Future Foundation: The real-time revolution

We are living in a real-time age. New, relevant information is being created all the time – blogs are posted, news broken, data logged, statuses updated, locations tagged, queries posed and opinions vented.   In this month’s article, Future Foundation take a look at some of the key drivers behind the real-time revolution and how marketers can capitalise on the trend…

News – right here, right now

It is impossible not to be struck by just how much real-time activity infiltrates our news, media and entertainment consumption these days. 24 hour, minute by minute reporting on live events, news tickers and feeds on the latest stories are ubiquitous across the internet.

Equally, it is hard not to acknowledge the highly energised role citizen-journalism now holds within the wider media landscape. Alongside the comments, articles and videos shared alerting us to wide-ranging topics and news items in a creatively de-schedulised manner, there is more room than ever before for citizen-led discussion of the news thanks to social networks, blogs and comments sections on online news sites.

The Iranian Presidential elections of 2009 are a powerful example of the impact of real-time news – even as the government fought to keep news of the political unrest from the media spotlight, protesters broke through the media lockdown to bring live news and images to the world. In one hour alone, 221, 744 tweets about Iran were posted on Twitter. From cyber attacks on the state-run website to a video condolence message from Obama, an outpouring of support for Iran’s protesters unfolded online, defying the strictures and censures of traditional media.

It would seem that media and content owners are beginning to pay intense attention to this growing appetite for fresh opinion and reaction.  Best known is Twitter’s partnership with Google, which marks a shift from static data towards a constantly up-to-date flow of information that is freshly created – straight from the consumer’s mouth, untainted and raw.  Looking to other sources, we note The Guardian‘s Zeitgeist filter, which displays stories, articles and headlines that at the time of viewing are the ones most popular with readers.  Similarly, during a televised debate during the General Election campaign, ITV tracked the reactions of a live audience and also monitored Twitter posts in order to gauge changing levels of sentiment towards the three debating candidates, minute by minute.

Culture of Immediacy

So why this urgent impulse for the instantaneous media ‘fix’?  Its roots lie in the well-established nVision trend Culture of Immediacy, which posits that we live in an era where time has become one of our most highly valued commodities; “having time, making time, saving time, buying time” have become everyday phrases.   As consumers we are becoming increasingly used to having to manage our time and cope with the often-felt compulsion to be ‘wired at all times’ – looking at the chart below, we see that more than half of consumers are interested in technology that saves them time, rising to 64% of 18-24 year olds.

Transparency

Meanwhile, for many years now, the Future Foundation has been tracking a steadily-rising distrust of big organisations, and a desire for greater openness and penetrability.  Looking at the chart below, it is clear that trust in companies is declining rapidly – in 1980, 14% of consumers disagreed with the statement “most companies in this country are consumers”.  By 2009, this had increased to 40% – and looking to 2014, this is forecast to rise to more than half.

Thanks to the ubiquity of real-time information in the public domain, it is now almost impossible to conceal anything from consumers – they can do their own background research to uncover the truth behind virtually any issue, turning themselves into investigative journalists whenever the need arises, then broadcasting a positive or negative viewpoint to billions.

While not all customer problems will always be solvable in real-time contexts, nor will all consumers welcome brands entering their social conversations uninvited, having the ability to converse with brands in real-time settings, receive speedier services and up-to-date information is more and more a pressing consumer expectation.

The future of real-time

The real-time revolution is a cultural and consumer force of impressive reach that is only just beginning to reveal some of its potential. In almost every arena, there is little opportunity for us all not to be informed, updated and empowered through real-time services while the abundance of instantly retrievable information is enabling consumers to make better, more informed, more confident decisions at breakneck speed.

Naturally, it would be remiss not to underline that the mobile internet is a huge rumbling force driving the expansion of relevant real-time services in our lives. When unleashed from fixed-access points, the real-time web places content into the pockets and palms of consumers wherever they may be, bridging gaps between online and offline worlds and this is fast revolutionising the consumer experience in various everyday situations.

Turning to the media once more, we wonder if the real-time revolution is set to transform the live TV broadcast, placing our reactions to sports events, political debate, talent shows into the heart of the media and entertainment experience? Will our future TVs stream comments on screen that react to what we are watching? Could our friends tempt us to switch channels through their tweets?

Whatever the future holds, we can be sure it will be lived in real-time.