Some really good points on why an iPad user says they prefer Safari over apps.
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2010/05/i-prefer-safari-to-content-apps-on-the-ipad.html

What really resonated with me:
- apps don’t talk to each other
- social media doesn’t launch apps
- the UI is different for every app so you need to work out how each works
- yah, multitasking… no multiple tabs!
- web content is still free

Really makes me wonder about the volume of trade in the ipad app store. The crucial differences between iphone apps and ipad apps are the display size of the device, the cost of apps, subscription (you keep paying) and the fact that it doesn’t really matter if media companies have worked out how to automatically redirect urls to an optimised experience… as it was in the old days with the iphone… if it is a half decent site to start with that is!

Now, I know there are plenty of places and people and purposes for this. But my post is speaking generally. After all the business model should be about attracting as many consumers as possible. So how many is possible?

I wonder if users are going to be paying more for premium products will it equal less variety per user? How thin will that dollar need to be spread out across the media landscape? Will people really be loyal to more than one paper and a few magazines? And that’s just the slither of the market who are interested in the short to medium term.

At least this whole consumer fanaticism going on in the net world might distract the attentions of developers getting that one URL thing sorted and keep the iphone app industries pockets licked.

Even so, there are free news apps on this device to compete with already. And in many cases they got to market first. Just like the real web. (real, ha!) So does it all come back to brands backed by plesant experiences? (note brands first and loyalty second… UX as insurance?)

I guess what I’m really saying is that we should also be focused on making sure our current web properties perform well on these new devices as well as hopping on the app train. Just like you would support and test for any browser. Users already have two communications bills on the whole. One for our internet and the other for our phone.

Sure, the app store is an amazing business model and a cash cow if you get it right, but is it as neccessary for users with a larger screen for sites with good web infrastructure? In a competitive market it is likely that someone else will get this right if you don’t.

While all hype in these modern times is focused around social networks – I can’t help but wonder about how email fits into the mix. Certainly, some user types and certain contexts would be more likely to result in an email than others. I think this begs for attention. The forgotten share…

Yep, a post about the old school art of emailing…

According to a recent post on Techcrunch around 13% of users are sharing content over email, second only to Facebook. (Published 16^th Feb, 2010)

Furthermore a recent study by the Pew Institute titled “Understanding the Participatory News Consumer” reports that 75% of news consumers had experienced receiving news via email. (Published 1^st March, 2010)

Why?

Last month the New York Times published an article titled “Will You Be E-Mailing This Column? It’s Awesome”. The article reveals details of an extensive study which focuses on what content is most frequently emailed from the New York Times site via a partnership with  researchers at the University of Pennsylvania (Reported: 8^th Feb, 2010). While clearly a bit of a thin share on the New York Times part (commercially protected findings), they do disclose a few gems…

Essentially people were likely to share hot content (20% from the home page), and that they are more likely to share positive content over negative. By contrast 30% of the content that was shared during their six month study was from the science section.

In short, it is thought articles that changed or challenged the sharers view of the world around them was more likely to be shared because people are seeking an emotional communication when they share articles. Apparently awe and anxiety are great motivators for wanting a shared experience. #contentstrategy

Introducing an email share tracking tool

Recently, at work we stumbled upon Tynt Tracer via copying and pasting. It’s a service and analytics tool which appends an article / page’s url to whatever the user copy and pastes. It makes sharing so much easier for emailers, bloggers and IM users to name a few. It also supplies site owners with analytics around how many copies have taken place and how many visitors actually click through on those specific shares (via copy & paste actions). When the receiver of a Tynt enhanced link clicks on an attribution link they will also see the original text highlighted in page and in context. Genius!

Network share of the share

A few days ago another outstanding piece of share statistical intrigue hit the rounds:

Five New Studies Show Facebook A Marketing Powerhouse, from the Social Media Examiner highlights Facebook’s  impressive dominance on all data accounts.

The question however, remains…

Which social networking sites (or email shares) are the most affective in terms of traffic outcomes (click throughs, not only shares)?

Which sites/ activities deliver the most page impressions after arrival (quality of traffic)?

Which sites/ activities deliver the most time on site once users visit via a social network (engagement).

Can someone do this bit of work for me?

Have you been thinking about the email share? Or is it a forgotten art of the share?

Woot! The triple j Unearthed iPhone app is now out! As the User Experience Architect, I couldn’t be more excited to find out just what people think of it.

Triple J Unearthed iPhone App

The Unearthed iPhone app features:

• Shake functionality so you can discover the cream of the crop (tracks played on triple j).
• Search for any Australian band on Unearthed and they will be found.
• Playlist creation, editing and sharing
• In app music downloads (save you bandwith on the go)
• Featured playlists (triple j, presenters, super users)
• Continiously stream random Unearthed tracks

Find out more about the app in Triple J’s Unearthed email to members.

Get the Unearthed iPhone App (itunes link)

So, it is a pretty feature rich app. I really hope people will enjoy it. Here is what some have had to say so far:

• “The Unearthed iPhone application from the ABC’s Triple J gives you access to 53,000 tracks from unsigned artists, and neither the app or the music will cost you a cent.” – Angus Kidman, Life Hacker
• “I’d say this just jumped straight into the “must download” category for every iPhone and iPod Touch user.” – Nick Broughall, Gizmodo
• “Been playing around with the triple j Unearthed app. A thing of beauty.” – @abcmarkscott
• “Everyone with an iPod or iPhone needs to download the triple j Unearthed app asap! Best app ever.” @dom_transformer

More comments on twitter

Facebook triple j group comments

Oh, and while it may not have beat the Kamasutra, Lego Photo or Facebook for the Top Free apps just yet – it is number two only to shazam within the Music category. Cool.

Get the Unearthed iPhone App (itunes link)

OZIA has come and gone for another year. It’s a great conference, not only for excellent selection of interesting speakers, but it was so damn comfortable and friendly. I love love love the round table set up. I know you can’t fit as many people into the room, but I just find that you get so damn tired after two days bundled up into rows balancing a note pad on your knee.

About my presentation
Huge Data, Little Screen is about mobile search. More specifically, assisting users to find content on your site through the browser, using what ever hand set you may have. It doesn’t talk about SEO or much on the more broad challenges of mobile phone development – there is plenty of that information out there. Instead this presentation focuses on the interaction models for search on mobile.

About OZIA

• OZIA09 Program
• Ruth Ellison did a great write up of all the speakers on her blog.
• See photos: Flickr OZIA09.
• What people said about it: #OZIA09 on twitter

Ok, so I’m going to speak at Oz-IA in October… and I’m definitely one of those slightly nervous types. The conference is being held at Star City Casino.

Lunch date advice:
“Oh well if you screw it up you can always drink and gamble afterwards… just don’t drink and gamble before”..

Although, maybe just one shot of tequila?

More advice:
Many have said that it is all in the preparation, just knowing your stuff really well and rehearsing.

Me: “I guess the problem for me is that I really don’t like repetition and revision. It’s a bit boring.”

@tinyavatar : “Well… what don’t you like more – repetition, or…”

Me: “looking like an idiot?”

Refreshing.

Or how coloured texta’s changed my life…

User testing: Guerilla Methodologies
Over the years, I have become a strong advocate of “guerrilla” user testing. While your testing methodology needs to meet your objectives, the benefits of guerilla testing are obvious. Most importantly you can do more testing more often. This allows the UX designer to present iterations to users and gather feedback through out the process.

Ultimately I like to aim for 5-6 users based on Jakob Neilson’s research into the optimum number of user to test for. This is also a really nice number – because from a management perspective you can test this many users in one day. I like to aim for a 20-30 minute test once an hour. This gives me time to consolidate my notes, check my emails before the next participant arrives. But don’t be fooled even this kind of testing takes time to prepare, recruit users, agree with stakeholders on testing objectives, reporting and respective design iterations.

Why leaving my notes until tomorrow just didn’t work
Despite being a very good note taker, I was finding that by the end of the day, there was a lot of information to digest. Plus the overwhelming sense that I wanted to get as much of the information down while it was all fresh, before sleeping on it. However, we all know that user testing is a long and tiring day. So it became clear to me that there needed to be a better way to streamline this. It seemed clear to me that this would be to do some of the work as I went along.

Introducing the analysis wall
So I created an analysis wall which I would go to and work through after each session while the content was fresh in my mind. The analysis wall, pictured, should be out of the view of your user group. I hid mine behind a white board, but if you have a corridor, or separate meeting room available that would work well. As you can see I’ve simply printed out the interface onto separate A3 sheets with plenty of room to write.

User Testing Analysis Wall

Also importantly, coloured textas….
The first time I created my analysis wall, it became clear that my blue biro for all users was not particularly helpful. It became a mush. It also became really difficult to connect the user to the finding. However, when using coloured textas I was able to highlight that all of the dark green findings are from a 35 year old woman, with plenty of internet experience, but no mobile web experience and no iphone experience. This is a really important aspect of the finding.

Using coloured textas for documenting user findings on the analysis wall

Outcomes/ benefits
The first time I conducted the analysis this way – I was blown away by how much time it actually saved me in pulling together my report. Using the analysis wall had meant all I had left to do is pull the findings together, offer recommendations and report in. The time saving was considerable.

Secondly, I was blown away by how I was able to engage and illustrate the “big things” to the project team immediately by inviting them to come and check out the analysis wall that afternoon. While this doesn’t replace the need for documentation to share with stakeholders, it gives an immediate and powerful overview of the user feedback. In the past I had found that stakeholders tended to observe only one session, leaving them focused on the findings of that one session only.

Most importantly, what you end up with from the analysis wall is a visual illustration of each user’s feedback among the group, and you can easily see where the views of each user align and where they diverge.

Links:
Jakob Neilson: Why You Only Need to Test with 5 Users
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20000319.html
Andy Budd: Guerrilla Usability Testing
http://www.slideshare.net/andybudd/guerilla-usability-testing

Start with a number followed by a nifty subject area full of tips.

Here are some useful examples:

20 Fantastic Resources For User Experience Know How:
http://www.inspiredm.com/2009/05/15/ux-madness-20-fantastic-resources-for-user-experience-know-how/

50 iPhone Apps for Web Designers and Developers
http://mac.appstorm.net/roundups/iphone-roundups/50-iphone-apps-for-web-designers-developers/

20 Tools to Make the life of a Web Developer Easier
http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/web-roundups/20-tools-to-make-the-life-of-a-web-developer-easier/

25 Most Useful Blogs for web design and development
http://www.webappers.com/2009/04/06/25-most-useful-blogs-for-web-design-development/

50 Great Examples of Data Visualizations
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/06/50-great-examples-of-data-visualization/

5 impressive Mashups of Twitter and Flickr
http://mashable.com/2009/05/11/twitter-flickr-mashups/

30 days to become a freelancer
http://www.skelliewag.org/30-days-to-become-a-freelancer-961.htm

Trend spotting a fashion that is beginning to get irritating.

Seriously interesting web page and a great piece of advertising creative. I want to go back just for fun. http://sprint.com/now

Um, is it good or is it popular. Sorry…

Amazon gets 11th spot for most innovative for its customer experience by Business week: 50 Most Innovative Companies.

Exccccuuuuse me. But – um, recommendation engines were really amazing years ago. Since then we’ve continued to benefit from them and we’ve continued to be really unsatisfied with amazons illogical shopping cart.

I’m so blinded by this right now I can’t even comment on the other awards. Eh. These things are really just advertising anyway… clearly.

And I’m not the only one who thinks so…

Twitter: #amazonfail

How delighted was I hear my T-Shirt has shipped?

Well heaps, coz when I read this email it was from a real person and it made me laugh. I think I have a crush on Jason Yelland, because he’s so smart to see that the user experience is about personality.

Here is his grandma in the T-shirt I brought.

True user experience engagement genius.

—–Original Message—–

Dear Mel, thankyou for your purchase. Your new T-shirt package has now started its excellent adventure towards you. It will travel via truck, plane and possibly camel until it arrives on your doorstep ready for you to wear at your local lamington bake sale next weekend. Remember that $10 of your money has gone directly to the artist who created the design, which they will most likely spend on beer, plastic novelty telephones filled with candy, and of course lamingtons. $1 from each t-shirt also goes towards buying my wonderful parents a present for putting up with their house looking like an exploded t-shirt factory.

Your T-shirt has many uses, we recommend wearing it.

You may experience a number of side effects from wearing decibel clothing:
-        extreme comfort
-        constant cravings to skip work and go to the beach
-        improved appearance
-        heightened desire to consume lamingtons.
-        tingling knee caps
-        sudden urges to bush jump
-        an increase in the number of pissed idiots coming up to you and telling you they like your t shirt
-        you may also find riding in shopping trolleys more enjoyable whenwearing our products.
-        Don’t forget to check the site for fresh designs each week.

Cheers.

jason yelland – decibel clothing co.

« Older Entries