The world’s population is estimated to be around 7.6 billion and, according to the Statistics Portal, mobile phone use is already around 65.9% this year and will be 67.1% in 2019.
In Portugal, we know that 85% of the population use the internet at least once a day, and of these, 47% access social networks. The dependency on social media can be criticized, but the dominance and paradigm shift in the global market cannot be denied. (*)
It’s not just the increase in use, the consumer, now more demanding, has become more hybrid, consuming several different types of content, more dynamic and interactive. For instance, there’s the exponential consumption of users on Instagram and Snapchat, the overwhelming number of videos, the increasingly frequent stories in our news feed, whether from private users or content sponsored by brands.
The video has a monopoly on digital content! Consider YouTube, which in Portugal is accessed by 66% of our population. Furthermore, 5.70 million Portuguese use their smartphones to log on to their social networks.
With the motto of changing the digital footprint, Google announced AMP Stories on February 13, which aims to combat the so-called “stories” of Snapchat and Instagram. Accelerated Mobile Pages was created in 2015, but now incorporates the story content format to provide users with more fluid, dynamic and faster navigation.
The good experience provided to users, who don’t spend as much time or mobile data compared to videos posted by brands, is the hallmark of this service.
In this pilot phase, the brands that will be involved are American giants such as CNN, Wired, Cosmopolitan and the Washington Post. The search engine has provided a link that can be accessed on the mobile version and which, if searched for (e.g.) the Washington Post and Wired, will show the results of this already successful service.
According to Google, this new feature will allow a new approach to what is communicated, allowing brands new ways of expressing themselves.
There is, however, a unique feature of this tool compared to the typical “Stories” of Snapchat and Instagram, which is that AMP has no time limit, allowing the user to view all the content.
As far as brands are concerned, when Google created AMP Stories, it announced how web developers can incorporate this type of content into their sites, allowing for paradigmatic changes in the way people communicate. We are increasingly looking for sites that are trustworthy, transparent in terms of the information provided, appealing, fast, interactive, customer-focused and with unique functionalities offering the consumer a unique user experience.
The combination of a good website and the unquestionable power of social media gives these communication channels the formula for success when it comes to providing users with the content and information they need.
These brands want to reach the consumer in every way possible, trying not to leave room for emerging competitors, managing to give users, the real beneficiaries of these “new” solutions, a varied method of accessing content on the various digital platform channels. The release for Portugal has not yet been announced, but this feature will allow us to make great strides towards creating greater awareness and engagement with our target audience.
(*) Data taken from the Portugal Digital Report 2018