we are social curiosity stop #15
TRANSCRIPT
Curiosity Stop: The Social Innovation Roundup
October 2016
CURIOSITY STOP‘Social Thinking’ is understanding how and why people communicate. We use this insight to
provide value for our clients. This understanding is an ongoing passion project for We Are Social.
Our global team of 550 keep a keen eye out for intriguing changes in the social landscape. We take the best of these innovations and compile them in the monthly
Curiosity Stop.
You’ll see some examples which prove our social trendspotting, and others which indicate what might happen next. But if you look really closely, you might catch a glimpse into the future of
how and why we use social.
Curiosity Stop >October
Let’s be brutal. Trendwatching is total guesswork. We can’t predict the future. If I’d told you that Pokemon Go, Tinder and Amazon Echo would
be a big deal three years ago would you have believed me? I doubt it.
Trendspotting is a totally unregulated space where very few people are held accountable for their views. BUT it’s also a lot of fun and the very
practice of predicting the future means that you need to be up to speed about what is happening today.
This is why we produce the Curiosity Stop, it’s our commitment to ourselves and our clients to make sure we are on a passionate search
for the innovators who are shaping the way we will communicate.
Will the ideas featured in this month’s edition be a pivotal part of the industry's’ future? I can’t be certain -
but I can’t wait to find out.
Tom Ollerton, Innovation Director, London
Social Trend 1: Conscious Community
Western society is becoming more conscious of the effects of our actions on the world around us. We’re now well informed about sweatshops and human rights abuses in the supply chain, which creates a collective feeling of guilt. Online groups are forming around interests that actually do something good. This isn’t hot air, but action.
You CAN sit with us, thanks to an app designed to help kids make friends at school.
Conscious Community >Sit With Us
What’s it all about?
The brain behind Sit With Us might be the youngest Curiosity Stop innovator yet. Inspired by a miserable year sat on her own in the school cafeteria, 16-year-old Natalie Hampton designed an app to help students find a group to eat with.
‘Ambassadors’ can invite others to eat with them, or host ‘open lunch’ events for anyone looking for a lunch buddy. The best bit? The kids don’t have to face public rejection while they search for a table, à la Mean Girls. Take that, Gretchen Weiners.
The bigger picture
Social networks aimed at high schoolers have had a rocky past, most recently with Yik Yak - that became notorious as a community where bullying thrived. However, Sit With Us shows that social apps can also generate positive change among teens at school.
CLICK TO TWEET:
Conscious Community >Nextdoor
What’s it all about?
When was the last time you talked to your neighbour? No, a passive-aggressive volume war doesn’t count. Nextdoor is an app which encourages you to be social with your neighbours. You can ask for plumber recommendations, or report a local crime (you should tell the police first, obviously).
Nextdoor first rolled out in the US, then the Netherlands, and now the CEO reckons it’s just what a post-Brexit Britain needs. Ned Flanders, eat your heart out.
The bigger picture
As fears about the erosion of community spirit begin to spread, social platforms are playing a more important role than ever. Facebook’s mission is to make the world more open and connected, but right now we need something that brings us closer at a local level.
CLICK TO TWEET:
Get to know your neighbours via Nextdoor, an app for local communities.
Wi-Favela brought wifi to the Brazilian masses, through the medium of graffiti.
Conscious Community >Wi-Favela
What’s it all about?
60% of the 12 million people living in Brazilian favelas have no access to wifi. 92% of them have smartphones. Brazil’s telecom company Vivo found a unique way to bring much-needed wifi waves to these favelas.
Vivo partnered with famous graffiti artists, who created artworks using special paint (yes, that is a technical term). The paint sprayed on the favela walls created wifi hotspots, receiving signals better than standard rods and allowing residents to access Vivo’s free wifi signal.
The bigger picture
Smartphone ubiquity in developing countries and struggling communities is a powerful tool that can help reduce crime, educate and build communities, but only when there’s a proper internet infrastructure in place. There’s a huge opportunity for telecoms giants to help out here.
CLICK TO TWEET:
Social Trend 2: Wearable Social
The forecasted wearable device market value for 2018 is $13Bn. We are entering a world of “Wearable Social” where movement, heartbeats and emojis are a new form of social language.
Wearable Social >Moment
What’s it all about?
Moment is the latest wearable tech on the market. But it’s not just another screen, right?! RIGHT!
Moment straps onto your wrist and communicates through your sense of touch. It uses small motors to produce vibration pulses and buzzes on your skin, like a left arrow when you need to turn left, for instance. You can also tell who’s calling you, because everyone in your address book gets a unique rhythm. Touching. And useful.
The bigger picture
Every day, we’re dependent on consuming information visually and aurally. However, in the age of sensory overload, people are beginning to develop ways for us to also receive communication through more than just our eyes and ears.
CLICK TO TWEET:
Strap a Moment to your wrist, and you’ll be pickin’ up good vibrations all day long.
Social Trend 3: The Internet of Social Things
The idea of sharing your house, your bed and your bathroom with a stranger would have been unimaginable a few years ago. But AirBnB changed that, and it’s now worth billions. AirBnB gave us the capacity to share objects that previously we had to own.
The Internet of Social Things is a trend which is seeing us becoming happier to share everyday objects socially through our smartphones. Bikes, umbrellas - nothing is safe...
Internet of Social Things >Martini Smart Cube
What’s it all about?
Queuing at the a bar is the WORST. By the end of your fifteen-minute wait, you’re so desperate for a drink that you’re practically performing magic tricks just to get the bar staff’s attention. Well take that bunny out your hat, and let Martini sort the next round.
Simply pop the Martini Smart Cube in your glass, and Bluetooth technology will tell the bar when your drink is drying up. But beware, it’ll also know when you’ve had a few too many of the ‘shaken, not stirred’s.
The bigger picture
Nobody enjoys wasting their precious time waiting in a bar queue, so hopefully this could be the beginning of a whole new era for drinks ordering. We can but dream. CLICK TO TWEET:
With a Martini Smart Cube in your glass, you’ll never be without a drink. For better or worse.
Social trend 4:On The Horizon
These final innovations don’t fit neatly into our trends (dammit), but we reckon they are worth a mention. Successful innovations create expectation, so we’ll be keeping a keen eye on them. Watch this space - if they turn into a wider trend, you’ll be the first to know.
On the Horizon >Morgan
What’s it all about?
In an act of inception worthy of Leo Dicaprio’s spinning top, an AI has made a movie trailer about an AI. 20th Century Fox asked IBM Watson (or more likely, Watson’s minder) if it could cut a trailer of its upcoming AI horror thriller Morgan.
To do this, Watson analysed the whole movie and extracted salient moments, automatically generating a trailer. Was it a PR stunt? Probably. Was it a successful PR stunt? Most definitely,
The bigger picture
The AI ‘DoNotPay’ is already saving drivers thousands in parking tickets and other AIs performing low level legal tasks - now AI is getting creative. This early attempt at artificial creativity indicates it’s not just the mundane tasks that AI could replace but also our most cerebral and creative.
CLICK TO TWEET:
Watch your back, creative industry. The first AI-made movie trailer has been released.
On the Horizon >Lisn
What’s it all about?
Love sharing headphones with your BFF? Then you’re going to love Lisn! It’s an app which lets you tune in and listen with your mate, wherever in the world they are.
Using Lisn, you can stream or share tracks through SoundCloud and Spotify, which are synced in real-time with your friend. By co-listening, you get more of a warm, fuzzy feeling than if you had simply checked out a song you’d been recommended.
The bigger picture
In a hyper connected world where we share our digital lives with old school friends, colleagues and weirdos - actual emotional connections are a luxury. Lisn is an expression of our desire for deep communion with our loved ones in a crowded and impersonal digital world.
CLICK TO TWEET:
Thanks to @lisnapp, you can listen to music with your mate. Wherever they are in the world.
On the Horizon >YouTube Community
What’s it all about?
Vloggers, rejoice! YouTube Community is here. It enables video creators to get involved with viewers, allowing them to share GIFs, images and more.
Pre-YouTube Community, creators had to take to other platforms to chat about their latest vid. Now they can simply share things in their Community tab, which viewers can react to and comment on. Expect a broad rollout of this bad boy in the near future.
The bigger picture
As Twitter struggles to find ways to reach a wider active user group, its video-based peer has been experiencing challenges of its own and is hard at work shifting from a broadcast platform to a social community. It’ll be interesting to see if Youtube Community has the power to achieve the social engagement the site desires.
CLICK TO TWEET:
YouTube finally has its own social network. Vloggers, welcome to your new home: YouTube Community.
CONSCIOUS COMMUNITY
Sit With Us
Nextdoor
Wi-Favela
WEARABLE SOCIAL
Moment
INTERNET OF SOCIAL THINGS
Martini Smart Cube
ON THE HORIZON
Morgan
Lisn
YouTube Community
WE ARE SOCIALWe Are Social is a global agency with offices in five continents
(Antarctica is a little too chilly for our liking).
We deliver world-class creative ideas with forward-thinking brands, and have fun doing it. Our clients include adidas, Google and Netflix.
As an international team of 550+, our passion is people. Our mission is to put social thinking at the centre of marketing.
Trendspotting might get us unnaturally excited, but what really counts is action. If you'd like to speak to We Are Social about how to make innovation work for your brand, email us at