Posts Tagged "How-To"

What is Google+?

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Jul 12, 2011 in blog | 21 comments

Google recently started opening up the invite process for their new project: Google+.  Google+ is a social networking tool that allows you to easily share content with select groups of people.  It takes features from both Facebook and Twitter to create a tool that is easy to use and integrates seamlessly with tools you may already be using (the Google suite for example).

Targeted Sharing

The main feature of Google+ is circles.  Circles are groups of people who share a similar attribute.  For example, you could put all of your family into a circle.  Or your friends.  Or your friend’s pets (if they are on social media).  The benefit to doing this is that (a) you only need to listen to select groups of people at a time and (b) you can share your updates with select groups of people.

The upside to this type of sharing is that you no longer have to send your entire feed updates about your latest belt level in karate.  Instead, you can send those updates to your circle of martial arts loving friends.  Business updates?  Send those just to your business colleagues.  Unlike Twitter, this form of sharing becomes more highly targeted and therefore has much better reception.

Google’s circles setup:

Will You Be My +1?

Another feature of Google+ is the ability to share content via the +1 function.  If you browse Google lately, you may see “recommended by” or “shared by” underneath some of the search results.  These recommendations are coming from Google users who have +1′ed the content.  Once you +1 something, it then shows up under your +1s in your Google+ profile.  The beauty of this feature is that it now combines social bookmarking with a social networking tool.

Tools like Delicious were always interesting in theory but to use them meant opening yet another tab in a browser or having yet another profile to push people to.  Social bookmarking was one of those things that you either used a lot or didn’t use at all.  There didn’t seem to be a grey, passive area of use.  Now, with the +1 on Google, it seems like it may integrate beautifully into regular usage of the Google+ tool.

Google’s +1s showing up on a profile:

Google’s +1 beside search engine results:

(For more about the +1 button specifically, click here.)

Get Fed Relevant Content

Sparks is an interesting feature of Google+ as it allows you to setup targeted content streams that will display inside of your user interface.  The reason that these are exciting is because you can setup specific feeds that you (or your audience) may be interested in and then you can easily share those resources and links with your circles.

Previously, you might have setup a news / RSS reader with feeds from your favorite blogs or you might have setup Google Alerts to alert you when something exciting came up on a specific topic of interest.  Now, you can merge those two functions into the Google+ interface using Sparks.

Google+ Sparks in action:

Hanging Out on the Web

A feature of Google+ that may be less often used by the business crowd is “Hangouts.”  Hangouts is an area of Google+ that allows you to setup a video chat and then invite your friends in any particular circle.  Once invited, your friends can share their webcam as well and you can all sit around and chat via video (aka hanging out).

While the idea of a group video chat may not appeal to some, there will definitely be a group of people who adopt this as the norm in their business.  Team meetings, client coaching, etc. could all be done via hangouts if you shared the hangout with a circle called, “Team” or “Clients.”

How Might You Use Google+?

First things first, get on Google+ (if you need an invite, leave your e-mail address as a comment to this post and I’ll gladly hook you up) and play with it.  Look around and get used to the interface.

Then, organize your contacts into circles.  Decide who you want to listen to, engage with and share content with.  Don’t lump everyone together in one massive circle!  Instead, choose to share specific information with specific types of people.  Remember that not everyone is going to want to listen to specific information.

Setup some targeted news / information feeds in the Sparks area and use that to share relevant and on-target information with your audience.  Engage in conversation and create a meaningful place for people to interact with you on a regular basis.

To make the sharing of your Google+ profile easier, check out http://gplus.to/.  This site will help you create a URL that points directly to your Google+ account.  For example, mine is http://gplus.to/erinblaskie.

Share in the Comments!

What are your favorite features of Google+?  Leave them in the comments below!  Also, do you think that Google+ has staying power?  I’ll follow-up this post in a few weeks with an opinion post once I have had enough time to really use G+ on a day-to-day basis.

How to Launch an iPhone / iPad App from @Guardly & @TweetAgora

Posted by Erin Blaskie on May 30, 2011 in Business Tips, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Web & Technology | 2 comments

Launching iPhone and iPad apps is something that a lot of people are doing these days.  I was super curious about the process so instead of going off and figuring it out myself (which would mean programming an app which is WAY above my skill set), I decided to ask the experts.

This post will be one of a few interviews on the subject.  I hope you enjoy them and find them helpful in the iPhone / iPad launch process as well as in the marketing process of your app.

Enjoy!

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This interview is with Bretton MacLean, the uber genius behind TweetAgora and Guardly.  Make sure to check them both out!  And no… he did not pay me to call him an uber genius

1. What is the name of the app you’ve launched / re-released and tell us a bit about it?

I’ve designed and been involved in launching 2 iPhone apps: TweetAgora and Guardly.

TweetAgora is a Twitter client that solves 3 problems: too much information, not enough information, and not enough time. It lets you filter tweets and hone in on whatever you need. You can learn more about it at http://TweetAgora.com.

Guardly is a personal safety service that lets you instantly alert & connect with friends, family, and authorities during an emergency. Guardly’s website can be found at http://Guardly.com.

2. How long, from start to finish, did the launch process take?

TweetAgora took about 8 months to build from start to finish; we started it as a part-time project, and working with Twitter’s API wasn’t always easy! Guardly took about 5 months, full-time. Mark Pavlidis was my development partner in both ventures, so Guardly benefited from the workflows we refined while building TweetAgora.

3. What was the biggest marketing challenge you faced in launching your app?

In the case of TweetAgora, the challenge has been getting noticed in the sea of other Twitter clients. Despite being the first (and best!) Twitter filtering app for the iPhone, there’s still a lot of competition.

The challenge with Guardly is getting people to understand how it works, and why it’s worth $99.99 a year to invest in their personal safety. Guardly is the app you don’t think about until you absolutely need it, but in the event of an emergency it could be a lifesaver.

4. Looking back, what were a few things that you would do differently in the marketing and release of your app?

In retrospect, I wish we’d been able to release TweetAgora a month earlier. Last year we went to San Francisco for the Twitter developer’s conference, and were fortunate enough to get a front-page interview on Mashable and the opportunity to present the app to everyone in attendance. Unfortunately, the app wasn’t out yet. We got a lot of great coverage, but it was ultimately wasted because all that traffic had nowhere to go.

Guardly was released just a month ago and has been doing quite well in terms of coverage and downloads. Where TweetAgora was just bootstrapped by two of us, Guardly is a venture-backed company that recently hired an experienced VP of Marketing. Marketing an app is a full-time job, not just something a designer and developer can easily do in their spare cycles.

5. What were a few things that you felt worked, in terms of the marketing for your app launch / re-release, just as you had planned?

Since TweetAgora is a Twitter app, and Twitter is basically one big word-of-mouth channel, we knew that a lot our exposure was going to come from there. People who use TweetAgora tend to really like it, and they’ve been great about recommending it to others.

We travelled to Palm Springs to launch Guardly at the DEMO conference, a highly respected event for announcing new tech products. We got lots of positive buzz and coverage, which was exactly why we chose to debut at DEMO!

6. Did you have reviewers for your app prior to it being launched? If so, how did you go about finding these reviewers?

We didn’t have any real pre-launch reviews for TweetAgora, because we didn’t want to potentially waste coverage by showing people an app they couldn’t buy yet. In hindsight that was probably a mistake; tech sites love getting exclusives on new apps, so we should have established a better pre-launch strategy.

As a result of our launch at DEMO, Guardly had lots of pre-launch reviews (all very positive).

7. Did you implement any traditional marketing (press kits, press releases, etc.) for your app launch or did you stay strictly online?

Our only ‘offline’ marketing for TweetAgora was handing out lots of stickers. Everything else was online – mostly through engagement on Twitter.

With Guardly we’ve used traditional press kits and press releases in addition to our online efforts.

8. What advice would you give to someone who is looking to market their upcoming iPhone app?

There are around 400,000 apps on the app store, so if you want to get noticed you really need to have a marketing plan. Reach out to as many related media outlets as possible, have a launch party, and try to come up with creative ways to get the word out. You should also think about how you can maintain momentum after the initial launch buzz has died down.

9. Where can people learn more about your app / studio / company?

The best way to learn more about TweetAgora and Guardly is to download them from the App Store! Both apps use a freemium model so you can try before you buy. Of course there’s also http://TweetAgora.com and http://Guardly.com.

10. (Just for fun) What is one iPhone app, aside from your own, that you are totally addicted to?

If I’m looking for a little mindless fun break, my most recent addiction is Tiny Wings!

How to Jailbreak Your iPhone with Blackra1n

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Feb 11, 2010 in How-To, Videos, Web & Technology | 1 comment

Want to jailbreak your iPhone 3G / 3GS? As long as you haven’t upgraded to firmware 3.1.3, you can use the method in my video below to jailbreak your iPhone.

What is jailbreaking?

Jailbreaking is the art of unlocking your iPhone so that you can access a myriad of apps that you wouldn’t be able to otherwise. It allows you to also apply themes to your iPhone changing it from the default look to something more custom.

Why jailbreak?

I don’t recommend that everyone does it but since I’m a tecchy / geek at heart, I needed to jailbreak my iPhone in order to do a few different things for videos, etc. So, I took the plunge! However, if you want access to apps that are only available on jailbroken iPhones and those themes, do it!

Please note: jailbreaking your iPhone can void your warranty so please do not do this unless you are cool with that… Also, BACKUP your data before doing it. It’s in the video but still.

What tool do you use to jailbreak your iPhone?

I used Blackra1n, available here. Although my video shows Blackra1n being used on a Mac, you can use it for a PC as well.

Watch the Video: