Tag Archives: Communication

How 5G Will Inspire a Technological Revolution

In our last blog 5G: Exploring the Fifth Generation of Cellular Mobile Communications, we explored an overview of what 5G is and when it will be rolling out in your city.

Now, it is time for the fun stuff! 5G will change the way we interact with technology on a daily basis. Here’s a rundown of some of the revelatory applications enabled by 5G which will shape the future of our world:

THE INTERNET OF THINGS

Via Toxsl Technologies
Via Toxsl Technologies

In 2016, we wrote about how the Internet of Things will eventually enable smart-worlds. 5G is necessary in order to facilitate those changes. Most of the biggest innovations enabled by 5G are related to the Internet of Things. The world currently has sensors that are embedded in devices and objects and can communicate with each other, but they require a great deal of resources and quickly deplete LTE’s data capacity. 5G will give these sensors the ability to transmit data at speeds necessary to operate more efficiently. It will save lives by enabling smart bridges to communicate with cities and municipalities about when they require maintenance, among many other potential applications.

AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

Via Seeking Alpha
Via Seeking Alpha

The world is at a cross-roads when it comes to autonomous vehicles. The demand is here, but in order to justify legislation, autonomous cars must be ostensibly fool-proof. 5G will enable the speed necessary for autonomous vehicles to communicate with other vehicles on the road, saving lives in the process. According to Joy Laskar, CTO of Maja Systems, self-driving cars of the future will generate an estimated two petabits of data—that’s two-million gigabits! When dealing with automotive vehicles, people’s lives will be dependent on the transmission of data. Put it simply, until 5G receives a mass roll-out, it’s unlikely that autonomous cars will become the primary vehicles on the road.

HEALTHCARE

Via Fortinet
Via Fortinet

Imagine remote diagnoses that enable people worldwide to have access to expert doctors. Imagine robot-assisted surgery that is more precise and cost-effective. Imagine 5G-powered Augmented Reality applications allowing physical therapists and patients to communicate remotely.

These are just a few of the innovations that 5G will enable within the healthcare space. 5G will eventually enable much more precise and efficient hospitals. It will give patients more personal care. Consulting firm IHS Markit reported that “5G-enabled” output between 2020 and 2035 will total at $12.3 trillion. Of that amount, roughly $1.1 trillion will encompass sales enablement in healthcare.

VIRTUAL REALITY AND AUGMENTED REALITY

Via Upload VR
Via Upload VR

Experts within the VR and AR industry believe 5G will unlock the full potential of VR and AR technology. 5G will enable VR devices to offload intensive computational work to the cloud, making VR devices smaller and increasing the fidelity of VR experiences. AR displays in autonomous cars will likely become the norm. 5G will enable VR live streaming of sporting events, creating a revolutionarily immersive viewing experience. As with autonomous cars, we will not see the full potential of VR until 5G receives mass adoption.

TAKEAWAYS

5G will permanently change the global economy. 5G will generate new revenue, facilitate new growth, and accelerate innovations beyond our wildest dreams. Dr. David Teece wrote that 5G will put mobile technology at the center of a global economy characterized by the Internet of Things turning into a true general-purpose technology. While each evolution of the cellular generation has brought amazing advancements to society, 5G promises to bring the most radical breakthroughs of any of previous generations. Ready or not, 5G is about to bring interconnectivity to a whole new level.

5G: Exploring the Fifth Generation of Cellular Mobile Communications

In December 2018, AT&T made history by becoming the first mobile carrier to roll out 5G service. The average person probably thinks that 5G is merely a high-speed cellular service, however, technology aficionados know it’s much more than that—5G has the potential to facilitate major technological shifts in the way our world works. In our two-part series, the Mystic Media Blog will take a look at what 5G is and how it could shift our society.

WHAT IS 5G?

Let’s start with the basics. The G in 5G stands for Generation. 5G is the 5th generation of wireless technology. 5G will bring exponentially faster download & upload speeds with reduced latency, enabling many practical high-tech innovations across many different industries, in addition to many new consumer applications.

SPEED

4G has been the prevailing cellular technology for the past 5-8 years. 4G is currently responsible for the high speeds powering your phone. While 4G speeds average about 16.9 megabits per second (Mbps), 5G promises to deliver speeds at the Gigabit level, greatly enhancing the things your devices can do. For example, while 4G allows for streaming in HD, 5G will make it possible to stream 4K HDR content.

ACCESS

The appeal of 5G is not just speed, but access as well. 5G will allow many more devices to connect to 5G networks at once. In order to facilitate this, carriers will have to use more cell sites. Currently, there are about 25,000 200-foot cellular towers blanketing large portions of the US with cellular service. 5G will change that, in fact, there will be far more 5G cell sites in the future, each covering a smaller region. These are called “Small Cells” and function differently from large cellular towers.

Check out Verizon’s awesome breakdown of what “Small Cells” are and their importance below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oqITdNQfsg

LATENCY

5G will also greatly reduce latency, or the amount of time it takes for devices to communicate with each other’s wireless networks. For online gamers, reduced latency has a great deal of applications, as well as in healthcare, autonomous vehicles, and many other examples which we’ll cover in our next blog on what 5G can do for the future.

SPECTRUMS

Unlike 4G LTE, 5G operates on three different spectrum bands.

Low-band spectrum is a sub-1GHz spectrum. It is primarily used by carriers in the US for LTE and offers great coverage area, great building penetration, and peak data speeds of 100Mbps.

Mid-band spectrum provides faster coverage and lower latency than low-band, but fails to penetrate buildings as well as LTE. Peak speeds are up to 1Gbps on mid-band spectrum.

High-band spectrum, also known as mmWave, can offer peak speeds of up to 10Gbps with lower coverage area and weak building penetration.

The real innovations facilitated by 5G are happening at high spectrum bands which are less used by cellular companies. Frequencies of 28GHz and 39GHz have large sections of spectrum available to create big channels for high speeds. Those bands have been used for very advanced technologies previously, such as connecting base stations to remote internet links, but they have never been used for consumer devices.

WHEN IS IT ROLLING OUT?

5G’s roll out will be gradual. As mentioned earlier, until there are enough cellular cites for 5G to cover the entire nation, 5G will work together with 4G to augment connection speeds.

AT&T  officially become the first carrier to roll out 5G service earlier this month when the carrier began offering 5G in parts of Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Louisville, Jacksonville, Oklahoma City, Raleigh, New Orleans, Waco and San Antonio. AT&T will expand 5G in early 2019.

Verizon began offering 5G fixed in homes in October 2018. Verizon’s 5G is currently available in portions of Houston, Indianapolis, and Los Angeles, with plans to roll out standards-based mobile 5G in 2019.

T-Mobile expects to launch 5G in New York, LA, Dallas, and Las Vegas in 2019 with nationwide rollout in 2020.

Sprint will deploy 5G in early 2019 with additional markets in the future.

In our next blog, we’ll explore how 5G will enable innovations that will change the way our world works. Stay tuned!

A Guide to Promotional Writing Part 5: Marketing Effectively Through Social Media

The Mystic Media Blog has devoted our expertise into a five-part series of articles detailing the ins and outs of Promotional Writing, concluding with this post on writing for social media. The series covered several topics, including general techniques, suggested processes, press releases, and website copy writing.

The advent of social media had a dramatic affect on culture and society. The entire world became interconnected at the click of a button. Suddenly, everyone’s favorite brands and artists were available for communication anywhere, anytime using your smartphone. The newspaper became even more irrelevant to the younger generation as they could receive news updates directly from their favorite artists and brands, skipping the middleman.

All brands should have their marketing team running multiple social media accounts. It’s the cheapest and most direct route to consumers who want to hear what you have to say; who show by the act of following/liking the brand that they desire information and communication.

In honor of social media, we’ve gathered tips for writing for social media and structured them with the succinct, direct quips fitting of the format.

“BREVITY IS THE SOUL OF WIT”

Most scholars agree Shakespeare would have killed the social media game. This famous quote from Hamlet rings true across all writing, especially social media. Rather than overloading followers with an abundance of wordy content, keep it simple, concise, and witty.

RESPOND/REACT QUICKLY

In order to engage consumers, it’s vital to reply and interact promptly with followers on social media accounts (especially Twitter!). Remember: direct replies don’t overload your Twitter followers’ feed, making them a great, more intimate way to communicate with consumers.

A favorite, retweet, or follow back can also engage a follower as much as a reply.

CROSS-PROMOTE

Tweet “Follow us on Facebook for more updates.” Post “Check out our Twitter page!” on Facebook. Tweet Instagram photos. Grow your fan-base and keep them aware of the multiple platforms of communication by cross-promoting accounts. As in all forms of promotional writing, the call-to-action is among the integral parts of posting to social media.

PLAY IT SAFE

Perhaps this should be the number one rule: don’t make people furious. Play it safe when it comes to topical events. Be respectful of tragedies and don’t post anything politically incorrect. A single tweet can have huge repercussions.

Be extra careful when attempting to create a trend through hashtagging. This McDonald’s horror story serves as a moral tale of how important it is to be conscious of potential reactions to a brand before posting.

BUT DON’T BE AFRAID TO GET CHEEKY

Followers want to see a little personality out of the social media accounts they follow. Although you don’t want to offend anyone, you also won’t get any real response from boring posts. Try to keep it cheeky and create humorous posts. Analyze what connects most to your audience, take notes, and refine techniques over time.

MEME IT UP!

Memes are a great, modern way of effectively promoting a product while imparting humor. Check out this awesome article on memes for marketers.

FIND AN EFFECTIVE SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT TOOL

Social Media accounts require around the clock management. When you have separate accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and Google+, it’s difficult to keep track of each account everyday. Social Media Management tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, and more can be vital not only in managing accounts, but researching your followers and what posts are most effective.

INTERACT WITH CELEBRITIES

Cross-branding can raise awareness of a company and allow them to find their consumers in creative places. Interacting with select celebrities with compatible brands is a great way to attain exposure, gain access to new followers, and grow brand awareness.

DON’T UNDERESTIMATE TUMBLR

Tumblr is among the leading social media platforms underutilized by marketing teams. Tumblr hosts over 130.5 million blogs, while WordPress only has 70 million. Tumblr users average 12 minutes of use per day on the network–1.5 minutes more than what’s spent on Facebook.

For more information on Tumblr, check out this article over at Social Media Marketing.

CONTESTS

Social Media, specifically Facebook, is an ideal place to host contests. Any and all action the user takes toward entering a competition through Facebook will be publicized to their friends and followers on their newsfeed. Facebook recently banned Likegating, which certainly represents a roadblock, as well as an opportunity for more innovative approaches to social media contests.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

This has been the theme of our promotional writing series, so it’s fitting close this conclusive article with the most important part of all promotional writing: know your audience. With regard to social media, it’s vital to understand what will connect with those who consume and who may desire the brand being represented. Know the lingo. Know the humor. Know what your audience is reading and redirect them to cool articles.

The goal of promotional social media is not exclusively to attain sales, but to cultivate followers who will pause and consider what you write. Engage and expand your fanbase, give them what they want, and be consistent.

At Mystic Media, our vast experience in strategic marketing and application development for both iOS and Android gives us expertise on the all formats of promotional writing: from social media, to search engine optimization, copy writing, web design, and more. Learn more by clicking here or by contacting us by phone at 801.994.6815