Christian Brosstad, Director of Communications and Digital Forbrukerrådet, speaks about steering brands in today's media landscape. Photo: Jocelyn G. Taknæs
Samfunn

Use the smartphone in a smart way

The latest innovations in technology and trends have created a digital shift in which connecting to social media is an absolute necessity.

By NANCY LE and JOCELYN G. TAKNÆS (photo)

Christian Brosstad, Director of Communications and Digital Forbrukerrådet, speaks about steering brands in today's media landscape. Photo: Jocelyn G. Taknæs
Christian Brosstad, Director of Communications and Digital Forbrukerrådet, speaks about steering brands in today’s media landscape. Photo: Jocelyn G. Taknæs

Social media enthusiast Christian Brosstad has presented directions for companies and users to exploit smartphones in a smart way. In his presentation of “Digital shift in communication” at HiMolde Wednesday, Brosstad unveiled the statistic that Norwegians check their phones every six minutes on average. Hence, the people have updated information on small and vertical screens more than ever. A survey of how people keep up with the news shows the surge of smartphones over traditional horizontal-screen devices (TV, laptops, desktops), with smartphone usage increasing from 5% to 29% during the last five years. Thus, for companies, it is unavoidable that they have to change the way to communicate with their customers.

Christian Brosstad responds to questions during the “Digital shift in communication” forum. Photo: Jocelyn G. Taknæs
Christian Brosstad responds to questions during the “Digital shift in communication” forum. Photo: Jocelyn G. Taknæs

Posting the feeds on the Facebook page and attaching links to the company website are out of date. Customers feel lazy to wait for reading your news. Brosstad enthusiastically argues for designing the news in a more mobile-friendly way. Contents should be playful and entertaining. We can learn from Snapchat, where messages are well fitted to vertical mobile screens and funny drawings or emojis can be added in. Instagram uses Nowthisnews to send news to readers in a very creative way. Mobile users spend 15 seconds to watch a colorful and lively video that sums up the latest news. Companies can look at these examples to launch more compelling, involving and relevant communications to their customers.

Christian Brosstad with his audience. Photo: Jocelyn G. Taknæs
Christian Brosstad with his audience. Photo: Jocelyn G. Taknæs

On the users’ side, the explosion of smartphones and social media expose them to high privacy risks. How often do you read the user agreements about privacy policies? Most people click on the little square when downloading apps without even considering where their information will go. Brosstad recommends spending a little time to scan through privacy policies. In the case that the app doesn’t include such information, like the SAS app for example, one customer called to the Norwegian Consumer Council to find support. And above all, it is necessary to put more attention on your Facebook.

Nothing is wrong with technology moving forward; the key is to exploit it in a smart way.