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Not Creating A.I. May Be a Bigger Threat to Humanity, Says Facebook Expert

October 3, 2018 No Comments

Artificial intelligence could outsmart and enslave humanity, but our species’ future could turn out even worse if we don’t advance in the field. That’s according to Tomas Mikolov, a research scientist at Facebook A.I. Research, who believes that catastrophic events could have a detrimental effect on society, and it may be machines that save humans from themselves.

“There are these arguments that maybe we should not develop A.I. because it’s going to destroy us,” Mikolov said at the Human-Level Artificial Intelligence conference organized by GoodAI in Prague, Czech Republic on Saturday, describing this scenario as resulting from science fiction drama. “What if actually not achieving A.I. is the biggest existential threat for humans? As the technology is getting increasingly complex, we are producing more artificial substances that could get into the environment. We as humans are actually very bad at making predictions. What will happen in some distant time, 20, 30 years from now if we make some bad decisions? Maybe actually it will be A.I. that will help us to become much smarter.”

Researchers across the industry are grappling with the issue of super-smart A.I. taking control. Elon Musk has called for stronger government regulation, Stephen Hawking warned it could destroy humanity, and roboticist Noel Sharkey is just one of many experts warning about autonomous weapons. A Future of Life Institute survey last year found 15 percent of researchers think A.I. will be either bad or extremely bad for the species.

ICYMI: Stephen Hawking gives an AI warning while a robot with feelings is unveiled at #WebSummit via @ewither @ReutersTV pic.twitter.com/hNxrl6nrA9

— Reuters (@Reuters) November 11, 2017

Mikolov’s comments touch on a more positive aspect of this new technology, though. A.I. is helping save coral reefs, discover new medical drugs, and research new cancer treatments. Norway has used smarter machines to integrate more renewable energy into the grid, while Indian farmers have boosted crop yields by 30 percent in some cases. With NASA declaring last year the second-hottest on record, such advancements could help avoid a major calamity.

Mikolov did agree with Musk on one thing, though. He claimed that developing a symbiotic relationship between man and machine could avoid computers taking over, echoing Musk’s efforts with his firm Neuralink.

Editor’s Note: The Human-Level Artificial Intelligence conference funded Inverse’s travel and accommodation to cover the event, but the organization has no input over Inverse’s editorial coverage.

By Mike Brown

Sourced from Inverse

In News

What You Need to Understand About Content Intelligence

September 21, 2018 No Comments

By Marty Muse

In the wake of disruptions brought on by technology and competition, both B2B and B2C companies have seen their operations turned upside down. According to the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), only 12 percent of the companies that were on the Fortune 500 list in 1955 were still on that list in 2016. AEI shares that most of these companies were victims of market disruption, innovation and creative destruction.

With companies feeling more pressure to find ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors, marketing teams are tasked with finding solutions that help create successful content strategies and unique customer experiences. One of those solutions is content intelligence, a game-changer that is getting a lot of attention for its ability to revolutionize the way you do marketing.

Here are 5 things you need to know right now about content intelligence to make sure you’re prepared to gain a competitive edge:

Artificial intelligence and content intelligence are not the same

While artificial intelligence can play a role in providing the data needed for a content intelligence strategy, it is not content intelligence. The end goal of content intelligence is to provide you with insights about a broad range of data related to your target audience. Through the data and insights provided, you will have better insight on what it takes to write the right type of content to connect with each specific audience — and when and how to deliver it.

There are different types of content intelligence platforms

However, they function as technology solutions that are able to deliver insights on content and messaging to ultimately drive better marketing results. It’s likely that you are already using content intelligence. Applications, such as Google Analytics, provide you with data insights based on the traffic coming to your company’s site, including which content topics people are responding to the most and which pages lead to conversions. Advanced content intelligence platforms have been emerging in recent years that provide insights and data to help give you with a clearer, multidimensional picture of how to create, deliver and fine-tune your content and how to best spend your marketing dollars.

Content intelligence is now a necessity

More advanced forms of content intelligence are continuing to arrive. Many marketers are reporting that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to reach and connect with their target audience. However, the key is not to create more content. The solution is to give people exactly what they want — and exactly when and where they want it.

With content intelligence — through data gathered from many different sources (not just a few), you’re able to develop a more intimate relationship with every individual. You’ll be able to “get” them and “get to them.”

Time and place are everything

The data insights you gain from a marketing strategy fueled by content intelligence helps solve a critical issue of timing and place. This is an area where many marketers fail. Your marketing team is probably producing great content, but does it matter when the right people are unable to find it?

Content intelligence platforms can help you answer the critical questions: Where do you place your content at a time where your audience is most likely to see it? What are you offering? Sharing? Promoting? With comprehensive data insights, you don’t have to throw a wide net in hopes of catching the right users.

More metrics lead to a greater ability to measure your content

With a strategic marketing plan based on more relevant metrics, you’re in a better position to measure the effectiveness of your marketing strategy. You’ll be able to respond in real time to changes that need to be made. By utilizing insights and analyzing what is working, you’re positioning yourself for success and increased conversion rates.

As the content intelligence industry continues to evolve, adoption of the right solutions will be key to marketers getting the most out of content strategies. Reaching your audience is becoming increasingly difficult in a landscape that has become inundated with content. Armed with a content intelligence platform, you can gain the critical insights you need to win the battles coming your way.

By Marty Muse

Sourced from MARTECHSERIES

In News

How Ireland Is Fast Becoming The AI Island

September 6, 2018 No Comments

By Alison Coleman

Ireland is brimming with tech talent, which is evident in the quality of the many tech startups that continue to emerge from the Emerald Isle, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence (AI).

Its capital Dublin is also home to the European headquarters of tech giants that include Facebook, Google and Microsoft, while Brexit could be the catalyst for even more international brands to relocate their European HQ from London to Dublin, providing an additional boost for Ireland’s Irish thriving tech startup ecosystem.

Here are five of the most exciting and potentially influential Irish AI startups.

Opening

Founded in 2015 by Romanian entrepreneurs Andreea Wade and Adrian Mihai, Opening is an AI-powered engine that is disrupting the talent acquisition space by enabling recruiters and HR professionals to ensure that the vital CVs are not overlooked.

Opening creates shortlists of suitable candidates for each job, ranking the most relevant, predicting salaries, and providing other valuable insights and data. The technology can analyse thousands of pieces of content about potential candidates, matching them to their ideal jobs, and it can do it in mere seconds. According to Opening’s website, the hiring time for candidates is reduced by as much as 40%, a bonus for time-pressed recruiters who need to fill positions with top talent as quickly as possible. The technology is particularly helpful to large organisations that receive thousands of CVs for a single job vacancy.

Last year the company secured an investment of €30,000 from the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC).

LogoGrab

Exponential growth in the use of images on social media is behind the growing demand for image recognition technology, including that offered by LogoGrab. Technically a Swiss import founded by Italian entrepreneurs, Luca Boschin and Alessandro Prest, the Dublin-based company’s product has been designed to scan millions of images and videos on social media and identify the specific brand logo images that users want to find.

Companies are notified when their image appears somewhere and provided with additional information on how well their digital marketing strategies are working.

LogoGrab, which took first prize in the 2017 Google Adopt a Startup Spring programme, has worked with major brands such as McDonald’s, Heineken, eBay and Nestlé.

Soapbox Labs

One of Ireland’s leading AI companies Soapbox Lab is using smart voice recognition technologies to help children learn to read. Its technology can spot any mistakes they make as they work their way through the pages of a book. As children read out loud, devices and apps that are enabled by the SoapBox technology provide real-time feedback that helps to improve reading skills while tracking overall progress.

Founded in 2013 by former IBM and Bell Labs expert Dr Patricia Scanlon, who has 20 years’ experience in the area of speech recognition technologies, Soapbox Labs can also assess young readers’ fluency with the help of training from more than 600,000 audio samples from 15,000 kids in over 100 countries.

The company secured a €1.5 million EU grant, in addition to €600,000 from existing backers, bringing its total investment just over €3 million. The cash injection is helping the latest SoapBox platform to developing French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, and Italian recognition capabilities.

Nuritas

Founded in 2014 by Dr Nora Khaldi, Nuritas uses AI, machine learning and DNA analysis to quickly predict, and then provide access to, some of the potentially beneficial components hidden within food called peptides.

Since its launch, Nuritas has carried out research into ways of preventing diabetes through nutrition and made a major breakthrough when it discovered a peptide that has the capacity to destroy MRSA, a type of bacteria resistant to several widely used antibiotics. The results could lead to the discovery of new food components to help prevent, manage and even cure deadly diseases.

Last December the Dublin-based biotech company secured a €16 million Series A funding led by Chicago-based investment firm Cultivian Sandbox Ventures, bringing its total investment to date to approximately €25 million. This has included funding from a number of familiar, household names including Bono, The Edge from U2, while Salesforce’s billionaire founder Marc Benioff has also backed the company.

Earlier this year collaboration on AI-based discovery of food-derived bioactive peptides was announced between Nuritas and Swiss food and beverage giant Nestlé.

Popertee

Popertee is an AI platform that connects brands with vacant spaces for short-term retail and marketing campaigns.

The business was founded in 2016 by entrepreneur Lucinda Kelly after she had spotted a gap in the short-term rentals market and come up with the idea of creating spaces where brands could launch pop-ups and connect more effectively with their target audience.

The software combines behavioural and social media data to enable companies to identify the best location for their pop-ups or marketing campaigns. Locations scores range from zero to 100 based on the success of the match to the demographics and interests of companies’ target markets. Brands that have used Popertee include Virgin Media Volvo and Coca Cola. The platform also has the capability to measure the impact of campaigns for brands looking for deeper insights on performance, event planning, agencies and venues.

In June 2017 Popertee raised its €500,000 seed round with Growing Capital, European Investment Fund and Enterprise Ireland.

Feature Image Credit: Shutterstock

By Alison Coleman

Follow Alison on Twitter @alisonbcoleman and https://plus.google.com/+AlisonColeman/posts

I’m a freelance journalist, founder of Coleman Media. For the last 20 years I’ve covered business stories for national and international online and print publications, with a special interest in entrepreneurs and their startups. Away from business, I’m an accomplished…. MORE

Sourced from Forbes

In News

How AI Helps Marketers Build Customer Profiles and Drive Revenue

August 24, 2018 No Comments

By Derek Andersen

Forbes recently stated that 80% of enterprise companies are investing in artificial intelligence (AI) solutions today. AI is a machine’s ability to imitate intelligent human behavior by perceiving a set of inputs and processing that information in order to reach a desired outcome.

In the martech space, companies are utilizing AI to build customer profiles, resulting in more precise ad targeting as well as unprecedented customization. Below are three recent examples of how companies are using AI to build customer profiles and drive revenue.

1. Teleflora Uses AI to Deliver Personalized Product Recommendations

A recent article in Direct Marketing News details how Teleflora, a leading floral arrangements vendor with more than 15,000 member florists in the US and Canada, uses AI to build customer profiles and provide a personalized touch.

Source: Teleflora.com

When Tommy Lamb, Teleflora’s new director of CRM and loyalty, joined the company, he immediately realized their marketing strategy was underdeveloped. Since customers typically only used Teleflora at spread-out points in the year, the company needed strong remarketing and customer service to build brand loyalty. But rather than providing personalized offers, they only utilized a few generic holiday email campaigns.

A retail marketing platform called Bluecore gave Lamb and Teleflora the AI capabilities they needed in order to execute a three-pronged personalization plan:

Teleflora first created more comprehensive customer profiles by combining their product data with their individual customer data.
Next, Teleflora paired Bluecore’s machine learning capabilities with these comprehensive profiles to anticipate the future purchases of various audience segments.
Finally, Teleflora integrated advanced analytics, allowing them to identify best-selling items and other purchasing trends.

This AI strategy allows Teleflora to accurately anticipate customer needs. They can target customers who are ready to buy and make personalized recommendations, driving customer loyalty and ROI. Then, their analytics solution allows them to view the results and promote high- or low-performing products accordingly.

2. BMW Leverages AI to Personalize Ad Spend and Lower its Cost-Per-Acquisition

In order to execute a recent campaign, BMW Mini worked to connect and organize its data into an actionable format. Its goal: to target adults searching for a premium vehicle who had shown interest in the BMW brand.

Source: BMWBy partnering with ad agency Universal McCann, BMW was able to leverage its first-party data—which included people who had visited the BMW website or were already in their CRM system. BMW used this data to enhance its existing search strategy, ensuring its ads delivered relevant messaging to interested car shoppers.

BMW then utilized an AI solution to optimize the efficiency of its targeted ads. Over time, this solution optimized BMW’s ad targeting so the messaging would reach the right person, based on factors like time of day, previous searches, and BMW website visits. As a result of this strategy, BMW Mini’s conversions tripled and their cost per acquisition declined by 75%.

3. Comfort Keepers Utilizes AI to Target Caller-Ready Audiences

Comfort Keepers, one of the nation’s leading providers of in-home care for seniors, uses AI-powered conversation analytics to understand what happens on calls to each of their 450+ franchisee locations. Since phone calls make up 70% of their marketing conversions, they analyze the calls to determine who each caller is, if they are a quality sales lead (vs. a non-sales call), and if they converted to an appointment or customer.

By using this conversation analytics data, Comfort Keepers is able to fully gauge the success of their marketing efforts and prove it to each of their franchisees. Not only are they able to identify the quantity of the calls their campaigns drove, but they can also understand the quality. For example, rather than simply saying “we drove 2,000 calls this week,” they’re able to identify how many of those calls are potential new customers versus current customers. This gives them a full picture of the ROI from each of their campaigns to each location.

As a next step, once Comfort Keepers understands who converted on their calls and who did not, they can use that same conversation analytics data from AI to retarget their prospects with search, social, and display ads and use good callers in their lookalike campaigns.
Read more at https://www.business2community.com/marketing/how-ai-helps-marketers-build-customer-profiles-and-drive-revenue-02091198

By Derek Andersen

Sourced from Business 2 Community

In News

Sharpen Your Marketing Strategy With The Top Digital Trends Of 2018

July 20, 2018 No Comments

By Karina Tama – Rutigliano

With 2018 already well under way, my mind is bursting with ideas on how to make the most of the latest digital marketing trends. Change is happening right before our eyes. Every year I like to take a step back and revisit key sales drivers, writing down probing questions about recent technological advances, search algorithm changes, SEO drivers and changes in consumer behavior.

Every key driver gives me new opportunities to experiment and measure the results. I’m always up for a challenge, and the results almost always surprise me. Here are the trending projects I have my eyes on in 2018:

Live Videos

I’ve had success using pre-recorded videos on our blog and other marketing channels. In 2018, live video is bringing us even closer to our customers. If you’ve spent any time on Facebook lately, you’ll notice that more people and companies are using live video to promote products, services, events and more. You’ll also notice that people are tuning in, and comments come pouring in on the live feed in real time.

Think about how to use live videos to publicize company events. Offer a promotion for those who tune in live during the event. Take advantage of the opportunity to get live customer testimonials from your satisfied customers.

Personalization

This year, I want to spend time on personalization by focusing more heavily on our customers and their experiences. Using personalization in marketing means knowing more than your customers’ names and general demographics. Voice why your customers appreciate your services and what a difference they can make in the quality of their lives. Develop new content that assures your customers that you understand them and their needs. Good experiences from current clients create brand loyalty. I’m happy to share with new customers how our services have changed the lives of our current clients.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is one of the biggest marketing trends on the horizon. AI can already do more than many of us can fathom. I predict that 2018 will bring marketing apps that use machine learning to help us identify customer needs. AI will also take advantage of natural language processing to give us increasingly precise details. Future applications may allow marketers to monitor the activity of programs that use data to signal the start or end of marketing campaigns. Whatever AI brings us in the coming months is certain to be valuable.

Meaningful Content

I’ve found that articles are a more cost-effective marketing tool than paid ads. Create new content for your platforms that enhance the connection between your customers and your brand. I strive to get our customers involved in a story using words or videos that establish a warm and comforting relationship with our services. The goal of any piece of content is to make it truly meaningful and memorable for the customer.

Voice Search

Last year, smart devices got even smarter as voice search applications on laptops and mobile devices made searching, connecting and multitasking even easier. Voice search will become increasingly popular as more applications become available and consumers get better acquainted with how useful they can be. Marketers should be aware that voice search uses words more naturally than written content. Voice apps are a great place to plug in those long-tail keywords and conversational phrases.

Paid Ads

While it’s true that content is more engaging than paid ads, there is an effective way to use paid ads in marketing. Marketers must face the reality that many consumers are annoyed by ads that block the information they are looking for. Some customers will even pay a small fee so they don’t have to see any ads. However, I find that customers are more amenable to target ads that appear alongside content they are already perusing. If they’ve checked out our services in the past, they’re more inclined to click on an ad that appears to be a subtle reminder.

Customer Trust

Today’s consumers are over flashy ads, but they do have new appreciation for brands that work to establish trust. People still like reviews. Our customers have taken notice of disclosure laws that motivate marketers to obtain honest reviews from real consumers. Additionally, data breaches have caused new concerns about privacy. Developing a trusted relationship means letting customers know how their personal information is being used and how well your company is protecting it.

The Wrap-Up On 2018’s Digital Trends

A good digital marketer completes assignments and meets deadlines. A great digital marketer is a trendsetter, not a trend-follower. Look for new ways to leverage live videos, targeted ads and developments in AI and voice search. You can start by taking a fresh look at old content and revamping it to take advantage of 2018 trends.

Feature Image Credit: Shutterstock

By Karina Tama – Rutigliano

Karina Tama – Rutigliano is the Senior Digital Marketing Manager at Caring People Inc. where she leads SEO, PPC and content marketing.

Sourced from Forbes

In News

5 Social Media Marketing Trends to Watch Out For in 2018

March 5, 2018 No Comments

Make sure to keep an eye out for these five social media marketing trends that are taking over the digital marketing world in the upcoming year.

Did you know that on an average, we scroll through at least 300 feet (90 meters) of content daily? Not every brand’s campaign grabs our attention. It is a difficult and competitive game, as brands are trying harder to grab our attention, while our attention span has been reduced to a mere eight seconds. Brand strategy in the coming years will try more than ever to connect with their audiences across a variety of social platforms. It becomes imperative that your campaign works, more so taking into account the speed of feed. We have curated a list of five trends that we believe will impact your social media strategy in 2018.

Adopt Chatbots

https://giphy.com/gifs/11FyVJOvLleR5S

Gone are the days when chatbots meant unresponsive, hilarious and outright ridiculous software. Today, chatbots can do a lot more than just solve customer issues or order pizza for you. Various studies state that 20% of business content could be machine generated by next year. When we teach machines how to create authentic and engaging stories, the potential for advertising and marketing will become multifold. Chatbots interact with the users and deliver the solutions that they are looking for at the speed of light. Bots are developing to become smarter and empathetic. This engagement feels personal, from the user’s perspective. Chatbots are definitely a must-try social media marketing strategy in 2018 for your business.

Momentary content makes for good engagement:

Snapchat was the early adopter of momentary content. Instagram and Facebook followed suit, owing to the huge popularity of Stories format in a short time. These content are ephemeral and disappear in 24 hours. Brands are creating a whole new digital marketing strategy for their momentary content marketing. Having your stories appear at the very top of your follower’s feed keeps your brand at the top of their mind. Many brands do a live story session with a subject matter expert. This helps the user look out for the brand more so as to not miss an informative session. Ephemeral content marketing strategy is something that you should try in 2018!

Augmented reality boom

Augmented reality blurs the line between reality and computer-generated content by enhancing what we see, and hear. The adoption of augmented reality on mobile phones is a quick and easy way for brands to reach their target audience. Many brands are taking their products right inside the homes of users through exclusive filters. IKEA has released an app called Place which allows users to preview how the furniture would look in their homes before they buy. As more people get warmed up to augmented reality, more people will start to feel like they are missing out on things and want to become a part of it. However, you would also have to check where your strategy fits. Make sure your AR adds value for the user and don’t simply create one for the sake of it.

Influencers are here to stay

Influencer marketing has grown so much over the last two years that the popularity has made it difficult to know whom to trust. Consumers expect genuine reviews from genuine influencers. Brands must seek to work with relevant influencers with industry background or knowledge. Viewers are already bored of seeing brands engage popular influencers who promote teeth whitening and a mobile phone app with the same vigor. In 2018, try and create worthwhile relationships with influencers and maintain them. Influencer marketing is going to become more authentic with brands moving to real experts instead of social influencers.

Make more videos

We are addicted to mobile phones, and we love our videos. In 2017, 90% of the most shared content on social media was in video format. If you are not using videos yet, you will have to quickly start using them and master the art of capturing the user’s attention in the first 3 seconds. Video is the quickest and the closest way you will come face to face with your target audience. As with everything, you need to have a clear strategy before creating a video. Taking advantage of Facebook Live and Instagram Live is also a smart strategy. Ensure that the video is of the highest quality and engaging. You will also have to consider making the best design and make sure to add subtitles to attract users when they are watching with sound off.

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In News

Are you a Tourism Marketer? Here’s What Travellers are Hashtagging the Most

February 23, 2018 No Comments

If you are marketing anything in the tourism game, this is what you need to know.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

For those that are lucky enough to get away on holiday or go on an extended travel stint, we can predict what actvities you might be doing after a new study has been published by Hotels.com

The company have used a data-crunching bot to track what people are hashtagging the most on their sojourns. More than five million brags globally were analysed using a combination of Tweet data, Instagram posts and travel keywords and destinations mentioned on other social media. So here are the results.

Worldwide travellers are all about the culture: they enjoy musing around museums (300,000 brags), old-town charm (170,000 brags) and a spot of sunshine (130,000 brags), but they can also be found in floating restaurants, erotic museums and night markets.

TOP 10 GLOBAL THEMES

Museum
Rooftop bar
Old Town
Modern Art
Opera
Sunshine
Olympic Games
Cathedral
Gallery
Ballet

This travel bragging trend echoes the findings from the recent Hotels.com Mobile Travel Tracker report, which revealed that one in six travellers search social media before their trip to plan the photos they’ll take. And 56% of people surveyed admit to spending more than an hour a day on their smartphones while on holiday.

While travellers naturally brag about taking in the tourist hotspots and cultural offerings, more people than ever are sharing foodie ‘grams, shopping stories and luxe posts.

#Foodporn
You’re never more than an Insta-scroll away from #FoodPorn and the brag lists are brimming with culinary treats. Cakes in Stockholm and curry in Toronto spice up the brag lists, and New York steak and pizza both made the cut. Perhaps more surprisingly, enchiladas proved twice as popular as modern art in Mexico City, ice cream scooped 10% of all San Francisco brags and Jumbo Kingdom floating restaurant in Hong Kong took second place in the Hong Kong chart with more than 20,000 brags.

Shop ’til you drop
Shopping is a must-do for most travellers. Those visiting Paris brag more about the Rue Vieille du Temple, famous for its boutiques, than Le Louvre! Other top shop-spots included Bal Harbour in Miami, the Harbour City mall in Hong Kong, vintage shops in Melbourne and the stylish Cecile Copenhagen fashion brand made the Danish capital’s top 10.

Five-star luxury
When travellers check into a posh, luxury hotel they naturally want the world to know. The stunning 5-star Ritz Carlton in San Francisco topped the city’s brag list, the Four Seasons in Singapore proved brag-worthy and the Park Hyatt came in at number one in Seoul – most likely for its awe-inspiring rooftop pool.

Scott Ludwig at Hotels.com said, “Bragging about your travel experiences on social media has become the norm – if you didn’t get social kudos out of it, it didn’t happen!”

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In News

Targeting Teenagers with Your ads? Here are the Four Personas to Appeal to

February 12, 2018 No Comments

Academics have identified four distinct personas of social media user that teenagers describe as shaping how they behave on social media.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

Young social media users are categorised as either acting like the Geek, the Internet Celebrity, the Victim or the Lurker depending on their levels of online activity and visibility, University of Sussex academics say.

The categorisations are based on interviews the researchers conducted with children aged between 10 and 15-years-old for a new book, Researching Everyday Childhoods, published by Bloomsbury last month.

The interviews revealed many youngsters were increasingly savvy about maintaining their privacy online, often being motivated to protect themselves by unpleasant past personal experiences or negative incidents that affected classmates.

Dr Liam Berriman, lecturer in digital humanities at the University of Sussex, said: “Our research found that concerns about staying safe online created an atmosphere of intense anxiety for young people, even if they had not directly experienced any problems themselves. The young people we spoke to felt a great weight of responsibility for their safety online and were often motivated by the concern of being labelled a victim.”

“While there has been a lot of negative media coverage around teenagers’ interaction with social media, our findings are more hopeful that teenagers are responsible users of social media, are very conscious of the dangers and make considerable efforts to protect themselves against those risks.”

Teenagers navigate between the desire to be praised and recognised online and anxieties over the risk of opening themselves up to criticism and trolling. Among the four personas is the Internet Celebrity who is able to best use the latest trends and increasingly values “visibility of the self” through Instagram, Snapchat, the selfie and YouTube vlogging.

The internet celebrity

But academics also identified how young people are experimenting with and enjoying invisibility online. They describe the Lurker as someone able to avoid peer dramas arising through platforms such as Facebook, whilst still engaging in fun peer activities such as stalking their favourite music bands online.

The lurker

The Geek, meanwhile, uses invisibility to anonymously share and promote their amateur media creations online, such as music videos or fan fiction writing. The academics described how the Geeks’ long hours of labour on projects risked parental concern that their behaviour was obsessive or addictive.

The geek

Professor Rachel Thomson, professor of childhood and youth studies at the University of Sussex, said, “What is distinctive about these active social media users was the entrepreneurial character of their practice, with ‘play’ re-envisaged as a form of economically rewarding work. By gaining an audience, young people are aware that they could capture advertising and corporate sponsorship. The dream is to ‘go viral’, establishing a career as a cultural creator.”

The research also highlights the risks contained in a world dominated by personal visibility with the Victim left to suffer personal exposure and shame following the creation and display of intimate material such as sexting and the loss of control of this material.

The victim

The Victim’s high visibility is often out of their control with their presence and heightened without their consent as private material is extracted from them and exchanged under false premises.

This can vary from the frustration of being tagged in photographs and the creation of an unflattering digital footprint through the activities of others to the more invasive techniques of fraping, where a person’s online identity is hijacked without their permission, or sharing of intimate photographs.

Dr Berriman said, “These examples reveal the impossibility of non- participation in the world of social media. A teenager does not necessarily have to create an online persona, it is something that can be created by others.”

This is great food for thought for anyone trying to catch the attention of teenagers online. You may even need to consider four different approaches when targeting the teen market. Thanks, science!

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The Internet Crosses 4 Billion-User Mark

January 30, 2018 No Comments

80 percent of the world’s Internet users are active on social media

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

Social media management platform Hootsuite, and We Are Social, the global socially-led creative agency, have released Digital in 2018, a report of social media and digital trends around the world.

Representing 239 countries and territories, the seventh annual report finds the number of Internet users in the world has now surpassed the 4 billion mark, putting more than half the global population online. Of that, social media brings nearly 3.2 billion active users online to connect with each other, consume media, interact with brands, and more.

The 2018 key findings include:

Internet user numbers increased 7 percent in the last 12 months to hit 4.021 billion, or 53 percent of the world’s population
Global social media usage has increased by 13 percent in the last 12 months, reaching 3.196 billion users
Mobile social media usage has increased by 14 percent year over year to 2.958 billion users, with 93 percent of social media users accessing social from mobile
Internet users are projected to spend a combined total of 1 billion years online in 2018, of which 325 million years will be spent on social media

The report also found that global growth of the Internet is propelling ecommerce forward, with 1.77 billion Internet users purchasing consumer goods online in 2017, an increase of 8 percent compared to a year ago. Collectively, consumers spent a total of USD $1.474 trillion on ecommerce platforms in the past 12 months, 16 percent more than in 2016.

Said Simon Kemp, Global Consultant, We Are Social, “With four billion people now online, connectivity is already a way of life for most of us. However, as Internet companies strive to serve the next billion users, we’ll see important changes in digital over the coming months. Audio-visual content will take priority over text – especially in social media and messaging apps – while voice commands and cameras will replace keyboards as our primary means of input. Social relationships and online communities will evolve to accommodate these new ways for people to interact with each other. This will result in rich new experiences for all of us, but businesses need to start preparing for these changes today.”

“The Digital in 2018 report highlights the continuing growth of the Internet and social media to individuals and businesses around the world. This dynamic has forever altered the customer journey as consumers and B2B professionals increasingly conduct research, make buying decisions, seek support, and recommend brands online. To achieve competitive advantage, all executives must dive deep into digital now, meeting their customers where they are to best market, sell, and serve them,” said Penny Wilson, CMO, Hootsuite.

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6 ways ad agencies can thrive in an AI-first world

January 17, 2018 No Comments

By Frederick Vallaeys

Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) will change the way search marketers do business. In the latest article in his multipart series on PPC and AI, columnist Frederick Vallaeys shares his strategies for keeping your agency successful in a world of AI-first PPC.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have long been part of PPC — so why are AI and machine learning all of a sudden such hot topics? It is, in part, because exponential advances have now brought technology to the point where it can legitimately compete with the performance and precision of human account managers.

I recently covered the new roles humans should play in PPC as automation takes over. In this post, I’ll offer some ideas for what online marketing agencies should consider doing to remain successful in a world of AI-driven PPC management.

[Read the full article on Search Engine Land.]

By Frederick Vallaeys

Sourced from Marketing Land