Open up your mind and say, ahh...

The result is a network of air data, built from very specific niches. Culturally, AirWaves plays to the skepticism of the Chinese of “faceless data.”

Mnemo-Amsterdam
Cross a fitness band, a social network, and a friendship bracelet. What you get is Mnemo. It’s a means to record memories–audio, video, and the friends you’re with–through a simple interaction with your wristband. And it can be personalized, much like a friendship bracelet, with colored string.

You’ll still need a phone for many functions (like snagging videos), but physical gestures drive the interface. For instance, by linking two bracelets, friends can create multiple perspectives of the same moment.

CompassGo-Milan
Even in the age of GPS, to explore cities today, Frog points out our tendency to “pre-Google” our destinations. What’s lost? The feelings of spontaneity and exploration.

CompassGo chooses a simple category (like culture, food or relaxation), displays that category with an icon, then points you the way to your next adventure.

Hello World DIY-Seattle
How do you get tweenage girls interested in technology? Sew it into their clothing. This is a kit of “accessible Arduino projects” that are wearable without programming skills.

Icho-Munich
This navigation aid for the vision-impaired not only enhances perception through sonar proximity sensors, but it uses a combination of GPS, accelerometers, and haptic feedback to lead its user through an urban environment. Imagine a museum audiotour that you can hear and feel.

Kinetik-San Francisco
Kinetik is basically a backup battery for your phone. Its twist?

You wear Kinetic through your life while it harnesses your natural kinetic energy. Fitness becomes a “tangible reward”–and with a bit of extra battery power, you won’t have to worry about your phone running out of juice during an extended adventure.

A companion app builds a network of location-based energy patterns. I imagine it’d be a lot of fun to see the wattage produced at a mass sporting event like a marathon.

MTA Relay-New York
Relay is a band to help navigate New York’s transit system. Its three strands hide dynamic displays, which will glow with the colors of nearby lines and transfers, while providing up-to-date scheduling information.

Over time, the band actually learns your commuting patterns. The only catch? It would rely heavily on underground infrastructure, like RFID or other radio technology, to keep the band in the know beneath layers of asphalt and concrete.

Tree Voice-Austin
What if trees could talk? That’s sort of the idea behind Tree Voice, a wearable for nature.

Its sensors collect data on the environment like noise, temperature, and pollution. And it “sparks” to life with motion sensors and a display for passersby.

Together, these tree bands form a giant network of environmental data that can reveal more about our neighborhoods. Frog imagines a new wave of data to influence everything from government policy to where you buy your next house. To me, it’s a digital equivalent to the networked heart trees in Game of Thrones.

The mysteries of this new world are many. If the old way to fame was to build a big audience while restricting direct access, the new way is to pursue a small audience and grant much more access. But those, friends, are two of the most important knobs to learn how to twist on this strange and futuristic machine. But let’s not forget that third knob over there, the Ghost A: advertising. Are you trying to do something in this new world? Does it matter that others see what you do? Then, it might be worth thinking about how these three particular forces work for you. And, for entertainment’s sake, let’s start with the third of these, first.

Advertising: The Ghost A

In the past, advertisers spent a great deal of money to access certain communities. These communities, by the way, gathered most often around some form of entertainment. Listen to the radio? There were advertisers there, hoping you loved Groucho Marx enough to tune into the Bird’s Eye Open House. Move to television? The Ed Sullivan Show had many suitors. The same rings true today. Advertisers still seek those who understand how to build a caring audience, dare we even hope for a community. But how does that work?

Audience: The Almost-Excellent Word

An audience forms when you entertain or educate (or perhaps both). A street busker knows how to play a few notes and draw a few eyes in her direction. Perhaps you represent yourself, and are a consultant hoping to book more clients. Maybe you are the manager of a marketing team, hoping to gather more interested customers to see your wares. Or perhaps you’re a true performer, seeking to gain attention (and the spoils of such) for your art. Then audience is your almost-excellent friend.

A quick aside: I say “almost excellent” because we all know that community is far more valuable than an audience. See also: the difference between someone who buys a Tiesto album and Lada Gaga’s army of Little Monsters

The requirement for audience used to be that it was very large. But this is the least true detail of this magical new world. We don’t need 1 billion users. We need some far smaller number (1000?) to satisfy our needs. Further, the audience has given notice: they aren’t interested in being called “you guys” any longer. They all have names, and they want you to know them. All of them.

That an audience cares is now quite important. That an audience understands matters in most cases. An audience is so much more important than ever before, but not in bulk. You need just enough. And they want access.

Access: The New Equation

In the old world, one of the qualities that made people successful was the inability of “normal” people to reach them. This exclusivity, this lack of access, for whatever reason also bestowed that person with magical powers that somehow translated into other kinds of power. If you were “big” or “famous,” no one should be able to reach you. This has shifted powerfully.

I have been blessed to meet and communicate with some amazing people from strange and varied walks of life. I’ve spoken with Sir Richard Branson, the owner of over 300 companies (and counting), with personal development guru Tony Robbins, with the former Chairman of General Motors, and with many other fascinating people. The picture that accompanies this post is from a visit Jacq and I had with James Norwood Pratt, the world’s foremost expert on tea, as well as a historian, a poet, a spiritualist, and many more titles. (Jacq and I interviewed him here, and you should check that out).

Granting access has become, for all of these people, part of the next chapter of their success. By learning how to interact differently with people, in person, and also via these social channels, these people are growing a whole new kind of success. And that’s just the beginning of what needs to be understood with Access, because you must also learn to use these platforms to grant access to those who seek to learn from you, as well. Ah, see how tricky this can be?

The Three A’s Require a Lot to Tune Them

Should you wish to find some level of success (and please use that word to mean whatever you seek: money, new church followers, new listeners to your great songs, someone to consider buying your soap), learning how to court an audience (shhhh: and also to help turn them into a community), how to work with the new rules of access, and to understand what works and what doesn’t in the realm of advertising are the vastly important Three A’s that should become your dials to experiment with and calibrate.

You’ll note that we didn’t talk much about the meat of what it is you choose to do. Though that would be the most important part of what you’re working on, the point is to consider how audience has changed, how access is now something far more important to work with, and how advertising is not nearly as effective these days without an audience who cares and feels that they have access to you.

The mechanics of this? I’ll cover that in my FREE newsletter that goes out every Sunday to those people who have the most access to me. Want it? I’d love to share.

But what else do you wonder about this? Does this resonate? How have you worked with these three levers?

Image: Cadillac

LOS ANGELES, California – The brand once known as the “Standard of the World” has fully embraced the Standard of Geeks for it’s latest play for the hearts, minds and cash of the upwardly mobile. This is the all-new 2013 Cadillac XTS, and while it certainly isn’t your great-great (great) grandfather’s Cadillac, it’s designed to appeal to everyone from octogenarians to their baby-boomer spawn, and maybe – just maybe – even you…

While the XTS’ spate of processors and controllers isn’t running the open-source offspring of Linus Torvalds, the game-changing infotainment intender known as the Cadillac User Experience (CUE) is.

Buried deep within the dash is a three-core, ARM 11 processor, powering two displays: one eight-inch capacitive touch screen – the first non-resistive display to come to a production car – and a second, 12.3-inch fully-configurable instrument cluster mounted behind the steering wheel. Two of those cores adapt on the fly to handle voice commands powered by the same Nuance technology used by many automakers, along with Apple’s personal assistant, Siri. But with CUE, everything is processed on-board.

Because of that trick bit of natural voice recognition technology, and specifically its ability to listen for commands in-line, inputing addresses and performing point-of-interest searches is easily the best we’ve ever experienced in a modern vehicle.

Image: Cadillac

Rather than breaking out each portion of an address into dedicated fields, you simply have to speak an address (say, “123 Main Street, Cupertino, California”) and CUE is smart enough to recognize the entire address in one shot. More impressive is the system’s ability to take local searches – everything from “I need coffee” to navigating to a restaurant – process the voice command within a few seconds and deliver a result.

CUE is one of the most attractive infotainment systems to date

This came in particular handy while trying to make our way to the test-drive lunch stop. Instead of having to look up the address, input it into the navigation system and wait for the routing to begin, we simply said the name of the restaurant and seconds later it was dialed into the nav. And even though we stumbled on our words, pausing momentarily and stuttering in the process, it still recognized where we were trying to go. That’s a first and it’s something we can’t wait to see proliferate throughout other production vehicles.

This same functionality extends to the app and audio integration, allowing the driver to say “Play Rolling Stones Radio” in Pandora or “I want to listen to 88.5″ without ever having to touch the screen, twist a knob or punch a button.

Which is good, since there are few knobs or buttons to speak of.

Images: Cadillac

Aside from the redundant controls on the steering wheel (and there are several), the entire center panel is made up entirely of capacitive, chrome-clad touch controls. The lower panel – which mechanically tilts upward to reveal a hidden compartment for stowing a phone, along with two USB ports for plugging in your mobile, MP3 player or thumb drive – houses controls for volume, climate, seat heating and cooling, plus “home” and “power” controls. Unfortunately, the very nature of capacitive switchgear means there’s a subtle lag between pressing a “button”, registering the input, delivering a haptic pulse, sending said input to the system and then eliciting a change in fan speed or volume level. It’s the same gripe we have with the MyFord Touch system – further proof that good ol’ knobs are still the best way to go, despite their lack of gee-wizardry.

And this same lack of responsiveness can occasionally be felt when navigating the eight-inch central display.

While the overall polish of the system is more than enough to impress, there’s still a perceivable lack of smoothness and immediacy

While the overall polish of the system is more than enough to impress, there’s still a perceivable lack of smoothness and immediacy when switching through menus, navigating pages and swiping between screens. The situation is exacerbated by the occasional misinterpreted press on the screen, a product of small touch points that don’t always register where you expect them.

Equally jarring is CUE’s ability to detect when your hand moves within eight inches of the screen, which then pulls up a series of configurable virtual buttons for everything from radio presets to frequently navigated addresses. When you pull away, the controls fade into the background.

It’s impressive to watch the system recognize your hand’s proximity to the screen and then display a series of controls that would make the display look otherwise cluttered, but having some of these items statically placed seems like a more intelligent user interface choice for frequently selected options. That’s one of the many reasons Cadillac is providing an iPad with every 2013 model to help consumers navigate the new system.

Image: Cadillac

General smoothness aside, CUE is one of the most attractive infotainment systems to date, mixing 3D graphics with color icons and a beautifully rendered mapping display. And while the app selection is limited for now, with only Pandora, Stitcher and a pre-installed OnStar app available at launch, Cadillac tells Wired that an app store is on the way. Java and HTML5 are make up the core frameworks, so once developers are granted access to the SDK, Cadillac expects as many as 30 apps to be available within the next year.

But while we had our issues with CUE (growing pains, we’re sure), the configurable display that takes the place of traditional gauges behind the steering wheel never failed to impress.

Image: Cadillac

Four different designs are available, beginning with a simple, three gauge cluster with engine revs on the left, speed in the center and fuel, coolant and phone/navigation/audio on the right. It’s the most traditional display and what most drivers will feel immediately comfortable with.

The second display nixes all the round gauges for a digital speedo at the top, navigation instructions below and other assorted information flanking the sides, while an even more simple display – obviously aimed at some of Cadillac’s aging drivers – only shows speed, fuel level and a few other must-haves.

Finally, there’s a more enthusiast-friendly option, with an oversized tachometer and speedo, partnered with a 3D rendering of the vehicle along with tire pressures, engine temp, navigation and audio controls, all displayed clearly and vividly for the driver. We stuck with the latter during the majority of our drive.

All this tech is pretty useless if the vehicle surrounding it isn’t up to snuff. And here Cadillac has a winner, even though the XTS won’t send chills down the spines of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Image: Cadillac

The exterior is an odd blend of bold and bland, while the interior is a beautifully appointed mix of leather, wood and contrast stitching (the purple thread in the Platinum models has to be seen to be appreciated). There’s ample room for four people (five in a pinch), with leg and shoulder room abound, and a thoughtful, conservative approach to luxury that’s been utterly lacking from most American automakers. The XTS’ feels a bit more Japanese than German in execution, but injects a bit of emotion into an otherwise bland segment of upmarket rides.

The overall length is on par with Audi’s range-topping, standard wheelbase A8, but the interior dimensions and general size is more closely competitive with the slightly smaller A6, along with the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class.

A 3.6-liter V6 engine putting out 304 horsepower and 264 pound-feet of torque is either sent to the front wheels or all four depending on the trim, and no V8 option is planned, despite most of the XTS’ closest competitors offering some form of big or boosted drivetrains. A six-speed automatic is standard across the range, which nets acceptable fuel economy, despite coming in a few cogs short of other luxury players.

Image: Cadillac

We spent time in both a Platinum all-wheel-drive model and a front-driven “base” version, and found both to be pleasing steers that eschew the wafting heritage of past Caddys thanks to a rigid chassis and the standard fitment of Magnetic Ride Control, the same suspension technology that keeps the Corvette ZR1 and Ferrari 599 stuck to the road. The front-wheel-drive model felt more floaty due to the lack of additional grip and weight in the rear, while the all-wheel-drive version was far more planted and – dare we say it – mildly sporty. The steering and brakes were equally at home while navigating the congested confines of Los Angeles – they might not be as composed as the impressive suspension, but are easily up to the task at hand.

But what exactly is that task?

For Cadillac, the XTS is an attempt to reassert itself as the Standard of the World, and that starts with a competent chassis, a plush interior and a revolutionary in-car entertainment system. But with Cadillac still lacking a proper flagship to go up against the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes S-Class, it’s still a ways away from regaining its former title, even though we’ve been assured numerous times that model is on the way. Cadillac’s head exec confided in us that the XTS is “a bridge” for some of the brand’s existing customers to move out of their aging DTS and STS land yachts, but we’ll call the XTS was it is: a tech-rich stopgap that points the brand forward. And with pricing ranging between the mid-$40,000 range up to near $60k, the XTS is a solid alternative to the segment stalwarts, opting for comfort and convenience over sport and speed.

What do The Beastie Boys, Katy Perry, and PayPal have in common? They all pivoted.

When the Beastie Boys formed in 1979, they were a hardcore punk band that dabbled in performance art, a fixture at clubs like CBGBs and Max’s Kansas City. Their first full-length album, Poly Wog Stew, with bombastic minute-and-a-half paroxysms like “Transit Cop,” “Jimi,” and “Holy Snappers,” owed as much to the Sex Pistols as it did Dadaism. Always on the prowl for the absurd, they started rapping in rehearsals, mainly as a joke. But when they tried it during performances something magical happened: Audiences liked it better than the punk.

So in Eric Ries’ parlance, The Beastie Boys performed a “zoom-in pivot,” turning a feature of their product into their main offering. In 1983, they recorded “Cooky Puss,” their first track that incorporated elements of hip-hop, using a prank call to Carvel Ice Cream as inspiration. It quickly became an underground hit in nightclubs, so they added a DJ and layered hip-hop into their sets, until they had mastered a sound all their own.

Three decades and 40 million records sold later, the group was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Although the late Adam Yauch (MCA), along with Mike Diamond (Mike D) and Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) were and are prodigiously talented, it’s likely we never would have heard of the Beastie Boys if they hadn’t pivoted to hip-hop.

Now, pivoting is usually reserved for businesses that do a triple axel into a new business strategy, but Patrick Vlaskovits and Brant Cooper, authors of The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development and the forthcoming Lean Entrepreneur, say it can apply it to whole raft of disciplines. In fact, many Lean Startup methodologies–pivots, minimal viable products, product-market fit–can be used as an analysis tool for consumer-packaged goods, finance and investment, social entrepreneurship, art–anywhere there is innovation. Pivots and the like are as relevant to musicians and artists as they are for startups.

The speed of today’s well-funded startups is brutal.

But it does allow for change in direction. This series explores those destiny-altering decisions made by companies that have gone on to great success. Read more about their course corrections–and alternate endings–here.

But what’s the difference between a pivot and, say, an “iteration” or “reset”? For an apt analogy they say you should turn your radio dial. “If you’re twisting the dial to tune into a new station, going from 98.5 FM to 93.1 FM, then you’re pivoting,” they say. “If you’re trying to tune into a strong signal, and switching from 98.7 FM to 98.5 FM, then it’s an iteration. A reset is a ‘leap’ to a new business model, and that change is not based on real validation or learning.”

That last part is key. Pivoting has to be evolutionary, based on sifting through the appropriate data. It’s at the heart of the “fail fast” concept. The sooner you realize a hypothesis is wrong, the faster you can update and retest it. “It’s paramount to understand that a pivot isn’t simply a change in one element of the business model,” they add, “but rather a change precipitated by something the founder has learned and validated to be true or untrue about a hypothesis she has tested.”

This, of course, is exactly what Adam Yauch and his Beastie bros did. They market-tested punk and when customers gravitated to a specific feature of the product (hip-hop) they pivoted to that. And they aren’t the only ones. Pop music and artist development are clearly domains where artists can be viewed as startups trying to find product-market fit. Vlaskovitz and Cooper, who say they’re working with L.A.-based music producers on how to apply these principles to artist development, point to Katy Perry as an example. She began her career as Katy Hudson, a Christian gospel singer, releasing an album aimed specifically at specific audience, and the album didn’t make the charts.

What did she do? She underwent a “customer segment pivot,” repositioning herself to reach a different audience by altering multiple elements of her business model, including:

• Her marketing/look: Christian girl-next-door to sexy pop princess.
• Her product/subject matter: Christian worship themes to edgy, sexually suggestive songs.
• Segment: Teens who listen to Christian soft rock to mainstream teenagers.

It wasn’t a smooth road. Between her first album and second, she was dropped by two record labels. Nevertheless, she persisted (like any good entrepreneur) and went from her Christian-themed debut album praising Jesus to “One of the Boys,” which featured the hit “I Kissed a Girl,” as well as three other Top 40 singles. The album, which boasts some explicit lyrics and themes, went on to sell more than 5 million copies.

Vlaskovits and Cooper are even willing to stretch Lean Startup methodology to Picasso, who, they say, pivoted from work that was photo-realistic to cubism and the distortion of the human form. They also see clear connections between musicians/artists and technology startups. Both innovate in uncertainty and endure financiers: Musicians have record labels and startup entrepreneurs have VCs, with both historically playing the roles of arbiters of good ideas. And because of digital technology, it’s cheaper than ever to record and distribute music and launch a startup.

“Musicians can and do build Minimal Viable Products starring themselves,” they say. “This allows for faster and better market feedback on how to inform their ultimate vision for success.”

In other words, while the odds may be stacked against her, that guitarist croaking Adele’s “To Make You Feel My Love” on the subway platform could be the next PayPal, which, like Katy Perry, performed a customer segment pivot that also paid off.

Adam L. Penenberg is a journalism professor at NYU and a contributing writer to Fast Company. Follow him on Twitter: @penenberg.

Images: ReadySetRocket

Marketers, educators, parents, it seems that almost anyone in the Generation X or Boomer demographic is scratching their heads trying to figure out Generation Y aka the Millennial. After all, it’s the first generation to seemingly possess digital prowess as part of their DNA. And, it’s the first generation to receive both a birth certificate and a social profile or presence upon delivery into this world.

A study published in 2011 by security company AVG and Research Now surveyed  2,200 mothers from around the world and found that 81% of children under the age of two currently have some type of digital footprint. 92% of U.S. children have an online presence created for them by the time they are 2 years old. In many cases, a digital presence is born before the child, with sonograms (23%) actively published and shared on social networks and blogs.

With every day that passes, Gen Y becomes far more important to the economy than we can realize. Yet the gap between how Gen Y communicates and connects and how businesses, educators, governments, et al. approach them is only widening. I often wonder whether or not we are simply trying to talk to ourselves in our approach when in reality, we are talking to strangers. This is important as without understanding what’s important to them and why, without learning their behavior or decision making cycles, or without empathy, we cannot reverse engineer nor create a meaningful and engaging journey. We cannot create bridges from where they are to us nor can we expect them to use them.

How well do you know Gen Y?

Here are some interesting points for discovery that get us thinking beyond what we think we know today:

59% update their social status in class.

29% find love through Facebook while 33% are dumped via TXT or Wall posts (SRS) – abbreviation for seriously

Millennials watch TV with two or more electronic devices

Only 11% define having a lot of money as a definition of success

Gen-Y will form 75% of the workforce by 2025 and are actively shaping corporate culture and expectations.

Only 7% of Gen-Y works for a Fortune 500 company as startups dominate the workforce for this demographic. Gen-Y expects larger organizations to hear their voice and recognize their contributions…increasing the need for an intrapreneurial culture.

Millennials trust strangers over friends and family. They lean on UGC for purchases.

They are 3x as likely to follow a brand over a family member in social networks

66% will look up a store if they see a friend check-in

73% have earned and used virtual currency

Gen-Y believes that other consumers care more about their opinions than companies do – that’s why they share their opinions online.

Gen-Y’ers are more connected on Facebook than average users managing a social graph of 696 Facebook friends versus 140.

If knowledge is the key to enlightenment, then perception and imagination are windows to engagement and relevance. We can learn all we want about Millennials, but if we can’t translate that into meaning or substance, we will continue to miss opportunities to build lasting relationships.

The gap isn’t just widening because of the growing pervasiveness of Millennials in our economy. As I introduced in The End of Business as Usual, anyone who places increasing emphasis on technology as part of their daily routine, in many ways, their behavior mimics that of Millennials and as a result, they prove elusive or immune to traditional marketing and service. In the book, I refer to this class of consumer as “the Connected Customer” and their behavior is noticeably dissimilar to that of their traditional counterparts. The connected customer is the stranger you must get to know as in comparison to the customers of the past, this group is only growing and it’s traversing demographics. As such, the connected customer becomes what we can or should now refer to as Generation C where the “C” represents connectedness.

No longer can we blame it on the youth. We must blame, if anything, the disruption of technology. Nowadays, age ain’t nothing but a number. It is how people embrace technology, from social networks to smartphones to intelligent appliances, that contributes to the digital lifestyle that is now synonymous with Gen-C.

A recent study published by Nielsen brings Generation C into light. In just one image, we can begin to comprehend the disruption of digital revolution on society. Call it the social economy. Call it the mobile or the app economy. Call it the connected economy. Whatever we call it, this incredible transformation that we’re witnessing, is indeed nothing short of a digital revolution.

The Last 10 Years

274 million American have Internet Access, which is more than double that of 2000.

81 billion minutes spent on social networks and blogs

64% of all mobile phone time is spent on apps.

42% of tablet owners use them daily while watching TV.

For the first time, the numbers of laptops have surpassed desktops within TV homes.

Women Rule Gen-C

In 2009, I discovered that in social media, women rule. As you can see in Nielsen’s report, women too rule Gen-C.  Specifically, they rule social media and online video and TV viewership. With smartphones, men and women are tied in adoption. With tablets however, men rule.

Gen-C, By the Numbers

If you compare Nielsen’s graphic with that of IBM’s research on Social CRM, you can appreciate the full dimension of Gen-C as every demographic, in their own way, is adopting disruptive technology. And, it’s only becoming greater.

Platforms for Digital Access

Every digital experience has its springboard. Whether it’s a PC, tablet, smartphone, and soon, a connected TV, our ability to every platform unifies the 5-C’s of engagement, create, connect, consume, communicate, and contribute.

274.2 million Americans have Internet access

169.6 million visit social networks and blogs

165.9 million people watch video on a PC

70% of time using tablets is spent while at home versus 30% on the go

Content accessed on tablets is 1) News at 39%, 2) Sports at 34%, and Books at 31%

On smartphones, 117.6 million visit the Internet

App usage peaks at 5 p.m. among adults

Smartphones are used by 44% of all mobile subscribers in the U.S.

Video Continues to Kill the Radio Star: Engagement is Cross Platform

Nielsen found that consumers increased their online video consumption by 7% from Q3 2010 to Q3 2011. As you can see in theimage below, online and mobile video consumption is significant.

Younger demographics watch less TV and watch video more online and on mobile devices.

With each generation, TV viewership rises with age.

Connected Customers are Multitaskers

Nielsen also shared the engagement habits and online activity of connected customers. As consumers watch a program, they are online with 1) 57% checking email, 2) 44% surfing the web, and 3) another 44% social networking.

When asked what they were doing while online during TV, some very interesting answers emerged. 29% looked up programming information related to the show. 19% looked up product information related to an ad. And, 16% looked up coupons or deals related to the ad.

The Top 5 Sites Visited While Watching TV

1. Facebook

2. Youtube

3. Zynga

4. Google

How Gen-C Spends their Connected Time

On PC’s and mobile devices, Gen-C is always on. Nielsen found that during October 2011, Youtube was the top destination for all online video content, accounting for nearly half (45%) of American’s total streaming time.

Social networking represents 21.3% of all time spent online using PCs.

Online gaming accounts for 7.7%

Email, in many ways still the largest social network in the world, represents 6.5%

55.8% of mobile phone time is spent in miscellaneous apps, with Angry Birds most likely accounting for a notable share of that time (just kidding).

Text messaging continues to test the limits of thumb dexterity and the ability to find new ways to abbreviate our vocabulary at 13.4%

Browser usage represents 11.1%

Social networking equals 5.5%

Interesting that email and IM are among the bottom of all mobile functions at 5.3%.

From e-commerce to Mobile Commerce

As Nielsen and so many other research reports herald, mobile commerce is influencing transactions and decisions. Mobile is just one of the many channels for emerging commerce including social, F-commerce, and more importantly, syndicated commerce. 29% of of mobile consumers use their phone for shopping-related activities and more than 50% visit daily deal sites daily.

Mobile shopping activities include:

38% compare prices online while in shopping in a store.

38% browse products through websites or apps.

32% read online reviews of products.

24% search for or use online coupons.

22% have purchased a product.

22% scan barcodes for product or price information.

18% use location-based services to find retail locations.

My favorite state isn’t related to what people are doing, but what they would do if businesses innovated in their approach to commerce.

27% of male and 22% of female consumers would use their mobile phone to make payments in restaurants and shops if they could.

This is an EmerGen-C

Connected customers or Gen-C is only becoming more pervasive in society and ultimately your economy. If you look back at the Gen-Y behavior list and replace the words “Millennial” or “Gen-Y” with “Connected Customer” or “Gen-C,” the similarities are uncanny. Now’s the time to recognize how your customer landscape is shifting and to what extent traditional and connected consumers discover and make decisions differently. The customer journey is far more complex than ever before, where new touchpoints not only emerge, they introduce a new customer journey.

With connected customers, decision making is no longer signified by a simple funnel, nor can business models support decision making before, during, and post transaction across these distributed, but connected platforms. This is a time for augmented engagement strategies to cater to different types of customers differently not only based on behavior, but also based on their expectations, needs, and also the platform they use to connect, communicate, and make decisions.