Crisp as a waffle and layered like lasagna, here’s the top happenings in the world of digital – Here’s to finishing your serving before the coffee break!
1. Google rolls out job search and email alerts
Once again, it is time to ring out the old and ring in the new. The Father Christmas of the web world is testing out a new service that directly pulls job search platforms under one search. This means that you’ll now be able to google the latest job opportunities. (Does this mean ‘job post optimization will be a new SEO spin-off?) You’ll also be able to set email alerts for the keywords you choose. What will this mean to recruiters. Will more visibility translate to more and more resumes in the stack for recruiters and a longer recruiting process? Only time will tell once the test moves past America.
2. Linkedin updates its search options
On the heels of the previous news came the update about Linkedin also updating its search for better discovery of new jobs. The new feature allows users to see how many have people have found them through the platform, their company profiles and job titles. Another feature it rolled out recently was re-targeting for advertisers. This isn’t ‘new’ per say as all the others including Facebook and Google have been doing it. But it comes as a better targeting option now for Linkedin advertisers too.
3. Have we reached the end of the app economy
Did you just start building an app?
You better stop to read this slightly scary but true article. With limited space in smartphones and an almost unlimited supply of apps, getting people to hit ‘Download’ is getting tougher by the day. Even if people cross that threshold, only 36% are retained after one month and 11% after a year. This means almost 80% apps are zombies. Think of it in the perspective of webpages. Does it matter if you are ranking on the 34th position among 3,40,000 search results on Google? The only difference being that it takes a lot more money to build and maintain an app than a website. Are you still planning to make yours?
4. Reply to Instagram stories with photos and videos
Have an opinion on an Instagram story?
Now you’ll get to express exactly how you feel. You can now reply to a post using creative tools like camera, filters, rewind and stickers. While the sticker feature has been around on other social sites, Instagram is looking to enhance its stickiness and engagement with this new feature.
5. Facebook is letting Groups create online learning courses
eLearning has changed over the years. Online learning MOOC courses and even peer-to-peer learning has worked for some over the years and not for others. The thing to note here is that Facebook is allowing everyone to create courses! What can possibly go wrong? Now that’ll be a fun answer, won’t it. A certification from the University of Facebook!
6. Google Posts are now Live for all My Business users
If you have a GMB account, you should now be able to access ‘Posts’ within the account by navigating to the menu on the left. These posts allow businesses to share events, current updates and promotions or even showcase new arrivals. Posts can show up high on both search and maps results when you google using the business’s name. The catch here is that all posts will be removed after 7 days to ensure the info remains current with exceptions where the posts are based on future events.
7. Will visual search be the new way to search?
The statistics between images and text overwhelmingly shows that people are much more receptive to visuals. This one has been a tough nut to crack in a while with Microsoft recently launching Bing’s visual search feature. Similarly, Google too recently launched ‘Lens’ where you can take a picture of any object and Google will help you understand it better… if it is a salon, for example, Google will show its name, its reviews and show if any of your friends have visited it before. Soon eCommerce sites will directly allow people to buy from their visual search.
Food for thought
Companies should become a content creation engines
Jeffery Dachis, co-founder of Razorfish says that the owned content you create will be at your marketing core. Between advertorials and copied content, customers will constantly seek a ‘trusted voice’. If you need that voice, you’ll have to own your content creation strategy right now.
Should we give Artificial Intelligence human rights
This question seems to jump straight out of a sci-fi movie. Except that this is a reality we’ll have to face soon. AI is one of the fastest growing spheres of Future Technologies and we are looking at Machine Learning to automate several things in the near future. With the combination of various aspects of Data Science, the reality of AI will be here before you know. So, if AI is set to replace human intervention, should it also get human rights?
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