Yearly Archives: 2013Blog

Twitter IPO: Why Social Is the New Low-Fat

Everyone in the tech world wants to come up with the ‘secret sauce,’ the ‘killer app,’ the one ingredient that makes their product or service irresistible and essential. With Twitter’s successful IPO, it’s time to recognize that that ingredient is social media.

The situation was somewhat like several years ago when fat-free foods were the rage. Reducing fat in our diets was believed to be a key factor for health and longevity, and this is probably true. Food producers quickly began touting their low-fat products and low-fat versions of products that were previously ‘full fat,’ including ‘low-fat’ donuts, ice cream, and pizza. It wasn’t long before almost every edible product available had a ‘low-fat’ label on it. And if that were all that was necessary to ensure good health, it would have been a great thing.

With social media, we’re seeing the explosion of something online that’s been arising since its beginning — the power of mass interactivity. Because communication on the Internet is two-way, brands can target ads, gather data, follow users from site to site, and create profiles of their online activity, all towards getting their advertising messages in front of them. But what’s different today is that interactivity is bypassing the brands altogether. Consumers are now talking to each other via social media about brands, products, services, and prices before making buying decisions.

People on social channels are ‘curating’ (gathering things of interest to post online) and ‘recommending’ (sharing things they like with others online). These two activities are what make social so important. Depending on whose statistics you read, 80-95% of consumers prefer a recommendation from someone they know over a search engine result or an advertisement when considering a purchase. In fact, the very sense of what a ‘brand’ is is changing. It’s no longer what you say about yourself that matters but what others say about you.

So, what does this have to do with low-fat? Soon, most websites will need to incorporate social tools for their users. Providing ‘share’ links to social media websites won’t be enough. Social tools will have to allow customers to connect within a site.

Imagine users curating items into a ‘set’ and then sharing their sets with others to solicit opinions and comments. Or tagging, naming, and saving sets, which others can search for, add to their accounts, and edit. Social tools like this could be implemented for everything from clothing and household items, like on Polyvore, to color palettes and swatches like on Adobe Kuler to news, movie, and TV content. Consumers would learn from and be inspired by other consumers and eventually begin to expect these tools, just like they began looking for low-fat foods.

Businesses should consider more involvement with social media and explore how they can use it dynamically. The Twitter IPO, if nothing else, will open the door for investment in sites that offer ‘social commerce’ solutions to attract customers. We’re way past the learning curve, with close to two billion people already using social media. And consumers will only continue to tune out advertising. The only caveat is that you won’t be able to sell potato chips that reduce a portion from 300 calories to 280 and call it ‘low-fat.’ You’ll need to provide quality tools that give customers the ability to learn from others, enlighten others, and obtain recommendations that lead to sales. Consumers are ready for this kind of experience. And unlike ‘low-fat,’ social commerce may be a prescription for business health and longevity that actually delivers.

Content Strategy

Search, social, penguin, panda. Websites today require a content strategy and someone to oversee it.

People have been using the web to find information since day one. It’s amazing that content hasn’t gotten the premier position it deserves until now. But that’s what social media has done. Sharing content through social networks increases that content’s value exponentially through the power of recommendation. If a user says something is good, it carries much more weight than if a brand, media outlet, agency, or salesperson says the same thing. And content can be anything, whether it’s hot off the presses or exhumed from the archives. A creative touch can put value on anything, and it becomes content.

“A head of Content Strategy, Creation and Distribution … should be at least VP level and report to the CMO. It makes sense that this person lives in marketing, but they are going to have to build relationships and bridges to every part of the organization and teach companies to think about all published materials as content. Very importantly, they must evangelize the importance of content in driving business results and help the entire company think about whether or not a piece of content is worth sharing.”

Soon all the social networks will want to use your likeness and words to place implied recommendations on anything for sale. The more your content is shared, and the more shareable it is, the more social power will come into your selling. Today’s marketing requires every website to have a content strategy and someone to drive it. Think “content.”

Read full story: http://bit.ly/1a0tCBM

Controlling a PC from an iPad Turns Tablets Into Genuine Work Devices

I have a problem with the whole “Post-PC Era” thing. The problem is that trying to do any real work on a tablet is a miserable experience. Typing and keyboard issues aside, there is so much that you can’t do on a tablet that we take for granted on PCs. Much of that has to do with the limited tablet interface and the fact that desktop applications are so much more full-featured than apps. Also, file management doesn’t exist at all on tablets, which can be absolutely maddening. In my opinion, the only serious “work” that users can do on a tablet is email, web browsing, note-taking, and perhaps writing (if you can live with the touch interface or a flimsy add-on keyboard). I call my iPad my “couch computer.” It’s a handy little device to have around, but it’s good for little else.

What would be nice is a way to access and control a desktop computer and all its applications and files from a tablet. The only remaining obstacle to doing real work would be the tablet interface. But full functionality and access to files could be re-established if the tablet simply served as a portal to a full computing experience.

Such solutions have existed for a while, such as GoToMyPC and LogMeIn. But these run into interface problems as well since PCs rely on precise control of a mouse, which is difficult to emulate with finger-controlled tablets. However, a new product, called Parallels Access, may have solved these problems. Reviewed by Walt Mossberg, Parallels Access claims to turn the desktop experience of a computer into a full-screen tablet experience that makes controlling a PC remotely quite easy.

Unlike many others, [Access] doesn’t force you to constantly try and emulate the precise mouse pointer for which most of these computer programs were designed. It runs them like iPad apps, in full screen and at the iPad’s resolution, yet preserving full functionality and the ability to switch among open apps and windows on the computer. It works over both Wi-Fi and cellular connections.

File sharing is still a bear, but Parallels is said to be working on a solution. Also, the program is quite pricey — $80 PER YEAR, PER COMPUTER accessed. Ouch! But it may be worth it for the ability to do real work on the road. Read the article, check out the accompanying video, and be sure to read the comments, where a less expensive program with similar capabilities called Splashtop is discussed (with Splashtop’s CEO providing some interesting notes).

The “Post-PC Era” may be a clever marketing take, but at this point it requires better “Post-PC” apps and a remote PC, too.

Read full article: http://on.wsj.com/17kK3Xf

TV’s Changing Landscape

Kevin Spacey recently gave a clear explanation of TV’s changing landscape. The future is user-driven, and the established order doesn’t like it. What Spacey notes is that time, place, and length don’t matter anymore. Users want to control when and how they consume media.

If you are watching a film on your television, is it no longer a film because you’re not watching it in the theater?’ Spacey asked his audience. ‘If you watch a TV show on your iPad is it no longer a TV show? The device and length are irrelevant.’ Labels are useless, the actor told the suits, ‘except perhaps to agents and managers and lawyers who use these labels to conduct business deals. ‘For the kids watching the shows, however, ‘there’s no difference watching Avatar on an iPad or watching YouTube on a TV and watching Game of Thrones on their computer. It’s all content. It’s all story.’

This, of course, runs completely counter to big media’s business model, which is still anchored in the 20th century. As we’ve seen before, tactics always lag technology, and those who adapt the fastest win. That’s the result we’re seeing with Netflix, which is purchasing new seasons of TV shows and releasing them in bulk at a very nice profit. The moral of the story? If people are buying digital devices, they’re going to want, and find, digital content to enjoy on them. The media industry may be digging in its heels, guarding a dated business model, but change happens. Better find a way to make money digitally because that’s where customers are going.

Complete article: http://bit.ly/16Iodur

WordPress: Now Is the Time

WordPress is mainstream, with almost 19.9% of the web using it, and its development is in high gear. We can expect three new releases by the end of this year alone. That’s the news from WordCamp, the annual WordPress developers conference.

WordPress’ features for the modern web just continue to grow, which makes it very attractive for bringing the company website up to current standards in one fell swoop. We’ve been onboard for the last few years and now recommend it regularly for clients. Consider everything that comes with it:

  • Content management for in-house publishing
  • Media management
  • SEO management
  • Social media integration
  • Accessibility ready
  • Mobile ready with responsive design for tablets and mobile screens
  • HTML5/CSS3
  • Fully extensible
  • Readily adaptable for custom layout and design
  • Open source software with regular security and feature updates
  • Easy-to-learn interface and growing population of skilled users
  • Large development community for custom applications

And by the way, Automattic, the company behind WordPress, just received $50MM of new financing that will push the platform even further.

If you’re looking to level-up your company’s web efforts, consider WordPress. It’s mainstream now and will take you to the front in terms of capabilities faster than anything else available today.

Read full article: http://bit.ly/16njsbl

Google’s Latest Products Enhance Video Collaboration

Video is at the forefront of technologies that enable enhanced communication and serves as a viable business tool on the web.  With Google’s latest product announcements, it’s evident that businesses will soon conduct collaboration online using video. It’s now possible to transmit high-quality sound and images to remote locations so that disparate parties can work together. No longer is video communication hampered by limited bandwidth and machine capability. The resulting efficiencies allow the best people to work together regardless of location. Add to this web-based collaboration tools and cloud storage, and traveling is almost unnecessary.

The following article points out how Google’s new products, specifically Chromecast, Hangouts, and the Nexus 7, make video the tool of choice for these kinds of collaborations. Think of the possibilities of consulting with ad hoc teams globally, assembling on short notice, reviewing work in progress, or bringing in unique expertise. The time is right for businesses to look into video collaboration tools.

Read full article: http://www.eweek.com/mobile/nexus-7-chromecast-google-hangouts-mean-big-business/

Reports of Apple’s Death, Exaggerated

When a skyrocket starts to falter while in flight, that’s news, I suppose. Apple’s seemingly unstoppable run got snagged last Fall when its stock price dropped over 40%. Theories flew about wildly. But what company could keep up the rate of success that Apple has had in recent years?

The following article, a recap of Apple’s recent developers conference, presents some rock-solid numbers:

[Apple] continues to dominate mobile and personal computing, capturing 57 percent of global profits in the smartphone industry—to the tune of $7.1 billion—in the first quarter, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. It commands nearly 40 percent of all tablet profits, more than the next four competitors combined, according to IDC. Mobile-browser company Opera Software (OPERA) says iOS users are responsible for nearly 45 percent of Web traffic on mobile devices, while the Android devices that outnumber them account for 31 percent.

Apple is still churning out profits, and its cash reserve is the stuff of legend. But are they vulnerable? Over 70% of their revenue comes from just two product lines, iPhones and iPads. Could an able competitor with a breakthrough product send Apple into a tailspin? Probably not, if Apple has something up its sleeve that becomes the next industry-changing hit. Come to think of it, that’s probably Wall Street’s beef — Apple hasn’t “changed the world” in over two years now. Something must be wrong in Cupertino, right?

Read full article: http://buswk.co/16O0pM0

Internet Trends Report

Knowing how and where people get information tells us how and where to deliver our messages and services. With that in mind, Kleiner Perkins analyst Mary Meeker’s annual Internet Trends report is a valuable compilation of research and observation. It sheds light on these areas to help us keep up with the ever-changing business/tech landscape. This year’s report, delivered at the recent “All Things Digital” conference, highlights several notable trends.

The move to mobile is in full throttle. Laptop and desktop sales will continue to decline as smartphones and tablets become the devices of choice in the “Post PC” era. Apple and Samsung claimed a combined 51% market share of global smartphone unit sales in Q4 2012, making them the dominant players in the field.

  • Tablets are being adopted even more quickly than smartphones. For the first 12 quarters after launch, iPads have sold 3-times faster than iPhones. Tablet sales also eclipsed sales of desktops and laptops for Q4 2012, and projections are that annual tablet shipments will surpass laptops in 2013 and total PCs in 2015.
  • Mobile Internet traffic is now 15% of total global internet traffic.
  • Time spent with print and radio continues to trend downward while TV and Internet remain steady. Mobile, on the other hand, continues to trend upward. Interestingly, the money that advertisers spend on print is 4-times greater than the time users spend there, while money spent on mobile advertising is one-fourth of the time spent, pointing to a $20B opportunity as advertisers catch up.

The entire presentation is 117 slides and provides information on media, global browsing, and wearable tech.

View full report: [no longer available]

The Mobile Challenge and Opportunity

Everyone is talking about the shift to mobile. We can expect changes in how we do business and get information as smartphones and tablets proliferate. This article points to three strategic problems businesses must solve as workforces become more mobile.

Just as the internet fundamentally changed consumer behaviour and the way we do business in the 1990s, the continued rise of mobile is set to be a major disruptive force over the next decade … That is backed up by a recent Gartner survey of 2,000 chief information officers (CIOs) worldwide, with 70% putting mobile top of the list ahead of other trends such as big data, social media and cloud computing as the technology that will disrupt established business models most for the next 10 years.

Many economic benefits will drive the spread of mobile technology. For our businesses, it’s an excellent time to develop strategies to connect with customers and partners when they’re on the go.

Read full article: http://linkd.in/130cV6a

Some Trends to Watch in Digital Media

The twin forces of mobile and social are creating changes across the board for online businesses.  While it can appear overwhelming, there are opportunities if we grasp the trends and develop plans to position us “on the wave.” Here are five interesting trends that will continue to grow and, as a result, change things in ways that require us to adapt as the digital world speeds on further.

We are all simultaneously creating, being disrupted by and exploiting an incredible array of changes in the way our digital world works. While these shifts can sometimes seem overwhelming because they are proliferating and accelerating so fast, their broad themes can be simplified to help us understand their underlying meaning.

  1. Multi-Screen Proliferation
  2. Advertising Precision
  3. Accelerating Automation
  4. Interruptive to Native
  5. Static to Real-Time

Read full article: http://linkd.in/18e9HAo