The R&D Futures project develops our ability to pick up on trends in audience habits and their media and technology landscapes. We try to extrapolate how these trends might play out over the next few years and how R&D and the 麻豆约拍 might respond.
One of the ways we do this is by gathering links to things that we think look like signals of changes in the world and periodically bundling them together for analysis. This is our bundle for May 2022!
The project is run by Libby and Henry and a rotating crew of colleagues from across R&D and the wider 麻豆约拍. If you're interested in collaborating with us, get in touch!
Supermarkets are exploring ways to use redundant space |
鈥楴ot too old for TikTok鈥� - the changing demographic
TikTok has long since held the position of being the platform for teenagers and young people. As it鈥檚 popularity has grown, research has found that an increasing number of older demographics are joining the platform - with some using it as a space to create content which challenges stereotypes and ageism.
An increasing number of older demographics are technologically adept and are comfortable joining new sharing platforms, and becoming successful content creators. As time goes on, this will increasingly become the case as those who grew up with the internet become the older demographic.
Negative age stereotypes have been perpetuated on social media platforms in the past due to bubbles of similar demographics and opinions forming. The importance of content being created by a range of age groups becomes increasingly important as a result, to give older TikTok users the opportunity to challenge these stereotypes - for example, elderly women presenting themselves 鈥榓s fierce or even foul-mouthed鈥� as opposed to passive and weak.
For other social media platforms like Facebook, your older relatives joining has become a sign that it is becoming outdated or to stop sharing as much content. How does a social network get over that hurdle and continue to thrive? For TikTok, perhaps it will survive as connecting with your friends and family within the platform is not its purpose - we shall have to wait and see.
鈥� Sonal Tandon
鈥淓xploiting redundant square footage鈥�
Tesco pilots in-store flexible office space Tie-up with IWG at London store sees supermarket trial new way of exploiting redundant square footage.
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The tie-up emerges as supermarkets look for new ways to fill space in stores where they once sold electrical goods, music or films now largely bought digitally.
The phrase 鈥渞edundant square footage鈥� really leapt out at me there - both on the part of Tesco, trying to find ways to monetise its real estate, and IWG, faced with the need to find new business models for renting office space after the pandemic, with its rise in home and hybrid working, have left it saddled with plenty of its own redundant square footage.
Something I find interesting about the Tesco / IWG hookup is that it appears to be a probe to see if there鈥檚 a market for co-working space at the less expensive and committed end of the market. Tesco has an extensive network of Tesco Metro stores in the UK, which can be seen as convenient space located near people鈥檚 homes. Installing office facilities into these spaces which nearby workers can use on a pay-as-you-go basis when their home setup doesn鈥檛 meet their needs could fill a gap in the market for people who need those services, near their home, without the commitment of a monthly fee for a dedicated (and usually expensive) co-working space.
It鈥檚 also another clear message that home and hybrid working are here to stay, and you could think of this as further evidence of the unbundling and decentralisation of the workplace, and of city centre services in general.
Finally, it鈥檚 interesting to think about other uses all that redundant square footage could be put to, either commercially or otherwise.
鈥� Henry Cooke
Odd Time Effects
I cheated on this one and a couple of odd 鈥渂unching鈥� time effects I鈥檝e been experiencing. The first is that I鈥檓 experiencing intense work crunches - not late night working, but high-intensity work, followed by mini-burnout phases where I lose drive and enthusiasm. The second is that the , a volunteer run events space I help with, is experiencing 20-30% of ticket sales happening the day before or on the day of the event (and we are getting 10-15% no-shows). I wondered if the two were related. I鈥檓 still not sure.
I have had some interesting feedback on - possible causes identified there:
- Many people have stopped planning far ahead (because Covid caused so many cancellations)
- Others finding it hard so say no because so many opportunities were lost
- Delays in supply chains causing crunches
- Covid has changed time perception so that 鈥渆verything in the immediate past seems more distant, and everything in the future constantly arrives all at once, sooner then expected鈥�
- We鈥檙e also seeing people changing their plans last minute, usually because either they are ill or someone in their family is ill, or because of some other knock-on consequence of Covid.
We discussed a couple of other aspects in the signals meeting:
- You basically have to book for everything. Spontaneity is rare. So some of what we are seeing is overbooking.
- The uncertainty has been particularly tough on the young for whom many rites of passage and other things they were looking forward to were cancelled and then simply never rearranged - a 鈥渟avage mismatch between expectations and actuality鈥�.
- Mental health problems - people just don鈥檛 turn up.
鈥� Libby Miller
Creating a moral metaverse
People appear to be entering the metaverse with much more caution and an understanding of the dangers. Although people are represented as avatars, there鈥檚 an appreciation of the connection this has with people鈥檚 mental wellbeing, whether the situations you find yourself in are virtual or real.
The notion that jobs are now emerging to moderate behaviour as well as content got us thinking about who sets that moral ground, and where audiences will look for safety. There鈥檚 a sense of zero tolerance towards any manipulation or mistreatment while in a virtual environment, and a need for a way to call this out so it鈥檚 handled immediately.
Tech companies are hearing this need and building in 鈥楶ersonal Boundary鈥� settings from the start of their platform development, having learned from mistakes already made in this new frontier.
鈥� Suzanne Clarke