September 8th, 2011
At the end of August, hundreds of User Experience professionals gathered on the beautiful UC San Francisco campus for UX Week 2011. Days of collaborative workshops left new friends spinning with ideas, and more than one innovative startup laid its roots within the Mission Bay Conference Center.
Stephanie Slobodian
June 27th, 2011
Our clients frequently ask us how they should educate their employees on using Social Media. To answer this, we really have to approach the question from two perspectives. One perspective is simply as part of a broader Internet use policy, to help employees stay safe and protect information assets. Another perspective is to encourage employees to support their business in their daily online activities, should they choose to do so. This is essentially giving employees as “social media enthusiasts” the tools and guidance they need to help them positively contribute to the overall online marketing efforts of their employer.
Ted McLaughlan
June 6th, 2011
Internet Strategy, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Technical, Technology
If you haven’t noticed yet, Google has begun to take over the world (again). The latest in a string of popular products, both online and physical, are being rolled out in the coming weeks. While most of us are focusing on the Facebook like +1 addition, the true nugget comes in low cost notebooks that feature the Chrome OS.
Dustin Collis
May 18th, 2011
Information Architecture, Interaction Design, Internet Strategy, Marketing, Social Networking, Usability, User Experience Design, User Research
Last week, our Director of Information Architecture Kelley McDonald delivered the keynote address at the American Press Institute’s “Designing the Digital User Experience” seminar. I had the privilege to attend, hearing not only from our own Kelley, but from editorial playmakers from around the globe, including the Chairman of Folio Holdings Group, the Nigerian conglomerate attempting to build the largest media channel in Africa. The overall sentiment in the room was clear from the outset: publishers are in the fight of their lives, wrestling with an online space they don’t fully understand, while grappling with slashed budgets, staff, and uncertain guidelines for monetization. The two questions on everyone’s mind were the same: How do we attract visitors and keep their attention? And then how do we make money?
Caroline Mullen
April 28th, 2011
Internet Strategy, Marketing, Social Networking
The way I see it, there are primarily three types of people using online dating sites today: the curious, the aggressive, and the desperate.
The curious are consumed with appearing aloof. Slightly embarrassed to have created a profile in the first place, even more ashamed to have devoted hours to picture selection and perfectly constructed sentence fragments, they marvel at the esoteric starkness of their profiles and artful allusions to Kafka and Descartes. They don’t NEED online dating, but why scoff at such a wonderfully facile generational gift? All of this is of course intended to mask their fervent desire to meet new people. With this demographic, that’s just the thing: they are not concerned with the one, but with the many, and as such prefer sites like OKCupid and PlentyofFish, the distant, noncommittal cousins of eHarmony.
Hayley Wilson
April 6th, 2011
Internet Strategy, Social Networking, Webinar
The evolving digital landscape is constantly changing the way we consume and process information. NavigationArts’ Senior Consultant, Mark Davenport, helps us understand how we can move sales and marketing efforts into the digital age, leveraging websites, social media, SEO and much more to attract and convert prospects into valued customers online. In this webinar you will learn about: (more…)
Mark Davenport
April 4th, 2011
Internet Strategy, Marketing, Social Networking
Like most young people living in a city, I opt to receive emails from GroupOn and LivingSocial. In a world in which receiving and checking emails is a borderline hassle, it means a lot when someone willingly participates in these offerings, particularly if they arrive daily. Over the past 6 months of my membership, I’ve been pretty unexcited by the deals. 50% off Botox injections. 2 for 1 movie tickets. $20 for $40 at Thai Place. 65% off Kertain treatments. And the list goes on.
Hayley Wilson
March 23rd, 2011
Internet Strategy, Social Networking
In the past a website was brochure ware or advertising, it served merely to provide general visitor information. Now the-ever-evolving social media tools and technology provide a platform for museums to facilitate interactivity within the physical and web space. This has allowed people to experience museums in a different paradigm. (more…)
Shivani Aneja
March 14th, 2011
Internet Strategy, Social Networking
Groupon and Living Social and What’s the Deal are all the rage on the frontier of online advertising, representing the most successful of the quickly-growing pack of “social group coupon” merchants. They’re a very popular mashup of a number of well-known online marketing techniques, implemented in a way that clearly separates them from traditional banner ads, coupon clubs or classified advertising. They’re fun, they feel exclusive, and count on social buzz and absolutely real savings to succeed. No doubt these kinds of coupons are valuable to the users (50% off a nice dinner out? – pretty good deal); but are they beneficial to the merchants? The Jury still seems to be out with respect to reliable ROI for the businesses actually offering these “deals”.
Ted McLaughlan
April 28th, 2010
Application Development, Social Networking, Web Content Management, Web Development
Last week two colleagues and I were fortunate enough to be able to attend the North America Sitecore Dreamcore 2010 Conference in Boston. The volume of information and quality of speakers was astounding, so it’s going to take a little while to digest and distill it into something that can be managed and talked about easily.
The Sitecore management team literally braved the elements and an angry planet (referring to volcanoes and such) to get to Boston, so kudos to the whole team are in order.
Out of the shoot considering the “live” nature of a lot of conferences these days I thought it would be interesting to share some links and tips that surfaced during the conference from around the Web. (more…)
Rob Cherny
February 1st, 2010
With the latest crisis in Haiti, social networking sites and mobile texts have been key in raising funds quickly. In one day, the Red Cross received over 3 million dollars (out of $10M total) through texts and social media alone. Fundraising through mobile texts has simplified the user experience because now users don’t have to worry about getting out their credit cards, or entering personal information. They simply press a few numbers and letters. Then they pass that information onto their friends through all their social networking sites and the next thing you know, millions of dollars have just been raised.
To read more, see the latest article on CNN.
Toral Contractor
November 19th, 2009
Through social media, we’re becoming more and more connected than ever before. We’re sharing opinions, posting links that we find important, and holding conversations in social spaces. Many of us consider our friends and social networks as a primary source for information, and especially trust their opinion over a stranger’s. For example, if I become a fan of a company and join their group or if I give a restaurant a rating, my friends are likely to take note
Nikki Pampalone
October 23rd, 2008
Internet Strategy, Social Networking
Reggie Henry (CTO of ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership) led a terrific discussion at last night’s Web Content Mavens. The topic for the evening was how to sell social networking to senior executives. I’ve listed the most valuable nuggets from the presentation and ensuing discussion. Hopefully there’s something in this list that will help to shape your thinking around social networking as part of a web strategy. (more…)
Kristin Hodgson
