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Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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Friday Wrap #167: Facebook tops Google for traffic, messaging apps dominate, the desktop lives

Friday Wrap #167: Facebook tops Google for traffic, messaging apps dominate, the desktop lives

Friday Wrap 167
Flickr photo courtesy of Koka Sexton
The Friday Wrap is my weekly collection of news stories, posts, studies, and reports designed to help organizational communicators stay current on the trends and technology that affect their jobs. These may be items that flew under the radar while other stories grabbed big headlines. As always, I collect material from which I select Wrap stories (as well as stories to report on the For Immediate Release podcast, along with stuff I just want to remember to read) on my link blog, which you’re welcome to follow.

News

Facebook drives more traffic to media sites than Google—For the second time Facebook accounts for more traffic to media sites than Google. According to traffic analytics firm Pars.ly, Facebook delivered 43% of traffic to its network of 400 major news and media sites compared to 38% for Google. Facebook barely edged Google last October, but this new lead is far more dramatic. The takeaway: There won’t be much more growth in search as a source of referrals while Facebook’s influence will only continue to increase. Read more

IAB declares HTML5 the new standard—An update to the Internet Advertising Bureau’s guidelines that makes HTML5 the new standard in interactive advertising. Among the implications is a further distancing from Adobe Flash. Adobe supports the move. The takeaway: If you’re not already moving away from Flash, start making plans yesterday. Read more

Publishers sneak ads into comment sections—Comments—from those publishers that still have comment sections—were the last bastion of an ad-free experience. No more. Livefyre, which powers online discussions, has introduced sponsored comments. Among the first publishers to take advantage of the service: The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and Fox News. The takeaway: Comment sections are already struggling between spammy comments and the shift toward commenting elsewhere (e.g., Facebook, Twitter). I’d recommend caution about investing in comment ads, at least until their effectiveness can be demonstrated. Read more

Amsterdam will be a connected city—A new Internet of Things (IoT) wireless network will debut in Amsterdam, allowing objects to transmit data with each other. The unique system uses low-power, low-bandwidth LoRaWAN technology to blanket the city with a wireless signal. As a result, objects from canal boats to trash cans can become tools developers can use. A test of the network will have boat owners put a small bowl in the base of their vessels. If a leak happens and the boat takes on water, the bowl will use the network to send a text alert to a boat maintenance company, which will fix the leak. The takeaway: The IoT has been a conversation point for years, but it’s rapidly becoming a real thing. Even Google’s new OnHub WiFi router has the tech built into it for connected homes. Read more

Slideshare rebrands for tighter LinkedIn integration—Slideshare is now LinkedIn Slideshare, a rebranding effort that “accelerates our ability to help professionals learn about any topic quickly from subject matter experts,” according to LinkedIn. “Associating your SlideShare content with your LinkedIn identity brings credibility to your content and generates more potential profile views and opportunities for you.” LinkedIn acquired Slideshare back in 2012. The takeaway: Start building content for Slideshare. The site gets nearly 60 million unique visits each month, with most visitors looking for business-related solutions. The tighter LinkedIn integration makes it an even bigger opportunity to get your message in front of target audiences. Read more

Facebook beefs up events feature—Public and private events are now treated differently as Facebook looks to add weight to its events listings. Public events have bigger header images and offer more information. Even private parties are getting cover art to help make your invitations more appealing. The takeaway: Use Facebook events, even if it’s not part of your event marketing strategy. Facebook events are already somewhat effective, and this new focus could breathe life into them, getting audiences to pay more attention to your upcoming activity. Tech journalist Robert Scoble swears by Facebook events, which he uses to organize his annual birthday bash. Read more

FCC dings another company for blocking personal WiFi—First it was Marriott, now the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has fined Smart City Holdings $750,000 for blocking personal WiFi hotspots at convention centers and stadiums while selling access to its own WiFi. Smart City provides connectivity to 30 U.S. convention centers, some NFL stadiums, and Walt Disney World. According to the FCC, “It is unacceptable for any company to charge consumers exorbitant fees to access the Internet while at the same time blocking them from using their own personal Wi-Fi hotspots to access the Internet.” The takeaway: Using your personal WiFi is a right, not a privilege. (Have you ordered your Karma yet?) Read more

Facebook Notes is now a blogging tool—Facebook Notes has been around for a long time, but a recent update lets users employ the tool to create bloglike content in their timelines. The move is seen as a way to compete against Medium. The update is part of a test that hasn’t rolled out to everyone. The takeaway: If Facebook is important to your company or clients, this could be well worth a look to create more visually compelling longer-form content. Read more

Mobile and Wearables

Persicope’s success attracts marketers—Persicope, Twitter’s live mobile video streaming app, has been downloaded 10 million times, and its users are consuming 40 years worth of content every day. That’s enough impetus for brands to explore various ways to use Periscope, including sneak peeks into exclusive events, product and offer announcements, celebrity takeovers, live question-and-answer sessions, and behind-the-scenes looks at a brand’s culture. The takeaway: Live mobile video streaming is a big deal and it’s going to get bigger. Experiment with Periscope and Meerkat to figure out where it fits in your organization. Read more

Everyone texts more than they call—If you think texting is a Millennial habit, take a look at data from RealityMine, which found that texting has overtaken calling on mobile phones across all generations. Another surprise: one-third of mobile gamers are older than 45. And 38% of women’s app use is focused on social networks. There’s a bunch more data from the study. The takeaway: If texting isn’t part of your communication mix, what’s stopping you? Read more

Overdose of irrelevant content doesn’t slow notification “super-checking”—Thirty-five percent of smartphone users are “super-checkers,” looking at their phones more than 50 times each day. That number jumps to 50% among Millennials. A lot of that super-checking involves looking at push notifications, although because so many push notifications are poorly-targeted or irrelevant, nearly half customize push notification settings for their apps. The takeaway: Push notifications are increasingly important as a way to get audience attention, but you have to work hard to ensure relevance. Read more

Microsoft tests app that reads you the news—You have news on your phone but you’re in your car. You may be grateful for NewsCast, an iOS app Microsoft has been testing (but which it hasn’t announced), which gathers articles from around the web, collects them in a playlist, and reads summaries out loud. You will also be able to save articles for NewsCast to read to you later. The takeaway: I keep telling you the importance of audio is only going to continue to rise. Read more

NFL team buys ads on Kik—We hear about Messenger and WhatsApp. In China, everyone uses WeChat, so it’s on most of our radars, too. But Kik? You may not know Kik, but it’s wildly popular with younger teens—which is why the Indianapolis Colts became the first NFL team to launch a campaign on the messaging app in the hopes of reaching hundreds of thousands of teenagers. The Colts’ “promoted chat” “is a game that takes followers through seven levels of a choose-your-own adventure story about rising through the football ranks from high school player to the pros.” The takeaway: Different messaging apps attract different users. Be sure you know who’s using an app before you invest in it. Read more

Trends

Everyone wants an experience—Another bit of conventional wisdom about Millennials suggests that they’re the demographic group that responds to experience marketing. It turns out that, while Millennials may have blazed that trail, these days everybody wants experiences. A number of psychological studies reveal that people are happier spending their money on experiences than on material possessions. In delivering experiences, marketers shouldn’t overdo it—“small experiences can create truly sticky content” and avoid overusing technology. The takeaway: Get familiar with experience marketing and start experimenting with ways to give your audiences—external and internal—experiences they’ll talk about. Read more

Simplicity beats complexity as messaging takes over enterprise collaboration—Compare a tool like Slack to something like Jive and you could be forgiven for wondering why something to basic is beating something so feature-rich. The fact is, enterprise messaging apps mimic the kind of texting that has taken over much of our smartphone time with apps like Messenger, WhatsApp, and Snapchat. “More than any specific breakthrough feature, these tools are distinguished by a fluid, fast-paced user experience emphasizing quick, concise messages, and ongoing team conversations,” writes David Carr. The takeaway: If you’ve struggled to build adoption of enterprise collaboration tools, consider a pilot test with Slack, or one of its competitors, like HipChat, Glip, Circuit, or Spark to see if it succeeds where the more complex, desktop-centric tools have failed. Read more

Can we train computers to tell better stories?—As computers start talking to us—think Siri, Google Now, Cortana, and Alexa—they’ll need to get better at storytelling. After all, stories are one of the most important and effective methods of conveying information. One computer scientists is trying to teach computers how to build suspense by having a program called Dramatis read scripts—like Casino Royale—to identify dangerous points in the plot. It’s just a fist step in producing less boring computers. The takeaway: Keep an eye on the computer-talking-to-you trend; there will be big opportunities here for communicators. Read more

Research

The rise of mobile messaging—Mobile messaging is so hot (it is suddenly dominating enterprise collaboration with tools like Slack and HipChat), The Pew Research Center has introduced its first study dedicated solely to messaging apps. The study found 36% of smartphone owners are using apps like WhatsApp, Kik, and the like, and 17% are using ephemeral messaging apps like Snapchat and Wickr. That percentage jumps to nearly half of smartphone users when isolating the 18-29-year-old demographic, and 41% in that age group use ephemeral messaging apps. The takeaway: If you haven’t already started strategizing how to get your messages to your audiences via mobile messaging apps, stop hesitating. Their growth will only continue. Read more

The desktop isn’t dead—The shift to mobile is unstoppable, but that doesn’t mean the desktop is dead. Data from online measurement firm comScore finds that the total amount of time Americans spend with digital media increased by 49% over the last two years, and while most of that gain was driven by non-desktop devices, the total minutes spent consuming digital media from desktop and laptops grew 16% during that period. The takeaway: Mobile may be supplementing desktop use, although that’s likely to flip at some point, with desktops serving as the supplemental device for all but those who rely on desktops, such as CAD designers and data entry staff. Read more

Content preferences vary by generation—One size does not fit all when it comes to content marketing. Business executives—older ones (more than 10 years of experience) and younger ones (less than 10 years)—prefer articles to multimedia, according to a study by The Economist Intelligence Unit and Peppercom. Ninety-one percent of “Veterans” prefer articles, while 69% of “Generation Next” would rather read than look at multimedia. But 65% of Veterans like research reports; compared to only 30% among younger execs. Neither white papers, videos, nor infographics scored high with either group. And nobody likes content that feels like a sales pitch. The takeaway: In the B2B world, be sure the content you produce is the kind your audience is inclined to look for, even though that may not be as sexy as some of the formats getting a lot of media attention. It never hurts to ask your particular audience what they want. Read more

Gamification builds engagement—Adding game-like elements to non-game situations at work improves the work experience for nearly all employees, according to research commissioned by gamification company Badgeville. According to the study, “78% of workers are utilizing games-based motivation at work and nearly all (91%) say these systems improve their work experience by increasing engagement, awareness and productivity.” The takeaway: Anything that makes tedious tasks fun can only help achieve objectives. Gamification may be a tough sell to leaders who think work isn’t supposed to be fun, but these kinds of results can change minds. Read more

Sites and Tools

Pinterest for designers—That’s how some are describing Wake.io, a site for sharing graphic design. Just use the screen grab tool to send a design to your team’s Wake board, where team members can check the latest iteration and leave comments. The private, secure site will set you back $12 per month after a one-month free trial. The takeaway: If you’re constantly passing designs back and forth among team members, $12 per month could be a bargain. Read more

New app lets friends share locations—Line, one of the successful mobile messaging apps, is expanding with Line Here, which uses maps to let members of a group see one another’s location in real time. One use case: “Groups of friends who are all meetup up at a pre-arranged time can see where everyone is in real-time, and based on this information, someone may decide to stay at home for 10 minutes longer rather than waiting outside in the cold. Or, a parent can track their kids’ whereabouts on the way home from school.” The takeaway: Context, context, context. When you develop mobile apps, keep it in mind, because it is at the heart of true mobility. Read more

Foursquare lives—Foursquare has been written off by so many people for so long, it may come as a surprise that the app has more than 60 million registered users and more than 50 million monthly active users, representing growth of 5 million registered users last October. It hosts more than 75 million tips, up from 50 million in October. The takeaway: Don’t succumb to the “X is dead” refrain pundits love to spout. Check the numbers before deciding to abandon (or avoid tapping into) a service others have declared irrelevant. Read more

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