How often do you receive an automated email from a company you do business with, only to see that it was sent from an address like no-reply@bigco.com or donotreply@hugeco.com? If your email inbox looks anything like mine then you probably see this a couple times a week. These emails frustrate me beyond belief, but probably not for the reason you think.
You may have noticed that your Instagram and Twitter feeds changed slightly over the course of the last week. Although visually the format has remained the same, many users are now seeing posts appear out of “order” as the platforms make a shift from showing content chronologically to displaying content you are likely to find most engaging. In addition to a modified experience for everyday users, the change to an algorithm-based news feed has major implications for brands and influencers.
Not sure what that means? Let me break it down for you.
I have to come clean. I’m a digital marketer and I use an ad blocking plugin. I actively promote digital advertising for clients and partners while protecting myself from seeing those ads. That said, I fully stand behind digital advertising – specifically PPC, paid search and other programmatic options – as one of the most effective and profitable methods for driving real, measurable business results.
But before I get to that, let me explain my situation. On my personal computer I use Adblock Plus to hide as many ads as possible while I am browsing the web. Why? Because the user experience is better. It just is. Not only is it more enjoyable and less distracting to browse without ads, but pages load much faster. There is less data to be downloaded, which is especially significant for mobile devices as the major wireless carriers are increasingly monetizing the use of data. The importance of quick-loading pages for mobile is highlighted by what Google is doing with their Accelerated Mobile Pages project and Facebook is doing with Instant Articles. Clearly a lightweight mobile experience is what the end user wants.
Then why not block ads, right? Well, as a digital marketer, it’s not that easy…
Back in January I decided to do some first-hand research on the Uber booking experience through Facebook’s Messenger app. As someone who does not use the app on a regular basis, it was a new, and interesting experience. Head over to the Breakaway blog to see how it went.
Although we still can’t quite vacation on other planets, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory released a collection of travel posters that makes it feel a little bit more like a possibility. On their official website the JPL team is offering 14 retro-inspired travel posters advertising futuristic destinations across the galaxy in a collection they are calling Visions of the Future.
There are some really cool designs and NASA is offering free hi-res files to print for you own use. I also picked a few of my favorites and cropped them for use on my iPhone 6 lock screen. If you want to check them out you can grab them via the button below.
