Interactive Content

The Personalization Mirror

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Sun, 27 May 2018 02:55:00 +0000

Yes, there are calls to kill the news feed. Because we all we see are random, garbagy stories that annoy us, make no sense, seem irrelevant, and insult us, according to Om Malik:

Every afternoon, during lunch, I open up YouTube, and I find myself marveling at the sheer dumbness of its recommendations. Despite having all this viewing data of mine, world’s second most popular search engine is dumb as a brick. It shows me propaganda channels from two ends of the political spectrum. It surfaces some inane celebrity videos. It dredges up the worst material for me — considering I usually like watch science videos, long conversations and interviews, and photography-focused educational videos. YouTube, assumes that like its billion-plus audience I might be pleased with the lowest common denominator.

Om makes it sound like YouTube and by association Google are mindless human-cataloged search engines of the 1990s. Dumb nitwits unworthy of Om's seemingly far higher-brow web history, serving up pablum worthy of the 'lowest common' folk.

I'd love to get a look at dear Om's browser history. If YouTube is serving up this much junk to Om, it's not because YouTube is stupid, my friend. Om, if I may speak directly to you:

YouTube (and Facebook and every other AI-powered newsfeed) knows you, and is a mirror reflecting what you watch across the devices you use. Full stop.

Om, I highly advise you to look at your browser history, to see in actuality what you have viewed in the past 96 hours. While I'm sure there are a few pages of distinction and renowned, it's also likely that the majority of clicks are time-wasting, low quality and low brow sites that you've simply forgotten about. Your complaint about the low quality of your YouTube feed betrays this.

Google doesn't lie, it never lied, and god willing it never will lie. If it shows you junk on your newsfeed, there was similar junk in your browsing history. You just may not like to admit that.

I just took a look at my YouTube feed, and see a range of compelling, high-quality videos from the likes of L2, Seth Godin, SNL, the Boston Red Sox, the recent royal wedding, TED, and a few legitimate exercise videos from fitnessblender (I'm trying to firm up my abs), all of which is an accurate reflection of my browsing and interests online.

Even better, my Facebook newsfeed. Now, I may not find it to be as interesting these days, but in fact, it does reflect the state of my past and current friendships. I just don't understand why people accuse Facebook of wrongly showing them junk and one-sided, echo chambers of political and social thought.

The fact is, and I'd just about bet a share of $FB on this, that 'one-sided echo chamber' actually accurately reflects the state of their relationships and political discourse online and in the real world. They just don't want to admit that they've holed themselves up in a virtual club of thinksame, and don't want to admit further that they will refuse any opportunity to dialog intelligently with anyone of an opposing ilk.

When I review my Facebook feed, unlike most every pundit who whines about how Facebook is a political echo-chamber, I see four distinct political views come through loud and clear on most days:

Bleeding-heart, ultra-lefties who dot the U.S. and abroad, mainly ex-colleagues and a few acquaintances
Thoughtful, liberal-leaning East Coasters who are a mix of friends, acquaintances, and ex-colleagues
Plain-spoken, right-leaning and somewhat religious (Christian) friends from high school in Maine
Intense, very right-leaning friends from high school who support gun-ownership rights, and are generally anti-immigration and very pro-Trump

I am amazed by the debates and heated arguments that ensue in my newsfeed among my own range of friends, etc. They are debates, and sometimes angry, but never devolve into the inanity of what happens when total strangers rage at each other on Twitter. Among my friends of different political stripes, there remains decorum, and respect, out of having come from the same home town, the same high school, and still sharing some of the same friends.

Again, these are the people I've chosen to remain associated with. Unlike those pundits who rage against the Facebook machine, who clearly have chosen to cloister themselves in seas of sameness of thought.

And with that, I conclude: AI-driven personalization is a mirror. It accurately reflects the reality of what it can see and know about you, your browsing habits, and your social connections. If you don't like what the AI-social mirror reflects back at you, change your habits and biases against associating with people who may have political beliefs other than your own. It doesn't mean you have to agree, or like what they post, but aren't you interested to hear what they have to say?

The most unique credit card you've never heard of, Barclaycard Ring

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 11:13:00 +0000

Barclaycard's "Ring" Mastercard has been hailed by independent reviewers as one of the most unique cards available today, due to its radically different Value Proposition: Simple Value for Revolvers.

Simplicity comes as an 8% rate, transparent fees, and few if any surprises.

But beneath this simplicity lurks something much more robust. This is the world's first "crowdsourced card," letting users shape features and benefits through a robust community of cardholders and with direct participation of the Barclays Product Manager.

Barclaycard Ring MasterCard ... is the most interesting credit card I’ve ever seen.
- The Points Guy

Cardmembers are encouraged to join an online community built around the card, with conversations and threads on financial smarts, crowdsourcing features and frank discussions directly with the Barclaycard Product Manager, a true first in the category.

In other words, card holders can suggest and vote up/down features, designs, etc., and, perhaps more importantly, participate in the overall BUSINESS performance of the card - there's a transparent P&L posted in the community, and card members get a profit-/performance-sharing bonus each year direct from Barclaycard, the terms of which they can actually change.

This is all meant to give people a voice and engagement in how their card is operated and run, and a stake in the performance of the card. For example, members recently voted to change the terms of the performance sharing bonus, giving up some upside potential in return for smoothed-out bonuses. They also voted on the card design, to offer a 0% intro rate for the first time this year - likely a savvy marketing move which may be responsible for a sharp uptick in acquisitions as of mid-2015.

And yet, it's still one of the best kept secrets in credit cards today.

This card’s ultra simple Value Proposition + participatory community is SO differentiated for the category and not at all typical for what a card for revolvers tends to be, all of this radical innovation may be exactly WHY the card is still very niche in terms of membership. Furthermore, Barclaycard is far from a credit card powerhouse brand – so may lack the draw and awareness of AmEx or Chase, which doesn’t help.

But there's more behind the apparent lack of uptake of this proposition.

We know from our recent work in building a new value propositions in the category, that two dominant forces rule the credit card market today:

Consumers have been highly trained by the category to go after low and zero APRs, and to try to transfer revolving debt from card to card as much as they can. While this take a lot of effort and has the potential to tear apart one’s FICO score, this “roulette” game seems to be one that consumers eagerly play, and the category makes all too easy to keep up.
Consumers love the ‘game’ of scoring and managing credit card offers, of playing cards off each other, and taking advantage of great deals and offers to save money on fees and interest, and gain better and better rewards. A card that does not offer a steady stream of offers (e.g. more points, low/no interest, extra cash, etc.) actually gains fewer opportunities to capture more mind-share. (An analogy for this from retail would be what happened to JC Penny when they shifted strategy from deals and discounts to everyday low pricing. JCP’s market share tanked and the CEO lost his job – because the experience was somewhat boring and unrewarding for shoppers who have been trained to pursue the next big deal.)

So, net net is that an ultra-simple value proposition like this, which is meant to make consumers’ lives easier and richer, actually faces an uphill battle in trying to get attention and mind share in a highly crowded market that encourages other behaviors and seeds different attitudes. Consumers have been trained to believe they can ‘game’ the card APR system, by using multiple 0-APR offers, can get an even better rate than Barclaycard Ring’s 8% - even though the reality is likely that this card would be a far smarter financial move for most revolvers over the long term.

Branded Content For Sale and Possibly Worth Every Dollar

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 15:04:00 +0000

The Kloons began as an online video sketch comedy troupe, producing YouTube shorts of themselves lip-synching real-life conversations. They are absolutely hilarious because they bring layered dialog, influence and power to live out of completely mundane lines of dialog.

Their commercial arm, Kloons Viral Video Services, aim to produce comedic videos for brands that have a social purpose. They are not quite gut-busting, but will certainly elevate engagement over typical pre-roll branded video. This one is for Antidote Chocolate, an organic vegan candy brand in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Outbounding.org delivers an ultra-premium mix of travel content and community

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Wed, 27 May 2015 11:16:00 +0000

In college, I co-founded a travel journal called "From Abroad" which served as a platform for students to report on their overseas study abroad experiences. Travel and writing are a great mix, and unfortunately the web has both opened the content firehose, and made it difficult to find top-notch travel writing.

Outbounding.org is a publishing community for sharing and curating ultra-premium travel content. It’s where travel freaks and writers share and discuss highly considered posts and notes on all things having to do with travel.

It was founded by a group of travel writers and/or marketers, and today has a small number of registered members in the community, who serve as content sleuths and editors, and reaches a larger, wider audience.

By bringing together travel content and community, Outbounding.org makes usage a daily habit, even for most people who likely travel no more than a few times a year. By bringing travel into the daily lives of its members, the community satisfies an unmet desire to immerse oneself in exploration, discovery and sharing, even while sitting at home.

The thrill of travel comes from the possibility of discovery and connection around something new to you, and sharing that with others. That's why we wanted to launch our travel journal in college; so many students came back from a year abroad, and needed an outlet for sharing and building on their experiences.

Outbounding.org extends the usage habit through a system of triggers and rewards, in a way that's typical of communities. For example, it triggers usage with emails that push out the best content of the day, and rewards the best and most read posts with labels and trending status. Users who post most often and whose posts do well are rewarded with social currency.

And don't forget the richness of the content itself. The site's mission is entirely to cut through the clutter of commercialized travel content, and curate the best. Triggers and rewards alone won't cut it, but a combination of content and community may have staying power.

How-to Apple Guides

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Mon, 25 May 2015 13:50:00 +0000

iPad running Houzz, a home design app that lets you purchase right from the spread.

Apple is still promoting the virtues of the iPad, running takeovers on nyt.com this morning, on a holiday weekend when armchair home designers might have an extra eight hours to consider a major redecorating project, but don't know where to start.

Fire up the iPad, and let the landing page take you through the basics of a personalized redesign of your kitchen or living room.

I love how Apple equals creativity, armchair or otherwise. "Just Design It" might've been a workable tagline in another world when Nike didn't exist. Apple's ecosystem of more flexible and lower-power devices (lower power relative to iMacs and Pros) enables those who might never design to think of themselves differently.

Now you can design your living space, thanks to a tablet and a host of related apps, from Houzz (pictured), to Pinterest to Wiki-how. They even flog iCloud as a way to backup all those projects.

Where in the World is Mobile Web Usage Highest?

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 17:58:00 +0000

http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/11/23/mobile-web-usage-highest-in-asia-and-africa/

Royal Pingdom released this study of global benchmarks for mobile web usage as a percent of total web usage by region. Worldwide mobile users currently make up about 3.8% of all visitors to web sites. The finding that Asia and Africa exceed rest of world for this benchmark by 2x or more is completely in line with our own global research conducted with MoneyGram this Oct, which identified a similar mobile leapfrog happening in these two regions to about the same extent. Of course that’s a function of these regions having far fewer PC-based surfers in these areas, but the fact that a cheap Nokia unit with a basic browser can get someone online who otherwise couldn’t afford a PC w dial-up can’t be ignored.

Other US client sites we track seem to get 2-3% of web visits from mobile OSs, and generally iOS is #1 (iPhone and iPod), Android is 2^nd and RIM is 3^rd.

Global Payments: One Size Does NOT fit all

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:01:00 +0000

This article would have been a near-perfect input to a payments brainstorm I led last week for a client:

http://www.getelastic.com/global-payments/

Apparently:

- China has the largest group of internet users in the world, but a very low card penetration rate... which has NOT slowed the growth of ecommerce.

- In Brazil, cards are used online, but installment payments are common.

- In Germany, people have cards but don't like to use them online.

- And in Europe and Asia, COD is still popular, even for online ordering.

Amazing how well this article frames the country by country opportunities based on user habits, not technology.

The multi channel challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 05:05:00 +0000

NYTimes: Why Bricks and Clicks Don’t Always Mix

The story of Netflix over Blockbuster is one of innovation for sure. It's a story of timing and of having the digital rising tide at your beckoning. But most of all, it's a story of channel focus. It's hard enough to manage a business in one channel, let alone two. As recently as 2005, analysts saw Blockbuster as a sure thing. But now, it's clear in hindsight that running a digital business well Could not be done as effectively when managing brick and mortar stores, Blockbuster's managers tried to do.

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The world is going online

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 08:39:00 +0000

A couple of decent benchmarks in US and global traffic. In addition to Facebook taking number one in total minutes in the US:
Google crosses 1B users globally for first time, and Yahoo number one in total monthly traffic globally:
"In a research note on the latest monthly traffic figures from comScore, Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney pointed out that Google said its number of global users crossed 1 billion for the first time last month. But Yahoo edged out Google in August to become the top site in monthly traffic, with 179 million unique visitors. Google had 178.8 million, followed by Microsoft with 165.3 million. Facebook remained the fourth-ranked site, at 148 million, up from 145.5 million in July. Rising traffic combined with increasing time spent on the site bodes well for Facebook's efforts to monetize its vast inventory."
FB ads are particularly sticky when a friend likes them:
"Research from Nielsen earlier this year showed people are 68% more likely to remember an ad and twice as likely to remember what it said when they see a friend has interacted with the ad on Facebook. The company struck a deal with Nielsen last year to help provide data to marketers demonstrating that its display ads work."
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=135476&nid=118430

Point systems reward contributors

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 08:36:00 +0000

The McKinsey Quarterly says social starts with consumer needs, not the corporation.

check out https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Marketing/Digital_Marketing/Unlocking_the_elusive_potential_of_social_networks_2623

This article holds two gems: 1) Treat word of mouth as its own media type, and all of sudden you can measure it. And 2) Recognize that recognition is one of the most important drivers of participation. To me, that says an essential component of any initiative is to build in ‘fame feedback loops’ into whatever word of mouth or user-generated content program you do. Scoring, badges, points, credits—any or all of these make this a competition for your audience, not just a contribution with no hope of getting anything in return.

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Eric Schmidt's bad attitude gets Times Square airing

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:05:00 +0000

Consumer Watchdog's InsideGoogle.com has taken its online privacy campaign to New York's Times Square, where it has purchased a 540 sq. ft. Jumbotron digital advertisement promoting an animated video satirizing Google CEO Eric Schmidt's attitude toward consumer privacy.

"We're satirizing Schmidt in the most highly trafficked public square in the nation to make the public aware of how out of touch Schmidt and Google are when it comes to our privacy rights," said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, and author of The Progressive's Guide To Raising Hell (Chelsea Green, September 2010).

"America needs a 'Do Not Track Me' list and Google is Exhibit A in the case for it." Titled "Don't Be Evil?" the avatar-style animation features Schmidt driving an ice cream truck and secretly spying on children. The animated short was produced by the nonprofit consumer group to shine a spotlight on the need for Congress to enact a national "Do Not Track Me" list.

View the animated short here: http://insidegoogle.com/2010/08/do-not-track-me/

View the 15 sec. digital Jumbotron ad here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aoGKAkM0oM

Google aims for the next platform

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 23:46:00 +0000

Imagine the inhabitants of Earth in 100 years. They have spoiled the planet beyond use. They need to move, all 20 billion of them.
The effort to jump the ship of mother Earth involves finding a new planet, building a ship and making the trip, and then settling in.
Anticipating the end of the PC revolution, Google has begun the first phase of the move. Mobile is the new planet, and Android is the spaceship.
Google may be in the doldrums but they have a history of bouncing back. While GOOG is down $150 this year, they are in investment mode. Mobile is around the corner, and as Android phones pump out into the market, GOOG is quietly seizing a platform of global breadth. While the Nexus One experiment hasn't hit, that was simply a marketing failure. It's a great little phone. Android on the other hand, is aiming for world dominance and has been extremely well packaged so far, positioned as a techies revolt and user friendly interface. It's now the fastest selling mobile OS worldwide.
Google has to wait to reap the rewards of this platform. There's work to be done, specifically aggregating, processing and remixing location- and behaviorial-based data into insights for each user.
In the Journal today, Eric Schmidt offers a wide open view of Google's new strategy. He's appealing to investors to jump on the new ship. Says Eric:
' "In general in technology," he says, "if you own a platform that's valuable, you can monetize it." Example: Google is obliged to share with Apple search revenue generated by iPhone users. On Android, Google gets to keep 100%. That difference alone, says Mr. Schmidt, is more than enough to foot the bill for Android's continued development." '
And, he takes another swipe at the Great American Newspaper:
'"The only way the problem [of insufficient revenue for news gathering] is going to be solved is by increasing monetization, and the only way I know of to increase monetization is through targeted ads. That's our business."'
The interview is here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704901104575423294099527212.html

A Planner finally arrives on Mad Men

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:12:00 +0000

Any MadMen fans out there? Well, now its season four set in 1965, and in yet another nod to historical accuracy, they’ve added a Planner to the cast!

Dr. Faye conducts a focus group each episode and hits each one out of the park. Makes her subjects cry. Gathers intense cultural and consumer truths. Shatters myths around client challenges.

And each time she pro-offers her big idea, Don Draper snorts, “I can’t use that.” But he’s on such a downward spiral that there’s a good chance Dr. Faye is going to not only stand up to Don, but kick him in the ass and help him get back on his feet. What every good planner should do for her creative team. Of course, if Don has his way that reinvention will include some drunken sex. But I don’t see her giving in.

Played by Cara Buono, she’s what all of us modern day planners evolved into.

EW posted a nice interview and this pic of her: http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/08/16/mad-men-cara-buno-faye-miller-interview/

Fighting crime with some good old crowdsourcing

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:01:00 +0000

What’s the old saw … two make news, three make a trend?

India police use Facebook to nab traffic violators:

http://www.psfk.com/2010/08/indian-cops-using-facebook-to-monitor-traffic-violations.html - check out the actual photo gallery on the FB page to see the misdeeds: backs of cars speeding through red lights.

Tweets + photo bust T-riding Boston Perv

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=133459&nid=117378

You may not want to see this picture, which was on the cover of the Herald print edition apparently, further adding to the irony of using Twitter to crowdsource arrests.

Daily Twitter users are biggest influencers

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 17:32:00 +0000

Study says that: 1) Twitter users are most influential of social media, and 2) this influence is further amplified by active Twitterers who tend to publish across media much more than the online but non-Twitter users. They are five times more likely to blog, six times more likely to publish articles, seven times more likely to post to wikis, and three times more likely to review products online.

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/08/06/twitter-users-have-big-impact-on-brands

Plus, Twitter is fundamentally different from most other social platforms. Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc., which are relatively closed to lurkers and search engines, Twitter content is wide open, publicly searchable and fully indexed. So ‘what happens on Twitter doesn’t stay on Twitter.’

What Every CMO Needs to Know About Content Strategy

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:47:00 +0000

Content strategy can come in many forms, from copywriting to the business of content. This presentation nails the pure value creation around use and brand that great content can drive.

It boils down to an editorial calendar-led approach to updating your marketing, including your site. Yes, we are all media brands now. We all need to produce content that sings.

What Every CMO Needs to Know About Content Strategy

View more presentations from Mark Fidelman.

Facebook posts you don't want to read

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:55:00 +0000

The most banal and douchiest Facebook posts you don't ever want to read? Here are my favorites:

5. Kids say the Darndest Things! Well golly gee, how nice is it that your bratty genius just told her sister that she's the boss of you. Other parents couldn't give a shit about your kid, and those without kids really couldn't give a flying f@ck. Three out of Five Douches.

4. I Just Ran 20.098 Miles! Ok, so you run. and you have some device tracking it all. What do you want me to say, congrats? Four out of Five Douches.

3. Help me become the Most Influential Reader of Fast Company! Oh, and by the way, if you click on this link, not only will you help me, you'll track back to this idiotic program. Five out of Five Douches.

2. I'm About to Hit The Road: What's the Best Restaurant Between Hicksville and Ramshack OH on I478? F@ck if I know. That question's gonna resonate with all 4 of your high school buddies. The rest of us haven't been within 8,000 sq miles of that godforsaken stretch of highway. Three out of Five Douches.

1. Hmmm, coffee. Yes, we all need a boost in the morning. You're so special? Two out of Five Douches.*

* Note, the list is in order of banality, but clearly douchiness is overlayed and correlates.

Mobile world is diversely appable

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:26:00 +0000

Infographic: Our App-Happy World | Fast Company

What a difference a year makes. Last summer we had an iTunes app store dominating the mobile landscape. Today it's six plus stores though only Android is a serious rival. Blackberry users, what's your problem?

By this time next year, expect the debate to shift from app to cloud.

What do you think? Are apps forever like diamonds or is there a move to cloud computing via mobile? The Kindle app syncs seamlessly between my devices. I like that.

Location : 1-19 E Houston St, New York, NY 10012,

Out of Home Can Impact

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 13:53:00 +0000

Loving how brands are truly out and open for fan (and in this case, anti-fan) participation. Can you think of any homage better than fans taking your logo and plastering it across prime real estate, in this case the median at Houston and Lafayette in front of the Puck Building, or LBi's home for now? I think not.

Location : 8901-8937 Interstate 95, Philadelphia, PA 19136,

CBS Unveils Branding Campaign as NBC Announces Fall Slate - MediaBuyerPlanner

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Thu, 06 May 2010 22:30:00 +0000

CBS Unveils Branding Campaign as NBC Announces Fall Slate - MediaBuyerPlanner

Why brand one of the most venerable brands in the history of media? Because you are number one in audience, viewers and even doing well with the young male demo. "Only CBS" is your tagline, of course.

CBS’s prime time audience has jumped 12% this season - thanks partly to its freshman hit The Mentalist - and it is also up 7% in 18-49s, with more viewers in that demo now than ABC or NBC. CBS’s branding campaign is clearly an attempt to forestall what analysts expect could be as much as a 15% decline in prime time ad revenue pulled during the upfront, notes the Los Angeles Times.

And TV viewership remains higher overall. In spite of TIVO, DVRs and digital video, TV viewership bumped up overall by about 2% in 2009 over 2008. Not the same story in the music industry, where overall listening (at least legal, paid for listening!) actually lessened with the growth of the 99 cent MP3.

Virtual Cash (Part 1 of 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:33:00 +0000

Happy to announce my first LBi US blog post on Virtual Cash has gone live! Great to collaborate with Hevan C, who is designing the images and infographics. It's the first of a 3-part series looking at the progression of virtual cash from Facebook credits to PayPal's move into personal payment to the emergence of 'do-it-yourself' virtual cash networks launched by the digerati.

One defining characteristic of any currency, real or virtual, is convertibility for use across a wide range of products and services in many different marketplaces. To date, FBCs are limited to a small number of mostly virtual sellers inside the walled garden of Facebook.

In the first part of the series, we talk about Facebook. With 400 million users worldwide, Facebook certainly could back a currency as portable as PayPal. What if a wide swath of eCommerce merchants started to accept FBCs in their own retail stores? This certainly could be achieved by synching Facebook Credits with Facebook Connect, which smooths out interactions between Facebook and 90,000 Connect sites. Today Connect is a content sharing play mostly for online publishers. Why not open the platform for retailers to share commerce as well?

Check it out!

-Craig Konieczko

iPad will be the kids' eReader

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:40:00 +0000

My prediction is that the iPad will win in the classroom and as the definitive kids' eReader.

Kindle was just too dull for kids' books. But it's great as an eReader for grownups. Yes, our eyes get tired from screen flicker, and we actually longer testy pieces that don't always require embedded video or even color. So Kindle is the superior device for novel reading for the over-21 crowd.

The iPad, however, fills a gap in the classroom, where laptops are clunky and PCs immobile. It's a contained environment, where no one cares about fingerprints. Wifi is available, and kids don't need to type as much as consume interactive content. Eyestrain from a flickering screen just isn't a problem when kids' attention spans are short. Best of all tactile learning is now possible.

The ipad is Apple's newest play for education markets. Expect to see scholastic and other education publishers move fast.

Location : West Dr, Brooklyn, NY 11215,

US Smartphone share from comScore

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:21:00 +0000

Questions (don’t peek below) – according to comScore on Monday:

1. Which smartphone platform (OS) leads in total share among the 42.7 million total users as of January?

2. Which platform had the largest absolute share gain in the last 3 months?

3. Which position does Microsoft OS have overall, and did its share grow, shrink or hold steady in the last 3 months?

Answers - Smartphone Platform Market Share

42.7 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones in an average month during the November to January period, up 18 percent from the August through October period. RIM was the leading mobile smartphone platform in the U.S. with 43.0 percent share of U.S. smartphone subscribers, rising 1.7 percentage points versus three months earlier. Apple ranked second with 25.1 percent share (up 0.3 percentage points), followed by Microsoft at 15.7 percent, Google at 7.1 percent (up 4.3 percentage points), and Palm at 5.7 percent. Google’s Android platform continues to see rapid gains in market share.

People You Know Influential, Social Media Isn't, in Purchase Decisions (Marketing Pilgrim)

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:31:00 +0000

This is 2nd in a trend I'm seeing around the near-gospel data point that social media influence is far more persuasive than messages from the brand. The first was from Edelman's Trust Barometer 2010 released earlier this month, which showed data pointing to cracks in the wall of friend/family influence being considered more trustworthy than corporate messages.

Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim reports that people may be more honest on Facebook these days, but we still don’t trust them. MediaPost reports that an ARAnet study shows social media and search engine recommendations coming out tied among the general population—but search engine recommendations leap out in front among affluent (>$75,000/yr—49%) and younger adults (25-34—50% vs. 31% for social media).

http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2010/02/people-you-know-influential-social-media-isnt-in-purchase-decisions.html

However, the general consensus was that personal advice from friends or family members was tops, with 59% rating it as important in influencing their buying decisions. But to me, that sounds like a completely different dynamic—are we supposed to be measuring the influence of people we know vs. strangers vs. corporate messages, or are we measuring what medium is more influential? If your mom delivers her advice via your Facebook wall, are you less likely to take it than if she told you in a phone call? Is it surprising that most people trust people they know, who know them and their preferences, than random strangers on search engines or social networks?

Maybe the medium isn’t the message.

The full breakdown, however, does show an interesting breakdown among the information from people we don’t know (and from corporate sources):

Overall, most people participating in the survey — 59% — choose personal advice from friends or family members; followed by TV news or other broadcasts at 40%; search engines Google, Bing, Yahoo or Ask at 39%; TV ads, 36%; articles in newspapers or magazines, 33%; newspapers or magazines ads, 31%; online articles, 28%; and radio news or other broadcasts ads, 25%.

The remainder of the breakdown follows. Direct mail came in at 24%; radio ads, 20%; emails from retailers or manufacturers, 20%; online ads, 19%; messages or posts on social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or MySpace, 18 percent; and billboards, 15%. Also note that the younger segment found social media to be far more influential than the general population did—31% vs. 18%. They also liked corporate information more: 32% (vs 20% for all respondents) appreciated information in emails from retailers or manufacturers, and 30% believed online ads were influential. So really, what we’re saying is that younger people on the Internet are more influenced by random strangers and advertising. What do you think? Is it the source of information or the medium used to convey it that has more influence here?

It seems to come down to the relationship we already have with the people who offer us tips or commentary about a product or brand we are considering, and not necessarily the medium, that influences us more. Is a phone call from your best friend any more or less influential than a Facebook post? No, it's the relationship that matters. And as we aggregate more 'friends' on FB and beyond (average friend list is now 140, up from 120 last year per All Facebook), our social graphs are stretching beyond our most familiar tipsters. This can only make the content we read on social networks ever so less relevant.

So, two instances make a hypothesis, but 3 a trend. Anyone seeing this happening elsewhere?

UNH Study: Facebook and kids' grades synch up nicely

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Konieczko) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:18:00 +0000

A UNH researcher found that Facebook doesn't hurt kids grades:

Professors may have to stop blaming Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for their students' unfinished papers and poor grades, according to a study from the University of New Hampshire's Whittemore School of Business and Economics. Contrary to popular myth, there is no correlation between student grades and heavy usage of online social media, the study found.