The lines between digital, mobile, technology and apps are blurring in today’s world. We at Robosoft are keen followers of developments in this arena. Here’s a quick summary of what’s buzzing:
2016 Internet Trends Report: what’s in store?
Mary Meeker presented her much-awaited Internet Trends Report for this year at the Code Conference held last week. Some of the most important takeaways: slowness in global Internet growth (the one bright spot being India which has seen 40% Y-o-Y user growth, to become the second-largest online population surpassing US), the likely growth of searches being led by either images or speech and the chance of messaging apps becoming the go-to place for interaction. The report only confirms what others have been predicting for a while.
The 213 slides are a goldmine of information but if you don’t want to get into the details you can skim through some of the best slides from the report on TechCrunch or five highlights from it on Forbes.
Is Instagram the new platform for business?
Instagram has come a long way from being an iOS only app to a massive social networking app on all major platforms for sharing photos and videos. With 73% of Instagrammers aged between 15-35 years of age, it is one of the best places for the brands to connect with the millennials. Keeping this in mind, Instagram has opened up new Instagram Business Tools for them to take advantage of the platform. The new tools include business profiles, insights and promote. Instagram is rolling out these features first in the US, Australia and New Zealand in the coming months, and by the end of the year it is likely to be available in all regions.
The timely move from Instagram further adds to the emerging new business model for conversational commerce. It will also help the users engage more with a brand and at the same time the brands would also be close to their targets. Now, it’s up to the brands to experiment and find out how the tools can help them create sophisticated marketing campaigns.
Facebook is discontinuing chat
It was only a matter of time before Facebook discontinued its chat app on the mobile site. The social networking site is now warning users that the conversations would now move to Messenger. The push to Messenger might be irksome to those using an old OS or who cannot upgrade to the latest version of an OS, but there are some brighter sides to installing Messenger on your phone.
Switching to the standalone Messenger app means you get access to a number of features like videos, a number of fun stickers and most importantly chat-bots, that will help you get number of things done with just a few interaction in the coming days.
Are chatbots the new platform for sports viewing?
The way we watch sports today has completely changed. It doesn’t matter whether you are watching a game live from the comfort of your living room or while traveling in a tube. Mobile apps, live streaming apps and live sports feed on social media have made sports viewing even more entertaining than before. In this context NBA has been really quick to adapt to this changing environment.
Just a few days ago, NBA has launched a bot for Facebook Messenger. However, owing to the newness of the medium the bot will only be able to offer on-demand highlights of a team or player. It will make it much easier for basketball fans to have the videos of their favorite players in a central location.
