mary meeker's internet trends 2016.

2016 Internet Trends Report from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

red bull: the content marketing machine

Mashable recently did a fantastic feature on Red Bull. You may have heard of them. Little blue and silver can? The kids mix it with vodka? Right. You know what else they make that you can consume besides an energy drink? Content. Lots of content. In fact, they have an entire division (more like a company) dedicated to this content. The Red Bull Media House churns out bite sized morsels of content goodness. They produce print, television, online, mobile, music, games and feature film content.

Their dedicated website for content is called the Red Bull Content Pool and it is aimed at producers, editors and journalists looking to quench their content thirst. What they have done a masterful job of is putting their product second, a distant second. The real focus is the content which in turn builds brand loyalty which eventually equates to sales.

The Mashable piece also highlighted a solid report by the Altimeter Group. They have done a great job of categorizing what stage companies are in with regard to content marketing using an exercise analogy (stand, stretch, walk, jog and run). Check it out, it is well worth your time.

video on instagram.

jony ive introducing ios 7.

Here is the Apple promo video introducing iOS 7 to the world. It is narrated by Jony Ive, its creator.

mary meeker's 2013 internet trends.

Always a treat...

The latest edition of the annual Internet Trends report finds continued robust online growth. There are now 2.4 billion Internet users around the world, and the total continues to grow apace. Mobile usage is expanding rapidly, while the mobile advertising opportunity remains largely untapped. The report reviews the shifting online landscape, which has become more social and content rich, with expanded use of photos, video and audio. Looking ahead, the report finds early signs of growth for wearable computing devices, like glasses, connected wrist bands and watches – and the emergence of connected cars, drones and other new platforms.

what's the future of business? (by brian solis).

what your instagram filter says about you.

Here is a fun infographic created by Column Five and Marketo that takes a look at the which types of folks use which filters on Instagram. While it is difficult to discern exactly how they put the profiles together, other than their source list, it does provide real insight into which filters are the most popular, how many active users there and how many photos are uploaded each day. And for those marketers looking to reach the 18-24 demographic, it appears that 54% of Instagram users fall into that age bracket. What brands do you think are making good use of this channel?

pebble watch review.

Yep, it's finally here. It's been almost a year since the Kickstarter for Pebble was funded and the race to produce the much anticipated e-paper watch was on. Along the way there were a lot of updates, photos of the manufacturing in progress, excuses reasons for the continuing delays and changing release dates.

Earlier this year at CES the Pebble finally had a soft launch and made quite a splash. Word on the street is that all the major players, including Apple, are now in the smartwatch game. This is no surprise considering how excited people got about the Pebble. Raising $10 million on Kickstarter will do that.

Upon first glance the packaging for the Pebble is very similar to that of the Kindle. All that it contains is the watch and the charging cable, which is one of a kind so don't lose it as they don't make replacements yet. There are no real instructions in the box so you have to go to the website using a computer or smartphone in order to learn more.

Then allow your smartphone to find the Pebble via Bluetooth and connect. Download and open the Pebble app on your smartphone to be sure you have the latest software and presto, your ready to go. The watch updates via over the air via Bluetooth which makes the updating process very smooth.

The watch itself is lightweight and simple, elegant in fact. Folks have complained about the strap being cheap, but I for one think it is very satisfactory. There are four buttons total. One on the left and three on the right. They control the menu, scrolling up and down and a back option.

The functionality is very simple and straightforward. I can see who is calling me, see my texts and receive email notifications. The watch also vibrates when a notification is coming through. The Pebble has an accelerometer which allows you to shake the watch and the e-paper display lights up for viewing in low light which is very handy. I really like how they have focused on a few functions and nailed them. It was definitely worth the wait.

UPDATE: Pebble firmware update 1.9 delivers a non-watchface app - the classic game of snake

introducing vine (by twitter).

Vine is a new iOS video app created (read acquired) by Twitter. It is a stand alone app that allow users to create short (and I mean very short) videos and immediately upload them to their social networks. What makes it unique and fun is that it lets you edit (sort of) on the go. It takes a little practice but once you have it down it is quite fun. It creates a six second video that you record by holding your finger on the screen. You stop recording by releasing your finger and continue by touching the screen again. And so on and so on until you have reached six seconds. Then when video is uploaded it loops creating a new form animated GIF or sorts. Think of it as an attempt to become the Instagram of video. I think this has a very good chance at being a huge success. Brands should find good use for this as well.

Here is my first video uploaded to Vine.

Have you tried it yet? What do you think?

UPDATE: The app has been getting a little more press than usual as it seems adult content infiltrated their video streaming service. However, they are working on banning search terms and removing users who post this type of content. There's no such thing as bad press, right?

pebble arrives. sort of.

So today we were greeted with news that the Pebble watch is finally here. And by finally here we mean shipping on January 23rd. And by shipping January 23rd we mean arriving 6-8 weeks later. It has been a long wait so waiting a little longer won't hurt. It is understandable that such an undertaking can incur countless delays but today's announcement seemed sort of comical. Regardless, I for one can't wait to get my hands on it and use it for running and cycling. Will you get one?

UPDATE: Here is a great hands-on review from CES by The Verge

big data. big deal.

I'm sure some of you out there are over the term "big data" but it looks like it is here to stay. The term might be tired but the actionable information it can provide is invaluable. Here is a visual look at how retailers are using these vast amounts of information. (Notice I didn't say big data.) I find it interesting to note that according to research 90% of the world's data has been created in the past two years.

mary meeker's internet trends: december 2012

Mary Meeker, from Kleiner Perkins, and the former Morgan Stanley head of research that focused on digital investment, gave her state of the internet presentation last night to a Stanford audience. Her research is highly respected and she is known as the Queen of the Internet. The deck covers healthcare, digital payments and education sectors and is a must read for anyone who is interested in the influential role technology is playing on how consumers access and consume content.

instagram embeddable badges.

Instagram is moving up in the world. Fast. That nearly billion dollars Zuckerberg and Co. shelled out for the photo sharing site is looking more and more like a smart buy. Earlier this month Instagram launched embeddable badges. While nothing new in the digital world, it does signal a move away from mobile, as did their launching of a web profile for users (which now enables the use of the badges). Clearly the move away from being a mobile only application is being pushed by Facebook, however, since Facebook has yet to really crack the mobile game, is it smart from them to pull Instagram over to the web so soon? Was the real appeal of Instagram (what has made it the "darling" of those who want to rebel against the fact that their parents are on Facebook) not the fact that it was only mobile and kind of "our" thing? Or is it now a numbers game and Facebook just wants to get as many eyeballs on their new property ASAP. My guess is yes, but we will see. What these badges really do is allow large corporations to place them on their sites and send consumers right over to their Instagram page bringing the service more and more exposure.

In the meantime I have added an Instagram badge on my blog, why not, right?

the future of seo (by rand fishkin).

4 types of content marketing metrics.

In this deck Jay Baer, president of Convince and Convert, does a nice job of outlining 4 types of content marketing metrics. Do you agree with his assessment?

infographic: the perfect mobile email

This is an example of a great infographic. Clean layout with easy-to-digest, actionable information. Well done litmus.

three rules for mobile success.

Fact, mobile devices and services are taking up more and more of our personal and professional time. Phones and tablets are getting more eyeballs every day and the opportunity to capitalize on that attention is huge. According to Twitter's Bruce Daisley (Director of Twitter in the UK) there are three rules businesses need to follow in order to succeed in this area. I've added a few thoughts in italics.

1. Authentically mobile - In other words, don't take a communication meant for a different channel and cram it into mobile.
2. Simple to understand - The message needs to be clear and concise. Simplicity is key.
3. Easy to action - What do you want them to do? Make it easy and fast to complete.

infographic: online marketing in 2012

The takeaways are as follows: mobile is important but market to all platforms, social media is vital, email is not dead and none of this will matter if you're not using analytics. There you have it, now go get 'em.

video and social help mobile.

According to eMarketer, nearly one third of the US population will consume video content on a mobile device at least once a month by 2016. That's 110 million people watching videos on their phones. My guess is it will be higher than this because more people will also be uploading video content.

The other factor that will be helping the use of mobile along is social. The number of people using their mobile device for social networking will be grow even faster. One third of the population will be social networking by 2014 and most of those log-ins will be on Facebook. No surprise there.


What does this all mean? Great question. I believe more and more advertising dollars are headed to mobile. I believe more and more marketing dollars are headed to mobile. Even though right now mobile is underspent in marketing I believe the tide will turn. According to this recent Mobile Marketer post, mobile is grabbing 23 percent of consumers’ time. However, mobile receives approximately one percent of budget money, showing the deep divide between brands’ marketing campaigns and user habits.

how to make money with your iphone.

Here is a nice overview by  Tech Tonic (a Reuters production) of three applications that you can use to make some extra cash . Gigwalk, Zaarly and TaskRabbit are reviewed.