Buzzword Chasers

With everyone talking, writing and tweeting about the iPhone 4, it’s difficult to uncover the consensus on Apple’s newest gadget. In Part II of this blog series, we’ve sorted through the endless reviews to compile a list of the phone’s stand-out features that the technological world is ranting and raving about. For an overview of the iPhone 4’s new features and software, and their compatibility with older models, read Part I of this series, Apple’s Never-Ending Releases: New iPhone, New Software, New Apps.

Sleek and Skinny Design

Most reviewers agreed that simply holding an iPhone 4 will increase feelings of self-importance. It boasts a sleek, satin-like design, and represents the thinnest iPhone yet. Measuring just 0.37″, it surpasses its 0.48″ predecessor.

Screen Streaking

You can certainly look at the new iPhone’s radiant design, but can you touch it? Although the screen survived the Wall Street Journal’s drop test unscathed, reviewers have reported spotting problems as well as a construction concern. Because of a drying issue with the bonding agent, yellow spots or streaks have surfaced across the screen. These blemishes reportedly disappear within a few days, but the construction concern is more permanent.

Screen Construction

Unlike previous models with screws releasing the front display assembly, the two screws on the bottom of the iPhone 4 release its back panel. This means that if the glass breaks, you’ll have to replace the entire phone rather than just the screen, since the display and touch panel are glued to the glass.

Superhuman Retina Display

With Apple’s Retina display, the iPhone 4 showcases a 960×640 pixel resolution that renders the human eye inferior. According to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, within this resolution, which is four times higher than that of the iPhone 3GS, there are so many pixels that the human eye is unable to perceive them all. Critics have praised everything about the phone’s display, from the impressively clear graphics to the bold, sharp text. The display’s quality has even been compared to that of a printed magazine.

External Antenna and Poor Reception

Considering the general sense of public dissatisfaction with the iPhone’s exclusive tie to AT&T, Apple sought to improve reception on the not-so reliable network with an external band antenna. The antenna was designed to pick up the least congested network band, or the one with the least interference in order to achieve the best signal quality, regardless of the actual signal strength. However, it may not pick up any signals at all, depending on how you hold it. In response to the public’s concern about the reception issues, Apple has deemed it a “non-issue” and offered two solutions: either hold the phone differently, or purchase a case to eliminate this performance-hindering contact.

According to Apple, iPhone 4 users should avoid grasping their devices around the bottom left corner, covering both sides of the band’s black strip. Despite being highly-publicized, these reception issues haven’t occurred often enough to increase the phone’s return rate, which stands at 1.7% since its debut, compared to the 3GS model’s 6% return rate shortly after its introduction last year.

Front-facing Camera and FaceTime

With the introduction of a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, self-portrait lovers will no longer have to use the bathroom mirror or a self-timer to snap photographs of themselves. Even better, this front-facing camera enables the iPhone 4’s impressive video calling application, FaceTime.

Although the iPhone 4 isn’t the first phone to feature video chatting, critics have already praised FaceTime for its user-friendliness and its ability to seamlessly function.  Outstanding issues with the picture-in-picture calling feature include its availability only over Wi-Fi networks, and only from one iPhone 4 to another iPhone 4.

Lack of Flash

Although the iPhone 4 showcases this innovative video-calling app, the absence of a Flash player will prevent you from viewing actual video and other interactive content online. Users hoping to catch up on their favorite television shows or watch the latest sports highlights via their mobile devices should opt for a different phone, since Apple has defended the exclusion of a Flash player on the basis of both security and performance.

Who hasn’t defended this exclusion? Google. The company’s Android 2.2 platform allows Android users to download Adobe’s Flash Player 10.1 beta, and access the abundance of interactive online content via the mobile web.

Multitasking

The iPhone 4 may not be able to play video online, but it certainly can do just about everything else - and it can do it all at the same time. Arguably the most remarkable feature of Apple’s new iOS 4 operating system, “multitasking” allows you to run multiple third-party apps simultaneously. With multitasking, reading an e-mail won’t stop your Pandora tunes from streaming and answering a call (if anyone still uses a phone for that purpose) won’t stop your GPS app from navigating. Convenient? Yes. But original? Not entirely. Apple’s introduction of multitasking represents an answer to Google’s Android, which pioneered the feature in 2008 with the release of its first version, the HTC GI.

Affordability

Not surprisingly, a device with features being deemed “mind-boggling” and “eye-wateringly impressive” won’t be a steal. Depending on your current relationship with AT&T, you’ll have to shell out anywhere from $199 to $699 for the iPhone 4. On the plus side, AT&T is allowing subscribers eligible for an upgrade any time in 2010 to purchase the phone before their actual upgrade day at the subsidized rate of $199 (16 GB) or $299 (32 GB).

Without a contract with AT&T, it will cost $599 or $699 to get your hands on Apple’s latest success. Spending $699 can get you the iPhone 4 — $699 can also get you two round-trip plane tickets from Boston to Los Angeles, a 5 Night Western Caribbean Cruise for two, or 214 grande lattes from Starbucks.

Part II: Measuring SocialShield Against Its Most Critical Users: Parents

A few weeks ago, Buzzword Chasers ran a post about SocialShield, the software that helps parents monitor their children’s social networking site activity. Now it’s time to measure the initial success of the software.

The Good News

Not only has SocialShield been supported by the PTA, but several big-name investors have backed it as well. Playdom founder Rick Thompson, Comscore chairman Gian Fulgoni, Offerpal CEO George Garrick and Adify CEO Russell Fradin have all given SocialShield their stamp of approval.

Playdom founder Rick Thompson is one of the investors behind SocialShield.

SocialShield itself has promised an exclusive guarantee for its users. As the program grows, its creators have vowed to spend up to $1,000,000 to identify cyber bullies, to document problems and report them to schools, parents and police.

The main site, where parents go to download the software, continues to house advice for kids about cyber bullying.

Again, this site is very easy for parents to set up – they register, input the child’s password information into the software, and it will find and “connect” the parents with relevant social networking accounts. From there, the software will regularly update parents on their child’s social networking use and whether it pertains to cyber bullying or generally inappropriate actions.

From the Parents: Needs a ‘Bit of Work’

Irene Koehler, a blogger for “Almost Savvy,” a site for helping people transition into the world of social media, reviewed SocialShield – as a parent – for Almost Savvy. Her conclusion was “While the concept may be solid, SocialShield’s execution needs quite a bit of work.”

Her main complaints pertained to small details, but they are things that SocialShield should consider in the next update of their software. The main area that should be improved is the FAQ sections, Koehler said. Triggers and definitions need to be defined in more parent-friendly terms. Basically, she believes that SocialShield is a little too technical for most parents.

“While the concept may be solid, SocialShield’s execution needs quite a bit of work.”

Koehler also felt that the reports SocialShield yields were not as accurate as they are advertised to be. The best approach is to use the reports as guidelines but to check your child’s account yourself if you suspect inappropriate behavior or bullying.

Read Part I: Social Shield Provides Online Protection for Children for a practical overview of SocialShield and the issues of online privacy and child safety.

Geo-Location: Twitter and Facebook… A Promising but Murky Future- Part 2

To Tell-All or Not to Tell-All, That is the Question

In part I, the great marketing and business potential of geo-location was discussed. However, this promise hinges largely on the willingness of people to continue to broadcast their lives in great detail on social networking sites. We have all heard the cautionary tales of people losing their jobs over a post on their profile and the questionable online privacy practices of Facebook have been grabbing a lot of headlines lately.

“The marketing and business potential of geo-location hinges largely on the willingness of people to continue to broadcast their lives in great detail on social networking sites.”

Even though geo-location has the benefit of adding location-based context to people’s updates, will people feel comfortable letting a network of others (many of whom they may not know very well) know exactly where they are? There have been indications of user dissatisfaction with social networking sites’ privacy policies and greater discretion being taken by people with regards to their personal information.

These events clearly signal barriers that geo-location applications will have to overcome. Adoption of geo-location by the public will largely be a result of whether people will really want to share their location with others. Though people may see the merits of using geo-location features, the issues of privacy and personal information may be hard to surmount.

Sharing Useful Information, Not Just Location

Despite the threat that privacy and security issues pose to the success of geo-location in social media, the ability of this feature to let people share useful information may help it overcome hurdles to adoption. From citizen journalism to letting friends know about good deals, people appear to want to tell others about useful public information. Whether it be witnessing a public event or participating in a public happening like shopping, people may be more willing to share their locations with others.

In the end, the success of geo-location in social media may rely heavily on whether or not people start to rethink how much they reveal about themselves online and whether any possible uneasiness can be alleviated. The groundwork for businesses to leverage geo-location as a sales tool is being laid as it makes its way into social media, but will the people follow?

Geo-Location: Twitter and Facebook… Promising but Murky Future- Part 1

Imagine reading someone’s tweet about the World Cup and being able to tell if they are watching the game on TV or are actually at the stadium. This is now a reality as Twitter announced on its blog Monday the introduction of a location identification feature to help provide context to tweets. Twitter Places essentially helps people know where a tweet is coming from and allows people to:

· Tag tweets with specific places

· Create new Twitter Places

· Click a Twitter Place within a tweet to see recent tweets from a particular location.

Unsurprisingly, its social media competitor Facebook was also making noise on the geo-location front Monday. Company CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed to the press that Facebook will be launching location-based features in the near future.

It’s clear that geo-location is becoming a very hot feature in social media, but the questions remain: what are its implications and will this trend catch on?

Geo-Location: Where the Money Is

One of the most promising applications of geo-location is for well, what else? Helping companies make money. Marketers will take keen interest in knowing where people are relative to their businesses or products. The ability to place highly targeted, contextual ads based on the real time location of consumers could be a real game changer. Companies could not only draw consumers towards their products, but also reach shoppers in a competitor’s store to try and draw them away. Geo-location integrated into social media will allow marketers to move people physically like never before.

“The ability to place highly targeted, contextual ads based on the real time location of consumers could be a real game changer.”

Companies leveraging geo-location will also be able to take advantage of the inherently viral nature of social media. Geo-location advertising is a perfect way to promote special deals or new products as companies could offer discounts, freebies, exclusive sneak peeks etc to people who are near their store or product. Then, if people wanted to share this useful information, they could go on Facebook or Twitter (or both!) and inform all their friends or followers of the promotion with their location automatically showing up on a Google Map.

In addition, geo-location has great promise for the marketing of unused or expiring inventory. Geo-location can help move people to buy an expiring product at a discount or attend an event they would not have otherwise attended. Opportunities include:

· Sporting Events. Geo-locally targeting people in sports bars or gyms and giving them unused tickets. This would help increase brand exposure for the team as well as bring in revenue from sources like concessions, souvenirs, etc.

· Hotels. Giving away vacant rooms so as to increase brand exposure and capitalize on potential accommodations like room service, mini-bar etc

· Destinations. Museums, zoos, and theme parks could give away free passes to people in the area and profit from any other sources of revenue like concessions, souvenirs etc.

What’s Next?

Companies are tapping and integrating into the highly influential social media platforms more and more. The big players like Facebook and Twitter are making serious forays into the geo-location game.

These moves clearly pave the way for an interesting future where businesses and marketers have a unique, highly targeted and potentially very effective way to sell their products utilizing highly contextualized ads and social networks.

As Twitter’s and Facebook’s recent announcements illustrate, companies and social media sites are anticipating big things from geo-location, but the big question is whether or not the public at large will actually utilize these geo-location features. Check back soon for Part II of this series where we will discuss likely factors that influence the public’s decision to use geo-targeted services.

Apple’s Never-Ending Releases: New iPhone, New Software, New Apps

In the technological world, it isn’t difficult to recognize Apple’s dominance. On June 21st, just two days before the highly anticipated release of the new iPhone 4, Apple launched a new series of improved software.

The updated software, known as iOS 4, boasts more than 100 new features and is available to owners of older iPhones and iPod Touch appliances, which may be rendered archaic with Apple’s release of ever-improving gadgets. But if all the new perks were available to owners of the older model, what would be the appeal of the iPhone 4? In Part I of this blog series, we will examine the iPhone 4’s new features and their compatibility with older models.

Giving New Meaning to Multi-tasking

Unfortunately for users of older models, “multi-tasking,” arguably the iOS 4’s most important feature, won’t function on the iPhone 3G or second generation iPod Touch devices. These users won’t be able to run applications in the background while simultaneously using different apps in the foreground-multi-tasking’s claim to fame.

“The iOS 4’s most important feature won’t function on the iPhone 3G or second generation iPod Touch devices.”

For those operating the newer devices, taking advantage of multi-tasking means first updating their current apps, which will create a task menu at the bottom of the screen. By double-tapping the “Home” button, iPhone users will be able to access all their new apps via this task menu.

Similar to switching from window to window on a computer, iPhone 4 users will be able to jump from one application to another-listening to music via the popular Pandora application while simultaneously playing games, messaging friends or answering e-mails. Equally convenient will be the ability to run a GPS app without the fear of interruption by a phone call.

Folders, Folders and More Folders

Before the introduction of the iOS 4 software, it was difficult for app-lovers to keep track of their hundreds-even thousands-of programs. Users with a penchant for the 200,000 applications Apple now offers can download and store up to 2,160 of them into different folders on their iPhones.

iPhone users can now download and store in folders up to 2,160 different apps.

An additional organizational tool the new software delivers is a unified mailbox, allowing users to manage multiple e-mail accounts from the same location. The introduction of the threaded e-mail feature, as Gmail users know, displays e-mails as a conversation instead of separate messages.

“FaceTime” Video Calls Bring Users Face to Face

Among the many new iPhone and iOS 4 features, the “FaceTime” application stands out, allowing users to make video calls to one another, and even better, to enjoy this communication for free. Unlike standard phone calls, video calls through FaceTime don’t count toward users’ allotted minutes.

Sound too good to be true? It is, for users who don’t plan to upgrade to the iPhone 4, since it is the only device on which the application runs. In other words, even if one caller owns an iPhone 4, he/she won’t be able to initiate a video call unless the second user also owns the latest iPhone.

Another potential problem with FaceTime is that it’s currently a Wi-Fi only application. However, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has announced that this is temporary, and that the application will be ready for use over cellular networks after this year.

For more information on the iPhone 4, its new software and new apps, check back soon for Part II of our iPhone 4 review.

Part I: Social Shield Provides Online Protection for Children

A few years ago, Sun Microsystem’s CEO Scott McNealy sparked the online privacy debate with the statement: “You have no privacy. Get over it.”

Since then, social networking sites like Facebook have come under fire for disregarding users’ privacy concerns. Recently, both Facebook and Google were under intense scrutiny from the public over privacy issues and the use of unsecured Wi-Fi networks to collect data. Both sites have changed their privacy policies to prevent future indiscretions.

Online Privacy and Children

Many adult users are tired of the great privacy debates and thankful that they’ve cooled down in recent months. While the crusade for stricter privacy regulations raises red flags, it seems many have forgotten those most vulnerable to online predators and bullies: our children.

Children as young as 13 can create Facebook profiles – though it’s easy enough for any child to create a page, as long as they’re sly enough to get away with lying about their age. According to Facebook, 50 million teens aged 13 to 17 have Facebook pages, and many of them also have accounts on other social networking sites, like Twitter and MySpace.

“50 million teens aged 13 to 17 have Facebook pages.”

What’s alarming is how high the statistics are for cyber bullying – which is defined as “when the Internet, cell phones or other devices are used to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another person,” according to the National Crime Prevention Council. Unlike regular bullying, which ends once the victims reaches the comfort of home, cyber bullying is an endless cycle of 24 hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week taunting via electronic devices. Facebook and MySpace accounts, where young users can express themselves for others, including bullies or predators to see, have become synonymous with cyber bullying.

ISafe, an organization dedicated to promoting awareness and prevention of cyberbullying, reported that 42 percent of children have been bullied online, and 58 percent of those children have not told their parents about it. There have been cases in the past of children who were bullied to the point of suicide – and no one saw it coming because it all happened virtually.

“42 percent of children have been bullied online; 58 percent of those children have not told their parents about it.”

Let’s not forget the endless possibilities of cyberstalking or cyberharrassment, when adults harass each other or prey on children who may unknowingly be giving out identifying information about themselves and their whereabouts.

SocialShield and Parental Intervention

SocialShield, which launched on June 16, is a new online software program to help parents keep track of their children’s accounts on social networking sites. For just $10 a month or $99 for a year’s subscription, parents can get regular reports on their children’s account activities on sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. The alternative – parents creating their own accounts, adding their children as friends and then monitoring every detail themselves – can be time-consuming and painstaking, especially for parents who are not tech-savvy.

How It Works

After registering both the parents and the children in question on SocialShield, the tool will scan the child’s accounts for inappropriate or disturbing content – like talk of sex, drugs, violence or suicide, or questionable photos. SocialShield then e-mails a summary report to the parents’ registered e-mail.

The summary report alerts the parent of the alarming content while preserving some of the child’s privacy. While the software does not give parents word-for-word descriptions of what was said, it alerts them that such content was present in the profile.

Reputation Management and Cyberbullying

While scanning for aforementioned topics, SocialShield also sets up a Reputation Management report. The software will e-mail parents whenever photos are posted – regardless of whether they are inappropriate or not. It is up to parents to look at the photos and deem what should stay up or be taken down. The intent is to prevent children, who may not be thinking too far into the future, from posting anything they may regret when the time comes to apply to college or for a job.

SocialShield also remains on the lookout for signs of cyberbullying. Whether the child is the victim or the bully, SocialShield will e-mail parents of cyberbullying evidence and keep it documented. In severe cases, the program will send the evidence to school or law enforcement officials.

Friends Engine and Knowledge Center

Another of SocialShield’s features is its Friends Engine. The program will check a child’s friends list on any social networking site against LinkedIn’s list of users, Costco.com’s list of customers, registered sex offender lists and other sites. This is a way to find out if all of his or her friends are who they say they are, and are actually the age they state in their profiles. If there is a 13 year-old boy on Facebook whose identification matches someone on LinkedIn, a site for networking adults, then you know that Facebook profile is probably not legitimate.

Parents who are having trouble negotiating both SocialShield and the networking sites it works with can visit SocialShield’s Knowledge Center, which will connect them with chats and contact information for experts, psychologists and law enforcement officials.

This concludes Part I of this blog series. Be on the lookout for Part II, when consumers take a better look at the usability of SocialShield.

YouTube has recently made interesting changes to their website that impact how users interact with the site, as well as the level of information available to ‘channel’ owners. The most notable introduction is YouTube Insight, a comprehensive video analytics program.

Google and YouTube partnered to create YouTube Insight. Users can now log into their account (channel) and view statistics on video traffic aspects. Members can view the number of times the video is watched cross referenced with geographical region. Channel owners can view their video’s popularity in comparison to similar video types over a given time period. Other features include measurement of how long it took for a video to become popular and when it reaches its peak viewing volume.

YouTube Video Views

YouTube Insight Video Analytics: Total Video Views

Breaking It Down

Each category has unique, simplified features. The main features of YouTube analytics can be broken down by a summary of all videos or by individual video. The categories include:

• Views
• Discovery
• Demographics
• Community
• Hot Spots
• Popularity

The following gives an overview of each category along with illustrations:

Views: Views uses a graph to display how frequently a video has been viewed in a given period of time. The timeframe on the graph can be adjusted, a beneficial feature if a user is looking to see how often a video was viewed in a day, multiple days, a month, or up to a year. In the Views section, a world map is also displayed. Users can see where the video is being viewed all over the world.

Discovery The Discovery option allows uploaders to see how users found their videos. A variety of options are available, including a YouTube search, no link referrer, related videos, Google search, external links, and an ‘other’ category. Insights breaks these down to percentage of total views as well as creates a stacked or line chart.

YouTube Insight Video Analytics: Total Video Links

Demographics This video analytics option breaks down the age groups watching a video. A pie chart displaying male and female viewers is also given.

Community The Community option allows uploaders to see how viewers engage with a video over time, including the geographic location, as a means to break down the statistics.

Hot Spots This Insight tool graphs the ups-and-downs of viewership. At any given time in a video, it can be seen if a viewer has left the video or replayed a specific section. “Hot” signifies that fewer viewers are leaving a video at that point compared to other YouTube videos of a similar length. This feature offers the ability to really fine tune video messages to the target audience.

Popularity This option is available on the Summary page, and allows uploaders to view how popular their video is in comparison to all other YouTube videos on a scale of 0 to 100. The popularity scale allows channel owners to once again break down by geographical location (country, state) to see how it ranks compared to other videos on the site.

YouTube Insights: What it Means for Online Marketers

Online marketers are constantly looking for ways to measure the impact of social media marketing and solid metrics can be hard to come by. Most businesses know the serious impact viral venues such YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter have on today’s instant response culture. The problem has been finding relevant metrics to present to top corporate to gain budget, create a cultural buy-in to social media, and to fine tune campaigns to the audience.

YouTube Insight delivers lots of data that marketing managers can wrap their reports around. The tool is easy to work with, much like Google Analytics, and a welcome addition to the digital marketing tool kit that’s been long awaited.