SMNZ Presents: An Intimate Evening with Derek Handley

The latest in our Intimate Evening series saw a small group gather in the basement of 1885 for snacks, drinks and a riveting chat with New Zealand’s own Derek Handley.

 Derek Handley is the founder of mobile marketing and media company, The Hyperfactory, so we were thrilled to have an opportunity to sit down and pick his brain. Social media, multi-screening and all things digital were up for discussion. If you missed out on the evening, here’s a little recap of what went down.When asked for his thoughts on social media and its importance in his personal life, Derek surprised us by explaining that he has actually pared back his social media usage in recent times – certainly the opposite to what we’re used to hearing today. But Derek made the very true point that while social media is a place of huge power, it can also be incredibly disruptive.As someone who has always struggled to get on board with Twitter and many of the other social media sites on the rise today, this comment felt refreshing. I can definitely see the merits of each of the different social media platforms and I think social media literacy is becoming absolutely crucial in today’s world, but I’ve also struggled to find a balance between being constantly connected and totally detached. I often feel, as someone working in the media industry, a “duty” to constantly update all of my social media pages and feel a bit guilty for not tweeting my every thought throughout the day. It’s nice to hear that I’m not the only one who thinks there is such a thing as too much time spent on social media.Derek notes the overwhelming feeling many of us experience trying to keep up with our many social media pages, friends, followers and fans and the exhausting exercise of “multi-screening” that seems to have become the norm. You know what I’m talking about – those people (you might be one of them!) who sit at the TV while simultaneously texting, tweeting and Facebooking. Derek says that he’s stopped doing this and now finds an appropriate space and time to devote to these activities.“If something catches my eye online, I’m not going to drop everything I’m doing or try to multi-task to handle it that minute. I’ll find a time to come back and look at it when I’m in the right context,” he explains.But Derek also notes that we won’t be seeing the end of multi-screening any time soon. He points out the phenomenon’s increasingly seamless nature as devices learn who you are and where you left off on your last screening, so they can cater to your specific interests.When asked about the evolution of screens, Derek says that each new generation of devices is catering to a different group of people’s needs. The real question, though, is less about the evolution of devices and more about where we’re going to see screens in the future. The answer? Everywhere. The simple office whiteboard will likely be replaced by a screen connected to the cloud, with which users can interact on a tangible level – and we’re already seeing some examples of this today.The discussion soon shifted to business models, and Derek’s is certainly an admirable one. His idea is to move forward with business models that actually do good for the world. The models emerging with a purpose are the ones that look beyond just making money, and this goes for social media as well.“This is how social media will grow up from childhood to adolescence,” Derek says.And he practices what he preaches. This is the model Derek brings to his latest initiative heading Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson’s ‘The B Team’. “We see The B Team as a catalyst, sparking a movement that will change the course of business so that the next generation of business leaders take it for granted that business must be a win-win for all stakeholders including nature and society,” he says.Derek and Australian digital advertising veteran Andrew Jacobs also launched Snakk, a company enabling brands to reach their target consumers on smartphones and tablets, in Australia in 2010, and the pair are celebrating the ‘new screen’ media start-up’s intent to list on the New Zealand Alternative Exchange (NZAX) in the coming months. Like The B Team, the vision behind Snakk is a deep commitment to building a purpose-driven business that balances commercial outcomes with a higher social purpose.Derek admits that the accusation of “greenwashing” is bound to be thrown around any time an organisation tries to do good by society and the environment, but he insists that many companies really are coming from the right place. “It’s all about the integrity and the vision of the CEOs”, he says.At Social Media NZ, we’re certainly on board with Derek’s plan and we aspire to become one of these companies ourselves with some great ideas already in motion.Watch this space!