A Social Evolution
Over the last few years since the term was coined back in 2004, an increasingly diverse range of ‘Web 2.0’ technologies have enabled the rapid development of a new breed of applications, loosely grouped under the term ‘social media’.
From the start, social media applications were ‘C2C’, as it were – interactive, collaborative and user-centric. Consumer generated content creation and networking were fundamental to early players such as Facebook, which when it was first unleashed all of six years ago held no promise for the enterprise. It was primarily used for sharing holiday snaps and anecdotes with remote family members while avoiding the complexity of bulky e-mail attachments. Social media platforms weren’t about business, they were about people – enabling users to connect across communities sharing similar interests while pointedly leaving big brands out of it. The buzz was about corporate blogs, RSS and VoIP. ‘Viral’ still referred primarily to e-mail, not YouTube. Read more…
Multiple channel overload but heading in the right direction…
After having recently moved house, I decided to set up a new Internet connection. As I was already a mobile customer of theirs (which entitled me to a discount) I opted for an O2 broadband package. I wasn’t particularly pleased with the usability of the registration process on their website. I always get annoyed by small usability flaws and get even more angered when functionalities such as the address finder don’t work (O2, here is a hint for you). But what disappointed me was not so much the average user-friendliness of their site as, in the end, I managed to do what I wanted. What left me perplexed was their order follow-up strategy, which is in essence a very good concept that was poorly implemented. Read more…
The new Which? website
I first subscribed to the Which? website a few years ago, when purchasing many appliances – fridge, cooker, oven, dish-washer, washer and dryer – for our new place. I remained subscribed through the baby years – selecting a car seat, a buggy, a high chair and countless other paraphernalia – and have remained subscribed, because there is always something you want a trusted opinion on: a new TV, or kettle, or a vacuum cleaner! Having just received an e-mail inviting me to “Check out the new Which.co.uk”, I thought it would be a good time to go look up slow cookers. Read more…
Kindle niggles
Just to be clear, I still stand by my earlier posts. But as with any relationship, at some point, the honeymoon is over…
This morning, I was reading on the Tube – Bill Bryson’s Short History. I reached a page that referred to an experiment, and the line reads “Schrödinger… blah blah… (see here)”; I rapidly clicked a few times on the 5-way controller to move the cursor up to that line – and lo and behold, the screen flickered, went blank, then showed an amazon background image (a silhouette reading under a tree) with a progress bar slowly filling across the bottom. Uh oh. The device seemed to have shut down. I “woke” it up, which showed the home page, and opened up the Bryson book from the list. Annoyingly, it did not take me to the place where it had rudely cut me off but to a much earlier page. Read more…
The Kindle everyday – or, as you like it
The Kindle is not a life changing device. It is not a paradigm shifting device either – it is not the first e-book reader by any means, and it does not bring revolutionary features to the table. But just as amazon, when it first started selling books online over a decade ago concentrated on getting the user experience absolutely right – thus becoming best-of-breed in the process – then I would put forward that with the Kindle they have done the same thing for e-book readers. As long as they stick to this device being just that, they should own the market. If they try and turn it into an iPad they will lose their way.
Amazon’s 3G Kindle. Out-of-the-box
My Kindle just arrived. It came in a brown cardboard box, Amazon style, except that this was a different model box from the standard ones – more classy, somehow, with its black band across one end. Tear off the strip of perforated card at one end, and the lid lifts up to reveal the object of your desire: THE Kindle. There’s something of an Apple feel to the experience – white, smooth – lustrous, even? – hard, moulded plastic inside, no frills, and the dark matte grey device nestled, pod-like, in the box. Basic instructions on the screen clearly display a diagram of the device, its USB/power cord and how to plug it in – so clearly in fact, I first thought this was printed on the protective plastic film, and so did a couple of other people I showed it to. So far this is turning out to be a rather good customer experience. Read more…
From sceptic to convert. I am getting the new Kindle!
A few weeks ago, I opened the amazon.co.uk home page to find a splashy ad for the all-new Kindle. A few buzz words caught my eye – free 3G, slim as a pencil, 3500 books, read in sunlight, UK-Kindle store…having so far resisted buying one of these devices (see my earlier post) but with both a professional and a personal interest in them, I read on. Call it great marketing or just the product finally hitting my sweet spot, but I was hooked and ordered one on the spot. Seems I was not the only one: the product is already sold out pre-shipping (launch was announced for August 27) and current orders can expect delivery in the second half of September. Read more…
The price of light is less than the cost of darkness
This article, written by Neil Mason, was originally published on Clickz.com on 13/08/10 and is republished here with permission.
I don’t know whether the number is right or not but a while back I heard that sophisticated marketing companies such as the world’s leading brands spent about 10% of their marketing budget on research and measurement. Irrespective whether the number is accurate or not, it’s a good benchmark I think – 10% feels about right. Read more…