Responsive pages wholly Responsive?

Internet of everything is being watched on every resolution combination possible, with one's grandparents still on windows XP, their spouses on an iPad and their kids on iPod.

Technologists have been coming with ideas to tackle this issue in multiple ways. Starting with different application to drive on mobile and web. This was followed by a slew of crappy looking mobile website, which was ubiquitously hated by everyone except for the builder of that website.
Finally in last couple of years technologist realized it’s not worth trying to build multiple website/app. To keep sanity they had to build a single design that could be re-purposed for everyone’s need. This is where responsive web sites came into the picture.  

Responsive website change their layout based on the size and resolution for users device. The concept calls for page element sizing to be in relative units like percentages, rather than absolute units like pixels or points. Flexible images are also sized in relative units, so as to prevent them from displaying outside their containing element. Boston Globe was one of the earliest to adopt this technology with huge success.
http://responsivelogos.co.uk/ has taken this to a whole new level. Instead of resizing images to fit into the container on html and losing branding, replacing image with their minified version leaves a better taste in user’s mouth. BTW If you don't trust me, open the link http://responsivelogos.co.uk/ and resize your browser to see the magic.

This will open doors to advertiser who won't wait long before they use this technology for more effective marketing campaign. With new responsive image methodology looks like a true responsive page is within reach.

True Responsive = fluid layout + Responsive images

Sources:

• http://www.awwwards.com/what-are-frameworks-22-best-responsive-css-frameworks-for-web-design.html
• http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsive_web_design
• http://responsivelogos.co.uk

From Fail Whales to real-time Twitterball

The “Fail Whale” is an illustration of a white beluga whale held up by a flock of birds. Originally named “Lifting a Dreamer”, it was illustrated by Australian artist, Yiying Lu. It was used during periods of downtime by the social networking service Twitter. When Twitter gets overloaded, users see the above error message.

In prehistoric period (in Silicon Valley terms: 5 years), every time any site crashed, you would find the company bragging how its user base has outgrown its server.  Most of these never really created a penny of revenue when this happened, however they did turn to investors to inject more money into the system to meet the companies "urgent" cash needs. Time have changed; Twitter and Facebook have beefed up there networks and everything is on the cloud (at least I assume so).

As per Twitter more than 35 million tweets went out during the FIFA world cup Germany Brazil semifinals, breaking the previous record of 24 million held by Super Bowl. Many people enjoyed it more on Twitter than on television. Spanish television channel, Univision, was the source to watch the game even for many non Spanish-speaking public in the US, who could follow a second by second account of the game over Twitter alongside the TV visuals. With this lively, crowd-sourced Twitter stream available, does one absolutely need TV commentary after all? Probably not! And this provides an great marketing opportunity for Twitter!

Newsjacking: Increase your ‘bite size’ of the market

And then it happens again, to fulfill the vision of a wise gambler. With an odds of 175:1, Suarez bites for the 3rd time. This time he loses his sponsors, who are trying to distance themselves and minimize their loss of brand image.
But that was not the end of that story, this drove Twitter to go viral with almost 340k mentions. And brands didn't miss on this newsjacking opportunity.
That theme — bite this, not soccer players — was carried through by most brands who joined the fray. Below are few of the mentions:

·       Chew Trident. Not soccer players. #ITAvsURU — Trident Gum (@tridentgum) June 24, 2014

·       Hey @luis16suarez, if you’re that hungry, why not get your teeth stuck into something really tasty? pic.twitter.com/TPrPoC6ljt — Nando’s (@NandosUK) June 24, 2014

·       If only Suarez had Whataburger before the game he wouldn’t be so hungry. — Whataburger® (@Whataburger) June 24, 2014

·       Someone get #Suarez a burger. #ITAvsURU — Red Robin (@redrobinburgers) June 24, 2014

·       Hey @luis16suarez. Next time you‘re hungry just grab a Snickers. #worldcup #luissuarez #EatASNICKERS pic.twitter.com/3RAO537HjW — SNICKERS® (@SNICKERS) June 24, 2014

One might assume that only food or dental products company would join this bandwagon. JC Penny, with no related products, went with this pun, that fell flat.

·       Fangs for the memories, Uruguay. #URU http://t.co/Uhx0XqyAem pic.twitter.com/S2fzMsLhPQ — JCPenney (@jcpenney) June 24, 2014

Source: http://marketingland.com/brands-cant-resist-taking-chomp-luis-suarez-world-cup-bite-controversy-88768

Question is can Suarez piggy back on this social media stream to create a cool approach to damage control?

Facebook is the new Google?

Facebook hasn’t started a search engine. So please don't enter keywords in your user name text box just yet! What I am referring to, rather, is the new tracking system which Facebook released this past week. Now Facebook will be collecting Data not just from your Facebook account, but also from anywhere you visit on the Internet.
How does it do that: Facebook will track you on any website which has a ‘like’ button on it or any of Facebook code. Do you need to be logged in for being tracked? Nah, Facebook can now track you even when signed-out.

What is the level of abstraction: take a deep breath data-security freaks out there! Facebook is not selling your account identity to any of the online marketers (at least they say so). Instead, they will let marketers target a very specific, but anonymous, user base.  For example: Newly moved to Boston age group: 23½ to 40¾.

Is this something revolutionary that Facebook is doing? Absolutely not. Similar systems have been around since the dawn of this century. Facebook had to enter this market to improve its own ad placements.

Choosing the colors in which you are painted: Do you know what the INTERNET says about your BRAND?

The Problem: The Internet remembers everything which you have already forgotten. Consider your next job interview; chances are you were already “Googl-ed” and much of your online profile screened through for irregularities. This extends to everything in today’s world. One has to constantly monitor what is and isn’t being said about you. And when it’s your company’s reputation in the balance, the stakes are often even higher.

The Solution (FREE! one): 
For you: The creator of the problem has a solution in hand. Yes, that’s right, Google provides “Me on web tool” https://www.google.com/settings/me. This will notify you any time your personal data appears on the web.

For your Brand:  “Social Mention” Looks for the keywords/hashtags/mentions that are attached to your brand. I ran a query for Bloomberg, some of the key numbers that popped up are:
Sentiment - 14: 1 (positive: negative)
Reach - 26% (Authors referencing your brand)
Average mention every 2 minutes
***this numbers might vary over time.  http://tinyurl.com/le655fg

IFTTT for everyone: If this, then that; “Put the internet to work for you”, where user/brand can create rules (called recipes).  You may create your own recipes here to monitor any feeds about you or your brand and get an alert as mail.

Strike when the Iron is hot : Permissible marketing as a solution for sensory adaptation

"Sensory adaptation" due to heavy doses of marketing has already left the public desensitized. Most of us don't even notice these banners and flash pages anymore. 

Solution: permissible marketing. Search for "tie a bow tie"; top results come up from unknown sites.  Instead firms (like Brook Brothers, Jos A Bank) could build pages to drive traffic to their sites and use the real estate in their own ground to promote products. Instead of merely asking users to like  their page, companies should start interacting with users.
How to get the goose: once the company wins users' trust, then they may move to the "harvest post". To use farming as a metaphor, only crops harvested when ripe enough can be monetized. Getting "likes" might bring in good numbers for a few days but is not a viable long term strategy.

Source:

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/value-harvest-social-media-marketing