All Posts, Social Media
By now you’ve already heard of the heavy hitters in social media sites. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. I could easily list out a lot more, but there’s no need for all of that. Now with all these sites vying for your attention, status updates, friend requests, link sharing, liking, recommending; at what point is all of this “too much?”
I could be biased in my opinion on this because I’m a web designer. Or should I say consultant. Talking with my peers about this very subject matter recently posed the question about “social media noise.” That noise to us is getting a bit louder. Kind of like those TV commercials that purposely run with double the volume than the normal ones regardless of the volume level on your television set.
Why do we call it noise? Well that’s because on our side of things we’re inundated with it all. Our line of business demands that we are fully aware – if not experts on all of the types of media, how they work, and be versed in using them. We need to know their strengths, weaknesses, and their rank against other similar mediums. Now as a business owner, marketer, or average consumer, this may not seem like noise. Most are already conditioned to seeing such buttons and interact with only a few of these sites with much less frequency.
Now let me paint the big picture. Those of you who own or manage websites, already know the value of social media. We don’t need to explain why it is so important. Advertising is huge. And if you look at the progression of ads from just 5 years ago to this date, you can see it has come a long way. But lately, technology has given us ways to purposely limit the ads we see, how we see them, when and where we see them. With a DVR we can skip commercials entirely. With RSS feeds, we can read articles without having to buy a newspaper and fumble through ads. Spam filters block or capture ad emails. Wouldn’t it only make sense that there would be a way to limit the noise or advertisements of social media? Think about it and post your comments below. I’d like to get your feedback and/or debates.
All Posts, Web Design
Reading this title you may be thinking that I’m pitting the two against each other in a death match for supreme being. Actually no, but I am comparing the two in terms of the future. For years now having a static web site has been an acceptable median for owning a piece of the internet. Whether it’s a personal web site, small business, or corporate entity, a web site (or website) was there to explain the presence of it’s owner.
That was then. Nowadays we’re living in the world of Web 2.0. And if you don’t know what that is, let me explain just a bit. Web 2.0 is basically all things interactive with a website. That means, social media, widgets, videos, and especially “web applications.” Like Inspiration Hut for example. A Blog that provide you with great information for graphic, illustrations, typography, design, and more that also allows you to contribute to it’s resources – while Authors can dialog right back in real time.
So lets talk about these applications. There are a lot of them out there, and though most are free, they are far from “simple”. They range from instant messaging with live visitors to a site, to embedded videos from Vimeo or YouTube to describe products, play music, or even show sports highlights. Each of these examples are Web 2.0. There’s a trend happening where more and more websites are being created or revamped to incorporate these features. Sites like Basecamp and Forrst and ProjectManager that allow remote collaboration of projects and work regardless of physical location.
The importance or “take-over” of the applications is on the rise. You’ll see more and more sites pop up with functionality for more than just reading content. There will be more variances of direct interaction with visitors, and increased participation from visitors to accomplish many things. Albeit, games, collating content, providing feedback, replying to posts, and more. Also consider the compatibility for mobile computing in all of this too. Not only will you be able to read a site exactly how it looks off your computer to your mobile device, but be able to interact from your device much simpler than ever before. One more key I’d like to point out is/are Webinars. Being able to host traditional seminars and presentations with people around the world is not only easily accessible, but seemingly as if all the attendees were in the same room together at the same time.
Now will the seasoned web designing veteran have to update his skills to accommodate these applications in their repertoire? Surely so. Or be forced to step aside while new degree toting collegiates touch away at their iPads to develop new application websites to suit. What do you think?
By now you’ve already heard of the heavy hitters in social media sites. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. I could easily list out a lot more, but there’s no need for all of that. Now with all these sites vying for your attention, status updates, friend requests, link sharing, liking, recommending; at what point is all of this “too much?”
Now let me paint the big picture. Those of you who own or manage websites, already know the value of social media. We don’t need to explain why it is so important. Advertising is huge. And if you look at the progression of ads from just 5 years ago to this date, you can see it has come a long way. But lately, technology has given us ways to purposely limit the ads we see, how we see them, when and where we see them. With a DVR we can skip commercials entirely. With RSS feeds, we can read articles without having to buy a newspaper and fumble through ads. Spam filters block or capture ad emails. Wouldn’t it only make sense that there would be a way to limit the noise or advertisements of social media? Think about it and post your comments below. I’d like to get your feedback and/or debates.
