Today's Behaviors, Tomorrow's Startups-Nir&Far-

Hi, I'm Nir Eyal and this is the near and Far Podcast. This podcast is about business, behavior and the brain. On this show, I do a few things. I read quick articles I've written about topics shaping your behavior. I interview authors of books I enjoy, and from time to time I devote episodes to answering your questions. If you want to ask me a question, visit the podcast page on itunes, go to Ratings and Reviews and ask me a question. By leaving a review, I promise to read it and possibly include your question in a future episode. So please ask me anything now. Enjoy the episode and for more, you can always Visit me@nearandfar.com.

Today's Behaviors Tomorrow startups by nearandfar.com.

In this guest post, Ryan Hoover takes a look at how new behaviors are shaping tech opportunities. Ryan blogs@ryanhoover me and you can follow him on Twitter rrhoover.

Startups that build a product attached to nascent behaviors have an opportunity to form habits before anyone else. First mover advantage matters. Once a habit is formed, it's difficult to change and often provides a sustained competitive advantage. In order to mine for yet untapped opportunities, I began to observe my own behaviors and those of people around me. How is my daily routine different than last year? What new behaviors have I seen amongst my social circles, online and off? How are normals engaging with technology in new ways? Here are some of the nascent behaviors I've observed. Gamification of Life have you noticed how different teens and preteens use social networks? From my observations following my younger cousins and others writing on the topic, younger audiences are in constant competition with one another. Using Instagram, Facebook and other platforms as a game, teens perceive follower counts, likes, and other forms of social currency seriously, directly prompting others to reciprocate diverse media expression. In 2009, the primary form of self expression online was in text via the status update. Today we see a variety of mediums used to express stylized photos on Instagram, micro videos on vine, animated gifs on Cinemagram, ephemeral pics on Snapchat, anonymous photo captions on Whisper doodles on Message Me, and so on. Message Me, recent addition to the booming mobile messaging market, has embraced this behavioral shift, enabling users to communicate through photos, video, audio, voice, music, location, and my personal favorite doodles within a single experience.

This behavioral shift is emphasized in Mary Meeker's recent 2013 Internet Trends report see slide 1624. 7. Asynchronous messaging Mobile messaging apps are blowing up and for some become the primary form of communication. These experiences are not simply a replacement to traditional sms, a communication protocol primarily designed for one to one messaging. This new breed of apps are designed for one to many communication as group chats organically form amongst friends, family and colleagues. In doing so, a single message is broadcasted to not one but many people, amplifying, spread and instigating further communication. More than ever before, these little devices in our pocket become a chatterbox of discussion, connecting us more frequently than ever before. Microtransactions Far from new the growing adoption of microtransactions in mobile gaming will continue to bleed into other markets. As friction is removed and the behavior becomes routine, new opportunities will emerge. We're seeing this in content publishing as startups like Flatter and Sentup attempt to benefit from this change.

Second Screens Second screen usage is becoming the norm. In a study by Business Insider, more than 80% of 18 to 24 year olds reported using their phone while watching TV. I see this in my own behavior as well as I context switch back and forth between the TV and my phone. Lightweight reciprocation the like has had a tremendous influence on the web and our connectedness between one another. Nearly every social product has some form of lightweight interaction to give users a quick way to acknowledge each other's contributions with little cognitive overhead. This is becoming increasingly prevalent as we favorite a tweet, heart, an Instagram photo and like a Facebook post. As a result, more signals of reciprocation are triggered re engaging users. But do these lightweight interactions lead to less meaningful interactions and thoughtful engagement? Are we conditioning people to interact mindlessly? I find that I am most creative and insightful when consciously observing human behavior. Observe yourself, observe others, seek anomalies. You never know what insights you might uncover. What nascent behaviors do you see and what business opportunities do you think they create?

This guest post was written by Ryan Hoover.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the near and Far Podcast. You can always find more at my blog, nearandfar.com and don't forget, if you have a question you'd like me to explore in a future episode, leave me your question. The former review for the podcast on itunes.