Sorcha Daly has written an insightful essay on the age of the individual in Issue 8 of The Human Layer.
As the quantified self movement has shifted the focus from big data to small data, businesses must start designing for a mainstream of individuals.
As the word ‘selfie’ was made word of the year by the Oxford English Dictionary, it’s clear that we are well and truly in the age of the individual. People have shifted their use of the web from building and nurturing social networks to serve their own self-interest. Look at the much discussed exodus from Facebook, the ever-changing evolution of Twitter as a social network turned news stream and the success of Snapchat for evidence of the appetite for a much smaller, self-centred online world.
There is a shift in interest from the idea of big data housed in giant offshore data farms to small, personal data that sits neatly inside pockets.