• by Larissa Faw , Staff Writer, June 22, 2016

Smartphones may have made work easier, but they are also making people busier, according to Nunu Ntshingila, director of Africa, Facebook, who spoke at Cannes. 

More than half of the world's population uses basic feature phones or have limited access to 3G networks, while in other parts of the world, 4G or newer spectrums are on the horizon. 

Facebook is working to make the world more open and connected, regardless of where they live or how they connect. There are currently about 3.2 billion people connected to internet with 90% of the unconnected people coming from developing worlds.  

"What we have to ask ourselves is what this means for business and the advertising industry," said Ntshingila. 

One challenge for marketers within this global context is to create the right stories to the right audiences in order to drive value. "We are going to see more voices than ever before," she says. "Ideas will come from everywhere and that means our creative work will have to play everywhere." 

Facebook is optimistic about how creativity is fueling this revolution. Three African women, for instance, developed an online platform in order for artisans in their country to collect money from the fashion world in Europe and the U.S. These women had a problem and developed a solution that now benefits millions of others, they say.  

Still this disruption affects people in "millions of ways," says Mark D'Arcy, chief creative officer, Facebook. 

"We all know when digital was embraced, [one of the] good things was breaking down silos," he says. “Tomorrow's workforce will require different skill sets in different ways.” 

D'Arcy believes these changes aren't negative. People need to be open to the fact that their worlds may be completely different and they may not have the best ideas on how to build dynamic solutions, he said. 

"When people put together two ads to make a spread, it didn't mean the end of single ads." In this future connected world, the greatest ideas may not be our own which is why people need to resist the urge to resist simply because the solutions don't come from them.” 

Adds Ntshingila, "We can choose hope or fear. We have the opportunity to be transformed by the companies we work with and work for. We have the opportunity to be transformed in this uniquely connected world."