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Why the Flip was doomed to fail

On Tuesday, Cisco announced it would be shutting down its Flip camera business. Officially it said:

"As part of the company's comprehensive plan to align its operations, Cisco today announced that it will exit aspects of its consumer businesses and realign the remaining consumer business to support four of its five key company priorities -- core routing, switching and services; collaboration; architectures; and video." 

And although they do state that they consider video one of their core businesses, they do not consider consumer video products in that same category. But this announcement should not come as a surprise to anyone. After all, the Flip was doomed as soon as Cisco bought it.

To provide some background, The Flip Video camera was originally developed by Pure Digital Technologies and was first sold in 2006 as the Pure Digital Point & Shoot. A year later that name was switched to Flip Video and hit just in time for the YouTube craze that was taking off at the time. In 2008, the company reported that it had captured 13% of the camcorder market. In 2009, Pure Digital sold the company to Cisco. 

And this is where the fate of the Flip Video was sealed. 

Until the Flip Video purchase, Cisco was basically known for connecting people. Either through routers or—their big push over the last several years—through video conferencing (the idea being that Cisco makes video conferencing over IP possible). But Cisco was never a pure consumer oriented company like Sony or HP. Yes, it had purchased companies like Linksys. But Linksys primarily develops routers, again, hardware that makes the Internet possible.

Cisco's purchase of a purely consumer product was odd. And it really didn't fit in with their brand. I remember seeing the Cisco branded Flip and at first thinking it was a mistake, or that Cisco had some hardware inside (think Intel for PCs). 

Then of course came smart phones with video cameras built in. Many have put the death of Flip directly on iPhone’s and Droid's shoulders. And while this is part of the problem, it's not the only reason. After all, Apple announced the iPhone a full two months before Cisco bought the Flip. You would assume that they could see the problems this might cause. 

It's not because of lack of vision, either.  When Cisco bought Flip, Ned Hooper, senior vice president of Cisco's Corporate Development and Consumer Groups, said that in the future the Flip could have WiFi or 4G connectivity. But again, this never materialized. The Flip seemed more concerned with the quality of the video, coming out in recent years with HD models. 

I think the reason may have been Cisco itself. This mainstay of the S&P 500 was founded in 1984. In the age of start-ups, social media and iPads, 1984 is ancient history. And big companies like Cisco tend not to move too fast. Layers of bureaucracy and a CYA-mentality weigh them down. Techcrunch had a great video discussion in which Chris Dixon provides examples, like Android and YouTube, that shows that when companies with great ideas are bought and left to run themselves, they can adapt pretty well. A product like the Flip needed a nimble company that could adapt quickly. Cisco could never be that company. 

And it's too bad because the Flip was a cool little device, and for a while, at least, it ruled the video world. But alas, it is not the coolest (or even the fittest) that survive; it is those that can most quickly adapt.

I’d love to hear your view on what a product like Flip might have needed to succeed.

 

Kevin Duffy is the Creative Director for The Duffy Agency's Boston office.

5 inventive uses for QR codes

Slowly but surely, quick response codes (QR codes) are making their way into the mainstream. As mentioned in a post on QR codes from last fall, Best Buy is using them on their in store fact tags. Real estate brokers are using them on real estate signs outside properties to provide virtual tours of the home for sale.  A recent article in Mashable actually argued that QR code acceptance in the mainstream is really inevitable, especially as the world turns more and more into a mobile society. The QR code is linking the real world with the virtual world. 

According to JumpScan (see infographic below), QR code usage has risen 1200% from July to December of 2010. Apple users scan the most, even though, according to a recent Business Insider article, they are currently third in the smart phone market with a 25% share (Android owns 33% and Rim has 29%).

I thought it might be fun to take a look at some inventive uses for QR codes that show, just a small amount, the potential for these curious little digital portals. Here are 5 inventive uses for QR codes.

1.  Provide instant feedback at a restaurant

Restaurants routinely hand out comment cards at the end of your meal. They usually arrive with your bill. On a rare occasion you might actually fill one out.  This restaurant provides you the option, via a QR code, to link directly to Yelp where you can provide feedback on an online comment card.

2. Plug your product on a talk show

The staple of the TV talk show is to hold up whatever album, book or product a guest is trying to promote. I assume it is either to prove that, yes, this artist or guest actually has created something. Or maybe to get us familiar with what the product, book or album looks like. Recently, Jimmy Fallon did something while introducing a band on his show that Todd Wasserman & I think will become a trend. Instead of holding up the album, he held up a large QR code, which linked to the band's homepage and a video.  The QR code could have easily linked to Amazon to buy the album. I think we will see a lot more of this by Fallon and his like in the future (although I can't see David Letterman doing this).

 

3. QR codes on building permits

New York City recently instituted the use of QR codes on all building permits. Scanning the code allows users to learn details about the project like the approved scope of work and identities of the property owner and job applicant, among other information. The QR code will also link to the Department of Buildings Information System and provide the option to initiate a call in case they want to register a complaint about noise, safety or other concerns.

4. An interactive tour of NYC parks

The World Park Campaign describes itself as a mobile-interactive experience that creates engagement and raises awareness for our NYC parks. Using QR codes at various NYC park locations, participants are able to create a virtual experience and learn more about such locations. As a Boston native, I think of how this could be used on the Freedom Trail. Imagine being in front of Paul Revere's house, clicking a QR code and receiving information. It would be like a guided tour.

 

5. Reuse shipping boxes

Sponsored by Columbia Sportswear, A Box Life encourages the reuse of shipping boxes by engaging with customers. Today, there are 14 other brands that also use this shipping method. The way it works is relatively simple. When ordering online, customers are provided with the option of using a used box with a QR code sticker on it. When you receive your shipment, you can scan the QR code and see all the places that box has been in the world. It also brings you to a site to add the box's latest stop. Not only does this enhance the "green" aspect for brands that use this, but it also encourages the receivers to re-use the box themselves.

What are some unique uses for QR codes that you've seen?

 

 

 

Kevin Duffy is the Creative Director for The Duffy Agency's Boston office.

3 Predictions about the future of group buying

A recent TechCrunch article highlighted the enormous growth of group buying sites such as GroupOn and Living Social. According to the article, the group buying industry in the United States is estimated to grow by 138% to $2.7 billion in 2011. In fact, worldwide, GroupOn is expected to bring in between $3 and $4 billion this year.

 

Besides the enormous growth potential of these buying sites, is the enormous growth of the sites themselves. According to a report from Local Offer Network, a group buying aggregator, there were 90,000 deals across 322 group buying sites in the U.S. since January 2010. In the first quarter of 2011 alone, Local Offer Network tracked 117 new group buying sites.

I was astounded earlier this year when GroupOn declined a $6 billion offer from Google. Although seeing their estimated numbers for this year alone, I can now see why. Being the first high-profile mover in the market, they have the lion's share of the revenues and sales right now. And their expansion plans include buying deal sites in other countries. But how long can it last? How can any group buying site succeed when they have a business model that is easily duplicated?

Here is what I think will happen in the near future for group buying sites. 

Super focused & super local

In marketing, if you can't be first (the innovator) in your market, then create a market or niche, and be number one there instead. I think you'll see group buying sites starting to focus in on particular niches. Group buying for the outdoor enthusiast or for foodies. I think you'll start seeing a lot of segmentation to the market. 

In addition, focusing on particular niche industries, I think you'll start finding sites that are super local as well. For example, GroupOn has a Boston offer site, but they don't have a Dover, NH offer site. Companies could as well be focusing in on the super local markets.

Smaller margins

It has been reported that GroupOn makes about 50% off of every deal. This can't last. With GroupOn's business model being easily replicable and competition increasing at an incredible rate, group buying sites will have to start reducing their take in order to remain competitive. After all, with so many new players coming on line every day (again, 117 new sites in Q1 2011 alone), one of the easiest ways to gain more customers will be to cut your commission structure.

Location based

It seems that group buying sites could benefit from location-based services more than they already do. Imagine checking in at a downtown store and finding out that either that store or one close to it is offering a group buying deal. Or if you are traveling, and you check Yelp to help you find a good restaurant. It would be pretty cool (and pretty motivating) to find out that there is 50% off an Asian restaurant right down the road. I think location based group selling will be a big part of the future success of the industry.

What do you think the future of group buying holds? Can GroupOn remain the dominant company?

Kevin Duffy is the Creative Director for The Duffy Agency's Boston office.

Some final thoughts on South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) 2011

Today's post is brought to us by guest blogger and fellow TAAN member Mark Gale. Mark is the president of Charleston|Orwig, a Wisconsin strategic communications firm that deals with reputation management and integrated marketing.

With ten venues and a reported 18,000 registrants scrambling to sort through hundreds of sessions, along with untold dozens of promotional parties and impromptu events, it’s pretty much impossible to get a sense of everything that happened at the 2011 South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) festival in Austin, Texas. However, even with all the churn, there were some things that still rose to the top and just might be worth a look.

GroupMe clearly had the group’s attention. If you are not familiar with the company, it’s a simple service that lets you share via texting with several contacts at once, creating a private chat room of sorts. For example, I signed up (it takes about a minute) and can now send a text message or photo to my wife, daughter and son by using my “Family” group. They can all reply back to the group. GroupMe also allows for voice conferencing and has a GPS function that shows you where individuals in your group are on a map. (Handy for the three of us from Charleston|Orwig spread out around Austin.)

Foursquare brought 40 of its 50 employees to SXSW this year, along with a new interface and a CEO (Dennis Crowley) who enthusiastically spread his passion. In an interview with Mashable’s Pete Cashmore, Crowley explained that the Foursquare vision goes well beyond getting crowned as mayor of the local coffee shop. The idea is to tie your location and even your history at a location into a database that pushes out useful information and suggestions based on your preferences. To spur further development, they’re also opening up that database to others. He sees strong retail tie-ins and a heavy emphasis on useful information.

FourSquare CEO, Dennis Crowley speaking at SXSWi

In a sense, Foursquare is where Twitter was a couple years ago—moving from a novelty to a legitimate business platform. Foursquare hit a daily record 2.6 million check-ins during the festival and is certainly worth a second look. (Meanwhile, closest competitor Gowalla was heralded as has having great design.)

Another company getting some buzz at SXSWi was 4chan. If you are like me, you might not have heard of 4chan. Before you search it out, be forewarned that content can be a bit wild, which is why no link is included here. Regardless, 4chan is one of the largest, loosely-knit communities online with a reported 12 million users per month and more than 20 million page views per day. Its 24-year-old founder, Christopher Poole, launched a new platform called Canvas that might just bring the raucous idea of 4chan into mainstream use. Right now, the beta site allows community editing of photos and promises to provide a platform to do the same with music and video. Those of us involved with communicating and influencing ought to take a look. Wired wrote a nice article about Canvas also.

It’s worth a note that some of the “biggest” designers and user experience experts at SXSWi still use paper notebooks, pens, whiteboards and flip charts to generate ideas. In one session, the presenter had her “slides” drawn in marker on a flip chart by an intern. It was quite compelling.

Not all designers use computers to generate ideas.

 My final bit of advice is this: If you attend SXSW Interactive next year, you should certainly seek out the obvious marquee sessions and events that relate to your business. Then do yourself a favor and look for some quirky thought-starters. On Monday afternoon, I quietly sat in on a discussion of some very passionate and self-proclaimed activist vegan bloggers. They said that less than one percent of America is vegan. Yet, several made their livings by serving this extremely narrowly defined niche. In fact, check out Vegansaurus, which is said to be one of America’s leading vegan blogs.  

You can read more from Mark on his company's blog, Reputation Forward.

 

5 things every marketer can learn from Apple

No matter if you're an Apple fanboy (and just for the record I am not) or a PC zealot (I'm not a zealot but prefer PCs), there is no denying that the way Apple markets its products is amazing. Much has been written over the years about the marketing machine Steve Jobs and company masterfully drives. Their secrets have been revealed. The inner working has been exposed. But with the release of the iPad 2 coming this Friday, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit some of the basics of what they do well and how we can all apply them in our own practice.

 

1. Know your customers

 According to an InformationWeek article, Mac accounts for about 10% of the U.S. retail market. That's good enough for a third of the US market (they don't even rank in the top five internationally). But a June 2009 NPD Group retail sales report shows that they owned nearly 91% of the $1000+ market. Apple understands they are talking to educated customers with discretionary income. Apple knows this demographic like you know your best friend. And they have actively cultivated these relationships since the first Apple shipped back on the 1970s.

Take away: Know your customers and know your brand. Know who is buying your products and cultivate these relationships the same way you would cultivate any personal relationship that you want to last.

2. Don't give customers what they want

At least not all at once. It's sounds counter-intuitive to be sure, but think about it. When the iPad came out last year it was missing many features, most notably a camera. People couldn't understand how the iPad team could have missed this crucial element in such a YouTube, video-voracious world. But was this an accident or a planned strategy? There is a concept that Sony put to fantastic use in the '80s to drive Walkman sales called planned obsolescence. The idea is that you don't put all the bells and whistles into your product. You design it to be out of date at a certain point so you can sell more products to the same customers. By using a deliberate strategy of planned obsolescence, Apple can drive sales of the iPad 2, which among its many new features, now has both a front and rear facing camera.

Take away: When you develop a product or service, always leave customers wanting more.  If you have a service oriented business, make a list of improvements you could make, but don't do them all at once. Slowly roll them out over a period of time. And telegraph your plans to give customers something to look forward to. 

3. Show, Don't tell

Apple and their ad agency, TBWA \ Chiat \ Day, have created some of the most iconic ads in the history of the medium. And their success comes from a simple formula: never tell customers about a product when you can show them the product in action. Again, let's look back to the iPad campaign (since it's the most recent). Instead of talking about gigabytes and memory and processor speeds, the ads simply showed the device working. Viewers saw firsthand all the cool functionality. This same style was used for the iPod touch and iPhone. The result is a much more engaging commercial that creates an almost un-natural desire for the product. After all, no one needs an iPad, but after seeing the commercials, they create a very strong "want." And why? Because by showing how the products work, they showcase one of the major benefits of the product: it's just really cool.

Take away: People are visual creatures. Whenever possible show your product at work, don't talk about it. And this doesn't take a huge budget. A simple YouTube video can work wonders. Just ask the folks at Will It Blend.

4. Keep it simple

When you see an Apple commercial think about what is going on. You are not bombarded with multiple messages. You don't see processor speeds and storage capacities. What you usually see is one single message. Take for example, the MacBook Air commercials. A simple slow pan of the computer and a quick voiceover. The result is that you know that this computer in incredibly thin, incredibly light (by the way it is being held), and yet a fully functioning Mac computer. 

 

The original iPhone commercials never mention anything about the phone until the last few seconds when it rings. Instead it conveys a single message that the iPhone runs a bunch of very cool and useful apps. And oh yeah, it's also a phone.

 

Take away: People can only process one thing at a time, especially if your target is men. So choose one thing you want to get across to people in every marketing piece. A single communication objective. Ask yourself, after the target sees this ad, banner, TV commercial, etc. what is the one thing you want them to remember about your product. Then drive that point home simply and visually.

5. Innovate

This is probably the best thing that Apple does and the hardest to emulate. Apple (almost) continually delivers on the hype. I say almost because there have been a few missteps here and there. Although even their failures have been with innovative products. But especially with the advent (and tremendous success) of the iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and now the iPad, innovation is a basic element of the brand. In fact, it's not hyperbole to say that Apple has changed how we listen to music and consume content forever. Its customers expect great things from Apple and Apple delivers.

Take away: Marketing should be an amplifier of your brand, not a distortion of it. If you want to be seen as the greatest thing since sliced bread in your sector, then BE the greatest thing since sliced bread in your sector. Do not over-promise and under-deliver. This is a recipe for failure. Instead, make excellence the standard, not the goal.  

We want your opinion. What other things do you think Apple does well that we could all learn from? Or are there things that Apple doesn't do well that seem to always get glossed over? Let us know in the comments section.

 

 

 

Kevin Duffy is the Creative Director for The Duffy Agency's Boston office.

What mobile advertising can learn from The Daily

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Google recently announced that the mobile sector is growing faster than they ever predicted. CEO Eric Schmidt told the audience at the Internet Advertising Bureau’s Annual Leadership meeting keynote that YouTube is seeing 200 million mobile playbacks a day. He went on to state that the number of mobile searches during the  Super Bowl were more than double for Chrysler when compared to desktop searches, and more than 9 times for GoDaddy. (The video is posted at the end of the article for your edification).

This is due in no small part by the explosion of mobile devices and smart phones. A recent Gartner report shows that the worldwide mobile market has reached 1.6 billion units in 2010 with smart phone sales growing 72% resulting in 297 million units. And if we are to believe the experts, this market is only going to grow further. 

On Wednesday, with the announcement of the iPad 2, we found out that Apple has sold over 100 million iPhones and 15 million iPads so far. The iPad number is incredible especially when you consider the ridicule the iPad met with over its name when it first came out. There were even some people saying that the iPad would fail miserably. Goes to show you that you shouldn't believe everything you read (unless you read it here). 

So as organizations enter this new mobile world, the question remains: How do you create an effective a mobile campaign? Simple: by scraping everything you know and starting over from the ground up. 

The solution for creating a successful mobile campaign lies in what The Daily has done for news. Over the past year, many newspapers made the mistake of trying to simply take their offline product and cram it into this new technology. The Daily looked at the problem differently. They looked at the technology first. Then they adapted its product, news, to take full advantage of the technology. 

In essence, it has taken a commodity, digital news, and rethought it for a new era and a new device. The result is an amazing experience.  The same has to be done when developing a mobile advertising campaign. You have to look at from what works best on the platform as opposed to trying to make old techniques fit new technology. 

For example, most mobile advertising still relies on banner ads, an invention carried over from laptops and desktops—which was just an extension of traditional print ads and TV spots. But we now have tablets and smart phones that are more powerful than the computers that put a man on the moon. Your mobile advertising should take full advantage of the tools and technology mobile provides.  Maybe that's iAds. Maybe that's Google Mobile Ads. But maybe it's something brand new. 

And this is not to say that banner ads are bad. In some situations they work well. But new tools demand a new way of doing things. Effective solutions don't rely on old ideas. Effective mobile solutions come from rethinking the problem from the ground up. 

So perhaps 2011 will be the year you dip your toes into the mobile advertising waters.  And if you do, remember The Duffy Agency can help you make a big splash. 

What are your thoughts on mobile advertising? What successes and best practices have you found?

 

 

Kevin Duffy is the Creative Director for The Duffy Agency's Boston office.

Why the future of money may be square

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Back in November, we wrote a blog article entitled "7 Ways Smart Phones are the Wallets of the Future." One of the things we mentioned was Twitter creator, Jack Dorsey, and his mobile payment application and portable card reader called Square, which allows users to accept credit card payments with their mobile phones. Simply swipe the card through the gadget that attaches to the phone's headphone jack and money is transferred from the card to your Square account.

In a bold move on Monday, Square announced that it was dropping its $0.15 processing fee.  Calling it "simply revolutionary,’’ Square will only charge merchants their flat 2.75% processing fee. And no other charges. The elimination of this fee is good news for those SMBs that have a high volume of low cost transactions. For example, the vending truck in the video below, or a used bookstore. These types of SMBs are also, coincidentally, the market that Square is going after.

Although you may think that eliminating a $0.15 fee would not make much difference, think of it this way. Let's say you sell a widget for $5. A $0.15 fee represents 3% of the price. Eliminating this cost increases revenues immediately by 3%. And when you compare it to the fees from other credit card processing companies, the flat 2.75% seem quite reasonable (even a bargain in some cases).

This seems to be just the beginning for Square. Its aggressive move in eliminating this fee has made making mobile payments for virtually anything more palatable. For example, let's say your friend owed you $20, would you care that you need to pay $0.55 if it means you can get your money now? 

For the time being—and that's the key phrase here—Square is not out to replace the credit card machines at your local large retailers. However, it does seem to be happy to service the millions of transactions that take place every day between consumers and SMBs as well as between person to person. 

And if you think about it, that has been a huge untapped market. Think of the millions of dollars spent every year at flea markets, consignment shops, craft fairs, local food stands, yard sales, farmers markets, even sales though classified ads and craigslist. These sellers have never been afforded the ease of accepting credit card payments.

Now, as long as the seller doesn't mind paying 2.75%, you may be able to buy that old telephone at the next yard sales using your Mastercard card...and that truly would be priceless. 

Have you used a Square device? What do you think about it?
 

 

 

 

Kevin Duffy is the Creative Director for The Duffy Agency's Boston office.

New report shows the Web hits another major milestone

For all the hype around the Internet and its ubiquitous nature, good old-fashioned TV always reigned supreme when it came to killing time. For years, the average American (and who, exactly,  is that?) would carve out 12-13 hours out of every week and hand it over to the "drug of the nation." No other mind-numbing past time came close.

 

That is, of course, until this year.

According to Forrester's annual survey of 30,000 U.S. consumers, "Understanding The Changing Needs Of The US Online Consumer, 2010" published on Monday, the average American, for the first time in its couch-potato existence, spends as much time online as watching TV offline—roughly about 13 hours a week.

Some might be quick to explain this increase in the popularity of social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter. However, only 35% of people use social networking sites (which is up from 17% in 2007). More specifically, another study came out by the Pew Institute that showed only 8% of adult American actually use Twitter.

What is truly amazing about this is that TV usage hasn't fallen to create this extra time to surf the Web. In fact, channel surfing is up about 5% in the last five years. However, Web surfing is up an astonishing (or maybe not) 121% in that same amount of time. It is important to note that this increase is not exclusively surfing the Web via a browser. On the contrary, a large majority of the time included in this report was devoted to email, which 92% of people use. 60% of people shop online (the second most popular Web activity after email).

So if Internet usage is up and TV usage is up, where are people finding the extra time? They are taking time away from other activities. For example, radio usage over the last 5 years has dropped by 15%. Magazine readership is down 18% (coincidentally 18% of the people surveyed read blogs regularly). And the newspaper industry is bearing the brunt of the exodus with a 26% drop in readership over the last 5 years.

So what does this mean from a marketing perspective? Well, it shows that online is as important as ever and growing in importance everyday when it comes to connecting to consumers. It also shows that although the big three networks have seen their share of revenue dips, TV in general is healthier than ever. In fact, one could argue that online advertising owns a great deal to cable TV in that cable paved the way for the type of market segmentation and demographic focus that is the backbone of Web marketing.

There will be a time in the not too distant future where people reading newspapers or simply listening to the radio will seem odd, much like someone who still uses a rotary dial phone today. But take heart, all these changes mean that we can regale our grandkids with stories of having just three main channels of TV (plus a couple UHF ones). Or how ink would stain our fingers from reading news that was delivered on actual paper. That is if our grandkids can peel their eyes from the holographic, 3D real-time virtual reality worlds and actually want to listen.

Kevin Duffy is the Creative Director for The Duffy Agency's Boston Office.

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Your clients are online, are you?

We talk to a lot of companies about joining the social media revolution and creating a larger digital fingerprint. All too often we get told the same thing, “But our clients aren’t online” or “the internet is for kids.” ComScore has released a new report called “State of the US Internet Q3,” which looks at internet growth and usage from July 2009 to July 2010. 

In it, they bring a lot of proof that not only is your client base online in the US but around the rest of the world as well. It’s not that are just going online but they are visiting social media sites, using mobile devices and conducting more searches.

There is going to be a lot of facts and figures thrown about so hang on tight.

 

Bring it!

The report shows that the US is no longer the center of the online universe. It now only makes up 14% of all internet traffic. With huge adoption of broadband, Europe and Asia Pacific now make up 68% of internet traffic; China showing the greatest growth. Still, the US has 182 million people online, which is a 9% growth over the past year. 

The total number of American’s online in July was 213.6 million. The average user was online 24 days a month for a total of 32.6 hours. US spent $18.5 billion online. According to the latest census, there are 310 million people living in the United States. That is 67% of the US population going online every month. 

The majority of users are going to community sites. Interestingly, training and education sites saw a 67% growth and business to business had a 65% growth in the past year. This is a tremendous growth and shows that your clients are online, looking for your business and wanting to interact. 

But surely these must just be kids looking for online training or sharing useless stuff on Facebook.

Like pictures of Gary Busey

Social networking is showing a 23% growth with the average person spending 300 minutes a month. The idea that social networking is just for kids is disproven. While 15-24 year-olds have the highest usage and show the greatest reach, 45-54 year-olds are the second largest percentage of users of social media spending over 300 minutes online and have a 79% reach for women and 70% reach for men. Wait, aren’t 45-54 year-olds usually the decision makers in companies?

The US conducted 215 million unique searches in July. Google sites account for the majority of searches. That is a huge amount of people looking for stuff within the US. If your clients are looking for information within your industry, are they finding you or your competitors? Take a moment and do a search for relevant keywords in your industry and see where you company appears. If it’s not on the first page, then you need to look into better search engine optimization.

In July, 40.7% of people used their phones for mobile media. Approximately 70% of mobile phone users said they use their phone for more than just making phone calls. Mobile phones are being used for search, email and social networking. If you think it’s just kids texting each other, think again. Males between the age of 25-54 make up 64% of mobile browsers, while women make up 58%. 

This shows that people are using their phones more often to look up websites, use an app or send an SMS. Mobile phone optimization of websites is becoming more important each month. Smart phone usage is increasing at a incredible rate. In 2009, 173.5 million smart phones were shipped. At the end of this year 296.6 million devices will have been shipped. That is a 55.4% increase and is expected to grow by 25% in 2011. With tablet computing adoption growing quicker than expected, people are no longer just sitting in front a pc or laptop to access the internet. They are on the go and expect to have a quality experience when they visit your site. 

Whew, that’s a lot of information to digest.

The point is kids don’t rule the internet. Your clients do. They are more active, more connected and smarter than ever before. As the year draws to a close, it’s time to put some money aside to convert your website into a smart phone friendly version, getting your website optimized for search engines and updating it with new social media efforts. 

 

Stefan Halley is the Digital Project Leader for The Duffy Agency. He loves to talk about social media.

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An Internet guide to Thanksgiving

In the United States, Thanksgiving is this Thursday, November 25. It's a holiday that is rife with overindulgence, football, and family (and all the unhealthy dynamics that family represents). It falls between Halloween and Christmas and like other middle-children, it seems to get ignored and forgotten—especially on the Interwebs. So I thought we should shower some deserving attention on this gastronomic holiday with some Thanksgiving related things I found around the 'net.

Can you feel the spirit of giving thanks?
 

And don't forget to leave a comment and share your Thanksgiving traditions.

Apps

• Top iPhone apps dedicated to the Thanksgiving bird
  
  
• Top 10 best free Thanksgiving iPad apps
  
  
• 6 best Thanksgiving apps for iPhone
  
  
• Top 5 android apps for surviving Thanksgiving
  
  

Fun and games

• Turkey ShootOut 3-D game
  
  
• Thanksgiving eCards from Jib-Jab
  
  
• Wild Turkey Gobble
  
  

Food related

• A listing of savory and sweet Thanksgiving side dishes
  
  
• Turkey recipes from Butterball
  
  
• The best way to roast a turkey
  
  
• How to carve a Holiday turkey
  
  

Misc.

• Weird Thanksgiving day facts