Instagram tells us that we see only 30% of our feeds, and that their imminent algorithmic intervention will make that 30% the best it can be. Rendering posts out of temporal order clearly passes muster with Pope Francis, who is making his Instagram debut tomorrow, March 19th. You may have heard that a Google AI program, AlphaGo, …
Friday 5 — 3.11.2016
When are people on Facebook, Reddit, or Gmail? This data dive by Medium’s head of Product Science discovered that the times of day when people read tend to follow consistent patterns each week. Design thinking has been all the rage for a while. It’s one thing to understand the overall concept, and yet another to change an …
Friday 5 — 3.4.2016
My mild obsession with work hacks is gratified by this list of 32 of the best productivity tools. I’ve also observed that my habits have changed over time — I use overarching to-do and project management apps like Evernote less, and little tools like Momentum more. When might it make sense to have a digital alter ego rather than …
Friday 5 — 2.26.2016
Snapchat now allows users to design and submit their own geofilters — overlays that appear on snaps sent within a defined area and timeframe. Techcrunch explains how to make your own., If you’re now perpetually wandering around with earbuds in, you’re likely spending some of that time listening to Spotify. But you may not know some of Spotify’s lesser-known, cool features, …
Friday 5 — 2.19.2016
Can’t find the right words for your tweet? GIF search is rolling out to Twitter users for both tweets and direct messages. Giphy’s new $55M funding round seems to confirm that GIFs are taking over the world. In mid-April, Facebook will open up Instant Articles, a format that loads articles within the app more quickly than traditional links, to all …
Friday 5 — 2.12.2016
How does content make it to the front page of Reddit? The Datastories team analyzed 4 million data points to find out. This article gives a number of practical pointers, including the value of posting images, and timing your posts for 9:00 am PST. I’m a little obsessed with my new Amazon Echo, an internet-connected speaker that lets me …
Friday 5 — 2.5.2016
It’s been almost ten years since Watson beat Ken Jennings at Jeopardy, and in that decade artificial intelligence has continued to advance. This week for the first time a Google DeepMind program defeated a professional human player in Go. Interesting take on how this advance reflects an “artificial imagination” capability, and what this breakthrough implies for business. Facebook is …
Friday 5 — 1.29.2016
Snapchat is targeting users over 35, but it’s not the most intuitive interface for people familiar with platforms like Facebook on a desktop. Now the service is making it easier for users to find one another with the ability to share your user name. Need more of a primer? The Wall Street Journal explains everything you ever …
Friday 5 — 1.22.2016
Messaging is the next big platform, and Facebook gets it. With 800 million Messenger users, Facebook is looking at the rise of messaging globally, and doubling down with new features. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is Google’s solution to slow-loading web pages on mobile devices. AMP goes live in a few weeks, and this post explains how publishers are coming …
Friday 5 — 1.15.2016
Mobile apps versus native web is a false dichotomy, per Luke Wroblewski. Brands need both: the former offers rich experiences, while the latter provides greater reach (including in-app browser views). We have a longstanding, love-hate relationship with email, where gratifying immediacy for the sender often means notification hell for the recipient. The Atlantic explains how we got here, why email …