There is nothing like a nine-month break from work to give you a fresh perspective on your discipline. In the world of digital media, where new hot sites and fads come and go quickly, I was afraid that I would be caught off guard when the question came up “what’s hot right now for digital?”. Yet, as I catch up with my colleagues and industry experts, the same web 2.0 suspects are talked about as nine months ago: Facebook, Twitter, mobile communications, etc …

What this reveals for me is that the key to digital media is not to know what the latest website is, or which social network or virtual world to enter, but instead to understand that their growth is due to some fundamental underlying societal trends. These trends – transparency, individuality, connection and knowledge – are the ones that every company should keep in mind when developing a communication program, offline and online.

The need for Transparency was already engrained in the demand for corporate social responsibility that emerged in the 90’s. Then, consumers required companies to be transparent about their impact on the environment and society. Now, consumers expect them to communicate in a clear and frank manner with them about everything, financial results, products, management… The same demand is also made of politicians, institutions, charities…

This is why consumers and citizens now put their trust in Individuals above all. Reviews on travel websites, opinions by a well-liked blogger, a quick text from a friend about a great product, will carry more weight as they appear free of any corporate involvement.

This is multiplied by the power of Connection. One piece of advice from an individual is interesting, but the same repeated by a community of trusted individuals definitely clinches the deal. Communities are the new social space where people build relationships. As people live in a dispersed world, both geographically and in terms of time zones, they re-create a social place online where they can meet regardless of the physical location they occupy and the time they can connect with each other.

This contributes to a new way of creating and consuming information. People build their Knowledge base via a mix of personal opinion that they gather on the net or via friends with what they get from traditional media in print and TV. Their knowledge is also more immediate. No longer do they want to wait for the six o’clock news (in the UK) or the “20h” (in France), they seek it via Twitter (see the recent explosion in the USA or the China earthquake rumoured to have first be told via the microblogging site) or their mobile phone.

So here you go: do you have what makes your consumers TICK? Be aware, they are already Ticking about you and your products. Have a look here: and input your company or brand’s name…