Ed Kitchingman, Social Insights Director at MEC UK, gives a round up of Mary Meeker's internet trends and it's key takeouts.

1. Mary
Meeker’s
Internet
Trends 2016:
Key Points

2. INTRODUCTION
Mary Meeker (the oracle) has unveiled her Internet Trends for 2016 - if
you don’t know who Mary Meeker is, what she predicts in these annual
trend reports normally have a big impact on how we do business years’
down the line, for example, in previous reports she correctly foresaw
the moves toward mobile video, messaging apps and China’s
dominance.
If you want to read the entire study (all 213 slides) it’s here
http://www.slideshare.net/kleinerperkins/2016-internet-trends-report ,
but if you want just the top line points, it’s these:
• In 5 years at least 50 percent of all searches are going to be either
images or speech
• Advertisers Remain Over-Indexed to Legacy Media (missing an
opportunity with mobile)
• 420 million people now use mobile ad-blockers, up 94 percent in
the past year
• Social Networks want to be your new TV
• 55% of US users find, or shop for products on Pinterest
• Messaging apps are growing rapidly, opening up the way for
conversational commerce
• Generation Y (Millennials) aren’t interested in reaching a brand
through the telephone, it’s social messaging and the internet, or
web chat
In the slides ahead I’ve put a bit more context to these key points (with
the relevant slides) and some thoughts

3. 50 PERCENT OF ALL SEARCHES ARE
GOING TO BE EITHER IMAGES OR
SPEECH
The headline takeaway is the prediction that in five years, at
least 50 percent of all searches are going to be either images or
speech. Meeker points towards the success of Amazon.com’s
Echo smart-speaker, a device powered by artificial intelligence
that is “always listening” for voice commands and Google’s word
accuracy rising to 90%.
Takeout: it feels like we are currently at the crossroads of search,
with the growth of messaging apps (more of which later) there is
an argument that the future of search will actually sit within
messaging apps, with chatbots as personal assistants (the soon
to be released Facebook M and Google Assistant, for example).
Whether it’s voice controlled, or chatbots, or both, as Meeker
argues how we think of search will certainly not be the same in
the next five years

4. ADVERTISERS REMAIN OVER-INDEXED
TO LEGACY MEDIA
Takeout: Somewhat surprised to see that
legacy media still holds such a broad sway in
the US- TV remains one the most effective
mediums to achieve mass awareness, but for
example Ad-buying firm Magna Global
shifted $200 million of the clients' money it
usually reserves forTV ads over toYouTube.
Magna Global explained the decision as one
based on price: watching liveTV is on the
decline (particularly with young people), but
TV ads keep going up.
YouTube has been banging this drum for a
while now, telling advertisers they would need
to shift 24% of theirTV budgets over to
YouTube if they wanted to reach young people
and providing research suggesting that
YouTube ads generate a better return on
investment thanTV ads most of the time.

5. 420 MILLION PEOPLE NOW USE MOBILE
AD-BLOCKERS, UP 94 PERCENT IN THE
PAST YEAR
Takeout:According to Mary Meeker’s data
93% of consumers consider using ad-blocking
software. A separate study foundAd blocking
is expected to reduce US display advertising
by some $3.9bn in 2016, a figure that is
forecast to treble over the next four, with a
total of $39bn being lost over five years. As
Meeker said "If ever there was a call to arms to
create better ads, this is it“.Will it continue the
precipitation towards social advertising on
Facebook, Instagram and other social
channels that currently remain immune to
Adblocking

6. THE PROBLEM WITH VIDEO ADVERTISING
AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE VIDEO
FORMAT
Takeout: Meeker argues that the bestVideo
Ads are Authentic/Entertaining/In-
C0ntext/Often Brief, or Hyper-Targeted. All
hail Snapchat and Facebook (and Instagram
too) then. (if you’re interested in a hyper-
targeting case-study this one is good)
https://www.facebook.com/business/success/
deutsche-telekom
Takeout: social networks want to be your new
TV. Reinforces that this is the culture of
now/the culture of creators where an ordinary
person has the opportunity to become a
celebrity via social media. By-the-by, on social
influencers, recent research fromTwitter
found that that 40% of those surveyed said
that they've purchased an item online after
seeing it used by an influencer on Instagram,
Twitter,Vine orYouTube. Further to this 49%
said that they rely on recommendations from
influencers

7. SOCIAL COMMERCE VIA PINTEREST
Takeout: a powerful argument to be
investing and using Pinterest if you’re a
retail brand; traditionally social has not
been thought of as a commerce channel.
Social is used for inspiration, browsing,
discovering yes, but not shopping. In the
most part, unsurprisingly, it is thought
we are using social networks with how
they’re intended to be used: posting
pictures, giving updates, consuming
content
Pinterest has flipped the script to
become a visual search engine for users

8. CONVERSATIONAL COMMERCE VIA
MESSAGING
Takeout: messaging apps are the social networks
for the smartphone era. Meeker argues that
Messaging apps in general are becoming a second
home screen for many people, acting as their
entry point into the internet. According to
eMarketer, more than 1.4 billion consumers were
using messaging apps by the end of 2015; that’s
75% of all smartphone users and an increase of
31.6% over the previous year. Ben Eidelson put it
succinctly: “Messaging is essentially the child of
the social and mobile platforms and can bring
with it the best from both.”
Takeout: Conversation threads within these
messaging apps will provide a seamless
experience.You never lose context, and the
business never loses context about who you are
and your past purchases. Gone will be the
traditional e-commerce journey of going to the
website to create an account and the countless
notification emails thereafter. Now we will have
an experience that is made for the smartphone,
significant because Smartphones are replacing
computers for internet use, for example two-
thirds (65%) of all adults use a smartphone to go
online(Ofcom, 2016)

9. GENERATION Y (MILLENNIALS) ARE
CHANGING HOW WE COMMUNICATE TO
BRANDS
Takeout: GenerationY (Millennials)
aren’t interested in reaching a brand
through the telephone, it’s social
messaging and the internet, or web
chat. This is a particular
consideration for Customer Service,
if you’re aTelecoms brand, for
example, don’t expect yourTwitter
channel to be full of complimentary
@ replies, commenting on the
outstanding content you’re
producing, but rather irate
millennials using it as a resource for
customer service

10. THANKS