Dec
06

The Instagram Twitter Dustup

With the playground fight brewing between Twitter and Instagram (basically Facebook’s little bro), it’s only a matter of time before the two sites will be mirror images.

Twitter will have tasty photo filters and effects built in to their apps and site. Instagram will either suck Versagram into their universe or add their own text input capabilities in the near future.

Facebook’s billion members could tilt the scales in this feud since you can bet there will be tighter integration with Instagram in 2013. Will 2013 also see promoted photos and accounts on Instagram? I can already imagine the whining from the unwashed masses who think everything great should be free. 

Nov
19

Nov
16

Nov
15

Nov
07

Oct
30

XBox Efail

Someone needs to tighten up the QA at Microsoft/XBox. Just got an email touting the upcoming Nike+ Kinect Training and it’s something that interested me enough to click through and learn more. Big splashy page explaining features is all well and good but where’s the price? Oh, I need to click on the pre-order button since it’s not available yet. Rude awakening when the page is empty! 

Page is hopefully fixed by the time you read this. 

Oct
29

6 Wisdom Chunks from Paul Adams This is a slide from Facebook’s Global Head of Design, Paul Adams (@padday). He was giving a presentation at PivotCon last week, seeming to make it his mission to level-set expectations for Facebook and advising agencies and their brands on the optimal ways to “be” on Facebook.  1. Don’t Think About Sharing. When someone asks “what did you do last night?” the reply isn’t “oh, I spent the night sharing on Facebook.” The point being, if your main intent as a brand is to get someone to share your message, you’re missing the point. 2. Build Many Lightweight Interactions. The things that make the newsfeed are the things that are simple to accomplish. Sure, brands can design intense interactions and custom Facebook apps but the expectation of participation should be much lower. 3. Design the Feed Story First. Building on the above tip, thinking in terms of how a post is communicated where most people will see it helps determine what ultimately should be made. Which brings us to… 4. Remove 80% of the Features. I think agencies build in complexity because that’s just what we do. We take too long to pull the trigger, feature creep things to death and ultimately overproduce interactive ideas. 5. If You Don’t Ship, It Doesn’t Exist. Word. 6. After You Ship It, Change It. Word, redux. Another behavior inherent in agency life compared to software/startup life is that once something’s built, we move on. As we create more evergreen programs, feeding and nurturing is going to be paramount to success.

6 Wisdom Chunks from Paul Adams

This is a slide from Facebook’s Global Head of Design, Paul Adams (@padday). He was giving a presentation at PivotCon last week, seeming to make it his mission to level-set expectations for Facebook and advising agencies and their brands on the optimal ways to “be” on Facebook. 

1. Don’t Think About Sharing. When someone asks “what did you do last night?” the reply isn’t “oh, I spent the night sharing on Facebook.” The point being, if your main intent as a brand is to get someone to share your message, you’re missing the point.

2. Build Many Lightweight Interactions. The things that make the newsfeed are the things that are simple to accomplish. Sure, brands can design intense interactions and custom Facebook apps but the expectation of participation should be much lower.

3. Design the Feed Story First. Building on the above tip, thinking in terms of how a post is communicated where most people will see it helps determine what ultimately should be made. Which brings us to…

4. Remove 80% of the Features. I think agencies build in complexity because that’s just what we do. We take too long to pull the trigger, feature creep things to death and ultimately overproduce interactive ideas.

5. If You Don’t Ship, It Doesn’t Exist. Word.

6. After You Ship It, Change It. Word, redux. Another behavior inherent in agency life compared to software/startup life is that once something’s built, we move on. As we create more evergreen programs, feeding and nurturing is going to be paramount to success.

Oct
25

Success Kid/I Hate Sandcastles. Now 3D

Success Kid

Internet memes are all kinds of awesome. I definitely like them more than the dreck of real world memes. Got [fill in the blank]? or Keep Calm and [fill in the blank] are two that come to mind ranking high on the annoyance scale. 

But this 3D print takes the digital to the physical so I had to share! I’m thinking this kid and the sad Keanu 3D print could be awesome stocking stuffers for the geek in your family.

Oct
12

It’s Personal (a set on Flickr) We are all, every one of us, edge cases. Not a target. Not a consumer. Not an audience. Not a demographic. Just a “you” and a “me.” I Am Not A Target I move too fast. I’m too fickle. You can’t pin me down. I Am Not A Consumer “Consumer” assumes I swallow everything you put out, like a garbage disposal. I Am Not An Audience That assumes you have my rapt attention, which more often than not, you don’t. It also assumes what you are creating for me is worth my time and money. It better if you want to have an audience. I Am Not A Demographic There’s much more art than science in this thing called life. Even as we hone our abilities to measure and track big data, I’m still more than the sum of my parts.
I Am Not A TargetI Am Not A ConsumerI Am Not An AudienceI Am Not A Demographic

It’s Personal (a set on Flickr)

We are all, every one of us, edge cases.

Not a target.
Not a consumer.
Not an audience.
Not a demographic.
Just a “you” and a “me.”

I Am Not A Target

I move too fast. I’m too fickle. You can’t pin me down.

I Am Not A Consumer

“Consumer” assumes I swallow everything you put out, like a garbage disposal.

I Am Not An Audience

That assumes you have my rapt attention, which more often than not, you don’t. It also assumes what you are creating for me is worth my time and money. It better if you want to have an audience.

I Am Not A Demographic

There’s much more art than science in this thing called life. Even as we hone our abilities to measure and track big data, I’m still more than the sum of my parts.

YouTube/Google SPAM - If you happened to wake up to see an email apparently from Google, don’t click on anything. If you check out the link by hovering over any linked text, you’ll see it’s going to a Brazilian .br domain. I haven’t bothered to click, but have a feeling it’s something phishy. Just a friendly reminder to keep your guard up. Anybody else getting these recently?

YouTube/Google SPAM - If you happened to wake up to see an email apparently from Google, don’t click on anything. If you check out the link by hovering over any linked text, you’ll see it’s going to a Brazilian .br domain. 

I haven’t bothered to click, but have a feeling it’s something phishy. Just a friendly reminder to keep your guard up. Anybody else getting these recently?

Oct
10

Oct
08

Oct
05