WHERE DOES SERBIA STAND IN THE WORLD OF DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS?
What are the impressions from the recent digital distruption forum in Kyiv? Where does Serbia stand in in the world of digital communications?
In early April, the Digital Communication Network put together the Digital Disruption Forum in Kyiv, Ukraine, an event that brought together a large number of professionals from the world of modern communications. Aleksandar Radukin, co-founder of the Homepage agency, was one of the invitees from Serbia. His presentation’s subject was How to Get Attention in a Crowded World, while his moderator was Colm Quinn, Deputy Director of Strategic Communications, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC, USA.
Our aim was to learn more about global tendencies in the digital arena, and, naturally, get an idea where Serbia stands in that respect. Our impressions are formed and we’ll be sharing them with you in due course.
You had a chance to speak with digital professionals from around the world and from different lines of business: politics, the public sector, non-governmental agencies, the media. What would you single out as a common denominator for all those areas?
The crowd was pretty diverse. From high officials from US government agencies, members of think tanks, institutions, reporters from the biggest media outlets, to the deputy chief administrator to the Government of Ukraine. Also, there was a number of digital professionals from the non-government sector, entrepreneurs and founders of top Eastern European marketing agencies. All in all, nearly 200 attendees from 19 countries from 3 continents who all had in common that their work largely stemmed from and depended on digital communication and the internet.
Does that mean that we’re definitely past the question: “Should everyone use digital channels of communication?” and that the focus has shifted to “How to market yourself and communicate successfully in the digital arena?”?
Of course. The question remains how well individuals and institutions have adapted and how willing they are to leave their comfort zones to adapt to the inevitable changes. Those who adapt better have a more successful business and results in their respective industries. We had a chance to see activity from state institutions who have been proactive and adapted their efforts to the new trends, but also examples that still require work and improvement. Now that’s the key thing — how to work on that and how that huge machinery should be adapted, educated and fine-tuned to the trends while at the same time you need to have all of the individual contributors realizing this is all for the greater good of all of those institutions. Realizing that the digital is an advantage and an opportunity, not a threat in any way. Knowledge is power, but only if it’s shared and channeled in the right direction.
If you ask people today if they have outlets into the digital networks, most of them will tell you they do. It’s a different matter altogether to what extent they are using their potential. I’ll draw a parallel here: it’s like when you ask someone: “Do you know how to play chess?” Most people will answer affirmatively and they do know the rules how the pieces move on the board. What sets masters apart from the rest are the years of practice and how long you’ve been in the game that’s made you a winner.
What is currently a hot topic among digital professionals?
Currently the absolute focus is on localizing fake news and how to root them out.
The US Government has begun working closely with Facebook as currently five of their top experts are collaborating with Facebook’s engineers on efficiently pin-pointing and preventing the spread of fake news.
Only days ago Google launched an initiative into dealing with this problem, enabling a functionality to scan the search and analyze the relevancy of Google search results. By the way, the trend of using those call-to-action visuals containing brief information that animate the user is still going strong. Also, the video medium and the evolution of video platforms (LIVE, 360 videos, VR, AR) are hot topics this year, regardless of whether we’re talking about commercial campaigns or issues of social engagement.
Compared with experiences of the attendees from other countries, where does Serbia stand in the digital evolution?
I’ve heard experiences from the USA: the public sector is heavy on the digital outlets at the moment. They are cautious, but have realized the need to change and transform. So far it’s going slowly — at least compared with the industry’s expectations — but steadily. Some things are speeding up and one thing’s certain — going forward it’s all only going to pick up pace and be more dynamic. We have oncoming generations of kids for whom this is the only way of communication they have ever known. Things that were deemed unfathomable only two years ago have become a standard and a mandatory channel of communication, marketing and information flow.
I was proud of the fact that Serbia is in the very top among European nations when it comes to social networks users relative to its population. To put it in context, only 10% of the population of Ukraine use Facebook, while in Serbia it’s at 60%. Results and performances of campaigns in Serbia are much more impressive than compared to, say, those in Ukraine. Then again, compared with the government sector in the USA, Serbia still has room to grow and improve. As for digital communication, it’s noticeable USA is at the most advanced stage in its changes and, as a result, most of the examples come from this country.
What kind of content is most consumed on the Internet? Are there any trends in terms of age groups?
The state we heard in Kyiv is that in the USA the young are those who read online content the most. The graphs below demonstrate that unequivocally. What represents a challenge is how to animate people using quality visuals and brief copies that will intrigue them enough to read the whole text.
I think we need to be aware that content is ever increasingly being consumed from mobile platforms. I’m not only talking about design responsiveness, but also the type of message we’re sending. In Serbia, 60% of social network users access them through their mobile phones, while in the USA this figure is at 80%. Forecasts suggest Serbia is on a path to reaching USA’s ratio soon.
How much do you think experiences of other attendees will mean to you in everyday work?
A useful information is the confirmation that I got that what we’re doing at the moment is very much in line with global trends and that we all face similar challenges. By doing presentations of our case studies to each other we identified identical issues — Americans, Ukrainians and us Serbians. I can conclude with confidence that we’re doing a great job as a team in the agency. What has popped up as a need for the future is education of people on all levels. That must be in our focus and we need to come up with a model for workshops, education or presentations in order to appeal to a wider public, demonstrating the power and capacity of the digital arena and the digital transformation.