Three Minds On Digital Marketing @ Organic

Scary Headline: Americans spend eight hours a day on screens.

Is this something we need to fight? Is this something we can fight? Screens have become such an integral part of how we socialize and the way we experience the world. And this has some interesting implications on the future, some of which I hope aren't true. I don't want to live in a world of the Sekai Camera or future glass, where you look and talk to the world through a screen. I also don't know that I want to live in the world of the "Sixth Sense" where we are projecting data onto physical objects.

Instead I prefer the vision of Kumi Akiyoshi, who talked at the IUE2009 conference about creating digital experiences beyond sight and into the tactile. The joy of popping the infinite edamame (above) is something we can't get from a disconnected unnatural click. Why can't our phones feel different when we have a new e-mail?

What Has Been Happening This Week

All Social is Mobile, All Mobile is Social
Does it really matter that social networking is usurping mobile messaging as a communication tool? No, because soon all mobile phones will be an integral part of social networks and vice versa. Proof this week... Facebook Connect comes to the iPhone and some of our favorite applications (like Urbanspoon) became more social. You are able to join a Facebook fan page now via text message. And while this doesn't exactly prove my points, it is nonetheless awesome: Skype for the iPhone, it's real and it's spectacular.

The Up And Coming Relevant Web
Web 3.0 is all about making things relevant based on who you are, where you are, and what you are doing. It's a movement that is growing as social data is leveraged for not just socializing but delivering relevant contextual information. Examples this week... a discovery engine is coming to the Twitter homepage. Contextual social browser extension Glue has launched a new version that adds "connected conversations". MySpace is going local, announcing a partnership with Citysearch.

But really Twitter is the big player in this whole movement. They platform is now 3 years old, and it is "ready to change the world". Whether of not if finds its business model, people are already excited about the possibility of Twitter leading the way to analyze the thoughts of the public as events happen and as a tool for real world business intelligence. What is exciting today, is scary and real tomorrow, is acceptable and passe next year?

Marta Strickland