SMWNYC: Whats Emerging? Insights, and Big Predictions for the Future of Our Industry - Deep Focus Recap

For our first session of the day, we watched Toby Daniels and Ian Schafer have a Q&A about the future and emerging trends of the industry. The overarching theme of SMWNYC this year was, "Language & the Machine: Algorithm and the Future of Language".

The Rise of Video Viewership

It's pretty clear that television has plateaued in recent years.YouTube now exceeding a billion hours of videos viewed per day. The new emerging trend in video is live streaming with new features like Facebook Live making a major impact in the industry. The industry standard now is to make visual content specifically for the internet with the added bonus of being aired on television. This is partially due to synchronous viewing no longer being the favourable option in comparison to on-demand content.

Technology hasn't changed human behavior as much as human behavior has embraced advances in technology. - Ian Schafer

The format for visual content is constantly changing, much like the rest of the industry. Previously, when a new platform emerged there would be a large influx of relatively low-quality content since it was often made by everyday individuals. For example, when YouTube first began anyone with a camera and a computer could upload content on the website. Now, professional content producers are the first to rush onto new platforms and the quality of videos are set very high. But, that isn't to say that the days of user-generated content are over, being able to capture raw, live, and in the moment video is still huge and will make its way to mainstream audiences. However, that sort of live content is difficult to monetize. Moving on to advertising with visual content, there is now movement from Facebook and YouTube to incorporate advertisements much more aggressively. Of course with mandatory ads, how would you reach your target audience through all of the noise?

Focus on the first two seconds, because no one watches past that. - Ian Shafer

A much better approach would be to utilise influencer marketing. Go to the publishers that audiences are tuning into. A professionally made video was shared by both the brand and publisher page, the completion rate went from 5% to 65%. Without a doubt, Facebook TV is on its way as more advertisers and content creators flock to the platform. As a platform, Facebook takes inspiration from other platforms and implements features that work. For example, Instagram stories and Snapchat stories. They have the ability to take that feature and share it with their massive audience across Facebooks various platforms.

Most people who are creating content for these platforms, whether professionals or amateurs, will opt towards the platform that gives them the opportunity for greater reach. - Ian Shafer

Messaging as the Dominant Platform

Moving onto the next topic, the core principle of messaging is communication however, it is now evolving into its own micro-Internet. Messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, and WeChat are now becoming places of commerce and self-expression. According to Schafer, the end goal for consumers is communication but the end goal for companies is to collect data. In regards to Snapchat, Shafer sees it as more of a capture the culture company rather than a messaging platform. Snapchat may move away from disposable messaging to a world of quality content that can be shared between people.

Rise of Machine-Assisted Communication

With ChatBots now emerging, we bring in the topic of machine-assisted communication. The progression of technology allows for many brands to be able to provide services like customer service, commerce, or assistance. These were previously impossible with just humans alone especially at the same pace as AI. The expectations set by this new technology significantly raises the bar that companies must meet or they will become obsolete and out-competed. The surprising thing is that this progression can open doors of opportunities for individuals but ultimately companies will dictate the implementation of this new technology.

New Layers of Immersion

Alongside the progression of technology, we will discuss the new layers of immersion. Though this is predominantly used in entertainment, there is a possibility that it can expand into the social scope. Facebooks Megan Summers will be speaking later about spatial storytelling. Only time will tell how virtual reality can transform our storytelling ability.

There are very few times that it's okay to strap something to your face, and using VR is one of them. - Ian Schafer

Shifting Business Models and New Metrics

With all this new technology emerging and a dynamic industry, how does this affect our business models and metrics?

Everything that Facebook and Google does is at the expense of publishers former business models, which is owning publications and subscribers. - Ian Schafer

With Facebook Articles and Google AMP platforms, their effects on publishers are clear. Publishers must now deal with shrinking wealth. Publications are up for pennies on the dollar with the rise of these platforms. To deal with this loss of wealth, publishers need to become comfortable with being smaller. Unless they can accommodate the new playing field or have a shadow company that runs by these new rules. Publishers at are trying to fight Facebook and Google and these new standards may be in some hot water.Stay tuned for the next recap! Check out some live tweets from this session here.