Can you recall the last time you posted a series of photos, which you carefully sort into “Albums” in your Facebook page? And when was the last time you updated your Facebook status? Maybe you no longer do?

The status box is an icon of the Information Age, a period dominated by desktop computers and a company’s mission to organize all the world’s information. With the significant growth in the usage of mobile screens and Internet access almost everywhere we go, we’re now entering the “Experience Age”.

The iconic status box is just a small part of a larger shift away from information moving towards experience. What has driven this shift is the changing context of our online interactions, which is the result of the way we are connected via our mobile devices today. Here’s the difference:

Information Age

• Your digital profile aka Facebook/LinkedIn status is what the world knows you by.

• Self-representation comes in the form of pictures, videos, texts, and webpages you share.

• This is usually created on a desktop computer (creation of albums, long-written comments, etc).

• Your identity is an accumulation of these shared materials over time, thus, your timeline.

Experience Age

• With accessibility to camera functions and fast-upgrading mobile devices, it has become easier to portray your life on-the-go.

• These in-the-moment self-expressions are a virtual show-and-tell of what you are experiencing right now.

• Your digital identity is constantly changing according to your experience of your surroundings (for example, Snapchat).

• Your profile is not definitive of a pre-conceived identity, but rather the “you” that the world sees you as in this moment.

While in the Information Age, your profile and identity is an accumulation of the materials that you post over time, in the Experience Age, the primary input is instantaneous, visual and the dominant feedback is attention. Today, the feedback loop connecting sharing and attention starts and ends on mobile. In the future, it could start with contact lenses and possibly end in virtual reality.

With our online and offline identities converging, the stories we tell each other now start and end visually. This will shape the future for experience-driven products and software, which can take us into a new and exciting era of technology exploration.

Visit the Helios Media Design page to find out more about Lydia’s work.