Stemato.com - Stephen Tompkins’ Blog

When we migrate digital platforms does the information still serves a purpose? In life migration means moving and changing becoming something different. But in the digital world we rarely think about consequences of our old data sitting on a server somewhere left to gather dust.

I left Myspace some time ago for Facebook and I have not looked back. As of right now, my profile sits the same way it was 2 years ago but in those two years I have changed tremendously. All that old data makes me wonder how accurate hyper-targeting from Myspace can possibly be.

The idea behind it is amazing but without deep engagement its missing a key ingredient to change the digital world.

Last week, emarketer.com sent this email to me. It had some interesting facts about digital music and its growth over the last couple years. As consumers (me included) increasingly switch to digital devices and legal purchases of music, I began to wonder why digital packaging has not caught up to this trend.

The chart above shows that almost half of all US teens did not purchase a CD in 2007 ( a number which is sure to continue to rise). If teens are switching to digital music at such a dizzying pace, why has the packaging not caught up? Most digital albums still include mirror images of their in-store counterparts. Why not progress to something more dynamic to reflect the new error?

Dynamic digital album artwork is the next progression in terms of packaging design for a digital universe. I could see a whole industry built around buying cool iPod/iPhone screensavers with animated capabilities. Does anyone else agree?