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Android Has Upper Hand in Mobile Marketshare

posted on January 28, 2013

There sure is more doubt about the vaunted position of Apple in the marketplace these days, isn’t there? Whether it is warranted or not is a discussion for Android and Apple fan bois to fight out on neutral turf somewhere else.

What seems to be trending though are reports like this that comes from Strategy Analytics which show Android being quite dominant in 2012.

Global Smartphone OS Shipments and Market Share Q4 2012

TechCrunch reports

Commenting on the results, Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, described Google’s platform as the “undisputed volume leader” of the smartphone industry. ”Android’s share of the global smartphone market has surged… crushing Symbian, Bada and other platforms in its wake,” he said in a statement. “Android’s challenge for 2013 will be to defend its leadership, not only against Apple, but also against an emerging wave of hungry challengers that includes Microsoft, Blackberry, Firefox and Tizen.”

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B2B Marketers Still Concentrating on Web Basics

posted on January 28, 2013

Ever notice how quick the online marketing industry is to race to the next ‘big’ thing without ever quite completing the mastery of the previous next big thing?

It’s probably the least endearing quality of the industry since it ends up leaving a lot of disillusioned folks in its wake but that’s the price of progress, I suppose.

One group that has always been viewed as lagging behind is the B2B marketer. Based on findings from a BtoB Magazine study as reported by eMarketerthis group is focusing their sites most in 2013 on the most basic of elements; their websites.

Digital Marketing Techniques B2B

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The FBI Uses GetGlue to Help Locate Stolen Objects

posted on January 25, 2013

For the last few seasons, USA Network has used make-believe crime games to promote their series White Collar. This year, they’re getting real and the FBI and GetGlue are all in on it.

The promotion is called “Real Life White Collar Crimes.” The website includes photos and information about some incredible stolen goods that have never been recovered, such as the Ruby Liberty Bell.

real white collar crimes

At the bottom of the page is a statement encouraging anyone with information to contact the FBI. USA provides a link and a web address.

Other listed objects include Edouard Manet’s painting Chez Tortoni which was stolen from a Boston museum by two guys dressed as police officers. There’s a 5 million dollar reward riding on that one. Also a gold 1870 Carson City Mint $20 Double Eagle coin worth over a million dollars and a Stradivarius violin valued at 3 million.

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Twitter Partners with Vine to Share Mini Looped Videos

posted on January 25, 2013

If you’re into six second videos then Twitter has a fun, new tool for you called Vine. (Shouldn’t it be called branch? Get it? Twitter bird – tree branch. . . )

Vine is a camera gizmo for the iPhone. You use it to shoot a six second video and then the app creates an auto loop so it plays over and over and over and over. . . you get the picture. Here’s a sample:

It makes me dizzy but I have it on good authority that it will be popular with Millennials, so prepare for the shaky, bouncy, loopy onslaught.

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4 Simple and Powerful Tips to Get the Most From Conferences

posted on January 25, 2013

Internet-marketing-conference-partyToday’s guest post comes from Dave Taylor.

If you’ve been in the online marketing industry for more than a year or two, you’ll already have figured out that there’s no better use of your time than attending a professional conference, expo or workshop. It’s not about the content of the sessions themselves, and it’s not even about the expo hall but about everything in between. The parties. The informal meetings at the bar. The opening reception. Even the “speed dating” or other conference-sponsored events can prove invaluable.

IF you know how to work the halls.

I just got back from two major conferences — New Media Expo and the Consumer Electronics Show — and ended up on stage, speaking at both of them. That’s a secret way to significantly increase the value of attending a conference, but we’ll get back to that momentarily.

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Tumblr’s New Posting Tool Puts the Emphasis on Fast and Photos

posted on January 24, 2013

tumblr front pageTumblr may be a blogging platform but you wouldn’t know it from their front page. I don’t know if it was their intention all along but, the free blog site has become known for it emphasis on graphics over text.

Because of this, it attracts an artistic crowd. Fashion, comics, art, architecture, design – they all flourish here. As does visual humor and celeb sites with miles and miles of both legit and manipulated photos.

These numbers tell the story:

tumblr numbers

Yes, it’s a busy place. But for everything they’ve done right, their posting blank has been wrong for so very long. It was long and required too many steps. Photo handling was atrocious, which is ironic given the graphic nature of the site.

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Q&A Site Quora Launches Free Blog Platform

posted on January 24, 2013

Last week, LinkedIn announced they were shutting down their Q&A section which prompted me to ask the question “are we over the Q&A concept?” Now here comes Quora with a new twist – Blogs on Quora. I’m not sure if that helps or hurts my argument but let’s take a closer look.

The set-up is ultra simple. Name your blog, choose one of two plain themes, add a logo and you’re live. Now all you have to do is post. To test the system, I set one up to go along with my TV blog: http://tvoftheabsurd.quora.com/

quora blogThe text editor has minimal options and there doesn’t seem to be a way to wrap the text around the photos. Maybe I’m missing something. As simple as it appears, I’m still confused.