According to the BBC, the makers of the app, French studio Presslite received the following notification regarding its decision to block the app:

We’ve checked out the circumstances of your app’s restriction, and we found that your app received strong negative feedback from users and their friends. Unfortunately, we will not be able to restore your app’s functionality.

The owner of the app told the BBC that he has received very little negative feedback on the app, and feels that Facebook’s recent purchase of Instragam is at the heart of the matter. He goes on to say:

We don’t understand how Facebook could block the access to millions of users of the Vintage Camera application who want to share their photos on Facebook, only because of a few negative feedback reports. As you all know, Facebook has acquired the Instagram photo-sharing application, and we hope this acquisition is not influencing this kind of access limitation for other photo applications.

Do you think Facebook is unfairly blocking the Vintage Camera app due to its ownership of Instagram, or do you think the move is justified? Have you used Vintage Camera yourself? Let us know your thoughts!

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21572740

One of the most significant changes in this update is the evolution of the ‘Friend Network’ visualisation. Previously the friend network diagram showed which of your friends were connected to each other. You can see in the screengrab below how your friends were grouped in colourful clusters. This painted a really interesting picture, as it clearly maps out periods in your life to date, such as school, travelling, college, jobs.

Occasionally you might notice that certain people were connected to multiple clusters (often family, partners or close friends). Wolfram Alpha now highlights which friends are the connecting link between otherwise separate friend groups. Five different “network roles” have been identified: social insiders and outsiders, social neighbors and gateways, and social connectors. Have a look below to see how this works. It’s an interesting insight because it begins to quantify the value of each friend within your social network.

One of my favourite parts of the Wolfram Alpha report is the weekly distribution visualisation — it lends a (painfully) honest insight into the times that you’re most active on Facebook and what you’re doing. You can see that I’m quite partial to posting a flurry of links on a Monday and Tuesday evening (wtf?).

This is just a taster, pop on over to Wolfram Alpha to get your own Personal Facebook Analytics.

There are numerous issues with the site in terms of brand, usability, information architecture and design, but i’m not going to list the problems, as others in the industry have already done a very good job of that (Stephanie Francis, UX designer at Engineyard gave a fair critique of the issues on her blog yesterday)

I’m more interested in looking at how the design process might have resulted in the problems they’re having, and what can be learned from that.

1. It starts with a good brief and a set of project objectives: If you’re not totally confident writing a website brief, ask for help, ask an agency for a briefing template, or consult some experts to help define what you need.

2. Always prioritise the user and what they need to do: The marketing team or the designers themselves are *not* the target audience for a site. The difficulties Ireland.com users have reported in finding specific information and getting lost in a navigation maze, indicate that user requirements were not prioritised. Making sure internal stakeholders ‘like’ a site should never ever be a key objective – ensuring people can find what they need quickly and easily is much more important.

3. The user must always be at the centre of the process – prototype, test, iterate, test and iterate again: The interface design of Ireland.com is very unusual. No familiar website design patterns have been used, and the user is immediately a little confused on arriving at the site, even getting lost as they try to navigate through it. It was a brave move to try to do something innovative, and it *could* have been brilliant. But early prototyping and testing would certainly have highlighted some of the usability issues, allowing design problems to be fixed much earlier on in the process and resulting in a better site overall. (Plus, fixing major design problems later on in the process when coding is already underway will quickly put a huge hole in the budget!)

4. Design by committee will always spoil the end product: Too many cooks etc etc. My guess is that there were many different stakeholders on this project, all with a say in the interface design, photography style and copywriting. It’s a tricky balancing act, as everyone will want to have their say, but ultimately, the project brief and objectives should lead the way, not subjective opinions, likes or dislikes.

5. Good sites require time, planning and process: Good work takes time. But, a good process incorporating understanding and research, clear objectives, and testing with users throughout to ensure these objectives are being met, will help to save time overall; spotting issues early on and allowing them to be fixed before they become a bigger headache. Project budgets can quickly spiral out of control when all of the issues listed above come into play – and immovable deadlines often mean that a site is launched when it really isn’t ready. As my Irish teacher always said – Tús maith, leath na h-oibre! (a good start is half the work).

What are the new restrictions?

Well Facebook were nice enough to ad this new rule to their advertising Guidelines but as one line with little or no depth in its explanation.

D. Images
Ads and sponsored stories in News Feed may not include images comprised of more than 20% text.

So here’s the skinny:

• Page Post Ads (Photo, Link, Video)
• Offer Ads
• Page Like Ads
• Mobile App Install Ads

Things to be aware of:

• No expectations are being made for Logos and Slogans
• This includes images included from embedded links on sites.
• No calls to action are allowed
• No price points

Other than these changes that have taken place there are a few things you need to be aware of that you should make sure you are keeping an eye on. If you are someone this will greatly effect and you regularly assaulted users Newsfeeds with sponsored posts with huge calls to action and information prepare to see you CTR go way down. If you are part of this group then you should start to effectively change your strategy:

• Be more creative with how you get across your message e.g. wink wink people holding a sign in images is technically not an overlay it’s worth a go!
• If your image is engaging enough people will read the information you put in the text box above the content.
• Look to use other formats for what you are promoting
  • If it’s an event promote the post of an event
  • If it’s a video use an eye catching thumbnail
• Use real images if you can as they won’t stand out as much as stock
• In the Power Editor set your ads to only feature on desktop and not Newsfeed. It’s less impressions but it will at least get approved.
• If you have ads live now don’t touch them if you make any edits that need approval they might get taken down.

Play on Facebook’s new pitch or suffer the wrath of Zuckerberg!

If you have any questions don’t be afraid to ask them!

@RadicalDublin

September of 2012 saw a sharp and crude alteration to Facebook’s Edgerank algorithm, drastically reducing the potential reach of a brand’s Facebook posts overnight. Some have speculated that this, along with the ability to promote individual posts at the click of a button is too coincidental. Many believe this to be integral in an obvious Facebook move to find new avenues to further monetize their operations.

It emerged last week that Facebook are beginning a trial in a new form of messaging service that will borrow from the functionality of rival networks LinkedIn and Twitter. You may have to pay $100 to deliver an inbox message to Mark Zuckerburg and a list of other high ranking individuals on the platform in the near future.

This activity would take place through Facebook’s ‘other inbox’. Of this inbox most users are blissfully unaware, however this Facebook dumping ground may harbour messages you deem important or even critical.

What do you make of Facebook’s plans to charge at different price points to message individuals? Would you use Facebook to privately interact with public figures or celebrities?

#SocialNugget1: The unique experience created the perfect ‘social currency’ to award great engagement on all of our personal social media accounts. I believe there were 3 Facebook posts about the situation (with all involved tagged) within 2 minutes of being stuck between floors.

#SocialNugget2: The first person to report the news is bound to get the most engagement. Given that all of the team in @RadicalDublin would be of similar social influence online, it was clear that the variable for highest engagement was timing. Mary of #TeamSocial was first off the mark, and while only seconds later I also posted a photo, Mary’s post got 20 comments and 14 ‘likes’ within minutes.

#SocialNugget3: Our social media engagement spread the news quicker than any other form of communication, and got everyone working together on a solution. While we called all of the necessary people first, and gave a few old fashioned shouts of ‘Help!’ before posting online, it took only minutes for the majority of those in the office to know we were stuck in the lift, and therefore meant the urgency of the situation was amplified. While we can’t look too scientifically at the situation, we’d conclude that we’d have been stuck in the lift for at least 10 to 15 minutes longer had it not been for our social media engagement.

#SocialNugget4: Real world experiences are enhanced when you share and converse about them online. We often hear those who ‘disbelieve’ in social media talking about how it’s a shame that we can no longer interact face to face because of our ‘addiction’ to social media. However, this is the perfect example of how the experience was made better because we were able to immediately engage with all of our friends and family about the situation, and the experience was extended because of updates throughout the day on Facebook (photos of our rescue, words of endearment, etc).

#SocialNugget5: This is just a bit of fun. While I’m not lying, we were stuck in a lift…I’m not implying that we couldn’t have learned all of these things in less dramatic of circumstances. But it did lead me to reflect on just how integral social media is in our lives. Perhaps there would have been more panic, less laughs and very low awareness of what happened if it weren’t for social media. Either way, we would have been saved by our wonderful colleagues; but it wouldn’t have been as good a story without it.
Follow the rest of @RadicalDublin’s escapades over on Twitter. We’ll promise to keep it interesting, although we hope we won’t be stuck in a lift the next time we’re tweeting.

But Don’t Panic! – the worst thing you could do is make knee-jerk and potentially expensive decisions. Take the time to review the options first and make informed decisions aligned to your current and future business requirements.

So let’s start with the facts:

• 96% of mobile users say they regularly visit sites that are not mobile optimised. This leads to frustration, drop-offs and lost sales, and leaves a bad impression of your brand
• When they visited a mobile-friendly site, 74% of people say they’re more likely to return to that site in the future, and 67% are more likely to buy a product or service if the site is mobile friendly
• However, if a site is *not* mobile friendly, 61% will go to another site immediately, and leave with the feeling that the brand or business ‘doesn’t care about their business’
• Smartphones are currently used by over 50% of Ireland’s population (and this % is rising fast)
• Users expect a mobile site experience to match the desktop site – a stripped back and basic mobile site design is no longer acceptable

The opportunity to get ahead of your competitors now is huge – but a badly designed mobile presence can be worse than no mobile presence at all, so make sure you get it right.

Take time to understand your users needs:

• What do they need to do; check information? find directions? compare prices? complete a transaction?
• What content do they want to see first – latest news? contact information?
• Prioritise content over navigation – serve up the most important content first on the home screen for mobile users; don’t make them navigate to something they need straight away (eg your store location)
• Remember finger and swipe interactions on mobile, not keyboards, and design for this
• If your site has forms for sign-up or purchase, take great care and attention on the design of these – test them and optimise them. Bad forms will lose you customers.

So once you’ve taken the time to understand your business objectives, and your users, you are in a position to know what the best option is for going mobile.

There are a range of options, and each has pros and cons depending on requirements.

1. Native mobile app – The best apps make use of the functionality of the device they are on, and are useful enough to stand out in the crowded app marketplace and encourage your users to go to the app store and download it. They can be expensive as you need a separate build for each mobile os (iphone, android, blackberry, windows… possibly more in future?). Think carefully before rushing into an app build as they are not always the best solution, for example, apps do not show up in mobile web searches, which is important.
2. Web app – This is an app that is built in HTML5 and accessible via the web browser so is reliant on any browser functionality rather than the phone.
3. Hybrid app – like an app light, this takes elements of a web and native app together so offers some efficiencies over a native app but is still available from the app store/android market
4. Separate mobile site – as the number of different screens and devices on the market continues to rise, having a separate mobile site becomes an increasingly tricky option, but in some cases is the best solution
5. Responsive website – this is becoming a much more popular option for mobile sites as a single design and codebase built with breakpoints for different screen sizes means the site responds to the size of the screen the user is on, from desktop through tablet and down to smartphone. A single design and codebase is much easier to keep up-to-date than separate sites and apps, and users get a consistent experience no matter what device they are viewing on. A good example of a responsive site is the recently relaunched time.com or The Boston Globe newspaper.

So – there’s a lot to think about when looking at the mobile web! But the time for procrastination is over.

With some experts on your side, it can be a lot easier. Radical have recently developed separate mobile sites and responsive sites for some of Ireland’s largest brands. To speak to us about developing a stronger mobile presence, contact eve.conboy@radical.ie or brendan.bourke@radical.ie

Google Analytics provides you with a wealth of information that allows you to analyse your site and user data. Most online businesses will be very familiar with the basic tracking and analysis available, however many people don’t understand how powerful Google Analytics is in creating more detailed and bespoke reports that help to inform the particular needs of a business.

Using custom Event tracking, for example, it’s possible to track detail to a very granular level on a site. For example, we can track the click on specific buttons, or attach an event tracking code to all of the fields of a form page, giving us incredibly useful information about how a user interacts with a complex form or registration process. We can see at what point in the registration or purchase process a user abandoned the form or shopping cart, and we can see what form or button caused the difficulties for users.

We can use custom variables to add several levels of segmentation so that we can highlight the different interactions that users performs on our pages. It may be useful to split users by type, registered visitor, gender or any other parameter that could help us to improve our website experience. Many Google Analytics users do not have the knowledge or experience to implement this level of custom tracking, however the benefits in terms of understanding users and getting live data insights to help inform a site or product are extremely valuable. So, it’s worth taking some time to delve deeper in Google Analytics and what it can do.

There are lots of expensive user analytics and tracking tools on the market at the moment, but in most cases we can obtain the same level of accuracy by using Google Analytics and customising the tracking and reporting to specific business requirements.

If you’d like some advice on setting up custom Google Analytics tracking on your website, drop us a line on info@radical.ie

]]> http://www.radical.ie/blog/the-possibilities-of-advanced-google-analytics-tracking/feed/ 1 http://www.radical.ie/blog/iab-ireland-creative-breakfast/ http://www.radical.ie/blog/iab-ireland-creative-breakfast/#comments Tue, 16 Oct 2012 15:41:42 +0000 Eve Conboy http://www.radical.ie/blog/?p=671 Continue reading →]]> Radical’s Digital Creative team attended an IAB Ireland event this morning at the Irish Times, updating Dublin’s digital creative community on the latest creative thinking and technology developments.

A highlight of the morning was a presentation from Martin Bailie of creative agency glueisobar in London. His presentation challenged us all, explaining how agencies and clients need to change their approach to digital campaigns. We’re not living in a Mad Men advertising world anymore, and we need to stop thinking that way…

He explained how digital products and campaigns are most effective when they do one or both of two things:

1. Solve a problem for users and deliver an effective solution to them

Or

2. Provide users with a new way to share and link-up with their community

The web is sadly full of apps, sites and campaigns that do neither, and quickly become part of the detritus of dead web space; a waste of money for the client , a poor experience for clients’ customers, and a disappointment for the agency.

The first step in providing digital products that really work is to know your users. Understand who they are, what they like and what presses their emotional buttons; with this information you can provide them with an excellent user experience. Stay in touch with users throughout the process and even after a site or campaign has launched.  Analyse the data to understand how users are interacting with your campaigns and using your sites and apps.

Once you know your users and have analysed the data, you can make informed choices and decisions, and use technology and creative ideas to really deliver something different; something that makes audiences see a brand in a whole new light. He showed us examples of how Toyota and Nike have used this thinking to deliver game-changing campaigns which produced unprecedented results and even changed the way the whole company does business.

As Martin told us in no uncertain terms – changing our approach to digital campaigns is challenging and sometimes scary. But, when done well, the rewards are clear to see; higher engagement, higher brand awareness and a campaign that users truly interact with and talk about.

So, to sum up Martin’s good advice in a few words: Disrupt, Innovate, Test, Iterate. Analyse the data, learn from mistakes, and know your users.

Thanks to IAB Ireland for the event this morning – we’d love to see more of these happening for Dublin’s digital creative community.

If you would like more advice on how to better analyse your data, understand your users, or test your existing sites and apps in order to improve usability and user experience, drop us a line and we’d be happy to advise on the options and possibilities.

What have we been up to?

• We re-branded (do you like?)
• Our team has doubled in size, and now comprises 31 digital experts; and as we all know, change is good but it takes time and effort!
• We’re currently undergoing an office refurb (brought about by that growth spurt, it’s getting crowded in here..)
• We’ve been working hard to deliver better digital insights, campaigns and value for our clients

But, that’s no excuse and we know it. So we promise we’re going to start blogging here on a regular basis from now on.

To keep up to date, visit us on Twitter @radicaldublin