A Peek at the 2018 KPCB Internet Trends Report

Are you taking full advantage of internet trends when marketing the local businesses you represent? The simple fact is that if you’re not, you are losing out in a big way.

As you may know, the last three years at Advice we have dissected the KPCB Internet Trends Report presented by Mary Meeker of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) at the Code Conference. After we dig through the report, we share with you the most important trends that will help you to better market products and services.

A Bite-Size Perspective on the KPCB #Internet Trends 2018 Report by @BernieColeman #Mobile #SEO

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While the Advice Local team works diligently behind the scenes to analyze the 294-page report – released just this week – please review the KPCB Internet Trends Infographics produced by us in years prior. It’s important to know the history, as that’s a strong predictor of what’s coming.

KPCB Internet Trends Report by Year

The Internet Trends 2018 Review

It will take a bit for my team to comb through the 2018 report. While you’re waiting, I want to draw your attention to a few of the trends Mary Meeker revealed.

Internet users are slowing. Growth is up 7 percent versus previous year growth of 12 percent.
Global internet users are 3.6B, surpassing half the world’s population. A point to consider is that when an industry reaches market penetration, growth is harder to find.
Internet usage is up 4 percent year-over-year, based on U.S. data. People are asking KPCB how much is too much? Their view? “It depends how the time is being spent.”
Devices are getting better, faster and cheaper. Access is rising dramatically, which impacts usage.
Voice has reached technology liftoff. Google Machine Learning word accuracy is at 95 percent.
Voice products have reached liftoff too. The Amazon Echo install base is estimated to have reached 30 million plus.

Personalization is Expected

Personalization has made big leaps in the last few years. As Mary points out, “Data improves engagement and experiences, which drives growth and scrutiny. This personal collective data provides better experience for consumers. “

Here’s a few examples of the data she’s referring to:

2B Facebooks
200M Pinterests
170M Spotifys
125M Netflixes

As pointed out in the Google Partners Connect webinar, “Consumers are curious, demanding, and impatient.” People are putting their data into these types of products to make their experiences better.

Consumers “want” in the micro-moment, and they want it to be exactly right for them. They don’t want to wait, and they don’t want to muddle through a bunch of options to find what they seek. This is why personalization is so important.

There’s also a lot of collective data impacting real-time product development.

A few examples are:

100M+ Waze Drivers – Real-Time Navigation
20% UberPOOL Share – Real-Time Transportation
100M+ Snap Map – Real-Time Social Stories
17M Nextdoor Recommendations – Often Real-Time Local News

Privacy Will Continue to Be an Ever-Growing Issue

Another big point Mary made is that all of this data impacts privacy and creates a real concern, as it should. It’s very important to understand the unintended consequences of these products.

Facebook’s recent data breach is the perfect example. As Mark Zuckerberg said recently, “We didn’t focus enough on preventing abuse and thinking through how people could use these tools to do harm as well.” While GDPR is one way to ensure more privacy, there’s plenty of potential unintended consequences here as well.

As Mary said, “It is crucial to manage for unintended consequences, it’s irresponsible to stop innovation and progress.”

While today I would like to dissect the entire 2018 KPCB Internet Trends Report for you, that’s impossible. You can review it directly at this link. In the meantime, here’s the 33-minute video of the presentation at the Code Conference – it’s well worth watching. If you prefer to read the transcript of the video instead of watching it, that’s available too. Here’s the link.

While You Are Waiting…

If any of these stats, trends or points struck a chord with you, request a demo to learn how the Advice Local team can help you better serve your local clients – starting today.