I have to admit it. I was caught up in the hype surrounding the Steve Jobs
press conference keynote address announcing the new iPad.
It's hype at its best when they make you believe they're releasing a revolutionary piece of technology rather than a shiny new gadget that will make them roll in even more dough.
What did
I like about it? I can take my Google Reader with me in an überlight Internet appliance that won't hurt my eyes or require too much zooming and scrolling.
If and when I decide to purchase one, I would more than likely use it to check my social media, my Google Reader, and to look up newspapers and magazines due to the great portrait/full page view option that other Internet appliances don't currently afford me (iPhone, landscape laptop screen, etc.)
So I got to thinking as soon as I finished watching the keynote a few days after the event...how does Joe Schmoe use the iPad -- not the fad nuts who go buy whatever's new just to show off their latest status symbol. What does Joe need to accomplish with this tool?
The word processing, presentation, and spreadsheet tools they're releasing are great and work hand in hand with the App Store model they want to create to enhance revenue streams. But the fact is, we don't know how people are going to use this until it gets out of the tech-geek realm and into real folks hands. I bet teenagers and twenty-somethings might like seeing all their Facebook and MySpace (don't forget Twitter) stuff on one page, but what else will everyday people use this for and how does this impact content and the way we need to present it to them?
And so as I keep struggling with the implications for content, UI, and design for the iPad and the other appliances and copy-cat/catch-up efforts that will surely follow...I ran into a great blog post by
Chris Brogan, titled Build Ecosystems for your Content -- catchy eh? -- and everything was going fine until I reached the following statement:
"easy first step is to strongly highlight the opportunity to get your blog sent to people via email (more people use email than read blogs). That’s the easy opportunity."It creeps me out, that statement there. Does it really matter that email use is more prevalent than blog hits? Or does this statistic emerge from actual data collected from blog email subscription requests? What about the 152 RSS feeds I scan daily on my Google Reader? Whatever, the statement serves as a bit of a wake up call for many content creators and managers out there.
Content creators really need to integrate and cross-reference all possible channels to create visibility and expand reach--and more importantly create an immediate and instantaneous value proposition and deliverable to the reader.
The importance of cross-feeding, cross-linking, or whatever you want to refer to it, should never be underestimated. This goes hand in hand with creating content and the user interface that work for each channel, to help your audience be your friend and keep coming back.
What do you think?
