How many of you can see this picture, and totally relate? Working for any company that directly works for others, you want to do the best to provide for your clients every need, want, and whim. Lets face it, sometimes things fall through the cracks. We all have those 1 or 5 clients that are known for either being very particular, very demanding, or very needy. How do you successfully handle, and appease those clients as well as maintaining your standard of quality for the rest of your clients?

What would have been the best course of action for Steve, the designer? Should he have gone to Mr. Jones and “reminded” him that it had been a week, 2 weeks, etc. and he still had given no content? Or should have Steve taken it upon himself to create something after the first week, even without the input from Mr. Jones?

As I see this illustration, I can place myself in both sets of shoes. As Mr. Jones, I am probably very busy. A friendly weekly reminder email would have been greatly appreciated. If I received 2 emails, that would tell me that it had been 2 weeks since meeting with Steve, and he was being held up by me. I could not expect Steve to stand by his initial deadline because of MY inability to deliver what I promised.

In this same scenario, myself as Steve, after I sent the 2 initial reminder emails, I would create everything I possibly could, and send Mr. Jones what I came up with. Thus (hopefully) giving Mr. Jones the visual motivation to get the content delivered. That way Mr. Jones knows that even though I have to wait for him to complete the job, I am at least pro-active enough to do what I can with the knowledge I have. This would also look better in his eyes, knowing that I care enough about him as a client to not wait for him to begin the job.

I know for a fact, I would be as pro-active as I could, in either role. As Mr. Jones, I would not expect Steve to turnover my website immediately if I had held him up. I would understand that I am not his only client, even if he makes me feel, and provides quality work as if I were. If I were Steve, I would do my best to be pro-active enough to stay on Mr. Jones and remind him that he said he would get the content. I would try to do everything to remedy the situation before it became a much bigger issue.

The magazine describes influence as not only having the most friends of followers, but about being able to affect the behavior of those you interact with (to get others in your social network to act on a suggestion or recommendation). A prime example would be posting a link or recommending a site: how many people would bother to check it out? How many would forward it on? Exactly how far does your influence spread?

In order to determine influence (which, in turn, determines the size of your picture), Fast Company follows two measures:

1. The number of people who directly click on your unique URL link. This indicates the primary measure of your influence.

2. Partial “credit” is issued for subsequent clicks generated by those who sign-up as a result of your URL (anyone who comes to the site through your link and signs up for their own account is spreading your influence while also spreading their own). Fractional credits—such as 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, etc.—are given for clicks generated up to six degrees away from your original link.

The end result is Fast Company’s “most influential person”, who demonstrates the greatest overall influence by the deadline of August 15, 2010.

Fast Company is a business magazine that produces 10 issues per year, reporting on such topics as digital media, technology, change management, design and social responsibility.

Typically, when visiting these two social networking sites, there is a long list of status updates (with thumbnail photos on Facebook and shortened links on Twitter) that aren’t particularly easy to navigate through. Twitter is the bigger of the two problems, with its founders discussing the need to make it more accessible and easier to navigate. Flipboard now makes all of this much easier.

The app builds a personalized magazine full of updates, photos and articles shared by a reader’s friends or friends that they choose to follow on Twitter and Facebook. Status updates are arranged to look like pull quotes with prominent photo displays. Rather than linking to an article, users are able to read the first few paragraphs and are able to comment (and if wanting to read more on links or user’s pages, it is easy to connect to that webpage). Data selections are made by a start up called Ellerdale that will analyze and filter real-time data streams.

In an effort to create more effective ads on web pages, Flipboard will feature advertisements that are reminiscent of print. Rather than viewing small advertisements (in which companies are competing for space), iPad users will see less intrusive full-page ones. The company plans to make money by offering content in exchange for payments or subscriptions and sharing revenue with the publisher.

Six major apps are among the most successful: Pulse, Square, Layar, Zynga, Fring, and EA Mobile.
Pulse, created by Stanford Institute of Design’s grad students Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta, is a $3.99 iPad news reader with an upscale user interface. Apple’s CEO recently called Pulse “a wonderful RSS reader, one of the most creative iPad apps to date.”

Square, created by glass artist, Jim McKelvey, and Twitter creator, Jack Dorsey, is an app that allows any given merchant to swipe and process a credit card transaction from their phone (through a free add-on device). This innovative and convenient technology is available for Androids, iPones, iPads and iPod Touches. Square charges a processing fee of $.15 and 2.75% of the total transaction amount.

Layar, created by Dutch company SPRXmobile, works with augmented reality. Users who download this free app simply point the camera on their smartphone at their surroundings and Layar points out interesting points of reference (such as stores, restaurants, ATMS, etc.).

Zynga, made by the creators of Farmville, makes money by charging users for virtual goods that they use
in online games. Consumers pay for items such as animals, fuel and tractors that are used for games like Farmville, Zynga Poker, and Mafia Wars.

Fring is a program used for free mobile calls, live chat, and video chat among users. This app offers what the iPhone 4 doesn’t: convenient chatting amongst Android, Symbian OS, and iOS-loaded cellular devices.

EA Mobile offers interactive games such as Scrabble for iPad, Madden NFL, and Need for Speed. Users can play games by moving their mobile device around or even flicking their wrist.

As long as demand increases and ideas keep flowing, there’s no limit to the possibility of mobile device applications.

Don’t want to lug your camera, camcorder, and phone all over the place when you’re on vacation? No worries. The new iPhone includes a 5mp camera and is able to record and edit movies in 720p high definition. All in a package that is 9.3mm thin, right there in your pocket.

If you’re worried about your phone breaking if you drop it, worry no longer. The new phone comes with strengthened glass that is more scratch resistant, and a stainless steel band to secure the phone’s parts which also serves as the phone’s antenna.

Problems with multitasking or running multiple apps with your old iPhone? Problem solved. Apple has answered this with the Apple A4 mobile processor. The new processor is designed to answer many of the previous iPhone’s problems, all while claiming not to reduce battery life. The new operating system lets you run, say, a GPS app while listening to music or running other apps, all without reducing the phone’s performance. A more powerful phone with a more power efficient processor is what iPhone patrons asked for, and it’s exactly what they got.

Need some information? Need some help managing your money, or anything else during your day? There’s an app for that. Literally. With over 200,000 at Apple’s app store, you shouldn’t have trouble finding what you need. Some of which are even free. The phone also includes a program called Genius, which suggests apps to you based on the ones that you already have.

Those aren’t the only features that made the phone a hit. With the web and unparalleled video & audio connectivity and your fingertips, Apple’s improvement to a proven product is sure to be a hit with consumers.

What does this mean for marketing your products and services? With more and more people accessing the web by mobile phone, the greater the shift of the venue where people will get their information. The Web is a growing opportunity and vast information source. How will your business be found on the Web? Contact Interactivity Marketing and let us help you create your opportunity today.

Flash, the most popular video format on the web and is also used for animation and advertising, has been banned from iPhones, iPods, and iPads.

Frustration has been expressed by media and advertising companies about Apple’s stance on Flash because many of their online video and other content use flash.

Apple’s anti-flash policy is not new, but gained notoriety in January when the iPad was first demonstrated publicly.  When using small devices like the iPhone consumers except a smaller Website, but on the much larger iPad consumers thought they would be able to watch videos on the product’s large browser.

Another key to the battle is the new version of Adobe’s Creative Suite software, which includes tools for using the Flash component to build iPhone apps.  Right before the new version was formally unveiled Apple changed its App Store’s terms of use to not allow the apps written with the new software.

The ban has left many developers in caught in the middle.  With Apple’s ban on Flash a divide has been created in the media and technology industries.  Adobe supports have created an “Im with Adobe” page on Facebook that has grown to 11,000 members.

For any questions on website or phone application design or development contact Interactivity Marketing.

Over a 100 new features will be added with OS 4.0.  New features that were released in the announcement include multitasking, game center, folders, ibooks, and better mail.  Multitasking will allow users to text and browse the internet while still listening to their favorite song.  Game center is a new social gaming network Apple is starting.  The new folder system will let users organize apps into folders for quicker and easier access to apps with the ability to manage up to 2160 apps.  IBooks is an app currently available on the iPad and features a bookshelf that allows readers to download books, many free, to the bookshelf and read them at their own pace.  Email updates will include the ability to view all email accounts in one inbox.