Concerns. Doubts. Is digital the way to go? Any alternatives?

On my last entry, I discussed how technology seems to be here to stay, as well as some of its uses in marketing and in our daily lives. The success of Digital Shoreditch festival last week showcases this interest of companies to get some exposure in the digital arena, and professional are exploring ways for them to increase their online visibility and reputation.

Also, I am missing the digital task at The Apprentice tonight. No spoilers, please!

Two things. One, there is the question of skills. It might be surprising that some professionals seem not to have acquired yet the necessary skills to set up a proper digital strategy and that they are barely familiar with the whole thing. I do not blame them. Digital landscape changes every single day! One day we have e-mails, the following day we have mechanisms that can trace the e-mails messages sent as part of every campaign. In this scenario, I can see how hard it can be for anyone who is not used to do digital marketing, blogging, etc, to pick up on new things. Did you know that there are three types of ´cookies´?

On the other hand, not everyone is happy with the new concept and the toys that come with it. I went to an interesting exhibition on street photography at the Museum of London the other day. Reknowned photographers expressed their concerns about the digitalisation of their profession and the effect that it had on their practice. One of them even said that it made him a ´lazier´ photographer.

Leica cameras seemed to be their choice to produce high-quality pictures. It has a problem though: pictures cannot be sent out quickly to the customer. It is a bit like iPads. Why do I want an iPad if I already have a laptop?

I guess that loss of information and intellectual property are huge issues here. There is an ongoing issue between Facebook users regarding uploaded pictures. Users are now learning about what it means to interact online, and so status updates about new ways to protect users´ privacy appear continuously. It does not matter, as FB has the rights over anything uploaded onto their system – or does it?

The ASA is now regulating marcomms on websites and new EU privacy laws are coming into force on 26 May. Government is already drawing up guidance on how companies can apply those laws. It is a learning curve for us all…

What do you think? Any experience or best practice you want to share with us in this respect?