Loopt introduces location based ads — WSJ http://ow.ly/15uVd // This creates more options for local businesses to drive customers, in addition to other tools, such as Happn.in ads (where businesses advertise on Twitter) and Yelp! (where customers rate their service).
This is a retweet from @avinashkaushik: A wonderful info-graphic: The State of The Internet 2009: http://goo.gl/aKj8 Live in Japan, connect with Norwegians!
Explaining how a digital magazine could work
With so much discussion about the iPad and the impact on e-books (see the New York Times article regarding the potential price premium of an e-book because of the iPad), there has not been much discussion on digital magazines. Until now.
Gregg Hano, Group Publisher of Bonnier Technology Group, spoke at a recent gathering sponsored by Digital Flash NYC (which sponsors some great business panels with solid Q&A — see the Digital Flash NYC site here for more on the group and their event schedule!) . Hano presented an explanatory video of the digital version of Popular Science magazine, currently researched with Bonnier design partner BERG, and spoke about the challenges and opportunity potential. Hano graciously listened to many questions from the audience, with excellent queries ranging from analytics to owner’s rights to the purchased content. Highlighted queries include:
For web analytics, this along with iPad are further example of content consumption away from a given tagged website. The new challenge for blogs, e-magazines, newspapers, and other content providers is to capture the path that leads to traditional web metrics such as increased time on site and conversion.
You can view the Bonnier/BERG video on the development of a digital magazine here.
Having trouble trying to communicate a data-interpreted decision with the executive team? Or maybe a small business client is really resistant to understanding the need for adding analytics to a website? Many professionals run into trouble managing the expectations of others. The difficulty can be a particular pain when the situation applies to a client, be it corporate or small. I call it “client funk”. The following are sources of quick tips that can help analytics practitioners minimize “client funk”.
Michael Bierut at Pentagram presented before 300 creative design students and graduates at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn. The talk was sponsored by CreativeMornings, a designer forum based in New York City. His talk offered a balanced view of the client/designer relationship, stating the factors that make or break a designer’s success, as well as what makes a good (and bad) client. His intended audience are web designers, but the perspective is very sound for web analytics practitioners, and furthermore, any service providers who work intimately with a client.
For corporate environments, analytics practitioners must understand financial terms to convince managers and decision makers on analytics-related projects. To sway and convince project skeptics, three metrics must be kept in mind with every argument of a project’s merit:
The third is a metric based on the prior two — return on investment (ROI).
This post on creating an analytics corporate culture (by Top Rank’s Jolina Pettice) offers more on how to convince executive management as well as best practices to establishing analytics as an integral part of a business.
You can also read Avinash Kaushik’s book Web Analytics 2.0. Much of his book addresses the challenges of working with various departments to create an analytics environment. For those with broader analytics application, there is another book, called Analytics at Work, by Tom Davenport and Jeanne Harris.
At the annual National Retailer Foundation expo in New York, large vendors offered model digital displays that provide more than store information. These displays offer users the ability to find retail inventory and departments quickly, with touch features similar to an iPhone (or iPad, if you will!). One display providing ability to add a selection to a mobile wallet — with a light touch of a semi-transparent display users can call the image of their selection, just like a selection on a webpage, and then move the image to a virtual wallet linked to a mobile phone. The consumer can then purchase the selection with a credit card.
And who are the leaders who displayed this technology? Adobe? Google?
Try Intel and Hewett Packard.
Yeah.
This development makes a lot of sense in some ways. HP makes plasma screen for home. The increased appearance of plasma screen in commercial environments gives a natural extension opportunity for HP.
Intel can be more of a mystery at first blush, its main product being processors. But Intel’s involvement in digital display shows an end use for Intel-powered mobile devices.
It also means:
Most of all, this development will aid the main battlecry of many analytics practitioners, that analytics unlocks value for companies. Many professionals have become evangelists for analytics within their firms, explaining the importance of metrics to varied departments. The growth of display functionality can only strengthen the case that analytics is essential for consumer satisfaction and profitable operations.
It’s not everyday one gets to share a book on which a client help create, so I am figuring a healthy shout-out is in order here.
Stuart Scott created a coffeetable book called We Shall Overcome: A Song That Changed The World. The book tells the story of how the famous song played a galvanizing role in the civil rights movement, as well as other social events during the period. There is a CD recording of the song included with the book.
Terrance Cummings, a former Zimana client, created the illustrations for the book. Cummings is an award winning illustrator, an art director, and a former teacher at Parsons School of Design. He has illustrated several books in his past, along with managing catalog layout design and graphic design projects for corporate clients. He has a studio in New Jersey, just outside of New York City.
Stuart Scott’s appearance will be at Politics and Prose in Washington DC on February 11th (click here to learn more) . You can purchase the book via Amazon (click here for purchase). The Amazon site also has a cool video to accompany the post.
I wish the very best to Stuart and Terrance.
And I wish the very best to all during Black History Month.
Pierre
RT @nickjayres @smulpuru @CNNMoney: How The Wiggles became an empire http://bit.ly/6umS77 // fun stuff RT by Georgia Tech classmate
RT @GoogleRetail: New Google Place Pages Help Local Businesses Reach Existing and New Customers http://ow.ly/WFtZ
RT @eMarketer: Study: Shopping with Smartphones | Android users willing to spend more than iPhone users – http://bit.ly/74v05G
Feedburner