Top Internet Strategy, Marketing & Technology Links – Feb 8, 2010

fleur120

My 3-minute reaction is that I like it. If over the course of the next 24-hours that opinion changes I will let you know! The main change is to the top and side navigation; specifically, it is easier to find the items you use most: messages, new requests, notifications, etc. – New Facebook Look … Again (Socialnomics)

Improving a design means making changes. I’m not sure why people are surprised that Facebook makes changes to their design. If they didn’t, they’d stagnate and eventually go out of business. My question is whether design changes are being made to improve usability for the users or in order to make room for new lines of revenue. Both are important to a business, but hopefully the user’s best interest are top of mind.

The price of Griffin’s stuff range from about $25 to $50, and what is more important, signals and sets up the opening up a new avenue of revenue for the dozens of companies that already serve the after-market for the iPhone and iPod, and all the Mac computers. The arrival of a new iThing is rather analogous to the introduction by Hollywood and the consumer electronics industry of a new kind of video disc. – The First Wave of iPad Gadgets (NYTimes)

Lots of hype around the new iPad (I still hate the name). It’ll be interesting to see what niche it ends up filing for consumers and how that niche relates to the iPhone and laptops. Gadgets will play a big roll in how the niche forms. If gadgets allow the iPad to essentially be a laptop for a lot of people, that may hurt Apple’s laptop sales. If gadgets also allow the iPhone to be used more like a tiny computer (say with an external keyboard), then that’ll effect the niche that the iPhone serves.

Twitter is a perfect democratic forum: If people don’t like what you have to say, they can vote with their fingers. With a quick click, choosing the unfollow or block features, your feed is forever removed from their life. However, for businesses small and large, the goal of Twitter and other social media tools is to build relationships, not tear them down. To master the fine art of friending followers, here are five ways to not be annoying. – Top 5 Ways Not to Be Annoying on Twitter (AMEX Open)

More businesses need to follow Amber’s advice. Social media is about being transparent and having conversations with your customers. It’s not another broadcast medium for your marketing message (although if done correctly, marketing certainly plays a part).

Whether or not mobile optimization affects rankings, there are some benefits to putting a mobile-optimized site as a higher priority than designing an app. MobileCrunch blogger Scott Merrill predicted early this week that mobile web may outpace apps because mobile sites are accessible to all mobile users and do not require downloads or approval from app stores. – Mobile Commerce: Better to Create an App or a Mobile-optimized Site? (Practical eCommerce)

You’ve heard me say it before – mobile is going to be big. Having some sort of mobile presence is going to be important in the near future. A mobile-optimized site will be easier to build and support for most businesses and apps are usually device-specific (meaning an iPhone app won’t work on a Blackberry).

We post links to stories about how to use the web for business throughout the day on Twitter, Google Reader Shared or Delicious. Also, if you have a post or link you think is worth sharing, please let us know!

Liked this post? Consider subscribing to our RSS feed or our free email updates or following us on Twitter.

Technorati tags: internet strategy, web strategy, online strategy, internet, web strategy

Reader Interactions