Work that matters
Keeping up to date with the latest consumer, market, social and ethical trends is essential for any organisation hoping to thrive in their industry. And that’s why here at Creative Concern, we’re looking ahead to what we expect the biggest sustainability and social trends will be in 2019!
Online and social trends can change in a matter of minutes but until the next phase is invented, here are Creative Concern’s top 5 trend predictions for 2019.
#5 Livestreaming
Livestreaming blew up out of nowhere in the last couple of years as suddenly YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat all updated with the capabilities. Livestreaming is the process of streaming live video broadcasts to an audience on the internet.
The popularity in recent years has often been attributed to the rise in social media, the advancements of internet connections and mobile camera software.
From the White House’s official live streams watched by millions to a random person in your neighbourhood broadcasting to 3 family members, it really is an accessible technology that is increasingly being used by businesses to share meetings, interviews and information instantaneously.
#4 Dark Social (WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger etc.) will take over public sharing
Whilst most of our other trend predictions see social media growing and growing, especially in the corporate and business sectors, a vast number of people are choosing to switch off from these mediums. Dark social – or private instant messaging – though still an online sharing tool allow users to share images, video, voice notes and text messages instantly, and in the case of WhatsApp, securely with their data encryption.
Perhaps 2019 will see less public sharing and more personal interactions with the growing use of Dark Social?
#3 The continuing rise of the YouTube and Instagram ‘influencers’
At one time they may have been labelled as celebrities or bloggers, now they are called influencers and we believe their popularity, and influence, will continue to prosper in 2019.
With ample choice of entertainment and social interactions present in everyday life, viewers and consumers have the ability to control their own viewing experiences.
Influencers allow people the ability to follow specific individuals or channels, interact with them in an accessible way and receive personalised advertorials from them, based on shared interest with the influencer themselves.
This content management means that adverts aren’t wasted on uninterested people, instead influencers work with brands that specifically relate to their target market.
#2 Interactive adverts
Interactive adverts are becoming progressively popular and range from choosing your own narrative style options before watching a programme online to survey questions before a YouTube video. More and more companies are tapping into the appealing personalised content trend, this is not only useful to create a lasting impact in the viewers mind but also helps with monitoring and tracking engagement levels with advertising.
As technology options increase for developers, including the potential for AI technology we can only see Interactive adverts popularity increasing.
#1 Stories (Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat)
Stories are the new form of sharing that have taken over social media in the last year. Although now offered by many social media channels, Instagram is very firmly leading the way with 400 million daily users to Snapchat’s 191 million users in June 2018.
Sharing instant video that can be watched for just 24 hours (unless saved to your highlights) has an enormous appeal to many. Whilst a lot of Instagram users take pride in an artistic and edited portrayal of their life or business, Insta-stories enable us to strip back to a more playful and raw form of sharing.
The continuous stream of content and the ability to skip or replay stories allow users the unwavering viewing control they have become to desire from social media whilst allowing influencers and brands to market directly to users’ mobiles.
With new features such as geotagging, music, video editing and filters being added all the time we think stories will continue to rise in popularity over 2019.
