Future driver’s rules of engagement

The emergence of mobile technologies has infiltrated the functionality and utility of the internet, thereby providing people with easy accessibility to any media platform they desire on a daily basis. Internet users go online to deliberately engage in browsing internet content.

Rapid changes in technology are helping shape the way people use and rely on the media content they access online in their daily lives. Simultaneously media industries have been adapting to the next generation of audience to provide the best outcome and efficient engagements. With the rise of the Gen Z, the change is happening more rapidly and will be bigger than ever recorded. Media industries will play a big role in shaping the future.

A major subject that is part of this change is how it will involve future drivers of internet. The main question and the key are keeping three main factors that shapes the future drivers’ mindset with new globalisation in mind. 5G Force, new majorities and micro-communities are the three main points when it comes to studying or designing any type of content or material for the next generation users according to the WGSN future consumers reports 2020.

5G

The internet is just a few decades old. However, in that short span of time it has experienced significant changes. It is obvious that the internet has and will continue to change the way we live. It creates new ways for individuals to

communicate, congregate and share information of their social life. Internet has changed the way we live and will continue to change our lives maybe just not the way it has so far anymore. Millennials have shared a very different experience with the internet and how it has shifted their lives. The Gen Z on the other hand have a totally different approach to this innovation and are no longer interested in the ways it dilated so far.

Next generation is all about 5G. New network means seamless connectivity. Ultra-fast, ultra-reliable and able to increase the speed of mass adoption for industries, including augmented reality connected vehicles and the Internet of Things (IoT). With Gartner predicting that there will be 20.4bn connected things by 2020, this network can’t come soon enough. Asia and the US began the 5G rollouts in 2018, with Europe and

LATAM following suit in 2019 and 2020. (WGSN Future drivers report)

Media platform that invest in mobile apps may gain more user engagement from Gen Z, whose uptake will accelerate us into the multimedia world we’ve been hearing about for years. For those investing in branded apps, the experience is essential otherwise it’s a hollow logo on a home screen that will be deleted. Finding the purpose of the app beyond the daily news update is a necessity.

New majorities

 ‘By 2040, Caucasians will be the minority in the United States’ WGSN future consumer report 2019.

Globally, Generation M (Muslim Millennials) will force “soft cultural change by means of hard economics”, according to Shelina Janmohamed, author of Generation M. Projected to be a quarter of the world’s population (2.8 billion) by 2050, this group’s influential power cannot be ignored. 1-America’s identity is changing – by 2020, more than half of Americans under 18 will be minorities, and more whites will be ageing than will be born. The game changer? By 2040, Caucasians will be the minority. 2-Europe grows more ethnically and racially diverse – interracial couples have increased year on year in England, Wales and France, while Italy has seen a 172% increase in multi-ethnic marriages since 2001, according to the Italian Institute of Statistics. (New Frontier Data 2017)

Micro-communities

In the recent years the global population has been witnessing the rise of micro-communities. The word community classically means “a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government with common cultural and historical heritage. Basically, a group of people living together in the same place.”  (Micro-communities on line).

A Micro-community is a new form of community within a group of smaller communes of the 60’s and 70’s who may not necessary be from a same place but are definitely sharing common interest and can have many forms. Small Co-operative buildings can be Micro-communities as can be small neighborhoods. Think of Micro-communities as the replacement for the neighborhoods many of us grew up in during a very different time and place in the last century. The world was not globalized, homogenized and local communities provided our identity. Our close neighbors were people we enjoyed socially, counted on for companionship, security and provided a stable base from which to explore and participate in the larger “World”. The next generation is going to create communities to rely on and connect within to enjoy a common way of interacting and sharing. With this in mind, media platform and industries need to understand the new micro-communities’ priorities and adapt to these new forms of society.

The next-generation will drive new points of engagement with media. Media platforms need to have a focused approach to each single user to fully harness user interaction. Psychographic services targeting micro-consumer segments will result in higher contact. So, the name of the game for media industry is to think big and plan head, determine the underserved media opportunities and design content and news accordingly.