A medio metro de altura

Facebook and their Manifest Destiny

2013-09-10T15:37:00.003+02:00

In my previous articles I mentioned how undeveloped the Instant Messaging Industry is: the dominant player in the market provides a service which could be clearly improved, but it still remains sleeping in the summit because no serious opponent has yet showed up. Many have presented alternatives, but they have not succeeded in ensuring three of four key aspects that every messaging app should have. But they lack something only Facebook has.

In the United States in the 19th century, Manifest destiny was the widely held belief that American settlers were destined to expand across the continent. As we can see in the allegorical painting above, Columbia, a personification of the United States, leads civilization westward with American settlers, stringing telegraph wire as she sweeps west; she holds a school book.

And, in my opinion, Facebook is called for its own Manifest Destiny: to conquer and dominate the Instant Messaging Market.

Instant Messaging is, by definition, social.

Although all this can be changed through rather expensive Marketing operations, every brand has its own values, they breath this or that idea, and we consumers certainly feel it. Whenever we want to find something we don't quite know, Google instantly comes up to our mind (this might be a reason why Google+ is having so much trouble getting into our lives, and the same with Google Hangouts); so happens with Twitter and quick information and many other examples. Companies and Brands have their identity and values, which may or may not be the same as their CMO want.

Facebook is social, Facebook is friends, Facebook is sharing and the way I take my personal and social life to the digital world. And thats why Facebook has a great opportunity in Messaging: taking advantage of this "natural" advantage, and developing a solid product, they could easily wipe out their competitors.

The 2 steps that need to be taken.

- Unique marketing solution. In a way to present a product that is -at the same time- different but integrated with Facebook, the actual Facebook Messenger App and all its identity is definitely not the way. This App should never merely be a portable solution for the in-web Facebook chat.

The guys from Menlo Park should present a new product, with a different name, with a different logo, and even maybe a different color. Something new. That, along with a nicely carried-out advertisement campaign based in their own ad platform, should do it.

- Solid product for the very start. Multiplatform, light-weight, fast and showing a neat design,... Definitely no solutions for later versions, no . Altough worldwide fragmented, the Instant Messaging Market presents in almost each country a predominant app. And that is why, to take over the market, a strong These aspects have to be present from the very beginning to effectively wage war on other competitors.

What would Facebook get out of this?

Presence and brand power. Facebook would now be present in almost every digital social interaction of the user. And with that, Facebook would then ensure itself as THE social network, in every platform, which could be of extreme use int he long term competition. As simple as that.

Profit. Because there's no free lunch, Facebook could make big money out of this. A monetization strategy based on low intrusive ads could be carried out in a medium-term stage of the App.

Sources | TechCrunch: The Reality of the Global Messaging App Market

Thoughts on Google Hangouts

2013-08-15T17:24:00.001+02:00

After weeks of rumors on their unified chat service, Google finally unveiled its instant messaging platform: Google Hangouts. Using their existing brandname for in-web multiuser Google+ video conferences, Google has simplified all their instant communication services spread among their sites: Google Talk, Google Voice, Google+ Messenger and Google+ Hangouts.

But let's put it clear: it's not going to take over WhatsApp.
Google Hangouts is not going to become a widespread tool for instant messaging. Why? This is my opinion why this product is not up to the challenge:

1. It is not multiplatform. Google Hangouts has come out to the public without the basic rule to become a widespread standard: it is not supported by Windows Phone nor other Operating Systems in which WhatsApp is fully operational such as Blackberry. Some may say that this point is not important as Blackberry or Windows Phone may not be , but in many countries they may still be a bunch of them still in the streets: if five of my friends can't use Hangouts, I'm not switching.

2. It's too heavy. And related to the first point, even though it is supported by Android and iOS, it's weight can make it uneasy and uncomfortable to use. Instant messaging is all about it own name: instantaneity. Hangouts may take several seconds to launch in an medium-tier Android device, and it is not even compatible with low-tier phones. Even on an iPhone 4 we will also take our time to star messaging our friends.

3. It lacks the simplicity used by WhatsApp to find your friends. This might be a point which could not be blamed on Google since Hangouts is another service seeded by Google to gather users around Google+ and slowly gunpointing them to their social network.

4. The name has little brand power. I am not a branding specialist, but I feel the name that had been rumored before, Google Babel, would have added a lot more novelty to the experience. Babel could have been an easier term to use when referring to a "short, instant, fast" message.

5. The computer-based client is not a stunning, beautifully designed app, but rather a Chrome-dependent, poorly designed that does not fit in with the operating system. This drawback might change when full integration with the OS for Chrome packaged apps come.

Conclusion

In my opinion, Google will barely scratch a tiny marcker share of the Instant messaging market. Will Google later improve all these specs? If you are to wage war on a prominent opponent, you better come down to battle fully armed with weapons up to your enemy's.

Sleeping in the summit

2013-08-15T16:34:00.000+02:00

Brian Acton and Jan Koum founded WhatsApp in 2009.

It is quite interesting how the situation in the instant messaging market is clearly stagnant. The service users get in their everyday life is well under the standards seen in other web and digital services.

No significant move nor improvement from the leader has been shown since they took over as the standard platform for instant messaging. WhatsApp seems to quietly sleep alone in the summit while all new incomers try to reach their marketpower and a substantial user base to be considered as a possible menace.

And it has not yet happened.

Which improvements fit with their culture?

WhatsApp seems not to bother adding new funcionalitites to its product, at least in the short run. And It is not about cheesy and superficial addons: WhatsApp is light, fast and widely available for almost any mobile OS, some key elements for these market. We certainly don’t need video conference or manga stickers added to it!

A computer client is an urgent feature. A web-based client? New cloud-based functionalities? Maybe some integration with Facebook?

It is because of WhatsApp’s well-defined culture that many functionalities clearly fall outside this personality. WhatsApp will never turn into a social network, advertising platform or a cloud-based messaging app. This culture could all be brought down to these principles:

"We are pretty clear on this. I mean, would you like advertising on WhatsApp? We wouldn’t. We want messaging to be as simple and easy as possible. We don’t want our application to be a social network or a gaming network, but a messaging network (…) We want to be purely about messaging"

Jan Koum, WhatsApp co-founder.

What's happening?

WhatsApp may not be improving their service as a defensive strategy: whenever a competitor grows enough to become a true menace, WhatsApp will unleash all these potential to defitively clear all doubts on its leadership.

Via Crucis

2013-03-21T15:39:00.003+01:00

Breakdancing in Donostia

2013-03-17T18:35:00.000+01:00

BAJA!! tensión

2012-08-01T22:48:00.002+02:00

Mi mochila

2012-07-31T19:39:00.005+02:00

Era una oferta del Corté Inglés y venía junto con una mochililla para llevar las zapatillas del furbo, me parece que todo costó como 30 eurillos...

Skyscraper

2012-07-31T00:22:00.000+02:00

Mehillón

2012-07-29T22:43:00.000+02:00

El Cigüeñal

2012-06-08T17:25:00.002+02:00

A veces ves cosas así y tienes que parar el coche y sacar la cámara.

Somos 7.000 millones (4)

2012-03-23T12:29:00.000+01:00

Somos 7.000 millones (3)

2012-03-13T13:13:00.002+01:00

Esta foto la hice en Gibraltar hace unos meses. Entré en una tienda a ver objetivos para la nanocam® y el dependiente, muy majo, me dejó probar este Sigma 75-300 mm (creo). Tenía mogollón de zoom y mira qué foto tan chula me salió.

¿Quiénes serán?

Termitas

2012-03-12T13:21:00.000+01:00

Zeta

2012-02-21T09:52:00.003+01:00

La mvy noble y mvy leal ciudad d Molina de Aragón ganada a los cristianos en el año de Alá de 2012.

2012-02-12T20:10:00.001+01:00

El visillo de la vieja.

2012-02-10T17:30:00.003+01:00

Lánzate.

2012-01-27T14:04:00.000+01:00

Lágrima

2012-01-25T22:26:00.000+01:00

Al IESE...

2012-01-22T23:18:00.004+01:00

Angkor Thom

2012-01-12T14:36:00.001+01:00

Colores de Angkor Wat

2012-01-12T14:03:00.002+01:00

Cómo mola el naranja sobre el gris de las piedras de Angkor Wat...

Una ofrenda para Vishnu

2012-01-12T14:00:00.001+01:00

Caminando por los templos de Angkor Wat te vas encontrando altares. Unos están dedicados al Buda y otros son hinduístas, porque la monarquía Khmer (antiguo nombre de Camboya) iba cambiando de religión cada tanto.

En la foto, una ofrenda curiosa a los pies de Vishnu.

Requisito para ser artista: una musa.

2012-01-09T15:55:00.000+01:00

Para celebrar que ya hemos llegado a las 2000 visitas, y sin entrar en el debate sobre cuántas de esas son de mi padre; una foto muy especial.

No la voy a explicar porque el mensaje está claro... : )

Tao

2012-01-07T15:06:00.001+01:00

Karaoke

2012-01-07T12:56:00.001+01:00