The Hierarchy of Engagement
Greylock’s Sarah Tavel has a framework for evaluating customer engagement potential in non-transactional consumer companies that is must read for startups, but equally valuable for all marketers. “What matters most is not growth of users. It’s growth of users completing the core action.” Read More
Talking about Medium and the Open Web with Evan Williams
MIT’s Joi Ito in a friendly interrogation draws out Williams’ thoughts on the open web. Also see MIT’s PubPub which Ito references for additional context.
We’ve been talking a lot about the importance of the Open Web and where Medium fits into the ecosystem of walled gardens and this Open Web. Evan Williams, founder and CEO of Medium, was nice enough to chat on Skype and allow me to post it. … while Medium has and is focused on creating a great authoring platform, it sounds like Ev is much more open to supporting the Open Web than some might have feared. Look forward to seeing support for more interoperability and working with them on it. Read More
Journalism needs a Spotify, a Netflix, an iTunes — whatever you want to call it…
One website that houses the best newspapers and magazines in the country, that allows people to browse through everything and only pay for the stories they like, where you can see what your friends recommended. And where it’s really easy to just get the 8 or 10 best stories published every day, and discover those really great pieces. … Nobody built it, so we did it ourselves
Dutch company Blendle seems to be doing well with a micropayment model in Holland, and is now in beta in the U.S. with major publisher support. This post by Co-founder Alexander Klöpping explains what and why. Why might this work now? Not to take anything away from Blendle’s technology or user experience, but the publishing industry had to be willing and ready. Fingers crossed. Read More
Social’s Fight Over Brand Dollars
The Information’s Tom Dolan compares the competing approaches of Snapchat vs Facebook. Aside from the details this is also reminder to look closely for subtle but important differences between all the platforms.
Facebook and Snapchat have roughly competitive full screen ad products. While both are designed to entice brands to move more TV budgets to mobile, some marketers say Snapchat’s is better for immediate reactions while Facebook is better for brand awareness. Read More
Format Free Content and Format Agility
A good read from Michael Andrews for thinking content strategists. (I made the quote meet my formatting needs by deleting the extra sentence spacing.)
I want to bring the user perspective into the discussion of formats. Rather than only think about the desirability of format neutrality, I believe we should broaden the objective to consider the concept of format readiness. Instead of just trying to transcend formats, content engineers should also consider how to enable customized formats to support different scenarios of use. Users need content to have format flexibility, a quality that doesn’t happen automatically. Not all content is equally ready for different format needs. Read More
Slack, I’m Breaking Up with You
Samuel Hulick’s love / hate relationship is one example of a bit of a Slack backlash going on. Hard to know how widespread it is, but it is easy to see how Slack would encourage what Linda Stone calls “continuous partial attention”. Slack is a tool and may just need to be used judicially as some of the comments suggest. The post and associated debate around Slack and productivity are helpful to anyone considering using it.
You’re turning my workdays into one long Franken-meeting … those with the least on their plates can maintain the most Slack presence, which leads to the most gregariously unengaged representing the majority of the discussion base while penalizing those who are fully engaged in their “real” work. Read More
Call for speakers is now open!
Main conference: November 29 – 30 2016 ● Workshops: December 1
Fairmont Copley Plaza, Boston, MA
Short takes
Scary but useful!… Scott Brinker’s latest Marketing Technology Landscape Supergraphic (2016) via chiefmartec.com
It’s not just Slack… Is group chat making you sweat? Group chat is like being in an all-day meeting with random participants and no agenda. via Signal v. Noise – Medium
On chat as interface …WTF does that mean? via Medium
No change at the top… The RedMonk Programming Language Rankings: January 2016. via RedMonk
High praise with why… The New York Times reinvents Page One — and it’s better than print ever was via NiemanLab
All help is sure to be appreciated… Marketing technology is a mess, so MyStacks launches to make sense of it via VentureBeat
Gorilla guerrilla tactics – Apple vs. Google… The War for Mobile Search via The Startup – Medium
Sounds right… Rise of The Docker Pattern via RedMonk
Demandbase, Integrate… Marketing Automation Round-up, March 2016 via Digital Clarity Group
What Would It Take to Disrupt a Platform Like Facebook? …Wouldn’t you like to know. via HBR
CMS, etc., corner
A few tips on how to negotiate the right price for CEM technology via Digital Clarity Group
2016 Web Content and Experience Management Logo Landscape via Real Story Group
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The Gilbane Advisor curates content for our conference community of content, computing, and digital experience professionals throughout the year. Subscribe to our email newsletter, or our feed.
The Gilbane Conference on Content Management, Marketing, and Digital Experience helps marketers, IT, and business managers integrate content strategies and computing technologies to produce superior digital experiences for all stakeholders.
