Over ten years ago, when I was working a lot with social media influencers, I met Jeremiah Owyang. At the time he worked for Forrester Research and was considering going out on his own as consultant helping companies see where technology was heading.
Since then Jeremiah has continued to consistently connect the dots on what’s happening today and what will happen tomorrow. When I read the following article from him it seemed like the eras he shared would be helpful for our community to think about so now I’m sharing it with you…
Last week, I presented in Europe (Spark Me, and at Digitalk) the “Six Digital Eras” a roadmap on how I see the future unfolding in digital. When I first built out this framework several years ago, it was during the social media age. I noticed that the Collaborative Economy era was going to emerge, and you’ve seen my writings on that. Quickly, I could see that the next phase (fourth phase) was going to spur the autonomous era.
Now, I’m focused in on the Modern Wellbeing (aka Wellness Tech or WellTech) category as technology integrates and augments our minds, bodies, communities and space. This era focuses on the “inner space” on our bodies, but the era I’m starting to explore next is “outer space” starting with low-cost access to satellites as a service, led by companies like Amazon Cloud Services, Planet Labs, SpaceX and more.
It’s a brave new world, to see these radical eras emerge so quickly, in fact, they’re accelerating in emergence. Furthermore, the complexities increase as they overlay on top of each other, it’s not a sequence. For each of these eras, I have additional frameworks, case studies, examples, data, predictions, and recommendations that can be tailored for specific industries.
Above Image: The Six Digital Eras. Eras 1 & 2 arrived and integrated into society. We’re now focused on 3 & 4, and 5 & 6 are emerging. There are examples in each phase of the speech, with frequent audience participation.
Above Image: Key questions and insights for the six eras, tying it all together.
