Another Social Media web site has reached a tipping point. In the middle of a recession, Twitter has grown 131% in one month! According to comSCORE, the number of visitors to Twitter jumped to 9.3 million visitors. That equates to a 5 million more visitors than in February alone. Part of the growth can be attributed to mainstream media promoting communication between viewers and their networks. In other words, you’re likely to hear about Twitter almost every day.
Wind power generation is an important part of the renewable energy solution in the United States. In the Midwest, there is an exciting initiative underway to build 3,000 miles of a wind turbine ‘superhighway’. The transmission infrastructure will span between North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and possibly into Indiana. This project is being managed by The Green Power Express. There still appear to be regulatory hurdles to overcome, but the plan is to complete the project by 2020.
If I told you that there was a device that over 2.7 billion people have worldwide, and they use that device every day to find information regarding products and services; would you want your business to be on that device? Or at the very least, make sure that your web site is compatible with the technology? Well that device is a cell phone. Worldwide the cell phone has grown larger and faster than the automobile (800 million); the telephone (1.3 billion); the computer (850 million); or even credit cards (1.2 billion). And mobile technology is continuing to grow at an unprecedented rate. The information supplied here is from a wonderful book that you can review at: Communities Dominate Brands.
When you also take into consideration that 17% of the Internet is browsed by cell phones, I believe that we are beyond the tipping point. Your business web site needs to be mobile-ready. The content that flows through your web site should be compatible with cell phone technology. This technology can also take advantage of another emerging market — Social Media. You know, 2.7 billion people can’t all be wrong.
Podacast about the effects of social media and web site design.
This morning, I was watching an old James Bond movie titled: ‘View to a Kill”. And I couldn’t remember the name of the actor who played the villain. Out comes my trusty iPhone and with one click to the Internet browser, I found the answer; Christopher Walken. He’s also the actor who did the hilarious dance on SNL years ago. A little while later my family and I were trying to decide which church to attend and what time the Masses were. Again, within seconds I knew the Mass schedule for 4 churches.
I could go on about how I find Indian restaurants for lunch during the week, check email, Twitter, and do literally hundreds of Internet searches from my iPhone. Cell phones have come a long way from just talking and text messaging. In fact, 17% of all Internet browsing in the U.S. is accomplished through cell phones. Knowing that, I made sure that our blog (for Marcy Design) is mobile-ready. Our Web site now detects if a browser is coming from a computer or a cell phone and displays the appropriate screen.
Does your target audience use their phone to find products and services? It might be time to see how the mobile world views your business.
1001 Ways•
on April 10th, 2009•
Like many families, I have relatives who came to America around the time when Woodrow Wilson was president in the early 1900s. My grandparents (on both sides) came from overseas by ship to live a dream in a place that they had never seen. When they arrived to our shores, they couldn’t speak the language, had no money, no place to live, and didn’t know very many people. Not to mention that the Internet wouldn’t be invented for another 70 years. They also didn’t believe in taking one penny from the government. But instead, they worked hard, took jobs where they could find them and raised a family in the middle of the depression. My grandparents showed by their own actions that you can accomplish anything. Their goal was to make a better life for their children in the land of opportunity.
Wikipedia describes work-ethic as a set of values based on hard work and diligence. It is also a belief in the moral benefit of work and its ability to enhance character. My grandparents picture should appear next to that definition.
I never met either of my grandfathers. They past away before I was born. But I know them from the stories that my parents and relatives have told me. My grandparents believed that this is a great country. And that there is more opportunity to succeed in the United States than anywhere else in the world. I think about them now and how they would react to the current economic situation. My guess is that they would say that there is opportunity even in the worst of times. It just depends on how bad you want it and how hard you’re willing to work for it.
I am inspired by their legacy and I hope to pass their can-do attitude on to my own children. So, what’s the problem? The world just gave you lemons? Get inspired. Make something from nothing. Create a better life for you and your family. Like your great-grandparents before you, it’s time to make lemonade.
Once in a while, a web site comes along that is so far out in front of existing technology, that people aren’t sure what to make of it. Well there is a truly unique 3D web site designed by GE explaining what a smart grid is all about. A smart grid, according to Wikipedia, delivers electricity from suppliers to consumers using digital technology to save energy, reduce cost and increase reliability. Such a modernized electricity network is being promoted by many governments as a way of addressing energy independence or global warming issues. The web site that I mentioned is an excellent example of Flash animation and GE has taken it a step further by using Augmented Reality (AR). If you don’t know what AR is, go to the GE web site. You’ll learn about 3D web site presentation and the smart grid too.
Another helpful podcast from Marcy Design.
Ethics is always a gray area on the Internet. The anonymity and the freedom to say almost anything, coupled with the fact that it is difficult to regulate what is being said and done on the cyberspace, contribute greatly to the blurring of what actions are deemed ethical and what actions are not.
It is usually up to the users of social media web sites if they wish to exercise restraint and good sense on their own actions or upon the actions of their fellow users. But if you have a company that is marketing its products, promoting its brand and finding its place on its niche market through its own social networking community, it would be disastrous for you simply to rely on the members of the community to use restraint and good sense. You are the one responsible for your own products, image and branding after all.
1001 Ways, Social Media•
on April 4th, 2009•
Cloud computing is the engine that drives many large-capacity social media web sites today. If your business web site has over 10,000-plus users, cloud computing might be a cost effective solution, because you only pay for what you use.
Cloud computing uses multiple servers and scales up or down as needed. Make sure that you work with a company that has experience with social media and server technology as well.
