Shrinking margins, a downtrodden economy, a rapidly transforming Digital World, and increasing scrutiny from those outside of your company’s fishbowl are all contributing to the “fear factor”. The fear factor is a knee-jerk reaction to these challenges and the common response is to cut costs, reduce headcount, and to lay off people as you cut production or business lines.

Over the past few years we have seen this reaction in nearly every industry. That is the primary reason unemployment is so high and yes, spending is lower by customers who are also driven by their own fear factor – not being able to pay the bills, their mortgage, or put food on the table.

And yet sales of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets have continuously risen during this period. Aspects of Digital Life have flourished – more people than ever have accounts in social media venues such as Facebook and Twitter. Consumers are more conscious about what they spend their money on – but they are spending and willing to spend.

Perhaps if companies weren’t so concerned about cutting costs and were more focused on what products and services their customers are really willing to purchase, the emphasis on lay-offs and cutbacks could be shifted to providing Digital Life products and services that help their customers live a better life. Unemployment would go down, spending would go up and the goods delivered to consumers would begin to reflect their real wants and needs.

To understand how your business might escape the proverbial fishbowl and evolve to a Digital Life model that overcomes the fear factor, contact us at KeySo Global and register for a free diagnostic interview with our industry leading experts. Please email us at info@keysoglobal.com, call us at +1-847-478-1633 or visit our website www.keysoglobal.com.

Steve Benton, Principal, KeySo Global, LLC

Why offloading Motorola Mobility to Huawei makes no sense

Even before the deal is finalized the Wall Street Journal is speculating that Google will sell Motorola Mobility (MMI) to Huawei and keep just the patents because it doesn’t want to disrupt the Android ecosystem. The analysts IDC commented that since “Google doesn’t have a hardware background”, they don’t know what to do with Motorola.

The reality is more complex than either of these speculations. In acquiring the patent portfolio, Google is astute enough to realize that in the converged technology world strong hardware and software combination patents are vital. Equally, they understand that this capability needs to be maintained in order to protect the ecosystem going forward, thus acquiring the means to do this. Now it just has to be creatively integrated into the organization in such a way that everyone sees the overriding future benefits.

When looking at Google’s major operating system competitors, Apple has both the hardware and software capability but completely integrated into a closed system; Microsoft with Nokia has an integrated approach as well, even though they are touting an open system. The requirement for hardware and software is without doubt paramount for the future.

Devices beyond smartphones need to be created in order to achieve Eric Schmidt’s (Chairman of Google) objective of connecting the world. While Android in smartphones is growing rapidly, Apple still dominates the tablet space. Concepts such as Google Wallet and Google Glass will need help transferring into the world of commercial production. The acquisition of MMI provides Google with a mechanism for rapidly commercializing technology concepts into simple to use devices.

Does MMI have too many phone design teams and engineering resources for this scenario? The answer is “probably”. Could elements of this be offloaded and would Huawei be a logical acquirer? The answer is “possibly”. However, the core capability will be retained within Google in order to enable the enhanced technology future that Larry Page, Sergey Brin (co-founders of Google) and Eric Schmidt foresee for the world. This future includes enabling mesh type communications for the emerging world, facilitating the digital living room and creating the autonomous automobile. None of these will be successful without the opportunity and means to integrate hardware, software and creative vision. This is the capability that Google has acquired with MMI.

Article first published as Google & Motorola – Chinese Whispers and Puzzles on Technorati.

Digital technologies are forcing an unprecedented pace of change for business. If you don’t get on board now, you risk being left behind! To determine whether your business is on track to becoming a Digital Business, you need to ask these five questions: 

1. Do you proactively monitor the industry changes that are affecting your business?

Use web based tools to help track the impact that converged technologies are having on all aspects of your business, such as customer behaviors, new suppliers, technology trends etc. This approach will give you a holistic perspective of your industry and enable you to identify strategic options ahead of your competition.

2. Do you encourage collaborative behaviors within your organization?

It is crucial that your company provides the tools and environment that enable the sharing of knowledge and information in order to tap into one of its most valuable attributes – the tacit knowledge of your employees.

3. Do you regularly engage with communities external to your company? 

It is essential to adopt a digital mind set and rethink how your business can more effectively engage (interact, listen, learn and co-create) with the rapidly growing collective knowledge base outside of your company in order to understand changing customer requirements, generate new ideas and gain important feedback.

4. Do you disrupt your business model?

Traditional business models, tools and methodologies do not adapt well to the opportunities and threats encountered in today’s digital world. First you need to understand how the individual elements of your existing model work together and then take full advantage of digital technologies to create a disruptive new business model – before your competition does it for you!

5. Do you inspire your employees to bring innovation into the workplace?  

You need to encourage your employees to leverage the mobile and social technologies that they use in their everyday lives to generate innovative ideas that will enhance, simplify and accelerate the business processes within your company.

We at KeySo Global have developed frameworks and tools that can help you rapidly adapt to changes in the digital environment. We have assisted companies by designing and implementing development programs that produce dynamic digital strategies. Contact us at 847-478-1633 or info@keysoglobal.com  to set up an initial meeting and we’ll help you discover your digital path to success!

A Journey of Learning

Consequently we are always looking for stories that exemplify and support our frameworks and models. One of these models we codified nearly 4 years ago and submitted in a paper presented at the ITU Telecom World in 2009. An in-depth review of historic technology development showed that for a new technology industry to grow rapidly three components need to be in place and working together in unison. These component pieces are:

• Technology that is ready and deployable
• Business model that is appropriate
• Consumer requirement that is real

The paper “Digital Life Impacts on Telecom’s And Consumers” (available to download on our website) focused on the impact of converged technologies and how this would translate into a rapid explosion of consumer demand for data services with the emergence of the mobile internet.

Two weeks ago I attended Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona and listened with interest to Sunil Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director for Bharti Airtel, describe the growth of mobile technology in India. What fascinated me about his story was the recognition that a proven business model has to change according to the market context when both the technology and consumer demand are there, and his story linked all this together in a very powerful way.

Compelling Story

Mittal’s story started in 1992 inIndia when the government auctioned the new GSM spectrum, and Bharti Airtel was awarded a license. In their own words, they were entrepreneurs at this time with more aspiration than resources. Nonetheless, over the next 5 years they built a subscriber base of nearly 5m users. In 1998 they set their sights on achieving a subscriber base of 25m and looked at 5 companies, 3 in Europe and 2 in the U.S., which had already achieved this number. They concluded that they had to grow their resource base to almost 15,000 people in order to support 25m subscribers, and to achieve this growth a new business model was needed to replace the traditional way of creating a network; the inspiration for this came from the energy market.

To help achieve this growth, IBM was awarded a $1 billion IT outsourcing contract for everything from desktops to billing to data warehousing, and Erikson and Nokia were awarded a managed service contract with 1,100 engineers. Additionally, the traditional procurement model was changed from one of buying hardware and boxes to one of traffic. Airtel decided that they would pay for utilization of the network measured in Erlangs, in other words when users made calls. The net result of this was that their subscriber base grew from 5 million to 25 million subscribers in 24 months. In partnership with the GSMA, the Indian mobile operator also managed to convince the world wide industry of manufacturers to focus on building sub $50 handsets. So with a network that was scalable and handsets that were affordable, the pent up consumer demand was met, and as a result the market in India grew phenomenally. There are now over 600 million handsets in use in India today, 200 million of the subscribers being provided by Bharti Airtel. They have exported their business model to 17 other countries with a further 15 million subscribers.

Significant Question

After telling his story, Sunil posed the question: what new business model could encourage mobile broadband deployment and enable mobile banking and mobile health to affect a life changing impact on developing economies? As he identified,India has few ATMs but there are 600 million mobile handsets which could easily become mobile ATMs for mobile banking. Equally, in countries such as Africa and India, where the primary healthcare system is either non existent or broken, mobile health can be significantly aided by the implementation of low cost mobile broadband. Compound this with expanding education through mobile education services facilitated by sub $50 tablets and you have the opportunity for growing entrepreneurs, aiding society and promoting economic growth within these emerging economies.

The Future

So the scene is set: the technologies are present, consumer demand is pent up and entrepreneurs are eager to find the right business model.  A lack of incumbent providers in the emerging markets leaves the field wide open for entrepreneurs to leapfrog into different areas. For example, mobile banking can facilitate the development of small businesses and grow the GDP as well as change funding models through the growth of peer to peer lending. In the developed world, however, where governments want to be the sole provider of currencies, and banks, credit card companies and mobile operators want to own the revenue stream of mobile banking, the challenge for shifting the business model is significantly greater. In a twist of fate, the developed world may be looking to the developing world for the new business models that are going to shape our global economy over the next 5 years.

Steve Bell, President, KeySo Global   www.keysoglobal.com

This coming week is Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain where more than 60,000 mobile industry experts will gather to share the latest and greatest in mobile technology. This event is both a showcase for the industry and also a soapbox for luminaries. It also demonstrates how far the industry has come from the early days of a conference in Cannes, France where technologists, engineers and management from fledgling GSM mobile operators got together to talk about increasing penetration and getting manufacturers to develop low-cost portable handsets. In fact GSM was dubbed “God Send Mobiles”, so desperate was the industry!

What a difference 20 years can make. The first ever text message (SMS) was sent in 1992 and now we send more than 7 trillion a year on a global basis. Ahead of the show, comScore released a report “2012 mobile future in focus” that shows that smartphone penetration in the UK and Spain has achieved over 50% and that more than 48.4 million consumers access social media in Europe utilizing mobile phones; this represents an increase of over 76% since last year. Media and industry analysts are having their inboxes swamped with pre-show press releases about new developments covering everything from blisteringly fast chip sets and infrastructure to offload systems, 5G Wi-Fi and mobile payments, as well as a plethora of new mobile devices. ZTE will be reportedly announcing 8 new devices, prompting gizmodo.com to point out that “less is more” and that launching 8 devices isn’t impressive but actually indecisive!

It’s been quite a journey from the pre-mobile era and yet some things never change. The first ever roaming arrangement was signed in 1992 between Vodafone of the UK and Telecom Finland. In the early days of GSM, the cost of roaming calls made outside of your home country was astronomical. Over time the cost has come down, although not that significantly. Now, with the growth of smartphones, the issue has become the cost of data roaming. I use T-Mobile in the US, for example, which doesn’t offer a comparable data roaming package as, say, AT&T. With AT&T you can buy a 50 megabytes package for $25 while roaming but with T-Mobile those same 50 megabytes will cost you a staggering $750.  I guess I’ll be buying a prepaid SIM while inBarcelona …. or using Wi-Fi!

As key trends and news emerge in Barcelona this week that will be impacting your digital life in the near future, we shall keep you informed.

Steve Bell, President, KeySo Global

Technologists with hindsight

Most of us have become digital technologists by “osmosis”. In other words, if we look back dispassionately over the past 30 years, with the benefit of hindsight we can see just how much our life styles have been changed inordinately with the advent of digital technologies. We have a natural inclination to think of ourselves as novices where new technology is concerned. Yet if we step back and look at the way that we’ve embraced and adapted to the changes introduced to us over the decades, we should give ourselves more credit. We have “absorbed” these new technologies and have every reason to be confident about taking advantage of the opportunities they bring for our professional and everyday lives.

At KeySo Global we help our clients recognize that they are far more technology savvy than they realize! We point to the analogy of the frog in a pot: the premise is that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out. If it’s placed in cold water that is slowly heated, however, it will not perceive the surrounding danger and will be cooked to death. In other words, we’re not always cognizant of the fact that we’ve been slowly adapting to the digital world changes occurring around us; we need to become more aware of these changes, and have the confidence to embrace them and incorporate them into our personal and business lives.

Four technologies that rocked our world

In order to put things into perspective, consider four major technology developments in the 1980’s that significantly changed the way we live and work today:  the personal computer; the cellphone; the establishment of a global Internet and the creation of the Sony Walkman. While the impact of the first three may be obvious, the Walkman was the device that pioneered the way for people to access personalized portable entertainment, anywhere and at anytime.

The 1980’s introduced these new technologies and the 1990’s brought about their integration into society. For example, GSM cellphone technology allowed people to roam the world, the development of the World Wide Web and Internet browsers allowed people to access information, and the creation of TiVo gave people the ability to time-shift entertainment. All of these brought technology into the mainstream. Add to these the development of the iPod and iPhone and the rise of social networking in the 2000’s, and it’s clear to see how these technologies have permeated our society and culture, and just how well we’ve all adapted to the changes they’ve brought about.

Convergence opens new opportunities

We believe 2010 was a transitional year that saw the convergence of 3G & 4G technologies with cloud computing, social media, and Wi-Fi. The evolution of smartphones and the introduction of touch screen tablets has built on this convergence and enabled a faster, easier and more compelling interactive consumer experience. Social media in turn is leveraging this interactive access to the mobile network, and uses location and context data to provide personalization of services and information, with particular focus on retail opportunities.

The confluence of technologies and services is changing the way consumers live and work. It is also generating an ecosystem of companies that are creating applications and services which are stimulating the economy locally, nationally and globally. In a recent study it was estimated that 450,000 jobs had been created by companies developing apps.

Shifting business models

Mobility, Internet and computing capable devices are not only impacting their users but also the way in which companies interact with their customers. As a result, large and small companies need to recognize that the business models of their industries, relatively static for many years, are changing around them even if they haven’t yet started to adjust their own. Our advice to any CEO or small business owner is the same: open your eyes and look around; observe the opportunities that technology is now enabling and identify how you could apply these same technologies to enhance your company’s customer offering and business performance.

There is a plethora of opportunities out there to enhance your business model. If you need help identifying these opportunities, we at KeySo Global are here to help and can show you how they can be applied. Contact us at info@keysoglobal.com, +1-847-478-1633 or visit our website www.keysoglobal.com

Steve Bell, President, KeySo Global

The Consumer Electronics Show 2012 statistics (153,000 attendees, 34,000 international attendees, 3,100 exhibitors, 1.86 million square feet of exhibit space, and 20,000 new products) give an indication of the scale and diversity of attendance but give no color to the reality of convergence that will occur between Digital World technologies and the digital lives of consumers over the next 12 to 18 months. In the next couple of paragraphs I’ve highlighted some of the exciting convergence trends that we see emerging.

Interactive Gestures in the Living Room

TV’s seem to be getting bigger and thinner with brighter 3D Hi Def capability that in some cases requires no glasses. If you can see beyond the existing concept of the TV, you realize that the center of the living room is becoming internet connected and consequently smarter in its ability to offer a variety of interactive services to augment viewing. This increased smartness requires new paradigms for interaction with other devices and sources of information, media and preferences. Thisrequirement to share is being enhanced by the increasing use of Wi-Fi Direct in multiple devices finding their way on to the living room couch. Interestingly, the world of gaming has provided the consumer electronics industry with new perspectives of how to interact with couch surfers and their devices via gestures. Think iPhone type scrolling, pinching point and zoom capability but with hand gestures to enable scrolling through TV guides to select, explore and expand videos or TV programs.

Digital Interactive Cockpits

One really interesting demonstration was a see-through LCD TV where you could see a static bowl of fruit behind the screen as TV/video images appeared on the screen. Where could this innovation lead?  Ford, Mercedes and Kia were showing the way in which new display technology and processing power will enhance the dashboard. Although it was not found at this year’s CES, the concept of a clear LCD windscreen can’t be that far off! This coupled with gesture capability being demonstrated by Mercedes and other enhanced augmented display technologies, will revolutionize the way vehicles are controlled. The real challenge that the automotive industry faces is adapting the rapid cycle of development of ICT technology into their traditional 7 year product development cycles.

Connected Medicine

The medical world is also on the verge of experiencing the power of connectivity in the form of devices, apps and cloud solutions that monitor everything from diet to diabetes to heart rate with full ECG capability built into phones. Again, the rapid pace of technology development is struggling against bureaucratic approval processes and the ability of the existing health care industry to adjust procedures and personnel to adapt and handle the opportunities that these new solutions deliver. Imagine a scenario where monitoring devices are given away to people for free as part of their health plan, with the revenue being generated from the monitoring services. The opportunity to reduce hospital visits and enhance health regimes that elevate overall health levels benefits everyone but requires structural and procedure shifts to accommodate the change.

Device Proliferation Drives Differentiation

The explosion in smartphone and tablet devices with common operating systems (Android & IOS) and brilliant high resolution screen technologies and interfaces have enabled much of the convergence technology above. Sony, for example, demonstrated their new 2 screen tablet that closes like a clam shell and which has an on screen keyboard. As usual CES did not disappoint with multiple devices being announced that continue a trend of increased thinness, lighter weight, solid state memory, and more powerful processors than were in PC’s only a year or so ago. These are seemingly available from an ever increasing number of Chinese and Asian vendors, undoubtedly increasing price pressure as they all struggle to differentiate themselves.

Differentiation is difficult but a small (Fujitsu & Toshiba) number of vendors at the show are producing waterproof phones and tablets. Equally, vendors are exploring the space between tablets and smartphone’s in the 5 inch screen category. Samsung was hyping the note with their “S Pen” where artists drew caricatures on the screen that were then printed and displayed. The introduction of natural interfaces such as drawing, voice recognition, touch and gesture will most definitely enhance our ability to better utilize the devices and incorporate them in to our lives.

Dolby & Video Chat

From a technology perspective, 5.1 Dolby quality sound was demonstrated by Qualcomm who emphasize that the processing power of their chipsets now enable HD sound processed from 5 microphones on the device. Amateur video will never be the same again! Equally, the use of 5 microphones also means that noise cancelling and filtering will in the future allow much clearer video chat in areas of high ambient noise.

Redefining Human Interactivity

This is just a snapshot of some of the convergence trends and innovative thinking on display at this year’s CES, prompted by the availability and accessibility of a wide variety of new Digital Life technologies. As one final thought for consideration, Ericsson demonstrated how the human body can be used as a conductor for transferring data from one device to another. With one touch of your smartphone, you can transfer the video that you just took directly onto your TV. With the advent of the Internet of Things, the concept of the human body as a node within the net and a transfer mechanism for data means the Digital World is fast becoming the truly interactive place we knew it would be!

Steve Bell, President, KeySo Global LLC

www.keysoglobal.com

Technologists by Osmosis

This year I have given numerous presentations reflecting our foresight into technology trends of the future. During these I’ve shared significant knowledge gained in hindsight over the last 30 years in order to give my audience the necessary insight into the impact and influence that four fundamental technologies introduced in the 1980’s have had on the world today.

The reason for doing this is that most people don’t realize the extent to which their lives have been affected by these technologies. As a very simple example, the evolution of digital recording (DVR) as a means of watching programs when you want to via TV or streaming to a computer has introduced the concept of “time shifting”. Time shifting enables you to enjoy the entertainment you want at a time that’s convenient to you. The awareness that we try to bring to our audience is that most people have become “technologists by osmosis” over the last 30 years as they have absorbed technology into every aspect of their personal lives.

Collective Movements

More significantly, we have witnessed the ability to use technology to create and support collective movements; for instance, in the early part of 2011 the world watched as the “Arab Spring” movement inEgyptchanged the course of democracy in theMiddle Eastin ways most didn’t think were possible. Equally the “Occupy Wall Street” movement in theUSwas copycatted around the world as an outrage against corporations and bankers’ excesses. These are examples of people being enabled by technology to challenge those aspects of society and politics that don’t resonate with the growing awareness of what’s right and good that the Internet and the associated openness of information have facilitated.

Double Edged Capability

The counterpoint to this was raised by several people in different sessions – the fact that technology enables people to be tracked, analyzed and targeted for advertising and promotions. It also facilitates the creation of “Big Brother” systems which not only impinge on our privacy but which enable governments or other entities to control our lives. The reality is that as we enter 2012 it’s becoming increasingly impossible to go completely “off grid”.

Global Destiny

Abusive use of technology is always a potential threat but as “Wiki leaks” has shown, the Internet and technology have also given people a mechanism to oppose abusive use of information. This capability coupled with the power of the collective, as demonstrated by Arab Spring and other smaller positive actions of collective activity, give reassurance to the ability of the global population to take charge of their own destiny.

Digital Agents of Change

As people become aware of the fact that they are “technologists by osmosis” and that they have both understood and absorbed technology into their personal lives, they can seize the opportunity to utilize this knowledge to observe, assess and determine how technology can be used to shape their community and business lives. As our eyes are opened and our curiosity becomes aroused, we see how technology can be leveraged to enhance, fulfill or simplify our lives. It is this that lies at the heart of the concept we at KeySo Global call “Digital Agents of Change”.

Engaging Change

In a previous blog we talked about the characteristics of a Digital Agent of Change, or that person who has the power to change business models from both inside and outside of the company. Over the last 12 months we have strongly advised companies to engage Digital Agents of Change as a necessity to facilitate the change and adaptation of their existing business models to the emerging requirements of digital life.

Sharing Knowledge

On the eve of 2012 I’m delighted to see indications that more and more business leaders now recognize that their businesses are being impacted by digital world technologies and digital life changes. Many, however, have little understanding of exactly what this means for their business models or how they need to be adapted. For the last two years we at KeySo Global have been researching, developing frameworks and working with leading-edge thinkers to evolve the solutions and approaches that can help you as executives – and Digital Agents of Change – to create the business models and change necessary to succeed in 2012 and beyond. We look forward to the opportunity of sharing our knowledge with you in the coming year.

To all of our clients, partners, friends and readers we wish you all a happy and abundantly successful 2012.

Steve Bell, President, KeySo Global

Virtual Business

Converged technologies have given people the flexibility to effectively communicate anywhere and at any time. We often hear people talking about their “virtual” or “mobile office” and technically in the today’s digital world your office is wherever you are. More and more companies are now adopting a virtual style of business as teams work remotely – at home, in coffee shops, in hotels, at airports – in fact anywhere that they are dispersed and yet can still remain connected.

Business Benefits

Studies have shown that those businesses that have adopted more flexible work practices and allow their workforce to operate away from the traditional office setting can potentially boost their productivity. A report by the President’s Council of Economic Advisers at the 2010 White House Forum for Workplace Flexibility highlighted some of the benefits of remote working which included: “reducing absenteeism, lowering turnover, improving the health of workers and increasing productivity”.

The Pros and Cons

There are advantages as well as disadvantages for companies that choose to operate virtually, and also for their employees who work remotely. Some to be considered are:

Advantages:

Reduction in stress levels by not having to commute to work

• Time and money saved by not having to commute
• Environmental benefits from not driving to work
• Being able to manage your time more effectively and work when you are most productive
• Healthier life style – opportunity to exercise more easily and eat a better diet
• Working in a more relaxing work environment
• Companies can consider a larger pool of employee applications as location isn’t a factor

Disadvantages:

Lack of support – both administrative and managerial

• Lack of face-to-face communication can increase the chances of miscommunications or misunderstandings
• Less camaraderie among workers can result in less cohesive work teams
• Technical difficulties can hinder communication and/or work progress
• Problems separating free time from work time as work is always “there”

A Considered Strategy

The transition to a virtual work style can be made without too much disruption. It’s generally considered advisable for a company to approach the change over with a well defined strategy in place in order to take full advantage of the benefits and flexibility that remote working enables. A reevaluation of existing communication protocol may be necessary to adapt to this new way of working, as well as adjustment of the daily routine that’s needed to ensure 24/7 coverage, learning how to use new collaboration tools or services, and expanding the use of existing programs that have moved to the cloud, such as Microsoft Office 365.

Beyond Collaboration

Today’s converged technologies help to bridge the communication gap for businesses and their workforces, regardless of their location. Many businesses have evolved their regular on site team meetings into virtual meetings, making it essential to have the right tools in place to engage a remote work team. Increasingly it’s becoming essential for teams to not only collaborate but to creatively interact in order to find innovative solutions to business problems and customer requirements.

Creative Solutions

We at KeySo Global have been working closely with Bob Dean of Dean Learning & Talent Advisors LLC. Together we have been using ThinkTank, a unique platform that gives “structure to collaboration” and which has enabled us to carry out collaborative virtual consulting through customized brain storming and problem solving sessions with our geographically dispersed clients.

To learn more about ThinkTank and other creative strategic processes that can help your business sustain a dynamic virtual work environment and collaborate better, contact us at info@keysoglobal.com, +1-847-478-1633 or visit our website www.keysoglobal.com

Steve Bell, President, KeySo Global

Governments and independent agencies impose regulations for proper Mobile Internet behavior when, for example, personal safety is at stake (like texting while driving) or disturbance can be caused (as in dedicated quiet cars on trains). In the broader sense, however, there is a need for a socially acceptable set of rules for using ever smarter devices and this is the catch 22 of the situation: these guidelines need to be initiated by those very communities that use them. Yet, as users, we’re still struggling to determine how the devices we’ve grown to depend on can be unobtrusively integrated into our lives.

How annoying is it when you’re trying to have a conversation with someone and they’re constantly checking their phone for emails, Facebook updates or sending text messages? Or you’re at a wedding and the person in the pew next to you takes pictures and tweets throughout the service? None of this is illegal but it can be offensive and it’s certainly anti-social.

Many believe that digital devices should come with user etiquette manuals to inform users about polite usage in public places. This may help reduce the day-to-day disturbances that modern devices create but there’s a general feeling that with the rapid adoption of new technologies, digital manners are also rapidly deteriorating. Maybe there’s a need for digital etiquette to become a compulsory class in all educational programs!

These classes could use Netiquette as their base curriculum. The term is a blend of “net” and “etiquette” and refers to a set of guidelines for proper online behavior. Netiquette not only applies to how and where you use your smart device but also to the content of your communication. As with the written word, spelling and grammar are of the utmost importance as corporate websites or blog articles littered with typos can really deter a would-be client. Having said that, certain online abbreviations commonly used in SMS messages were added this year to the Oxford English Dictionary, including LOL, OMG and TTYL. Typing solely in capitals is not good practice, however, and IMPLIES THAT YOU’RE SHOUTING!

Deciding which new age words are now socially acceptable is often a challenge. The Oxford Dictionary of English has been increasingly infected by web-based slang over the last few years and some of the latest words to be included in the dictionary are: chillax (meaning to calm down and relax) and defriend (meaning to remove someone from your list of friends / contacts on a social networking site). These now commonly used words reflect the way that our everyday language is being influenced by the digital world. At some stage in the future let’s hope that someone will organize a tweetup (a meeting set up by means of posts on Twitter) and actually create a set of socially acceptable rules to live by in this new digital age!

Probably the most important rule of Netiquette is “think before you post”. Not everything that happens to you is worth blogging or tweeting but when it is, make sure that you’re comfortable that your words won’t come back to bite you and that the “digital footprint” you’ve created is one you can live with.

At KeySo Global we are advisors and consultants about the impact of digital technology on society, business and individuals. Please contact us at info@keysoglobal.com, +1-847-478-1633 or visit our website www.keysoglobal.com

Alison Bell, Social Media Manager, KeySo Global LLC