And by SOCIAL Networking, they actually mean dating apps.
It’s so sad…
Category: Internet
Print is still here, but it won’t save journalism
The cost of a full-page weekday ad in the print edition of the LA Times, reaching 500,000 people is about $50,000.
The cost of a ad on LATimes.com to reach the same 500,000 people is about $7,000.
The cost of an ad reaching 500,000 people that’s served up by Google and appears on LATimes.com can be as little as $20.
Looking at those figures, it’s easy to see why companies have all but moved completely to web-based advertising.
The problem is two-fold: First, when you pay for a subscription to a print product, you almost certainly read it… cover-to-cover. When you view web pages for news, you almost certainly either block the ads, or have grown so used to them that you don’t even see them. So while it’s cheaper to advertise on the web, it is my opinion that most companies are throwing their money away. They fall in love with social media shares/likes, click-through rates, page views, and a host of other analytics—but they fail to accept the only number that counts: sales!
The second problem is that due to the first, journalism has devolved into click-bait producing bloggers being paid $25 per post to “report the news.” They do this because they can’t afford to pay real journalists to investigate stories and spend time crafting something worth paying for. And because of that, I’m not willing to pay for it.
It’s a vicious circle.
8 tips for photo sharing on Facebook
Following up on last week’s post about social media image specs, here are 8 more tips for sharing photos on Facebook.
It’s kind of sad that it’s so complicated to get an image to show up the way you want it on social media, but posts like this one at TheDailyDot make it a bit easier.
The ultimate social media spec sheet
If part of your design job is providing your company/client with images for social media use, you know how tedious it can be to keep up with what image sizes to use for what purpose on which site.
Thankfully, we have Advise.
Advise provides social media ad and image specs for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other popular social sites.
Casper: Website design inspiration
Jonnie Hallman shared his experience and thoughts behind designing the Casper website homepage. I found it an inspirational read. I love the simplicity of the presentation, but after reading the article I really appreciated the complex thinking behind it.
Is “above the fold” web design dead?
For years, web designers and their clients have had the idea that the most important content must live above the fold (the area viewable in your browser window without scrolling). Back in the days of 14-17 inch monitors, slow modem speeds, and static web pages that was absolutely true. But does the idea that the important info must be above the fold still hold true when we now have 24-30 inch LCD screens with extremely high resolutions?
Everything I’ve read the last few years say absolutely not. In fact, many studies are beginning to reveal that larger numbers of viewers are finding the most valuable information below the fold—likely due to blog-style sites (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) where information is presented in a top-down updating list instead of static navigation and content locations.
HugeInc has published the results of their study on user scrolling in Everybody Scrolls. The results, perhaps not so surprisingly, is that everybody scrolls nearly 100% of the time.
While this is just one study, I suspect that the vast majority of people have been trained to scroll over the years. As for me, I almost always scroll—if for no other reason than so many sites I visit have the area above the fold filled with annoying content rotators and oversized intro graphics.
I take this as a reminder that rules are meant to be questioned and/or broken at any time.
Check out MyApple Magazine
I had completely forgotten that I had downloaded the premiere issue of MyApple Magazine, a new English-language magazine about the world of Apple from the combined staff of Apple World Today and MyApple.pl.
Since I took the last week off for the holidays, I had some time to read through the free downloadable magazine. After reading through the first issue, I quickly downloaded the remaining new issues. Great stuff!
The articles aren’t just blog posts pulled from the website, they read easy—not too long, not too short. The photography is nice, and the layout is easy on the eyes.
Is WiGig the next big thing for the Mac?
WiFi speeds have increased significantly over the years. But the WiFi Alliance claims that 2016 will be the year of WiGig (IEEE802.11ad) with its 7Gbps speed. That’s more than just a little speed bump. But before you start dreaming of mega-fast downloads, it’s important to understand WiGig’s true intention.
WiGig certified products operate in the 60 GHz frequency band and deliver multi-gigabit speeds, low latency, and security-protected connectivity between nearby devices. Think of WiGig as a wireless cable replacement for external hard drives and network servers. Imagine using a WiGig-enabled hard drive with your iMac AND your MacBook without having to connect wires to the computers.
You may ask “why not use the 7Gbps speeds for wireless Internet access?” The reason is simple. While 802.11ad is super-fast, it only works over short distances, and isn’t very good at sending the signal through walls.
I have no idea if Apple will eventually include WiGig on future Macs. But it could be a Good sign that Apple has a representative on the Board of the WiGig Alliance.
What I do know is:
• Wireless Keyboard
• Wireless Mouse
• Wireless Trackpad
• Wireless Scanner
• Wireless Printer
• Wireless Headphones
• Wireless iPhone Syncing
The only thing left on my desk that still plugs in to a USB port are external hard drives, and the plethora of charging cables for Bluetooth and iOS devices.
Mayer fails to bet the Yahoo! farm
Over all, Yahoo remains much the same business it was three years ago. It is a far-flung collection of news, entertainment and communications destinations supported by ads. Ms. Mayer was hired to build something novel. Instead, at best, she appears to be building a better Yahoo — with debatable results.
We all know Yahoo needs to do SOMETHING to shake things up. The debatable question is WHAT? Everybody is quick to point out that Mayer isn’t doing anything… but nobody seems to have a solution.
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