IoT #Internet of Things

More objects are becoming embedded with sensors and gaining the ability to communicate. The resulting information networks promise to create new business models, improve business processes, and reduce costs and risks. But how does this benefit you?

Imagine a world where everything can be both analogue and digitally approached; a world where everything is simultaneously connected; yes, indeed a world where you can actually talk to your coffee brewer - not strong enough!

This is the world of IoT; a world where every device has a communicator tag that allows it to talk, interact and learn from any other device with an Internet connection. Any object that carries a tag relates not only to you, but also through being read by a reader nearby, to other objects, relations or values in a database. In this world, you are no longer alone, anywhere.It holds dangers, but it also holds promises.

Currently we can discern two main blocks of thought on IoT. The first is a reactive framework of ideas and thought that sees IoT as a layer of digital connectivity on top of existing infrastructure and things. This position sees IoT as a manageable set of convergent developments on infrastructure, services, applications and governance tools. It is assumed that, as in the transition from mainframe to Internet some business will fail and new ones will emerge, this will happen within the current governance, currency end business models.

The second is a proactive framework of ideas and thought that sees IoT as a severely disruptive convergence that is unmanageable with current tools, as it will change the notion of what data and what noise is from the supply chain on to 'apps'.

What if through the IoT we can create a layer of data, open to all, through which individuals can decide for themselves what they are willing to pay for, to get direct feedback from their voluntary donations, to coordinate community spending that has a direct bearing to their needs, to negotiate with other people in other parts of the world how to use their money? Or just to adjust your coffee machine to make the exact same brew at the office as you get at home? Either or would be a revolution! 

Rise of SnapChat - Fall of Facebook?

After a slow start, including a failed phone-app, Facebook's mobile revenue finally got wind in their sails during the early summer months. In the first quarter of this year, mobile revenues rose up to 30 percent of the company’s total revenue, from having been almost non-existent a year earlier. But now the future may still not be really is so bright. The reason for this being a new generation of mobile applications, which are currently overwhelming users.

It started with the simple message apps, where Whatsapp excels with 250 million users, and competition is increasing. From Asia Wechat, Line and KakaoTalk are growing stronger, making names for themselves also in the west.

But the rocket in this context are the image and messaging app Snapchat, which has taken the younger generation by storm. Snapchat has the odd property that the images that are sent, are automatically deleted after 10 seconds. This, on one hand made it extremely popular in a privacy perspective, but on the other got Snapchat singled out as a stronghold for sending sex chats and images.

Snapchats popularity is enormous. According to Mary Meeker, renowned analyst, venture capitalist and net guru, one third of all photos shared online this year passes through Snapchats network. 200 million photos are now shared with Snapchat every day, according to the company. In February, the figure was a mere 60 million.

Meanwhile Snapchat just brought in new capital, valuing ​​the company which started as late as 2011, to 800 million USD. It's more than what Facebook finally paid for Instagram almost a year ago; that affair ended with a price tag of 715 million USD. Mark Zuckerberg's company made an attempt to copy the self-destruct Snapchats pictures with the Poke app, but to no success. Instagram recently also added a function to capture short video clips, this to meet the threat of another newcomer, Twitter-owned Vine.

The fight will (as usual) be decided by who pulls in the biggest bucks. Facebook still have some substantial mobile revenues, while neither Snapchat nor Vine, so far, have any income to speak of.

How not to #irritate #followers

It’s difficult to express how annoying the misuse of hashtags on Twitter, and now also Facebook, is. While there are definitely some upsides to using the popular conversation-tracking feature, there are many of us who either simply don’t understand how to use them appropriately, or think it’s funny to overuse them. Lets break that myth - it is not funny. Never was, never will be.

Don't get me wrong - hastags are important. Conversations collect around hashtags. Posting with the right hashtag is a great way to send your message not just to your followers, but to everyone who is tuned into that conversation.

Here are some common mistakes often made by hashtaggers:

1. Breaking Hashtags with Punctuation

Always remember that punctuation breaks hashtags. It is a common misconception that any characters following the pound sign that are not separated by a space will be clickable. This is not true. Here’s an example of a broken hashtag:

#blogging-for-profit

There is one exception; the underscore, can be used in hashtags. As a possible solution to our broken hashtag above, we could replace the hyphens with underscores:

#blogging_for_profit

Just because something is permissible, does not make it beneficial, hashtags with underscores are not best practice. Avoid using underscores in hashtags whenever possible. They are hard to remember, hard to type (especially on a phone) and therefore hard for other people to adopt.

2. Using Too Many Hashtags

Hashtags are most powerful when you use them judiciously. Including more than two in a post is probably overkill, and you only need to tag the most important word that represents the theme of your post. Example:

i just ate a grape
#food #grape #grapes #white grapes #wine #fruits #vintage #fashion #gifs #text #trendy #lol #random #90s #90s kids #hipster #hipster edit #tv #t #v #coffee #starbucks #art #artists #drawings #paint

This is spam. Stick with no more than two or three hashtags. Period.

3. Using Hashtags That Are Too Long
Reading long hashtags is like reading a run-on sentence. They’re hard to read, and there is only a small chance that others users will care to use them. Keep your hashtags as short as possible, this will also make it easier for followers to reuse them, and your community to get started. 

4. Being Redundant
Another common mistake is posting including a hashtag of a word mentioned earlier in the post. Here’s an example:

I really enjoy blogging about social media. #blogging

To save characters and avoid being redundant, this should be rewritten as:

I really enjoy #blogging about social media.

5. Not Using PascalCase
PascalCase is a term most often used in web development to describe how phrases with multiple words but no spaces are joined with capital letters. It is just as applicable to hashtags.

#thishashtagdoesnotusepascalcase
This hashtag is extremely hard to read, so lets make it easier.

#ThisHashtagDoesUsePascalCase
Aside from the fact that this hashtag is too long, it is much easier to read than the previous example. If you ever use more than one word in a hashtag, do everyone a favor and use PascalCase.

You now know how to use hashtags without making most common mistakes. Now go out and hashtag, but please remember not to annoy or spam anyone while doing it - that will only hurt yourself in the long run!

Digital Marketing Transit Map

The digital landscape covers a wide, complex territory. To plan and manage technology effectively, digital marketers need to understand the inherent relationships between diverse operational areas, applications, technologies and vendors.

The Gartner Digital Marketing Transit Map shows the relationships among business functions, application services and solution providers. Use it to create a digital marketing solutions strategy, improve operations and plan initiatives.

Looking at this map, you cannot help but be awestruck by the breadth and depth of digital marketing. I mean, I work in this space for a living and write this blog as my hobby — I know, I don’t get out much — and I don’t even know some of these stations. Many of them I have only a passing familiarity with.

The Digital Marketing Transit Map is designed to identify the best sources for your needs and acquire systems that work well together. It will help you:

• Identify the connections among business functions, application tracks and providers.
• Find additional research or structure questions about strategy and best practices as well as providers, products, and selection criteria.
• Mediate discussions between marketing and IT.

At first it may seem like an overwhelming source of information, but spend a few minutes studying it and it will quickly turn into one of this years clear enlightenments!

Facebook vs Samsung

You don’t stay in business since the late 1930s by being reckless and backing a losing prospect. This is certainly the case with Samsung who has been around for decades and has no designs on failing now. A couple of years ago if Facebook had come to the company offering to collaborate on an FB centric mobile handset perhaps Samsung would have given it serious thought. However, when Mark Zuckerberg suggested such a project to Samsung big wigs at a recent meeting he was met with a resounding and deafening NO.

Oh, and how wise Samsung is to say no so clearly because it is very evident that cell phone consumers do not want an FB cell. I mean, the HTC One, which was Facebook’s first attempt at making their own cell phone was a massive, unmistakable failure. This was just a few months ago and Zuckerberg is looking to try again so soon? The batteries are barely cold on those HTC failures and they are approaching a tech giant like Samsung to try again.

The honest truth, and Zuckerberg needs to realize this, is that it wasn’t that the first phones were bad. In fact, many reviewers were impressed with the HTC Ones as phones. The problem was that they were just too Facebook focused and no one really wants that much FB. If your life revolves around Facebook so much that you would want it displayed so prominently on your cell phone you probably never leave the house so why do you need a mobile device? The answer is you don’t, and that is why a Facebook centric phone will not work. Bullet dodged, Samsung.

Fans Unlock Pink Floyd

Last Thursday night as an unexpected appeal emerged from Pink Floyd's twitter account:

"Help stream Wish You Were Here 1 million times to unlock Pink Floyd's catalogue on Spotify,"

Consequently, on Friday, June 14th Spotify launched a global campaign to engage Pink Floyd fans around their iconic song “Wish You Were Here” - the deal was once we hit 1 million streams, then the full catalogue would go live. Help was not long in coming. On Monday the target was passed, and the magic and rock legends honored their promises

Pink Floyd are otherwise not known to like the digital age. According to Rolling Stone the band sued their label EMI last year because the label where allowing individual songs to be sold on iTunes, instead of the whole album.

"It's a great day for fans of prog rock, but it's also a great day for younger fans who have yet to be really turned on to the magic of Pink Floyd," said Ken Parks, Spotify's chief content officer. "That's a lot of what this is about: bringing a new generation of fans to one of the biggest and most iconic bands in the world."

It's also a great day for crowdsourcing, since this is one major example of the power behind the digital masses!

Check it out now: http://spoti.fi/pinkFloyd

iPhone Controller

The iPhone is already one of the largest gaming platforms on the market — the App Store makes it easy for developers to get their titles to customers and iPhone owners spend a significant amount of time on the device gaming.

iOS 7 includes support for MFi "Made for iPhone" Apple Certified hardware game controllers, which will allow manufacturers to create dedicated iOS gaming controllers, turning the iPhone and the iPad into gaming machines on par with handheld gaming systems. Apps will be able to be designed around the game controller framework, allowing for seamless connectivity.

So here we have what appears to be a style of game controller that allows you to see the screen of your phone, as well as an entirely standalone controller with what seems to be dual analog sticks. Also, rumors say that Apple has reinforced that if your game is going to support a game controller it needs to be totally playable without.

"Made for iPhone" is going to be the familiar branding for these controllers, and developers will have one common interface to code. Allegedly, there's even some prototype controllers floating around WWDC (Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2013).

Will we be playing a proper Zelda: A Link to the Past on the iPhone this fall? I sure hope so!

note: if you happen to have an Apple Developer ID you can read all about the controller here

How to EdgeRank

Ever wondered how Facebook always seem to know what´s best for you, and how to target you for those ads just you want? If this algorithm (left) is clear to you, then you can stop reading now. If not, here’s how to decipher this important calculation. 

The method has been dubbed “Facebook's Edge Rank”, and is an algorithm that determines what content appears in users' news feed. An Edge is basically everything that "happens" in Facebook. Examples of Edges would be status updates, comments, likes, and shares.

Facebook looks at everything published - status updates, links, images, video etc. - as "objects." Each object then receives an over-all point-ranking (an EdgeRank if you may), determines whether the object will be displayed in the user's personal news feed. An object's EdgeRank is based on several factors, where only three factors are officially known: the relationship between the creator and the user, the interaction with the object (how many likes, comments, etc.) and immediacy (time-decay parameter).

Affinity: is a one-way relationship between a User and an Edge.

Weight: is a value system created by Facebook to increase/decrease the value of certain actions within Facebook.

Time-Decay: refers to how long the Edge has been alive; the older it is the less valuable it is.

Objects with high EdgeRank appear in the "Top News" feed. Objects with low EdgeRank may not appear at all. Unlike Google's PageRank, which remains the same from user to user, each EdgeRank is based on the individual Facebook users who may (or may not) see the object in their news feed.

If a Brand generally has low EdgeRank objects, then the Brand's updates will be seen by less people. This means that their Facebook marketing budget is less effective than it could be. Brands that are succeeding with high EdgeRank objects are leveraging their Facebook budget by multitudes. The difference between leveraging and being punished by EdgeRank is substantial, and your brand will ultimately be judged by your ability to engage your content. Some Brands have natural success such as the NBA and NFL due to their media rich content, and highly engaged audience.

Tracking your EdgeRank is vital to anyone who wants to run a Facebook marketing campaign, since it is probably the only way to get an actual reading on the campaign’s penetration. Combining EdgeRank with a strong Analytics monitoring will yield a successful Facebook campaign!

Heres a quick tutorial:

Appolution

When the iPhone was launched in June of 2007 it was an immediate improvement over previous smartphones and palm pilots. Many a Treos and Nokia 7110s cried out in terror as they were retired that day. While the original iPhone was a noticeable improvement over previous mobile devices, it was still very limited. After all, it had only half a screen of applications and lacked basic tools like a task manager.

Fast forward to 2013 and the iPhone has become a much more integrated device for managing productivity. More recently, a new breed of iPhone apps have begun to hit the App Store that have more intuitive and sleek interfaces. Here are my top pick that may have slipped under your radars.

Evernote

Evernote is my go-to app for organizing the big-data of life. I keep everything in it; meeting notes, audio notes, quotes, blog ideas and drafts, important documentation, articles that I've saved and a great deal more. Evernote is the last notebook you'll ever need. The true power of Evernote resides in its unique search capabilities that allow users to filter notes and documents quickly to access the information they need.

Dropbox

On the surface, Dropbox is another app that allows users to sync, store, share and access files across all their devices. Because Dropbox supports Apple, Microsoft and Android platforms, it is by far the best app for collaborating, storing files and backing devices up.

1Password

Unfortunately, humans are generally not very good at creating or remembering strong passwords that don't include our pet's names or the last 4-digits of our social security numbers. 1Password encrypts and stores all that info, so that user need only remember 1 password. It has a built in Internet browser that will automatically log users in to websites and auto fill account information as they browse on their iOS device.

Interval Run

Finally I thought I’d end this list with a tip for all you runners out there. Want a virtual coach in your ear buds? Then try out this app that tells users when to start running and when to (finally) take a breather. I searched high and low to find an app that would let me customize my intervals any which way I wanted. Noticing that most apps only would let you program one set at a time (5*20 sec) I felt like the hunt was lost. Then I found Interval Run which solves all my interval problems. In addition to Tabata workouts, the app let’s users customize longer running workouts, from 5K plans to hour-long runs. Cost: $1.99 – worth every penny!

#Facebook

Facebook announced yesterday that it is bringing hashtags to its service, thereby fixing a broken link that so far prevented 1.11 billion users from associating themselves with celeb gossip, breaking news, and popular memes. The company says hashtags have become “a vital part of popular culture” and since it has seen users using them on the social network organically, it has decided to actually implement the feature.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, the hashtag is a word or a phrase prefixed with the symbol #. The # symbol has long been an important part of the micro-blog Twitter, letting users connect to shared interests and trends. Now Facebook wants to catch up.

- To date, there has not been a simple way to see the larger view of what's happening or what people are talking about, said Greg Lindley, responsible for introducing hashtags to Facebook, in a statement.

 
The new feature means Facebook users can now:

• Search for a specific hashtag from your search bar. For example, #NFLFinals, #Steelers or #HeinzField. 
• Click on hashtags that originate on other services, such as Instagram. 
• Compose posts directly from the hashtag feed and search results. 

Obviously the update is a sign of the increasingly intense competition between Facebook and Twitter. If the hashtags hit it off and become popular as on Facebook as it is on Twitter, Facebook may just become the important tool for all live monitoring of any event. 

Needless to say this is a long overdue update for Facebook. Users with linked Instagram accounts have long tormented Facebook with endless hashtag streams, which in essence is the best thing that could happen to a Big Data collector as Facebook. Users have been feeding structured, searchable data for months, Facebook have just chosen to ignore it. This small update will add tremendous value to the company, especially since it feeds itself. Get your stock options ready - Facebook will rise again!

SEO for Newbies

Search Engine Optimization (SEO for short) is pure rocket science - and beyond. Not even actual rocket scientists can always make SEO work for them, as proven by the fact that if you search for "rocket science" on Google your result will rather yield movies and memes, than physics and math.

However, as the inventors and creators of this new field of study, Google have also release a guidebook vital to anyone slightly confused by SEO - I dare to say that this document is bread and butter for web-novices and PHP-dragons alike. It details what to work with, how, to which extent, and probably most importantly; why?

Find the guide here.

Keeping Social Professional

Social media, in all its glory, is growing with revenues soaring for most of the big sites. However, with some of the sites the general value of the stock price is less stable and this indicates one main thing. The frivolous nature of most social media sites mean that it is hard to take it seriously as an investment choice. The fact is that only one of the big social media sites is respected enough to be showing constant positive growth in stock price and general growth.

Thanks largely in part to its grown-up business model, LinkedIn is showing the kind of stability and growth that Facebook and Twitter could only dream of. During 2012 when all other sites were struggling to find consistency LinkedIn posted growth in revenue, profit and stock price in the region of 80%.

So, why is LinkedIn so successful? The answer is very simple – it’s because LinkedIn is professional and not about sharing pictures of puppies and memes about political outrage. People use LinkedIn to find employment, employees and forge business connections. Essentially the social media site is revolutionizing the way people seek and find employment and while it is doing so it is making a huge amount of money from employers and advertisers alike. It is therefore clear that professionalism is the only way to get ahead in social media.

Facebook no more

Despite growing stock values which some feel are being produced by inflated ad revenue projections, Facebook may be on the decline. The reason being that recent studies indicate that the key teenage demographic may be turning their backs on FB in favor of other sites. It was earlier this year that the company itself warned investors that their younger users are actively using other sites such as Twitter and and Tumblr. Well, research has now proved that warning true and also outlined some of the key reasons.

In a report compiled by Pew Research it would appear that the teen crowd is jumping ship in favor of sites that are more real and authentic. This used to be Facebook for many youngsters but the site has changed greatly and now the teens are getting irritated. The drama, watchful parents and the “too-old” adults are apparently driving the youngsters away to sites where these elements are less prevalent.

The younger crowd is favoring Twitter and Tumblr because they are essentially less social. They do not have to interact as much as they do on Facebook. Drama is a big issue for many who just don’t want to be part of the stresses and strains of other’s lives. Let’s face it, teens are really only worried about what’s going on in their own or their favorite celebs’ lives. So they don’t really want to watch drama unfold with their friends or family, I mean that’s just soooo embarrassing, right?

Change 2013

The only constant is change, and that’s all the more evident in the social media landscape.

Only recently, all that chatter was about Pinterest and Instagram; today it’s moved on to WeChat and Vine. Tomorrow it will probably be something we yet haven´t heard about (it is tomorrow's news after all).

We Are Social recently summarized new trends for 2013. Have a look and see if you are up to speed with the changes forthcoming. I have summarized the key trends below, but please take your to read the entire deck.

Simultaneous Social Transmedia Experiences

Ability to multitask across devices simultaneously present an opportunity for brands to create interconnected experiences, where a brand’s story is told across various mediums.

Communities vs. Platforms

They came, they left, and they’re trickling in again. Brands should create communities around their audiences’ shared passions, not around platforms.

Mobile Life vs. Mobile Phone

Our cellphones are no longer just a device, its life. Your are expected to always stay connected, and you expect the same from brands around you.

Content Tapas

Creating ‘content snacks’ – bite-sized, easily digestible, unknowingly addictive – this will make your costumers return for more!

Commitments, not Campaigns

Like with any relationship, it could have started off with a pick up line, and sweetened with one-off celebrations throughout the year, but there is also the everyday conversations that allow you to understand each other better.

Socially Interactive Customer Service

People demand for and expect customer service whenever they want it. Brands need to adjust to account for this.

Social Buying

Social recommendations will become the key driver of referrals that brands have to facilitate, in order to leverage word-of-mouth, and peer-to-peer recommendations.

Social Sharing as Currency

Through social sharing, the brand gets a social stamp of approval from the consumers, which is a more credible form of endorsement.

Social Inside

Rather than just being a brand that does social, be a brand that IS social.

Crisis and Opportunity Management

Events and news spread like wildfire through social media. This is a great way for brands to spread awareness and help reinforce the brand’s mission or association.

We Are Social - Future Factors 2013 from We Are Social Singapore

Pathways into Purchase

Consumers today continue to embrace all things digital to enhance their shopping experience. Digital channels and devices have enabled today’s consumers to be more discerning about how they buy, from where, and at what prices. This disrupted “path to purchase” has complicated the marketer’s job since they tries to reach their shopper with more timely and relevant offers, both online and off. Particularly at the start of the buying process, consumers are doing more research online than ever.

This also alters the behavior of how a costumer finally reaches a purchase. He may have researched a particular item or service all day using his laptop, but then decides to perform the actual purchase from his cellphone on the way home. If that product is not offered via the mobile system, then the retailer will not only have lost this one sale, but potentially the entire costumer, who at this point simply will log on to the competitors site and buy the product there.

Knowing the path to purchase is vital for knowing how, when, and where a costumer interacts with a company. This helpful infograph should be studied inside-out by anyone wanting to get into multichannel ales -- which today is know simply as "sales".

HyperInflation 2.0

Right now a totally amazing and fascinating story about virtual hyperinflation is unfolding, crashing the economy of Blizzard's MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) Diablo 3. Blizzard blew its economic strategy for Diablo 3 by making the "sinks" (places where gold is taken out of the economy) unattractive, adding in real-money-for-stuff trades, and then letting a bug run wild. Before you knew it, players were loading up virtual wheelbarrows full of virtual gold to buy virtual bread.

This was demonstrated when, in a message board entry prefaced by stating “Sell Equipment before Patch 1.0.5 Hits!” (a patch is a piece of software added to an operational program or application as bugs are found, changes desired, or ways of improving performance discovered), a player warned that,

Blizzard just announced that the drop rates for [certain] items are going to be doubled … if you haven’t already, you should consider converting your current gear to cash … since real $ [are] the best hedge against gold devaluation.

If historical cases of hyperinflation — real, and now virtual — have one thing in common, it is the instinct among its victims to blame the symptoms rather than the disease. The Austrian economist Hans Sennholz noted that during the German hyperinflation, “intrigue and artifice” were believed to be at work. Similarly, a handful of Diablo 3 players, frustrated about the decimation of their purchasing power, expressed increasing suspicion of manipulation and conspiracy theories.

Why are certain items priced so astronomically high? Many of them are not even that good yet cost 100’s of millions of gold. … I have about 45,000,000 gold saved up [and] check every few days to see if I can get any upgrades that are worth the gold, but … everything is vastly overpriced … clearly controlled by the gold sellers.

This, however, is not the first time hyperinflation has struck Blizzards virtual worlds. A few years back their now iconic game World of Warcraft was truck by a similar economic melt-down, when trade moved out of the game, and on to Craigslist and E-Bay. Gamers were selling their loot and gear to the highest bidder offline, and then simply handing these extremely sough after and costly items to its new owner online. However, an in-game mechanic forces a player who trades an item to give something in return, be it another item or other tender. Since the real trade already had been executed offline this was simply a facade, and the meant-to-be super expensive sword was traded for an shabby copper coin.

The virtual money lost all its value, prices on in-game items skyrocketed, and the hyperinflation was a fact. Blizzard had to close down servers, migrate players, and sanitize the entire economical system. Its funny to me how instances of the economy that we are trying our hardest avoid in real life, apparently cannot be circumvented not even i worlds we fully control.