Tag Archives: trends
SXSWi – it’s the birth of a proto-city: a hive of integrated people experimenting with the tools in the market that, without mass local adoption, would not have any poignancy. It’s where the early adopters can temporarily form a society of mutually founded infrastructure.
Obviously I like to consider myself a fairly early adopter. I am generally picking up the newest thing in beta and giving it a try. The proto-city certainly is a unique experience where these services just work and I’m not at the mercy of my family and friends to adopt the numerous new things I throw at them every week.
This week’s post is all about these services and how they work, a kind of preview to how they would work if a mainstream audience were to pick them up. There are some old and some new, but all based around the ever growing social–mobile & desktop–sector.
The prevailing theme this year was group messaging and location based services. Typically when you look back at SXSW there is one clear launch that will take hold and change the landscape of digital: Twitter, Foursquare, Gowalla, etc. I would say that this year there was no clear winner. This may be perhaps due to development becoming easier and faster than it was a couple years ago, which would correlate to SXSW being fettered with startup after startup, creating so much noise that no single one stood out.
There’s four services that I looked at primarily while down in Austin: Convore, Beluga, Hashable, & Yobongo.
Three quick news items this week.
iPad 2
This is the obvious post – I’m sure you’ve heard of it. Cameras, faster processors, and 33% thinner. And white! Amazing. Check it out.
What do these features mean for marketing? There are the obvious uses of these new features on the consumer end. But how will the relate to things like customer service? Could companies start utilizing FaceTime for customer service, or product support? There is plenty of room for more innovation in this space, and it may help the adoption of FaceTime – something I seldom, if ever, use.
The feature that I am excited about is the bump in processing speed – something Apple needed to add so it would keep up with the onslaught of competitors ramping up to launch. The experience I have working with developers on projects is that the iPad has a limited ability to run deeper experiences, so more processing speed means bigger ideas, and better execution.
Lastly, the addition of HDMI capabilities means more ipad to TV relationships leading to an even bigger experience.
The App vs. Web Dilemma
An interesting article this week on the trends of how people are using their smartphones – and the consensus is that the browser based experience is being left behind. Sure there seem to be uses called out for browser based experiences, like news, search and commerce, but web use on mobile devices is now 37% lower than app use.
COMMUNITIES
3 Tips for Maximizing Engagement With Facebook “Likes” and Shares
The uses of the “Like” and “Share” buttons on Facebook are sometimes lost in translation. Is it better to ask consumers to “Like” your page, or is it more beneficial if they “Share” it with their own communities? This article offers three tips for using both features, and optimizing results. First, it recommends designing your site to “Like” and “Share”. The more options a user has, the more likely they will be to choose one. Secondly, both of these features should be used to build relationships. And lastly, content on your Facebook feed should be current and interesting. Check out the article for a more in depth look.
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGIES
A World Of Tweets
With so many people all around the world using Twitter, thousands of tweets are getting pushed out every minute. In an effort to give users a visual of all of these tweets, the folks at Frog Design have come up with a web-based app, allowing users to see where tweets are coming from, and what kind of information is coming from those areas. The map uses a “hot or cold” type visualization, meaning the more tweets coming from an area, the “hotter” or more colorful the map turns in that area.
Read More
Enjoy this weeks hottest stories in social media… Our Social Six categories are Communities, Tools & Technologies, Measurement, Influencers, Partnerships and Fun Stuff. What was your favorite story this week?
COMMUNITIES
Slap A QR Code On That Product So That People Can Like It
QR codes have become all the rage recently. The funny little squares are popping up on all types of products, allowing consumers to snap photos with their phones and find out more about what the product has to offer. Now, a Belgian company, Boondoggle Lifelabs, has created a service that will allow users who use QR codes to automatically “Like” the products Facebook page. In addition to taking users to a specific landing page, it will also let them automatically “Like” the product or brand. It is an extremely convenient way to show your passion for a product with just the snap of a camera phone.
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGIES
Unsocial: Foursquare Plus LinkedIn Minus All Your Friends
Up until now, social media has been all about who you know. Apps are based around your friends, what they are doing and where they are doing it. But now, a new app called Unsocial may be changing all of that. Unsocial focuses more on who you should know, rather than who you do know. The setup is simple. Unsocial links to users Linkedin accounts and allows users to tag certain terms to their account (i.e. marketing, social media, journalism etc.). The app then aggregates users in the nearby area that the user might be interested in getting to know.
What’s new in the ever-changing world of social media? Catch the second edition of our new weekly feature below and you’ll know just enough to keep up with, or just ahead of, the crowd. The Social Six brings you a top news story in each of the following social categories: Communities, Tools & Technologies, Measurement, Influeners, Partnerships and Fun Stuff. Enjoy!
COMMUNITIES
Corona’s New Facebook Campaign Puts Your Face in Times Square
Do you dream of seeing your face on the big screen? If so, Coronas new campaign may be a good place for you to start. Corona is targeting young adults with their new Corona Light campaign and using Facebook as the main channel. After users “Like” the Corona page, they are able to access an app that allows them to upload a photo of themselves. This photo will then be used in a Times Square billboard the brand is creating, and will be up from November 8th until December 6th. Individual photos will be highlighted and because people love to see themselves, they are expecting this campaign to create lots of buzz and to get tons more fans on the Facebook page.
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGIES
Facebook rolls out new security tools, talks safety
Facebook has announced their newest feature, and it’s all about privacy. The site is now allowing users to receive one-time-use passwords, for times when they are logging on to unsecure computers where their passwords may be compromised. All that is required is that users send a text to a number that will respond back with the temporary password, and will expire in 20 minutes. This new feature will also alert users when they are logged into two computers. For example, if you are at a friend’s house and forget to log off, Facebook will now tell you. This article also discusses other safety issues that Facebook is trying to address, including age limits for the site and cyber bullying.
We all know how important navigation is on a website. In fact, the core to any effective site is making sure visitors can find what they are looking for, and find it quickly.
Whether they come to search for products, services, or simply contact information, the reality is that if your customers can’t find what they came for, they leave. If that happens, all your hard work to develop a website was in vain.
Over the years web developers have finessed and improved navigation systems and continue to make advancements.
We’ve been following three new navigational trends that we think will change the way the industry traditionally builds navigation systems and how users interact with them.
Here’s what’s on our radar:
Megamenus
Example: www.festoolusa.com
These are becoming more and more common. Instead of having to click several navigation items to find deeper content, Megamenus bring all the content right up front. When users click on a primary navigation item it expands in-page to show deeper content options along with corresponding visual details and information. Users are able to quickly and easily absorb the information and identify different categories without ever leaving the home page. Megamenus essentially solve the problem of limited space on the home page and provide more room for content, from information, to images, to prices.
Clickless Navigation
Example: www.dontclick.it
Amazingly, users can now navigate an entire site without ever having to click their mouse. This new and exciting way to interact with content has a major ‘cool factor,’ too. So what replaces the click? By moving your mouse over a navigation item, you trigger the next level of information to appear. It’s simple to use but a bit of a challenge to stop your natural tendency to click your mouse all the time. The one downside is that currently Clickless Navigation does not meet the W3Cs accessibility standards, which ensure websites support people with disabilities.
Visual/Spatial Navigation
Example: www.whitevoid.com/portfolio.html
Imagine a website where the primary and secondary navigation (typically found at the top and side of a site) are completely eliminated. In their place you’ll see visual icons that act as a means to navigate through products and/or experiences. Once you click an icon a new layer of icon options and deeper content appear, however, the previous icons are still exposed in the background. All the icon layers remain accessible on your screen page, making it easy to find your way around the complete site. This style of navigation is highly product-centric and quite often doesn’t need Flash. But it’s a significant break in current standards, which means it could take users a significant time to accept it.
So what do these trends mean to you?
Navigation as we know it is changing but it’s still too early to determine whether Clickless or Visual will be adopted by users to become viable, commercial options. Because both are big shifts from how average users navigate websites, it will take time for them to understand and become comfortable with these new systems. Megamenus, on the other hand, are gaining traction with businesses and consumers alike due to their simplicity and ease-of-use.
