we are: London

A review in Revolution of online TV services by our MD Chris Averill brought out one factor that was really interesting to me, a lack of social media integration. A new beta version of the BBC iPlayer looks set to change that in a big way. Once users register for a BBC ID they connect with their Facebook and Twitter accounts and share favourite and recommended programs.

The hero item displays featured and popular programmes along with personal recommendations

Hello Facebook friends! I’m watching Doctor Who

Facebook and Twitter are definitely the flavour of the moment and integrating with these services could be a very clever move for the BBC. After all I have both social media accounts linked to various things including my phone’s contact book. This integration allows users to automatically post updates to their Facebook wall. Users can also share their favourite programs with their friends and discover new shows through their friends’ recommendations. This brings a whole new dimension to watching TV that has not yet been exploited by other online TV sources.

Users can both recommend programmes and view those recommended by friends

LOL, check out this m8

A really nice feature that encourages the sharing of videos is the link to this feature. This allows users to easily access a link not only just to the video they are watching but an exact point in that videos timeline. Good riddance to scrolling through videos trying to find an exact time when someone cracks a really funny joke your friend just sent you a message about. Making it as easy as possible for users to share videos encourages word of mouth or ‘text of social media’ advertising.

Users can easily link directly to positions within a video

What about the competition?

So how does the competition shape up? In Chris’ review both the ITV Player and 4od service did not offer any social integration and this has not changed. This major step forward by the iPlayer is leaving the competition behind at the starting gates and more features are also on the way from the BBC. They are hoping to integrate Windows Live Messenger into the beta in the coming weeks. This will provide an even deeper social media integration and encourage a more in depth social interaction between users.

usability design, user centred design, user interface Design, future, innovation, Interactive TV, Internet, social networking

I couldn’t resist downloading the official Twitter app for Android as soon as I heard it was available. As an avid tweeter I was excited to see what it was like.

The homescreen

Users are displayed trending topics at the foot of the screen

When loading the app the user is taken to a homescreen where they can choose if they wish to read tweets, view their profile or view lists messages or replies. The layout is simple and easy to use with large target areas for fingers to press. The area at the foot of the screen is very interesting. This area is used to pop-up various trending topics allowing users to visit these searches directly from the homescreen.

Peoples tweets

Users are presented with a pop-up menu to carry out actions

While reading tweets the application keeps access to all functionality on one screen. The full tweet text is displayed with a small pop-up menu displayed at the touch of an icon. This allows users access to functions as such as retweeting, replies, favourites and sharing while not leaving the main screen, not dissimilar to the method applied by the latest Facebook design where the user has access to many functions from a single screen.

Your tweets

The "Create tweet" screen is clear and well laid out

The “Create tweet” screen is clearly laid out and organised. The update and cancel buttons are placed above the keyboard, not hidden behind it as in so many Android apps. An iPhone style on/off slider is used to toggle the users location on or off, an interface element many people will be familiar with but may not be clear to all of Android’s user base. It is easy to add or upload photos and another function allows users to access their following list to add people as an @ reply into their tweet. This is a handy feature that turns your following list into a contacts list.

Tweetclusion

The official Twitter app is a welcome addition to my Nexus One. It has currently taken the title off Seesmic for my top tweeting tool. Its combination of neat features and smooth interface make it a good choice for anyone.

Mobile, information architecture, interface design, user interface Internet, Mobile, Nexus One, social networking

I have been living with the Nexus One for about a week now after my jump from my poor old dumbphone. So what’s it like? How has a smartphone changed my life?

While not as big as the Apple App Store the Andriod market has some interesting and useful apps

Techno geek

I may have only just jumped into the world of smartphones but when it comes to technology I’m a bit of geek. I love it and look for any opportunity to embrace it. The Nexus One has made some significant changes to my life over the past week. Firstly I never get lost. A quick search for a bar or restaurant and a quick check of Google maps always sets me on the right path when meeting friends. It has also helped me to embrace the use of social media far more than before. Being able to keep in touch with friends, share interesting usablity articles on twitter and also find alsorts of useful information while on the go mean the social connections become far more integrated within my life. The last big point is learning through experience and exposure. I believe the more interfaces and the more websites I experience and use the more I develop as an information architect. The Nexus one has not only exposed me to countless apps and mobile sites it also gives me the chance to explore interfaces even when I am out and about.

Having Google Maps everywhere I go is something I love about having the Nexus

Thumbs up? Thumbs down?

The leap from dumbphone to the mighty Nexus definetely gets the thumbs up from me.

Mobile Facebook, Internet, Mobile, social networking, Twitter, usability

Last night I had the pleasure to mix the elite of the global mobile industry at the 2009 Meffy awards in London.

The great and the good were there from O2, Vodafone, CommScore and many more. I had the honour of presenting the award for “Quality of Experience”, which in our view was the most deserved as it was picked by the public. The short list of entries were:

• Dolby Laboratories for ‘Dolby Mobile’
• Skyfire for ‘Skyfire Mobile Browser’
• Telenor Pakistan for ‘Telenor PhotoExpress’
• Thumbplay for ‘Thumbplay OPEN’
• Telefonica for the‘O2 mobile internet portal’

And the winner is…

The winner was Dolby Laboratories for “Dolby Mobile”, and although no official runner up was presented, O2 mobile portal was a definite second and much loved by the panel, but the new experience of Dolby surround sound on your mobile was just too good an entry for O2 to beat.

How the winner was chosen

We have been working with MEF for the past couple of years, setting up a panel, who are members of the public who review each of the entries and vote on their favourite experience. Their scores are complied and a winner is picked.

We have undertaken a wide range of mobile usability research along side web and interactive TV and have our own panel of participants in and around London, numbering over 7,000. We also have a large number of UK and global research panellists too as well as a proven network of recruitment agencies.

To find out more about our research services contact us here, or call Chris on +44 207 1991 321.

usability research future, insight, Mobile, navigation, Our news, social networking, usability

 I don’t ordinarily consider gossip-blogger Perez Hilton a source of social marketing insight but on this occasion he twittered a report by Sysomos - a US based organisation specialising in media monitoring - and its actually quite interesting.

 

Sysomos analysed more than 11.5 million Twitter accounts, indexing user profiles and looking at the frequency of status updates and behaviours over a period of time. There is plenty of data to mine through but some key findings of note include:

 

• 21% of all registered users have never even posted a Tweet;
• More than 50% of all updates are publishing using tools, mobile and Web-based, other than Twitter.com;
• 65% of Twitter users are under the age of 25 ; and
• Just 5% of users - or Power-Tweeters as we shall call them - account for a massive 75% of all activity.

Twitter has experienced explosive growth in recent months and this report is essential reading in helping to understand why.

 

Read the report here

 

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