8:15 meeting that's scheduled in your Gmail calendar.
And this idea of intuitive search isn't new, but is only now becoming a real, mainstream possibility. A couple other recent examples include Toshiba's "mobile secretary" and the Siri iPhone app, a "personal assistant" for the iPhone that learns over time.
This all being said, Buzz needs users in order to succeed. Right now people around the world are taking Buzz for a spin and deciding whether or not it is of interest to them. Like every service before, Buzz is in an interesting stage of socialization and network building. For Google to complete the puzzle for intuitive search, they must achieve the hegemonic goal and appeal to the masses.
Popular barcode scanning app ShopSavvy has just been updated with support for reading QR codes. While the developers once avoided QR codes because manufacturers and retailers in the US and Europe didn't use them, they were forced to reconsider when Google announced its Favorite Places program. Venues that receive Favorite Places stickers from Google will be able to offer coupons and special offers through an included QR code. Android users with ShopSavvy will now be able to decode these.
While the economy is slowly starting to recover from its year long tailspin, consumers are still a little reluctant to head out to the store and start shopping again. So what has been the response from major chains as well as boutiques? To change the nature of the game- and what way better to do that than by using the newest technology to bring their businesses into the digital age?
One such way companies are incorporating new media into their practices is with iPhone and mobile applications. A great example of how retail is going wireless was during this past September's first ever Fashion's Night Out- a global retail shopping event where stores stayed open till the wee hours, fete-ing their visitors with free samples, drinks, and complimentary entertainment. One of the biggest winners of the night was the Style.com app for the iPhone, which allowed those who downloaded it to "make a selection from the constantly updating alphabetical list of all the participating stores in New York... get the shop’s address, phone number, and a brief description of the events and celebrity appearances taking place there ...along with a link to a handy Google map." The app proved handy not just for those hoping to make the most out of the night, but also for retailers trying to lure first-time customers into the store with their one-night-only promotions.
Another great example of the fashion industry's push towards mobile was a recently launched app by Ralph Lauren, which allows users to create and customize their own Rugby Ralph Lauren sweater and then purchase it directly from the phone.
Some of the previous creations can also be seen at the Make Your Own Gallery here. Judging by the sudden booming interest in developing fashion-related apps, it seems that convenient marriages of retail/mobile technology will only continue to grow in popularity in upcoming seasons. One of the main reasons for this is that in a year that saw titans of print such as domino and Gourmet fold, many companies are seeking to move the majority of their brand presence into new media and away from traditional outlets like magazines and billboards. However, advertising on iPhones is merely one of the answers- what seems paramount to the success of getting customers out of the malls and onto their phones and computers seems to be in what they would gain. As a result, many designers have been offering exclusive deals, savings, and promotions to their Facebook, Twitter, and iPhone app fans to create a kind of digital brand loyalty- which may prove more helpful in the future to them than getting a few extra customers to wake up early for a Black Friday sale.
While mentioned above are just a few ways in which mobile technology is starting to shape the way we'll be dressing in this new millenium, they certainly are not the end all- and definitely will not be the last permutations. In the weeks ahead we will be tracking the latest fashion and retail related iPhone and mobile technology applications. We'll be detailing not just which companies are creating revolutionary apps, but also the ones who are making this new technology work for them- and ultimately will be able to stay relevant in the new media age.
Fashion and Mobile is a weekly column that tracks how the fashion industry is using mobile and emerging technology in an age of digital marketing. Click here to view other posts in this series.
This article was originally published online at AdAge.com, where we post content for the Digital Next blog.
Google is making some big moves in local advertising lately.
A couple weeks back the search giant added a mobile couponing option to its Google Local Business Center listing. This means that when a mobile web search lands you on a business's "Place Page," you can get a coupon that is redeemable straight from your phone (no need for printing).
Now, Google has launched a new effort to send window decals to over 100,000 local businesses in the U.S. that have been the most sought out and researched on Google.com and Google Maps.
They're calling these businesses the "Favorite Places on Google" and you'll now start to find them in over 9,000 towns and cities, in all 50 states. You can also explore a sample of the Favorite Places in 20 of the largest U.S. cities at google.com/favoriteplaces.
Each window decal has a unique bar code, known as a QR code that you can scan with any of hundreds of mobile devices -- including iPhone, Android-powered phones, BlackBerry and more -- to take you directly to that business's Place Page on your mobile phone. With your mobile phone and these new decals, you can go up to a storefront and immediately find reviews, get a coupon if the business is offering one or star a business as a place you want to remember for the future. Soon, you'll be able to leave a review on the mobile page as well, just like on your desktop.
So just as businesses display a Zagat or Michelin sticker as a badge of honor, the Google sticker could come to be a more organic quality indicator as well as a link to a lot more information about a place. Creating links to Google in the real world is something they've also attempted with their Google Maps markers. The stickers seems a lot less obtrusive.
Citysearch pilot-tested a similar program in San Francisco back in March of 2008. In that trial, 500 businesses reviewed by Citysearch placed printed Scanbuy's brand of bar codes in their windows. Scanning the photo with Scanbuy's software would send you to the business' corresponding Citysearch page where you can read reviews and other information.
Around the same time, QVC and Case Western University did some trials in which students could scan QR codes on outdoor print signage. These codes let users get campus bus arrival times, order magazines, enter sweepstakes and get text alerts from USA Today, among other applications.
As Ad Age reported, Google also dabbled with QR codes in newspapers last year: "Google has already seen results from a recent test campaign conducted in three markets with jewelry retailer Blue Nile. Each ad contained a QR code and a response tag, and was tested against the same ads without the tags. The code-enhanced ads ended up driving 6.5 times more revenue than the ads without."
Despite these tests, QR codes have decidedly not caught on so far in the U.S. While a more concerted effort by Google could change this, they need to try harder than they did with newspapers. One good thing is you can use any QR reader to decipher their codes.
They are also giving away 40,000 Quickmark QR Code Reader apps for the iPhone, which normally cost $1.99 apiece, to promote it.
John Hanke, VP of Google Earth, Maps, and Local, told Techcrunch that Google Maps on mobile phones will also start including businesses as points of interest. (You may have started to see this already and wondered why certain business were featured.) Google calls these "smart maps," and they are based on a business's PlaceRank, which tries to figure out how prominent a place is based on factors such as references on the web, reviews, photos, how many people know about it, how long its been around.
Google has nothing to lose by trying this, and they know that both local and mobile are their future. Typing into a little search box is annoying on a mobile phone, and new "mobile paths" like shortcodes, QR codes and image recognition may soon replace text-entry search altogether. By helping businesses add these new calls-to-action that lead to Google's Place Pages -- as well as beef up their mobile presences with mobile coupons -- they are attempting to own this emerging space.
Overall, this is good news for the mobile industry -- Google can help push adoption of these technologies -- but there is still the barrier of cost. QR decoding requires data, which requires money. Will people be willing to pay money (albeit tiny amounts) to read what is ostensibly an ad? Or will Place Pages provide enough value (through information, maps, reviews and now coupons) that people won't even think twice about it?
To promote Android, Google is beginning to use its tech muscle with even the small things, like status indicators within Gmail chat. Now users will see a robot icon if their friend is online with an Android phone. Google claims that the addition is to differentiate between friends who are "online online" and those who are online while mobile. It brings up an interesting idea, as users will see these indicators and alter their communication accordingly. It is good thinking, as we will increasingly be conversing between devices with differing interface personalities.
It has been about a week since Google acquired AdMob and the company is already rolling out a hot new mobile advertising option. Media buyers now have the ability to include customizable in-player action buttons that link to web content, the app store, or iTunes store. An example given by AdMob shows a video ad for Madden 2010 followed by the ability to download the iPhone app or immediately purchase a console version off of Amazon. While there are many possibilities for advertising in mobile, this could be a great solution for certain brands seeking engagement.
We observe emerging mobile technology, cultural trends, and consumer behavior, then connect the dots to generate mobile strategy and intelligence for leading global brands. This is what we're seeing and thinking.
