Micro Persuasion

Marketers Zero in on Utilities to Navigate the Attention Crash

For more than 100 years brand marketers have largely focused on push - a mix of tried-and-true tactics that include paid and earned media. However, that was before the Attention Crash, which is changing the economics of digital marketing.

The endless supply of content is taking a toll. It has forced consumers to make hard choices about where and how they spend time. Today people are browsing less and going deeper into a small number of sites. The exact mix of destinations change. What they have in common, however, is that they are all useful.

This habitual shift is resetting the way marketers think. To remain relevant today brands realize they increasingly have to create valuable utilities that consumers pull. These need to seamlessly integrate into the hubs where consumers are investing their shrinking attention.

Kraft, for example, circumvented the Attention Crash with the iFood Assistant, a database of 7,000 recipes that can be accessed from the iPhone. Even though it is clearly Kraft branded and costs 99 cents, the app has remained one of the top paid lifestyle programs on the iTunes store for nearly six months. (Kraft is an Edelman client but we didn't develop this app.)

Utility, however, isn't just about the iPhone or mobile applications. Others are successfully building relationships via rich iGoogle widgets and/or games that consumers find downright irresistible. So, the business case is simple enough. However, the economics are disruptive.

As more marketing becomes utilitarian in nature, marketers will need to invest in not only in developing "high concept" applications but also marketing them. It's very similar to Hollywood where studios spend millions on big-budget blockbusters that have no guarantee for success. Consider, for example, the typical iPhone application. iPhone development costs range from $20,000 for the basics, up to $150,000 or more, according to Forrester Research. That doesn't even include the budget to promote the application.

Unfortunately, this is the new reality of the digital age. Still, the economics and benefits of utility marketing are very favorable when compared to TV advertising - and more marketers will therefore shift their dollars. Success, however, is far from guaranteed.

Google's New "What's Popular" Feature Aims to Clone Digg

Google's personalized home page, iGoogle, added a new feature that basically clones the core features of Digg and StumbleUpon by embedding them into a gadget that is easily accessible from right within the web desktop.

The feature, which Google started highlighting in its directory this week, is called "What's Popular." Using the widget consumers can submit links either anonymously or publicly and rate whether they like or dislike other submissions.

According to Google's description, the What's Popular gadget "uses algorithms to find interesting content from a combination of your submissions and trends in aggregated user activity across a variety of Google services, like YouTube and Google Reader." 

That's just the half of it though. When you click on the maximize link the gadget expands into a canvas view that sorts submissions into different categories - e.g. stories, videos and images.

This won't be the last we see of Google adding social services to iGoogle. They are slowly adding such features to many of their products. Eventually I expect they will also follow Microsoft's lead in rolling up your friends' social content from around the web on Windows Live. (Microsoft is an Edelman client)

Pluck Launches On-Demand Content Service for Web Sites

Got a web site but wish it had more fresh content? You should since it will help you with SEO. Pluck has launched a new service that can solve this issue.

Using Pluck On Demand you can find relevant content from blogs and other sites that can easily be plugged into your own via a javascript widget. The library includes content from their Blogburst network, which syndicates blog posts to major media sites. Pluck On Demand also spans to include videos and articles from properties like Encyclopedia Britannica. (Note: I am a member of the Blogburst network but I empower them to donate any earnings to charity.)

You can try the service on for size here by entering your URL or keywords.

Making Gmail Your Gateway to the Web

Photo Credit: Adapted from Gateway Arch by docdevore

For the past five years my browser home page has been set to either Google.com or iGoogle. (I briefly flirted with the New York Times as my default but have integrated their feeds everywhere else.) This week I switched it to Gmail. With all of the features they have been adding lately, particularly through their Labs, Gmail is unquestionably my virtual Swiss Army Knife. It is not only my communications hub. It is my knowledge base and to some degree my feed reader. Some say it is becoming an enterprise dashboard - it is. It is my gateway to the web. (Note they added themes today!)

In this post I outline some recent ways I have tweaked my Gmail Personal Nerve Center by connecting Gmail with other web services. (Other posts on Gmail are here.)

Search the Web from Gmail

Gmail's search capabilities are top-notch. It's a big reason why I store tons of articles, factoids and even documents there. However, it's easy to miss the little button that says "Search the Web." These days I begin most of my web queries from Gmail. I even get a head start using their advanced keywords. (For example I type in new york weather when I want to know what the temperature is.) This will become even more useful once Gmail adds its SMS features later this month. Once that's back up you should be able to use it with Google SMS and get back search results via IM.

Update and Track Your Social Networks via IM

I am slowly in the process of trying to shift more of my communications out of email towards social software and IM. (More on this topic soon.) Still, I want an easily accessible record of all of these streams. So I am using Gmail much of the time to post to these services and also receive updates.

If you set up Ping.fm you can update all the major social networks via Gmail Chat. I post to Twitter via Ping.fm. I receive back replies by subscribing to a Twitter search feed for @steverubel via IM via notify.me. In addition, I receive Facebook alerts also by running my feed through notify.me. You can find your Facebook feed here. (You can also IM Friendfeed and Yammer directly and receive updates back from them too, which I do.)

Subscribe to High Priority Feeds and Alerts

I love Google Reader but I also like to be able to subscribe to some of my feeds via Gmail so that they are archived in a single place online and offline (via IMAP). However, I want to make this easily managed. So, I put all of my high priority feeds in Google Reader into a folder, make this folder public and then subscribe to the feed in Newsgator Online. Newsgator offers POP delivery so I have Gmail automatically fetch this account, scoop up the feeds, filter/archive them and tag them with the label "Feeds."

Track the Day's News with Gmail Clips

I am a news junkie and like to stay in the know. Gmail makes this a snap with Gmail Web Clips. I have pretty much standardized on the New York Times as my source of choice. In addition, I like to be able to track Techmeme too as well as all the news on the Presidential transition. So I have added a bunch of feeds to Clips including one from the awesome Times Topics site that stream into Gmail via a nice handy little news ticker.

Use Gmail as a Writing Tool

Sometimes writing can be intimidating, but it doesn't need to be. I like to start my writing in Gmail and then move it into other services where I can do more. For example, I wrote this blog post in Gmail and then sent it directly to TypePad. I also start documents here and then email them into Google Docs for additional tweaking (eg word counts, etc.). Finally I have a huge swipe file of articles and ideas stored in Gmail for inspiration and reference (for more on this concept see this great post from Write to Done). LifeClever offers some more thoughts here on using email for writing. See my other Gmail posts for how to use the service for storing ideas.

Build Links in Gmail to All Your Other Services

Finally, last but not least, when I do need to access other services they are all a click away in Gmail. I have added the Google Calendar and Google Docs gadgets to my sidebar. I store my To Do List in Google Docs so it's usually the top item in the gadget. In addition, I store my bookmarks in Gmail by exporting them to HTML and sending the page to myself using Ubiquity, which I pull up using Gmail Quick Links. Also, the links at the top of the page put me a click away to secure https versions of some of Google's other big services.

I keep adding to my system as Google rolls out features, but to me Gmail is my gateway to the web and the one web site I could never be without. Gmail turns five in the spring and I amazed how they continue to make it even more awesome once you start to really tweak it to your needs.

Three Ways to Rock the New iGoogle

Google earlier this week rolled out a significant upgrade to iGoogle, its popular personalized home page/widget webtop. The "Canvas View" update has been praised but it's also been equally panned by lots of people. Lifehacker is running a poll that has 55% of readers giving it a Bronx Cheer while 45% like it.

I have mixed feelings about it. The left side tab does take up a lot of real estate on my screen, which isn't that wide. (I have a MacBook Air running 1280x800). Also the Gmail application is very buggy. Links don't work and the ability to use rich text formatting is now gone. Users are irate. These seem easily remedied.

It's also worth noting that Google has yet to activate the Open Social community features - which are stil in the developer sandbox. Once they do, iGoogle will by default become one of the biggest social networks in the world. Keep an eye out for that.

What iGoogle does have going for it though are full-screen widgets (which they still for some reason call gadgets). A lot of these are powered by and integrated with Google Reader. Here are three ways I am using it so far and I have noticed using PageAddict that my time spent with the site is rising significantly. This is something that will make page views extinct.

Subscribe to the Best of Friendfeed and Reshare Items with Your Followers

I love Friendfeed but it's a bit too hard for me to follow it the way I really would like to. So I subscribe to my personal "best" of day feed on my IGoogle page. What's great is that under the Canvas View feeds like these have the same features that Google Reader has. So, if I hit share at the bottom, I can easily re-syndicate these items back into Friendfeed. I wish I could add notes the way I can in Google Reader. Hopefully they will add that feature.

Use iGoogle as a Google Notebook Scratch Pad

During the day I need to take lots of notes. I am in the process of moving most of my computing to the cloud. The only desktop apps I still use are Office 2008, primarily PowerPoint and Entourage  (Microsoft MacBU is an Edelman client). Everything else is in the cloud, including all my notes. All of my these get funneled into GMail eventually, but they often start in Google Notebook.

By adding the Google Notebook widget to iGoogle and maximizing it full screen, I have found it to be an awesome scratch pad for meeting notes. I can tag entries, export them later to Google Docs an then email these into GMail. Further, If I need to reference my Google Reader or Gmail, it's right there on the same page. In fact, I used it to start writing this blog post.

Add Google Suggest with iSuggest

I am addicted to Google Suggest. It's amazing way to discover searches that are relevant to yours. Google recenty added it to the main Google interface, but for some reason they forgot iGoogle. Add the iSuggest widget to iGoogle and minimize it and you'll enjoy the same functionality while waiting for Google engineering teams to become a bit more synchronized.

Next I am going to start exploring the Netvibes Universe for widgets that incorporate additional functionality, like adding Facebook to iGoogle.

Amazon Adds Universal Wish List

Amazon.com's Wish List feature has been around a long time - over 10 years in fact. However, recently the e-commerce site expanded it with a new feature called The Universal Wish List.

Using a simple bookmarklet (drag this to your bookmarks) you can now add any item to your list from anywhere on the web. As you can see from the image above, I was able to use the tool to add a Brett Favre jersey from NewYorkJets.com to my wish list. Once it was there, the new item basically acts like a bookmark, taking me back to the original site where I found the product.

Wish lists are one of the earliest forms of online social expression. You can add Amazon's wish list to your site as a widget or even your Facebook or Friendfeed profile. A list of products that people have added to their wish list can be found over on Friendfeed.

Now that Amazon has expanded this longtime feature of the site, I expect we'll see a certain type of user keeping their lists there - which if anything gives Amazon more data into insights into how people shop. In addition, it's conceivable that this could become a social commerce feature over time given Amazon's popular Associates program.

iGoogle to Get Ads This Summer, Is Google Reader Next?

Google developer Dan Holevoet published the roadmap for the forthcoming changes to the iGoogle personalized home page. You can check out the presentation here.

The site, which anecdotally I can tell you is getting very popular, will get a new canvas view (below) starting in June and social features over the summer. However, what's most notable is that iGoogle is getting ads. They have not shown yet what this will look like visually. However, there is more info posted in an official FAQ.

According to the Google deck and FAQ, ads will appear embedded in the widgets themselves and only in the new canvas view - offering developers a way to monetize. In addition, Google will solicit feedback from users as they go. However, I wonder if this is going to add to the clutter of the site. Further, I would be interested if the developers use Open Social features to make the ads as social as the widgets promise to become.

Meanwhile in related news, Google Reader is closing in on Bloglines, according to new data from Hitwise. The site is currently free of ads but with Google's purchase of Feedburner I wonder if a Gmail-like model is in the works for this site too - particularly as its use increases. Ideally this would encourage feed owners to join Feedburner's ad networks and share in the monetization in and Adsense like model.

The Future is Web Services, Not Web Sites

Remember The Graduate when Benjamin Braddock was advised to go into plastics. The clip is here. It seemed like a safe bet at the time - and it was.

Today the web maybe "the new plastics." It seems like every brand is building a new site or microsite. The Internet feels like Dubai. Some are big, ambitious projects. Others are smaller initiatives like a blog that a small group can manage themselves.

I don't expect organizations to stop building sites anytime soon. However, the Picture-in-Picture Web (what some would call the web services promise of "Web 3.0") is coming on strong. And I believe most brand web sites may not matter in 2012 - unless they have satellites that make the mother ship stronger. The Attention Crash (or what Iconoculture calls "choice fatigue") is accelerating the pace of change. Fred Wilson has a similar point of view.

The leading players on the web all see the train coming. They are wisely creating APIs and turning themselves into plug-and-play services, not just big destinations. YouTube is just the latest to do so today. Amazon has S3. Google has OpenSocial and an extensive library of APIs. As does Microsoft. Facebook is allowing its applications to live outside the site. Twitter is an API first and (eventually) a business model second. Finally, the booming widget economy shows the promise of small content that can go anywhere.

These are the leaders. But everyone - including marketers - will need to think of their online brands not as sites but as portable services that can go anywhere and everywhere the consumer wants. Without such appendages, no brand will ever be able to break through the online clutter such unlimited choice offers.

Schmidt Hints Adsense Maybe Coming to Facebook Apps

Google Adsense may be coming to Facebook applications. Google CEO Eric Schmidt told AdAge ...

"How will those developers get paid for those services? We would like to have our ads in those applications."

This makes a ton of sense. However, as Facebook starts to look like Times Square with ads on top of ads - some they control, others they don't -  it will turn the community off. Already I can't stand it when I see ads in my news feed. That's the problem with open platforms. Also, how long before these applications start to appear outside Facebook on places like iGoogle. Me thinks soon.

Read

In the Cut and Paste Era, Traffic Happens Elsewhere

Imagine for a moment that you can take any piece of online content that you care about - a news feed, an image, a box score, multimedia, a stream of updates from your friends - and easily pin it wherever you want. Once clipped, you can drop the content on your desktop, an online start page like Windows Live or Pageflakes, “the deck" of your mobile device or even “a crawl” on your Internet-connected television.

This isn’t some far off vision. It’s the near-term future. It’s the coming era of the Cut and Paste Web.

All of the building blocks of the Cut and Paste Web are in place today. They include RSS, widgets, APIs, Javascript embed codes and web services. If you use a personalized start page, you’re already believer. For a sample, check out my Netvibes page, below. You’ll notice that it not only includes news, blogs and social network streams but also images and embedded iPhone versions of Web pages that snap in perfectly.

However, for all of its benefits, the Cut and Paste Web is potentially more disruptive to big traffic sites than Web 2.0 was. If almost all content can be lifted from one spot and placed somewhere where it’s more convenient to the user, just how will it be monetized? The ramifications reach far and wide. It will impact anyone that wants to attract eyeballs - media companies, brand marketers and community/social networking sites.

This week in my AdAge column, I outline three strategies for thriving in the era of a decentralized web. The rest of the column follows. I have written about this before, but it won't be the last time. You will be hearing a lot more about this subject in the months ahead. Now is the time to be ready. All you need to do is remember three little words: "traffic happens elsewhere."

Three Strategies for Thriving on the Decentralized Web

As Long-form Content Becomes Bite-Size, Make Everything on Your Site Embeddable

The Long Tail of content and increasing demands for our attention have created a perfect storm where traffic to brand sites may soon shrink. It's simple supply-and-demand economics at work.

Long-form online content has been usurped by all things bite-size, whether it be widgets, YouTube clips, or micro blogs powered by services such as Tumblr, Jaiku and Twittergram. This column offers three simple steps marketers should consider to thrive in a web that is increasingly becoming decentralized.

Think web services, not websites. Most innovation online today is created by an army of talented, independent web developers. Sites such as Microsoft, Google and Facebook are turning themselves into platforms that can run these applications, almost like Windows did on the desktop. This has spawned hundreds of miniature online applications.

To thrive, marketers need to think about how to create similar mini experiences via web services that plug into these sites yet are consistent with the brand.

Connect people. The web is transforming into a medium where the greatest value is created when people connect via platforms of participation around a common goal -- to make money, be entertained or informed, to create, etc.

To thrive, brands need to identify these motivations and participate in these new micro-content platforms in a way that helps consumers meet their goals. For example, the Los Angeles Fire Department recognized that consumers actively use Twitter when disaster strikes. It has opened a channel on the site to provide updates at twitter.com/LAFD.

Make everything portable. The next version of the Macintosh operating system, due out in October, has a small feature called Web Clip that turns any part of a site into a widget that lives on the consumer's desktop. This is a big sign of things to come.

In the very near future portals including iGoogle, My Yahoo and Netvibes as well as social networks will be able to easily inhale the smallest pieces of content from across the web. Don't wait. Start now to make everything on your website embeddable. Traffic is becoming something that happens elsewhere, not just on your site.

Find Related Wikipedia Content with Similpedia

Wikipedia is by far one of the most useful sites on the Web - at least to me. That's why I am looking forward to seeing what Jimmy Wales and crew come up with when they launch their new search engine. In the meantime, there is a new Wikipedia tool, however, that has caught my attention - Similpedia.

Similpedia takes any links and shows you related content from Wikipedia. It's extremely handy if you want to drill down into a subject. Even better, they give you a bookmarklet that makes this all a snap to use from any site. You can also add a contextual widget to your site that pulls up related content for your readers and even track results via RSS. Bigger plans are in the works - a site for news and blogs called Similario.

This is a taste of what can be done with Wikipedia's vast stores of data. I would love to see Wikimedia take this to the next level with a robust API.

Wither Blogging? Not Yet, But Perhaps Soon

Earlier this week we chatted - here and on Twitter - about Shiny Object Syndrome (SOS). Our appetite for new technologies and channels is certainly insatiable, but it points to a larger trend. Perhaps we're in search of a new format (or formats) to replace the almighty blog.

What, wither blogging? Not quite. I believe blogs remain extremely powerful and I plan to be a multi-format contributor. Still, a perfect storm is brewing that could one day mark the decline of the long form blog as we know and love it today.  BL Ochman and Michael Tangeman are two that are pondering the same trend.

Let's take a closer look at what's happening. There are three big forces at bay here.

First, there's the Attention Crash. The demands on our time, be they work, family, shiny objects or all of the above loom large. This is changing our media habits. We crave what's pithy and fun. That's one reason why YouTube and widgets got hot.

Second, there's the proliferation of mobile Internet usage. I don't have the statistics handy but my gut is that the upper strata of Forrester's participation ladder includes many smart-phone owners.

As a reporter from MSNBC found, you can increasingly do a lot with these devices by themselves. On my next short trip I plan to leave my laptop at home in favor of my iPhone, especially if I can plan it all so that I am around wifi.

What this all means is that mobile platforms and devices encourages people to publish more often, but in a far shorter format.

Last but not least we have social networking. These sites and services make it easier for us to tune into "signals" - e.g. people and topics we care about - and tune out noise.

So what does this mean all for blogging? I imagine over time some erosion. We will unsubscribe from low quality blogs written by strangers that we truly don't have time for, in favor of tuning into friends and their mobile streams. Perhaps it's already happening.

The Page View is Officially Dead

As predicted late last year, the page view is officially irrelevant. Nielsen is no longer measuring sites this way thanks to widgets and online video. ComScore needs to follow next. Further, both companies need to open up their auditing process across The Long Tail.

Track the Google Zeitgeist on iGoogle

Google has launched a trends module for iGoogle. The widget/gadget pulls in the top news, video, image and web searches. PR pros: this is a handy way to see what's on the mind of the public. Not an iGoogle user? Windows Live has a similar gadget. It tracks the top news photos on MSNBC. (Microsoft is an Edelman client.)

Google Coop Embeds Gadgets in Search Results

Google Coop has quietly expanded and now can embed data from gadgets (i.e. widgets) as subscribed links. In English, as opposed to Googlese, what this means is that you can opt-in to have important live data pop-up when you enter certain search keywords.

Right now there are only a handful of gadgets you can sign up for. All of them are from Google, but they are handy. They include: time/date, translations, traffic and weather radar/conditions. If you have a Google account and you opt into these links, when you search it will trigger the data to load above the search results. You need to enter certain keyword commands, such as: "what time is it" or "weather 10036" or "new york traffic" or "translate hello into spanish." Google Coop has all the documentation, but see the sample in the screen shot below...

Given the size of the Google Gadget ecosystem, this is an important development - especially if developers begin tweak their gadgets. It turns Google into a giant command-line interface for web data.

However, one wonders if Google will eventually rolling this all up into their new universal search and "widgetsense." As you look down the road, you can see this as an avenue to deliver one heckuva an opt-in online ad. The key is that the information delivered must be compelling enough.

Google Widgetsense is a Reality

Widgets embedded in Adsense isn't just an idea. According to Niall Kennedy, its a reality.

Niall reports that soon webmasters will be able to auction off widget space on their sites and blogs managed and marketed by Google. Advertisers can produce Gadgets in standard ad sizes for distribution across the Google network.

Is PayPerWidget Another PayPerPost? Not Quite

Firsr there was PayPerPost. Now there's Sniperoo's PayPerWidget - a marketplace that pairs widget  publishers and bloggers. However, the semantics are where the similarities end.

PayPerWidget does sound awfully similar to PayPerPost. Bloggers get paid to feature widgets on their blog. However, unlike PayPerPost, I don't have a problem with this just yet. It's no different really than bloggers running an interactive ad tile. Still, it's unclear to what lengths Sniperoo requires bloggers to disclose payment or label the widget as advertising. They must do so.

Sniperoo, a widget directory, needs to be careful not only in the disclosures they require participating bloggers make but also in where the widgets are placed. The closer they are placed to the editorial content, the more there's risk to all involved. Also, I am not sure who chose the name, but ideally it would have been better to distance this program from the PayPerPost debacle.

Google Debuts Official eBay Gadget

Google has rolled out an official eBay Gadget for the Google Personalized Home Page. The widget allows you to conduct in-line auction searches right off the Google home page. You can also track your auctions - watching, bidding and won. It's easy to convert this into a "Mini Me" bookmarklet. Just drag this link to your bookmarks. (Several eBay units are Edelman clients.)

Widgets Arrive for the iPod

The iPod is still largely a closed development platform, but that's not stopping some folks from creating widgets that run on it. Kooloroo has two products that bring handy information to the iPod. One is a tip calculator. The other is a color wheel. More here.

Over time, all handheld devices will get widget capabilities. It's the perfect venue for them. The challenge will be that many these devices today are not yet Internet-enabled.

When you think about it, Java apps that run on phones are basically widgets. One of the key trends to watch for is synchronization - users will want to run the same widgets on their mobile devices as they do on the desktop or web-top. We'll also see even more innovation once marketers get wind that widgets are a ticket to getting on mobile phones.

Pump Your Productivity with "Mini Me" Bookmarklets

Tabbed browsing has been a staple of the modern browser for awhile now. The feature is built into Firefox and Safari. Moreover, with the launch of Internet Explorer 7 it's now available to pretty much all.

However, tabbed browsing is sometimes a pain when you want to look up something quickly - for example the weather, sunrise/sunset times, a sports score or your RSS feeds. Of course you can simply open another tab to accomplish this. However, I am now using a new hack that combines bookmarklets, pop-up windows, widgets and mobile web sites in a way that has made me a lot more productive. I use these to look up information a lot.

I know about as much Javascript as I do Japanese. Zilch. But, I do know how to make small edits to code to get by, just as I know how to say sayonara. That's all I had to do to put this system into place

Hawk Wings has two handy bookmarklets that spawn separate "distraction free" Gmail and Google Calendar windows. Once you bookmark them they pop-up in front in IE and Safari but for some reason they load in the back in Firefox.

I have cloned these bookmarklets and adapted them by changing the URL they open and the window size. Each bookmarklet is assigned to either a) mobile-friendly versions of one of my favorite sites or b) a Google widget. The result is instantaneous information! When I want to look up say a sports score, I pop the window. In addition, sometimes I minimize my main browser window and keep "Mini Me" open. This makes it easier to look up Wikipedia articles, for example, while I work on a document. (See screen grab below)

To start using these, simply right click on each one and add to your Favorites/bookmarks. Depending on the browser you're using you might get a warning. Just click ok. If you use Firefox you can even assign keywords to these. If you clone the WeatherBug or sports scores widget and change it to the URL for any widget in this directory, you can run widgets as pop-ups. Most work.

Answers.com Dictionary

CBS Sportsline Scores

Digg

Google

Google Reader

Google Talk

Techmeme

Technorati

WeatherBug

Wikipedia