No one needs the embarrassment of a notification popping up at the wrong time — or on the wrong device. Wired explains how to find out where you’re signed into iMessage, set up two-factor, and turn off messaging where needed. Bloomberg’s new Lens app provides a handy overlay of contextual information about people and companies. You …
Friday 5 — 3.24.2017
YouTube has released an AI-powered emotion engine that helps video creators, aka influencers, understand which elements are most and least effective. YouFirst shows the video to a segment of the creator’s audience, uses facial recognition to identify the “power moments” that resonate, and can even tell you which groups of people enjoyed different parts of the content. Anyone remember when building …
Friday 5 — 9.16.2016
Rather than say, “I think users want this feature,” a product manager should ask, “What outcome do you predict this feature will have?” Read more insights from co-VPs of Product (!) at Reddit. There’s a lot of information elegantly packed into the mobile screenshot above: this approach provides an outcome-focused frame for feature decisions. Instagram …
Friday 5 — 4.1.2016
If the headlines you scroll through in your Facebook or Twitter feed seem remarkably similar, there’s a good reason for that. This Buzzsumo post on how to write viral headlines identifies the common elements that lead to successful reach. Low-res live video captured via mobile was all the rage last year with Meerkat and then Periscope, and recently Facebook Live videos seem …
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 — 11.6.2015
Tired of drafting the same email reply over and over? Google is here to help with SmartReply, a new Inbox app feature that suggest replies to your email messages. You can edit the reply as suggested, or delete it and write your own. Extra credit: Geek out on the machine learning under the hood. If you …
Friday 5 — 10.30.2015
In the early 90s, corporate marketing departments produced physical brand books, illustrating dos and don’ts for print, TV, signage, trade shows, etc. Fast forward a couple of decades, and the digital world requires a wide-ranging brand treatment that enables variations in volume, and concepts like stacking. See this gorgeous Netflix brand rollout for a best-in-class example. I’m a longtime …
How Budweiser won the Nobel Prize in chemistry
It’s easy to spot the difference between an organization with digital DNA and an organization still making the transition. Here’s an example highlighting different approaches to breaking news. On Monday morning the Nobel Prize in chemistry was announced. The Wall Street Journal was pushing the story via multiple Twitter accounts. So I clicked on one …
Friday 5 — 8.14.2015
Are you getting started on Slack to increase your productivity, reduce your email, and fuel your dependence on animated GIFs? Here’s a helpful how-to explaining all the basics. Technology has consequences, positive and negative. This week a new refereed online publication forum, Technology Science, launched as a place to share timely academic papers exploring the benefits and …
Friday 5 — 7.31.2015
Optimizing your business for local search starts with working through the fundamentals. Brush up on your tactics with the ultimate guide to local SEO ranking. Looks matter. An experiment revealed that news site homepages get more pageviews and user engagement when they have contemporary image-rich and modular layouts. Modular pages have discrete blocks of customizable and portable content, …