Big Idea 2014: The Year of Context

This post is part of a series in which LinkedIn Influencers pick one big idea that will shape 2014. See all the ideas here.

Next year I’m going to search less but accomplish more. I’m going to spend less but get more. And I’m going do all of this and have more free time.

How am I going to do this? Through the use of contextually-aware services on my mobile device. These services have sprung up in limited ways over the past few years, but in 2014 we will see massive adoption.

There are three key reasons why 2014 will be the year of context.

1. Smartphones, which are truly personal devices (one owner), are ubiquitous as our default, primary communication method.

2. There is widespread adoption and frequent usage of social networks with accessible APIs.

3. The public is ready to share some personal information for a better online experience — they think it’s helpful, not scary.

Contextually-aware services will transform every industry — from government to enterprise. Here are two places you’ll see the impact first.

Consumer Services

The apps we use will become predictive and personal — feeling more human than the one-size-fits-all search box on the web. Information will be brought to us, before we even know we need it, by looking at past behavior, social networks we give these apps access to, and other data on the device — that we, again, choose to allow our apps to access.

One of my favorite examples here is EasilyDo — an app that builds a to-do list for you, and helps you accomplish those items with a single tap. It has made me a better friend by helping me remember birthdays and to congratulate friends when something great happens to them. Google Now is also a great example of context awareness.

In 2014, you’ll also see these types of approaches in non-personal productivity apps, which will make these apps more powerful and their users far more loyal.

Personally, I’m looking for a service that notifies me of last-minute openings at my favorite restaurants, on nights when I have a restaurant reservation at a less-desirable place (and a service that books the former and cancels the latter for me).

Advertising Networks

To date, sharing personal information with advertisers has been mostly a one-way transaction. The ad networks get access to your search history, browser cookies, shopping habits and patterns — you get the measly benefit of more targeted ads. They got rich, you saw more ad banners.

Starting next year, we’ll see advertising networks that use context to proactively deliver messages from marketers that are personalized to each user’s needs at that very moment in time, again with the user’s explicit consent to receive them. If these networks do their job, these “advertisements” will be indistinguishable from content we actively seek out. They will be welcome additions to our day, saving us time, money and informing us about new services we’ll immediately fall in love with. Advertisers won’t bid on keyword, or explicit intent, but instead will bid on context, or potential for intent. I’m sure someone is already working on the company that will do this, and it’s going to be an enormous company. Let us know when you get started — HotelTonight would love to be a beta tester.

Of course, it’ll take the right design for these networks to ensure that the quality stays high, and that unscrupulous marketers don’t use them as a channel for spam. They will need a design that rewards great notifications and penalizes bad ones, using implicit and explicit signals. And they’ll need transparent privacy tools that give users complete control of their information.

2014 is going to be a great year for consumers – we’ll be happier and more productive than ever, with time to spare.

Sam Shank founded HotelTonight (which is hiring!) in 2010. Follow him here or at @samshank.

Photo: Shutterstock