Mar
9th

Oneupweb Reviews: Chatroulette

Posted by Adam D on March 9, 2010 at 11:47 am

Russian roulette is a potentially lethal game of chance in which participants place a single round in a revolver, spin the cylinder, place the muzzle against their head and pull the trigger. Chatroulette on the other hand is different… on second thought, they’re pretty much one in the same.

How Chatroulette Works:

Although there is no actual live ammunition and your life probably won’t be in danger, Chatroulette shares many similarities with Russian Roulette. Chatroulette is a game of chance, risk and randomness. It’s also a website that uses video chat to let the user communicate with complete strangers.

It’s a simple process: once you click accept and your webcam is detected you’re ready to go. You will be automatically matched with a chat partner. Once face to face with your partner you can then chat via instant message. If, for whatever reason, you don’t like the partner you have been given, you simply hit Next and you will receive a new chat partner.

From a user’s perspective, Chatroulette can be pretty interesting. Thrusted into people’s lives at the click of a button, Chatroulette provides one with hours of scary fun. I say scary because, to warn you, there are many chat partners out there that you just don’t want to see face to face. Take the below screen shots for example.

As a user we can see, for the shock value, Chatroulette is pretty entertaining. However, for a business I don’t see any uses at the moment.

In the future Chatroulette could adopt video ad overlays, or a quick video ad before you’re connected to a each user.

Even though Chatroulette gives users the ability to report a video, until they get the obscene videos under control, I don’t see it being taken seriously by businesses. So for now we give Chatroulette an…

Official Oneupweb Review: Slightly Frightened Thumb Sideways

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Mar
5th

Oneupweb Reviews: Weird Facebook Ads

Posted by Adam D on March 5, 2010 at 2:32 pm

It’s Friday and everyone knows what that means, the last day before the weekend. Something special happens to people on Fridays. They seem rejuvenated, invigorated, excited. Maybe it’s the satisfaction of a job well done, or maybe it’s just the fact they have the next two days off. Either way, to go along with the Friday wonder, we thought we would have a little fun with our Oneupweb Reviews blog today.

We’ve all seen them while posting on our walls, minding our own business. Then something catches our eye, off to the right, it’s a Facebook Ad. Some of them make no sense, while others are just hilarious. These Facebook ads can get pretty weird. Let’s take a look some of our favorite, and see how they rate.

Are they offering immortality or a credit report?

This is legit, I can tell by their inquisitive nature.

It’s true, one time during Thanksgiving my brother carelessly shouted out, “Let’s eat Grandma!” Talk about a misunderstanding. Grandma doesn’t visit much anymore.

Everyone knows this secret, it’s called permanent marker.

I have two questions, is this Harry Potter, or Hermione wearing Harry’s glasses and sporting a five o-clock shadow? And unless this scholarship is for Hogwarts, I don’t see the point. We all know that’s where HP fans go.

You want me to go back to where?

People laugh, but when I saw this one I thought, how did they get a picture of my dad? But that was when he was in a band. I can’t imagine where I would place this guy in a job, maybe a caveman in those Geico commercials.

I remember the spoon talk. Your partner says to you, we need to talk. You think, great here we go. And for the next hour, you get berated about how your spoon collection is taking priority over the relationship. People if I had a problem with spoons, would I be able to still use knives and forks? I can quit collecting spoons anytime I want to.

My wife wants to have a baby; I thought this would be easier, like it says, no mess. Apparently the image didn’t help my cause.

So that’s how they pass laws, makes total sense now.

Although no one really enjoys being advertised to, we all know that that’s what makes businesses like Facebook possible. And at least we can say that the marketers here have kept us entertained. So for all the bizarre ads that Facebook has produced we give Facebook Ads…

Official Oneupweb Review: Oneup Thumbs Up

If you have any weird Facebook ads that you want to share with us, let us know!

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Mar
4th

Oneupweb Reviews: Google Stars

Posted by Adam D on March 4, 2010 at 1:33 pm

Have you ever wished you could reach out into the search universe, grab your favorite sites, and easily organize them for later viewing? The people at Google thought you might say yes, and that’s why they created stars.

Yesterday Google announced that in the next few days it would be releasing stars, which the search engine touts as a new way to make search more relevant and fun. Today let’s take a look at Google’s latest release to see if it soars, or goes super nova.

According to yesterday’s post on the Official Google Blog:

“With stars, you can simply click the star marker on any search result or map and the next time you perform a search, that item will appear in a special list right at the top of your results when relevant. That means if you star the official websites for your favorite football teams, you might see those results right at the top of your next search for [nfl]. Here’s what the new ‘Starred results’ feature looks like:”

Are Google stars really necessary? Adding a site to your favorites, or bookmarking, is obviously something you can already do to save the sites you like best for easy recall. You can even display your favorite sites on a browser toolbar, and it’s located much higher up than Google stars. (Maybe they should have called them satellites instead.) And you can do both of these without having to be logged into your Google account, like you do with stars.

Official Oneupweb Review:Oneup-Thumbs-Sideways

I won’t give this feature a thumbs down because I appreciate a clean browser interface, and you could replace your bookmarks toolbar with stars. Once you get too many bookmarks, they can be difficult to keep track of, or easily forgotten. But with stars, these forgotten bookmarks will be at the top of your search results.

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Mar
3rd

Oneupweb Reviews: Skittles Experience the Rainbow Marketing Strategy

Posted by Adam D on March 3, 2010 at 2:51 pm

Skittles is one brand that we like to keep an eye on. The rainbow candy’s creators seem to have a good grasp on social media and cutting edge marketing techniques. It helps that the nature of their product allows them to create some unusual marketing campaigns. Today, let’s dive into the marketing angle Skittles has taken now.

You never know what to expect when you type in the URL www.skittles.com. A few months ago you would have been directed to the Wikipedia page for Skittles. But today we had a chance to “Experience the Rainbow,” and what an experience it was.

Not only was I encouraged to “Taste the Rainbow” as you might expect, but also to (and I quote), “Lace the Train Slow.”

The play on words didn’t stop there. There’s “Trace the Vain Bro,” “Encase the Faint Glow,” and “Chase the Vain Crow” to name a few.

It appears that Skittles has created these entertaining bits of content for users to share via social media. Skittles understands that having your customers help sell your product is the new business model. That’s because the use of search engines is waning in comparison to social search. Just last night I had a Facebook friend ask if anyone had ever ordered prescription glasses online. I told her yes, gave her the site URL, and now she plans on purchasing glasses there. People trust product recommendations from people within their social circle far more than from anywhere else.

To review the Skittles website alone would be shortsighted. And the pieces of content kind of freak me out. For example, this badly Photoshoped astronaut clown brings up some mixed emotions. (Primarily, my childhood fear of clowns and love for space exploration.)

By the time I was done scrolling through the Skittles site I wasn’t sure what to think. And as I scrolled, I realized you can’t reach the end of the site… just like a rainbow.

Instead of reviewing the website itself, let’s give our assessment of the overall Skittles marketing strategy:

Official Oneupweb Review: Oneup-Thumbs-Up

By observing online trends and planning accordingly, Skittles is a brand that understands where digital marketing is going.

Speaking of trends, earlier today we released a new white paper entitled Search Gone Wild, An Eye Tracking Study on Google’s Real-Time Results.

One trend we’ve seen is that traditional search engines are being used less and less, and social networks more and more. Just a few weeks ago Facebook flew by Yahoo in total number of unique visitors reported. Google even created its own social networking tool recently, Google Buzz, to get in on the action. Like Wayne Gretzky pointed out, you have to skate to where the puck is going, not where it’s at. And search is, and has been, going social.

Observing these trends, we here at Oneupweb say, “Follow the Trends Bro.” It’s time to experience the rainbow.

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Mar
2nd

Oneupweb Reviews: YouTube Video Page Redesign

Posted by Adam D on March 2, 2010 at 10:16 am

YouTube has been working on what it calls “one of the biggest redesigns in YouTube history.” About a month ago the video sharing site began offering a sneak peek at its new Video Page (not to be confused with a YouTube Channel Page). Since then YouTube has been revamping the interface based on user feedback.

Today let’s take a look at the new Video Page features to see if they get thumbs up or thumb down.

New Feature: Autoplay Videos

YouTube has created a new playlist interface within Video Pages. Here you will notice a new Autoplay On/Off switch. This allows videos to continue to play after your original video is finished.

New Feature: Add to Queue

Speaking of playlists, now when you search from the Video Page, you are able add videos to your queue directly from your search results.

New Feature: Consolidated Comments

In addition to text comments, video responses have become a large part of YouTube social interactions. With the new Video Page layout your video’s text comments and video responses are located in the same area.

One thing we like about this redesign is that YouTube is implementing it slowly over time. This is a strategy that Facebook could learn a lot from.

We really enjoy the new features of the redesigned Video Page, which is currently opt-in only with the choice to go back to the old version if you don’t like the new layout. YouTube says it has “a bit more work to do” before rolling out the redesign on a larger scale.

Overall we’re giving the YouTube Video Page redesign an…

Official Oneupweb Review: Oneup-Thumbs-Up

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Feb
26th

Oneupweb Review: Google Adds Nearby Search Option

Posted by Adam D on February 26, 2010 at 2:32 pm

Just yesterday we reviewed Google’s real time search feature, and today Google released yet another feature, nearby search. Let’s take a look.

Whenever you search from Google it takes into account your location. Up until Nearby search was implemented it was difficult to tell exactly how local your search results were. More often than not, if you searched for a restaurant for example, you would get search results including local business results. When I used Google to search for Oneupweb it returned the following. I received our homepage, Twitter, some news pulled from our blogs, and finally some real time search results. I didn’t get back any local results though.

Here’s how to use nearby search. After searching for your term select + Show Options
Under All results you’ll see Nearby.

After selecting the Nearby search filter your page will refresh with the newly aggregated search results.
Google’s blog says, “One of the really helpful things about this tool is that it works geographically — not just with keywords”
So say you’re thirsty for some Northern Michigan beer. You could search beer and enter TC’s zip code, under Custom Location, 49684, and your results will look something like this.

Official Oneupweb Reviews: Oneup Thumbs-Sideways, leaning towards up

Like the settings on a digital camera, auto is most likely good enough for most. I think the same applies here. My guess is that most search engine users will not use this function. But if you like options Google delivers. What are your thoughts on this feature, do you think you will use it?

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Feb
25th

Oneupweb Reviews: Facebook Page Content in Google Real-Time Search Results

Posted by Adam D on February 25, 2010 at 4:18 pm

Google’s real-time search has been implemented for a couple months now but as of today this feature will include Facebook Page status updates in search results, as well as content from MySpace, FriendFeed, Jaiku and Identi.ca.

Today we will introduce you to Google real-time search and review the newly added status updates from Facebook Pages.

If you are unfamiliar with Google’s real-time search, it’s basically search results that include content pulled from sites such as Twitter, FriendFeed, and now Facebook, as well as headlines from news sites and blog posts published just seconds before. This means the search results represent “real time,” more so than a website that is only updated once a month.

In order to view these real-time search results you will need to take a few steps.

First, go to Google and type in your desired search term:

When you receive your search results click + Show options…

Next, select Latest under Any time and you will begin to see real-time search results.

As you can see below you will get search results from Facebook as they become available.

Official Oneupweb Review: Oneup-Thumbs-Up

If you are an information addict like most of us at Oneupweb then you will love this feature. And since Google is now including content from Facebook, MySpace and other social networks, this feature just became a whole lot more comprehensive. Choose any subject you’re interested in and from there you can keep up on what’s happening in real time.

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Feb
24th

Oneupweb Reviews: Foursquare

Posted by Adam D on February 24, 2010 at 1:07 pm

The latest trend in social media, geolocation, has brought about some very interesting applications. Some say that these apps are the next big thing. Today we will review the popular geolocation site foursquare, and see if it can live up to the buzz.

“foursquare is a cross between a friend-finder, a social city-guide and a game that rewards you for doing interesting things.” says foursquare.com. It is similar to other social networking sites like Twitter, but unlike Twitter, the focus is more on location than on what you’re doing at the time. And unlike Twitter you don’t see a lot of desktop apps for foursquare, as its focus seems to be primarily mobile.

Foursquare encourages users to “check-in”, which is a way to let other foursquare users know where you are at. For example, say you are having a great meal at a restaurant and you would like to let your friends know where you’re at. You would then use your phone to “check-in” via foursquare.

You can also leave tips, which are quick reviews/suggestions, for others who are near that location to discover. Once you check into a location you might receive a message like the one below:

Every time you check in you earn points and can unlock badges. Find a new place in your neighborhood? +5 points. Making multiple stops in a night? +2 points. Dragging friends along with you? +1.

You can even become the mayor of a location if you have checked in there more than anyone else.

Why would you want to become the mayor, or earn badges? Besides bragging rights, and sharing experiences with friends, you can also get free products from participating local businesses.

So what do we think about foursquare? Is it the next big thing, will it live up to the buzz?

Official Oneupweb Review: Oneup-Thumbs-Up

We like it, and I’ll tell you why. One of the challenges for brick and mortal stores is how to get people to the actual store. This is becoming a difficult problem to solve for many businesses as consumers are shopping online more and more. Services like foursquare are bringing digital marketing full circle. Getting people online, to visit the store location itself. Foursquare encourages people to get out and do something.

If businesses are looking for ways to get more people through their doors, foursquare just might be the ticket.

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Feb
23rd

Oneupweb Reviews: Facebook’s Homepage Redesign

Posted by Adam D on February 23, 2010 at 4:32 pm

A few weeks ago Facebook released its new homepage redesign. The new design sports a cleaner, more intuitive homepage, and a whole slew of reorganized features. While the changes have been difficult for many to get used to, new Facebook users will most likely have an easier time with the interface.

One of the big changes I noticed was with the organization of the photos. Now you can view all of your friend’s photos by scrolling through a randomly generated photo page. Your videos are now under the photo section as well.

You can also see who’s online on the left side of your browser, and open a chat window from there.

But the most important change, in terms of business pages, is the Homepage feeds. Now you have a “Top News” and a “Most Recent” feed.

The difference between the two is that “Top News” aggregates the most interesting content that your friends are posting, while the “Most Recent” filter shows you all the actions your friends are making in real-time.

You can edit this feed by scrolling to the bottom and clicking edit, or you can rely on Facebook’s algorithm to determine what shows up in your feed. I’m not sure why anyone would want Facebook to choose what shows up in their feed if they had a choice, but by default this is what happens. If a user selects “Most Recent” then from now on this will be their default home page stream.

What does this mean for pages? Well if a user doesn’t know any better they might leave their home page stream set with the default settings. These setting could filter your post out; however this was the same way the old home page feed worked as well.

All in all the features of Facebook haven’t change that much. Other than photos and the top navigation bar, this update was more of an organizational update. The question is, thumbs up or thumbs down.

Official Oneupweb Review: Oneup-Thumbs-Up

Facebook’s has to be careful that is doesn’t make too many changes too fast. It takes time for people to accept change, whether that change is positive or not. But that aside, the changes Facebook has made will allow users new to the site a more intuitive user experience.

Are you a fan of the redesign or do you dream of the good old days? Let us know what you think!

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