Voices, opinions and make-up tutorials can be effortlessly shared on a global scale. The abundance of smartphones, apps and bandwidth allow individual "influencers" to curate professional content and gather immediate feedback.

Organisations face challenges in their ability to influence customers to the same scale. The power of individuals in contrast lies in building an intimate and authentic engagement with their audience. Brands are now regularly partnering with rising YouTube phenomena and Vine megastars to promote products.

These evolutions in technology and attitude reflect prominently in our personal lives. 76% of UK adults now own a smartphone and collectively, we look at our phones over 1 billion times a day. Our demands for streaming videos, uploading photos and sharing our lives have been met by increasing mobile bandwidth. Current 4G network performance is now double that of 3G and over 250 times faster than GSM networks' top speed of 58 Kbit/s.

With this power at our fingertips, how is the UK public riding the mobile revolution?

Findings from this year's Deloitte mobile consumer survey show that phone usage is changing  - the UK public now take 1.2 billion selfies per year. If these selfies were printed onto standard polaroid photos and placed next to each other they would cover the Earth's diameter over 8 times. As referenced in the Telegraph, the report raised the question "Are you a compulsive phone checker?" and revealed that the average person checks their phone 27 times a day.

Within the top 20 most followed Twitter accounts only 4 belong to organisations instead of individuals. An increasing sense of individual brand and online presence has a number of implications. As a consumer I expect more personalised touch points with the brands I interact with. I also expect information to be readily available and relevant to my needs.

Evolution in technology needs to seamlessly integrate with our existing experience and needs. The ultimate prosthetic limb would be indistinguishable to the wearer. An online influencer has the tools to reach many but still needs to be distinguished to make an impact.

For organisations and individuals to effectively influence you must build a connection, be different and have a message to share. As Moore's law continues to increase the pace of technology development, self-reflection is an important tool to enable progress and influence rather than follow the crowd.

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