Oh, the irony. Recently on Facebook, I was presented with a memory from nine years earlier. It was a picture from my birthday dinner with a pile of phones strewn across a table. It was almost as if there were a sign that directed people to the table with instructions to leave their phone behind. It was December 8th, 2010 and we were once again in Paris for the annual gathering of the geeks at LeWeb organized by Loic and…
Sparking a Renaissance in Human Interactions and Relationships: Making Media and Networks Social Again
What started as a Twitter thread evolved into this post. Human interactions have expanded online over the last two decades. Instead of improving communication and strengthening close ties, it’s made the world move faster, communicate with less depth, and connect with people we’ll never get to really know. Perhaps, this is a time to rethink how we communicate and connect online to improve how we do so in the physical world as well. Community over commodity. Communication is an art,…
Coronavirus is bringing live social media video and humanity back into the spotlight
During a pandemic, when you’re asked to stay home for a long period of time, it’s only natural that humanity would find ways to come together. To say that people would flock to the internet, on-demand video, and social media was a given. When it comes to work, it was inevitable that employees would convene around remote working, messaging, and virtual meeting platforms. Conversations about enterprise social networks (ESNs) from the “enterprise 2.0” days are even making a comeback. Now,…
New Text-Based Conversation Platform Community Strives To Deliver What Social Media Promised, One-To-One Relationships
My friend Jefferson Graham of USA Today reached out to talk about Community, a new conversation platform that promises direct and instant communication at scale between a brand, celebrity, artist, personality and their ‘community’, via text messaging. Cue the record scratch. Text messaging? But we live in a world of social media…you know, “social” media? The great social experiment that is social is still evolving. Some might argue that in many ways, platforms have cultivated anti-social behaviors. Don’t get me wrong,…
The 11 Digital Trends Shaping CX and Marketing in 2020
Each year, I help kick-off Brand Innovators Mega-Trends event during CES. In the opening keynote, I share the trends (and hopes) I would love brand executives to embrace in the new year. In 2020, the presentation focused on “11 Digital Trends Shaping CX and Marketing.” There are certainly more than 11 trends to follow, but in the context of this conversation, I focused on the convergence of AI, customer empathy, digital distractions and intentions, and the technology that connects the…
The Beginning of the End of Likes: Instagram Expands Tests Removing Likes from Public View to U.S.
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announced that the platform will start hiding “likes” for some U.S. users starting this week. This is an extension of a rolling test in seven countries around the world over the last several months. This is the moment that Mosseri shared the news. As you can hear from the audience reaction, it’s unclear how the market is going to react.https://twitter.com/WIRED/status/1192962986224128005 At face value, the move is commendable. Hiding likes is aimed at helping Instagram become “the…
Your Online Behavior Funds a Social Currency and Creates a Digital Credit Score
The Black Mirror “Nosedive” episode is a very real depiction of a possible future of our digital and physical worlds. In fact, there are semblances of it forming in China right now. How you use social media can be collected into a social credit score. Your rating on Uber or Lyft aren’t the only systems tracking your digital behavior and transactions. What you create and curate, what you do, what you say, what you don’t say, who you know, can…
Trust in the Digital Age
“We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are.” – Source What is trust? According to Merriam-Webster, it is the assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. Yet go on Facebook, Youtube, Twitter or pretty much any social network, with the exception of TikTok, on any given day, and you’ll see truth debated and facts disregarded among your own friends and family. Now, conspiracy theories, disinformation, #fakenews, bots, paid…
Powering a clean future through innovative, sustainable and affordable electricity – #EnelFocusOn
When I’m not immersed in reverse-engineering (or trying to make sense of) the “future of” industries, I focus on the future of us. I seek-out unique partnerships to spotlight the important work of companies investing in the betterment, sustainability and well-being of our lives. During #ClimateWeek, I had the privilege of participating in a special #EnelFocusOn panel with Enel Group CEO Francesco Starace and Rachel Kyte, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All. The conversation took place…
e-Mobility and The Future of Transportation – #EnelFocusOn in Rome
The future of e-mobility (full presentation on demand) Our climate is changing. Some of the manmade causes that are accelerating these changes can be reduced or possibly reversed with notable, some not insignificant changes in our lifestyle. Obviously some are easier than others but nonetheless important. Without getting into the politics or the science of climate change, I do want to share an experience about one of the many areas of innovation aimed to curb it, eMobility. As Tesla Found Elon…
