Ads Across Platforms Get Inside People’s Heads
Yep. Google tells us more on their mobile ads blog.
Yep. Google tells us more on their mobile ads blog.
In light of all the news at today’s f8 conference, that lead is only going to grow… some really cool stuff rolling out by Zuck and friends. Timeline will be a game changer for the user interface of Facebook. What’s interesting is that Google+ is not factored into this grid (probably due to the June ’11 data cutoff – prior to G+ launching). They, too, are rolling out some interesting changes in their service – not to mention opening up the flood gates to all users who are interested in signing up. The gloves are coming off, for sure. Steve Rubel (EVP/Global Strategy and Insights for Edelman) says in a tweet today:
“Story of the day: Google+ and Facebook are escalating a features arms race, while Twitter is aiming to streamline <– a good move”
Not sure I agree 100% with Steve. Sure, there is something to be said for streamlining but the prevailing theory out there is that Zuckerberg is interested in ensuring that his user base does not get bored with his service. Thus, the bevy of changes that you are seeing being instituted by Facebook this week. Perhaps from his perspective, the trade off for pissing off his users is that they remain engaged, because they are forced to come back and engage with the platform – hopefully leading to them learning something new and discovering elements to facebook they weren’t aware of before. Mostly smart – unless he does something so egregious that people flee and stay away. I personally don’t see that happening. It’s a service that has become a fabric of our everyday lives… which is what he was banking on.
Introducing Google Wallet – Brilliant…
Well played Budweiser. Respectful, Non-exploitative, and touching. Tastefully done.
I included an article in my weekly ‘Top 10 Reads’ email (message me if you’d like to be put on the distribution list) that discussed the duration a link ‘survives our attention’ on the social graph. On average – about 3 hours. That number, oddly enough, does not surprise me. Day in and day out we are faced with a deluge of information from our peers, co-workers, and virtual friends and followers. How much can we possibly retain, before moving onto the next compelling link for fear of missing something important? Again, about 3 hours.
While not unexpected to me, that number did give me pause. Are we in the constant quest to gain more information, at the risk of not retaining significant things that might actually matter or help us do our job? Perhaps. I know I’m guilty of this from time to time. There is a certain urge to be ‘first’ or to ‘break news’ – as a result, I’m not sure people actually live beyond the 140 characters they put in the line of their tweet or the short description they put in their Facebook or Linkedin share. For me, it’s important that I read (and have an opinion on) the content that I am sharing to my social network – otherwise what is the point in sharing? If you’d like to read the full report, please check it out on bit.ly.