Gratuitous foto of my 2020 working-from-home office companion, Molly!
While working with the Australian National Submarine Museum on their digital strategy (background here), I both Googled and reached out to the Twitter community to seek their ideas and input. The following trends we considered while developing the strategy. Note that many are specifically related to the pandemic, but hoping the good that came out of our sector’s response to this will continue.
Mobile:
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- More and more browse Internet with smartphones
- Mobile devices (excluding tablets) accounted for 52% of web page views worldwide.
- There were 33 million mobile connections in Australia in January 2020 alone – there are more mobile connections in Australia than there are people
- Use of Messenger-type apps for interacting with audiences (chatbots)
- Accelerated mobile pages (AMP) that significantly enhance mobile friendliness of websites
Social media:
- SM penetration in Australia was 71% in January 2020:
- 16 million FB users
- 15 million YouTube users
- 9 million Instagram users
- REFERENCE: https://prosperitymedia.com.au/australian-internet-statistics-2020/
- 70% of Australians aged 55+ use Facebook
Older Australians (“Senior Surfers” aged 50+):
- Many older Australians are using digital technology in their everyday lives, with varying levels of proficiency
- Attitudes to digital services vary among Senior Surfer groups
- Senior Surfers are developing resilience to scams
- Digital disengagement does not necessarily mean digital illiteracy
Online time:
- Increase in time spent online – and even more so during pandemic, especially for those likely to visit (and therefore be interested in) cultural organisations
- Decline in attention spans – 12 seconds in 2000, 8 seconds in 2020 (average attention span of goldfish is 9 seconds…)
E-commerce:
- “Businesses that are doing the best in the current crisis use cloud technologies, sell products that are always needed, can easily be found online, make other businesses more efficient and have a good social media presence.”
Interfaces:
- Voice search increasing (hands-free)
- Gesture-based interfaces – motion-based including hand and eye movement
- Touchless interaction
- QR codes are on the rise – due to COVID requirements for venue check-in across Australia
Content:
- Long-form content
- 3D printing
- Zoom experimentation to improve and extend the current experience
- Co-branded collaborative online exhibitions
- E-health and other online services (for e.g., Centrelink, other government services) now regularly accessed
General museum trends
Received the latest Museums in 2020+ by Ece Özdil, Founder of Jüniör. This is an update from her 2018 report, the latest being called Search for Meaning, with some good examples attached to each trend. Here’s the ones I found intriguing:
Loyalty revolution and the importance of memberships
Re:engagement, with the focus on not doing digital for digital sake – it must be aligned to strategy and “… driven by meaningful engagement.”
Accessibility online – “museums need to balance their experience and service offer considering the social, digital and cultural divide that the digital world might bring to people’s lives.”
Education recoded – digital as a tool for learning activities. However, worth reading this post: COVID-19 Has Taken a Toll on Museum Education highlighting survey findings that “… staff positions most affected by layoffs and furloughs due to COVID-19 were Guest Services/Admissions/Front of House/Retail (68%) and Education (40%).”
Neo-agile museum – with an understanding that agile processes are not only the remit of digital departments and require institution-wide commitment
Collections explained – visitors will increasingly expect a personal connection with curators, as many experienced this through the pandemic. How will museums continue this engagement?
Data frontiers – and data transparency
And, finally. Our friends at MuseumNext have also been thinking about trends and asked for predictions – here’s their list: Museum Digital Predictions for 2021.
Hope you’ve enjoyed, and Happy New Year!
