4 things you didn't know your kids go online for
Your kids are using all kinds of technology on a daily basis, they’re what the term ‘digital native’ was created to describe. Anyone born since 1995 probably can’t remember a time before the internet and the likes of Google, Facebook and Hotmail. But for anyone older then the youngest of millennials, we’re not so up-to speed with the technologies of today.
Just like we didn’t like drinking in the same pubs as our parents, kids of today are desperate not to bump into their parents online. Niche platforms become attractive places to hang out for younger people where they can avoid the watchful eye of Mum & Dad. Where we once had MySpace & Yahoo, we’ve now got the likes of Snapchat, Osper and Pokémon Go! Only the most adaptable of platforms have been able to survive, even Facebook has seen a recent dip in younger users as they try to avoid having their grandparents posting an embarrassing ‘like’ to their recent holiday snaps.
Your kids will never buy a DVD from a high street MEGA-STORE, they’ll never need to ring a hotline to book a taxi home at the end of a long night and they’ll probably never need to walk into a bank. All because of the power of mobile technology. Take a moment to think about that…
Forget cheque books, forget waiting 3 days for a BACS payment to clear, your children will probably never need to walk into a high street bank
Forget cheque books, forget waiting 3 days for a BACS payment to clear, your children will probably never need to walk into a high street bank. Everything will be available online, and this is what they will expect from all of the service providers they interact with.
To give you a flavour of what young people of today are using mobile tech for, let’s take a look at 4 of the most popular apps and networks, and how they’re being used by your future customers -:
Snapchat
Synonymous as being the photo/video sharing app where the message disappears after you’ve looked at it for just long enough to wish you hadn’t.
Traditionally a place for tweenagers to hang out and share content (yes you read that right, a child between the ages of about 10 and 14), the platform is maturing nicely with consistent growth from the 16-24s, and in 2016 even the 25-44s are getting in on the act which are now growing at the fastest rate. Technology you once thought was just for kids, has already become mainstream.
(data source: http://wearesocial.com/uk/blog/2016/07/snapchat-users-getting-older)
Osper
Osper is the tip of a mobile banking revolution for young people. It’s a debit card for young people with an associated mobile app for both parents and their kids, which works like a pre-pay debit card on steroids. It allows parents to automate pocket money deposits, lock the card if the kids lose control in the local smoothie store and keep an eye on their spending.
Young people will be happy to know that alongside tracking their spending, easy saving functionality and balance checks via the mobile app, they can also invite members of their family to give them money using a special ‘Osper Link’. How modern.
When these kids grow up, what will they demand from their financial advisers? It won’t be a paper report every 6 months that takes them the best part of a day to digest. They expect instant access to everything, anywhere, anytime they want and you better be quick to adapt when they get their hands on the family inheritance.
(data source: https://osper.com/)
Periscope
The past few months has seen the mobile video streaming app make headlines for broadcasting a physical assault, a suicide, and a rape. Are you ready for live video content?
Whilst live video streaming has been bought into the mainstream by Periscope, Facebook Live and Meercat for becoming ‘A Parent’s Worst Nightmare’, most content isn’t particularly headline grabbing. Take for example the puddle in Newcastle that went viral in January 2016; even the most mundane of content can be broadcast live to your mobile from anywhere in the world.
Do you think your [not too] future client who’s grown up with this type of technology will want to come into your office for a chat about their ‘portfolio performance’ once a quarter? It’s debatable.
Pokémon Go
After being downloaded over 500 million times in mid 2016, Nintendo’s Pokémon Go is an old-school treasure-hunt dragged into the 21st century.
Players get location based information on where mythical creatures are waiting to be captured all over the world, this information is overlaid through an augmented reality interface, allowing users to hold up their phones to see live images of creatures (invisible to the naked eye) waiting to be captured; these can be stored online, trained (to become bigger and stronger), and even traded for money in real life, when users sell their accounts containing rare and mythical Pokémon they’ve captured.
The upshot is that the lines between reality and the online world are being blurred beyond recognition. Augmented reality, virtual reality, location based gaming … these are all terms that your future clients are familiar with, and they’ll be expecting your online propositions to be as engaging and robust as Nintendos...
