Google I/O by the Numbers... Theme: Scale

Browsing the headlines is a pretty powerful and interesting way to digest Google I/O as they are driven by big, important numbers: - Google Drive : 10m users and coming to iOS / Chrome OS (TechCrunch)

- Gmail: 425m users (TechCrunch)

- Google Apps: 5m businesses and 66 of top 100 universities (TechCrunch)

- Google Chrome: 310m *active* users (TechCrunch)

- Google+: 250m users and 75m daily users (with the integration into search and mail, I still would love to understand what constitutes a true user / true usage). (TechCrunch)

- Google Play: 600k Apps, 1.5B installs/month (TechCrunch)

- Android: 400m activated devices, 1m more each day (TechCrunch)

- Google Nexus 7: $199. A price that makes them able to compete in the tablet market - as cool as Microsoft's new device is, it is rumored to be *more* expensive than the iPad. That won't work.

- Google Glasses: $1,500! Really?

Nike and @NikeSF Demonstrate Rich Promoted Tweets on Twitter

As you can tell from the screenshot's time stamp (June 8), this one has been sitting in my blog queue for quite some time. It's still worth posting though!

Here is a screenshot from a Promoted Tweet by Nike San Francisco. It's notable beyond the interesting fact that 1) Nike has a geographically driven social campaing (@NikeSF), and 2) they use these accounts to handle local customer service and promote national campaigns (interesting mix) With regard to Twitter... and more importantly... this is a great example of the power of a Promoted Tweet: - hyper targeted (in this case, local) - drives awareness and social activity: follows, replies, retweets, etc - but most importantly, its bigger than just Twitter actions (ie followers and retweets): YouTube is integrated directly and eventually this could be a registration form or purchase widget, etc.

That last point is quite powerful because advertisers do not have to value the campaign purely by Twitter-activity. That will (and should) be included - but it's potential is far bigger.

Quora & Twitter's Weekly Digests via Email. When Does Facebook's Arrive?

I write a fair amount the 'findability' problem that results from vast amounts of content (yes: it is a first class problem!). Curation - social, declared and algorithmic - plays a key role. Nevertheless, users still swim in oceans of available, interesting and timely content from platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Quora, Pinterest, etc... and that doesn't include media sources like the New York Times. So why am I writing an intro paragraph that looks so similar to many of my other posts? Because Twitter and Quora are attacking content overload in a simple way: terrific weekly emails (simple to the user!). That's an ordinary concept and runs the risk of getting lost in my inbox of too many messages filled with too much marketing. But the emails are:

1. really good looking - and optimized for mobile... where much of my email is read 2. rooted in social connections - notice that every article is surrounded by people I am connected with 3. really, really great content that I almost-certainly would have missed without the email... meaning: I want to read these

How long before Facebook creates a similar email? How long before Facebook verticalizes that for photographs and for links and for statuses?

Game of Thrones + Facebook

I saw this sponsored post atop my Facebook feed the other day: - 64 Facebook friends like Game of Thrones - 1 of those is Mark Zuckerberg - I had not yet liked Game of Thrones, despite thinking its the single best show on television

It's a reminder that: - Cocial relevance is powerful - Klout as a concept is extra powerful (Mark Zuckerberg as a Game of Thrones fan carries a little more weight!) - Content is still king. Great content will draw large, connected audiences (64 friends are fans - most within a 7 hour window) - Game of Thrones on Facebook has grown rather strongly - adding 100,000 fans / week, 250,000+ likes / day, and improving their reach ratio

Google's Evolving Search Results Pages: PGA, Tiger Woods & US Open as Example

In honor of this week's US Open - and in connection with last week's post on Google's evolving search pages - here are some interesting screen shots related to both.

The first is a results page for the query "PGA". As yo will see, there are only two search results on my visible screen: PGA.com and PGAtour.com (brand URLs). The bulk are algorithmic results (which are very useful): 2012 FedExCup standings and the three most relevant (ie popular) stars (Tiger Woods, Rory McIllroy, Phil Mickelson). Two things worth noting: 1. there are no ad units 2. there is no Google+ integration here. And this is one area that Google+ makes a lot of sense. I should be able to follow each player, learn more, etc. Today, it is entirely informational.

Change the query to one of the player names (in this case "Tiger Woods") and it looks similar: standings, information, news, and the brand link. In fact, only one natural result is above the fold: TigerWoods.com.

Again, two notes: 1. still no Google+ integration. 2. still no ads (high volume query too!) 3. related people include non-golfers: Elin Nordegren and Rachel Uchitel (both interesting and ironic)

Dig in on the right column's bio page and there is a "please report a problem" unit. This is Google's Wikipedia-like effort to control content. For several reasons, it is a very interesting approach: 1. this is such a dramatic change to search results and this unit comes at the expense of ad real estate 2. to fill it with content Google does not entirely trust is bold / scary 3. this information is far more compelling if tied to Google+ - in this setting it looks like no different than a mini-Wikipedia (or Knoll!)

Scale Requires Curation, Apple Beginning to Address in iTunes & App Store with iOS 6

I have been sitting on this post for weeks and weeks: I tend to write posts, or the skeleton of posts, ahead of time and publish them later on. In some cases enough time passes - or enough happens and changes - that it makes those posts irrelevant. This one is pretty close. I had the below screenshot surrounded by blurbs outlining three primary points: 1. We all talk about curation as the balance to search in finding. Apple does a good job with it in Movies and in app themes (Fitness: Get in Shape below). This experience is far better than searching a basic category. And they do a better job with it in Movies (actors, categories, etc).

2. Curation of some sort is necessary as content scales. Findability was a constant focus for eBay and for anyone with great inventory: Apple, iTunes, Netflix, Amazon, etc. It is probably best as a balance of editorial and algorithmic curation.

3. Curation is powerful by Apple. But it doesn't scale. Curation by friends (hello Facebook, data!) is arguably more powerful and does indeed scale.

This of course is all rather out of date (good!) with Apple's WWDC and iOS 6 announcement on Monday. Coming in iOS 6 are Facebook recommendations to the app store (terrific news - years late, but great... and it looks similar to Facebook's own App Store effort). Furthermore, they are remodeling the Appe Store, iTunes and the iBookstore. Those mock ups (small one below) look like a great effort will be placed on visuals, findability and some form of curation (again: algorithmic + editorial).

From Apple's iOS 6 intro page:

Two Small Features of Facebook's Camera iPhone App

Over the last week, I have been using the Facebook Camera application as my default mobile camera - in part as a test and in part because I love the ability to upload multiple pictures / create albums (that feature alone is a time saver). Here are two small features I like and noticed... and note: this is my last Facebook Camera post!:

1. When you upload an album, Facebook inherits the location from the iPhone geo-tag. Seems like a small and relatively obvious aspect - but it is strangely not done by other photo-heavy apps like Path. And it is particularly useful when uploading albums - which often happens after the event and therefore offsite. As an example, the below screenshot remembers the location of the photos (even when I am physically away) - in the core Facebook App, location is determined by proximity - meaning that tagging has to happen when on / near premise.

Big time-saver. Very smart.

2. When you like a photo from within the app, Facebook illuminates the like button and gives it color. It's the first time I've seen Facebook do this and, although it is a very small UI tweak, it signifies that an interaction has been done (a current problem for Facebook's core mobile app) and it adds some color & some fun.

Facebook Camera iOS App Knows Who You Are On Install

Two weeks ago, Facebook launched their Facebook Pages iOS app. And last week, Facebook launched their Facebook Camera app.

One of the interesting aspects of the two applications is that their welcome screens greet you with the following pages: blue screen, big get started button, and (in the Facebook Camera example) a greeting specifically for me ("Continue as Ryan Spoon").

The Pages example is easy to explain: press "log in" and Facebook authenticates the user via the core Facebook Application already installed on the device. Easy. And of course an user of the Pages app will already have the Facebook app... it's easy to be presumptuous when you have Facebook's reach / scale.

The Camera app is more interesting - and the first time I have seen an example like this. It is also something only someone like Facebook can do (few others have that reach). It is remarkably fast, efficient, cool.... and effective - no worry about conversions, funnels, etc.

How do they do it? Here's a Quora post explaining: