As the number of smartphone users rise, the ability to get real-time location-based information depending on where you are has also risen. Getting directions, finding out where exactly you are and find out where the nearest shops, restaurants, cultural hotspots and places of interest has grown in importance. It’s why more and more people are using services like Google Maps, Facebook Check-in and Foursquare when they’re out and about.
A new report from Pew Research has found that almost three-quarters (74 per cent) of U.S. smartphone users surveyed get real-time location-based information on their phones as of February 2012, an increase from May 2011 where it was 55 per cent. This increase coincides with a rise in smartphone ownership overall from 35 per cent of adults in 2011 to 46 per cent in 2012. It also means that the overall number of U.S. adults who access location-based information has almost doubled over that time from 23 per cent in May 2011 to 41 per cent in February 2012
Geosocial services like Foursquare also experienced an increase in usage. Around 18 per cent of smartphone owners use geosocial services on their phones, compared to 12 per cent back in 2011. This roughly equals 10 per cent of all adults using these services in February 2012. Unsurprisingly, of all of the smartphone owners who use geosocial services, 93 per cent also get location-based information such as directions and GPS.
The survey was compiled by Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and was carried out from January 20th to February 19th 2012 where 2,253 adults were asked about their use of location-based services.
Mark Zuckerberg created a serious fuss this week by turing up to the Facebook IPO roadshow wearing a hoodie. A couple of analysts got their knickers in a twist saying that he was showing a lack of respect, which was then followed by blogs and the press having a go at the stiff bankers who are totally set in their ways.
Now one enterprising company is looking to cash in on the incident (with some lucky timing it has to be said) with the release of the world’s first executive hoodie. It’s called The Executive Pinstripe Hoodie and it’s pretty expensive as it has a $149 pricetag, but it’s made to help you blend in with the best dressed people in the office, while still appealing to your inner skater.
Zuckerberg’s dress sense has always been a source of amusement from the early days of the Adidas trainers right through to the exact details the producers of the film The Social Network went to match his unique casual taste. Fair play to the company for coming up with this and while we can’t see them shifting too many in the long term, it’s a great way of promoting their other lines.
If you like this so much that you want one right now, you can head over and pre-order and they will be made available at the end of May. You might not have Zuckerberg’s billions, but you can have his dress sense at least.
Every day while researching the latest trends for clients or finding stories for the blog, I come across some brilliant reads that I bookmark and keep for myself to read when I have a bit of spare time.
Rather than being selfish and keeping all that great content to myself, I decided to start a feature here where I share ten must-read social media and technology stories of the day. Most of these will go beyond breaking news and will be insightful posts, articles or videos that are worth starting your day with.
Most people have been very positive about the social readers on Facebook, but the guys over on Readwriteweb take a view from the other side of the fence: Why Facebook Social Reading Apps Don’t Work
Anywhere you go in the world of social media these days, people are talking about influence and how to measure it, but this is a good piece on The Fallacy Of Influence
A little video today that has nothing to do with marketing or social media, but that put a huge smile on my face and will hopefully do the same for you. These children will never have heard of Facebook or Twitter, but look how happy they are!
Every day while researching the latest trends for clients or finding stories for the blog, I come across some brilliant reads that I bookmark and keep for myself to read when I have a bit of spare time. Rather than being selfish and keeping all that great content to myself, I decided to start a feature here where I share ten must-read social media and technology stories of the day.
Most of these will go beyond breaking news and will be insightful posts, articles or videos that are worth starting your day with.
Google has been coming under lots of pressure in recent months from many different angles. Now one of their founders, Sergey Brin, has gone on a major rant against Facebook and Apple for locking down parts of the internet and not allowing Google Spiders to access them.
Everybody knows that networking is a massive help in business, but this article in the New York Times takes a good in-depth look at how important a role the scene in Silicon Valley played in the success of Instagram.
Jason Calcanis is always somebody who will have a rant on his blog and in emails on a weekly basis, but this week’s one is well worth reading as he makes a great case for Apple becoming a trillion dollar company off the back of mobile payments.
More news on the Google being mildly evil front. This time, MG Siegler has a look at why splitting their stock could be seen as evil as the founders try to gain ultimate control over the company for the long run.
There has been a lot of fuss about the Facebook Instagram deal and one of their competitors (Camera +) have come up with a brilliant little description in their app page on the iPhone.
This citizen journalism app lets you create the news and decide which story matters. It’s a space that is really hotting up at the moment and this app looks to put even more power in the hands of the reporter on the street.
Startups have a language of their own and Virgin have come up with a brilliant series of translations that will have you laughing all day long about the rubbish that gets talked on the scene.
Every day while researching the latest trends for clients or finding stories for the blog, I come across some brilliant reads that I bookmark and keep for myself to read when I have a bit of spare time. Rather than being selfish and keeping all that great content to myself, I decided to start a feature here where I share ten must-read social media and technology stories of the day. Most of these will go beyond breaking news and will be insightful posts, articles or videos that are worth starting your day with.
Zynga is now one of the biggest companies in the social web space and their founder Mark Pincus is hailed as a huge success. However, in this brilliant interview, he explains how he has failed in the past before making it big. How to Fail: Mark Pincus
We all spend so much time on our computers, smartphones and social networks these days and this excellent piece asks us the question if Is Facebook Making Us Lonely? Possibly a little over the top but good reading.
Will Data Monopolies Paralyze the Internet? With all of us pouring more and more of our personal and professional data into the social web, Jon Bruner looks at where all this data will take us in the future and wonders about the large corporations controlling it all.
Much of the focus in the smartphone market these days centers around Apple and the iPhone, but one of the biggest battles over the last couple of years has been between Samsung and Nokia. This fantastic piece paints a picture of how Samsung beat Nokia.
So video is fast becoming a great way to convert visitors into sales on your website or blog, and this guest post over on Problogger gives a good run down of what does and doesn’t work. Use Video Testimonials to Increase Conversions
So Apple usually get a ton of praise from everybody in the tech press, but this is a good balanced look at why they might need a fresh start when it comes to their operating system. iOS Needs a Fresh Start
So Ze Frank, one of the most creative people on the internet over the last number of years is back and most people seem to be seriously happy. The guys over on Copy Blogger have a look at what you can learn from his creative side
These guys are brilliant at marketing themselves as they trick a whole shopping mall in to thinking that one of their friends is famous. It goes as far as one of the guys even getting a date out of it.
Every day while researching the latest trends for clients or finding stories for the blog, I come across some brilliant reads that I bookmark and keep for myself to read when I have a bit of spare time. Rather than being selfish and keeping all that great content to myself, I decided to start a feature here where I share ten must-read social media and technology stories of the day. Most of these will go beyond breaking news and will be insightful posts, articles or videos that are worth starting your day with.
Many people reading this blog (built on WordPress) will be thinking about starting their own blog and wondering that platform to choose. A new study just released shows that the top 100 blogs in the world are mostly built on WordPress.
All the talk in the last couple of days has been about Facebook acquiring Instagram, but is there a reason why acquisitions always work so well for the social network? This insightful piece looks at the personal touch that Mark Zuckerberg adds when courting a company they are after.
Yesterday was all about the U.S. government taking a case against Apple because of their pricing in the eBook market and this excellent piece wonders: Who is less evil, Amazon or book publishers?
Facebook and Instagram: When Your Favorite App Sells Out. The New York Times take a look at the biggest social media story of the year so far from a more non-tech stand point and the comments on this story are also well worth reading to help you judge the mood around the sale.
Another story about Apple and this time talking about their music offering and how it’s time for iTunes to right the syncing ship. It is a product that has been around for over ten years now and although it has huge success, it could be time for something different as the music industry starts to evolve.
If you are keen on spending a bit of time over on the newly designed Google+ and are using it for business, you might want to check out this handy list… 5 Top Google+ Tools and Apps for Marketing Pros
There has been a lot of bad press around the Foxconn factory where Apple makes many of its products and this video has just been released showing the process that goes into making an iPad.
The latest stunt comes from Belgium and the name of the video on Youtube gives you some idea of what is going to happen: “A DRAMATIC SURPRISE ON A QUIET SQUARE”. The video starts with a button in the center of a quiet square that is begging to be pushed and when a man on a bike does, the real action starts with a series of crazy stunts. It involves the police, a semi naked women on a motor bike and a lot of guns.
The good news is that it was all the stunts were safe and that it was only done to promote the new dramatic line up on Belgian TV station Telenet. They put a serious amount of effort in to this and not only has it grabbed lots of attention on the day itself, the video is starting to get some serious traction around the world. Certainly not what those people sitting down to their coffee in that square expected to see anyway!
While smaller businesses are slowly getting to grips with the different number of social media sites available, a new report shows that while more businesses are integrating social media into their business, other methods of communication and marketing are held in much higher regard for networking and marketing.
According to the 2012 AT&T Small Business Technology Poll, 39 per cent of small businesses rely on social media to promote their business but they place greater importance on their company website (63 per cent) and on word of mouth (79 per cent).
The poll, which surveyed more than 1,200 small businesses with two to 99 employees across the U.S., found that those with a presence on LinkedIn increased from 25 per cent in 2010 to 31 per cent in 2011, while those with a Facebook presence increased slightly from 41 per cent in 2010 to 44 per cent. However, Twitter is beginning to decrease in popularity with small businesses, but only slightly, with a drop of 1 per cent to 18 per cent for 2011.
An eye catching statistic involves the attitude of gender demographics towards social media. While male business owners are more likely to rely on their company website for marketing than female owners (65 per cent vs. 58 per cent), female owners are more likely to rely on social media for promotion (48 per cent vs. 34 per cent). This suggests that female owners are more interested (or comfortable) in talking with their fans and followers online, whereas male owners prefer their website to do the talking for them instead.
Smartphone Usage
Other interesting statistics revolve around the use of smartphones and tablets, nearly a third of the small businesses surveyed (31 per cent) have a mobile website (75 per cent have a general website). In line with this, 85 per cent of small businesses reported using smartphones for their operations, and around 43 per cent of small businesses report that all of their employees use wireless devices or technologies to work away from the office, a jump of nearly 80 per cent over the past three years.
Those last few statistics are striking as you would imagine that many small business owners work well beyond the usual 9 to 5 hours, using their smartphones and tablets to stay connected even when they leave the office. Owners and workers of small businesses must be careful not to spend too much time on work matters outside hours out, while being footloose has its advantages, not taking time to switch off could, in the worst case scenario, cause burn out and affect your business in the long run.
To summarise, AT&T compiled two videos containing highlight of the poll’s most noticeable statistics, which you can view below.
Maybe it’s because I am a serious foodie, or maybe it’s just the envy that most of us feel when turning right instead of left when entering an aircraft, but this new piece of marketing from British Airways (BA) looks genius to me.
BA will launch an exclusive airline themed pop-up venue – ‘Flight BA2012’, celebrating the best in British talent in the run up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Open on select weekdays from April 4th to 17th, the three-in-one art gallery, cinema and dining lounge will showcase the works of the BA Great Britons who were mentored by Richard E Grant, Tracey Emin and Heston Blumenthal.
The hype surrounding the lead up to the Olympics is starting to build, and what we love about this is that it taps into the nostalgic feel to the brand over the past 60 odd years. Guests will be able to sample a bold British menu created by Michelin-star chef Simon Hulstone, who has produced an Olympic Games inspired menu under the guidance of Heston Blumenthal.
Most people will never be able to experience flying first class, but with it coming to London city center at £50 per person, it makes the whole experience more affordable.
Olympic Marketing In Full Swing
All the big brands have been gearing up for the Olympics in recent weeks and the pop-up restaurant seems to be part of an integrated campaign by BA. Last week they launched this brilliant big production TV advert…
For a game that originally began on iPhone, the speed of which Rovio’s Angry Birds became one of the biggest franchises of the day is quite remarkable. Now after releasing tons of merchandise, numerous spin-offs and sequels (one of which, Angry Birds Space, was released on Thursday), a real life game created by T-mobile, and a soon to be opened theme park, Angry Birds Land, in Särkänniemi Adventure Park in Tampere, Finland, the franchise is now expanding to children’s playgrounds.
Playground equipment company Lappset have made an agreement with Rovio to design and manufacture an entire collection of playground equipment based on the franchise. On top of that, they’ve designed a set of Angry Birds activity parks, which feature swings, sandboxes, slides, climbing towers and swing animals, effectively a regular playground but with Angry Birds branding.
While they’re perfectly entitled to expand their franchise, it feels a little odd for such parks not to bring any unique quality to what looks like a perfectly standard playground. It feels like the franchise is beginning to water down its appeal if it continues to lend its branding to every opportunity.
Still, we’re sure there’ll be many kids and parents who will love this, and since it fits in with Rovio’s vision to be more than just a games company, it fits in with their vision. Until their theme parks allow you to play a proper real life game of Angry Birds, this will fill the gap.
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As the number of smartphone users rise, the ability to get real-time location-based information depending on where you are has also risen. Getting directions, finding out where exactly you are and find out where the nearest shops, restaurants, cultural hotspots and places of interest has grown in importance. It’s why more and more people are using services like Google Maps, Facebook Check-in and Foursquare when they’re out and about.
