INTERNET MARKETING

By Diana Gershman

Newton saw it. Gartner Group made it into a philosophy that even now terrorizes the tech market. It is known simply as the “Hype Cycle.”

The short explanation of Gartner’s theory is that something triggers a massive frenzy over a particular tech item but eventually the “hype” (or publicity) fizzes as consumers grow disillusioned about the item’s value and appeal. Sales plateau as the hype dies out. That is the landscape of the world’s tech market.

Will this happen to technology’s current fad: social media sites?

Looking at the history of invention, the “hype” usually dies out when something better turns the corner. For example, Blu-ray and online movies have practically eviscerated the market for DVDs. And in 2009, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings predicted that in two years DVDs would lose their top spot in the company’s video distribution. Ironically, not two decades ago, DVDs stole the market for cassette tapes. Call it the nature of the beast.

So where does that leave social media?

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By Elizabeth Jackman

If Facebook and Google merged, what would it be called? Facegoogle? Googlebook? Faceboogle?

I personally prefer Fa-Google. It has a Fuh-geddaboudit ring to it. As in, Fuh-geddaboud digital life as we know it.

Imagine a central login that gives you access to your social network, plus the power and utility of all Google applications and tools – your working documents and office files, your shopping preferences and Gchat, your games, email and music choices, invitations and business meetings – not to mention a highly sophisticated search index of all the information available from the world wide web.

How preposterous is this?

Completely and not at all.

Completely, because Google and Facebook are sworn enemies. The likelihood of a buyout or merger is dubious at best. (But hey, weirder things have happened.)

Not at all, because: 1) people are increasingly spending their internet time and interactions within their social networks, and 2) cloud computing is where web technology is heading.

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By Larysa D.

Do NOT:

1. Change your decisions over and over.

Do you want to use illustrations, photos, images of people, animals, etc.? Do you want a Flash or static site? Moving elements? Lots of text? No text?

Determine what you want to see on the homepage of your site at the very beginning of the design process. If you want some sort of Flash illustration, decide what type and quantity of images – vector graphics versus photos versus a single, animated object, etc…

The amount of content and pictures that you want to see on the homepage will influence your designer’s decisions on what your site will look like.

If you originally decided to display one paragraph of text and one picture, and later on in the process find yourself publishing five paragraphs and five pictures on your homepage, in addition to adding features such as a newsfeed section, client list and a portfolio gallery, then the expanded amount and variety of content  will require a very different design. Your designer will likely need to start over!

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By Diana Gershman

Finally, there is a reason not to worry. Social media site Diaspora promises to respect its users’ privacy. That means your personal information is not up for sale.

Traditionally, social media sites have used this data for ad-targeting. In the case of Facebook, this strategy was profitable in terms of ad-space, yet toxic for the site’s PR. Since 2007, Facebook has suffered an onslaught of negative press due to its ever-changing privacy policy.

Diaspora reassures its users that any data posted on its site is owned entirely by the user. In its mission statement, the site promises  ownership, choice, and simplicity.

In Facebook’s defense, the information that it gave to other sites was already public domain. Private data – such as phone numbers – now require user permission for the site to use.

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By Elizabeth Jackman

…And it’s only Tuesday!

1. Internet Rules At Center Of ‘E-G8′ Forum In Paris

On March 24 and 25, French President Nicolas Sarkozy hosts a pre-G8 Summit forum with the internet’s key holders, including Rupert Murdoch of News Corporation, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos, Microsoft Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie, Co-founder of Wikipedia Jimmy Whales and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.

Sarkozy (supported strongly by Murdoch) is pushing for regulation of the internet, in particular the protection of intellectual property and prosecution of online offenders. Google, so far, has led the charge to temper Sarkozy’s hard line, warning against applying strictures that will negatively impact the evolution of the internet as a community, as a marketplace and as a conduit to growth of new technologies.

Critics of the e-G8 complain that it is inclusive only of big business and that the real agenda is to further commercial interests at the expense of internet freedoms.

The actual G8 Summit will follow on May 26 and 27 in Deauville, France, where Sarkozy hopes to set global internet policies concerning privacy, child predators and piracy.

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By Elizabeth Jackman

Looking good is not a goal, it is a state of being. Your website should always look good. If it doesn’t – the design is likely out-of-date, or you have published more content than your current site structure can display attractively.

Once the decision has been made to redevelop your website or to develop a new website, an element that should be addressed even before you even start thinking about design is: goals.

What are the goals of your website? Beyond to simply exist?

Establishing objectives with measurable benchmarks is typically the first step any company takes before undertaking a given project. But when it comes to website development, there seems to be a common tendency among decision-makers to abandon Business 101 protocol.

For example, a B2B client recently approached us to rebuild their website. Client X was motivated by two factors: 1) they had a boatload of uncategorized content piling up that needed to be added to their site, and 2) the original employees who managed their content through a CMS had departed without training replacements or leaving behind user instructions. PLUS the content management system was REALLY antiquated.

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By Elizabeth Jackman

Amazon announced today that e-book sales are out-selling print books – both hardcover and paperback.

Boston.com reports:

The online retailer said that since April 1, it has sold 105 e-books for every 100 printed books, including printed books for which there is no electronic edition. The comparison excludes free e-books, which would tip the scales further if they were included.

The popularity of the e-book (Amazon is selling three times the number of e-books than they were this time last year) can be largely attributed to the accessibility of the Amazon Kindle, which is priced very affordably at $114. The reason behind this price-cut from the original $399 Kindle is the installation of on-screen ads, which change frequently, but do not appear within any e-book pages.

The “Kindle with Special Offers” offsets the cost of the actual device for consumers, but not the costs of e-books.

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On April Fool’s Day this year Hulu surprised its visitors with a blast from the past. When people entered the site they saw this…

Hulu homepage April 1, 2011

…a vision of what the web looked like circa 1996. Even though this was all in good fun, the April Fool’s joke showed how drastically the look of the World Wide Web has changed since its early days.

As consumers we often base our purchasing decisions on a company’s website. The easier it is to find, use and view, the more likely we are to stay on a page and visit it again in the future. The web of yesteryear is almost unrecognizable in comparison to what we see today.

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By Elizabeth Jackman

As Google evolved its algorithm, social media and social networking became increasing important, that is, relevant, to achieving positive SEO results. I am sure you noticed back in ’09 when tweets started appearing in position 1 search results…?

Facebook has been very resistant toward allowing Google bots to creep away at their community pages, however, making indexing content within The Social Network, while not impossible, tricky. While the average individual may view this anti-Google policy as protection of their privacy, it makes it difficult for the public sector to carry out and measure integrated marketing programs.

BUT…

Jive, a developer of social business software, announced today the release today of The Jive Facebook Connector.

Jive builds web-based, interactive social communities for companies and their customers. Jive’s Facebook Connector allows companies to integrate content from Facebook pages with their Jive communities, including user-generated content such as comments and posts.

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By Elizabeth Jackman

Over the weekend, I drove past a large billboard. I drove past many billboards actually, but this one caught my attention. It wasn’t a brand, company or service with which I was familiar.

“Hmm… must have said or shown something eye-catching and/or hilarious.” you may be thinking.

But, no.

The only thing catchy about this billboard was what it DIDN’T show.

A call to action, aka, CTA.

A call to action, as defined by The Motive Web Design Glossary, is:

…an advertising and marketing concept, a request/direction to ‘do something’—often the next step that a consumer could take toward the purchase of a product or service.

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