FUTURE Perspective is a quarterly newsletter written by Elaine Cameron, head of Strategic Research & Trend Analysis at Burson-Marsteller EMEA. The newsletter focuses on trends that have concrete communication takeouts.
3. FINANCIAL/INNOVATION Virtual Currencies
FUNNY MONEY ➔ Bitcoins are produced without the COMMUNICATIONS TAKEOUT
involvement of governments or banks, thus
So we have established that money can’t buy avoiding taxes. Instead, they are generated by
you happiness, but how will the world look as software and are stored in an online e-wallet,
we move closer and closer to a “moneyless” similar to cash. As of May 2011 there were
society. Will the term “filthy lucre” finally be 6.2mn Bitcoins in circulation and the value has
rendered redundant? rocketed to over $6 per Bitcoin, making the
Mass Mirage total Bitcoin economy worth over $36 million.
➔ Money is going out of fashion. At least coins, ➔ Several of Silicon Valley’s tech behemoths
notes and cheques most certainly are, only to are also battling to take control of
be replaced by electronic transactions of all this burgeoning market. After dabbling more
kinds. It has been a very long time since the than a year on tests with its Credits system, KEY DEVELOPMENTS
numbers in your bank account had anything to Facebook’s virtual currency hit its stride last The world of money is opening out in a big
do with real wealth. Currency once stood in as a September when it became, among other way today:
token for something valuable - like gold - but things, the exclusive payment method for most
modern currencies are more like a mass mirage applications created by Zynga, the developer of ➔ Facebook credits are becoming an
that we can all see. As long as we all agree that a roster of games including Mafia Wars and important alternative currency
a currency has value, and preferably the same FarmVille (the latter now boasts 65 million ➔ Cash will be phased out for digital
value, then it all stacks up. players). Besides online, Credits can be payments
Virtual Goods purchased in the form of gift cards at brick- ➔ The rise of Bitcoin is important in shifting
and-mortar retailers such as Walmart, Best transactions out of the purvey of
➔ Due to an overall increase in consumer
Buy, and Target. And they aren’t just governments
confidence, analysts believe the sale of virtual
exchanged for dollars, but euros, Danish krone, ➔ In many developing countries mobile
goods could rake in more than $2.2bn this year phones are becoming the predominant
and around $12.5bn worldwide, according to and 13 other currencies.
banking platform
ThinkEquity. That’s a dramatic burst of cash Mobile Payments
➔ Micro-payments for content could work
compared to just two years earlier, when the ➔ Mobile payment transactions already total
through social media and dominant platforms
virtual goods market tallied $738mn in the U.S. $240bn annually, but that’s just the tip of the such as China’s QQ
and $6.3bn worldwide. iceberg. Juniper Research predicts that the ➔ These could flow into crowdfunding for
Risky Business market will grow 2 or 3 times in the next 5 creative endeavours
In the UK, a 29-year-old hacker was caught years. ➔ Behaviourally we are some way from
stealing the identities of two Zynga ➔ So how will we keep track in a world where micro-payments working well
employees and swiping $12mn in the everyone is spending and lending both real and ➔ Money will inevitably shift to the cloud
company’s virtual currency. Given the potential virtual currencies? It seems that cellphone
loopholes, International regulators are now apps like the recently launched Google Wallet WATCH: TWO FUTURISTS DISCUSS
wrapping their heads around an industry that will be key. An app could let you manage any
number of currencies and trade them with THE FUTURE OF MONEY
only a decade ago hardly existed.
your friends - or even do it for you. It will be a http://bit.ly/o7vGen
simple case of letting the phone sort it out.
4. Rankings/Social Scoring
SOCIAL MEDIA/TECHNOLOGY
➔ The ability to accurately measure influence
FUTURE OF INFLUENCE is critical. While not yet in widespread use, COMMUNICATIONS TAKEOUT
From the value of virtual currency to the value there are some social media analytic tools
of online opinion and e-reputation. Your emerging that quantify the quality, rather than
reputation has a huge influence on your daily quantity, of online connections—and provide a
life as well as your private and professional score to anyone with a social media presence.
future. Your image on the Internet is ➔Online reputation and influence will
increasingly an asset worth preserving and become increasingly significant for consumers,
developing and your opinions will soon be brands, and marketers alike. Going forward,
something you can tangibly trade. marketers will use social scores to find the
right online influencers for their brands and HOW TO BE INFLUENTIAL
Technology propelling influence categories. There are many companies offering ➔ Create content that really resonates
➔ One of the key consumer trends of this age rankings with various degrees of credibility. with your audience. Specialise - become
is the power of influence globally. Influence ➔The dominant player determining the known for the subject relevant to you
is a majority activity in many countries intersection of online reputation and influence ➔ Authentically increase the size of the
around the world. More than 6 in 10 is Klout, a social scoring system that assigns community you are communicating
consumers globally say they complain about individuals, and some companies, a grade from with. The more people in your online
bad products and services, according to one to 100 based on data points from community, the more likely that what you
Roper Reports® Worldwide data. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Instead of are saying will resonate with some of them
➔ Social networks and online ratings are focusing on the typical social media popularity ➔ Do not engage in mutual-follow-back
facilitating this trend. Almost 4 in 10 contest, Klout scores are founded on the new schemes. Let your audience grow
Internet users globally have visited a social social media currency of retweets, likes, and organically. Be active; to drive resonance
networking site or online communities. And comments. you must be constantly engaging with the
almost 1 in 5 Internet users post ratings or ➔Like Klout, PeerIndex calculates people’s people you want to be your audience
reviews of products or services. And it’s not online authority not just by the number of ➔ Interact with the people who are
just a phenomenon in developed markets followers they have. It also looks at a variety of retweeting you – if they are opinion
like the U.S. Among the countries with the factors to measure online reputation. A person leaders then they will talk about your
highest rates of social networking and online can get a score of 0 to 100. This is calculated product or service the more you engage
communities are Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia over 120 days of online activity, taking topics, with them. Take social media monitoring
and Poland. audience, and activity into account. People can on board, this will allow you to monitor
Influence as a commodity only get a score of over 90 if they are in the top your brand and assess how influential
➔ You can enlist fans by making reference to 0.001% of the community. So there would only specific bloggers or tweeters are
experiences surrounding an image, be 1 person with a score that high in a ➔ Recognise market-by-market
personality, brand and charisma of the community of 1,000. These scores act as differences
influencer. Elite athletes like Olympic guidance so that in a hyper-connected world
medallists are paid a king’s ransom for people may know who to trust.
endorsements. More and more often,
CALCULATE: WHAT NUMBER ARE
complete strangers can gain our trust, and YOU? http://klout.com/home
influence us e.g. Tripadvisor.
5. Podcasting
HR/TECHNOLOGY
➔ Podcasting has become a popular
SOCIAL LEARNING technology in education, in part because it COMMUNICATIONS TAKEOUT
The future of learning has evolved from what provides a way of pushing educational
was originally known as e-learning, to learning content to learners. For example, Stanford
2.0 and now “social learning”. This latest University has teamed up with Apple to
iteration makes its adoption by companies even create the Stanford iTunes University -
more achievable. which provides a range of digital content
(some closed and some publicly accessible)
From e-learning to learning 2.0 that students can subscribe to using Apple's
➔ The traditional approach to e-learning has iTunes software.
been to employ the use of a Virtual Learning ➔ However, student-produced podcasts are
Environment software that is often the future of educational podcasting. Swap SKILL SET NEEDED FOR SOCIAL
cumbersome and expensive. It is also 'user-generated content' for 'learner- LEARNING
structured around courses, timetables and generated content' and you soon get the ➔ Understand key social media and social
testing. Too often this approach is dictated by picture. media concepts: trust, belonging, self-
the needs of the institution rather than the ➔ Apple, with its strong presence in the confidence, self-direction, motivation, skills
individual learner. education market, has been quick to ➔ Knowledge of moderation strategies and
➔ In contrast, learning 2.0 (as coined by recognize the learning potential of student key moderation concepts
Stephen Downes) has taken a ‘loosely joined podcasting. Apple is heavily marketing its ➔ Knowledge of key community
approach’ that combines the use of discrete iPod and associated content creation tools management strategies
but complementary tools and web services – (iMovie, GarageBand, and iTunes) to the ➔ Ongoing professional development by
such as blogs, wikis and other social software education sector. The podcasting section of networking outside the company through
– to support the creation of ad-hoc learning iTunes even has a category dedicated to social learning
communities. education. READ: SOCIAL LEARNING
STRATEGIES CHECKLIST
Edu-blogging Broadcast model is broken
➔ Blogging is increasingly finding a home in ➔ Today’s digital generation is no longer http://bit.ly/q4YXjJ
education (both in school and university), as content to accept the old broadcast model CONTACT
not only does the software remove the of education as passive recipients of
technical barriers to writing and publishing knowledge. They're used to multi-tasking, To request further information, give
online - but the 'journal' format encourages and have learned to handle the information feedback or suggest a future topic for
students to keep a record of their thinking overload. They expect a two-way the newsletter, please contact:
over time. Blogs also of course facilitate conversation. What's more, growing up Elaine Cameron
critical feedback, by letting readers add digital has encouraged this generation to be Strategic Research & Trend Analysis,
comments - which could be from teachers, active and demanding enquirers. Rather
EMEA elaine.cameron@bm.com
peers or a wider audience. It’s a short leap than waiting for a trusted professor to tell
from there to applying this principle to the them what's going on, they’ve already used
workplace. Google or Wikipedia to find out for And don’t forget to follow on Twitter:
themselves. http://www.twitter.com/FUTUREPersp