2013 Internet Trends: Mary Meeker and Liang Wu
From blogs.ubc.ca/etec522Sept2013
Posted in: General, Week 02: The Edtech Marketplace
Post by pweeze at 1.54am on September 16, 2013
2013 Internet Trends by Mary Meeker and Liang Wu
This dissection of Internet trends by Mary Meeker and Liang Wu is extremely comprehensive. The first section I wanted to skip to was about the usage of different computing devices and I wasn’t surprised to see that netbooks were dropping, as tablet sales were taking off. It seems as if there is more of an appetite for learning based apps and touchscreen performance, then a mini-laptop. The data isn’t surprising, I am just personally happy that his trend is emerging, and I am interested to see if education districts stay with this shift towards tablet based computing.
App based learning and gamification (which is enabled by tablets) seems to be the driver behind this. Incorporating these with the wearable devices and user data driven apps like Waze and Yelp will only promote their further integration.
As I am abroad I am currently using a number of apps such as TripAdvisor that have constantly updated content. These apps are only as good as the content on them, and with new pics, suggestions and updates continuously being sent, the number of users and customers are only grow. From personal experience I was able to see pictures of Summer Palace that were taken just a few short weeks before I was there. This kind of real time information beats any travel brochure and demonstrates the real power of these products.
The most revealing part of this whole slide deck was the information on the emergence of China as a global market that should be getting a lot of attention. Especially with recent developments in the countries main social media network Sina-Weibo, the 500 million (220 real) users in China and the decision to extend this network to other countries and regions, the so called “Chinese Intranet”, as referenced in this article in @theAtlantic.
Maybe it’s because I just moved here and I’m in a bit of a honeymoon phase, but there are a lot of possibilities in the Chinese market with education. With the growth of International Schools and a greater demand for a transformation away from the traditional Chinese classroom model, and a move towards a more globally minded, 21st century approach to teaching, there is a huge market just waiting to be tapped into.
I feel that Mary Meeker has a finger on the pulse of the truly important trends, and has the data necessary to help when preparing a pitch.
Comment by jiorns 10:57 pm on September 27, 2013
Just on what you said: “From personal experience I was able to see pictures of Summer Palace that were taken just a few short weeks before I was there. This kind of real time information beats any travel brochure and demonstrates the real power of these products”.
Well yes, the electronic information likely feels a lot more engaging and you can get “recent views’ of tourist attractions online.
I think I like apps like Trip Advisor for destinations that are plain old getaways and I want to get a hotel sorted fast for a good price.
However, there are some downsides to this type of digital product. Or the fact that people have forgotten what it was like to travel – especially abroad – without them. It was genuinely adventurous. If you wound up somewhere on your own, you really got to experience being on your own (not doing selfies on facebook).
Comment by jiorns 11:09 pm on September 27, 2013
I did wonder what the Chinese millenials were using for searches and communication given FB and Google are blocked.
Is that media allowed in schools, i.e. for teaching and learning?
