A common design pattern that is being used extensively on mobile apps has been the use of icons to illustrate specific functions. By now, there are specific icons that almost everyone is familiar with. An icon of a trash can represents deleting something or a printer represents the print function. But what happens when icons are used that users are unfamiliar with?

I’ve been using the Gmail app on my iPad and it helps illustrate a great example. There were quite a few icons that I was completely unfamiliar with, and as a result, I had never used them.

I had no idea what this icon did:

Or what these icons did:

This scenario is actually quite common.  When the Microsoft team sought out improve the menu bar for Outlook 98, they found out it had poor usability and users weren’t using the icons.

Initially, they thought it had to do with the icons itself: “Different fixes were tried: new icons, rearrangement of the icons, positioning icons under the menus from which the commands came from.”

However, the solution was actually quite simple: “In the end, one change caused a total turnaround: labeling the important toolbar buttons.  Almost immediately, the toolbars were a big hit and everyone at all skill levels starting using them.”

Here’s what Outlook 2003 looked like with labels:

That’s a huge improvement in terms of usability and context.

Let’s revisit the Gmail iPad app, but this time add labels to the icons:

Just like in Outlook 2003, labels greatly enhance usability, making it clear to the user what each one does.

But what about the opposite? Do icons enhance usability or add value?  Let’s take a look and see what the Gmail iPad app would look like without icons and only labels.

Which one do you think is better or more effective? I’ll let you decide…

Other related posts you might like…

Should you use infinite scroll instead of pagination to load more content?
A look at how popular websites update your email address

Here’s a look at some interesting things that have happened in the past week. The SXSW conference was obviously the talk of the town, and of course every year a new app or service breaks through as “the one” to watch. Past years have included notable launches by Twitter and Foursquare. This year it was all about social discovery, which uses your social media networks to alert you when friends are nearby who share similar interests. Two apps took the spotlight: Highlight and Glancee.

• Highlight and Glancee: Why So-Mo Is The Talk of SXSW
• A Brief History of the Complete Redesign of Google - An interesting look at how each of the product teams at Google (Maps, Search, Gmail, etc.) were able to work together to launch a unified look and feel with the new Google redesign.
• Guy Kawasaki’s Fireside Chat with Vic Gundotra, Google’s senior vice president for engineering, on Google+ - Guy Kawasaki asks questions that many people have been wanting to know such as pseudonyms and why there still isn’t an API.

In other news:

• Pinterest’s New Problem: Brand Squatters Are Screwing Over Big Companies
  – Brands such as McDonald’s, Dell and Microsoft have come into the game late, and as a result, their names have already been taken on Pinterest.
• How Gap’s social media policy keep 134,000 workers in line - Gap takes a casual and fun approach to their social media policy.
• Spring break gets tamer for students by a fear of unflattering appearances in social media – Students are being a lot more conscious about how they act during spring break now that anything can be shared easily through social media.

If you work in an organization that publishes content for both print and the web, it’s important to understand why print headlines don’t translate well on the web.

Print headlines

In print, headlines are often supported by contextual information such as a photo, graphic, subheadline, or pull quote to help tell the story. Take for example this article from the print version of UCLA Magazine called “Makin’ Bacon,” about a UCLA grad who started a bacon themed food truck .

The headline is catchy and the photo of the Lardon truck helps provide context, which is used to attract the readers attention and interest. However, on the web this headline doesn’t work well, and here’s why.

Web headlines must provide context

On the web, headlines alone must tell the story, often without supporting context like photos or subheadlines. They can also appear in several different sections of a website. Let’s pretend for a moment you had never seen the “Makin’ Bacon” story in print. Instead, you visit the UCLA Magazine website which has the exact same story online.

While browsing around, you notice the Most Popular widget in the right column and see that “Makin’ Bacon” is the second most viewed article.

Based on that headline alone, do you really know what it’s about? Maybe a great bacon recipe or a story on how bacon is made. What if I’m not a huge fan of bacon, but I really love food trucks? I’d never know that. While the headline works well in print, on the web it needs to provide more context.

Let’s make a simple change to the headline and call it “Makin’ Bacon at the Lardon Food Truck”.

Already, that tells you a lot more about the story, and it helps with search engine optimization (SEO), because we’ve added two important keywords — Lardon and Food Truck.

Remember, users aren’t going directly to your site to find content

We also have to consider how users are consuming and discovering content online outside the context of your website. Writing good headlines isn’t just about SEO. A huge majority of people are still searching on Google, but they’re also subscribing to RSS feeds, visiting sites like Reddit, and clicking on links their friends are sharing via social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

For example, on Twitter users often share links that appear on their followers timeline. Which headline would grab your attention more? One that only said “Makin’ Bacon”.

Or one that said “Makin’ Bacon at the Lardon Food Truck”.

Headlines have the power to literally make or break a story online.  One that is written well can mean the difference between a story being ignored and one that is shared and clicked on thousands of times. They must be able to stand on their own.

Additional Resources

Here’s a great example that illustrates how headlines are changed for print and the web in Wired magazine.

If you do a quick search on Google for “common social media mistakes” you’ll pretty much find the same points being covered again and again.  Everything from not posting enough, failing to stay engaged, not having a plan, etc. I think by now a lot of these are pretty much ingrained into our heads. So instead, I wanted to point out a few mistakes that may not be so obvious:

1. Placing social media icons without links to profile pages
2. Using hashtags on Twitter for #everything
3. Automatically linking your Facebook updates to Twitter or vice versa.

Mistake 1: Placing social media icons without links to profile pages

How many times have you seen the following examples in marketing materials?

There are two big problems here:

1. How is someone supposed to find any of your profile pages?

Let’s use Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as an example. If I were on Facebook, I’d probably do a quick search for “leukemia & lymphoma society,” which would return a lot results.

But which one is it? One might assume it would be the first result, but that’s not the case. You can see how things are starting to look.  You’ve already created confusion, possible frustration and even a potential loss of a fan by making it harder to find your actual Facebook page. And that’s just on Facebook, we haven’t even touched on how to find profiles on Twitter or YouTube, which aren’t as nearly straight forward.

Furthermore, adding icons without telling anyone where to find you is like writing “Call Us” and adding an icon of a phone (credit to Gary Vaynerchuk for this great analogy).

Would you ever do this?

2. Don’t assume everyone in your audience is digitally literate.

Do you know what these icons are? I sure don’t…

Remember, it’s not like a website where you could potentially click on it to discover more. It needs more context.

It’s also safe to say there are plenty of people out there who probably aren’t even that familiar with Facebook or Twitter icons. Just look at the fragmentation that exists with various Twitter icons that can be found.

So, what’s the right approach?

Lush is a great example of how a brand can execute and promote social media by explicitly telling their audience where to find them.  From this ad, it’s clear where I need to go on Facebook and Twitter.

Mistake 2: Using hashtags on Twitter for #everything

Hashtags were created by early Twitter users as a simple way for people to follow a topic within Twitter by using its search function (http://search.twitter.com). It was a favorite among conferences and events and today has quickly morphed into much more.

However, hashtags should add value and context to what you are tweeting about and used sparingly. Unfortunately, too many people abuse the use of hashtags and feel the need to include it in every other tweet. The Luxor hotel (@LuxorLV) in Las Vegas is a good example.

By using hashtags so frequently, it dilutes the purpose and fragments the conversation by becoming increasingly irrelevant to your followers.  When it comes time to create a meaningful one for a marketing campaign, topic or event, it can be a lot harder to distinguish and your followers will think it’s just another hashtag.

Mistake 3: Automatically linking your Facebook updates to Twitter or vice versa

Want to post your Tweets on your Facebook profile? Not a good idea. Facebook and Twitter are two different platforms and should be treated as so. People on Facebook expect different things than people on Twitter.

Facebook allows for greater in-depth conversation and dialog, while Twitter is great for real-time updates or sharing of information via links to websites. Twitter also has a much higher threshold than Facebook for message saturation. A typical user on Twitter can make up to 25 tweets a day, which is completely acceptable, whereas on Facebook 25 posts a day would quickly annoy your friends and fans.

Other posts you might like…

How to effectively use Twitter as a marketing tool
A tyical day at SXSW Interactive 2011 using social media

I’ve been a big fan of popchips and the other day I stumbled upon Trader Joe’s version called Popped Potato Chips that looked remarkably similar. If you’re a fan of Trader’s Joe’s it may come as a surprise, but many products that they sell under the Trader Joe’s label, are actually made by some well known companies. As an article by Fortune titled Inside the Secret World of Trader Joe’s goes on to say, “…big, well-known companies also make many of Trader Joe’s products. Those Trader Joe’s pita chips? Made by Stacy’s, a division of PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay. On the East Coast much of its yogurt is supplied by Danone’s Stonyfield Farm.”

After comparing both products, they tasted and looked virtually identical. 

So I decided to investigate this a little further by comparing the ingredients. Sure enough, both popchips and Trader Joe’s Popped Potato Chips had almost the same exact ingredients (just arranged and worded a little differently), and both were vegetarian and gluten free.

I’m no Sherlock Holmes, but I think it’s safe to say popchips are making Trader Joe’s Popped Potato Chips. Apparently securing an account with Trader Joe’s is every vendors dream. “It pays on time and doesn’t mess with extra charges for advertising, couponing, or slotting fees that traditional supermarkets charge suppliers to get their products onto the shelves,” explains Fortune. A quick comparison on pricing also shows that a 3.25 oz bag of Trader Joe’s Popped Potato Chips retails for $1.99 while popchips 3.0 oz bag retails for $3.19. That’s a pretty big difference and no brand would wants consumers to know that a lower priced version of the same product exists.

One can only speculate since Trader Joe’s is notoriously secretive. According to Fortune, “Former executives say that Trader Joe’s wants neither its shoppers nor its competitors to know who’s making its products. And many suppliers aren’t that keen on consumers knowing that they produce a lower-cost version for Trader Joe’s either.“

Have you tried both popchips and Trader Joe’s Popped Potato Chips? What do you think?

I recently had the opportunity to moderate a panel discussion for the UCLA Social Media Group, which I manage and run. We had a diverse mix of undergraduate and graduate students from UCLA and discussed how they used social media in their personal and academic lives. Our topics ranged from usage and behavior, privacy, advertising and the value of interaction with brands, companies, campus departments and student services.

Here are some highlights from the panel discussion.

• Usage and behavior in students changed dramatically from high school to college. Tools such as Facebook went from optional to a must have. Behavior went from self expression (posting whatever they wanted with no thoughts of repercussion) to very self conscious (what will people think about me?) and cautious (what information is out there about me?).
• Facebook is THE social media tool have and a necessity for college students. It’s the primary tool that many student organizations on campus use to share news and events.
• Students “like” a Facebook page simply because they like the brand or organization. For them it’s a way of showing to their friends what they’re interested in. They don’t necessarily “like” a page because they want to find out more information.
• One common mistake a student pointed out that was very annoying was when people linked their Facebook and Twitter accounts so that the same content was posted constantly on both networks.
• In regards to receiving communication via email or on social networks, students felt that anything important or business related should be communicated via email so it doesn’t get lost within the stream of updates on social networks.
• One graduate student who taught found Facebook had many benefits for teaching such as public discussions, which created a community online within classes. Questions asked by students such as, “When is the assignment due?” were often answered faster by other students than himself.

In May of 2011, UCLA Marketing & Special Events was approached to help create a more engaging and dynamic Commencement experience online through the use of social media.

With only a few short weeks to make this happen, we began to think strategically about what opportunities and tools existed given our limited time and resources.

Through a combination of social media integration on the web via widgets from Facebook and Twitter, an official Twitter hashtag, real-time updates on Twitter the day of Commencement, and more traditional avenues such as a takeover page on the main UCLA homepage, we were able to successfully create a more social and engaging Commencement experience for UCLA. The end result – UCLA became a trending topic on Twitter.

You can read more about this case study and the keys to its success by downloading the full PDF.

Strike three for Samsung. Did they just copy Apple again? This time it’s not a phone or a tablet, but a commercial called “The Way We’re Wired” for its new Galaxy S II phone. They must have run out of devices to copy. The video looks frightening similar to Apple’s famous “Think Different” commercial, right down to the narrator’s voice (Apple used Richard Dreyfuss). You be the judge and compare.

The Way We’re Wired

Think Different

Samsung has already been sued by Apple for copying the look and feel of it’s iPhone and iPad.  The two items in question by Samsung were the Galaxy S 4G and Galaxy Tab as shown below.

Apparently imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Here’s to the ones who copy…

Has Twitter become so ubiquitous in our lives that brands and journalists are now using tweets readily as endorsements and quotes? It’s been happening for some time now, but with the rise of major brands like American Express and The New York Times now on the bandwagon, Twitter continues to be a major source information and value. Let’s take a look at some examples of how tweets are being used.

I recently bought a box of Earnest Eats and was surprised to find that they had used a tweet from Shape Magazine as an endorsement.

American Express has also launched a new “Social Currency” campaign that encourages customers to think about spending rewards points in less traditional ways. Their latest TV commercial highlights tweets from actual card members showing how they are using Membership Rewards points to get the things they love.

The New York Times also recently used tweets in an article about Steve Jobs resignation. In the concluding paragraphs, quotes were taken directly from Twitter.

“Twitter, the instant messaging service, filled with an outpouring of grief and gratitude Wednesday night. The few ill-spirited comments or wisecracks were met with immediate retorts.

“Steve Jobs is the greatest leader our industry has ever known,” wrote Marc Benioff, chief executive of Salesforce.com. “It’s the end of an era.”

“Funny how much emotion you can feel about a stranger,” wrote Susan Orlean, the author. “And yet every phone call I make, every time I’m on a computer, he’s part of it.”

“Very sad news about Steve Jobs at $AAPL,” wrote Jim Cramer, the CNBC host. “He is America’s greatest industrialist. Perhaps the greatest ever.”

Andy Baio, a tech entrepreneur in Portland, Ore., may have put it most directly and effectively: “We’ll miss you, Steve.”

This also brings up a very good question. If you say it on Twitter, does that mean it is now public? For seasoned journalist Farid Gaban, the answer is a firm no. “[Gaban] likens digital postings on social networking platforms to scraps of a conversation overheard from a neighboring table at a coffee shop. In that scenario, he says, what is overheard doesn’t always qualify as credible information that can be used in a legitimate news report.”

So, if the New York Times is doing it, then it must be okay, right?  What’s next? Tips left on Foursquare (actually that’s already happening) or status updates from Facebook or Google+?

LinkedIn recently made headlines when it decided to automatically opt-in all 120 millions of its users to a new feature that exposes profile information such as names and photos within ads for third parties. All done without any direct notification to its users. As you can image, users were outraged.

Surprisingly, it isn’t uncommon as companies like Facebook have been notorious in the past for opting-in users to new features that affect privacy settings without direct notification. So I was pleasantly surprised when I recently received an email from United Airlines Mileage Plus encouraging me (now there’s a new concept) to update my profile settings to receive future email updates for offers and announcements.  In return I would earn 500 bonus miles.

I have to give a lot of credit here to United.  Not only does it let their customers know it respects their privacy, they also provide a nice incentive to get to them to opt-in to their email notifications.

I’m sure everyone has had the unfortunate experience of registering on a website, only to be flooded by unsolicited emails. It happens all the time.  If you’re a company or brand, you should never opt-in users for anything without their explicit permission. By creating simple, yet effective incentives like United, you can approach your users in ways that they are more likely to take action.  Think about that next time you’re considering whether or not to automatically add users to your mailing list or update new features that affect privacy settings.