Scotland’s ‘digital divide’ creates a dilemma – and a new opportunity – for delivering cost-effective public services and mass marketing. The digital revolution has unleashed undreamed-of opportunities for communication. We now consume and create media – chatting, texting, shopping, sharing – in ways that would have baffled our grannies.
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Individuals and organisations can now push information to, and build dialogue with, important audiences. As a result, producing ‘content’ and making ‘connections’ has become democratised. But has digital access? Even the smartest of social marketing strategies – such as our work on the ‘Early Years’ strategy which built the Scottish Government’s largest online community – runs into some hard digital demographic realities.
95% of Scottish households with incomes over £40,000 have broadband. Half of Scottish homes with income under £15,000 don’t even have a computer. However,nearly 90% of these less-well-off homes do have a mobile phone.* Clearly, digital access is crucial to some kinds of economic participation, as well as to the dialogue of democracy. But the increasing emotional importance of digital communications is also reflected in Ofcom’s 2010 report on Children’s Media Literacy.
In terms of which medium they would miss most if it were taken away, children aged 5-15 in Scotland ranked using the internet and their mobile phones 3rd equal in importance (after TV and computer games).
In brief, people like digital media. For the public sector, this creates the opportunity to communicate in a way that’s welcome – both one-to-one and with targeted, discrete audiences. The effect can also be amplified through social media, creating cut-through and the potential for cost-savings compared to traditional mass media.
The dilemma for the public sector (and any client with a mass audiences) is the 1/3rd of the population who don’t have computer-based online access. They are often the most vulnerable and excluded members of society – and tend to be the greatest consumers of public services in welfare, health and criminal justice. For example, fewer than 40% of all adults have accessed a government website for any reason.
The new opportunity for ‘digital democracy’ is created by smart phones. The market has been growing by 40% year-on-year. By 2015, it’s estimated that 75% of all mobile phones will be ‘internet centric’.* As the technology advances, and costs come down, the trend for the demographic curve to be flattened will continue. Across the social spectrum, users will become more used to access – and will expect and demand to find – information whenever and wherever they want. Organisations with public
accountability will have to respond by providing mobile resources.
This trend presents an opportunity for all clients to engage with hard to reach groups in new and innovative ways. Mobile technology is the platform of choice for younger generations. 16-34 year olds are significantly more likely to access the internet on a device that isn’t a conventional computer.
Moreover, Scotland is a modern, smart, confident economy – and being at the forefront of digital technology is a key component of our national sense of self and international identity. It’s time for the nation to take a bold leap into the 21st century. Imagine if we were to invest at least as much in developing digital bridges as we plan to spend on physical bridges. The new Forth crossing might carry non-digital traffic like people and cars… but will it take us to the forefront of international progress?
Angharad Hywel is the latest super smart addition to The Gate’s client services team. Born on a farm in Wales, there’s nothing she can’t tell you about livestock.
