~ Marshall McLuhan
Wow! What a great Father's Day weekend! There was a lot to do in
Jones County over the weekend. Downtown Movie Night, Farmers Market, Car Show,
Benefit Rides, Cookouts, Pool parties, Fathers Day festivities and so much
more!
While I was hoping this weekend was going to be uneventful and
lazy, some of you know, this past weekend I had an unfortunate accident. As I
was trying to help a buddy remove a deck from his house, my thumb decided to
play chicken with a sledge hammer. The hammer won.
As I was in my state of shock, disbelief, trauma or whatever
else you might want to call it, I was calm enough to collect my composure and
against my typical judgement, I decided to let a doctor check things out, just
to be safe.
I should clarify that as a member of a long line of Simpson men,
we don't do hospitals. We don't do doctors. We're MEN! We beat our chests and
grunt! We grin and bear it. We're tough! (In the words of Tim Allen,
"Aaugh, Aaugh, Aaugh, Aaugh, Aaugh"!)
My wife has banned me from sharing all the gory details (and
pictures) and only allows me to share that my thumb is broken. (Thanks to the
very attentive weekend crew at SCRMC Urgent Care. It could have been worse.)
Once again I found myself in the South Central Medical Center
Urgent Care. This time it wasn't for my son but for me. As I was in the waiting
room I noticed all the signs for the new "In Quicker" campaign. This
is a campaign South Central has started to allow you to go online, enter your
information and wait until an arranged time for an appointment. Had I been in
my right mind, I might have given the system a try.
Thinking about the In Quicker system as well as the online
medical records South Central is moving to, it got me to thinking about an
article I read about the number of "smart" devices outnumbering
traditional forms of mobile communication.
The article references Pew research which shows more Americans
now own smartphones as compared to typical cell phones. The use of tablet
devices is soaring and expected to double this year to somewhere around 51
million Americans.
So what does this mean? The immediate implication is that mobile
Internet use is set to grow substantially, according to Forrester, which
forecasts that by 2016 more than 150 million Americans will be browsing the Web
on their phones. 87 million people will be able to access the mobile Web via
tablet.
From a marketing perspective, mobile marketing spending will
increase at a compound annual growth rate of 38 percent between 2011 and 2016.
For brands, mobile marketing opens up the ability to engage consumers wherever
they are throughout the day, on a variety of devices.
Just think about what this will mean for my son's generation,
"Generation GO". A generation that has grown up not knowing a world
without the Internet. A generation where cell phones have always existed. A
generation that has always been connected. A generation where everything is
"On Demand".
What does this mean for your business? How will you adapt to
this generation of consumer? How will this generation change the face of our
community? How will we enjoy Fathers day weekend 20 years from now? What about
10 years from now? Will we have downtown movie nights, farmers markets and car
shows? Will my son know what a sledge hammer is? I sure hope so.
I hope the ability to always be connected will only enhance his
learning potential. I can envision us walking down Central Avenue for the 23rd
Annual Crusin' Main Street holding up our phone/communicators to
"scan" a particular 1980s model car, what pops up is a video from the
designer talking about his passion for the car. A list of all the original
equipment options are listed and a list of places to purchase a "project
car" perfect for a father-son restoration.
(I also hope by that time we can use the "always on"
internet to warn me that I am about to smack my thumb!)
I think we are in a very interesting age of merging business,
technology, generations and history. I am excited for the potential for our
world, our state and for Jones County. I hope you are too!
As
always, I welcome your comments and feedback.
Larkin
Larkin
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