Chair Potato is the New Couch Potato

After attending the ThinkLA Trends Breakfast (#ThinkTrends) earlier this week at the Beverly Hills Hotel, all I can think about is that I'm going to need a new chair. Right now I'm sitting on a dining room chair with an extra cushion and it still is not very comfortable. My office chair hurts my back.

Chairs were not a trend discussed in the "We Are Connected" theme by three dynamos of the Digital Age: Ciaran Bossum, Director of Digital Strategy & Brand Participation at Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles; Jonah Peretti, Founder and CEO of Buzzfeed and Co-Founder of The Huffington Post; and Dr. Jeffrey Cole, Director, Center for Digital Future at USC Annenberg School for Communication. Over 500 attendees were privy to the presentations, almost all of whom were clutching their smartphones and multi-tasking as the behavioral charts projected on room monitors said they would.

Bossum’s message focused on the shift in consumer behavior to multi-platform and second screen experiences. We watch TV while simultaneously multi-tasking and the primary content delivery vehicle is our phone. We are used to shifting across platforms from our big screen TVs to our laptops and iPads (sequential usage). Consumers are now comfortable purchasing on line, but we better be able to do it on our phones or the deal may be off.

Our social behavior is changing the way we use our devices too. We want to share our experiences with our friends by tweeting or posting comments with others watching an event at the same time (simultaneous usage), especially during live events like the Super Bowl.    

Peretti, who shared his hilarious journey from taking on Nike on “The Today Show” to his Rejection Hotline http://bit.ly/Ww83zW , is an expert on how things go viral. BuzzFeed is the first true social news organization that provides a pioneering mix of breaking news, entertainment and shareable content. Once thought of more for its humorist lists like “13 Simple Steps to Get You Through a Rough Day,” BuzzFeed recently hired Ben Smith of POLITICO as Editor-in-Chief and scooped the news media when President Obama visited Afghanistan.

Peretti encourages adding to humor to the mix. He compares the current social media landscape to “Publishing is now a Paris Café.” It’s okay to read Sartre and and pet the dog. He says it’s about fun and the human experience. 

Cole traced how the mass medium has shifted from radio to TV and now to digital viewing. When TV became the focus we started watching three hours a day. That time came at the cost of family conversations and reading a book or magazine. Now we have expanded our viewing time from 16 hours to 44 hours a week and he expects this will go to 55 hours. 

It was Cole's discussion about e-commerce and our use of the internet that made me think about getting a new chair. Cole said while we were reluctant at first to purchase online, now it has become such a part of our daily lives that we are making even the most mundane of purchases because we will get them in 48 hours. Amazon is pushing that delivery window to same day--order by 10am, receive by 6pm. Why go out in the rain to buy kitty litter if I can have it delivered to my door? Cole predicts that Amazon will deliver cars to our doorstep in the near future. 

Another point Cole made is that we can't escape the internet. For every hour we may surreptitiously surf at work, we spend three hours at home working. We sleep with our phones. Now we fluctuate between "FOMO—the Fear of Missing Out" to wanting to turn it all off with what The New York Times called "JOMO—the Joy of Missing Out."

So I ask you, is your chair comfortable enough to handle these digital trends? We already work from home and shop from home. I'm not sure I'll need a car delivered to my home, but I know I am going to need a better chair!

Print and Social Media Marketing: So Many Questions

I came across my job search notebook from 2006 when I was laid off from NBC and I'm amazed by both how much has changed and how much is still the same.

Six years ago Monster.com was THE job search engine, now I barely look at it. The first iPhone was released in June 2007. I was not using Facebook or LinkedIn, neither were my peers. Social Media Marketing and blogs did not even exist!

One question I asked myself then is still valid today: Do you think your current job will exist in five years?

Print was still a robust industry in 2006, full of car books, annual reports, magazines and books. The paper industry was not viewed as a public enemy. Home Entertainment was phasing out VHS tapes for DVDs. People bought books in real bookstores and from Amazon.

Now the print industry is getting back on its feet after a drastic decline in 2008. We lost some of the best printers in town over the past five years, but thankfully, many have remained as robust as ever. The Advertising Production Association of Los Angeles, my original social media marketing source, once with over 700 members has declined to 250 members and will mark 2012 as its final year. The paper industry has a tough job in convincing America that it is the sustainable resource it always has been.

My way of thinking about the future has changed. In 2006 I was asking myself "What do I want to do for the next 20 years?" Now I realize the old model of remaining with a company for the "rest of my career" is no longer viable. I have always been the loyal employee, working 5 or more years, but those relationships are no longer the norm. Now I want to focus on what is new and how I can contribute in a fresh way.

One question remains personal to me from 2006 and now: How can I help the print industry? Is there a function I can take on as the voice of the print industry that will help both vendors and buyers connect to what's next?

There are so many events offered for personal and professional growth. I wonder who has time to go to them all. And if one goes, what happens to that knowledge? I would like to be the person attending informative events and reporting on them to my industry peers. That's why I started Pinkyonthepulse.com. Can Print and Social Media Marketing work together?

One last question: What's next?