After a month or so of research, testing and gathering opinions, I finally made the switch from iPhone to Android. I ultimately landed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 even though my search initially had me thinking either the HTC One or the Samsung Galaxy S4. When I actually moved my search to in person, while I was impressed with these devices, I was intrigued by the additional screen real estate of the the Note 2. After a few weeks of pondering and testing, I decided that having one device that could replace my iPhone and iPad Mini was the way to go.

Here are my thoughts and observations thus far after having the device now for a week…

What I Love:

1. The Screen. I love having a larger phone and more screen real estate. It truly feels like I can accomplish more and use the phone more then I did with the iPhone. iDevices are simply media consumption devices. They aren’t built or designed for productivity and that’s where I started to feel hampered by the iPhone. Having a larger screen at least makes it easier to get things done.
2. The Flexibility. Another reason I grew increasingly frustrated with my iPhone was the lack of control over the software. With the Android platform it feels much more customizable  and it feels like I have a ton more options as it pertains to how I use and layout my phone.
3. Multi-Tasking. Super cool that I can 2 things at once. Text messaging someone while looking at a map at the same time. iPhones don’t have this feature, nor the screen real estate to pull it off.
4. Widgets. I like that I can customize my screen(s) with a variety of widgets to give me quicker access to information and features.

What I Don’t Love:

1. No More Visual Voicemail. While you can download a variety of apps to bring this feature back, I do miss having this built in to the core phone itself.
2. Paid Apps More Expensive. From what I can tell, paid apps on the Android platform seem to be more expensive then their iPhone counterparts.
3. Text Messaging UI. I’m sure this is just me being picky, but the text messaging on this device (not sure if the look and feel I see is exclusive to this particular device) seems a bit chunky. Wish it was a bit more streamlined and did a better job of maximizing the screen real estate.
4. The Constant Jokes. Yep, I’m definitely on the receiving end of my fair share of ribs on the size of my phone. I deserve it though. The reality is, I was one of those folks too until I actually took the time to explore the device. Hey, it fits in my pocket just fine, and that’s good enough for me.

After a few more weeks, I’ll follow up this post with some additional observations once I’ve had more time with the platform and device. For those of you considering or also who have switched, I’d love to hear your experiences as well.

About 6 years ago when I was still at Microsoft, I made the jump from whatever Microsoft friendly phone I was using at the time to the iPhone. I was insanely jealous of my Apple fanboy co-worker and his. Let’s be honest, the iPhone was a game changer, and me being the gadget freak, I needed to have one. Especially after playing around with it.

For the past 6 years I’ve been an iPhone user and never thought twice about anything else. It fueled my migration from PC user to Apple across the board. Macbook, Apple TV, iPad, all of it. I’m somewhat deeply invested in the App Store ecosystem, and up until now, never even considered another phone. But times have changed, and despite holding on for quite some time, I’m feeling more and more compelled to look for an iPhone alternative.

And here’s a few reasons why:

1. Apple has gotten lazy. At least it feels that way. It just feels like they have become complacent with what has gotten them where they are, and it’s opened up the door for everyone else to bridge the gap. I haven’t gotten excited about anything they’ve done with the iPhone since the 4 came out. I understand that you can’t expect every iteration of a phone to change the game, but they’ve barely done anything. It’s the same dated user experience and form factor for the past few years.
2. Apple hides everything. They do nothing to build buzz and excitement about what they have in the works. For the most part, nobody knows what to expect until their official announcement whereas I feel other manufacturers are less tight lipped, and at least give us a sense of what’s to come. And the last 2 years have been a bore.
3. Screen size. Probably one of the biggest issues I have with the iPhone is that I just want something a little bigger then what they offer, but they seem content on sticking with nothing larger then the incremental larger iPhone 5. I find myself often wanting to be able to use my phone for things I do on my iPad, but it’s just not big enough. The HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 seem to hit that sweet spot of not too big, but not too small either.
4. I’m getting Apple accessory pricing fatigue. I’ve tried buying non Apple branded accessories, and I always get burned, so I’ve been stuck with $19 for a cord, $29 for a charger, etc. The idea of having a phone with industry standard connections and more options is appealing.
5. Other options have finally gotten to the point where they are more exciting. And to me, that’s the biggest reason.

I really have little faith that Apple’s fall announcements are going to bring anything that significant. We’re most likely looking at an iPhone 5s, with incremental changes.

While I’m definitely taking a hard look at a new device for my phone, I’m definitely not going to be changing my computing preferences. I recently got a new Windows 8 Ultrabook for my work travel machine and that only confirmed my Mac preferences (more to come on that in a future post). Whether a new device might pull me away from my iPad usage remains to be seen, but I’d really love to find a new phone with an excellent build quality, 4.7-5in. screen and all the bells and whistles that could potentially provide me with a device that pulls me away from table and computer usage as much as possible.

What say you? Would love to get feedback and suggestions from those that have been iPhone users and have converted to something else. My early draw is to consider the HTC One or Samsung Galaxy S4.

If there’s one area that I have had a tremendous amount of experience around, is in the hiring process. When I was at Microsoft, there was a period of time, where that was practically all I was doing as Microsoft Advertising was in a hiring frenzy back in 2006 or so. Literally 30-40 phone, and in person interviews not to mention all the reviewing of resumes.

While I certainly don’t interview at that pace anymore, since joining Strategies 360/ShowPony, I’ve continued to have to interview as we grow our team. To this day I am amazed at some of the choices (or lack thereof) that folks make when it comes to presenting themselves as a worthy candidate. We recently hired a new design director for our team, and I felt compelled to post something about what I experienced this go around. So without further ado, here are my top 5 things you can do to ensure you don’t get hired.

1. Fit in with the crowd. The last position we posted, we literally got over 100 resumes within the first few days. That’s a lot, and the reality is, when I get that many, I’m skimming. Don’t want to make the Yes pile? Send in a a resume that screams template and doesn’t stand out.
2. Overlook the cover letter. One of the most important facets that I look for in people is their ability to write well. All things being equal, this is a tremendous measure of a person’s ability to think critically and communicate effectively. Send me a copy/paste cover letter and you’ll find yourself in the maybe or no pile easily.
3. Don’t get to the point. We received a ton of resumes that read more like short stories, sometimes in excess of 2 pages. Avoid being concise, using bullet points, detailing specific result oriented taks, and you’re sure to get skimmed over.
4. Don’t ask thoughtful questions. What many folks don’t realize is that when an interviewer asks if you have any questions, the interview isn’t actually over. We’re looking for insightful questions from you to see if you have put some thought and preparation into the interview. Most folks I’ve interviewed actually don’t ask very many questions, or ones that are trivial at best. If you only ask what the dress code is or what time you have to be in, that’s a one way ticket to NEXT!
5. Don’t send a thank you email. How can something as trivial as a quick thank you email turn you into a no hire? Because regardless of how insignificant it may be in the grand scheme of things, it sends the message that you’re not that excited about the opportunity and that’s enough for me to look elsewhere. Hiring managers want to hire people that are ape shit excited about working for you and not sending a thank you email doesn’t really convey your excitement for the opportunity.

It’s a competitive landscape and if you don’t combine doing the necessaries with going above and beyond, you’re never going to stand out enough to be considered. And that comes first hand from someone who’s seen a fair share of folks that were shown the door vs. being hired. What have your experiences taught you?

I have had the luxury of having quite a bit of experience watching an ad platform evolve from the ground up having been at Microsoft Advertising in the launch days of adCenter. It’s not an easy task to build a platform to accomodate that much data and users. Many of these plastforms, even the Microsofts and Googles of the world experience growing pains in figuring out how to deliver value and a strong user experience. It takes time. And Twitter needs A LOT more time.

On the work front, we’ve managed our fair share of ad campaigns on a variety of search and social networks all with their advantages and disadvantages. We’ve recently started to experiment with Twitter Advertising having finally been invited to the platform to see if it could be a viable offering for some of our clients. We launched a promoted account campaign to see if we could bolster our following.

Wanna see the reporting we have access to?

That’s the “detailed view”. Apparently 12.3K impressions aren’t enough to qualify for a chart either. I didn’t realize dynamic chart rendering was at a premium these days.

Our targeting options consist solely of location. I understand technically the program is in Beta, but this is more like Alpha. Or whatever comes before that. Twitter’s explanations of who your ads and promoted tweets show up to are very vague as well.

There also doesn’t seem to be any ad segmentation options either. Overall, the ad platform is extremely generic and narrow in its focus. Without any real control over what is happening, you’re basically just throwing money at Twitter in hopes that you produce some affordable results. In our case, we ended up paying $80 for what appears to be 48 new followers. Not the worst results in the world from a pure follower/like acquisition cost, but then again, we’re not entirely sure which folks we picked up from the campaign.

Word on the street is that the bigger brands have access to a much more robust ad platform and I certainly hope they open this up to us smaller folks. In the meantime, I don’t see any value in continuing use of the platform until they do.

I always feel compelled to share some of my favorite things that I experience or use whether they be everyday occurrences  or one time experiences.  I thought the best way to do so was to wrap them up into a yearly recap to make it easier to compile all of them.  So without further ado, here were my favorite products, experiences and services I used in the past year that you should definitely check out.

HOT

Spotify – Without a doubt, Spotify was my favorite product in 2012.  I only started as a casual user, but quickly I found that the bulk of my music consumption found it’s way here.  I was already a huge fan of the subscription based model for music, but no one has been able to deliver what I think is a scalable, affordable, and now social music experience like Spotify has.  For roughly $10/month I get access to just about any song, anytime, anywhere.  I haven’t purchased a single track since becoming a user, and it just makes complete sense to me.  The desktop experience is great, the apps are great, and I’ve never really had any technical issues whatsoever. I love that I can easily share music and playlists with friends and family.  And it’s always incredibly cool to have someone say they want to listen to a song and within a minute or two, I can be playing it.  Totally worth every penny.

iPad Mini - I’ve been an Apple convert for a few years now, and when I first heard about the iPad Mini, I didn’t think much of it.  But the minute I held one in my hands, I knew I was ready to trade in my full size iPad.  I’ve never really used my iPad as a productivity device. I use it to consume media, browse online and play games here and there.  And for that, the iPad Mini delivers a much better user experience in my opinion.  The size just makes sense for those tasks.  I love that I can hold the device in one hand, and you’d be amazed how much of a difference that makes.  I also like the smaller, thinner form factor which is great for traveling.  The only thing I wish is that the device had the retina display, but that seems like a certainty for the 2nd generation.

Ford – This past year I decided to end my fun run with the Mini Cooper and get something a bit more practical, but still fun.  I ended up landing on the Ford Edge.  Bottom line in my personal opinion, Ford is killing it lately.  They’re cars just seem way more cool these days.  I used to be high on Toyota, but it really seems like Ford is hot right now with their car designs, in car tech, and value.  I LOVE my new car, and while I’m usually the guy that needs something new every couple years, I could see myself being happy with this purchase for longer.  I’ve had a tremendous experince with the car so far from the quality of the build to the sales and service.  And the in car technology has been fantastic.  GPS, music and voice recognition work flawlessly.

Hyatt – In 2012 I found myself becoming brand loyal to the Hyatt hotel chain.  I love Hyatt properties.  First off their service has always been impeccable for me.  Always taken great care of, the properties are always super clean, up to date and reasonably priced.  They have a great loyalty program, and I combined that with their Hyatt Visa and have found myself earning a ton of free rooms, upgrades and perks.  One bonus is that the properties typically are very well connected socially.  Comments or inquires are typically met quickly by friendly staff.

Pinterest - I’ll probably take some heat on this one, but I can’t lie, I find Pinterest to be very useful and entertaining. I’ve found countless recipes I wouldn’t bother with, ideas for fashion and home, and just a variety of interesting things I can gather to incorporate into my life at a later time.  It’s incredibly useful, a great time killer, and the web and app experiences are seamless.

BONUS: NOT SO HOT

Barnes & Noble Nook – Ugh. My son asked for a Nook color, I caved. Big mistake. The device is slow, buggy, and just doesn’t have the build quality I’ve come accustomed to with Apple products.  The device fell off his bed onto a carpeted floor, and the screen went bad. No solution, no support, no options. We’re stuck with a broken device. There’s a reason Apple has done as well as they have.  Superior products and service. From now on, I’ll pay the premium as you definitely get what you pay for.

American Airlines/United Airlines – Luckily for me, I typically can avoid these chains, but they both suck. It’s unavoidable for most people to not have to fly on the major airlines to get where they want to go, but my experinces with both airlines are almost universally awful. Shoddy service, overpriced flights, poor luggage handling…you name it. I only wish airlines like JetBlue and Virgin had more flights to different places.

Those were mine. How about you??

In my last post I talked about how to determine whether you should manage your own social media efforts or hire some help. In most cases, it benefits you to have a little help regardless of what that help looks like. So let’s talk a bit about how to choose the right agency or consultant if you’re ready to make that investment.

Standard disclaimer: I do manage a social media/creative agency and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that my time spent writing articles like these hopefully indirectly sends business our way, but I’d also be the first person to tell you if we weren’t a good fit for your needs as well. One size does not fit all so be sure to be thinking about these 5 critical areas before hiring someone.

1. Experience – It goes without saying that you should never hire a consultant or agency with little to no experience. You get what you pay for. Now that doesn’t mean you have to hire the most expensive option out there, but at the very least, demand to see real world examples of work that has been done, and the results that came from those efforts. Look beyond Facebook Likes and Twitter Followers. Did they increase engagement? And if so, what tactics did they use that were specific to each client? How did their social media strategies align with their client’s business goals and objectives? Did they increase sales or leads?

2. Walking The Talk – One tell tale sign of whether an agency is the right one for you is to take a look at their own social media efforts. Do they do a stand up job for themselves? It’s surprising to me to often see agencies tout their social media offerings yet fail miserably at doing it for themselves. Don’t necessarily look for huge social followings here. The reality is most agencies won’t have that. Look for whether they post unique content frequently, and have a consistent voice and effort in these areas.  Also look for helpful content.  Agencies that make a commitment to being resourceful, transparent and engaging in a public way is a good sign.

3. One Size Does Not Fit All – Avoid boilerplate proposals and strategies at all costs. Every company/organizations’ needs are different and the right agency knows that. The strategies and tactics that make sense for you, while similar, will have unique needs and a good agency will provide you with a game plan that recognizes this. If their suggestions and documentation they provide feel like they were copied/pasted, look the other way. You deserve better.

4. Wow’ing You With Likes/Followers! – We have actually lost contracts to other firms who lead with glorious promises of thousands of likes and followers within weeks! Quite honestly, we’d prefer to not do business with most businesses that fall prey to these sorts of delusions of grandeur. While growing your reach is certainly a part of an overall social media strategy, it is not the be all end all. Don’t fall for the shiny new toys and make sure you align yourself with an agency that has done their homework and delivered you an overall strategic plan that goes well beyond reach.

5. The Gut Check – Everyone has the gut check. Everyone has that inner sense of whether a situation just feels right or not. No matter what, make sure you are able to have meaningful conversations with your potential agency/consultant. Bottom line…do you like them? It sounds silly, but it’s important because these are folks you will work with regularly. Do they communicate well? Do they seem genuinely excited about what you do, and the work they would do for you? Trust your instinct. If you’re in a position to hire someone to do this type of work, then chances are you have the chops to make the right call.

When you hire the right people, great things can happen for you and your social media efforts. I’m very lucky to have a fantastic team, and if you’re in the market, we’d love to have a shot at showing you what we can do. Regardless, the above should help you navigate through your search for the right agency/consultant.

Good luck!

One might think that since I work at an agency that I’d have a predisposition to recommend outsourcing your social media needs. I can assure you that is not my opinion. I’ve always been a straight shooter on my blog regardless of whether my opinions or recommendations directly benefit me. This post is no different. Not every company or organization needs to outsource their social media efforts. This post is intended to help give some insight on where I believe that line is drawn based on my years of experience being on the service side.

So without further ado, here are the 5 questions to ask yourself that will help you determine whether hiring a consultant or firm is the right move.

1. Do I have a strong sense of what social media success means for my business?

While this may seem like a simple question to answer, most companies and organizations do not have a strong answer. Facebook likes and Twitter followers are not a measure of social media success. While it’s great to increase your overall social reach, the real question you have to ask yourself is, “What are you going to do with that reach?”. How does your business measure success overall? How can social media plug in to those metrics? Is it driving more traffic to a web property? An increase of sales? Maybe you just want to build brand and turn your social reach into a regularly engaged audience. Whatever the case is, you need to have a rock solid understanding of what true success is to your organization before you even think about dipping your toe in.

2. Do I have the necessary tools & resources in place to ensure we can be successful?

This is another area where folks miss out. There’s a wealth of online resources that can make managing your social media efforts a little less daunting. From engagement to measurement, the fact is if your business or organization is of any size, simply using Facebook or Twitter’s website interfaces will leave you frustrated and with little time left over for anything else. For managing your engagement and publishing check out the likes of Hootsuite or Tweetdeck. For measurement you can’t go wrong with starting with something like Simply Measured, Sprout Social or Raven Tools. However the fact is, you need to be well versed with these tools in order to get the most out of them and position your organization with the means to manage your own social media efforts.

3. Does my company/org have the manpower to fuel our social media efforts?

So you have your goals determined and a good tool set in place. Now the question is, do you have real people in place to manage social media everyday? All the nifty goals, tools and fancy looking channels will do you nothing if you don’t have real people engaging and responding every day. If you’re a small business owner, you better carve out a good 1-2 hours total per day towards your social media efforts, and if you’re a bigger brand and serious about it, either a full time hire or someone in your marketing department positioned to spend a good deal of their day contributing. The fact is your social channels need to be vibrant, evolving places where you are continuously posting original content, sharing relevant links, and engaging with others on a regular basis. And for product/service based orgs, you can count on them becoming a source of leads and customer support. If you are serious about social, you need real people doing the work.

4. Does company leadership fully embrace using social media to the fullest extent?

If you’re a small business the buck probably stops with you, so ask yourself if you’re really on board with fully embracing social media. If you’re a larger company, you better make sure the powers that be do as well. Because if the answer is nothing but a definitive yes, then nothing will kill social media success more then just treating it as a broadcast channel filtered by your legal department. I’ve seen it happen numerous times and it’s not even worth the effort. While it’s certainly expected to have some standards in place, your social media channels cannot be treated like press releases and broadcast media. Conversations need to be allowed to evolve, openness and transparency is expected. The bottom line is, if your company kicks ass, that is what will primarily resonate online as well. If you suck, well that will too and you bigger problems to solve.

5. Does my company have realistic expectations about what social media can do for our business?

A lot of times companies have unrealistic expectations of what social media can do for their business. It’s not a silver bullet, and it’s not going to necessarily bear any fruit in the short term. What it is going to do is give your business another avenue to connect with customers, provide new lead channels, and provide a platform for your business/organization to influence in a variety of new ways at a fraction of what traditional marketing has provided. But it comes with the need for patience and a tolerance for all things social. The fact is, even the best companies in the world have their detractors. You can’t please everyone all the time, but you can try and while it won’t work every time, the fact that you do so openly and transparently, will pay huge dividends over time.

So the question you’re probably asking yourself now is, based on the above answers…What do I do? The bottom line is if you don’t have the right answers to the above questions, chances are you stand to benefit from a consultant or agency to help. You could hire and bring the work internally, but 9 times out of 10, you’ll stand to benefit by starting with a smaller investment and getting access to the necessary expertise more quickly and efficiently. There are a variety of options available to you that fit just about any budgets so don’t feel if you are a small mom and pop shop that you’re left out of the cold.

I’ll be following up this blog post next week with a post on how to find and choose the right consultants/agencies as it can sometimes be a daunting task.

I love great ideas.  Even better is seeing them come to life.  Such is the case with a new charity called DollarPerMonth.org.  A little over a month ago, our creative director Jonathan Harris brought in a friend to discuss having our firm ShowPony come on board to help them with their creative and marketing.  At the time I had no idea that we were actually meeting with Doug Clerget who just finished a little gig called The Bachleroette.  Doug’s got a great story period, and the fact that he has the time and drive to have started a charity organization in addition to a normal job and being a single dad is pretty amazing.

DPM is simply a great idea and it’s worth you taking a few minutes to check out.  DPM makes giving fun by adding a layer of social integration combined with gamification.  You earn points not only by committing to as little as a dollar every month, but also by spreading the word of DPM through your networks.  DPM calls this your social impact score.  Over time through the combination of giving, referring and driving awareness of DPM, you’re score increases and such your notoriety on the site.  Of course the simple fact of giving to a good cause should be enough, but it can’t hurt to add a layer of vanity and competition right?  It works.

In addition, every month, you have the ability to vote on one of 3 pre-screened charities to have the money distributed to every month.  Votes also go towards your social impact score encouraging folks to stay connected to the site.

I’m really excited to have the opportunity to help grow DPM, but more importantly I’m motivated to see such a great cause and great idea reach critical mass.

Who doesn’t have at least a dollar every month?  I encourage you to visit DPM, and more importantly make the commitment to joining and becoming a part of the charitable movement.  It’s fun, social and for a great cause.

Visit DollarPerMonth.org and help make a difference today.

The following is a guest post from Matt Davidson, an extremely talented search marketer.  In an effort to bring more content and digital marketing expertise to my blog, I’ve brought Matt on to periodically contribute here.  More information about Matt can be found below.

I’m a very analytical person. I like to use logic and numbers in any decision that I make. After all, when in doubt numbers can always paint an accurate picture, right?

With this in mind, I think it’s important to look at some statistics to better understand why search engine optimization is so important. By no means do I want you to take my word for it.

Here are some numbers to contemplate in this regard:

90% of the adult population in the United States uses a search engine to find information online

There are approximately 234 million people in the United States that are over the age of 18

About 80% of all searches come from the organic search engines and not the paid search listings. As a reference, paid search listings are searches that are actually paid for by the companies being found (typically found at the top and right hand side they will say “sponsored listings).

So at a quick glance at the above numbers, this means that over 210 million people are actively using search engines to find the information they need. Google processes over 2 billion searches per day (which means that this number is likely to be far greater at this point).

So assuming that 80% of these searches are organic searches, this means that SEO gets you access to 800 million searches per day across 210 million people in the U.S. alone. These are some staggering numbers if you think about it and can open up a huge opportunity for any business.

So now that we’ve covered with relative success the reasoning behind why search engine optimization can be so important, let’s cover some ways you can take advantage of this for your own personal business.

First, make a list of search terms you would deem relevant to your audience and make sure you have great content about these words written throughout your site (where relevant).

After this, make sure that your business is listed across any relevant directory or business association. Whether it’s Yelp or your local chamber of commerce, these mentions can make a big difference.

Next, make sure that you are collecting your customers email addresses and ask them to review your business on Google Places whenever they do business with you. These reviews can help with your rankings and will help you to get visitors over to your site when you are being found on the search engines.

After this, you want to make sure you are writing great content about topics related to your industry, customers and services or products. This content should be placed across article sites deemed to be strong authorities by Google such as Squidoo, Hubspot and Ezine or they should be placed across your own blog. If you don’t have a blog, you can set one up for free with a site like Word Press. When you write this content, make sure you include search terms in your articles that you want to rank for. These terms should all have anchor text links imbedded throughout that point back to your website. If you don’t know what an anchor text link is, simply do a search on Google and you should come up with several examples as a reference.

That’s pretty much the high level overview of SEO. It’s a matter of keyword research, onsite optimization and building relevant links. Spending just a few hours a week on these activities can make all the difference.

I run a consulting agency: www.sovomedia.com and would be happy to answer any other questions if you want to send me an email through our site. Happy marketing!

Crazy right?  Who in their right mind would make a silly claim about a network that has close to 900 million active users with average usage times close to 20 minutes per day?  The fact is, no one is bullet proof.  Ask Yahoo, MySpace or ….., all major networks that ruled heavily at one time and all which fell from grace to other up and comers.

I’ve felt a growing sense that Facebook might have already peaked and is currently beginning to slide.  The only missing piece to truly escalate that slide is an alternative to do better what Facebook fails at.  I’m sure it’s just a matter of time.

That being said, here are the 5 reasons I think Facebook is on the decline:

1. All The Numbers Are Starting To Say So.  According to numbers cited on The Inquistir, in April Facebook witnessed 158 million US unique visitors, only 5% higher than 2011 numbers. While 5% growth may not seem horrendous, it’s a drastically big decline from April 2011 when Facebook witnessed 24% growth and far worse than April 2010 when the social network had an 89% growth rate.  Facebook points out that users are now spending up to six hours per month on the social network, up by 16% during the same 2011 period, however that rate of increase is also slowing, jumping by only 23% from last year compared to 57% in 2010.  Throw in the disappointing stock showing, and you have quite a few numbers pointing to some trouble.

2. Their Apps Are Terrible.  How a network as large as Facebook can take such a lacksidaisical approach to their mobile app development is mind boggling to me.  While I have not experienced their mobile apps outside of Apple devices, their iPhone and iPad apps are horrendous.  Terribly slow, they crash frequently, and often times they are simply unusable.  Now, it’s clearly obvious why this has been the case…Facebook doesn’t make any money with their mobile apps.  They want users on the actual website.  Fair enough.  But ignoring a mobile audience for so long is a death sentence.  Especially with the sheer growth of mobile penetration across the world.  They may figure out how to monetize mobile, but clearly they are opening up the door for someone else to come along and get the mobile social experience right.

3. Their Website Is And Has Been A Mess.  While I actually like the new Timeline layout, it has received mostly negative backlash.  But more importantly, I’ve just never found the Facebook site to be all that intuitive when it comes to managing those you are connected with.  Sure you can create lists of folks, and have features available to you, but the execution just seems terribly over convoluted.  If I can’t figure out how to do certain things quickly and easily, then I can assure you folks who aren’t as seasoned on a computer will be even more.  The problem here is that generally people have short attention spans, and are easily distracted.  If Facebook doesn’t do a better job at delivering a world class user experience, they again are opening up the door to someone else to do so and lose users.

4. The Ad Platform Doesn’t Deliver.  I’ve used Facebook Ads a ton.  In some cases, they can be a useful tool to build reach and connect with the right folks.  The targeting options are fantastic, but that’s it.  The bottom line is that Facebook Ads fail to deliver true business results for most organizations and the exodus is beginning (See General Motors?).  They are also very hard to measure beyond Facebook’s own home grown stats, Facebook Insights, which are pretty terrible in their own right.  If they can’t deliver true value with their ad products, there goes their revenue stream.

5. They Do Not Care About Users.  Have you ever heard anyone ever say something positive about Facebook when it comes to customer service, feedback consideration or anything when it comes to community interaction?  Does anyone have any sense that they could feasibly influence a feature or improvement for the platform?  Nope.  Yes, managing 950 million users is a daunting task, but I’ve never really understood why Facebook never considered  a world class community set up like Dell’s IdeaStorm or My Starbucks Idea.  In addition to crowd sourcing great ideas, the good will that comes from platforms like this is priceless.

Regardless of these or any other reasons, it’s not like Facebook is going anywhere anytime soon.  But given these and a number of any other missteps, there’s no reason to think that Facebook can one day be yesterday’s news.  It’s happened numerous times in the past, and likely to happen again.  What say you?