8 trends from SxSWi

In this guest post, Matthew Gain and Alex Lefley pick out eight trends that stood out for them at SxSWi

SXSWi is the world’s largest conference for interactive and emerging technology, which has just wrapped up in Austin, Texas. The program is a smorgasbord of sessions including keynotes from the people behind some of the world’s best-known interactive brands, panel sessions covering every imaginable topic (the future of porn anyone?) and trade stands pedalling every possible new technology. So what stood out?

Social data to improve retail experiences – data was the buzz word of the whole conference, but some of the most interesting applications were in the retail space. One session outlined a future where discounts, shop window displays and staff suggestions could all be customised based on the data available on your mobile phone. Via near field communication, your smart phone connected to a Facebook account and a payment platform such as PayPal could display a customised retail experience just for you. The potential is staff making suggestions based on your past purchases and digital tags that displayed a unique RRP based on how good a customer you are. A scenario was even given where music within the store could be tailored to the age and male/female mix of those within the retail at space at any given time.

Nibble size content – forget 140 characters, that is way too #longread for the realities of 2013. New social platforms such as Vine that creates six-second videos broadcast via twitter were being captured and shared in every session they attended. Snapchat was another hot topic. The platform delivers images and captions between friends, but the hook is the messages have a shelf life before being deleted – maximum 10 seconds. Snapchat’s adoption among the teen audience and potential use while sexting was a cause for much discussion in many of the panel sessions.