The Future Looks Like Vapor, Digital Marketer Says

The future is unreal.

Or to put it more accurately, we are moving to the impermanent Internet, according to Mitch Joel, digital marketer, author and speaker at the Insured Retirement Institute annual meeting on Monday.

At a session called "Algorythm – The Pulse of Creativity, Data, and the Future of Brands," Joel used Snapchat as an example of how information is becoming even more ephemeral, disappearing soon after it was created. It wasn't a call for alarm but just an instance of a crazy idea that becomes a company worth billions.

It was also a case where Facebook offered $3 billion to buy the company in 2013 when it was still unproven. The CEO turned it down because it would have been only a short-term gain and running Snapchat was too much fun.

Snapchat has become the preferred medium with a younger demographic. While Facebook has become the province of the lame and the old, as the kids would say.

The broader question, Joel said, is what do consumers need to own? He used the example of DVDs vs. Blu-Ray leading to downloading onto a computer, then to a flash drive to an external hard drive while the DVDs were relegated to the curb.

In the meantime, Netflix was quietly replacing the video store and the need to own movies.

"Consumers," Joel said, "are getting good at impermanence."

Susan Rupe is managing editor for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at Susan.Rupe@innfeedback.com.

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