Google+ 2

Time to Blog again! Google+ is evolving and evolving fast and for the first time we are seeing Google behaving in an unchacteristically 'Applesque' way. Google+ is now intimately related to its search algorithms and it hasn't taken very long for people to figure this out....hence the recent noise about Google turning away from its 'Do no evil' mantra. They have finally realised that their whole ecosystem might be under threat. Their moves to develop Google+ to push Android and then buy Motorola are to all intents and purposes like building the walls and filling the moat (Castles remember!). The drawbridge remains most definitely down however and people can come and go...for the moment!

So if you are logged into your Google account and like many this might be all of the time because your company is using Gmail your web searches are going to be infected by the people in your Google+ circles. This could be a good or a bad thing,... think about it.

Now I have three Google+accounts, not something I wanted to do but as an outsourced marketeer I need them and guess what I have 3 associated Google+ accounts too...I am bloody confused!

Making sense of all this is NOT straightforward but I'm going to figure it out and blog again very shortly. My good friend Guy Hoogewerf (@ncompass) and I are going to work together and start putting down our thoughts starting next week. Watch this space!

Google+

Google+ is yet another social network to get attached to. How many more can there be? How much time do we have in our lives to participate in this activity?

Well I think it comes down to several things but I think I find myself in a minority here. Facebook would have you believe that there is only one you, not a work you a family you or a close friends you etc. Well this is where I take issue with Facebook. Unless you have multiple accounts there's no way that it can be all things to all men. I have a serious work persona...well reasonably serious, and I have another reserved for friends and family. It doesn't mean I'm schitzo just that there are different ways of communicating with different types of people.

Until Google+ there was Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. LinkedIn is for business pure and simple. Twitter is for tracking and posting opinions and a little bit of direct communications. Facebook is there for banter and stalking and since most of my 50+ mates and family don't engage with it, I hardly use it. My kids however are on it all the time.

Google+ is however trying to cater for people like me. It has circles of contacts, friends, family business acquaintances etc. It seems much more logical. I'll be watching it as it morphs (at present on an almost hourly basis) into something really useful. It would be good if they concentrated on the user interface...there's just so much form filling I can take!

A day in the life

It has been an interesting week and really quite gratifying from several points of view. Firstly there are people who in the past have been keen social media skeptics that are now taking up the cudgels and jumping in both feet first...be there or be square!

 

One of my clients has had great success working the Internet to their advantage with very little budget, a good deal of tenacity and a down to earth belief that this would work for them. Bravo! Nice to work with like minds.

 

This week has seen a flurry of releases from Google including Google + and Swiffy (a Flash to HTML 5 convertor). Google has also defended its own online collaboration apps against Microsoft's Office 365. So the major incumbents are keeping themselves in the news at least!

 

Also in a month where it has been reported that Facebook has started to lose US and UK subscribers it would appear that we are still in the kindergarten stage of connectivity and the Internet. When we can all talk to each other in the same language without having to fill in a form, it may be considered mature!

 

As for Google Apps I have started to use them and am quite impressed by their simplicity, ease of use and the way in which they enable collaborative working. During the last few months network problems at the school where I am a Governor suggest that this may be the way forward..."put it up in the Cloud and let someone else manage it while we get on with what we are good at!" The big hump is not so much the apps but the file systems and directories, we need, dare I say it... a paradigm shift!

ScribeFire

Hmm, another tool to get all fired up about...and confused about too! I am posting this blog with 'ScribeFire' (browser plugin/extension) right from inside my browser. It should make blogging much easier and convenient. If you want to find out more you can go to:

http://www.scribefire.com

I'll report on progress in due course.

Apple's new App Store

App started the App Store thing with the iPhone, no one else had anything like it really. Last week Apple reported that the App Store had hosted it 10 billionth download, which by anybody's reckoning is impressive.

Earlier in January Apple introduced an OSX App Store built right in to the operating system. Developers have taken to it well and a little know English developer, Pixelmator have already generated $1m in revenue since the App Store launch. For developers from small to large this is a brilliant development but for resellers this is a disaster and I see the market for 'boxed' software already withering on the vine.

From a user point of view this couldn't be more convenient. However if you design or produce packaging for software or are a big supplier of software CDs and DVDs, your time is nearly up.

Does anyone disagree?

You're too busy...well lucky you!

I am too busy to get involved in any of this Social Media malarkey and anyway my kids spend all their time stalking each other on Facebook, it is such a waste of time, time that I haven't got.

STOP! Look up from what you are currently engrossed in and clear your mind - bliss eh!

Who's running this business anyway? Well that's true you are driving it and have brought it to where it is today but yesterday's certainties are just that...yesterday's. The times, they are a changing... fast!

In the old days sales and marketing was outbound. You send stuff out to people, cold call, visit exhibitions and conferences, exhibit at some or speak at others. Latterly you even had a website, in many cases these were simply online brochures. For some, especially those with products to sell, search engine optimisation and pay-per-click have become a required form of lead-generation, while blogging and social media techniques have not yet reached mainstream status...WRONG!

Today you have to have an inbound strategy too. Why's that I hear you ask? Well it is simple, people in buying positions today are increasingly using the Internet and related media to learn about the products and services that best meet their needs and it's no longer down to a Google search. Companies that wish to move forward need to get found in other ways too. I can sum this up in three words:

Blog, Tweet, Connect

Chutzpah! - Apple iPhone 4

How dare anybody question Apple's latest incarnation of the iPhone?

For so many reasons the release of the iPhone 4 has become a big deal and it's very interesting from a marketing standpoint.

What's in a name? - iPhone, iPhone 3G - for 3G, iPhone 3GS - for speed, iPhone 4 - for next in sequence...hardly state of the art product naming!

Product - I always use Dieter Rams' 10 principles of good design (http://www.vitsoe.com/en/gb/about/dieterrams/gooddesign) when I take a look at a new product, the iPhone 4 ticks most of those boxes.

Beauty - I like things that are well engineered and look nice. Sit the iPhone 4 down next to a Leica camera and you'll see what I mean, it's pleasing to hold and look at.

Does it work? - Well now there's a question! Like most smartphones the iPhone 4 is not just a phone, it's an iPod, a connected device(wifi or phone network), a portable computer and some. Apart from the antenna problem...not a problem for me so far, i.e. I can't say I noticed, I can say that this is the best iPhone yet and by a long way. I'll be keeping mine. Anyone who is disappointed can get a free case or a refund, it will be interesting to see the return rates.

Does it sell - Yup! - 3m in 22 days so far.

So what does all this tell me about the iPhone from a marketing standpoint.

• Not brilliantly named
• Usual Apple pre-launch event to dangle the carrot worked
• Object of desire that obviously presses the right consumer buttons
• Reasonably swift response to 'Attenagate'

Will Apple get over this? Oh I think so, but I reckon next year's model will have a new form factor.

Apple sets its sights high but it will always be criticised by those who just don't get the reasons behind its tight control of hardware and software. There are many who do but like open platforms better, fair enough there's plenty more fish in the sea. In fact there has never been more choice. As a long time Apple convert there's one thing I'd like Mr Jobs to work on and that is Apple's environmental record, good, but could try harder: http://bit.ly/dlsD5Y