Archive for May, 2010

While the name of Apple CEO  Steve Jobs’ complaint – Thoughts On Flash – suggest the outcome of a gentle afternoon’s ruminating on the problems of the world; in reality it was a merciless attack aimed at generating a media storm. And so it did.

With US sources suggesting that an anti-trust investigation into Apple’s stance against Adobe Flash Player is just days away – this is just the beginning.

While that inquiry will focus on whether Apple’s directive telling developers to stop using Adobe hampers competition; media owners, advertisers and their agencies will no doubt be mulling over what this battle over content delivery will mean for them.

Considering this issue on his blog, James McQuivey, vice-president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, points out that while many publishing companies and broadcasters will moan about the investment they will need to make in HTML5, they have no choice unless they are going to cut themselves off from Apple and its products.

However, McQuivey goes on, the benefit for media companies and advertisers is that in return, Apple has created products that instantly seduce consumers and, within that, a world where it is acceptable to charge for content. Out in the wider world, Adobe’s Flash Player works across multi-platforms, people expect words, games, audio or video to be free but not inside the iPhone/iPad apps store.

The debate about how, when and who to charge for content is not new but consumer appetite for apps is one of the first signs that consumers really are prepared to pay for exclusive content or experiences. Mobile operators can only scramble to catch up through initiatives such as the Wholesale Applications Community, due to launch in London this week. Apple iPad sales, meanwhile, have topped a cool million in just 28 days despite a delayed UK launch.

We all know that online social networking has business benefits, but they are not always clear. We find ourselves hearing how great these new tools and websites are without really knowing what to do with them.

Here are a few personal tips I’ve picked up on how to network online, professionally:

1. Connect to people you know, people you have met or people in the same industry (Use this little trick to multiply the number of real connections you find or invite to the network by a factor of 10 (if you’re rubbish at managing contacts in outlook like I am)

2. Don’t just connect to hundreds of people all at once and expect your network to take off – connect to people one at a time, send a message explaining why you are connecting: “We work in the same industry and it would be good to…”; “Maybe we could have a coffee to understand each other’s business”; “We worked together at…”; whatever it is, make an effort and you can bet people will make an effort back.

3. Have a good profile: whether it’s a simple, well written bio on Twitter or a full professional profile on Viadeo. Make yours complete and engaging; tell people what you do, what you want, where you work, what you’re interested in – and put a photo on your profile. Think of it like introducing yourself at an event or in a meeting rather than an online CV.

These three simple rules will work wonders. People will feel you are making a more personal connection and in time, they will contact you, with opportunities for business, partnerships, a job or just a chat.

Now you can get more involved with groups and communities of interest.  Answer questions and add other work related applications as follows:

4. Engage with groups, read posts, comment if you have something interesting to say, post your own questions or topics and connect with members of the group where there might be mutual benefit. This is about learning how things work and joining in.

5. Link your profiles – ensure your pro network profile links to your twitter profile and vice versa. Your Facebook profile links to your pro profile (in case friends have business opps for you). Include a link to your professional profile and your twitter account in your email footer.  Add links to your slide presentations and on your business cards (plus in any online contact management software like UNYK.)

6. Add applications and widgets to your professional networking tools to get more out of your network.

7. Grow your network in the real world, attend industry events, business networking, bar camps, meet-ups and so on and add the people you meet to your network, it’s surprising how many opportunities arise from doing this, i.e. offline networking meets online networking.

Good luck and happy networking.
 

By Wayne Gibbins (Marketing Director at Viadeo in Europe)

Microsoft’s loss is Google’s gain as Internet Explorer’s market share continued to decline in April; while Google Chrome’s star is on the rise.

According to the latest figures from Net Applications, IE’s share of the market slipped below 60% in April down from 60.65% in the previous month and from 67.77% compared the same month last year.

Since its release in September 2008, Google Chrome, on the other hand, has reported steady gains reaching 6.73% last month, up from 6.13% in March and from 1.79% in April 2009. Hardly surprising given it is increasingly becoming the browser of choice technophiles across the globe.

While Mozilla Firefox once seem the obvious challenger to IE’s crown, the open-source browser has a 24.59% market share which is steady, rising only slightly month-on-month and up slightly from 23.84% from the same month last year.

Google Chrome is described as fast, secure with a minimalistic look and appeals to surfers looking for a “lite” browser. While, techno-fans aside, really the only thing that matters is the content. Maybe it is just because it is new and IE is no longer on so many Window’s machines. Either way, Google is doing something right.

While IE has been in decline for some time – its market share slipping below 70% for the first time in January 2009 – what has surprised industry observers is that the release of Windows 7 has done nothing to arrest the decline. While Microsoft claims that Windows 7 is its fastest selling version ever – in terms of licenses – it suggests that either surfers are unimpressed, despite IE 8’s share growing to 25% in April, or that sales of Window 7 are not quite what they seem as yet.