Pew released a new report on social media usage. 53% of U.S. online adults aged 18-29 are now on Instagram, and 56% of adults 65+ are on Facebook. Also interesting: Facebook growth may be flattening, but engagement continues to grow. Which factors impact how teens use social media? danah boyd reminds us, “Teens’ use of social media is …
Friday 5 — 12.19.2014
Everybody scrolls, but visual cues don’t hurt. HUGE is starting a series on usability best practices, and this first post takes on “above the fold” dogma. File under meta: here’s another piece why newsletters matter. Capable curation and a strong personal voice drive higher open rates and engagement. Larger organizations can reap the same benefits if they …
Friday 5 — 12.12.2014
Facebook is surging ahead on mobile revenue as well as mobile market share. Facebook now accounts for about one-fifth of all data used on mobile phones, and owns four out of the top ten apps in the Apple iOS store and Google Play. More over at Quartz. Dark social is a term introduced by Alexis Madrigal two …
Check your normative defaults
Your software has opinions — here’s how to spot them In July of this year, Facebook made a small design change that reflected a large shift in perspective. On both the desktop and the mobile app the globe icon in the blue bar became dynamic rather than static, reflecting your position on the planet. If you were …
Friday 5 — 12.5.2014
We’re all producing more video, but who’s watching? Unlike written content, where a strong open may draw a reader in, there is a divide between those who press play on a video, and those who don’t. This post suggests that video consumption may not be evenly distributed across your audience — and you may have a very specific segment that forms …
Friday 5 — 11.28.2014
Technology surrounds us, but what do most internet users understand about it? A Pew survey on web and digital technology found that only 23% of adult users are aware that “the Internet” and “the World Wide Web” are not the same thing. And while 83% of those surveyed could correctly identify Bill Gates, fewer than half knew that Facebook started at …
Friday 5 — 11.21.2014
Google is now clearly identifying mobile-friendly sites in its search results. While Google’s search algorithm remains a well-kept secret, it’s not a stretch to infer that sites that perform well on mobile will index better for its search. Wasting time on Facebook at work is a popular pastime, even if you have to access it stealthily on …
Friday 5 — 11.14.2014
Beyond audience analytics and editorial review, what are some other ways to suss out how well your website content is performing? Here are seven website graders you can try today. We’re all hoping for a silver bullet for email management, but Google Inbox isn’t it. While the Material Design approach makes the app look slick, the default bundling of conversations and …
Friday 5 — 11.7.2014
This week Google Maps is rolling out a new redesign with improved ease of use. Beyond the clean look and brighter palette, note the increased surfacing of transactions through the map, like making a restaurant reservation through Open Table or booking a car through Uber. Reddit’s Bit of News bot summarizes news that’s shared on Reddit as it reaches …
Friday 5 — 10.31.2014
Benedict Evans demonstrates how mobile is eating the world. It’s worth reading for the astonishing growth metrics, like 80% of all adults in the world owning smartphones by 2020. One larger point is that tech is rapidly moving beyond the tech sector to transform all industries. And for now, that starts mobile first. Product managers are critical in the …