Howard Tullman is a friend of Tyra Banks. According to Inc. Magazine, he's, “The Most Accomplished, Best Connected Entrepreneur you've Never Heard of.” He is CEO & President of Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy. He also teaches a class at the Kellogg School of Management.
Disclaimer: These descriptions are arranged in no order of importance, I swear.
Last Thursday, the 1871 auditorium entertained a full room of entrepreneurs, enthusiasts, social media buffs, students, and, of course, scooters. Tullman covered a tremendous amount of ground regarding trends changing the world- from Facebook to http://www.runpee.com (a site that tells you when it's a good time to run to the bathroom and what you’re missing while you’re gone). Here it is: 10 points from what I heard was 200+ slides!
1. Personal data is the oil of the digital age.
Search has become so personalized, it’s no longer a window- it's a mirror. The web is predictive now and will become increasingly more predictive. And because there is so much information, we’ve built in filters. Peers and friends are our drivers and every bell and whistle we press is one more telling mark. This is all made OK though because there's http://www.shopycat.com/ - a site that allows your friends to get an idea of what you want as a gift, based on your online likes (and dislikes). I will go click and star a variety of cameras I have been eyeing and pray to the shopycat gods that one of my father’s friends wants to buy a kid he’s never seen a nice present.
2. Even adults like games.
Especially adults like games. Games are setting the standards for how we interact. They have massive reach, precision targeting, and measurable performance. Fun. Also, virtual goods sell. Go to a nightclub to play a nightclub game on your phone, see who's there, and buy them a fake drink? Fun. Also, people want status. My thoughts went to everlane.com. I beat my fellow intern in the race to get 10 friends to sign up for a free tee and access to their “secret shop.” Leader boards? Definitely fun.
3. Facebook is powerful.
4. Facebook is a “sniper scope.” Overheard by Tullman: In the future, Facebook hopes to predict, with 80%+ likelihood, which 2 people will change their status to dating each other. I could tell Facebook that: Ryan Gosling.
5. And Facebook is powerful because nearly everyone is on it. An average American (and by that they mean Korean, 5’2”, Northwestern student) spends more time on Facebook than any search engine.
6. This really changes the way we do business.
All these changes and trends affect the way businesses do business. There is a serious web to business impact that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Customers will talk. Gripe sites are real. The best thing to do, Tullman cautions if there is a problem, is to fix it and/or explain it. Do not ignore what your customers are saying. We do not run our businesses- they do. This made sense to the audience- Ah! The people!
7. Social media will become smarter, pervasive, and peer driven.
Companies and groups will know before you go, they will predict behavior more accurately and find the people who drive our conversations. Metrics will grow in our water. And we’ll use those metrics to tailor to the customer we get to know. Numbers are our friends. Literally.
8. So, what?
A few things we can expect to see: face recognition and shopping from screens at the subway station with our phones, kinect enabled shopping carts, multilingual coffee makers, location-based geo-fences, nudge commerce- the list goes on. Tullman suggested that the technology and changes we see come out using social media as a backbone will potentially pervade every aspect of our lives- politics, shopping, the office, etc. My coffee machine to me: Would you like me to make coffee singing in Korean today? -- No, thanks. -- That’s right, you’re hopeless at Korean.
9. So, be your authentic self.
In Howard's words, “actually being who you are,” is the best way to deal with trends in social media. As more and more information is shared, your essential authentic identity cannot be compromised. Yes, you, but your business, too. Businesses should connect with customers in an honest way, both through their site and through social media.
10. I saw my Entrepreneurship professor's Facebook profile picture on a slide. Howard Tullman is trying to make a point, people.
The audience spanned nearly three generations. Tullman’s lenses, however, loaned to a diverse audience, replaced any big brother fear with excitement for the future. He’s contributing in changing the way we see social media- not as an unconquerable, but as a tool to help our companies and ourselves leave a meaningful mark.
If you'd like to add to the discussion, contribute your own takeaway, or if you are Howard Tullman, feel free to email me at leejosephinem (at) gmail.com.
