To many of us, social media are a fairly predictable part of our lives. We know which platforms we like and how we like to use them, adding up to pretty smooth sailing with few surprises (except for the perpetual hubbub surrounding Facebook redesigns). But at Tuesday’s Disruptathon Social Media in Washington, D.C., the focus was on movers and shakers of social media who are coming up with innovative ways to “disrupt the status quo,” said event organizer Pete Erickson.
Erickson created Disruptathon in 2009 after being inspired by the work of Clayton Christensen and his ideas about disruptive innovation. It’s about asking, “What are the disruptive opportunities; who’s really got their finger on the pulse?” Erickson said. Disruptathon has held 11 events, with themes including health care and mobile technology. (read more…)
Brian Williammee, SmartBrief’s lead mobile software developer, also contributed to this blog post. Download the SmartBrief Apple iPhone application.
In late April, SmartBrief launched our first mobile application for Google Android phones. Longtime SmartBrief readers might have also remembered a period of time in 2009 when we boasted an iPhone app.
Where is that app today? We removed it after seeing low usage, poor ratings and slew of unsatisfied readers. We’re not afraid to say that the first iteration of our iPhone app was not the best because without that experience, we never would have learned what works — and what readers really wanted.
Our greatest failure was forgetting why people love SmartBrief. Business professionals rely on our newsletters because it’s the collection of need-to-know news in their industry. Our initial iPhone app took a completely different approach to aggregating content. We organized content by tags and gave everyone the same 50 most popular tags — no matter which newsletters they actually read. (read more…)
This series is brought to you by SmartBrief Mobile. The SmartBrief Google Android application extends the reach of the SmartBrief e-mail service by allowing you to read, manage, save and share top news stories pertinent to your industry. Download the FREE SmartBrief app!
This post is by Andy Grossman, a SmartBrief contributing editor covering telecommunications and technology.
There is no good reason for a grown man with parental responsibilities to spend an hour of his valuable time playing “Angry Birds.” But dad takes some comfort in knowing he’s not alone. And though slightly above the core demographic for the typical mobile applications game player, there are still millions of us — er, them — who have “borrowed” their kids’ phones or tablets to hurl those stupid avians over and over.
“Angry Birds” and other viral apps have invaded most people’s homes in a similar fashion, according to a new MTV Networks survey released last week that suggests word-of-mouth is the major springboard of success for most mobile apps. The researchers found 73% download apps after hearing them through other people, reviews and trial usage. My daughter’s experience is typical: She bought the paid version of “Angry Birds” after trying the freebie and then had to have the fully featured version. (read more…)
This series is brought to you by SmartBrief Mobile. The SmartBrief Google Android application extends the reach of the SmartBrief e-mail service by allowing you to read, manage, save and share top news stories pertinent to your industry. Download the FREE SmartBrief app!
Marketers too often want to make a splash with a sexy, consumer-friendly mobile application. What they don’t know, and what Hipcricket Chief Marketing Officer Jeff Hasen is happy to tell them, is that sometimes a low-tech SMS campaign is the best way to target customers with a time-sensitive deal or special offer.
Hipcricket, which recently celebrated its 100,000th campaign, has been in the mobile-marketing space since 2004, making it an old-time player in the industry. Hasen noted that the industry has advanced a long way.
His shop recently won a piece of business, in part, on the strength of a traditional agency storyboard. However, despite the increasing sophistication of smartphones and mobile users, the humble text message is still a powerhouse when it comes to getting consumers’ attention. (read more…)
Empire Avenue is a social network that functions like a stock exchange. You can buy “shares” in the profiles of other members using a virtual currency called eaves.
A profile’s value can be influenced in two ways.
- People buy and sell stock in you, thereby driving up your value.
- Earn eaves in exchange for activity on other social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Users can buy shares of others’ profiles by accumulating eaves through activities including selling their own shares, unlocking rewards and buying eaves for real money. (read more…)
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