strategy
What UX can learn from product strategy, and vice versa
Aug 9th
Dirk Kneymeyer of Involution Studios writes on his blog about how he’s losing faith in UX. He’s reacting primarily to an article by Whitney Hess characterising start-ups as being focused on the what rather than the who, why or how. One of Kneymeyer’s central points is that product strategy and user experience are ultimately different domains, [...]
Microsoft’s design strategy: open formats, proprietary interface?
Jun 1st
This might not be a very advisable disclosure to make, but I’ll make it anyway: I actually like Microsoft Office 2007. Liking Office 2007 is not really the done thing – lots of people in my line of work turn their noses up at Microsoft in general and Office in particular. And I’m no different. [...]
UK unemployment drops… unexpectedly?
Jan 21st
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?
Dec 23rd
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
Dec 21st
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 [...]
Charging companies for Twitter – what could it involve?
Feb 17th
You’re probably aware that Biz Stone, one of Twitter’s co-founders, told Marketing magazine on February 10th that: “We are noticing more companies using Twitter and individuals following them. We can identify ways to make this experience even more valuable and charge for commercial accounts” How to decode this quote? It’s fairly vague, but I can [...]
Googlewatch – updated
Feb 2nd
Before Christmas I suggested that Google may have reached its apex during 2008, especially as it had, for the first time, allowed a dubious new feature – SearchWiki – to infiltrate the product that sits at its core – search. And over the weekend, Google spent an hour saying that every site in its index [...]
2008 – the year Google jumped the shark?
Dec 24th
As the year draws to an end and I retreat home to wrap presents and eat mince pies, I find myself wondering if 2008 will go down as the year in which Google’s fall from grace began. Don’t get me wrong – there’s no way I’m forecasting doom for Google. It’s not Woolworths. But a [...]
Google Flu Trends
Nov 13th
In this post, I’m going to try to outline a convergence between two separate trains of thoughts. It might get messy, so bear with me. Train one (think of this as the Edgware branch of the Northern Line) is search engine optimisation. One of the areas I’ve been working in a lot recently is search [...]
The end of Web 2.0?
Oct 13th
Even though I’ve been known to use the phrase “Web 2.0″ from time to time, I’ve never really liked the idea very much. It’s useful shorthand for when you’re talking to anyone whose knowledge about the internet is defined largely by current trends and ‘hypes’, but really, what’s ever been new about the idea of [...]
Online behaviour and the economic downturn
Oct 1st
Online intelligence service Hitwise released a report last week claiming that UK internet usage patterns were changing in response to the current economic situation. The full press release is here. Hitwise gathers its data by looking at the traffic logs of its clients’ websites, which number around 1,500. These websites are divided up into a [...]
Brands that suck on Twitter
Aug 13th
Here in the UK, Twitter has yet to seriously catch on although many organisations are attempting to make use of it. But the marketing and communications departments of large US companies are becoming increasingly aware of the need to establish a brand presence in Twitter. The case of Janet, who masqueraded as an ExxonMobil spokesperson [...]
Murdoch’s paid-content move
Aug 7th
Posted by brelson in media
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I’m hoping that News International will end up looking back on their move to paid content as a serious blunder. Not because I’m irked at the idea of paying for the Sun or the Times (I don’t read either) or even because I’m a particularly ardent defender of free content. I just dislike News International [...]