Spinning the Web

Did i brag mention to you I was on holiday over the Christmas period? Well, I was. And it was great. Not only because I was basking in 40 degree heat as London fell victim to its coldest Christmas since the 1970s, but also because I could keep up to scratch with the misery the snow was causing on British shores via the new Guardian iPhone app.

Until now, newspapers’ attitudes towards the web have fluttered between utter disdain and begrudging acceptance. Certainly they have rarely identified (and indeed tapped into) the revenue potential of their online content. However, the Guardian has bucked the trend and gone all-out to develop its online content (even launching a content API last year). Today the ‘paper announced its incredible iPhone app has reached 70,000 downloads in just one month, which means they’ve already made over £167k in revenues (£2m per year if the app continues to be downloaded at the same rate). The mobile web, it seems, provides opportunities as well as risks to the humble newspaper publisher. Time will tell if the app continues to make the Guardian money (the buck doesn’t stop with subscriptions – there are opportunities to make money through affiliate links, eCoupons, premium subscriptions and interactive advertising) but the most interesting thing about the success of the Guardian’s app is that is quite simply an incredible user experience.

When I was sitting on the beach (sorry, did I mention I’ve been on holiday?) reading about Manchester City signing Patrick Viera, it didn’t feel at all like I was reading a website on a small screen (as some apps do) – the entire experience is much better than using a computer. The iPhone, it seems, goes some way to providing the tactile satisfaction of turning the pages of a newspaper, while offering the childlike glee that living in the future brings. Because this, my friends, is the future. A brave new world where you read a newspaper on a mobile phone and it’s not a shoddy, ‘lite’ version with content missing and deranged formatting. A strange and fantastical future where Patrick Viera signs for Manchester City. A future where newspapers might conceivably make some money.

The Guardian clearly has some in-house nouse when it comes to digital content delivery and the app is a joy to use. Load times are quick (even using 3G) and the capability to download the content for offline reading is invaluable. The ‘favourites’ function allows you to save the sections you can’t live without for quick and easy access, and the Guardian’s media rich content – from podcasts to moving pictures – is integrated with the daily news content in a more effective manner than the website has ever managed.

The real breakthrough, however, is the focus on trending articles. The Guardian’s website pioneered foregrounding the ‘most read’ articles for users, but again the iPhone app gives trending topics even more gravitas – the most popular articles seem as prevalent and prominent as the ‘latest news’. One of the tacit pleasures of using the internet is that you are not surfing alone, you are in fact participating in an enormous content ecosystem – every article you read, video you watch or blog you link to is affected by your actions in some way. In reading the Guardian app, you can tap into the vein of UK zeitgeist from wherever you are in the world, and it’s made plain to you that you are reading this because the rest of the world is. By reading the news, you are making the news. It’s lovely, and it’s something newspapers can’t do. Digg’s success is fueled by this feeling of news as a mass participation event – and I can’t wait for their imminent new app launch – but the Guardian’s is a broader, more elegant experience.

Anyway – if you have an iPhone and don’t mind 70% of news content being about climate change and human rights (which I don’t) – then this will be the best £2.39 you ever spent. Equally, if you’re a brand looking for a creative way to bring your services to a smartphone audience, this is a best in class example to follow.

If you’re Rupert Murdoch declaring that paid-for content is the only way for newspapers to make money online, then look away now, the future is blowing you a raspberry.

Ah December. The season to be jolly. And to make ludicrously inaccurate predictions for the year ahead, of course. It seems to me that under the guise of ‘predictions’, most of the soothsaying blog posts that appear at the end of the year read more like Christmas wishes and are more about what the author wants to happen, than what is likely to happen. So, we’ll try to avoid the ‘wishlist’ approach and come up with our 10 predictions for communications in 2010 – but we can’t deny there’s a bit of wishing about some of them (well, if December isn’t a time for wishes, then when is?). So here goes, in no particular order, our Ten in 2010 predictions are:

1. Social search becomes the norm: For the past ten years, web search has been dominated by Google. When we’ve been in need of anything, from toilet paper to travel advice, we’ve asked Google’s reliable algorithm. In 2010, we’ll see the current ‘hot topic’ of social search become a social norm for all web users. I already ask for recommendations on Twitter before I search on Google in a number of circumstances – particularly if it involves making a purchase – and the recent and ongoing changes to Facebook make crowdsourcing a recommendation or solution much easier. Google.com will always bring more results (and lovely, accurate ones), but recommendations bring with them so much more: trust, peace-of-mind and quite often a witty quip thrown in. That’s probably why Google is testing out its own amazing social search product in Google labs. It’s all a bad sign for SEO companies as they lose their grip on search – especially when you see Google personalised search take hold too. I guess we’ll see the continued growth of SMO as opposed to traditional SEO as well.
2. Apple changes the way we read: Okay, not just Apple, but touch-screen tablets like the one they’re planning to launch. TechCrunch have written about producing one, and a number of other manufacturers are rumoured to be working on products. Essentially, tablets fill the gap between a smartphone and a notebook – providing a convenient way to browse web pages, read documents or even watch movies on the move. They also potentially spell disaster for products like Amazon’s Kindle. However, there could be business benefits also. What if you were to show up to meetings with tablets for those taking part – allowing participants to view bespoke presentations, or slide notes, or creative design options? They could zoom and scroll through a design as they wish, while the presentation covers the key points. Okay, it sounds complicated and expensive, but we’re just excited about what will no doubt be a nice shiny new toy from Apple.
   

   Apple's tablet will arrive in 2010 and change the handheld computing landscape

3. “I have a stream”: 2009 has seen the emergence from the shadows of a number of lifestreams – with Tumblr, Friendfeed (recently bought by Faceboook) and Posterous making the most noise. Technically, Posterous has moved the lifestream on from being an aggregator of social content, to a syndicator as well – which is where the true potential of these services can be seen. As such, 2010 will see more and more ‘aggregator/syndicator’ apps appearing, and more and more people using them. Updating Posterous can automatically update your Twitter account, Facebook profile, blog, Flickr profile and more. It’s quick, easy, and simple. You can even just send it an email and the content appears everywhere. As people develop more social media identities they need a place to keep them. Having to access dozens of websites, desktop apps or even phone apps to keep things up-to-date is a massive hassle. Posterous and its ilk are already successfully catering for a need that will grow exponentially in 2010.
4. Augmented reality becomes a reality: We love augmented reality (AR) at Manifest. There are obviously amazing benefits it can bring, but our main reason for loving it is it feels like something from Back to the Future II. And if you haven’t seen the Google Goggles video already you’re in for a treat. AR has arrived quicker than expected really, and the pace of development looks set to continue. Bionic Eye and Tube Deluxe are the AR apps in my iPhone arsenal, but the opportunities for brands are there for all to see. Imagine a gym where you look at a machine and are given a tutorial, for example, or pointing your iPhone app at a packet of crisps to get a calorie count/CO2 impact/price comparison.
   

   Augmented Reality (AR) is not only like living in Back to the Future II - it actually works

5. Wave says hello: Google Wave is here already. But not really. In 2010 we expect it to start making a big impact, although a mass switchover from email is pie in the sky yet. Wave has loads of benefits for businesses and collaborators, but we’ve not seen them yet because most of us don’t have any contacts on there. In 2010, the early adopters will get to grips with what promises to change the way we communicate online. If this post were a wave, for instance, you could comment on each prediction underneath the actual  paragraph you’re commenting on. I could then ‘rewind’ the post to see how the comments have been added over time, and the final Wave would be a collaborative effort – not just my work. It’s really pretty cool – and in 2010 we’ll start to see why. Hopefully we’ll all get some more invitations as well.
   

   In 2009 - we were all waving with ourselves. 2010 will see wave unleashed.

6. 

   Twitter already has the space to add contextual ads

   Adding context to Twitter: We predict contextual advertising will finally make its way onto Twitter in 2010. This year saw the introduction of where the ads will likely run – in the top right of the page as pictured – so they won’t be invasive if they do arrive. By making ads relevant to the twitterstream they won’t just relate to an individual, but to their precise activities that day. Everyone keeps talking about ‘how twitter will make money’ but there are so many ways they can make it without affecting the service, I think we’ll see people get bored of that question as Twitter continues to thrive.

7. Paying won’t pay: Murdoch’s idea that online content should be paid for will be proved unworkable. At least in the UK. As long as the BBC exists, nobody will be able to charge their UK readership successfully – which to be honest, is great. A lot of people talk about not wanting to pay the license fee to fund the 25th series of 2 pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps – but they forget the money goes to genuinely pioneering online resources such as iPlayer. There are plenty of ways for media to monetize their content (such as affiliate links and freemium content privileges) but so far it’s not worked – but nor will making people pay for something they can get for free elsewhere. The Huffington Post only flourished because newspapers began charging for their online content, don’t forget. We predict many publishers will start charging, people will stop using, then many publishers will stop charging.
   

   Paying for content is about as popular as Gordon Brown

8. Social media agencies will struggle: We’ve said already on this blog that dedicated social media gencies shouldn’t exist, and in 2010 we predict that unfortunately the dedicated social media agency will begin to struggle and we’ll see the launch of new dedicated agencies slowing. This is because they’ll be competing with PR and marketing agencies increasingly able to match their expertise in social media, whilst coupling it with skills across the broader media mix. Ooh, we’re getting a bit controversial now.
9. Not so Flash now: Okay – this one is from our new media nerd guru Mike. He says that we’re going to see JavaScript frameworks begin to do much more of the complex web tasks which had previously relied on software, such as Adobe Flash and Director, as well as Microsoft Silverlight. “it’s to do with the continued development of JavaScript frameworks.” he says, “For example, the Manifest site only uses Flash to render video, as it is impossible to do this cross-browser using HTML. A couple of years ago simple animation and dynamic page elements would have been produced in Flash, however as popular JavaScript frameworks such as jQuery, MooTools and Scriptaculous continue to grow in terms of their development communities, I think we will begin to see more and more complex animation and dynamic content produced using the browser to render this rather than software (Flash player/Shockwave/Microsoft Silverlight).” Make any sense to you? Nah, me either. But it’s in at number 9 because Mike generally knows what he’s talking about.
10. Fonts for the memories: Now for some designery predictions from Martin in the creative studio. According to the Chinese, 2009 was the year of the Ox, but for Manifest, it was the year of Helvetica. We predict that 2010 will be the year of…. Helvetica. Again. Cos it always is. But maybe things will change. We think TheSans, Kievet, DIN fonts will probably pop up more next year (DIN has been the best seller at Fontshop 3 years running, so we’re not exactly out on a limb here). Oh, and we predict there will be more and more websafe fonts used for logotypes, following IKEA’s recent switch to Verdana from Futura. If you ask us, it’s not a good example to follow – it’s just a bit lazy.
    

    Could Helvetica's reign be over? Nah. Probably not.

Okay – so that’s our ten for 2010. What do you think? Don’t be shy – let us know if you think we’re talking nonsense – or if there’s something we’ve missed (although be fair, we were restricted to ten).

I should start by saying how proud we are at Manifest to be part of the team creating the first ever #LDNnudetech calendar. For those not in the know, it’s a nude calendar featuring some of London’s leading tech pioneers and (in)famous Twitter icons. Organised by Milo Yiannopoulos, sales of the calendar will raise money in support of Take Heart India: a tremendous charity providing and supporting practical, sustainable education projects to communities that need them in India. At Manifest, we’re doing what we do best to support the project – which means we are NOT taking our clothes off, but we are designing the calendar.

Once I heard about the project I immediately checked out Take Heart India and saw this video which inspired me to get Manifest involved. A quick email exchange with Milo later, and we were designing the calendar free of charge.

Martin Farrar-Smith is the designer in chief and although we can’t show you the calendar yet, the above image is a teaser of the design style we hope will do justice to the fantastic photography. Rumours of Martin walking around the studio in his birthday suit in order to ‘live the brief’ remain unfounded, but the design looks pretty good if we do say so ourselves. We’re making a few final ‘nips and tucks’ to the content and layout, but it should be ready in time for the calendar’s launch party on Monday November 16th. If you’d like to attend and see it for yourself then make sure you register via the #LDNnudetech network and Milo will keep you up-to-date.

Now, a nude calendar was always going to raise a few eyebrows I guess – but the controversy surrounding #LDNnudetech has come as a surprise to me. Maybe I’m being naive, but I thought a project designed to raise money for a worthwhile charity – whatever it may be – was something to support, not criticise. But apparently some people disagree. The controversy has only served to raise the profile of the project, however, and will no doubt contribute to its success. I’m not going to get involved in the debate here, but for any critics out there: it’s a nude calendar. Get over it.

It’s testament to the character of everyone involved (Milo, the guys at Huddle, Hermione Way, Mike Butcher, Lucian Tarnowski, Alicia Navarro, Sam Mathews, Poppy Dinsey the list goes on…) that the calendar will be produced in time for Christmas as planned – which was always an ambitious target for a project of this scale. Now all we need to do is sell them… so please do your bit and buy one

I imagine at least 90% of those who read this post will be from a ’social media agency’ so I want to begin by saying, “Calm down. It’s not necessarily what you think.”

I fully appreciate that social media agencies provide a valuable and informed service – but my point is that this service should be provided by PR agencies as part of the broader media strategy. It’s not being provided by the vast majority of PR agencies, of course, and that’s why we have the ‘dedicated social media agency’; but this just fragments the industry further and provides another obstacle to effective integration.

Dedicated social media agencies have been appearing right-left-and-centre for three or even four years now and understandably so. Social networks and web platforms have amazing (and proven) potential to drive brand awareness, fuel sales and meet specific communications objectives. However – ‘dedicated’ social media agencies are missing the bigger point.

These agencies* are perpetuating the myth that ’social media’ is a separate entity from ‘traditional media’ – but in reality, it’s all media and regardless of your objective, a strong communications strategy will take into account the entire media spectrum. A social media agency, by its very definition, is unlikely to develop a strategy that has a print or broadcast media foundation, even if that is the best route for the brand. This has potentially damaging consequences for the communications sector and, in a nutshell, this is why social media agencies should not exist. Sorry.

The PR industry failed to grasp the potential of social media fast enough, spawning the 'dedicated social media agency' that threatens to fragment the industry further.

Now I am NOT saying here that social media agencies do not provide good ideas, great content and even brilliant results – there are plenty of examples of great social media campaigns developed by these agencies and I have lots of friends who work for them. The point I am trying to make here is not about the quality of work, or that social media agencies are run by charlatans (although there are some dubious ‘gurus’ out there), it is that a brand should not have to recruit a social media agency to deal with web execution and a PR agency to handle traditional media relations – the latter should provide all the knowledge and creativity required to develop an integrated campaign that encompasses all relevant media channels. Social media should be part of a communications campaign, not a separate one. In that sense, I am not criticising social media agencies in this post, I am criticising the PR and marketing industries for not grasping the intricacies of social media fast enough. Indeed, this social media agency bandwagon is being pulled by two familiar mules:

1. Many old school PR agencies don’t like using technology. Trying to talk to the average PR professional about something as basic as tagging content effectively is a bit like trying to get a cat to take a bath. This is not all PR agencies of course – but there are a significant number that are waiting patiently for Twitter to go away. “This Twitterweb… it’s just people saying what they’ve had for breakfast. The risks of getting involved far outweigh the opportunities. Don’t touch it, we say.” With the resulting gaping holes in the market, you can see why social media agencies have sprung to life.
   
2. Many bigger PR agencies see something new and automatically think of it not as something to adopt and integrate into their service offering for the benefit of their clients, but instead as a new revenue stream. “Quick – set up a digital arm so we can milk more budget out of people. Go tell our clients they should be on Twitterbook and we’re the ones to put them there!” At certain points last year you could actually hear the rub of many a PR agency director’s hands as they selected a suitably rounded logo for their new digital subsidiary.
   

No wonder the people tasked with setting up these dedicated social media or digital services take it upon themselves to plug the gap in the industry and make the money themselves. But doing this is doing a disservice to clients. Social media is part of the media landscape now. Permanently. What you do online affects conversations offline. Offline coverage drives online conversation. The two cannot be separated. As such, the future for PR is to embrace social media as part of the service offering and develop expertise within PR teams. Social media does require a new set of expertise but these should not be separated from the other communications practices – they should be part of the stable of services offered by a strong PR agency. Obviously, coming from a full service agency’s blog you might see why this is the stance I’m taking – but it’s a genuine one. The brand that decides to hire a social media agency should take a good look a their PR firm and weigh up the options.

*I should also clarify that I am talking here about social media agencies that claim to develop ’social media campaigns’ from a PR standpoint and not those (specifically within advertising) that simply offer technical development services, creating social media content or building web resources according to the brief from a lead agency. I’m not including agencies that provide specialist coding skills here.