Digitally Planning for 2013
It still amazes me when people get “sticker shocked” when asking for digital products. We are less than two months away from 2013 and many are already starting to consider what investment they will need to make in their digital properties. Whether you are a small, medium or large business, consider what things you may need to pay for digitally in 2013. Some of the things to consider budgeting for are website cost whether its design, developing or your typical hosting fees. Another fee to consider is a social media strategist or someone that can work with you on developing a social presence. Lastly, consider mobile apps and social/mobile/Internet advertising as part of your 2013 budget. Be realistic with your numbers and ask experts to define some of the cost associated.
Your Website Still Matters
It’s interesting to me that many businesses focus so much of their time and money on developing their social and mobile space and start to forget about their website. I speak with business owners and decision makers regularly about developing a social media strategy or creating a new mobile app and investing X amount of dollars but have completely lost focus on their website. Research shows that in 2012 over 80% of people still visit websites to find out information about the company, your products and other information your company may need to display. The other percentage is from individuals looking on social sites. While I believe its essential to consider the future of your company by looking into social strategies and mobile development, I simply request to look at your own website first and make sure you are displaying the message you want there first.
Windows Live Chat Retired
After about a week of speculation, Microsoft officially announced the retirement of Windows Live Chat. The company announced they would retire it in the first quarter of 2013 in favor of the new Skype for 6.0 for MAC and Windows. The Skype division of Microsoft is very pleased with this new focus and is looking forward to integrating it seemingly throughout other Microsoft products. Windows Live Messanger started in 2000 and has had a long 12 years with over 300 million users. Skype messenger will be integrated into Microsoft products like Outlook.com and others.
#Instagram Profile Pages
It was only a matter of time until Instagram started to put a small focus on the desktop version of the highly popular photo-sharing social application. Instagram is the number one photo-sharing app on smartphones and #2 overall on most used apps just after parent company Facebook. Facebook announced that Instagram users would now be able to create profile pages to better organize their photos and friends photos.
What Obama’s Presidency Means to Technology?
While many individuals and companies were watching the presidential election results last night, the tech industry was no different. The next four years can be consider one of the biggest technology eras of our time and the new president will play a large role on how technology will evolve in coming years. Some of the things that the president will face are National Broadband, Net Neutrality, STEM Education, SOPA and PIPA, Cybersecurity, and government investment into the Tech industry. This will be an exciting few years for the technology industry and many hope that our president will be supportive in all these areas of technology.