OneClass: share your notes or buy them
Almost all RSM bachelor students are familiar with it: exams are coming soon and students come to the conclusion that they are far behind schedule. A good option in that case is usually to go to Slimstuderen.nl and/or Sirverslagen.nl, in order to get summaries of the prescribed literature and/or notes of the lectures. Those websites sell study documents that are tailored to one specific subject of one specific study. A new website allows students to get access to even more summaries and notes.
OneClass.com is not yet very famous in Europe, because it is now mainly active in the United States and Canada, but OneClass has plans for expanding. The website makes it possible to download study documents from other students all over the world who use the same literature or follow the same courses on other universities. A student who wants to download something from the website has to pay a fee for the document to OneClass. In October 2013 OneClass raised $1,6 million of investments in order to expand their business to new schools as well as to other levels of education. They are now serving university students, but high school and graduate students are the new target groups.
Some students like the idea of OneClass, because it gives students access to more materials to study for the exam. A disadvantage in my opinion is that it is hard to estimate beforehand how good lecture notes of a specific course of one university fit to the specific course of another university. Some students also don’t seem to be willing to share their summaries with other students, because they worked hard for it and don’t want to give other students who only just want to pass the exam, easily access to their hard work.
What do you think of the concept of OneClass?
Sources:
OneClass Raises $1.6M To Expand Its Note Collaboration Platform Beyond Post-Secondary
Smile! You could be in an ad
Have you sometimes shared a picture publicly via sites like 500px, Pinterest or Flickr or via apps as Instagram? Probably you did, like many others. For instance via Instagram alone 20 billion photos have already been shared and about 60 million pictures are added every day.
You probably know that when you share pictures publicly on these sites or apps, everybody can view them. But were you aware that marketing firms are scanning these sites for your pictures and subsequently store and analyze them so they can give their clients information about the person(s) and brand(s) in these pictures?
Ditto Labs for example analyzes photos for their clients to see if next to a person a specific product is in that picture too. They furthermore scan for logos, whether the person in that picture is smiling, and the scene’s context. This company detects patterns in consumer behavior based on the data gathered from images. For example, Ditto Labs can tell what you like to drink when eating pizza. Based on the context of their images, people are classified (e.g. sports fans). Marketers can then use these insights to better target ads specifically to these people and/or use it to conduct market research.
Maybe that won’t scare you off to share your images publicly, after all we are more and more getting used to companies collecting information about our (online) behavior. Not only the sites we visit is being tracked, but services like Netflix and Pandora use algorithms to recommend movies or songs based on someone’s preferences or those of people with similar profiles.
Some firms do not only analyze your pictures, they save them on their own servers as well. This way they can offer clients an overview of pictures with their brand or that of a competitor in it. This gives these clients, among other options, the opportunity to track which of their own products and those of competing brands are the most popular.
In the future, if these photo-sharing services change their privacy policies and allow it, a picture of you could end up in an ad. In 2013 Facebook changed their Statement of Rights and Responsibilities in such a way that companies could pay them to display your name and/or profile picture in their ads. With the roll out of its new ad platform (Atlas), Facebook allows other companies to use its detailed knowledge of its users to direct ads to those people on other websites and mobile apps. As the owner of Instagram, Facebook could change the privacy policy of this file-sharing service to match its own one, and allow other firms to use your pictures in ads.
Do you mind if a picture of you, unsolicited, could end up in an ad? Let me know in the comments.
Sources:
Duhigg, C. (2012). Psst, You in Aisle 5, The New York Times, February 16, 2012, p. MM30
Facebook (2013). Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, Available at: https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms
Goel, V. (2013). Facebook Reasserts Posts Can Be Used to Advertise, The New York Times, November 15, 2013, Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/technology/facebook-amends-privacy-policies.html
Goel, V. (2014). With New Ad Platform, Facebook Opens Gates to Its Vault of User Data, The New York Times, September 28, 2014, p. B7
Kosner, A.W. (2013). New Facebook Policies Sell Your Face And Whatever It Infers, Forbes, August 31, 2013, Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/08/31/new-facebook-policies-sell-your-face-and-whatever-it-infers
MacMillan, D. & Dwoskin, E. (2014). Smile! Marketing Firms Are Mining Your Selfies, The Wall Street Journal, October 9, 2014
Singer, N. (2014). Listen to Pandora, and It Listens Back, The New York Times, January 5, 2014, p. BU3
Thync: Sillicon Valley’s strangest product in years
BIM exams are coming up, you’ve got a whole lot of work to catch up with but you are in so much stress, that you cannot seem to focus. Wouldn’t it be great to have a device that can make you feel more relaxed or more energized, or both at the same time? A device with which you can control your state of mind?
This must sound too good to be true, and you probably wouldn’t take anyone serious who would ask you to invest money in a company that claims to produce such devices. You might want to reconsider. In fact, such a company does exist, named Thync, and they already managed to attract investments of 13 million euros. (Tech Crunch, 2014)
Thync is developing miniature Bluetooth-enabled neurosignaling devices that will be available for consumers next year. The founders actually started the company with the idea of applying ultrasound techniques until they learned about an air-force base in the U.S. that used electrical stimulation in order to increase the cognitive ability of its pilots. The technique makes use of small doses of electrical stimulation that target nerves that carry signals to the brain. This technique, known as transcranial direct-current stimulation, has been applied before to help children with learning disabilities or people with continuos headaches. However, never before has it been marketed as a device that can be used at home to control or at least influence ones state of mind. They even developed an application for smartphones with which you can alter the strength of the signals. (Bloomberg Businessweek, 2014)
This is what Thync’s final product is expected to look like (Tech Crunch, 2014)
Thync has already successfully tested the technique on 2000 people during clinical trials; two out of three people eventually experienced ‘a moderate to strong response’. According to the CEO of think, Isy Goldwasser, the device can become a substitute for other drugs that change your state of mind such as alcohol and coffee. I believe that this product can become a success, but doubt whether it is really going to replace habits such as drinking coffee and alcohol.
What do you think?
Sources:
Bloomberg Businessweek. (2014, 10 08). Thync Lets You Give Your Mind a Jolt. Opgeroepen op 10 10, 2014, van http://www.businessweek.com: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-08/thync-raises-13-million-for-its-brain-stimulating-electrodes
Tech Crunch. (2014, 10 08). Thync Has Raised $13M To Change Your Mood With Ultrasound Waves (And Electricity). Opgeroepen op 10 11, 2014, van http://www.techcrunch.com: http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/08/thync-has-raised-13m-to-change-your-mood-with-ultrasound-waves-and-electricity/
SHOUT OUT MARKETING! What is it? And why you should not use this marketing tactic
BUY THIS PRODUCT NOW! 2 DAYS LEFT FOR THE SALE TO CLOSE!
ONLY 499 EURO FOR THIS NICE SMARTPHONE!
CHEAPEST PRICES HERE! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!
Annoying right? That is the reason why you should not communicate this way with your customers. Now that a large group of people in the Netherlands have adopted Instagram, more of this marketing tactic is used by companies on this platform. However, this way of notifying followers about certain products and services is also widely used on platforms such as Twitter and others. The so called shout out marketing, or in other words noisy marketing is only annoying customers and scares them in most cases away. Also, certain companies report that there online brand image is deteriorating and they therefore stopped using this marketing tactic. In the long run, they therefore lose money while they know that there are other ways to communicate with customers.
In order for companies to use social media the right way, they should look at how they can communicate with customers and whereby they do not copy the behavior of others. While shout out marketing may work for some, it is not working for the majority of companies. Because of one company is doing it, it is no reason for you to do it as well. This sheep behavior will lead to, as companies already have reported, to a deterioration of your online reputation.
The reasons why you should not engage in this type of activity online.
– Customers can read and are not stupid
There is no reason to use capital letters to make your point. Also, using capital letters is used if you want to express that you are yelling or shouting for that matter. Are companies using a bullhorn in front of their store on the street trying to sell you something as well? No they do not! Why? Because no one likes to get yelled at! And no one likes to be belittled too!
– It simply annoys customers
Most of the people are not wanting to buy something when they are on social media. It is especially annoying when some companies want to forcefully sell you something when you are not feeling to. The problem does not lie in the fact that you put advertisements in your messages, but it is the way you communicate with customers that only (and nothing more) annoys people.
CHEAP! REAL LEATHER HANDBAGS ONLY TODAY 70% OFF
– Decreased trust in the brand
Messages such as the above are not helping to build an reputable online brand image. It only makes people become skeptical of your brand and they would not easily trust it anymore. Today’s customer is not keen on this kind of messages and are smarter than before. It is therefore advised that you sit down and think about proper communication strategies for your online brand. Otherwise, you might lose on new customers and existing ones might leave.
Further readings:
This articles claims that this marketing strategy works well
http://www.gunnertech.com/shout-out-marketing/
Pay with one single card or bring your wallet?
Number of stores where you can pay contactless has grown enormously last years. Contactless payments are meant to pay quick and easily for everyday purchases. That is because there is no need to enter your PIN or signature for amounts till € 25,-. Just by touching your card on a contactless card reader, the payment is received.
It is even possible pay contactless with your mobile device, just by touching your mobile device to the contactless card reader. For instance Apple Pay offers iPhone 6 users to pay with their Apple device at retail stores. In collaboration with MasterCard, Visa and American Express, Apple wants to replace consumer wallets, which seems a bit ambitious to me.
This is because other payments options are introduced each year and security remains an issue. In 2013 an American startup introduced the Coin and there was lots of media attention. Coin believes mobile devices will not replace all payment cards in the future and therefore they developed the Coin Card. This Coin is a programmed payment card with an e-ink screen that displays up to eight cards (debit, credit, loyalty, gift cards etc.). With Bluetooth you need to connect the Coin with your mobile device. With multiple accounts in just once place, you only have to carry your Coin card with you. Unfortunately the Coin is postponed till 2015 and can only be pre-ordered.
This week the American company Plastc launched their idea for the Plastc Card. This card shows lots of similarities to the Coin. Also on the e-ink screen of the Plastc Card you see all your payments and loyalty cards which you added. This card shall perform as intermediary as well and can be used for all kind of payments. Plastc Card can also only be pre-ordered and will be available in Summer 2015.
The introduction of using a single card for all your payments is criticized at security level. This new technology includes strong security features, though when disconnected with your smartphone, the single cards is useless. There has not been a solution yet to overcome this problem. So when you want to pay in the supermarket and you left your mobile device at home, the Card will block and you can not pay.
It will be a rat race between Coin and Plastc who will launch their card first. I rather prefer my wallet with lots of cards, but I can pay whenever and wherever I want, carrying more than eight cards with me.
Sources
http://www.emerce.nl/nieuws/amerikaans-bedrijf-lanceert-bankkaart-30
https://onlycoin.com/support/faq/
http://www.pin.nl/consument/contactloos-betalen-met-betaalpas-of-mobiele-telefoon/
http://www.theguardian.com/money/contactless-payments
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/01/apple-iphone-6-visa-mastercard-amex-mobile-payments
A driverless future
Would you fly with an unmanned airplane? Would you go to work in an unmanned vehicle? It might sound scary now, but it is very likely this is what the future of traveling will look like.
Imagine, the amount of car accidents that will decrease radically, no more traffic jams, the amount of time you save and be able to spend more effectively. Some glimpses of this imaginary future are showing. We see a trend in ‘connected’ cars. Where communication technologies, information systems and safety devices come together. This drastically changes the relationship between car and driver. The ‘connected car’ seems the first step into a driverless future.
Audi, for example, is working on a car that can park itself while the driver uses a smartphone instructing the car. McKinsey, a consulting firm, states that by 2020 around a quarter of all cars will be online. Digital dashboards are evolving rapidly. Imagine the amount of information and communication digital dashboards could provide. This might involve some safety issues that need to be fixed though. Tesla’s digital dashboard is a nice step, but the design is really ugly and it isn’t too functional yet. Connected cars will also self-diagnose problems. Report them and offering options to fix the problems.
While automation and connectivity increases, there will also be less need to drive or even own a car yourself. Do you think sophisticated ‘connected’ cars will be the future anytime soon? What are the limits (of course, considering potential safety issues)? As kids we all dreamed about driving KITT right?
Sources
– http://mashable.com/2013/10/09/connected-car-platforms/
– http://www.bankrate.com/finance/auto/new-technologies-connected-car-1.aspx
Audience Network – A Step in Facebook’s Bid to Dethrone Google in Digital Ad Sales
The recent launch of Facebook’s Audience Network puts the firm in direct competition with a number of established cross-platform ad providers such as Google’s AdMob and Yahoo’s Flurry. Audience Network allows advertisers to buy ad space within Facebook apps using the same targeting and measurement tools available to general Facebook advertisers. The ads come in three standardized formatas: banner, interstitial and native. With Facebook’s focus on being a cross-platform platform, the Audience Network aims to deliver, “relevancy for people, yield for publishers and results for advertisers”.
Facebook’s Concept of a Cross-Platform Platform
Audience Network is only one of the ventures Facebook has launched in its quest to broaden the scope of application for its trove of targeting data. Facebook’s earlier launch of Atlas, which allows for the placement of ads within third-party websites, is in direct competition with Google’s Doubleclick and represents a significant increase in the potential avenues for Facebook ads. Atlas differs from Audience Network insofar as the former does not require an existing Facebook Ad Campaign, and the latter acts only as an extension of an existing Ad Campaign.
Last week Facebook also unleashed the like button on Android and iOS developers, allowing them to customize and integrate the Facebook like button into their websites and apps. This move will only increase the amount of targeting data Facebook has at its disposal, which has become more valuable as Facebook finds more and more applications for its use.
Google has three main avenues for digital ad sales on third-party platforms, they are:
- AdSense – A publisher network anyone can sign up to, the biggest customer is currently Adwords (Adwords campaigns can be set on ‘Display’ mode which would then be passed to Adsense) Where you make monetize your blog or website
- Doubleclick – A Google subsidiary which functions as a platform to display advertisement on third-party sites. As such its offerings consist of DFA (Doubleclick for Advertisers) and DFP (Doubleclick for Publishers). Where the big publishers and advertisers go
- Admob – Mobile ad network which allows app-developers to monetize and promote their apps Mobile developers can sell ad space within apps
The Trend That Falls Short of the Mark
Facebook is creating platforms which mirror Google’s offerings to publishers and advertisers, though with more valuable data. Interestingly Facebook’s first target was not Doubleclick nor Admob, but Adsense. In 2012 there was a lot of hype around the proposed launch of FaceSense which ultimately came to nothing. As such, the latest wave of third-party ad platforms Facebook has launched represent the second attempt to compete with Google directly in this segment, albeit with a noticeable increase in resources, determination and scope.
Challenging Google in this domain will be an uphill struggle for Facebook, whose market share in the digital ad segment currently stands at 7.8% as opposed to Google’s dominant 31%. The positive trend in terms of Facebook’s market share is insufficient to carry the firm to the top. Facebook’s primary concern at the moment should be to pursue Google’s broad base of media partners and get advertisers and app-developers onto the network.
Ultimately Facebook and Google have taken different paths on their long-term strategy. Google has released an operating system, Android, and hopes to create a carve out a defensible position in the mobile OS segment. Facebook, on the other hand, has opted to avoid fixing itself to one operating system and plans to take the role of the cross-platform platform, providing its network on all while making bets on none. It is this key difference in future outlook that will determine which company eventually wins out.
Sources not linked in the article:
https://www.facebook.com/business/news/audience-network
http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-audience-network-available-to-all-advertisers-2014-10
With Atlas, Facebook makes an attempt to dig itself out of No. 2 ad spot
Facebook Relaunches Atlas Ad Platform With Cross-Device Targeting And Offline Sales Tracking
Information Strategy 
Recent Comments