Interesting Social Media Landscape

Social Media Landscape 2012 « FredCavazza.net FredCavazza.net

Check out the link, then come back -- it's OK, I'll wait -- good, you're back.

One of the most interesting things about today's social media landscape is the rush to mobile devices. I'm composing this on a tablet and many have access to a mobile phone. Many spend a good deal of time on those places. In developing a message today, the mobile places are as or more important than the traditional ones. If you aren't thinking mobile, you are likely missing much of your intended audience.

Thinking mobile means thinking small, precise, and focused to be able to take advantage of the smaller real estate on portable devices. Thinking mobile also means thinking connected. That is providing your audience with a means to share your message easily with others in their places. When you publish, you need to be ready for sharing. Your message, at least in part, can spread quickly from place to place. You need to think of all parts of your message being quoted, pinned, tweeted, pasted just about anywhere at phenomenal speed.

It's a rapid, interconnected eco sphere in which your place is connected with all other places at the speed of light.

New Online Place -- The Library

Yep, a new place to find me is at the library. Not the brick and mortar building, but the one on the net. To keep up with the times, libraries are offering eBooks and other online offerings and I'm there.

I have long complained about the cost of eBooks and have avoided them for that reason. With physical books you can get used ones to save some dough, but with eBooks you don't have that option.

Now our library offers eBooks to check out, just as you would a physical book. You can reserve them if all the copies are out and get an email when it is available. All the stuff you would do at the physical library.

There is one drawback from my point-of-view. One is the 3 week checkout period. Sure that's plenty of time to read most books, but sometimes it isn't. If you purchase the book, no big deal. If you get it from thee library, either physical or virtual, it might be. The savings are definitely worth this minor inconvenience.

So check out your library's web site and enjoy reading at an affordable cost.

Fear of missing out?

Reference

Are you afraid of missing out on information in your electronic places? Do you take your devices camping, hiking, and into obscure places? When you are disconnected, do you break out into cold sweats? Is the first thing you do when you wake up to check Facebook, Twitter, etc.?

Is there intervention for that?

Tablet Housecleaning

I have a problem with space on my Acer A100 tablet and until Acer gets it together, I have been looking at the apps I loaded. I have been looking at those which require Internet access especially. Since I use WiFi, unless ther is some compelling feature in the app, it really isn't worth using it instead of the browser version. In fact, there are a couple of apps where I actually PREFER the mobile version of the site over the app.

I think I may be finding the purpose for the tablet. As I have said before, it is definitely better at consuming content than at producing it. It is kind of nice as a book reader and for getting the news and accessing social media. I guess I'm still searching for the perfect mix of devices for my style and budget.

The case for responsive web content

Take a look at this page by Christiaan Lustig. It argues for design based on "top tasks" and not particularly on the patform -- mobile vs. desktop vs. tablet. I agree with his conclusions that you should look for your users' top tasks and that these will change based on their location/context rather than on the particular platform they are using.

Sure, I still think you should start with the smallest platform -- i.e. mobile -- to force the team to consider the most basic elements of your responsive design and what is really important to your users, but he raises good points about the "locational" and "situational" elements involved in determining what is important to your customer when they visit your site in different situations.

It's a good read.

Acer A100 More Experience

I have spent more time with the tablet and have been a bit disappointed. It seems that the A100 doesn't store programs on the SD card which causes memory issues. Acer REALLY needs to fix that in their next release. I also have been unable to root the device. I have removed a number of apps (which I really wasn't using all that much) and have gained back the space to some extent. Rather frustrating, however.

Pinterest, Still trying to figure it out

I'm still trying to figure out this site. It appears that images are the thing, but not much else. I browse through things and still don't get it. Maybe I'm just old or not into images all that much.