These are my links for July 23rd through July 27th:
- The Subjective Web: Semantic Evolution – A nice, easy to understand article on what the Semantic Web will mean for searching and finding information online, by Raymond Bentinck.
- International SEO – An informative 26-page e-book by Hallam Internet which gives some great advice on considering your options for an international website – considering different trends in search, findability and language.
- Facebook to launch PayPal-style ‘Credits’ in September – I'm sure we've been here before but it seems that Facebook will be launching their own credit system, going head to head with Paypal to allow users to pay for physical and virtual goods within the network. If anyone can take on PayPal it's Facebook – but the jury is out as to how many of it's users will adopt it. If this works well for micropayments this could be a big step in allowing all kinds of transaction models.
- Companies Throw Their Weight Behind Online Video – State-side, we're seeing more and more growth in online video, with the vast majority of Top 50 retail companies now using video for product advertising and video blogging. The growth of video for marketing looks set to continue onwards and upwards.
- Reality Check: Just Six Percent Of TV Viewing Is Non-Linear – As us people of the future wax lyrical about time-shifted TV and video-on-demand, the stark reality is that although many people do watch VOD channels, it only accounts for 6% of TV viewing time. It seems people are happy, after all, with scheduled TV.
These are my links for July 21st through July 22nd:
- Arab countries ‘need a long-term digital strategy’ – I've never really considered e-strategy in the Middle East – it's not the first territory you think of when considering a high tech hub, yet countries like Oman have already invested in growing their marketplace for e-commerce and digital. According to this press release countries like Iraq don't have sufficiently developed digital strategy. Well having a safe country and telecom network may be a bit of an issue here.
- The Register comment guidelines 2010 – I thought these guidelines for a heavily commented on blog were pretty sensible and worth adapting for your own community site.
- Universal broadband delayed until 2015 – Another government U-Turn: the much mooted 2Mbs broadband we've been promised won't arrive until 2015, 3 years later than scheduled. The government say they are "totally committed" to having the best broadband service in Europe, but given how far we are lagging behind our European neighbours in the advancements, and right to access, faster broadband, this is more hot air.
- Who owns your social media? – Superb article on the internal challenges a business faces in 'owning' a social media strategy, and the conflict and opportunity between the needs of different internal teams and departments:<br />
"Social media isn’t a two way street between you and your customer, it’s a crossroads between you, your customer, the network and all of their other customers."
- Apps, Apps, and more Apps – Some beautiful design and facts on the market for mobile apps. I think this is a US only view, but the stats are quite stark: Symbian is the most popular platform by 3 to 1, far ahead of Blackberry, and trailed by iPhone. 90% of App developers don't make a sustainable return-on-investment. Are apps the news promotional tool rather than the saviour of monetizing online content?
These are my links for July 16th from 04:07 to 13:16:
- YouTube to Award $5 Million in Grants to Video Producers in Pseudo-Production Fund – Since the decline of Bebo as an online video investor, it seems YouTube will be the next big investors exchanging product investment with ad sales. It certainly makes more sense as they're more sustainably funded (by Google) and there's an interest to them to make sure the content will drive audiences.
- Why Many Teens Are Moving on from Facebook – US led research suggests Facebook may be losing it's sheen with the teens – the crucial market to ensure long-term success. The question I wonder is where are they going? Back to Bebo or MySpace? It seems not. Perhaps we are shifting now away from the big destination networks to slightly more specialist spaces.
- Social media in China: an introduction – Some useful stats on how China is adapting to the internet. Although internet adoption is low, this still represents over 400 million internet users, all hungry for engagement, content and e-commerce.
- What Can Small Businesses Learn From Old Spice Viral Social Media Campaign – Bit late to party but Old Spice is causing a splash with their video and Twitter campaign to speak to the spice's new pin-up. This is a great approach – delighting audiences with personal responses and fun content, the perfect use of social media.
- Augmented Reality Explained by Common Craft – Another lovely hand made papercut video about high technology: this time Common Craft tackle augmented reality – what it is and what you can do with it today.
These are my links for July 12th through July 14th:
- What makes the perfect Transmedia Producer? – In-depth discussion on the types of skills and approaches which are working in transmedia. It's heavily led to the Alternative Reality Game (ARG) producers rather than wider producer of entertainment media for new platforms.
- Social media monitoring: time to say ’sod it’? – Thought piece on why moderating – and interrupting – Joe Public's conversations in social media may not be a great idea. I think it depends on what you do – people often Tweet about brands because they want help/ response, and certainly being responsive on your own profiles is critical. Joining in wider conversations (e.g. forums or general discussion) will depend on how useful a contribution you can make to the discussion. This may favour technology/product suppliers more than consumer goods and services.
- UK online video stats: Youngsters favour C4 and ITV over BBC – Blimey: how online video has grown. 2010 sees 5.5 Billion online vdieo viewed each month in the UK, with BBC, ITV and BlinkX as fastest growing properties. Interestingly, the desirable youn 'uns (16-24 year olds) are preferring ITV and Channel to BBC properities.
- Concept Feedback | Free Concept Reviews for Marketers, Designers and Developers – Here's an interesting 'concept' – this website is a community of designers which lets you upload your concepts for design, websites and print and get feedback from other community members. Offer enough feedback and it's free, or pay a small fee. A great way to get feedback within a community wider than your own organisation, but in a closed setting.
- Cultivated Play: Farmville – Intelligent article by A. J Patrick Liszkiewicz on why Farmville defines many of the rules of being a good game, but creates social capital through effectively a peer pressure to be kind to your friends (& Farmville neighbours). I'm wondering in anyone in the gaming/digital industry actually like Farmville – no evidence yet, but no denying simple, formulaic social gaming is a major global phenomena. (hat tip: Pete Ashton).
These are my links for June 27th through July 12th:
- Communities Dominate Brands: Everything you ever wanted to know about mobile, but were afraid to ask – An incredibly in-depth article on the past and future of mobile communications, with lots of key facts on world-wide trends, smartphone usage and how mobile is used by different audiences. SMS is still the dominant use of the device globally, with MMS predicted to be the next major area fo use/revenue "MMS alone is bigger than the global music industry"
- Webinar: The Science of Facebook Marketing – Fascinating study into the psychology and statistic of how men & women are using Facebook, what subjects are popular and how to engage – speak plainly and simply on Facebook!
- Everything you need to know about the internet – A great philosphical, historical mini-essay all about the internet – past, present future. I like the description of Web 2.0 as 'small pieces, loosely joined' and of course the mini-rant on reforming copyright – it needs to be done, but of course it won't.
- NESTA – Creative Business Mentor Network – New call out for creative business in UK (must be trading 3 years with turnover £250K +) to be supported by an awesome collection of high level CEO mentors.
- How The World’s Online Ad Sales Stack Up – Infographic IAB stats on global ad spending, showing the greatest spend (but a decrease) in USA, with UK as next largest market (4Bn Euro spend – making Britain 10 x the spend of Sweden). Does that mean the UK has the greatest innovation in online advertising?
