The state of digital content and what to look for in the near future. Presented at the annual conference for Regional Tourism Organisations NZ (RTONZ), in Wanaka, New Zealand, 22 May 2013. The audience was travel and tourism professionals, so the examples in this presentation are geared towards that industry.

1. The Future of
Digital Content
Richard MacManus
@ricmac
http://ricm.ac

2. About me
I founded ReadWriteWeb
(now ReadWrite) in April
2003, building the business
into one of the leading
technology blogs in the
world.
I sold the company to SAY
Media in December 2011.
In October 2012, I left
ReadWrite to begin writing a
book about consumer
health technology.

3. The Digital Content Present
• The Big 2: Facebook & Twitter
• Social Galore: Google+, Foursquare,YouTube,
Flickr, Instagram, ...
• Horses For Courses: Pinterest (visual),
SoundCloud (sound), niche social networks

4. Facebook
- Sharing, e.g. beautiful
scenery photos
- Highlight events in the
area
- Tourist tips
- Tourist comments,
photos, etc
- Connect to social graph
of tourists (a form of
advertising)

5. Twitter
- Real-time info; e.g.
events, tips for things
to do today / this
weekend.
- Conversations with
tourists
- Use hashtags so you
can track conversations

6. Other Options
May not be as big as
Facebook or Twitter, but
options like Google+
could be useful; e.g. here
is a G+ power user who
lives in Queenstown.

7. Horses for Courses
- Scenic destinations
would benefit from being
on Pinterest, the current
trendy photo-sharing
site (the Flickr of 2013).
- Utilize specialist
networks; e.g. if you’re
promoting a music
festival, check MySpace,
SoundCloud et al.

8. • Mobile: video, context, focus
• Beyond Social: niche, topical
• Internet Everywhere: wearables, objects,AR
The Digital Content Future

9. Mobile: video
Themes:
- Story-telling using mobile.
- Give people a glimpse of the action.
- Will get easier both to take video and
consume it.
- Flickr, Pinterest et al made mobile
photos popular; similar transformation
happening now with mobile video.
- Big opportunity for “user-generated
content”.
Example:
Vine, 6-second videos, owned by
Twitter (“Twitter for video”).

10. Mobile: context
Themes:
- More context using mobile.
- Tips & recommendations using your
location.
Example:
Foursquare; started off as a location-
based social network, but pivoted into
discovery and recommendation
service.

11. Mobile: Do One Thing Well
Themes:
- Mobile apps that focus on a single
task.
- Download and use when you
need to.
- Targets specific user base (in this
case business travelers).
Example:
HotelTonight;“HotelTonight is a
very well-funded app built to do
one thing and one thing only: Book
last-minute, same-day hotels in the
city you are in.” Skift.com

12. Beyond Social: topics
Theme:
- Topical-based organization.
The Web is chaotic, topic
pages will add a layer of
organization on top.
Example:
Medium.com; a new type of
blog platform that lets
people organize content
around topics.

13. Beyond Social: niche
Themes:
- Niche social networks, e.g.
for travel.
- Will connect to Facebook
& sometimes Twitter
(“social graph”).
- More niche social
networks will pop up,
especially mobile ones.
Example:
TripAdvisor; user-generated
reviews are what drives its
service.

14. Internet Everywhere: wearables
Themes:
- “Wearable computing”.
- (Virtually) Everything is
connected.
Example:
Google Glass; visor device.
Glass can take photos and
videos, get turn-by-turn
directions, execute Google
searches, and more.

15. Internet Everywhere: objects
Themes:
- Real world objects get
connected to the Internet.
Example:
London City Airport’s
“Smart Airport” project;
among other things, it will
track your luggage in real-
time.

16. Internet Everywhere:AR
Themes:
- Augmented Reality
- 3D, real-time experience
- Geographically-relevant
information
Example:
Wikitude;“the king of all
augmented reality
browsers.”
digitaltrends.com; includes
Wikipedia articles for
landmarks, ATM locations,
Youtube videos, Tweets,
Foursquare locations.

17. New Forms of Storytelling
• Video
• Virtual Hangouts
• New Narratives

18. Storytelling: Video
Themes:
- Short videos (e.g. this
one is 3 mins).
- Lots of potential for
UGC (mobile phones,
iPad video, etc.).
- Promote / Highlight
via social media (FB,
Twitter, et al).
Example:
-Vimeo, a classier
version ofYouTube.
- Also watch out for
more blogs
incorporating video.

19. Storytelling: Virtual Hangouts
Themes:
- Gather people
together virtually.
- Opens up events to
global audience.
- Taps into social graph.
Example:
- Google+ Hangouts; live
streaming an event.

20. Storytelling: New Narratives
Themes:
- New forms of
storytelling; e.g. Citia’s
“card-based narratives”.
- Optimized for tablets
like the iPad.
- The reader/user is in
control of organizing
content (i.e. not linear).
Example:
- Citia; modular
content, uses
HyperCard concept.
- “Snoop Lion” used
Citia to promote his
latest album.

21. 3 things to think about
this year
• Make sure you’re tapping into Facebook (for
sharing) & Twitter (for real-time updates).
• How are your customers using photo sharing?
Esp. Pinterest & Instagram.
• Are your customers uploading video from their
trips? If so, where? (FB,YouTube,Vine,...)

22. 3 things to watch in
coming years
• Mobile video; play withVine,Vimeo, et al. Or have
someone in your org who experiments with it.
• Be prepared for Internet Everywhere (Google
Glass, wearables, real world objects).
• Keep an eye on mobile/tablet apps doing strange
new things with UI -> Citia,Wikitude, G+,...

23. Q&A
Richard MacManus
Feel free to contact or connect with me:
Email: richard@ricm.ac
Homepage: http://ricm.ac
Twitter: @ricmac
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ricmac