What We’re Reading | Week of June 25, 2012
Image courtesy of Apartment Therapy
Ashley: People joke that Facebook and Twitter control the world, but that statement holds more truth than jest these days. Beyond controlling your social voice, Twitter can now control your home appliances, too! From your morning cup of coffee and toast to your washing machine and refrigerator, Twitter’s at the command center!
Brooke: A recent online survey of 1,030 teens 13 to 17-years-old, shows that the majority of teens spend time on social networks and text heavily, but still prefer old-fashioned face-to-face communication. Go figure?! 68 percent of teens surveyed said they have a presence on Facebook, while 25 percent said they didn’t have one at all. As the article’s last line reads, “No word on how many of their parents agreed heartily.” For those of you with kids, tweens and teens, do you think your child is addicted to technology?
Paula: Facebook gone by 2020? Not exactly, but Eric Jackson, founder of Ironfire Capital, is expecting Facebook to be a much smaller player when we head into the next decade. When asked why, he said it’s Facebook’s struggle to move to the mobile web. Their ad-free mobile platform doesn’t pack the same punch for the dollar that the website does, and problems with mobile were listed among their risk factors prior to their IPO. Jackson is looking to 100% mobile platforms to be the vanguards of digital as we move into 2020 and beyond.
Susan: Are you addicted to Instagram? More importantly, are you using Instagram for a brand? Brian DiFeo, who managed the New York Instagram community for more than a year, gives 7 tips For Getting More Instagram Followers. These tips are not only for more followers but also for strategy and best practices, including my new favorite third-party website, Statigram. Instagram users should definitely check it out.
Sadie: I just read this cliff-notes style tutorial on writing catchy headlines and I found it to be pretty darn helpful. You might say these points are a no-brainer, but there’s value to following this step-by-step process to formulate a headline with an impact. These strategies can be applied to many mediums of communication where you aim to grab attention and even keep it.
Tiffany: Google +1. You see it everywhere, but do you actually use it? A new feature might make the click a lot more valuable. According to Tech Crunch,”from now on, when users hover over a +1 button on your website, they will see recommendations for other related content on your site.” I look forward to seeing how this impacts Time On Site and Pages Per Visit, two pretty important Analytics to measure web success.