brelson
I'm a digital strategist living and working in london, and this is my blog.
Homepage: http://brelson.com
Posts by brelson
Google Buzz: a serious new fixture in the social web?
February 12, 2010 - 10:05 am
Tags: buzz, google, twitter
Posted in social media | No comments
Google Buzz is only two days old and it already has its fair share of critics. But the way my contacts are taking to it so far makes me suspect that Buzz will succeed where Google Wave (arguably) failed.
Is RSS the “vinyl” of digital media?
Vinyl was supposed to be on its deathbed but it never went away. RSS was supposed to go mainstream but that hasn’t happened. Neither RSS or vinyl are ubiquitous, but both have found an important niche in their respective fields. This post looks at the similarities between them and asks if the RSS feed is the digital world’s equivalent of the extended 12″ import.
UK unemployment drops… unexpectedly?
January 21, 2010 - 9:22 am
Tags: economics, google, search trends
Posted in research, strategy | No comments
Unemployment in the UK has fallen for the first time in 18 months, surprising many analysts. But these analysts clearly haven’t been looking at search trends for unemployment-related keywords.
Can search predict the future?
December 23, 2009 - 4:26 pm
Tags: economics, experiments, search trends
Posted in research, strategy | 2 comments
Today, we often search for information about upcoming major events in our lives – both good and bad – before we experience them. When facing financial difficulty or unemployment, many of us will go online at the earliest opportunity to look for help and guidance. And when we’re considering major financial decisions such as buying [...]
An open assault on the walled garden
December 21, 2009 - 10:30 am
Tags: apple, google, mobile
Posted in strategy | No comments
Mobile telcos charge us for the texts, minutes and megabytes we use. They buy our loyalty by heavily subsidising our increasingly expensive phones. And they’re terrified of becoming like the people who supply our electricity or gas. They’re terrified that one day they’ll be nothing but interchangeable providers of a commodity, irrelevant logos printed on [...]
Are mobile apps here to stay?
Modern mobile apps are based on a publication model which limits user choice and frustrates developers, so this model will probably have to die. But in the medium term they will continue to play an important role.
How to post your Last.fm loved tracks to Twitter
December 8, 2009 - 11:02 am
Tags: music, twitter, walkthroughs
Posted in web | 1 comment
Instructions on using Twitterfeed to post your Last.fm “loved” tracks to Twitter, complete with shortened links to the track’s page
Using Google Spreadsheets to extract Twitter data
November 20, 2009 - 2:00 pm
Tags: google, twitter, walkthroughs
Posted in social media, twitter | 3 comments
Instructions for setting up Google Spreadsheets as a Twitter search engine, allowing you to search for tweets containing links or text using the BackTweets and Twitter Search APIs.
Readability of online text
November 10, 2009 - 11:06 am
Tags: content, readability, research
Posted in user centred design | No comments
A 2005 study looking at the readability of online text found that no single layout was ideal. Faster readers prefer two-column, full-justified text: slower readers benefited from single-column, left-justified.
links for 2009-11-06
November 6, 2009 - 3:01 pm
Posted in links | No comments
Bettween | The Ultimate Twitter Conversation Tracker
Website that digs up and displays conversations between any two Twitter users. Handy for stalking & memory-jogging. I like the fact that it bugs you for money while loading up tweets.
(tags: twitter tools)
T-Mobile shares some Android statistics, will soon support carrier billing
T-Mobile (US) have released Android statistics. myTouch owners [...]
