Digital Highlights of 2018
by Peter Hinchliffe Director
Posted on December 18, 2018
Digital Highlights of 2018, reflecting back on some of the big digital news and trends of 2018.
Crypto-drop
One of the big tech conversations of last year over a Christmas tipple was “have you got any crypto” and “what do you think the price will rise to?” Well, the bubble burst in the new year of 2018 with Bitcoin taking a major tumble. Towards the end of 2017 the price reached nearly $20,000 for 1 bitcoin and dropped down to just over $7,000 in mid-February. Watch this space, as we’re sure this isn’t the end of the crypto/block-chain.
Personal data
As we moved through winter into spring of 2018, we found out how much of our personal data was being used / stolen / manipulated. The biggest wake-up call was the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal. From an innocent Facebook quiz, this company harvested millions of user’s personal data. See full details here. This story lead to a company going bust, Facebook’s share price and brand reputation being questioned and more importantly, gave internet users the mainstream wake-up call that their data should be respected and trusted. This also had a knock-on effect across the industry including the early closure of Google+ .
Data regulation
No one will forget the build up to 25th May 2018 when GDPR officially “kicked-in”. Almost all our clients spent the spring auditing processes and highlighting data/privacy and cookie terms across their digital platforms.
Global IPOs’
This year saw some big software/digital businesses float including the much anticipated Snap Inc (Snapchat) and Spotify. So far the stock hasn’t proved to be a success with investors and has dropped below their initial trading prices. How long will these social software titans last or will this be a phase for the next decade?
Hacking and data breaches
It’s one thing giving your data away but the worst thing is to find your data has been stolen by hackers. We’ve seen more and more high profile businesses being targeted and beaten by cyber terrorists. The big one that caused mayhem in the summer was the BA data breach with hundreds of thousands of user’s personal and financial data being compromised, not to mention significant site outages too. We’re hoping that businesses will continue to invest in cyber security to ensure they cover themselves as best they can.
Top 4 websites in 2018
These still remain as:
- YouTube
- Amazon
Digital services tax
Philip Hammond announced in the Autumn budget that a new tax was being introduced to target Tech giants to pay their fair share of tax. I’m sure we’re all happy with this! Most businesses are also aware that Tax is becoming digital in 2019 too so a move away from paper-based returns and online filing.
Looking forward
There’s lots of disruptive tech coming into the marketplace, one thing we think won’t go away is the mainstream application of AI to services such as chat tools, system automation and digital processes. Let’s see what happens in 2019!
About the Author
Peter heads up our client liaison side of NXT, supporting everything from new business and strategy opportunities, client and project liaison, through to project training and handover. Peter's key interests lie in digital marketing and technical development strategy and planning. Keep track of Peter's updates on the NXT Twitter feed. Don't follow his personal account unless you are into rugby, football, golf, F1, carp fishing or general customer service complaints to brands.