Stop Asking Users for Passwords

Users are frustrated.  They've been given access to thousands of new services and communities on the Internet (from banks and clothing stores to tax advisors and social communities), but every single one of them is like a house with a different key, and they have to remember which key belongs to which door. Now take a moment to tally up the number web services you use on a daily basis.  How big is your keyring? In the past, registration and passwords weren't as common.  Today, as more and more companies look to initiate and optimize data gathering techniques, users are forced to utilize online services.  Those services come with data requirements that must, in turn, be protected - name, address, telephone number, even credit card details.  As with any security, there is a certain level of trade off.  In this case, the trade off is the user's time (in excha... Keep Reading

Categories: News  Web Tips & Advice 

YouTube Related Videos Feature Inappropriate Content - How to Fix It

If you've ever watched a YouTube video (who hasn't?), you've probably noticed that, following your current selection, a series of related videos will display.  These videos are seemingly based on the "theme" of what you're currently watching (i.e if you watch a video about kittens, you might see more cute kitten videos or even Hello Kitty).   With such a diverse database of content, one would commend YouTube for their ability to choose the right videos at the right time (if you've ever found yourself watching video after video based on these recommendations, then you know what I'm talking about).  Unfortunately, although YouTube (owned by Google) uses complex algorithms to make these associations, they don't always get it right. Some of our clients were horrified when company videos were followed up with highly inappropriate suggestions. In one case, a family friendly vi... Keep Reading

Categories: Web Tips & Advice  Search Engine Optimization  Social Networking 

Clearing the Facebook Image Cache

Several of our clients run annual events, and they choose to re-use the same page URL from year to year for advertising purposes.  Recently, some of them attempted to post the updated event page on Facebook. To their surprise, the platform coughed up last year's thumbnail instead of this year's updated image. While this can be somewhat annoying at first, Facebook does it to keep the sharing between users running smoothly.  You can imagine the speed impact if Facebook spent time re-loading the same image each time it was shared from person to person. To avoid this, Facebook saves one copy of the image (related to the URL) and allows everyone to reference the cached version. This cache is stored for quite a while - to let the sharing continue - and you may find an overlap if you're looking to share the same URL six, nine or even twelve months down the road. To get around this, ... Keep Reading

Categories: Web Tips & Advice  Social Networking 

A Shopper's Tale of Abandonment

I personally prefer shopping at home. Crowds annoy me and department store associates feel like vultures scoping me out. But while I'm always trying to complete the purchase online, I usually end up ditching the cart and grabbing the car keys instead.  So what makes the traffic more attractive? I decided to write this post after reading the following excerpt from an article on on MarketingCharts.com entitled "Execs Trying to Better Understand Cart Abandonment": "According to a comScore and UPS survey released in June, among respondents that had abandoned their shopping cart, one of the top reasons for doing so was that shipping costs made the total purchase cost more than expected, with 55% saying this led them to abandon their purchase. 40% also abandoned a purchase based on shipping and handling costs being listed too late." This is exactly why I tend to abandon online purchase... Keep Reading

Categories: News  Analytics  Website Reviews 

Facebook (May Be) Developing Their Own Mobile Phone

Following their entry into the public realm last week, sources suggest that Facebook is in the process of developing a mobile phone.  While this may come as a surprise for some, it makes perfect sense to others: under pressure from investors to increase their ad revenue and presence in the mobile marketplace, the company has to do something dramatic. But why an entire device?  Why not simply develop software that integrates with current mobile devices?  It's possible that Facebook not only feels pressure from their investors, but also from rival companies like Google (who just closed their own $12.9 billion acquisition of Mobile Mobility, a move that proposes plans for their own smartphone).  Aside from that, Facebook already has an app; the next step up, perhaps, is their own device. One could speculate for hours on whether or not this decision is a good one, so I ... Keep Reading

Categories: News  Social Networking