It’s the first FWD of the New Year and it’s a bumper edition! There are a plethora of predictions for 2018 and roundups of 2017. We take a look at the rise of Spotify and Airbnb, Google releases their voice search figures and there are stats galore from Ofcom’s latest market report.
HEADLINES
- Spotify gains 10 million new paid members every 6 months and files to go public on the New York Stock Exchange
- On New Year Eve, three million people partied the night away in Airbnbs, compared to just 1,400 eight years ago and many of them were WhatsApping – a massive 75 billion messages globally were sent using the service
- Instagram is letting a select few users post directly to WhatsApp.
INSIGHTS
- Google has released their voice search stats
- Ofcom’s communications market report gives a handy compilation of stats across Digital and Offline, as the Office for National Statistics reveals young people spend a third of their time on devices
- Here are some of the most significant apps of 2017
- In the world of e-commerce, experts round up the biggest trends in 2017 and give their predictions for 2018.
COOL
- Footlocker’s unboxing experience across Snapchat Lens lets users ‘try before they buy’
- A new Twitter bot turns threads into easy to read blogs
- Audi puts safety first, with a script for websites that blocks people who are browsing whilst driving.
DEEP READS
- Here’s a look at some 2017 highlights of content marketing from beauty brands and experiential marketing
- The BBC, The Guardian and Fast Company give their rundown of what they think will happen in media in 2018, including consolidations, fake news and politics
- Take a look at the future of Blockchain.
