The end of the web as we know it - and what it means to us
Posted by katya on Tue, July 13, 2010The technology thinker Steve Rubel today proclaimed the end of the web as we know it.
He identifies these trends, and I quote from this article:
1) The canvas. The iPad has been deemed by some a blank slate. When you use any mobile device, you’re really only able to do one thing at a time. This means that we become entirely engrossed in whatever we have on the screen. Companies will need to up the ante if they hope to keep users in their fold longer. Development costs will go up, and the economics of content and experiences will look more like Hollywood—where a few hits deliver enough profit to pay for the dogs—than Madison Avenue.
2) Content snacking. How often do you consume media meals—e.g. engage with a unit of media like a newspaper, magazine or film from start to finish in one sitting? My guess is that you do this less than you did 10 years ago. Content snacking rules today. Popular digital metrics, such as time spent, may soon be useless.
3) Infinite choice. It never ceases to amaze me what a single mobile device can hold. Every time I turn on my phone, my finger needs to decide what’s more important to me at that time—friends, work, entertainment, etc. Choice will scale, human attention is finite, and mobile devices put all of this in our pockets. Time is your competition.
He says to succeed, we must: appropriate the best tools rather than inventing them; create partnerships to cut through the noise; and focus on digestible sized content.
I agree with most of this, and here’s how I’d translate it for our sector and nonprofit marketing thinkers:
1.) Do not build anything yourself. Co-opt useful tools (like those from my employer, the nonprofit Network for Good), point to great content, join existing conversations on vibrant communities rather than building your own. Don’t try to create shiny tools that lure donors; go to where donors are online, using the tools everyone else already built.
2.) Stop thinking like the lone wolf. How can you join a movement with momentum? What partners can strengthen your case? In our sector, none of us have the resources to go it alone in the noisy online space. Getting and keeping attention has to mean corralling resources beyond our own.
3.) Get concise, pithy and to the point online. DO NOT put your offline content online - it won’t work. Read my advice on snackers here.
The bottom line? Your online strategy has to evolve all the time, because how we interact with technology changes constantly. Adapt or fail.
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