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Infographic: Updated Master List of Social Media Image Sizes and Tips

posted on June 17, 2013

Preview of Social Design BlueprintA little while back an infographic was making the rounds concerning the image size boundaries of the various social media outlets.

Well, as with all good things there will be a next generation and this updated version of this very helpful bit of data was put together by the folks at Tent Social and shared my MediaBistro.

This effort is even a bit more comprehensive in that there are some tips in the various image size boxes to help you maneuver whatever hidden ‘gotchas’ might exist. So click continue reading to see the full infographic and be sure to bookmark it since it might come in handy in about 5 minutes.

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Half of Small Biz Owners Say Running a Business is Tougher Than Ever

posted on June 17, 2013

small biz outlook constant contactAccording to Constant Contact’s “Small Businesses: Then and Now Survey”, 59% of small businesses believe it’s harder to run a business today than five years ago. That’s a sad, sad fact.

Running your own business used to be the American dream. It was your ticket to an independent lifestyle. A way out of the 9-5 madness. Or maybe that’s what we all hoped it would be.

The truth is, running your own business is tough, especially when you’ve grown large enough to have a couple of employees on the payroll. I’m a company of one. If I have a bad week, it’s not fun but at least I don’t have to consider laying off an employee.

When asked why things have taken a downturn:

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Mobile Marketers: Are You a Vampire or a Servant?

posted on June 17, 2013

Marketing research is a lot like mobile marketing. You have to get the potential user’s attention, use clever content to keep him engaged and then hope he likes what you presented enough to act on it. Or you could use bribery – as this study will show, that works, too.

The pitch that caught my eye today was the Millward Brown / SessionM study called “Exploring the Role of Value in Mobile Advertising.” I decided to cover the story because of this graphic:

time sucker

Any company that uses a vampire bat to make their point is full of win. In this case, they asked mobile users to express how they feel about mobile advertising. Many people feel that its nothing but a time suck. On the other hand, they’re okay with ads as long as the content makes them happier, enriches their life or introduces them to a product that will do either of the aforementioned.

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Rumor: Word On The Vine Is That Instagram Will Get Video

posted on June 17, 2013

Instagram-logoIt’s a slow morning so let’s take a look at a rumor that may be of interest.

TechCrunch is reporting that Facebook will announce that it is introducing a video element of the service later this week.

We’ve been working on getting more details on a press event that Facebook is having this week. Earlier, we wrote it could launch a news-reading app, but we have since heard more details that point to something else entirely. On June 20, a source says Facebook will unveil that Instagram, its popular photo-sharing app, will begin to let people also take and share short videos. Call it the Vine effect.

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Google’s Project Loon Attempts to Bring Internet to World via Balloons

posted on June 17, 2013

When I see something like Google’s Project Loon I realize to what degree I am not an engineer.

The idea behind the effort is to bring Internet connectivity to remote parts of the world using a series of balloons and bunch of other stuff. How can that happen? We get this from the Official Google Blog

We believe that it might actually be possible to build a ring of balloons, flying around the globe on the stratospheric winds, that provides Internet access to the earth below. It’s very early days, but we’ve built a system that uses balloons, carried by the wind at altitudes twice as high as commercial planes, to beam Internet access to the ground at speeds similar to today’s 3G networks or faster. As a result, we hope balloons could become an option for connecting rural, remote, and underserved areas, and for helping with communications after natural disasters. The idea may sound a bit crazy—and that’s part of the reason we’re calling it Project Loon—but there’s solid science behind it.

Want to see some more? Check out this video

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17% of Ecommerce Merchants Don’t Know if They’re Optimized for Mobile

posted on June 14, 2013

683316_mobile_communicationsI think every business should have a website. Small, big, brick and mortar retail, cafe or hair salon – the web is where people go to find you when they want something. Websites are inexpensive and easy to build so there’s no excuse for not having at least a single page with a map, hours and an explanation of what you do.

Next, you have to think mobile. Yesterday, I desperately wanted a cheesesteak but an errand took me to the other side of town from my local Philly’s Best. I knew it was a franchise, so I took out my phone and looked it up. Sure enough, there was another location just a few blocks away. I got my cheesesteak and that franchise owner got a new customer.

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Google’s New Related Image Search is Cooler Than it First Appears

posted on June 14, 2013

Google put up a short announcement post last night about the new Related Image bar in Image Search. As an example, they talk about searching the word Maui. To help you narrow down the thousands of photos of pristine beaches, the Related Image bar pulls out photos of Black Rock, Makena and Maui Beaches Maps – in other words, more pictures of beaches.

Not so helpful. Then I tried to search one of my usual TV topics and the light bulb went on. I searched “Life on Mars.”

life on mars

This bar appears above the image results. It’s a line of choices with a side-scroller (but you can’t go one by one so I had to cut off the first response. . .sorry). Am I looking for “Life on Mars” the Bowie song? Proof that there’s life on Mars? Or the TV show “Life on Mars?” Now that’s what I’m talking about.