The differences between social media platforms

It is one of life's challenges - to explain the differences between the various social media platforms. Which one should you use to communicate certain messages? How differently do people interact with each platform?

There is no right answer; there are no rules which cover all eventualities.

However, I saw this quote in today's Guardian and I thought it provided a neat summary:

"If Twitter is a lively, rambunctious public salon and Facebook a warm gathering of friends and family, LinkedIn is a group of dead-eyed, sharp elbowed junior executives in the bar of an airport Novotel at 2am after a conference, slapping themselves on the back, while scanning their peers for signs of weakness."

Ok, it may be a bit of a cynical view about LinkedIn, but I do think the Twitter / Facebook comparison is a good one.

The other point I enjoyed is "Thou shalt chill out a bit with the goddamn #hashtags." They used to help in searching for topics but they are no longer required. If you must use a #hashtag, then please use them sparingly. 

Here is a link to the Guardian article. 

Interesting stories from the past week

Yesterday was a day of interesting news stories which I thought worthy of sharing:

Firstly, an article about how businesses can improve their social media engagement.... and where so many seem to be getting it so wrong. It's simple really and can be summed up by the following quote from the article:

"The snag is that customers do not generally just want to interact with marketers. They also want to interact with product designers, customer service, technical support and others who make a difference to their product experience."

The full article can be read here (and it's not a long one).

Secondly, Instagram now includes the ability to shoot videos. 

I tried my first Instagram video on the mornings dog walk (watch it here). Once I realised that you had to hold down the icon for the video to shoot, it worked a treat. It seems to be far more fun to use than my limited experience of its big rival from Twitter, Vine, offers. It has filters and it seems easier to control what you shoot.

Here is a link to a Mashable article on why Instagram video beats Vine...

Another nail in the coffin for Flash

The Guardian is reporting today that Adobe will no longer support Flash on the Android mobile operating system.

This is five years after Steve Jobs announced that Flash would not be compatible on the iPhone. This caused much consternation amongst users at the time.

I am pleased to say that I never bothered to learn Flash. It certainly made great effects for websites; but it was not accessible to Google and so harmed your search engine rankings; nor did it comply with web standards.

So, inevitably, Flash will be neglected and become yesterdays technology very soon. Its effects can now be replicated by better and more accessible methods. If your website has Flash, I suggest you look into replacing it now.

Here is a link to the Guardian article.

The changes in our shopping habits

Tesco are experiencing a decline in sales after an uninterrupted period of growth spanning decades. 


Is this merely a reflection of the tough economic climate, or is it saying something more about the underlying trends in our shopping habits?


A fascinating article in todays Guardian suggests that we are indeed changing our shopping habits meaning that the big weekly shop and the continued expansion of massive hypermarkets may be coming to an end. 


Our food shopping habits are becoming more fragmented:


1) More people carefully research for the lowest price and are prepared to go from one supermarket to another for the cheapest item


2) More people shop daily from convenience stores


3) More people shop online (online shopping is +16% year on year - it is now worth £68.2bn)


4) More people "click and collect." This accounted for over 10.4% of shopping in the third quarter of 2011 (up from 7.4% in the previous quarter).


Our consumer behaviour is changing and the impact on the supermarkets and our local high streets will lead to a much altered retail landscape in the next few years.


How shops can ride this change remains to be seen. 


Here is a link to the full article.