Trends Identified

Mobile fuels the growth of social TV
Mobile usage, shorter attention spans, and the thrill of novelty have accelerated the consumption of video content. The old buzz phrase used to be that “brands need to be publishers.” But in 2018, social networks will encourage brands to become broadcasters as mobile video and social-TV style programming take the spotlight. Creating broadcast-style content won’t work for every brand or product category. And the metrics that bump the stock price of social networks—such as engagement rates or video views—might not help your organization achieve your specific business outcomes. However, for many industries, this will open up innovative social advertising formats and bold new ways to engage social audiences.
2018
Social media trends 2018
Hootsuit
Trust declines, while peer influence rises
2017 was a tumultuous ride—we saw the explosion of fake news in public discourse, U.S. President Donald Trump’s unexpected triumph over traditional media, and an erosion of public trust in mainstream institutions. Politics aside, these cultural and technological shifts impacted both businesses and consumers. As Edelman found in their global study of consumer confidence, for the first time in history consumers trust peers just as much as technical experts and more than CEOs, governments, and academics. Marketing leaders are also more skeptical of inflated influencer metrics and wary of paying to reach social media bots instead of humans. We’re moving away from trusting institutions, vanity metrics, and mega-influencer celebrities—and moving towards smaller and actual spheres of influence where customers advocates, genuine customer communities, and engaged employees matter more than ever.
2018
Social media trends 2018
Hootsuit
Humans, meet AI
The machines have risen. And marketers have discovered they can be delightfully useful. The danger, of course, is following this trend, rather than understanding the far-reaching changes AI will bring to social marketing. Over 100 thousand Messenger bots are now active on Facebook (a 233 percent YOY growth over last year’s 33 thousand). But it’s still unclear whether customers will value these human-less engagements. While AI is still a future-facing trend, marketers can expect to start reaping the practical benefits in 2018. Facebook, for example, has released new predictive analytics to help marketers find insights faster. And visual search engines are using machine learning to help consumers search by images rather than keywords, a shift that will redefine the future of online product browsing.
2018
Social media trends 2018
Hootsuit
The promise (and reality) of social data
Organizations have long heard about the benefits of deep listening and uncovering customer insights with social data. But they’ve also realized that integrating social data with other analytics systems—or finding usable insights from mountains of social mentions—requires a lot of work and more resources than they originally thought. In 2018, the promise of social data remains—but organizations will need to recalculate the effort and resources they’ll need to invest to turn social data into a true source of customer insights that can be used across the enterprise.
2018
Social media trends 2018
Hootsuit
Wireless Charging Market Moves Up a Gear
With Apple supporting Qi, the wireless charging standards war is over for smartphones. With smartphones across both major operating systems now supporting Qi, businesses can invest in wireless charging provision without the risk of leaving out a key demographic.
2018
Top Tech trends 2018
Juniper Research
Smart Toys Educating the Masses
An emerging focus on coding provides mass market opportunities. Big toy makers moving to offer coding on all smart toys as a USP.
2018
Top Tech trends 2018
Juniper Research
Chinese Cards and Wallets Achieve Scale in Western Markets
Spend by Chinese tourists is at an all time high. Mobile payments are immensely popular within China. As availability and adoption accelerates amongst tourists, usage is likely to scale up amongst Chinese immigrant communities. This in turn can create a critical mass of resident users in selected markets which could potentially spread to wider demographics.
2018
Top Tech trends 2018
Juniper Research
Machine Learning Coming to Verify Your Identity
Machine learning will come into its own as a technology underpinning digital identity. Identity verification still largely relies on manual processes, bringing documents into the bank. Machine learning maturing as a technology which can carry out suitable verification checks.
2018
Top Tech trends 2018
Juniper Research
The Rise of Roboadvisors & App-based Investments
Roboadvisors are viewed as one of the most disruptive of AI-influenced fintech services. Robo-advisors rely on technology, rather than a financial planner, to deliver financial advice at any time of the day.
2018
Top Tech trends 2018
Juniper Research
Facial Recognition Applications Surge
Facial Recognition solutions can be utilised across a host of arenas, from security to personalised marketing. Technology has the potential to deliver benefits ranging from frictionless authentication and payment to improved brand interaction.
2018
Top Tech trends 2018
Juniper Research