Why Include WWW When Marketing Your URL?

I've seen a bunch of recent criticism (on Linkedin actually) for a company that used "www" at the beginning of their URL in some of their marketing material. Although there was a bunch of other issues with the advert shown.... in my opinion the use of "www" in the web address didn't even warrant a mention, let alone an outburst of ridicule. But apparently this was a major modern digital marketing faux pas.

So does adding the prefix, short of World Wide Web, really look dated or unprofessional?

I don't think so.

Whilst technically you can have either (with or without the "www" sub-domain) I don't think it makes a bit of difference whether you show it or not.

However...

For Search Engine Optimisation benefit, make sure your site is available on just one of the two URLs ("www" and "non-www") and not both at the same time... by redirecting all traffic to the main one

You can obviously decide not to show the "www" in your adverts if you want to make better use of space (again, make sure you have the correct URL redirection in-place)

News Corp Blames Digital Again

News Corp's CEO Robert Thomson has been out attacking Google, Facebook and Linkedin once more, this time accusing them of "Kleptocracy, Piracy and Zealotry".

Yes, the organisation that: breaks into voicemail, publishes fiction as truth and plays politics with its publications...has claimed that online social networks are spammers that help themselves to content without paying for it.

He also publicly stated that “The words Intellectual Property don’t appear in the Google alphabet."- but far be it for me to tell a journalist that you can make any words from the alphabet.

Thomson went on to further attack the new media sector by saying "None of them actually create content, and they certainly have little intention of paying for it, but they do redistribute the content created by others – they would argue that such redistribution is a natural extension of their role as social networks. I would argue that much of the redistribution is an unnatural act”

All this smacks of hypocrisy... especially given News Corp in 2005 bought MySpace, then a leading social network that in June 2006 surpassed Google as the most visited website in the USA... before watching over its decline and its sale in 2011 for less than 8% of its purchase price.

Also... given that News Corp has only recently decided to change the direction of its WSJ and Dow Jones publishing sector to focus on digital media efforts and that its own Social News Agency Storyful is responsible for finding and redistributes news stories (and apparently hiding Rebekah Brooks in their offices)... methinks they need to keep their insults to themselves.

Full story here:
http://mumbrella.com.au/news-corp-ceo-lashes-google-for-piracy-zealotry-and-kleptocracy-at-lowy-institute-event-312252 

Do you have Social Media Guru Disease?

I fear that a new highly virulent strain has gripped the modern world. One that seems to be so infectious it is spreading life wildfire and afflicting nearly everyone it comes into contact with.

What are the symptoms?

1. A delusional state of mind 
2. The constant mentioning of abilities and expertise that the person clearly doesn't have
3. The impersonation of professionals they have occasionally met or seen
4. Constant requests for you to like them or follow them

In case you haven't some into contact with these poor people yet... These symptoms are also accompanied by other physical manifestations, such as the sudden appearance of websites and marketing material claiming to "learn the basics" or "grow your business with Social Media". These messages, like a form of digital graffiti, are now posted all over Linkedin and Facebook... it's almost as if those who are worst affected are using the very channels that fuel their delusions as cries for help.

Yes, Social Media Guru Disease is here people and could be affecting those around you at this very moment.

• Does your partner keep setting up different Twitter accounts for no reason?
• Has your son started drawing large letters (particularly the letter 'F' in blue) on every vertical surface?
• Have you the secret worry that 'Instagram' may not be the covert word for your colleague's drug habit?
• Has an old school friend sent you over 15 request to 'like' their flower arranging business in the last week?

I noticed this disease appear a couple of years back and hoped it wouldn't get out of control. But alas, it seems it might be too late.... I hope not! 

Is the concept of a page now defunct ?

The page is a metaphor that has existed since the web began. It's a simple device that allows users to navigate around the Internet easily and provides a unique location for each individual piece of content & functionality. Big sites have a lot of pages and even bigger sites have loads, that was the way of the web.

However, there are several current trends that could see the end of the page paradigm as we know it:

1. Parametised search

Have you ever gone to a major ecommerce site (e.g. www.johnlewis.com) and started to browse their catalogue of products? If so, then you may have noticed that the multi-select options, typically shown down the side, allow you to repeatedly filter your choices. In a lot of cases this doesn't refresh the page, but just redisplays the available products in the main viewing area. 

2. Browser address bar prominence

As browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox have developed over the years, the actual address bar showing the URL has become less prominent. So much so that for a lot of users, this once obvious feature is now relegated to a small letterbox more useful as a way of seeing if a site is secure (using https and sometimes turning green to depict an extra level of security). Conspiracy theorists may say this is a ploy by the browser makers of reducing our dependency on URLs as a way of navigating the world wide web, however I think it's just a natural move to provide more screen real estate and a sign of how the address bar has become less used (perhaps as we now follow more links from Social sourced?).

3. Constant scrolling 

If you use sites like Twitter and LinkedIn you will notice that you no longer have to click 'next page' or anything similar when you get to the bottom of the page you are on. Instead the next set of tweets, timelines, results, etc. automatically appear. This use of clever results that display more when you need them may seem useful, but what if every site did it? Would you ever need more than one page of results? 

And more to the point.... What if Google and other search engines now did this? 

(For one thing, it would certainly make the client demand of "get me on the first page of Google" far easier to achieve)

H2H - the real social networks

By now you all should know what Social Media is.

“Why Hayden, it’s Facebook and Twitter of course, right?”.... Wrong!

Social Media is the use of technology (and specifically the Internet) to connect people with people. This creates new and exciting ways for them to meet, interact and engage with each other.
Note: Yes, this does include revolutions!

Specific social networks facilitate this connectivity

• Facebook : personal
• Linkedin: business
• Twitter: short (& trivial)

These networks no longer make it about the technology; they make it about the people, their relationships and their behaviour.

That's why the advertising revenue of Facebook is growing so quickly, is because that's where people are these day.. hanging out, chatting with friends, throwing sheep (BTW: does anyone still do that?), etc. And one reason Facebook is valued so highly (currently $50 billion) is because of that ad revenue.

So next time someone claims that social networks are worth so much is because they have so much great functionality or because brands are there... my suggestion is to tell them its because that's where the humans are. And humans engaging with other humans is what social networks are really about.

Lotus Notes & Linkedin

Now, I've used Lotus Notes and Domino (its all-but-deceased web server offering) a few years back and admittedly only under duress. It therefore comes as a bit of a shock to see IBM (the owners of Lotus) integrating their product with the business social networking site http://www.linkedin.com/

Using a plug-in, Notes users can see their Linkedin contacts and more integration looks to be on the cards in the future:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/19/lotus-notes-soon-to-become-even-more-linkedin/