Filed under: Web trends
Twitter Creative Director Biz Stone dropped a few hints yesterday, whilst appearing on CNBC, over the much-anticipated Twitter business plan.
Without giving too much away it seems we can expect an advertising plan that not just benefits Twitter, but all associated apps as well. So could well be good news for the folks at TweetDeck, HootSuite etc..
Do you think Twitter will manage to hit a winning formula when it comes to developing a business plan, is it possible for them to strike gold whilst still keeping their partners and users happy?
March 26, 2010
Great article here from the Harvard Business Review on the importance of brand management, especially in real-time, as companies get to grips with the frenetic pace of social media.
Former Harvard professor John Sviokla cites the recent example of a Virgin America flight from LA to NYC, which ended up being diverted to Newburgh, N.Y., due to bad weather, leaving the passengers sitting on the tarmac for four hours at Newburgh. Documenting the whole affair was Kontain CEO David Martin, using his company’s social media iPhone app.
Martin was soon contacted by the Virgin America CEO offering him and his fellow passengers a full refund and $100-per-person vouchers for all.
This is fantastic example of how social media has shifted the power of a brand away from companies and to consumers, by responding swiftly Virgin America were able to retain the trust of their customers and avoid a wider backlash (are you watching United?). Sviokla describes the need for every marketing executive to have a “brand radar system”, always watching and listening to the conversations concerning their brand. And with social media moving so fast, a real-time solution is the only real option.
March 22, 2010
Real-time search has become an increasingly popular web trend over the past twelve months, one we’ve covered a number of times here on the blog, so it was of little surprise when the major search engines started integrating Twitter and the likes into their search results. What is a little surprising however though is the impact, or lack of, these real-time results are so far having on our searching habits.
Oneupweb have carried out an eye-opening eye-tracking study into the effectiveness of real-time web search results. The study split a group of users into “consumers” searching for products you would consider buying or “foragers” looking for current news and information on a topic. The results were mixed to say the least:
73% had never heard of real-time results before participating this study.
Only a quarter of the consumers cared for the real-time results compared to 47% of the information foragers.
The report also showed the users took more than ten seconds to to settle their gaze on the real-time results, but the foragers were more willing to spend time on the page which could be indicative of their willingness to consider more options before clicking and hence their increased likelihood to test the real-time results.
So the results perhaps don’t show real-time search to be quite as popular as the buzz may suggest – not yet anyway, but as users adapt the social aspect of search will become ever more relevant as real-time becomes a reality.
March 10, 2010
Information industry research firm Outsell have weighed in on the hot topic currently buzzing around the industry, that of content paywalls.
Outsell picks up on the recent Nielsen blog post Changing Model: A Global Perspective on Paying for Online Content, which investigates whether consumers will be willing to pay for online news content. This study matches previous findings from Forrester and Outsell’s own research, essentially that when it comes to media content consumers seem less willing to pay for news than other types of media.
Such findings lead Outsell to conclude that consumers have been conditioned to spend on particular content at particular price points, and that household budgets are pretty fixed. Would you be prepared to cancel that ESPN TV subscription to pay for access to your local newspaper online? So rather than expecting a change in business models to be the next big thing, Outsell suggests publishers place more focus on “serious product design, user engagement, and the things that delight and differentiate”.
Certainly food for thought, as the recession eases and ad spending looks to be slowly bouncing back will the trend toward paywalls lose some momentum?
serious product design, user engagement, and the things that delight and
differentiate
March 3, 2010
The BBC World Service director, Peter Horrocks, has spoken on how social media and news are becoming ever inter-linked and how the two forms of media can compliment each other. This comes after the Beeb has told journalists to make use of social media, holding the view that the new forms of technology are changing the way journalism operates.
Horrocks describes social media as a vital source of a opinions and voices, along with the credibility that audience driven content brings with it. And with that brings a new understanding and appreciation of social media for the BBC, who just last year remained cautious over its use.
It is great to see a leading news outlet as the BBC embrace social media in such a way, following in the footsteps of CNN who during a recent site redesign have also tightly integrated user-generated content into their news content.
February 11, 2010
Pew Research Center have produced a survey looking at the online habits of teens and young adults, in particular their use of social media and news consumption online. While the survey seems to suggest blogging has plateaued out to become a more niche pursuit, social networking and online news show no signs of waning.
Sixty two percent of teenagers online are currently getting their news-fix over the Internet, a stat that peaks at 77% during major news events. This compares favorably with the 72% of online adults who access the Web for news or political information.
While blogging (15% of youngsters) and Tweeting (8% of teens) don’t look to be capturing the imagination of the young, social networking certainly has. A whopping 73% of wired American teens now use social networking sites (up from 55% three years ago), similarly 72% of online young adults also such sites, both being significantly higher than the 40% of adults who do so.
Overall the survey produces an interesting snapshot of web usage among the young, and it’ll be interesting to see how these trends continue to shift in the future especially as sites like Facebook continue to integrate online news.
February 5, 2010
(image credit skpy)
It seems a week can’t go by at the moment without the debate around newspaper paywalls generating more column inches. ReadWriteWeb picked up on an interesting story concerning Newsday and the apparent lack of success seen by its recent subscription revenue model. Having spent $4 million on redesigning the site anticipating the introduction of a paywall but the subsequent return of only 35 subscribers in a three-month period doesn’t look good. However, by digging a little deeper the figures aren’t quite so clear-cut, as subscribers to the local cable company also enjoy free access to the Newsday site, so it is probably unfair to draw too many conclusions on this example alone. The Guardian’s Alan Rusbridger also spoke out on paywalls this week, paidContent gives an excellent write-up on the speech here.
As we mentioned previously the much vaunted Apple iPad was announced this week and the potential for media does look attractive. The sharp, display, ability to embed videos into articles and the New York Times app already being demoed it looks like an exciting mix of the more traditional paper form and the digital future, although whether the device takes off and publishers create the dynamic content necessary remains to be seen.
January 29, 2010
The issue of online privacy, or lack of it, has been a hot topic the past few days as the week started with Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg declaring that people no longer see privacy as a “social norm”. Arguing the rapid rise in social media has seen people become more and more at ease with sharing personal information, and Zuckerberg states that companies like Facebook need to respond to these changes in online behavior to stay competitive.
Watch the entire interview hosted by TechCrunch’s Mike Arrington here : http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/3848950
However, the major story this week has been Google v China over the issues of user privacy, cyber attacks and the Great Firewall of China resulting in Google’s likely exit from the Chinese market. Our old friends at VeriSign’s iDefense have indicated they “believe the attack is the work of actors operating on behalf of or in the direct employ of official intelligence entities of the People’s Republic of China”, which could have serious ramifications both politically and for the search engine space.
While Google may be basking in glory over this move to “not be evil”, and Zuckerberg’s comments have been met with some cynicism over whether Facebook, incidentally blocked in China, is reflecting social change or (with 350 million users) driving it. Both acts raise interesting discussions over online privacy and what it means in an increasingly connected world, who do you trust? Let us know your thoughts below!
January 14, 2010
(image credit HiMY SYeD / photopia)
RWW posted an engaging piece just before Christmas on the gradual ebbing away of the usage of RSS Readers as a means of consuming information, you can read that post here.
However, the ensuing debate and the new year have seen a new appreciate for our old friend Really Simple Syndication. Whilst it remains clear that Google sits firmly atop the RSS Reader pile people are still using RSS feeds as a handy and functional way of to keep up with news.
Readers still offer users a degree of control over content that you just don’t get with real-time streams, such as Twitter, although lists are a step in that direction. The categorisation and control that RSS Readers offer is invaluable to some, and as Readers continue to evolve, especially in the mobile space, I’m sure they will continue to have a future.
What RSS Readers do you use, any favourites? Don’t forget to check out the free Moreover RSS news feeds for content on a wide range of topics from news and blogs.
January 6, 2010
ReadWriteWeb has compiled a handful of lists showcasing their selection of the best products of the past year. You can catch the full complement of lists here : http://bit.ly/8yegoy and one thing interesting to note is just how many of the products are influencing or being influenced by one of 2009′s hot trends real-time.
The two lists we’re particularly grabbed by are Semantic Web Products and our old friends RSS & Syndication Technologies. The usual suspects of Facebook and Twitter unsurprising make the syndication list, along with Tweetdeck as the leading stream reader application. It’s also good to see PubSubHubbub and RSS Cloud included too as they’re both technologies we’d expect to see become integral to the Real-time Web in 2010.
The Top 10 Semantic Web Products of 2009 includes a partner company of Moreover, OpenCalais, so we’d also like to show our appreciation of the Thomson Reuters service by congratulating them for a well deserved place in the 2009 list, looking forward to further innovation well into 2010 and beyond. The US government portal Data.gov, also on the list, is an example of a topic we’ve touched upon before with Tim Berners-Lee and his championing of Linked Data, in that respect Data.gov is certainly a move in the right direction.
December 8, 2009
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