Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 197
March 4, 2016
Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #298
Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?
My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist's Manifesto) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".
Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:
LiarTown Postcards - Tumblr . "Warning, this has a bunch of Not Suitable For Work stuff in it. I don't even know where to begin. This is what happens when a subversive jester is really, really good at Photoshop. From View-Master discs that never existed, to fake record albums and childrens' books, there's something here to offend everyone. Also, it's amazing. It has been a long time since something literally made me laugh out loud, and gasp in shock, this much." (Alistair for Hugh).
Painter of light: my awkward adventures in virtual reality art - The Verge . "I've been spending a bunch of time digging into VR lately. The HTC Vive, which just shipped, is astonishingly good. From the Valve-authored demo in the Portal universe, to dozens of other applications, it's perfect, and convincing. But perhaps the first true VR app is this one, which lets you paint in 3D. We don't realize how much we take 2D for granted until we walk behind our drawing and realize it has depth. This is the future, explained." (Alistair for Mitch).
Random couscous snaps into beautiful patterns - Steve Mould - YouTube . "Couscous + a giant metal square + a violin bow + math/physics = I love science." (Hugh for Alistair).
Sinking In Alberta 1923 - 1959 - Mashable . "Some truly fantastic pictures from the mountains of Alberta, and skiers of, in the days of black and white film." (Hugh for Mitch).
Doing a TED Talk: The Full Story - Wait But Why . "One of the standout TED talks this year was Tim Urban from Wait But Why. It was all about procrastination and creativity (mostly about procrastination). It was insightful, it was funny, it was painful, and he presented it all in a well-packaged way. This is not easy to do. He made is look casual, when - in reality - he probably beat himself up over it for months. Well, in typical Wait But Why fashion, here he is dissecting the experience (and just how hard it was). It's a brilliant lesson for anyone who has to stand up in front of an audience and give a presentation... which, is most of us!" (Mitch for Alistair).
Snapchat Video Traffic Has Caught Up With Facebook - Fortune . "We toss around the word 'billions' now like it's normal. It's not. Whether you're talking about money, users or even views. A billion is a lot of numbers! This is one of those moments that should stop us all - dead in our tracks. And yet, news like this comes across our radar, we 'like' it on Facebook and just move on. Snapchat's video traffic is now at 8 billion daily video views. That's more than five times where it was a year ago. That's now at par with Facebook. Remember when Snapchat said 'no' to being acquired by Facebook for $3 billion back in 2013? Imagine if that deal had gone through. These numbers are just staggering." (Mitch for Hugh).
Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.
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Will Your Brand Survive In The Live Brand World?
How good can your brand be at "live"?
If social media accomplished anything, it brought brands out into the open. It forced brands to respond - in public - to their consumers. Not just the bad stuff... everything. It was (and continues to be) a huge paradigm shift that has forced all businesses (B2B, B2C, small, medium and large) to change how they operate, how they communicate, and even how they innovate. For consumers and more evolved business leaders, this is a good thing. This "publicness" of brands created a sense of egalitarianism. Consumers sentiment mixed with traditional brand messaging creates an arena where everyone can better understand if a brand truly does deliver on its vision, mission and brand promise. It has also created a platform for interactions. Brands can connect directly to consumers and - perhaps more importantly - consumers can also connect to one another about a brand.
What is the evolution of brands in our digital age?
It's hard to argue that Snapchat is not the latest and greatest shiny, bright object to capture our attention. And, if you break down what Snapchat delivers, it's images (but mostly video) in a very direct, quick and interesting way. When Snapchat first launched, I called this the beginning of The Impermanent Internet (back in 2012). Snapchat also feels more "live." Video does that. YouTube enabled brands and consumers to publish video online. The adoption of smartphones enabled brands and consumers to create videos on the fly - quickly and easily. Snapchat shifted videos to a faster - more messaging-like - space. Now, video, social media, mobile and publishing seems to be all about moving from a "record and publish" model to a "live" model. Shoot it and stream as it happens.
Live video is a whole other beast.
It's hard to script. There's no "fixing it in post-production." There's no second take. There's no taking it back. While Periscope and Meerkat could well be the brands that drove live streaming to larger recognition, the real excitement is happening on both Snapchat and Facebook Live videos. It's early days for Facebook Live (currently, it's available to those with verified Pages and public figures using Mentions), but the current slew of news that has come out in the past week is pointing to some very important changes to Facebook, that will affect all brands.
Live videos will get ranked higher.
Brands still jockey for position in search engine results. Getting to the top rank on search engines - or a news feed - can make all the difference in the world for a brand. Facebook believes that people want more live videos, so they're going to make them more relevant (or... top of feed), to make the news feed experience more engaging. On March 1st, 2016, Facebook made this announcement: News Feed FYI: Taking into Account Live Video When Ranking Feed. From the article:
"Now that more and more people are watching Live videos, we are considering Live Videos as a new content type - different from normal videos - and learning how to rank them for people in News Feed. As a first step, we are making a small update to News Feed so that Facebook Live videos are more likely to appear higher in News Feed when those videos are actually live, compared to after they are no longer live. People spend more than 3x more time watching a Facebook Live video on average compared to a video that's no longer live. This is because Facebook Live videos are more interesting in the moment than after the fact."
While brands scramble to optimize their videos, please consider this...
It's easy to think that there's this new search engine optimization in town that has to do with social media, and placement within the various news feeds. There is that, and it is something that all brands will now need to take into consideration, but this will also require brands to be smarter, faster, sharper and more interesting. Still, even more fascinating is the fact that people spend more than three times more time watching live videos on Facebook, compared to a video that is no longer live. When we talk about real time marketing, could you have ever imagined that real time wasn't about reacting to something in our culture, but being live - in the moment - with it.
Facebook will start pushing brands into the live arena.
Along with this news and the tweaks to the news feed, Recode also reported that Facebook has begun incentivizing celebrities to hop into this live video streaming service (see: Facebook Wants Celebrities for Its Live Streaming Service, and It's Willing to Pay Cash). Facebook has, traditionally, not paid content creators, but there is both a push towards this kind of service and a need to establish (grow) advertising revenue from live video for Facebook. Facebook's video viewership continues to grow. Facebook is seeing a trend that consumers want live video. Facebook is giving all of us a glimpse into the future. Brands are next. Brands can decide if they simply want to advertise along with these celebrities, or if they want to have real skin in the content game. It's easy for brands to want to do this, but it's going to be very challenging to execute. It will be easy to blame legal, as to why a brand should avoid the world of "live" at all costs, but - much like social media - the movement towards live is clear. And, this is not just Facebook. It's going to happen across a myriad of digital channels as live becomes the logical evolution of publishing.
Will brands to be able to capitalize on this next frontier of being truly live and in the now?
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February 29, 2016
Moving From Likes To Reactions
Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio broadcasting out of Montreal (home base). It's not a long segment - about 5 to 10 minutes every week - about everything that is happening in the world of technology and digital media. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly to SoundCloud, if you're interested in hearing more of me blathering away. I'm really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up on listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry and Heather B. morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.
This week we discussed:
Heather B. is still away on vacation this week.
Everyone is all excited that Facebook is moving beyond the "like" button. Now, you can get much more expressive about what someone else posts, with these new animated "reactions." They've been testing different ones in other parts of the world, have analyzed the data and are now ready for prime time. So, if someone has posted bad news - you're not forced to "like" it. You can now be angry, sad... well, you get the idea. Have you tried them? How do you like it? As simple as it sounds, my guess is that this will become a treasure trove of sentiment data for Facebook. Think about it, if suddenly you're not liking a bunch of stuff, Facebook can start targeting you with more relevant ads based on your mood.
Apple is still entangled in this fight with the CIA to unlock the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. As the government pushes them to help, Apple is moving in a very different direction. Just this week, Apple hired Frederic Jacobs, a Switzerland-based developer who worked to develop secure messaging app Signal -- the communications app of choice for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden -- to work on its CoreOS security team. This is interesting. What if Apple can suddenly prove that their system is so private, that no one can get in?
App of the week: Google's Art Project.
Listen here...
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February 28, 2016
Better Marketing Metrics With Google's Avinash Kaushik
Episode #503 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Mirum Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.
He's back! Google's Digital Marketing Evangelist, bestselling author (Web Analytics - An Hour A Day and Web Analytics 2.0), powerful blogger (Occam's Razor), friend and marketing big brain, Avinash Kaushik. His monthly posts may as well be business books, and his insights into what should really count today for marketing is refreshing. He's got an attitude, he is full of passion, and he has some ideas about what we all need to be thinking about in this day and age. More recently, Avinash also lauched his own, personal, e-newsletter titled, The Marketing-Analytics Intersect (you best sign up for it), and we're back to debate the entire marketing landscape. Enjoy the conversation...
You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Mirum Podcast #503.
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February 27, 2016
Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #297
Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?
My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist's Manifesto) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".
Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:
The Secret Lives of Tumblr Teens - New Republic . "This week, I've got a couple of links on the future of online marketing. First up, Tumblr. This an amazing, long, profound look inside the teens who create the memes and ideas that eventually show up on Facebook and in popular culture. They can't really monetize them, and the platform has idiosyncrasies that are unique, but make no mistake: This is where the future of content marketing is being incubated." (Alistair for Hugh).
Facebook Fraud - Veritasium . "Facebook has an amazing advertising engine, allowing people to promote their products and ideas with a few simple clicks. But things are seldom so simple, and a bit of research shows there's a lot of questionable behavior just under the surface. In this video, Facebook powerhouse Veritasium does some digging about paid promotion and how Facebook marketing works -- even going so far as to create a page urging you not to like it, to see what happens and who actually supports it. Surprise: they're not customers you want; they may not even exist. Seriously, watch this." (Alistair for Mitch). (note from Mitch: this video is now two years old, and while things may not be perfect, Facebook did respond and has evolved their platform a lot since this was first published).
I Tried, and Failed, to Find Out Where My Electricity Comes From - How We Get To Next . "Do you know where your electricity comes from? This Brooklyn writer tries to find out." (Hugh for Alistair).
The New Web Typography - Robin Rendle . "For you font and typography nerds, here is a lovely essay about making information usable and beautiful on the Web." (Hugh for Mitch).
TED 2016: Forsee (Four C) Future - Re-inventing By @rishad . "I'm lucky on multiple levels. Not only do I get to attend the annual TED conference - which took place the other week in Vancouver - but I also get to sneak off and grab lunch with people like Rishad Tobaccowala. With over three decades of service to the marketing and digital space, many (including me) consider Rishad to be our industry's oracle (he's the Chief Strategist and member of the Directoire+ at Publicis). This is what we both experienced during TED, but it's distilled through Rishad's amazing strategic and analytical brain, with a hint of what it means for business. A critical read." (Mitch for Alistair).
How A 1990 Hardy Boys Book Presaged The Future Of The Internet - Fast Company . "Talk about a throwback. I had forgotten all about my love of The Hardy Boys mystery book series, when I was growing up. Those books took up multiple shelves in my room, and I would get lost in the stories. Funny enough, I don't remember these specific books, but I'm off to buy them. Granted, I want the original books... the ones with the blue hardcovers. Can't wait to rekindle that passion... and dig deep into these stories." (Mitch for Hugh).
Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.
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The Act Of Advertising
What is the role of advertising?
A paid form of information delivery? An act to persuade someone? A form of lying? It has - without a doubt - evolved over the years. Some might argue that it's still a spectrum of options from above list. Part of my passion for the marketing industry comes from the fact that I was always fascinated with the creative ways in which new products and services were introduced to society. Still, I was not brought up when ads were blatantly lies and over-embellishments to get people to pay attention to - and buy - something that would never live up to the advertised promise. Consumer protection acts and groups were created over time, and the mass media played a significant role in informing the public of those unscrupulous companies that were lying, cheating and stealing. Now, with consumer reviews and online tools, it's hard (but still not impossible) for these bad actors to flourish. One can be hopeful that the ads that we're all exposed to are closer to reality than a con job, because of how connected and transparent the world has become. Still, we all fall for something, right?
So, what's the difference between persuasion and a con job?
It's subtle and powerful (and legal). As a marketing professional, we're all told to study books like Dr. Robert Cialdini's Influence, because of its research-based approach to what motivates people. Now, Maria Konnikova (author of Mastermind - How To Think Like Sherlock Holmes) is back with newest book, The Confidence Game - Why We Fall For It Every Time. I was first introduced to Konnikova's work by Scott Monty, and this week she appeared on Charlie Rose to discuss not only the book, but why the con game works so well, and is so powerful. It's fascinating and directly related to the work of advertising. In short, a con isn't about taking something from someone else against their will, it's about how people willingly give their money away to these unscrupulous individuals.
Watch this... did I do a good job of influencing you to do it? ;) - Charlie Rose with Maria Konnikova.
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February 26, 2016
The Mobile Gap
At what point, do we surrender to reality?
In the past few months, way too many brands have been speaking out of both sides of their mouth. One side says this: Native apps are expensive and don't get enough downloads to justify the expense, plus it's super-expensive because you have to develop for Apple, Android, Windows, BlackBerry, etc... The other side says this: We live in a mobile world, this is how consumers, primarily, connect with us, so we're in the process of developing a responsive Web experience, and looking at how we can shift some of the dollars over to mobile marketing. It's all so expensive and time consuming.
Ugh... seriously... this is what's what?
How many brands do you - as a consumer (not a marketing professional) - connect with on your mobile device? Personally (and, yes, this is a Market of One story) I do this all of the time. From reservations, to store hours, to looking for a product/service and more. Before I'm interested/buying anything, I'm on my iPhone doing some form of brand reconnaissance. With that comes eye squinting, finger pinching, redirections, page errors and - more often than not - a "less than" Web experience.
And, that's the thing: Mobile should never be a "less than" Web experience.
As a business leader, feel free to get as excited as you want about programmatic, big data, machine learning, drones, marketing automation and more. It's fine to love the latest and greatest shiny objects, or get that squirrel-like distraction thing going on. With that, take a serious look at how your brand is represented on a mobile device. Consumers have moved on. They understand (and love) the user experience of things like Uber, Tinder and Snapchat. They're used to these places, where the mobile experience is more interesting, engaging and connected than the Web experience. And... then come the brands. The experiences are limited, responsive... but limited. They're just not that good. Sadly.
This is the mobile gap.
There's no doubt that it won't be easy to get a consumer to find and download a brand app in the app store. Still... here we are. What will it take for brands to bridge this gap? This will be the biggest shift that brands are going to face over the next few years. How will they develop and execute on a mobile experience that not only fits the expectations of consumers (and the company's shareholders), but also makes it worthwhile for the consumer? It's not easy, but what options are left? Do we continue to invest in our web-bowser based infrastructure, and stick our collective heads into the sand, when it comes to where our consumers are really spending all of their time? It's easy to talk about what's next, but what brands are really doing what's now?
It's easy to talk about this mobile gap, but it's here... and most brand are stuck in it.
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Don't Forget The Message
"The medium is the message."
You know this infamous saying. It was introduced to the world in Marshall McLuhan's book, Understanding Media, in 1964. A lot of people debate what, exactly, the phrase means. Wikipedia goes with this: "the form of a medium embeds itself in the message, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived." I'm not sure how much more clarity it provides. Still, in a more simplistic way, it has been said that McLuhan is saying that that the medium - and not the content - should be the focus of study (and yes, McLuhan later went on to say that the message is - in a way - another form of media). While this seems like a smart strategy if you're a media theorist, it falls a little short if you're a marketing professional trying to make your advertising have any sort of real impact on an audience in today's day and age.
Are marketers focused on the medium or the message these days?
AdWeek reported today that, Instagram Has Over 200,000 Advertisers Just 5 Months After Opening the Spigot. Stop right there, and let that headline sink in a for a few minutes. 200,000 brands are now advertising on Instagram... after only five months. We know why this is happening. Instagram continues to grow (about 400,000 monthly active people on the platform, making this 20% of all Internet users). Advertisers love to flock to where there is a mass audience. So, how is that working out for them? How many brands on Instagram are people following? How many of these ads have you seen? Have you been blown away by them? These ads include longer-form video ads, carousel ads and there are expanded functionality for brands that include options like app-install, "shop now," and "learn more" buttons, according to the article. This also makes sense, because Facebook owns Instagram, and this benefits media companies who are trying to reach more and more consumers, as the marketplace continues to get both fragmented and over-populated (all at the same time).
The audience will decide if this is quality advertising or not.
Regardless of what your personal position may be, Instagram has social built into it. How many people will like and share these ads? How many people will go from the ad to following a brand's Instagram account, or taking part in one of the ad's calls to action? The data should be rich, real time and telling. And, that's the bigger idea: none of this matters, unless the message actually works, resonates and adds value to a consumer's Instagram experience.
How many marketers are really focused on the message?
In recent presentations, I have been begging my audience members to change their paradigms. As someone who has been writing about the immense benefits that digital marketing provides over traditional advertising for close to fifteen years (not a typo!), it's astonishing that after all of this time, social media has (predominantly) become just another paid channel. With that, there's been a lot of traditional advertising thinking going into the creative and the content. The paradigm is this: think about making an impression over how many impressions you are getting. It's more than a play on words. So many marketers are worried about how many times their message has been seen - and on which platform ("are we cool, because we're on Snapchat and people like us there?"). In a sense, we have accepted these new platforms - and their audience - but we have not adapted our creative message to really resonate both with that audience, and how that audience intersects with how different each platform is for them. We flock to the medium because of the people, and we forget about the relevance and power of the message.
Don't forget about the message.
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February 22, 2016
The TED 2016 Experience
Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio broadcasting out of Montreal (home base). It's not a long segment - about 5 to 10 minutes every week - about everything that is happening in the world of technology and digital media. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly to SoundCloud, if you're interested in hearing more of me blathering away. I'm really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up on listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry and Heather B. morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.
This week we discussed:
Heather is off on vacation this week, so it's just Terry and me in the studio.
Just got back from this year's annual TED conference. I had the chance to spend some time speaking to legends like Steve Spielberg and more. We discuss, the best TED talks that we should all be looking out for as they release them online, and my experience with some of the coolest technology that will be making its way into our lives very shortly
Apple and Tim Cook are at war with the US government. While it may seem like Apple is just trying to protect its brand (the CIA is calling this an issue of marketing), we should all think (very deeply) about the implications and what this means to all of our privacy. A backdoor isn't just something for those who have done horrible things, it becomes a Pandora's Box, and we should all try to educate ourselves about this issue... and what it could mean to our own lives.
App of the week: Vrse. You will need Google Cardboard (or some kind of virtual reality tool to use this).
Listen here...
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February 21, 2016
What Powerful Video Content Can Be
Can we admit it: video can unleash powerful brand stories, still a lot of the content we're all being exposed to is little more than a glorified commercial.
It's painting a broad brush stroke, but it does seem that way when you troll through the social feeds, or look to see what's being published by brands in places like YouTube or Snapchat. They're trying. They're often trying too hard. Viewers can sense it. They can smell it. Odds are that these consumers are ignoring it. Skipping it, not clicking to hear the audio or - at worst - they're disabling their autoplay option. I know that I did this on Facebook, and it completely altered my user experience. Yep, I'm no longer distracted by a squirrel skydiving. It's the small things.
So, who is creating video content worth talking about and sharing?
One of the unique aspects of the TED conference (which took place in Vancouver this week) is how they produce each speaker session. Along with a theme and dynamic host, the speaker's presentations are broken up with musical guests, and the occasional video. Most of them are super-engaging and run the gamut from silly YouTube-y like content, to rich mini documentaries. Chadburn Blomquist compiled as many of these "interstitials" (as the TED team calls them) into a YouTube playlist. Below are some of the ones that captured my attention.
Pay attention brands: this is what great video content can be (happy watching)...
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Six Pixels of Separation
- Mitch Joel's profile
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