Have you added Google’s +1 to your website yet? It’s Google response (in my opinion) to the Facebook like, and is currently in beta on search results, although I haven’t personally seen/used that version of it yet. And now you can add it to all the pages on your website.
It’s really easy to do, just like Facebook’s Like button, simply add two lines of code to your HTML. (Here’s the low down on how to do that: http://www.google.com/webmasters/+1/button/index.html)
What it does for you as a business isn’t 100% clear, yet.
Google does say (in the video below) that it’ll tell your friends if you like something (not sure how) and seems to infer that it’ll be effecting search results too. Either way it’ll be as big or bigger than the the Facebook like, so get on board.
And here’s how Google are explaining it to consumers.
When one of my new team members (Johann) started 4 months ago I learnt an enormous amount about Albinism and the implications on the senses. I also discovered a lot about how the human sense system is used in day to day life and how tiny things like gutters on the street, face recognition and touch screens interfere and interact with us in unusual ways.
Johann explained how important computer accessibility is for people with vision impairments and how there are some amazing technologies being researched to help overcome these problems.
Touch screens are inherently flawed.
Touch screens and other input devices are taking over our lives, we’re ditching the keyboard, tap, steering wheel and other fundamental input devices for the sleek and simple.
While this is improving the way we interact with devices and technology in many ways, there’s a fundamental issue. Simple put current Touch Screens are inefficient.
For the touchscreen mobile phone users out there you’ll know what I’m talking about, when you’re typing a message to a friend, doing a search or playing a game you have to actually look to find the keys, taking your eyes away from whatever else you could be looking at.
Remember back in the good old Nokia 5110 days you could talk to your friends, send an SMS in class walk and see where you were going because you knew where all the keys were, you could feel them.
We’ve actually lost touch.
This means we’re using Sight, a very important sense, to do the simple function of finding the keys. And as a result it’s causing lots of errors, it takes much more focus/concentration and the accessibility issues are obvious.
Lots of people are trying to work around this issue.
And there are plenty of techniques being developed like…
Auto-completion
Error correction
Prediction
Thankfully there’s a solution to the original problem.
The concept used is called Piezoelectricity which can send tiny highly targeted vibrations that actually emulate a raised surface. It doesn’t tickle, hurt or zap you, it just feels like the surface is actually raised.
In theory (and it’s being tested by research master minds in a few universities around the world) as you touch the emulated raised areas it actually feels exactly like a button and you can feel your way around the keyboard.
The Piezoelectic technology can raise an area quickly then just as quickly remove the raised area. This means software designers will be able to change the surface of the screen in whatever way they want to give you the best user experience.
Awesome. I reckon.
Practicality issues that come to mind.
Can it made at a viable price point?
What will it do to your battery life?
Can it break?
How accurate/sensitive will it be?
Does it need extra processing power?
How much bigger will it make my slim touch screen device?
I don’t know, it just seems like it’d make using touch devices a whole lot better.
I wonder if I’m just losing my mind or if it would actually help.
Disclaimer: I’m not a scientist, UX expert or design guru, all the opinions are based on some brief research and chats with my colleague Johann. If somethings wrong, comment to correct me just don’t judge me. Please.
You may or may not know that Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is more of an art than a science whilst it’s well known that there are things on your site and things off your site that impact your ranking in Google.
The most important concept to understand is that Google see’s it your website very differently to you. Google loves text & links, images & videos are OK and flash (as a general rule) is BAD. Without getting into the details of how to develop content, links and a site structure that helps your ranking in Google (there are many people who talk at length about this) I’ll show how you can quickly see your site how Google sees it, and the results may not be pretty.
Once you’ve done the quick audit below the best way to resolve any issues is to talk to an SEO consultant or your digital agency or web developer, they will help you understand what keywords should be in there, how to structure it and write the content for you.
2. Search for a term your know you already rank on
3. Click ‘cached’ just below your listing in Google
4. Click ‘text only’ in the top right hand corner
5. Now you’re looking at the text & link component of how Google see’s your site. If there’s not much there, or it’s not accurate then you’ve got some work to do.
PayPal was a big game changer in the early 2000′s, there have been some micro payment gateways that have entered the fray, however, this new concept Square, which melds some new technology and an old process with a new way of thinking to form a very accessible and lean payment system. (According to TechCrunch it was valued at $40m before launch)
There are some definite questions around security, cost and many others, but I’m sure they will work through those and come out the other end with a game changing business. Think of the applications in developing worlds, SMEs, borrowing money from friends.
This video explains it pretty well.
Tangent
On a side note, if you like the main dude in that tutorial video, check out another one he’s done for a Twitter app. It’s a refreshing way to explaining technology, go dude!
I must preface this post with the fact that I love the concept of FriendFeed, bringing all my online world together, hence why I jumped on ages ago. Jimmy Wales also named me “more famous that scobleizer” a couple of months back thanks to a conversation I had with him on FriendFeed AND I do & will continue to use the service…
And here’s FriendFeed’s biggest advocate and international nerd superstar, Scobleizer, on FriendFeed: http://friendfeed.com/scobleizer. Clearly he’s doing something I’m not.
In the midst of phone calls, emails and eating lunch I listened in to this webinar, featuring Brian Geisen from Ogilvy & Jonathon Crossfield from Net Registry.
Without deconstructing the entire preso, my main comment is that there were some new concepts, but a lot of what we’ve heard before. It’s really interesting to see that the ‘Director of strategy’ at Ogilvy, has put so much work and focus into 1 of the millions of social media tools.
Does Twitter deserve that much attention, focus and strategy?
I visited a site where lots of people are able to contribute content about Twitter. I posted the content below on the 14th of April and to my surprise there haven’t been any since.
1. Twitter should be an extension of your social media communications plan, and a connector throughout the plan
2. Just because you’re followed by 45,052 people, it doesn’t they all want to buy your product
3. Aim to be followed by ONLY people who could buy or influence to buy your product/service
4. Twitter is becoming more populated, everyday there is more quality content for you to compete with
5. It won’t be the marketing magic you’ve been looking for, but it will extend your current activity
PayPal