Ibis Hotels now offer Social Media Sitters to make your stay more relaxing

The high end European hotel chain has added an interesting new amenity to their guests. The service of managing your Social Media for you while you stay with them so you can relax and not worry about your personal brand. Someone will manage all your feeds, post content and otherwise allow you to be "you" and not worry about capturing every shareable moment. See the full story here: https://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2018/12/04/swiss-hotel-chain-introduces-the-social-media-sitter-to-handle-your-instagram-while-you-relax/

Key Takeaway

We've achieved peak Social Media if we've gotten to a point where our digital presence requires its own butler. Our online brand has become so important to our own well-being that it's become part of what we need to take vacation from, rather than the fun and engaging way we were supposed to be able to stay in touch with family and friends.

This poses huge implications in the way that brands need to communicate with people, or more importantly, think about the critical role that Social Media plays in their lives.

Now more than ever - it's not about asking audiences to share your content - it's about asking them for permission to be part of their personal identity.

The new Apple Watch Series 4 detects critical heart conditions

There's a raft of PR stories from major tech news sources this week about the new Apple Watch's ECG feature. People who are at risk of Atrial Fibrillation have a very real reason to purchase the watch as electrocardiograms can detect heart issues at a level previously only attainable with special equipment.

The ECG feature works the same way as the current heart monitor in existing watches, but goes far deeper and offers other health and safety features that make the new watch a likely candidate as "The" holiday gift for an elderly loved one that's too young to wear a medic-alert bracelet, but old enough to worry about their heart, or falling down.

Key Takeaway

This isn't just a watch. This is another piece of the IoT (Internet of Things) ecosystem that provides your personal data to a system that can cater to you with highly customized solutions. In the healthcare space this is called Stratification. Getting the right care to the right people.

With products like the Apple Watch - highly detailed data is the difference between connecting with a demographic that might need your product, and individuals that absolutely need and want your product.

Your phone knows if your sad, happy or lying based on your voice

The controversy over devices that listen to what we say, and then sell us things based on our discussions with others isn't going away, and this article makes it worse: https://theconversation.com/are-phones-listening-to-us-what-they-can-learn-from-the-sound-of-your-voice-105753

The article dives into the level of depth that phones specifically can recognize your voice, not just as your personal voice, but the fluctuations in your voice that determine if you're sad, happy, or even lying.

Key Takeaway

Similar to the Apple Watch, despite the fact that these devices are snooping on us - if done right - these devices can be part of our lives in a way that deliver highly targeted value. The question is ultimately whether we use this data for good, or for lazy evil.