Just tallied up the Q1 stats for FIM. Our Google Alert search identified 184 articles focused on “futurists.” Our analysis suggested 77 of these were “fresh” mentions (22 were repeated on multiple days) of relevance to foresight and professional futurists, that is, not about the art movement or band. Our media savvy friend Jack Uldrich came in at 13 mentions this quarter. Ray Kurzweil of Google came close to Uldrich this quarter as his public speeches continue to draw the attention of media outlets. So, 77 mentions in 90 days is less than one fresh mention a day — the public is not being overwhelmed by futurists!
Sheryl Connelly of Ford is almost mentioned more frequently than most. It’s interesting that both Kurzweil and Connelly are organizational futurists (though Kurzweil certainly made his name well before Google). Another name that pops up is Brian David Johnson, who just left Intel (and recently was interviewed by one of our students). It may be that their organizational affiliations are lending them credibility, perhaps when compared to a consulting futurist part of a firm with less name recognition?
As usual, only a few mentions of futurists who are members of APF. After three semesters of scanning, it is abundantly clear that APF’s professional futurists are not registering prominently in the media. Granted the search strategy is catching high-profile public events and conferences, and certainly won’t capture a proprietary consulting project. But nor is it catching the many, many public speaking and events that APF-affiliated futurists are giving.
On a personal note, there was one mention of the Houston Foresight Program’s week-long certificate program. And that suggests we could do a better job of promoting our events! Andy Hines
