A plethora of predictions for 2018 and roundups of 2017.
We take a look at a record breaking night for WhatsApp, the rise of Spotify and its hopes to go public, stats galore from Google, Ofcom and the ONS, and Footlocker’s ‘open to all’ unboxing experience.
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 have newly 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 ecommerce, 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
