Category Archives: Interactive

Ignore

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I am on Flickr, Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, Adgabber and even a social network just for knitters called Ravelry. But I am no equal opportunity social networker. For example, I can’t bring myself to join LinkedIn. People keep sending me invites. I keep ignoring them. With mounting guilt, I admit. I just have this perception of LinkedIn as a kind of Facebook for suits.

And speaking of Facebook, I do have my limits there as well. I have never thrown a snowball, poked back, sent a cocktail or discovered what kind of writer I am. Oh sure, I’ll shamelessly post a link promoting a cause I support and occasionally tag a photo of one of my friends. But only if it’s a really, really good photo. So far, I have ignored every request sent my way. A couple of times I faltered and hit accept. But I swear, I never went all the way. Maybe it was the guilt. Maybe it was the tiny fear that somehow my Facebook Friend would find out I spurned their invitation. But I never get past the screen that asks if I will then allow Facebook to access my information. Sorry, FB, I’m just not that kind of girl.

I also can’t bring myself to sign on for any RSS feeds. The idea of syndicating the posts from all of my “news” sources seems too daunting. As if I’d then have to actually read them.

What about you? Do you have any limits in this wild interactive world? Or am I just an ignoramus?

Facebook v. Twitter

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One of my facebook friends recently sent me this question:

What’s the advantage of Twitter over FB? Seems like you can twitter on FB and do so much more. What am I missing, Ms. Social Media Guru?

I’d been pondering the same thing over the past few months, and this is where I come out:

Facebook is for friends to share personal stuff about each other, and you choose with whom to share. The homepage view format resembles twitter, with its list of short status updates, but it’s much more. Sharing personal photos, sending friends whacky “gifts” among other things make Facebook fairly robust and highly social. While many people use Facebook for business contacts, that doesn’t feel quite right to me. Do I really want to see pictures of my work contact’s children, vacation places and potentially embarrassing moments?

Twitter, on the other hand is an easy way to keep up with the thoughts and goings on of people who you may not even know. That’s where it gets interesting. Follow people or organizations you admire, and you get regular exposure into what makes them successful. A great example is Barack Obama. By tweeting regularly, he’s making good on his promise of transparency and creating a great way to get buy in.

Businesses I think should tweet:

  • Wegmans, when they have new products
  • Restaurants, when they change their menu
  • Organizations when they host events
  • Growers when crops are progressing and promising good yields (okay, I’m really thinking about wine, here)
  • Any kind of business when it offers new services

That said, I wouldn’t start a twitter page unless you’re going to tweet at least a couple times a month.

Andrea Zuegel

Love for LinkedIn

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I’m going for a job interview this week. I know the name of my interviewer and her organization. Within 2 minutes I expect to know her background, what she looks like, and whether or not I know anyone who knows her. Yes, I’m talking about LinkedIn.
As a freelancer, I’ve come to rely on tools like LinkedIn, but it’s not just for me…

  • Employers send requests to their contacts when they need to fill a position (that’s how this opportunity came my way).
  • Colleagues promote each other when their contacts have opportunities (again, how I got hooked up).
  • People get references from other people who are in their “degrees of separation.”

Plus, it’s just fun to look up people you know (God, did everyone in this town except me work at Buck and Pulleyn at some point???).
LinkedIn may seem like old news, but I still find a lot of people who either aren’t on, or whose profiles badly need attention. Seems like the Rochester ad community lives and breathes by its connections. If you’re not already linked up, get hopping.

— Andrea Zuegel

Remember the Facebook freakout?

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Who remembers the old Facebook layout? Who remembers this guy?

Better yet, who remembers about a year ago when everyone, including me, totally freaked when the layout was upgraded to a more “intuitive, user-friendly” interface?

How did they know I would grow to love the new layout and eventually dismiss previous, technically-inferior layouts as Web 1.0 rubbish?

Well, they’re at it again.

And this time…(deep breath)… I trust them.

What are your thoughts on the proposed upgrades to Facebook?

Inform first, then dazzle

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A flashy homepage can show off your company’s creativity and design talent, it can impress first-time visitors with all kinds of animation, music and drama… and it can get really annoying after the first 2-3 seconds. An overdone “intro” can have one of the following effects:
1. the flashy stuff goes on far too long (especially for return visitors)
2. the visitor wants to find what they came for, and is too distracted (read frustrated)
3. the visitor gets the sense that you don’t really know how to use this advertising medium.
My mantra is inform first, dazzle only when you’re sure you’re informing well. Better yet, dazzle them with how well you’re anticipating their information needs.

Oh, and part of making that informing easy includes navigation. Don’t try and be clever with inventing new ways for people to navigate your site. Usability studies show that the best websites have navigation their visitors are used to. If your navigation structure and labels are boring, they’re probably good.

Save the creativity for your portfolio.

Great example from one of the smaller firms in town – Antithesis. Their site is both informative and nicely designed. They tell you right up front who they are, and the flashy stuff is off to the right where you can choose whether or not to engage. I really like their portfolio because it’s super easy to navigate. You can switch back and forth between examples without having to go “back” and their slideshow-style gallery is a format that many news sites use. Nice and simple.

-Andrea Zuegel

Kodak.com shows the way

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Kodak's New HomepageKeeping a strong idea intact through each stage of the creative development process isn’t for sissies. But if you think its tough when developing a print ad, try designing a homepage. The process begins with good intentions – make it intuitive, prioritize messaging, retain the brand’s distinctive qualities, etc. – but can quickly devolve into a land rush.

So congrats to Kodak on their re-designed homepage. Usable, impactful, true to the brand. Downright gutsy. And check out this post from Paulette at Kodak’s blog for a visual description of the process. Sounds like the tight timeline helped – if it’s due tomorrow, it doesn’t sit in approval meetings subject to over thinking.

If you still want more, visit Canon for a comparison. Which company looks like they have passion for the business?

Matt Jones