Marketing Technology 5

Marketing Technology Stories you might have missed

MT5 Edition: #48

Stories This Week: Augmented Reality (for real), Twitters growth or death plan, the future of apps, a flipping fantastic crowdsourcing model & the top 9 networks for business.

1. Augmented Reality Is Finally Getting Real

[MIT] As smartphones explode in popularity, augmented reality is starting to move from novelty to utility.

My Take: What will the killer AR app be? Or will there be just one.  Perhaps there will be hundreds of purpose built AR apps like these:

• At Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum, visitors can use iPads at a dinosaur exhibit to see how the beasts would have looked in real life.
• For NASCAR race in which fans, who can’t see the entire 2.5-mile track, can point their phones at distant turns and get photos and videos generated by others who were closer to the action.

2. Twitter’s Growth Plan Could Destroy It

[MassiveGreatness] In this OpEd piece, MG Siegler suggests that Twitter’s attempt to become profitable may ruin the service by going against it’s own DNA. Twitter is intended to be simple and short.  Moving into longer, richer formats may push it into crowded waters and destroy Twitters ethos.

My Take: I remember a stat that 12% of Americans use Twitter but 85% are influenced by it.  It seems Twitter needs to find a way to monetize the 85% without pissing off the 12% dedicated use base.  If it fails to do so Google+ and other social network services will step in to fill the void. 

3. Are Smartphone App Downloads Sustainable?

[eMarketer] Smartphone users download a high number of apps—especially free ones—but that download spree may not last forever.

My Take: There are two arguments going on here.

1st: Which mobile platform, HTML5 or native, will prevail. This is a pretty technical discussion that on the pros/cons of each and the right answer is dependent on your mobile app needs.

2nd: The second issue is a maturity question. At what point will users have all the apps they need? Feature-based apps will be M&A’d or copy-catted into broader apps. The app model will feel crowded. There will be less room for innovation.  While I don’t think we’re there yet, in last weeks video, Jeremiah Oywang suggested that if you haven’t built your app by now, you may have missed your window of opportunity.

4. The Crowdsourcing Business Model At Work

[VentureBeat] FlyingFlips – this flip flop manufacturing company is demonstrating the power of crowdsourcing.

My Take: This business model does so much for a company:

• Reduces product risk by letting your customers decide which products should be manufactured
• Reduces design costs by letting customers submit designs
• Increases loyalty by involving customers in the process
• The charitable giving angle gives the company a noble purpose that customers respond to

5. The Top 9 Social Networks For Businesses

[B2B Marketer Insider] This article lists the search growth rates of the 9 major social networks that I think are most important to businesses and their social media marketing efforts.

My Take: Just click the link and study the results.

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