Famine City

Digital behaviors follow you and privacy is dead

 

About a week ago, my seven year old son asks me at breakfast "dad, what is sexting?" Though I wasn't prepared for the question, I did manage a good response.  At a larger level what stood out as my future challenge is making the digital behaviors an issue that my kids should take seriously. It's a stark new reality. Our young people may not understand or appreciate the lasting impact of their digital behaviors. Digital behaviors follow you and there is no such thing as privacy. Privacy is dead. 

First and foremost, your digital behaviors follow you. Behind every text, every search and tweet is a little digital footprint, some of them self-disclosed, some of them not. As I was preparing a presentation recently, I thought I'd go investigating some of the most recent posts from TextsFromLastNight.com. This site basically is a submission site for funny, risque text messages that are often related to alcohol, drugs or sex. Within a span of about fifteen minutes, I was able to find the originator of at least 4 comments with minimal effort. In fact there is no guarantee these individuals consented to sharing this content, but I still found them rather easily. The message is clear, digital footprints will always lead back to originator. As organizations, we are expected to take the privacy of our patrons very, very seriously. As consumers in a digital world, we are willfully giving up our privacy more so than ever.

The problem isn't just limited to messages and pictures that we send through our phones. It's also our location. A recent site has received a bit of attention, www.pleaserobme.com. This site basically scours Twitter and posts individual's locations that have been self-published via FourSquare. The notion of the site is to raise awareness on our own self-disclosure or our current location, which may not be at home. While good companies of the world are finding new and innovative ways to offer goods and services to our potential consumers, there is a contingent that will use these services for ill. Be ready. 

So far, we've covered text messaging and pictures. However, those are quickly going to take the backseat to full streaming video. Web video is the future and it's here today, complete with cameras in our netbooks, laptops and mobile phones backed by high speed networks. I am very concerned about this growing digital behavior. You might be concerned about adult websites and the YouTubes, but I'd put those on the backseat. It's not those websites I am worried about. Enter Chat Roulette that was created by a 17-year old digital native that wanted to chat with people around the world. The site basically allows you to randomly chat with whoever is connected to the service. Daniel Tosh, comedian, recently had a skit on it that seemed about right; about every chat seemed to be some guy with genitalia in front of his webcam. With the media hyping this site, which is having the exact opposite effect of what they are reporting, the site's popularity has grown to 881, according to Alexa (US). No age checks, no verification and just about every computer made today is equipped to participate. Check please, call me "officially" scared.  

Not all privacy disclosure is necessarily bad. As I mentioned previously, people are willfully giving up their privacy and we're going to continue to see this behavior grow. In fact, we're going to be incentivized to give up more in the future. Places like Mint.com offers a service for us to give up some of our privacy. They give us financial modeling and in return we provide them with our consumer transaction behavior. We also see this with our loyalty cards in most of our grocery stores. We let them track us and they sell our data to marketers/researchers. In return they provide us with lower prices (not sure about this) and custom coupons. My expectation is this type of tracking will soon make it's way to health insurance companies too. Insurance companies will incentivize us to disclose our health related data, they'll sell this data. In return we'll get free prescriptions, lower premiums or some other cross subsidy. I welcome things like this because scale data of that sort can ultimately lead to better outcomes for patient care (if used properly). It's a win-win in my book. Not all privacy disclosure is bad. 

This piece isn't just about privacy. It's about what to teach your digital natives about technology and unforeseen outcomes of changes in the digital space. Here's my quick guide:

• Transparency: I quite hate this term, but I'll use it anyway. Mark Zuckerburg recently said, “public is the new social norm”, ergo there is nothing private. As I explained to my seven year old, our lives are open books, let's embrace it (leveraging it when we can). There are good consequences to our behaviors and bad consequences to our behaviors. Let's make a choice to make sure there's a lot more marks in the good consequences column. Aside: Good blog piece on this subject from Critical Mass. 
  
• Connect online to offline: In the not so distant past, digital behaviors were separated from our offline existence. This is no longer the case. Your digital behaviors can have severe impact online and offline. 
  
• Long lasting effects: Once data is digitized, it is stored, cached, recorded, emailed, texted and so forth. The implications of one's behaviors can have lasting repercussions.
  
• Teach it: You can't escape the society that we live in. We're officially connected. I think this might be as important as teaching a kid about drugs or alcohol. 

I realize that my family is inundated with technology as it is part of our livelihood, maybe more than most. I cannot nor want to escape this. I want to deal with this upfront. I think it will position my kids for success in the future. Therefore I try to teach the right behavior at every opportunity possible. I want to reinforce our other values so that their online and offline behaviors are consistent in the new reality where privacy is gone and our digital behaviors are with us for a long, long time. 

follow me on twitter @marty_b

Meet the New Digital Native

In full disclosure, the child in the video is one my children. While he is my child, my hope is this post does not appear narcissistic. 

Meet Brady. 

Brady is 4 years old. 

Brady knows how to read. 

Brady knows how to do basic math. 

Brady knows how to use Facebook. He doesn't have a profile, but he likes to play Fishlife on Facebook.  

Brady plays games on the Wii.

Brady knows how to use the Tivo. He also knows how to skip your commercials using the Tivo. 

Brady knows how to watch his favorite cartoons via Netflix.  

Brady likes to watch movies on YouTube.  

Brady knows how to use Google.

Brady knows how to use an iPhone.

Brady is a digital native. 

As a reminder, Brady is four years old and he knows how to use a variety of digital technologies. He is the new testing standard if an application is designed well. If someone needs to explain how to use your application, tool or website, you might be in trouble. And Brady isn't alone. 

Our little digital natives are raising the bar on digital design, whether on hardware or on your website. I was discussing with a colleague at another company and we were exchanging thoughts about how our four year olds use technology--desktop computers, websites and mobile devices. We were discussing the question of usability, especially around the Apple devices. Has the usability of the devices become so good that our digital natives can figure it out without prompting? Or might it be they don't have any "ghost rules"? Meaning they don't have preconceived notions about the way things work. Therefore they aren't annoyed when things don't work the way they expect them to and hyper-learn around any usability issues. Welcome to our future consumers.

How can a four year old child use the applications and devices that still confound many adults? After much thought on the subject, I'm going to borrow the thinking and approach from Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, it's rapid cognition. Our little digital natives have been exposed, actively and passively, to so much digital behavior that the usability of technology, hardware or software, they are able to rapidly deduce the usability of our devices without thinking. They don't deliberate on how something works or why it should work in a certain way. They simply find the critical pieces of information and try something else, but without actively thinking of it. If it doesn't function one way, they apply the other hundreds of other ways to use/consume the information. They no longer actively "think" about the technology or usability. They simply act with critical pieces of information. Our digital natives may grow up to be the most transactional users we've ever seen.  

In the new world of applications and devices, they have to work like you'd expect them to work or so easy that a four year old could use it. Perhaps we need to stop testing with all of our target markets and bring in legions of pre-schoolers. Then ask them if they can find or locate a desired result on our applications or website. See what happens. While this is partially tongue in cheek, get ready for the new users of our applications and websites. Our little digital natives are going to be more transactional than ever. With so many digital tools at their disposal, they'll navigate around whatever experience you want them to take--obvious implications for marketers everywhere. You'll get two clicks on your website, if you're lucky. Be usable or be forgotten. 

Our digital behaviors are having major impacts on media consumption as a whole. Little digital natives no longer need to watch television, though they will. They can find their favorite shows on YouTube, Netflix. Sure we can still market to big audiences on the big tube, but gone soon enough will be the days of channel surfing. It will be channel searching. The most important screens won't be the ones in the living room either. It will be the ones in their hands. Transactional behaviors and omnipresent media will be the expectation not the exception for these little folks. 

Where to start? Easy. Make sure your apps and sites are so easy a four year old could use it. Ask the adults about brand impression or favorability. Ask the kids about the usability of it. They don't think. They use. Start there. 

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Comment: I expect some feedback about my kid's use of digital technology from a parenting perspective. We are probably more conservative than most about the information they consume, it's a constant conversation in our house. We are a digital household, my wife and I are both into technology for work and play. Our kids will be digital experts. I appreciate comments about the core point of this piece. However, if you are thinking of leaving a comment about parental education or proselytizing to us about how we're raising our children, please don't bother.  

follow me on twitter @marty_b

I don't know how interesting I find the core disagreement between Kevin Smith and SouthWest Airlines, but I will tell you it's one helluva a story to consider as social media meets customer service. It's like they kicked off the wrong fat man. I commend Southwest for trying to live their equity in the space. They've responded and contacted Kevin. However, at the core there's a lot of interpretation to the Too Fat Too Fly rule. It's pretty gray. That's not judgement on either side, but there's clearly not a winner in this situation. It's that gray matter that always gets in the way of real progress. It's also where most of life occurs.



It's never anything rather intellectual that gets our attention. It's something personal, deeply personal here. I'm fascinated to watch this little debacle transpire. I admire Kevin for dealing with a tough situation, personal insecurity in a public space, very difficult. On the flip side, Southwest is trying their best to live up to their social media style. Surely, it'll be an Adage article soon enough. However, I stick with my initial assessment, stupid rule with too much gray area to be effectively enforced. Sad.



Southwest's side: http://www.blogsouthwest.com/blog/my-conversation-with-kevin-smith-0



Kevin's side: http://silentbobspeaks.com/?p=393

Delta Electronic Boarding Pass = WIN

A couple weeks ago I had the good pleasure of visiting Vegas. As a technoid and a traveler, I was pretty excited to see there was an electronic boarding pass option for my flight when checking in on Delta's website. Finally, an easy way to get my boarding pass to my phone, one less piece of something that I need to think about during travel. Previous to this experience, about a month ago, I tried an to use an electronic boarding option for United with no success. So I was excited to see the option and used it successfully, but not without considerations. 

Correction: I received a tweet with the more accurate standard. If you're interested visit: http://2d-code.co.uk/iata-standard/

So what is an electronic boarding pass? It's a QR code, or more accurately 2d bar code that contains all of your flight and ticket information which allows TSA and the gate agent to scan the details of your ticket. For Delta, when you select an electronic boarding pass during check in on their website, they ask for your mobile number. You are then sent a link via SMS message which you can then browse to via your mobile device to retrieve your electronic boarding pass. This allows for any phone with SMS and mobile web browsing to use the electronic boarding pass functionality. The QR code appears as a JPG on your phone. You present it when needed at TSA/gate. Simple enough. 

While traveling out to Vegas, my comrades and I mostly used the electronic boarding passes. I was surprised to hear the gate agent say this was the most that he had seen on any single flight--personally I was waiting for sirens to go off, but all went off without a hitch on the way out. <<< Notice the use of foreshadowing here, eighth grade literature wasn't lost on me Ms. Jenkins :)

What would make this little bit of easy even better? Being able to sign in from their mobile website and send the electronic version of the boarding pass back to your phone. This way, you can completely bypass the whole desktop user experience. Well needless to say, it's available. Delta uses a portal technology, Usablenet.com, which basically creates a mobile site from your existing site. It allows you to check in, change your seat and send the boarding pass to your phone. I'm in love with taking one less thing with me and had zero problems with this. It's expected that by 2011 all airlines will be using this technology. If it's not available to you today, it will be in the near future. 

As a sidenote, if you are a frequent traveler consider adding http://www.usablenet.com to your boormarks or favorites. They have content for many hotels and transportion options via their mobile portal. Good to have handy. While I've talked to a few folks that are not as keen on the mobile site from Delta and other Usablenet.com supported sites, I'm to the minimalist side of things. Provide basic functionality, verify it works and then extend the functionality as mass use comes to fruition. 

Like many things, this electronic boarding pass system is far from perfect. We had one person that had the electronic boarding pass up on their phone before they arrived at the TSA agent. He switched browsers or something on his iPhone and when he got to the TSA agent, he could not show it to the agent. This was problematic. However, if your phone happened to run out of juice that could also be a problem as well. The worst case scenario in either case is that you'd have to go request a paper ticket. This did not cause any significant delays for him, but if you were tight on time or something like that I could imagine some stress. However, these odds are about the same as other travel woes in my guesstimation. 

I love this system of of airline boarding. It just makes sense and is a great use of technology. Though this has been available in Western Europe for a number of years, I'm very excited to see it take place in the airline industry. The airline industry is what I would consider a highly protected industry. If QR codes and 2D barcodes can get government adoption, I imagine that things like mobile coupons will have a much better opportunity to be adopted if standard is set in the airline industry. 

Adopting new technologies one day at a time. 

follow me on twitter @marty_b

Aww schnapp. Finally, you can order software for the Wii to watch/use Netflix through it. Solid.

To iPad or not to iPad

The much ballyhooed iPad will be arriving pretty soon and there is a ton to think about with this device. Apple clearly built on their successes and even took a few issues with them into the new product offering. Whether or not you buy this device, it’s a step forward for network computers and lightweight computing. Surprisingly enough, one of the winners with the iPad might be Google (again). The other winner might be higher education. The question is whether or not Apple is taking aim at its future business model, publishing? Finally, if you are a marketer, how you should approach the iPad.

If you said the iPad is an overgrown iPhone and you’d be pretty much on point. The iPad is taking advantage of all the successes that the iPod started creating almost ten years ago. Some of the successes include:

• Capitalizing on a scale user base
• Centralized app store through iTunes: This facilitates an easy way to purchase, install and remove applications on the device.
• Simplified control interface: Controls are highly similar across many applications, in location, modification and configuration. This simplifies usage of the device, which is especially important for the iPhone.
• Centralized developer services: While there may be people pro or con about Apple’s management of the developer resources on the App Store/iTunes, there are very few people that I hear complaining about crashes with core functionality of the phone, web and email when installing new applications. This means they probably have quality control down pretty well.
• GPS services: The device uses A-GPS, assisted GPS, for the ever growing location based service industry.
• Uses many of the same core applications on the device, from iTunes, Safari and email.
• It uses network computing or lightweight computing to its best ability, using and obtaining data for network services as needed instead of loading it onto the hard drive of the device.
• Good battery life.
• Backwards compatibility with your favorite iPhone applications

With that being said, there are some incumbent problems that are also being inherited from the iPhone as well:  

• The AT&T’s G-network coverage is not exactly stellar.
• Lack of Flash support.
• No camera on this device: Rumor has it this might change.
• No video streaming with the device: Streaming may be possible, but local storage probably not a great idea.
• No additional memory option.
• OLED screen: An OLED screen uses much less power and is easier on the eyes.
• Will not run multiple applications simultaneously.
• Lacks support for multiple users, not an issue on the iPhone, but certainly for the iPad. 

While the promise of HTML 5 (don't let it escape you that both Google and Apple contributed to tech specifications) makes the need for Flash non-existent, it’s a miss on the web today. This takes the multimedia capabilities of this device considerably less, think Hulu or Netflix. HTML 5 is still a promise and not ready to deliver to the consumers today. Therefore, not supporting Flash is a huge miss. However, like most things Apple I would expect some type of fix for this to be in the pipeline not long after the release. My suspicion is that when full video is released for places like Netflix and Hulu, it will be a WiFi only service. Today, the rumors have it that the network simply cannot handle the extra load it would create on the network. Again, Apple tends to have some type of “fix” for deficiencies that usually end up profiting their business.

One of the main successes pf the iPhone platform is the lightweight nature of the applications. The iPad will also capitalize on this success. The applications on the iDevices are a graceful mix of utility and marketing quite often. The iPhone personifies application marketing better than any other product/service, sans Google, providing users both service and utility. Look for this trend to continue on the iPad by providing lightweight and network dependent applications that utilize technology better well.

Another exploit for the iPad will be the realization of the network computing dream (at least it is closer). For the 70-80% of consumers that simply need email, word processing, web browsing, search and some multimedia usage, the iPad will handle these services gracefully. The reason why this will work on the iPad vs the netbook is simple: The netbook is so much like a laptop, our consumer expectations and behaviors are the same—we were disappointed when our netbook did not function like our desktop computer. The form and function the iPad provides will set that expectation correctly, providing lightweight network applications efficiently.

When you do think of network computing, perhaps the clear owner of this in the consumer arena is Google. They will also benefit from this device. At the core of the iPad it is a network computing device that relies on networks to be present to really have any level of functionality. They have a suite of applications like, Gmail, Google Docs, Maps, Latitude and Google Search that will be ready to deploy on the iPad the second it ships. Google has mastered the art of creating usable network apps. The iPad will simply add to Google’s scale.

Apple has learned from history. If you want to be indoctrinated with generations to come, you get them when they are learning consumer behaviors like in college. The iPad is going to be a mainstay in higher education institutions. My prediction is there will be adoption at colleges by the fall of 2010. The iPad is a boon for the classroom, especially at the college level where connected classrooms are growing. Better battery life allows the device to make it through an entire academic day. The iPad provides an easy way to interact with connected classrooms—answering polls, comments and such in real time. Remember, engagement doesn’t just happen on your website any more. It’s going to happen in the classroom as well. Students are growing to expect this as part of the classroom experience. Finally academic institutions can begin to control the costs of books which are ridiculously high. Publishers like this because they are finally going to be a hero. They can actually lower the cost of a textbook and keep more of the proceeds from their sales. It’s a win-win for Apple, textbook publishers and higher education. Remember: Students want Apple products. There is an implied equity and purchase path/history. Education was always an equity mainstay for Apple and they are returning to this heritage.

The real question is will Apple change their core business model. The publishing model in terms of applications, music and textbooks might prove to be an easier, more sustainable business than their desktop computing division over time. They simply provide the purchasing mechanism, scale audience and serve as a quality gatekeeper for their platform, making money off the transactions between publisher and consumer. For Apple to continue this model, they’ll need to keep delivering on the elegance of the Apple experience, new innovations every 2-3 years. They have a unique ability to create products people want. I think this is a unique advantage over other ebook platforms. The Apple experience isn’t just in the utility of the product. It starts with the packaging. It’s a bit of a luxury product that delivers at every step of a transaction, three equal parts of elegance, utility and want. Therefore I believe that the iPad will be successful. Apple has transformed the music industry. If they succeed in college publishing, expect magazines and newspapers to quickly follow. In fact, Apple just might save newspapers for a few more years, finally providing them a viable subscription model. Then it’s on to the biggie. Television. If Apple truly enters the television market, looking like a Netflix partnership in my mind, watch out cable companies.

As a marketer and wondering what the iPad means for you? It's easy. Focus on what you do well. Then extend your brand onto the platform. Think of products and services like Spark People, Mint or Pandora. They simply extend their desktop functionality onto your mobile device. It’s a wonderful convergence and a natural extension of their brand today. Like the iPhone, the iPad will continue to dissolve the lines between the mobile web and web. The brands that succeed in this space will be those that actually provide a service or utility on the device. Don’t try to do everything well. Find natural information or service you brand can own on the device and start there.

Follow me on twitter @marty_b

Short post on today's technology tidbits



- Finally, electronic Board Passes for a flight. Today I went to check-in for a flight on Delta tomorrow and I had the option for an electronic boarding pass. I had a flight a couple months ago and it was not functioning. Today it gave me the option to print, or it would txt me the link to a QR code on a WAP site. So I'm going to use it tomorrow. I don't expect any problems with this, but still the group that I'm going with was thinking of printing out boarding passes. You know, just in case. A great use of QR codes, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code .



- Another finally. Apple, http://www.apple.com/ipad/ , released the iPad today. It's $499 dollars. A simple laptop based on many of the technologies that's already working on a smaller device, i.e. iPhone. I think this is an important step to cloud computing. It's always connected, access to Google Docs, email and I'm pretty much set. I'm wondering if this could be a Kindle Killer. Lots more utility, but not a ton more in price. Just sayin.



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Will Haiti increase awareness of mobile commerce?

 

According to an article on Inforum the text to donate program for Hatian Relief has been extraordinarily successful:

The American Red Cross has raised more than $22 million for Haiti earthquake relief, all from text message donations. By texting the word "Haiti" to the number 9-0-9-9-9, a $10 donation is automatically sent to the Red Cross Earthquake fund. That donation amounts to about a fifth of the $112 million the Red Cross has raised to help Haiti so far.

I am very excited and pleased that this effort has been successful. However, after much reluctance for mobile commerce to take off here in the US, I'm left with a number of questions? Are people donating because of emotion? Is it because they do not have to setup a new payment service? Why are people embracing donations in this way? And then, beyond the unfortunate circumstances in Haiti: When is mobile commerce going to take off? Will this effort be the catalyst that finally germinates the seed of mobile commerce in North America? Unfortunately, I don't have most of the answers, simply more questions. 

I am left confused why people have not exploited mobile commerce. In tough economic times, taking on a new way that might allow more commerce seems like an easy call to make. Even though (my guess) is that providers like Mpayy might have high transaction costs in some cases, in a down economy even marginal sales could be important. It would also enable credit at events where cash has traditionally been king, like outdoor festivals and events. 

On the upside, I am seeing more and more mobile payment applications in the app store. While that obviously only applies to iPhones, it seems this user based might be more apt to use mobile payments. There are applications like FonePays that allow for SMS based dollar exchange. There's also services like YAP which basically is a credit card like system with an SMS interface. It's a system where you load money into it, accessing and transferring dollars from your mobile device. For a service like YAP, if they prove it works, it'd be easier for a company like American Express to simply offer this service. However, there always has to be a trailblazer and YAP might be that trailblazer. 

At a base level, I don't see why businesses have not even tried to exploit PayPal? PayPal is an easy way to integrate all of your online and credit card payments. There's also a PayPal app as well for the iPhone. You can pay your bill via PayPal. I'm simply wondering why I have not seen it somewhere outside of the online space. While I do understand that cost can be prohibitive at times for some businesses (PayPal isn't cheap), but it's also the cost of doing business at some level. 

Will 2010 be the year of mcommerce? No, I cannot say it will be. However, I will say that the events in Haiti will lead to increased awareness mobile commerce. Additionally, I do hope and anticipate that towards the end of the year we may see some of the mobile pay services pop up in the largest of our US metropolitan areas. I would also expect that a company like Google, PayPal or American Express will be the that does have payment services will lead the way in this arena. 

follow me on twitter @marty_b

Location based services: please suck less

Last year, Gartner reported some strong potential of location based services. Gartner even claimed the users would more than double from 41-million to over 95-million while revenue would top over $2.2 billion. Being an early integrator, I love the thought of what location based services could and might supply, but I just have one message today: suck less. 

For background, a location based service or LBS, courtesy of Wikipedia A location-based service (LBS) is an information and entertainment service, accessible with mobile devices through the mobile network and utilizing the ability to make use of the geographical position of the mobile device. LBS services can be used in a variety of contexts, such as health, work, personal life, etc. LBS services include services to identify a location of a person or object, such as discovering the nearest banking cash machine or the whereabouts of a friend or employee. They are an example of telecommunication convergence.

Every year a group of friends and I head out to Las Vegas a week before the Super Bowl. It's a tradition now that we're on a third year. It all started as a hallway conversation and the next thing you now we had 7 guys heading to Vegas the following weekend. On our third year, our group has grown around 20 or so. At twenty people, it becomes harder and harder to manage who is with who and where in Vegas. It's pretty typical for a group to go one place while another goes someplace else. This year we've been trying to plan more than ever since the group has grown. A number of us have been testing out location based services and it as the titles says, sucks. 

What makes this technology near unusable or at the very least very unreliable in Cincinnati? I'll just bullet point a few thoughts here (I've heard my blog posts are too long). 

• It's accuracy is less than perfect. I can be sitting next to my wife, both with iPhones and Google Latitude whipped out. According to the application, we're miles apart. This happens with many people on my friend list. 
• You may say, try another app. It's not the app. Most LBS services on mobile phones, where the real potential lies, typically use the Google Maps technology/algorithm. This includes most of the popular applications like FourSquare, Loopt and Google Latitude. Note: if someone knows this to be untrue, please let me know as I could not locate it from a quick API scan. 
• There are numerous locating methodologies from AGPS (assisted GPS) to WiFi positioning to triangulation, all available on the iPhone. However with my friends and I trying the different apps and phones, the HTC phones seemingly are the worst offenders (thinking they are triangulating). If you're interested in such fanaticism (as I am), you can find a trilateration model here, the suspected iPhone location modeling and a comparison of the locating models here.

Warning: bout to get geeky. 

There is hope. It might not be the technology or the phones,  AGPS or HTC. It might be the cellular network here in Cincinnati for AT&T. This has been the one consistency between everyone that is trying the service with our group of friends. Because of the nature of transmitting that much data, most celluar phone companies use a bit of triangulation on top of the GPS signal. It keeps the cellular provider from having to provide that much data to the phone/network. It also explains why a regular car GPS, which may use between 5-7 satellites is more accurate. The more satellites, the more triangulations and points to do some math, ergo a more accurate location. Therefore, perhaps the accuracy problem for the phone's GPS is the cellular networks. Cincinnati notoriously has one of the worst cellular networks ever. My hope is that Vegas will be more accurate, at least for our trip. 

End geeky explanation. 

If you are a typical consumer, you just want this stuff to work. You don't care how it all works underneath. Just live up to your expectations. You are right. Just work as you intend. Simply put, you want it to know where you are and tell you where your friends/services are located in direct proximity to your existing location. Now that you expect things to know where you are, there's a real service and growing reliance on these services. In other words, it's a burgeoning channel for communicating with consumers. Albeit less than perfect one today, still a growing model for all intent and purpose.

Because of that potential, it would seem to me that mobile phone carriers would be upgrading their networks systematically. Especially in large cities with big companies that spend millions and millions of marketing dollars. One could say that they should prioritize such locations, one such might just be Cincinnati. If they can prove the quality of these services, they will grow their potential opportunities by providing value added services back to the consumer. This means for higher adoption, more profit and more data gathered on mobile consumers they can sell back to big companies.

LBS, please suck a little less next year. Mobile carriers, please upgrade your networks. Vegas, please have a great network ready for me. 

follow me on twitter @marty_b

Economists might be the computer scientists of tomrorow

Over the past few years the some of the fastest growing professions have been in the area of technology and healthcare services. You can see the predictions to the right here from the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the growing professions from 2008-2018. While not on this list, I think that economists are going to have a growth spurt or rise in demand in the coming years. Why? 

The why is simple. We need people to make sense out of all of the data we are collecting everywhere around us. Economists might just have the best suited skill and tool set that aid in deconstructing this level of scale data. 

Wikipedia's entry, courtesy of The Economist, says:

Economists work in many fields including academia, government and in the private sector, where they may also "...study data and statistics in order to spot trends in economic activity, economic confidence levels, and consumer attitudes. They assess this information using advanced methods in statistical analysis, mathematics, computer programming [and] they make recommendations about ways to improve the efficiency of a system or take advantage of trends as they begin. 

Economists have a unique tool set. One that isn't really found in a ton of fields. Economists are trained in dealing with scale or volumes of data. In fact, they thrive one it. They also have the unique ability to analyze the data with statistical analysis and mathematics. However, most often people think immediately of dollars when thinking about economists, but that's not at the heart of it. It's the study of incentives and what levers (read incentives) will drive a particular behavior. 

If you notice, I just mentioned behavior. That's because economics is a social science. It's grounded just enough in the social science with the tools of a math-a-magician. This, as it turns out, is about the perfect mix or skills and tools to make sense of the ever growing volumes of data that we are accumulating. There is so much information and data that we cannot ever begin to know what to do with it. However, that is where economists come in to assist and make sense of it. 

I've read Freakonomics and am currently reading Superfreakonomics. Of course, Levitt and Dubner have talent, unique insight and are (obviously) great writers. However, what stands out about the books are that when you pickup a tool set from one profession and apply it to another, there are some pretty interesting results. 

So my prediction is that economists are going to be more and more in demand in the coming years. Or said more like an economist: the price of their services will increase as consumer demand for their services increase. The raise in incentives for the profession will pull more people into it. 

I love this blog from Jodi Beggs, Economists Do It With Models. She's smart, funnny and interesting. 

 

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