The next United States presidential election is to be held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012.
February 2012: Barack Obama’s use of the web as a campaigning tool is now gearing up.
Barack Obama campaign video
His campaign staff must be among the most web-literate ever.
Joe Rospars is chief digital strategist and Michael Slaby is chief integration and innovation officer.
Notes on how Obama’s team are using the web to campaign.
I’ll expand on these notes, when I have time, in the next few months:
Video
‘The Story of Us: Five Years Ago Today’.
It’s a web video referencing web videos, that’s designed to lead you to share it (on the web) or donate (on the web). Cleverly done.
It’s stuck at 303 views now, 10th Feb 2012. How high will it go?
At 0:12 in the video, Obama is pictured public speaking. The sign on the podium reads BarackObama.com. See what they did there? All joined up.
Video stats
Most popular of his vids is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsWpvkLCvu4 – 11,835,239 views for dancing.
10th Feb 2012: Channel contains 2,073 vids. First upload in approx. 2007.
10th Feb 2012: Channel Views: 25,022,003
10th Feb 2012: Total Upload Views: 170,540,218
BarackObama.com website
A modern-looking, well laid out site. Blog based, with a page for every state. Looks like jQuery / Ajax rather than Flash for animations. All videos are embedded from YouTube, and so are easily shareable. The blog does have a lot of dissenting comments. I wonder how many people are moderating the blog for trolls etc?
Site answers most of the main questions that voters ask.
Twitter: @BarackObama
Profile says: “Tweets from the President are signed -BO.” Translation: The President of the USA is aware that this Twitter account exists and is an active participant, even though he’s very busy etc.
Twitter stats
10th Feb 2012: Currently 12,423,178 followers.
facebook.com/barackobama
Has light moderation. Dissenting, negative comments allowed.
Negative comments make many senior execs break out in hives. But on Facebook, they can be a good thing if you want your message to spread.
Why? Because conflict is drama. And Facebook has a drama algorithm. It’s called Edgerank and uses three factors:
Affinity (friendliness), edge weight (content type) and recency (age of edge). In essence, a lively Facebook page with dissenting comments causes Obama supporters to comment more often, which causes Obama’s Facebook page to pop up more often in news feeds. The more appearances he makes in your new feeds, the more likely it is that you’ll check his page out. If you then engage with the page, Obama’s Facebook page is then spread even more widely… see network theories.
Facebook stats
10th Feb 2012: 25,110,910 likes.
http://barackobama.tumblr.com/
And for the younger folks, there’s even a Tumblr account. With animated gifs.
Did you know that Tumblr is supposed to be the UK’s second most popular social network or blog, “with 229.6 million page views, trailing only Facebook.”?
Today’s Daily Mail front page is very long. 8192 pixels long, to be exact.
This puzzled me for a moment… why would they place such a jumble on their front page?
I think the answer is that many people browse the Daily Mail on tablets and mobile phones.
Part of the BBC’s reaction to the increase in tablet useage has been to create a side-scrolling front page at bbc.co.uk.
But for the Mail there’s no need to create a new complicated navigation system – just put everything on the front page.
After all, improved internet browsing speeds mean that the weight of pages is not the issue it once was.
Interesting.
It won’t be a design choice for every site, but for information rich-sites it could be a clever, pragmatic response to the growth of new technology.
Is creativity and innovation the preserve of special individuals and groups? What if some of the mainstream western cultural ideas about specialist creatives having wondrous Eureka! moments are not quite right?
What if, instead, innovation is largely about embellishment within established parameters?
If so, then your company website, at the very least, should have its comment functionality switched on. You should engage with your customers and visitors. Your customers’ embellishments may give you an insight into an emerging market… perhaps openness could lead you to multiply your productivity?
“Folk, blues, house music, pop, hip hop and lots of other musical genres might be viewed the same way—not so much as individual songs or acts of unique creativity, but as the cumulative result of many creative narrators pitching in to tweak a form that already has a given and collectively accepted shape and framework. The equivalent of the narrative arc of a story is already there in these song forms, and we songwriters, producers and singers are the storytellers in our own oral tradition—putting our own spin on an existing form, but not making substantial changes in the form itself. The point is, a lot of music that we think of as being individual acts of creation might actually be narrators contributing to what might be viewed as a larger epic work.”
Also, from Yasser Rashid’s blog post about innovative user experience and design:
“This grass roots approach that was taken to create the mountain bike is similar to the approach we need to take in a big organisation. Innovation needs to be part of the culture of day to day work and people need to be empowered to be able to act on ideas they feel are important to pursue.”
Which then reminds me of Nick Reynold’s definition of a product:
“It’s a dynamic mix of human beings and technology that never stops working. You have to constantly develop if it is to suceed, or even simply survive”.
Which reminds of superorganisms…
Video from: Ants! Natures Secret Power. A giant ant colony is pumped full of concrete, then excavated to reveal the complexity of its inner structure.
Related ideas:
Open-ness
Super-organisms
Platforms
Making is connecting
But its Guinness “Decorate Your Pint” AR Experience is, to me, a bit of a missed opportunity.
The app lets you: “adorn your favourite pint with a classic piece of Xmas décor – and finish it off with a ribbon tied around the glass, or can. You can even add some falling snow as a final touch”.
As Eddy pointed out in the comments, the app ties in with the Guinness strapline from its broader advertising campaign; “What I really want for Christmas…”.
See the Blippar video example:
Jessica Butcher, Marketing and Founding Director of Blippar said to the nextweb: “The Guinness project is a great bit of fun and an innovative application of our technology, offering people an instantaneous opportunity to ‘play’ with Guinness’s drinks in a way we think they will really enjoy”.
It is an innovative app, but I’m not sure how enjoyable it is. A Guinness augmented reality app could be much better than this.
How the Guinness augmented reality app could be improved
I think that this app is an answer looking for a question.
This app seems to be about technology and not Guinness-drinking smart-phone-owning people. And that’s why, I expect, it won’t be hugely popular.
Drinking Guinness with friends should be about emotion, fun and good times.
But this app lets you put a Santa hat on your pint of Guinness. And then share the photo. Which is technically interesting, but not hugely emotionally engaging. And without the emotional component most marketing campaigns will fail.
If the app would let you put Guinness branded Santa hats on your drinking buddies, if it would perhaps let you dress them in festive gear and then capture and share the moment with a silly photo etc… then this app would be be more successful.
Technology should serve the consumer, not the other way round. If this app had some heart, if it was more customer-focused it would reach and engage more successfully.
P.S: It’s very easy for me to criticise. That’s why I’m doing it here. I am aware that there may be all of sorts of regulations and resource issues that may cause Guinness to limit its use of technology.
Is the Guinness Blippar app a missed opportunity? How could it be improved? Will you be downloading it?
This blog post contains a few ideas about the future. I believe that social augmented reality will transform the way we navigate the web. In the early days, people will pay to wear augmented reality goggles. Subcultures, e.g. WWII reenactors will lead the way, recreating the Battle of Dunkirk, at Dunkirk etc. But that’s just the start.
Here’s a long sentence: Today I spotted a couple of things that got me thinking about the endless possibilities provoked by computer games leaving desk-bound PCs and being increasingly woven into mainstream-ish human group activity.
Update: Not goggles (Googgles?) or glasses, eventually our augmented realities will be delivered by contact lenses.
Groups of fans: Starcrafters unite
The first was a great article by Paul Miller about members of the Starcraft “eSports” subculture uniting, in person, in New York.
It talks about video games as spectator sport: “its StarCraft fan base has never really faded, particularly in South Korea, where there are two cable channels dedicated to video games, each of which runs its own professional StarCraft league.”
The article also refers to Starcraft’s complexity and drama, mentions low latency and the “Actions Per Minute (APM) that a high-level player performs with mouse and keyboard. It’s basically a post-human performance, with many professionals regularly hovering around 200 APM”.
Here are people in Canada reacting to a Starcraft computer game competition. Video:
At time of writing, Husky’s StarCraft commentary videos have received 248,673,458 views.
Cheap augmented reality devices
The second was a poster that I saw in a London shopping centre window for the AppBlaster AppToyz. For a moment I thought some clever company had managed to produce a mass market augmented reality game for £20… but no, the AppBlaster is being marketed as a device that extends your smartphone.
It’s “The world’s first interactive gun for gaming! This is a gun which houses the iPod / iPhone where the sights would be. Using the free app and the camera on your device, change your lounge, office or anywhere you are into a battle ground.”
More about the AppBlaster AppToyz. Video:
Combine groups of people and augmented reality. What will happen?
If people are comfortable interacting in public with computer games, and relatively cheap augmented reality devices are available, surely it’s only a matter of time that the two are combined in dynamic ways?
In the early days augmented reality glasses will be used for special events.
AppBlaster AppToyz
Perhaps…
The Sunday league football team wearing augmented reality glasses while playing a game. Their pitch is transformed through the glasses into a packed Wembley stadium, their fellow players transformed visually into footballing superstars?
Perhaps…
Groups of World War II reenacters in uniforms physically travelling to Dunkirk. Then fighting the Battle of Dunkirk, at Dunkirk. The scene transformed into bloody noisy war through the glasses and earphones?
Perhaps…
The group of friends meeting for drinks, wearing augmented reality glasses. Their surroundings transformed into the cafe from Friends, or a Sex in the City cocktail bar…?
Perhaps…
Business meetings. People around the table (wearing augmented reality glasses) passing around virtual prototypes of the product that their company is considering manufacturing.
Perhaps…
A massive charity marathon, where to collect their sponsorship money, the runners (wearing augmented reality glasses) have to collect / run through large virtual coins dotted along the track by their sponsors…?
If I can write this now, then a company must have already developed something similar. Please say hi, if so.
What’s next? From surfing the web… to mass consensual hallucination
Update: 24th November 2011.
Inspired by the augmented reality contact lense story (linked to above), here’s how I think we will be surfing the web in the future.
In a few years time we’ll be using augmented reality glasses at special social events. Subcultures, WWII reenactors, gamers etc will lead the way.
Augmented reality use on smartphones and tablets will grow, spurred on by retailers selling us products.
Surfing the web on augmented reality glasses will be fun, will continue to grow in popularity. It will project a computer screen at some distance in front of the eye, not unlike using laptop screens now.
As I tweeted in 2009, this will be the point when “every surface will be covered with the web”.
Things will begin to get interesting when:
a) Augmented reality contact lenses get high definition and usable.
b) They’re powerful enough to run 3D experiences.
c) Navigation of augmented reality contact lenses is controlled by the mind.
d) Children know no other world, except the one in which augmented reality contact lenses which can run 3D experiences and use mind control software are seen as normal.
When a, b, c and d are happening, minds and society will be profoundly affected by augmented reality.
While wearing the lenses we’ll be able to call up any information from the web and overlay it on the “real world”. With 3D lenses that we can control with our minds the web will become as real as “physical reality”. Young people will be able to dive into it and swim around, connecting with others while they do so. This may change the structure of their brains. It will change their horizons. They’ll be profoundly connected.
The manipulation of the 3D web, using contact lenses, will become a sought after skill, useful to secure a place in higher education (?). Therefore parents will fit their children with the web connected lenses at younger and younger ages, until a generation of children have always worn them.
Video: “Peer through the bionic contact lenses, complete with electronic circuits and lights from UW’s College of Engineering”.
By the way, advertisers will make full use of the 3d immersion. Campaigns like Mercedes’ Escape the Map would benefit a lot from increased immersion.
The web analytics of the future will be detailed… companies will be able to measure and log everything we see.
By this point the lenses will be obsolete (for many) and the web will be beamed directly into our minds, somehow.
Or as I tweeted, in January:
“Websites on screens are outdated. In future people will navigate the web directly in their heads. Head producers will be employed.”
I read that John Lewis had secured the rights to a Smiths track yesterday.
Today I followed a Facebook friend’s message and link.
She said: “Just watched the new John Lewis ad http://t.co/xDyEDhMi very good. Tear in eye time.”
An ad that provokes tears? It’s at 304 views now (11th November 2011). How high will it go?
Also note: Their youtube page allows you to comment through Facebook: http://www.youtube.com/user/JohnLewisRetail
They use a Facebook app on their main Youtube page.
When you use it to post a comment, it asks for permission, then posts the video and comment onto your FB wall as a status update.
Web hosting is often an emotive subject for small website owners. If you rely on the website for your income, any down-time (when your website is not available) can be expensive, and can invoke feelings of powerlessness which turns to rage if the outage is prolonged… just do a search for website hosting reviews if you want to see what I mean.
Recommended web hosting
I’ve used quite a few companies to host my small websites over the years, and now I’m an affiliate for the two companies that I use.
I’ve currently settled on two companies for my small (less than 1000 page) websites. I’m sure there are better companies out there, if you don’t mind doing a lot of research. But for me, these two companies provide the best balance of up-time reliability, value for money, customer service and technology.
My first choice for my websites that serve American users (and many European users) is Bluehost.com web hosting.
Bluehost uses CPanel, supports WordPress and allows multiple domains from one hosting package. I’ve seen my “bargain” hosting serve 10,000 pages in 14 hours. Good enough for me.
For a domain name and 24 months of Bluehost web hosting I pay, including taxes about £143.00 ($228.96).
If you’re new to Bluehost, you should be able to get the same package for less cash.
My second choice for webhosting is…
As its good to spread risk, and some say that search engines give more weight to websites that are hosted in the country they’re serving, I also use the UK based evohosting.co.uk for some of my UK sites. They’re a smaller company than Bluehost, but the personal-touch customer service from managing director Tim Mole impressed me when I was looking for a new host.
For 24 months of Evohosting web hosting I pay around £90.00.
The Evohosting deal is similar to Bluehost’s, it uses CPanel, supports easy WordPress installation but my “Home Hosting” package allows fewer multiple domains than my Bluehost hosting package.
Over the past year I feel that I’ve experienced slightly more downtime with Evosting, but that’s not scientifically proven. My guess is that my websites have been available 97% of the time with Bluehost and 95% of the time with Evohosting. That’s very good going for both, in my opinion.
How to find out more & sign up for web hosting
Both Bluehost and Evohosting advertise cut-price deals…
At time of writing (25 October 2011) a video endorsing San Francisco Mayoral Candidate Ed Lee has 319 views.
Will the Ed Lee video go viral?
Raising awareness of regional politics is tricky, but this video has got all the correct viral ingredients; MC Hammer, catchy tune, fast edits etc.
And importantly, Mr Lee is not attempting to attempting to be cool / speak / rap etc in the video (British politicians please take note).
With the web wind in the right direction, this video should get at least 600,000 views before the vote on November 8th.
Google has angered a lot of search engine optimisers and website owners by announcing changes to Google Analytics.
For a long time, Google has provided a very useful service to people who run websites. They’ve supplied anonymous referrer data via their free analytics package to website owners.
This allowed the website owner to see what keywords Google-searchers used to find their website.
Armed with these search terms, webmasters can refine their pages and create new targeted content that reflects what people are searching for. Because Google is dominant in search, this information can lead to many extra visitors.
But Google have now announced that they’re going to use encryption technology to “protect the personalized search results”.
This means that “websites you visit from our organic search listings will still know that you came from Google, but won’t receive information about each individual query.”
However, people who advertise through Google will still receive the referral data.
So many are interpreting Google’s security announcement as a monetisation of their analytics and gathered data. After all, if access to query keywords is a security issue, why are Google advertisers still being allowed access?
But there are other interpretations. For example, low quality content farms use the detailed keyword info to create a lot of spam articles that clogged up Google’s searches.
It’s a sign, a sign I tell you?
It’s Google’s party and they’ll charge if they want to. When Google change the rules, it becomes apparent that over reliance on Google SEO can and will hurt your ability to serve your target audience.
Conclusion: If you don’t have a holistic web strategy, a plan that extends beyond Google SEO, then you need to get one as soon as possible.
