Steelso vs Real Life

YouDon’t

In the wonderful world of Web 2.0 you, yes you, are expected to join the conversation and add value to posts and thoughts all over the Internet. However you’re not too keen on leaving your personal details. Supposedly. 94.9% never comment.

So these good guys have come up with a little plug in which means you can leave a feeling on a blog and let your thoughts be known. I’ve installed it, it’s at the bottom of each post and I’m curious as to if it’ll help me shape the direction of my writing. Your thoughts are always welcomed and valued.

I love gadgets. It’s the neophile in me.

Thanks to Techcrunch

Missed

Wee thing i was asked to respond to. Not sure why it missed a deadline but I’ll post it here for fun. The questions I was asked is in bold…

How is new technology and innovation leading the growth of online communications?

If you want to find out just go on-line. Over the past year we’ve been invited to participate on various websites. From entertainment sites such as YouTube, social networking like MySpace and news sites such as “Comment is Free” section on the Guardian website we’re asked to contribute our thoughts and ideas. This was always the goal of the Internet, to share and expand information and with infrastructure costs becoming cheaper it’s becoming a reality.

Viral films, blogging, SMS messaging, digital TV, intranets, email marketing and online advertising have all contributed to the revolution in communication. How important is it that a full spectrum of platforms are utilised in a campaign to gain the full benefits of the online medium?

There is no point creating a fantastic website if no-one knows it exists. Alternatively you can’t create a brilliant SMS campaign that directs people to a below par website. Converting people from visitors to customers means looking at the entire spectrum of digital and traditional marketing and ensuring you’re using the right mediums to them.

With technology driving effectiveness and accountability, are they still key to online¹s growth as a communications platform or is it now proving to be the internet¹s widescale appeal that is the medium¹s pulling point?

The beauty of the medium now is that widescale appeal and accountability can work together, I don’t see it as an ‘either/or’ situation.

With the introduction of better web technologies the “Page View” metric will reduce which will force agencies to be even more accountable. The only metric worth noting will be “Visitors Converted”. This will only be for the good.

Is new technology making the web more effective?

Yes, but we won’t see the benefits until at least 2008. The web was originally designed to share academic papers, not perform complex shopping interactions or display huge amounts of video. With more and more Internet experiences becoming more and more complicated, the experiences will have a more “software” feel rather than done on a webpage. You’ll be able have more sophisticated interactions with a website without a crazy amount of mouse clicks and page jumping.

With new innovation increasing the webs functions, how important is the issue of accessibility online?

Accessibility, which also includes those accessing via dialup, is always important and the main players in the next phase of web technologies are certainly keeping it at the forefront of development. The issue is going to be with digital agencies implementing accessibility standards into their online projects.

Is technology being held back by the speed (or lack of) consumer¹s uptake? Ie unable to meet the high-end specifications?

Adoption has always been an issue for digital agencies. We’re always hoping that the end user will have the higher spec PC’s or the best broadband experience in the home and workplace and that they’re thinking about upgrading to the latest web browser or mobile phone so that we can share with them the best Internet experience possible.

That’s always been the case and one of the challenges for digital agencies; gauging the tipping point from when a technology becomes mainstream enough for the majority of users to enjoy and engage with.

It’s one of the reason’s boo.com failed all those years ago. The design and functionality was far in advance of the average user’s setup and so turned off all but the most technically advanced user.

Are clients now investing more in their online strategies, rather than just building a website and hoping that an audience will arrive? What examples are there of this? How have you helped develop clients online strategies?

The “build it and they will come” approach is thankfully fading out. Most of our recent clients are looking at their website then working out the best way to get people to there. Each client is of course subtly different. For certain clients press can be the best way to drive traffic, others natural search engine optimisation, others may need a cheeky wee viral to grab user’s attention. At GRP we’re looking at not just building a great website for the people our clients want to talk to but a compelling “garden path” that leads them to the website in the first place.

Viral Ads: It’s about the conversation

Interesting point I heard yesterday from Rocketboom (I love you Joanne, not in a really bad stalkery way, more in a geek love way, we could be happy. I’ll stop now) from a guy called Jeff Jarvis on how content isn’t king, design isn’t king, delivery isn’t king but the conversation is king when it comes to on-line marketing.

That is also backed up by this CNN article on Viral Marketing. My take on it is that the experience is king. If it’s not well written, well designed, well executed then no converstion will start. I totally agree with the conversation being hugely important but people have to have something they feel compelled to talk about first.

World Feels?

Found an amazing site today, We Feel Fine. It’s both very beautiful and very compelling. It’s like I’m getting a small insight to the human race and it feels odd.

See what you think.