Real-time engagement - We want it now!

Trends sometime find a way to stabilize. I believe we are at that point at the moment – it’s not that there aren’t new trends; it’s just that the one that blossomed recently are still gaining momentum, like the Status Spheres. Therefore, the Trendwatchers are currently just observing on how these trends are being applied. But, when I started thinking about it, there is a trend we still haven’t considered and it has been gaining more and more power in the last couple of months – the Real-Time trend.
Real-time trend refers to the emergence of products or services whose major sell point is the real-time occurrence. For example, games that aren’t turn-based but are real-time – every decision made by the gamer affects the online game in that instant and everyone there will be affected. You are probably thinking by now “ok, nothing new there”. Well, the thing is when you apply the Real-Time principle to otherwise known as static information that needed deploy time or planning to occur.
A perfect example of this is Sol Comments . A winner at Cannes 2008, Sol Comments is, as they explain on the site:

a banner ad space used as outlet for commentary on news and articles related to content on Sol.no.

Sound pretty simple… except when you consider that this banner space was updated in Real-time. When news came out, a writer would comment on them using the ad space and posted it immediately. Being innovative and bold at the same time, Sol used the Real-time trend connected with a good dose of humor to create a different experience for the Sol readers.
Another example taken directly from Cannes 2008 is a Campaign by Credo Mobile . Basically, Credo created a few cartoon like projections with Dick Chaney and an empty speech balloon that, via sms input of the users, would have the users text displayed. This would be updated in real-time each time a user sent an SMS. After texting, participants receive a series of text messages back from CREDO telling them about the company, chances to opt in for free text alerts about political rallies and info about joining CREDO Mobile to make their phones tools for action. Once again, here’s a really simple idea that uses real-time and humor to create an entirely different experience.
The Real-time trend isn’t something necessarily new – the evolving technology allied to this trend is what makes it somewhat new. Talking about this trend is actually just stating the obvious as technology and it’s advancements are towards shorting the distances and making real-time a standard for most online and offline activities. Marketers are finding new ways to engage with the audience now! So, what can we extract from this? Sometimes it’s not creating a really complex action – imagine just creating something that entertains and engages with the user the moment they see it – and it answers back immediately! Like an airplane that writes words with smoke in the sky that accepts requests via SMS in real-time. And don’t copy this idea – it’s already been taken.