the internet is made of context.
Earlier this week I was asked ‘what’s next?’. This is as close as I can come to an answer.
The first major revolution online was search. It’s hard to remember now, but there was a time when search engines were both new and strange, when the idea that you didn’t need to know where to look for information was gamechanging. And when you compare it to everything else in the world, it still is. Search gave us the ‘what’.
Another major shift was the introduction of social. I’m not going to create a strict definition, but I’m referring to two specific aspects of social media - the creation of profiles, and the mapping of social connections. Profiles helped us to define ourselves publicly. Tracking and mapping our social connections provided an important context - giving a wider set of affiliated profiles (interests and favourites included) that would further hightlight potential interets. Social gave us the ‘who’.
Location based services are just cresting into mainstream acceptance. Both check-in based services, and continuous location awareness, are adding another key peice of context - geographical awareness. This can both mean what is around you, and where you are most likely to head. Obviously this helps determine what is important in yet another way. LBS gave us the ‘where’.
The reason I mention this, is because it’s time for what, where, and who, to be integrated into everything. And it is going to start happening soon.
What’s next? What’s next is what who and where helping us to define relevance. What’s next is that feeding to our experiences meaningfully and passively.
I’m not necessarily talking about a heads up display situation. I’m talking about taking the main function of the internet, sharing and discovering information, and using these filters to integrate it into everyday actions, where relevant.
It’s not about needing to ASK for more information. It’s about finding information has made itself available, because the qualifiers necessary to determine need are becoming ubiquitous as smartphones become the standard.
The internet is made of context. This is why who, what, where, why and how are important.
What’s next? Finding new ways to determine context from behaviour on and offline. Everything else is application. New forms of context have power. And if, like Google, or Facebook, or Foursquare, you have a significant majority control over a form of context, your best move is to find a way to let others integrate your service into thier offerings.
The future is always more context. From the dawn of the hyperlink, this is what the internet has been about.
Location Based Websites.
Location based applications are great. I’m a huge fan. The idea of connecting physical action to online communication speaks to me both as someone whose personal life is immersed in digital, and as a marketer who spends a significant chunk of every day looking for new and innovative ways to facilitate connecting with people through digital technologies.
[This may be why my job title is ‘Digital Facilitator’. Alternately, it could have nothing to do with it.]
I’ve been thinking about the Nintendo DS launch, lately. Not the slim sexy version of a few years back, or the DSi with cameras built in, or the upcoming 3DS (aka virtual boy 2.0), but the initial silver, oversized, somewhat awkward DS. I bought one the first week it was available, because I 1) trusted nintendo to do something interesting, and 2) was excited about the potential of a touch screen as an input / control device.
It should not be surprising I own an iPhone and an iPad.
When the DS launched initially, Nintendo took advantage of it’s WiFi capabilities, creating demo games that could be downloaded only through specific locations (usually kiosks at gaming retailers, or on the convention floor). This is a different kind of location based messaging, essentially incentivizing one specific locale, rather than incentivizing the action of checking in at a location at all (i.e., the Foursquare model).
Why not build a mobile website that exists solely on a location specific WiFi hotspot? Create content relevant to the location, information that is most valuable there, and offers that are tailored to the geography, and audience.
And then leave it locked to that one wireless network.
I’d leave the network open to access other sites, after stopping at the key location based content, just because encouraging people to stay around a hotspot, and providing utility, doesn’t really have a downside.
But for all the talk of driving traffic in-store, LBM (in my mind) focuses on a different goal - adding a branded and interactive layer to existing behaviour. An LBW gives you a reason to visit, to stay, and to explore - as well as taking content to another level of specialization, and interaction.
Most importantly, it gives you something to talk about, an experience that requires more than loading an application to create. If the content, and the design, are effective enough, this is an experience worth introducing other people to.
Creating artificial scarcity is a meaningful way of creating experiential value. If you don’t believe me, research the diamond cartels.
Do business who operate with traditional loyalty cards (air miles, in-store card, etc) have this sort of dashboard? Would be interesting to compare side-by-side.
Or is the comparison nothing vs this?
If you have information like this, you should be able to leverage the hell out of your existing customer base. Genius.
