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 — 1.15.2016
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 …
Friday 5 — 1.8.2016
A lot of 2016 predictions, including Fred Wilson’s excellent list, mention consumer adoption of virtual reality (VR) games and apps. This week, Oculus announced a March release date and a price point just shy of $600. The New York Public Library, often a leader in digital, has released more that 187,000 digitized images in the public domain. You …
Friday 5 — 9.25.2015
Facebook has already established itself as a formidable video-serving rival to YouTube. This week, with the help of its Oculus acquisition, Facebook launched 360 degree videos — click and drag the video above to see what is now possible. This interactivity is terrific for all kinds of immersive experiences from tours to product demos, as well as myriad off-label …
Friday 5 — 8.28.2015
Why do some videos go viral while others seemingly underperform? HBR looks at how psychological response and social motivation drive video sharing. Apparently it doesn’t hurt to reach the “supersharers,” who are responsible for 82.4% of total video shares. Slack’s integrations — from GitHub to Giphy — make the team collaboration app delightfully sticky. This week Slack announced a …
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 — 7.10.2015
We all see (and rely on) many more visual representations of data these days — charts are everywhere in your social streams. Needless to say, how you set up your chart to reflect the numbers matters. Here’s a handy guide to spotting charts that lie. (Yes, Yankees fans, that chart is deceiving.) Facebook is already a …
Friday 5 — 6.19.2015
Buzzfeed released a news app — and it’s a triumph of substance over listicles. The iOS-only app has a clean design and feature set for mobile, streamlined social sharing, and easy customization options. It’s relatively late to the game compared to the pared down and newly-free NYT Now, but will still likely be a contender for …
Friday 5 — 5.29.2015
It’s worth reading every one of Mary Meeker’s internet trends slides. I’m struck by the relative rapidity and impact of the trends in the American work environment, including what motivates the millennial workforce (hint: not money), the ways connectivity has changed the nature of work, and the rise of online platforms, marketplaces and their impact. The …
Friday 5 — 5.1.2015
Facebook is up to 4 billion daily video viewers, and some think it may unseat YouTube as the go-to video destination. Not much of a present for YouTube’s 10th birthday. Instead of bucketing content referrals by each social network, BuzzFeed launched a new technology to track content shares across social networks. Dubbed Process for Optimizing and Understanding Network Diffusion …