Video Post: Amazon Sets the Tablet Market on Fire

Amazon just unveiled its 7" tablet device called the Kindle Fire. Steve walks us through why this tablet might be a "hot" ticket item by the year's end.

Share Mobile Videos with Klip

Silicon Valley entrepreneur Alain Rossman has another hit on his hands. In the mid '90s, he predicted that people would eventually use their phones for e-mail. As chairman of Vudu, he developed and commercialized a TV set-top box that streamed HD movies over the internet, which sold to Wal-Mart in 2010.

The latest hit from Rossman's Palo Alto-based firm is called Klip, which just released an iPhone app designed for organizing, searching and sharing video. The app is interesting, and offers one of the best user experiences out there. A swipe of your finger enables you to preview the video thumbnails. A shake of your iPhone enables you to fast-forward. It's easy to record footage from Klip, add video from another app, trim, and share via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or email. Klip also enables you to geotag the video and add hashtags.

For those who need a quick and easy way to shorten and upload videos for blogs or news stories, Klip is sure to please. Klip is available free of charge at the app store.

YouTube Takes a Bite of Something "Delicious"

Youtube co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen are interested in more than just viral video sensations. They are now the proud owners of the social bookmarking site, Delicious.com. However, they certainly have made a few changes, and by that I mean rebuilt the entire site from scratch. The rebooted Delicious is still focused on bookmarking and sharing among Delicious users, but with a whole new look. "The result is a new homepage, interface and back-end architecture designed to make Delicious easier to use," the team behind the new Delicious said in a blog post.

Other site renovations include the addition of "stacks," which is a user-created list of links which can be centered on any topic a user chooses. Stacks are easily created and customizable, and published only to the public when a user wants them to be. "Our goal with stacks is to add more value to all the links being collected by the Delicious community," the team said. "Each new stack presents an opportunity to introduce the rest of the world to cool Web content they haven't seen before."

So, can the masterminds behind Youtube bring back some flavor to Delicious? Or will the popularity of linking directly via social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Google+) cause it to fall like a souffle in a loud and already-crowded room?

Facebook Friday: Timeline to be a Major Profile Overhaul

People have not stopped talking about the changes Facebook unveiled at yesterday's f8 conference. Granted, even the smallest announcement from the social networking giant spurs plenty of conversation, but the features Mark Zuckerberg revealed are definitely worth the buzz.

I covered the initial changes (the Ticker and Top News feed) Facebook already leaked in yesterday's post, but the most noteworthy announcement from yesterday was the Timeline feature.

The Timeline will eventually replace the current profile page, and is both a visual and conceptual overhaul.

The idea is that the Timeline would curate all of your past Facebook activity into a scrapbook of the most important moments. It's still in developer mode and not open to the public yet, but I took a screenshot of my profile so you can see what it would be like:

As you can see, the profile picture setup has changed. Instead of the 180x540 pixel size, you now have the square thumbnail picture and the giant Cover Photo. Also, the two column approach to the main section is also a big departure from the old profile setup.

Visually, there is a lot more real estate to work with, which is great news for designers and the artistically-inclined. It'll be a while until these new changes go into affect for everyone, but it'll be a dramatic change for the 800 million Facebook users.

Facebook: Social Media's Jack of All Trades, Master of None

After spending a week in Boise, ID on vacation, I come back home to find some pretty dramatic changes to Facebook's home page.

Aside from the slightly darker blue border on top (the first thing I noticed), the biggest change is addition of a timeline on the sidebar. This timeline serves as the "Recent News" feed, while the main column on the home page has become the "Top News" feed.

If Facebook's new layout is a bit confusing, check out this shorthand graph I found yesterday.

The point is that Facebook essentially took their existing friends feature, added the fast-paced, short feed style of Twitter on to its sidebar, and threw in a Google Plus-like top stories feed. By doing so, Facebook has certainly broadened its scope in terms of social media features, but at the same time weakening the depth and strength of those features.

However, there are still plenty more Facebook changes coming as we speak since Mark Zuckerberg is holding his annual f8 conference. I'll cover some of the highlights in tomorrow's Facebook Friday post.

Wordless Wednesday: The Angry Birds Addiction

Extra, Extra, Wall Street Journal on Facebook

Move over paper-boy, there's a new way to get your morning news. The Wall Street Journal has unveiled WSJ Social Beta, a novel way to consume news combining social media and their "WSJ Everywhere" strategy, which aims to make its content more ubiquitous.

The newspaper has launched WSJ Social, a Facebook app that republishes Journal content on Facebook. Thanks to sponsor Dell, all the content on the app will be free for the first month. After that, however, the app will contain the same mix of free and paid content as the WSJ's website.

The basic idea of WSJ Social is to create a news hub where you can read articles recommended by others, as well as share them easily with friends. Creating all of this content within the walls of Facebook also seems to fall in line with the social network's rumored strategy of including more original content such as music and video within the site.

The social aspect of WSJ Social is the crux of the app. For example, the stories you see depends on the likes of other readers who you choose to subscribe to. Other people can also add you as an editor, meaning they will see your Facebook likes of Journal stories. Your role then, becomes that of both editor and reader. Liking stories not only engages you with the article, but shares that content with your followers.

WSJ Social is an original way to really capitalize on the social aspect of news. Choosing the most popular social network site in the world as their platform was a good choice. Now we will see if people stick around to pay for the service, and if other news sources will start launching their own versions.

Here is snapshot of the front page:

What's On Your Phone? A Smart Phone Testimonial

By Dave Sniadak

With more than 10-billion apps downloaded since, well, the start of the business of downloading apps, it's time we all take a look at our phones and purge those apps that haven't been touched in a while.

The Nielsen Research Company recently posted findings from their first mobile media rankings for Android usage. Their findings are based solely on what Nielsen is calling apps that have 'active reach' - or the percentage of Android users who've used the apps in the past 30 days - from U.S.-based smart phone users ages 18 and up. The findings are interesting, if not telling about how men and women use their smart phones differently.

Nielsen's list of the overall Top 20 apps shouldn't surprise anyone - Market, Google Maps, Gmail, Facebook and Google Search are the first five - and the report supplements the list by breaking it out by gender. Apps like QuickOfficePro, Talk - Text to Voice and Adobe Reader imply that men might use their smart phones for work. Apps like Facebook, Words With Friends and Angry Birds tend to populate women's phones more than men, leading observers to believe female smart phone usage could be more on the playful side.

The biggest takeaway is that while millions of mobile users around the country may use their phones for a multitude of unique reasons, they're all dialed into smart phones for much more than just talking.

Pin It!

Guest post by Kathleen Hennessy.

I can’t get enough of Pinterest! This virtual bulletin board is literally replacing my computer’s “bookmark” feature. Find a great idea for organizing your home office? Pin it. An inspirational photo pops up on a web site I frequent? Pin it. That new recipe you want to try next weekend? Pin it!

According to the site’s About section, “Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.”

This social media site also allows you to browse your friend’s pinboards. Stranger’s pinboards are free game too.... making new ideas and inspiration virtually limitless.

According to SHAPE magazine, Pinterest may even be able to change your life! In this article (http://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/can-pinterest-change-your-life) Pinterest fans created “vision boards” to help them focus on loosing weight. Definitely life changing.

Rumor has it the site is doing a big capital push, so un-doubtably, more fun things are in store.

Now our challenge as marketers is to figure out how to make our product visual, inspirational and pin-able.

Wordless Wednesday: What's the Deal with Daily Deals?

Each week we'll post an interesting infographic we've found online. It's our little spin on the popular Wordless Wednesday blog post.

Research with Rob: How Do Your Customers Make Purchase Decisions?

The following is a post by Rob Beachy, Axiom's Market Research Expert. Research with Rob is a weekly series of posts about the role of social media and technology in market research.

Today’s smart phones can find the cheapest gas and direct you there, or provide a network of opinions and facts previously unavailable except at point of sale. The social media on the internet is a lifeline and treasure trove of consumer satisfaction and purchase decisions.

How does your company research these purchase decisions? A focus group? An online survey? And where in that process do I need to focus my marketing communications, advertising or education to increase awareness and sales?

David C. Edelman’s article Branding in the Digital Age rethinks the traditional “consumer decision journey” and provides good insight into the impact of the internet and social media on marketing.

Where should you be focusing your marketing dollars? At the point in the decision process where it is most effective and economical.

Finding that point is where research comes in. Automobiles are different from major appliances, or personal care products, or hand tools or housewares. Only through market research can you clearly identify the decision process paths to effectively place your message and promote your brand.

The most effective way is an ethnographic approach finding out, over an extended period, the nuance of the purchase decision paths by product type. A specialized yet simple to complete Ethnolytix™ questionnaire is emailed to each participant. It takes 2 or more (depending on the product of service) weeks to track their decision paths, document and verify their paths and all for a lot less than the cost of focus groups. The key issue and variable is “time,” to ensure completeness and factual feedback. Unlike a focus group or on line survey, we do not force the decision but allow the customer time to discover the decision paths they actually use. For more information call us at 612-861-6171.

5 Important Stats about Brand Interaction on Facebook

Companies trying to establish their brands on Facebook is nothing new. However, now that brand proliferation is so strong online, it's good to step back and look at how the consumers are actually interacting with those brands.

A recent report from Constant Contact analyzed the online consumer behavior of nearly 1,500 Facebook users to see how they interact with brands. Rather than boring you with the entire report, here are the 5 key points I took away from the study:

• 78% like fewer than 10 brands: This is interesting, because that means a brand has to offer something of substance to be one of those few brands consumers are willing to follow.
• 58% like brands that they already use: This was the number one reason for why a consumer likes a brand. This is key because it contradicts the strategy of using Facebook to gain new customers. However, Facebook obviously plays into customer relations after the purchase.
• 56% more likely to recommend a brand: Echoing the previous point of post-purchase customer relations, more than half of those surveyed said they are much more likely to refer a brand to a friend after becoming a fan on Facebook.
• 13% post updates about brands they like: One of the biggest takeaways I got from this report is that very few consumers actively engage with brands on Facebook. This needs to be taken into account when brands are deciding what direction their Facebook page should go.
• 77% interact by reading posts: By a substantial margin, reading posts was the primary way consumers interact with brands. This is good news for brands that can't offer quick and easy discounts, because they can at least try to generate engaging content to fuel fan interaction.

While this survey focused on consumer brands, it's good to know that the quality of the content dictates how engaged fans will be. And although it's just one survey, there are still some very interesting lessons to take away as brands try to cut through the noise inherent to social media.

Mile High Mobile Usage

The following is a post from Dave Sniadak, Axiom's video specialist and resident airplane aficionado. You can find him on Twitter at @davesniadak.

When traveling for business, it's important to remain connected. In years past, it seemed that the 'commute' time we'd log while trapped inside an airplane gave us an excuse to catch some z's while on the clock. For the sake of productivity, however, mobile Wi-Fi providers like Gogo are changing the way we travel for business.

In a recent infographic posted by the airliner-based internet provider, the tech-savvy traveler could be considered Apple aficionados - nearly 78% of sky high Wi-Fi users logged on using iOS technology. Android users logged 15% of the mile-high mobile market share. And much like on the ground, Blackberry only enjoys a small slice of the providers' usage at just 4%.

Additionally, Gogo looked at the sites users are connecting to while online, and unlike my initial implication, passengers aren't researching new business leads or networking with clients...they're racking up frequent Facebook miles. The mega-social networking site was the most visited site for Gogo, while LinkedIn came in third. Foursquare was #4 on Gogo's list, perhaps due to their Mile High Badge, which users can earn by checking in while above 10,000 feet.

Finally, Gogo says that you can mix work and pleasure while soaring the skies at 35,000 feet. 67% of all Gogo users mix both work and pleasure surfing. That other 33%? Well, let's just say that's time well spent checking our eyelids for holes.

Video Post: Have Location-Based Services Grown The Past Year?

You may have heard of location-based applications like Foursquare. But the burning question is are people actually using them? Is there a place for these applications in the ever growing world of social media. Join Steve as he dives into this dilemma.

Wordless Wednesday: 8 Simple Rules for Designing a Bad Website

Research with Rob: Skyping for Depth

The following is a post by Rob Beachy, Axiom's Market Research Expert. Research with Rob is a weekly series of posts about the role of social media and technology in market research.

Smart phones have revolutionized the way we keep in contact with one another, but through video chat services like Skype, smart phones have changed the landscape of research as well.

For instance, I discussed panels vs. focus groups last week, but sometimes group interaction is not critical to the research process. This is where depth interviews (one-on-one interviews) come in, since they provide a great deal of information.

Being in-person is often difficult and time-consuming, so video chat alleviates the expenses associated with one-on-one interviews. We're constantly developing the role of social media technologies like Skype in our market research. Social media tools make depth interviews easier and faster to implement, while avoiding the time and financial cost of traveling.

The keys to an effective Depth Interview are:

• Qualify and Probe – Can you elaborate, explain, etc
• Unbiased - Explain but never sell
• Counter Question Technique – How much should it cost, weigh, etc.
• Common basis for comparison
• Flexibility to change and manage time

Depth interviews should be a strategic source of market research in every company and everyone involved in product development from marketing to technology should be trained and involved.

It is often as easy as scripting your questions and calling.

More iPhone confessions

I thought I was going to buy an iPhone, I really was...but then I started thinking (bad idea). I'm already shelling out over $200 a month for a 'family plan,' not to mention a line I'm not even using because my oldest son bailed on us to get an iPhone on AT&T. So now I'm looking at the price of an iPhone4 (starting at $199) and a data plan for another $40 a month...

Enough already. I was lucky because our office just bought a new iPad2, which actually does everything I need it to do (send and receive emails, download cool apps, conduct web searches, watch movies, take videos) without dealing with the phone stuff. The fact that my daughter also needed money for her rent this month also had a lot to do with my decision.

I guess I 'm going to have to deal with my still-usable 'feature phone' for a few more months until the much rumored iPhone5 or a cheaper iPhone4 sibling appears.

No one said being a TechnoDad is easy. The good news is that when I do switch over to a smartphone, I can start to wean the family off of super-expensive text messaging!

Facebook Friday: My Thoughts on Google Plus 2 Months Later

By @AndreaBredow

I'll admit it...I was all caught up in the Google+ buzz when it first came out. I fell victim to the all-the-cool-kids-are-doing-it hype, and I wanted in! Once I got that golden ticket, I was in love. It seemed to be the perfect mix of Facebook and Twitter plus a little more all in one. I logged on each morning, invited friends, started hangouts and even huddled on my phone (with the 5 people at work that were also on Google+).

However, all of my conversations/engagement was still happening on Facebook and Twitter while Google+ was quiet (I'm talking ghost town quiet).

I was saving my Facebook profile for more personal info, things I wanted to share with family and friends that I actually knew. After a quick look through old posts, I realized there wasn't any thing really personal on my page, so I started adding "friends" that I have never met. Basically, I was taking the Google+ approach of an expanded network to Facebook. I would just be more aware of my posts.

Lo and behold, Facebook adds a nifty new privacy setting for each post. Yes, it takes a few extra steps, but if I ever have anything uber-personal to share, I can now just let my family know...or I could just pick up the phone and call them.

I'd love to take my Facebook activity to Google+ full time, I'm a sucker for hangouts (I'm even attempting to hold a 'Hangout Baby Shower' for my sister-in-law next month), but until the rest of the world heads my way, I'll continue hanging out alone....and posting on Facebook.

What do you think? Will Google+ ever compete with Facebook...or is it just one more thing to check?

Video Post: Say 'Hello' to Heello

Watch out Twitter, there's a new bird in town. In today's Daily Axiom, Dave Sniadak takes a look at the new social media site, Heello. A social networking tool that is uncannily similar to Twitter. Dave answers 'what is Heello?" and breaks down what you need to know about this addition to the social media scene.