April M. Morton

Crazy that I updated my iPhone in September but never took a glance at any of the new updates.
Your mentioning of the Focus feature is certainly something that I need in my life. As of this fall I have been immensely busy with my job that I started to develop “workaholic” habits. During my personal time, I would constantly check my slack and email messages on weekdays and weekends. There’s never a line of separation for me, especially since I work from home. I took it upon myself as of 2 weeks ago to remove my “mail” app from my home screen and keep my phone on do not disturb as much as possible to refrain myself from getting into work mode while I’m enjoying LIFE. It was driving me crazy and it was absolutely unhealthy.
This Focus feature is definitely something I’m going to look into now and make it part of my routine. Thanks for sharing this Hannah!

I haven’t updated my phone yet, but I’m really intrigued to test out the Focus mode because I get distracted very easily too. I tend to keep my phone on do no disturb most of the day so I’m not tempted to go on my phone. It’s crazy to think that Apple still finds ways to enhance their technology to make it better for it’s users. After each update its like woah this is awesome there’s no way there’s anything else they can do to top it off, but they do!

Love that you pointed all these features out, Hannah. I have my phone on “Do Not Disturb,” almost 100 percent of the time. I think this update is enlightening and I am going to use it. My main reason for keeping my phone on do not disturb is because of the million rob-calls I get daily. I don’t know how to make them stop. I wish Apple would roll out something for this.

I performed the update just recently due to the fact, I got the new Apple watch and I was required to. I think performance is definitely a little better, but constantly being thrown off by different UX elements and occasionally experience gaps from previous CX. Curious if other users are having difficulties too?

Wow! I just got the new iPhone 13 and had no idea of some of the features you mentioned on your post. I wish there was a way to educate customers in the updates without us having to google those answers. Could be a new innovation for the future?

Amen. We all need to remember as humans that our own personal experience does not necessarily translate to that of our shared demographic. There are so many other factors at play. Yes, as marketers we place people into buckets and generalize, which serves certain purposes but can really detract from others. As you say, jb, it’s so critical to listen to the data, dig into what you’re trying to convey, and then from there, determine the platforms to employ, not just based on feel.
P.S. I just realized that I used the word “amen” to reply to a post about being agnostic. I know it’s a different kind of agnostic, but it still made me chuckle a bit.

Wow Jen! We need access to this master excel doc!! (Unless that’s only for JB students?) But, yes totally agree. I feel like I only know like 2% of anything marketing due to the nature of technology and how quickly the industry changes!

Also, hoping we can have a dialogue. Your cohort has limited marketing experience, but opening to learning. I need a translation/ explanation of all data you presented.
-So historically Facebook was good channel cost-wise, but lately pricier due to changing in the platform
However, the platform is highly effective in-platform engagement because FB built for engagement metrics like: likes, celebrates, comments, shares, etc.

So essentially you’re telling GenZ and marketers to not write-off platforms based on our own biases, and let data do the talking?

This is some great insights! Being a young professional myself and interacting with others who have more or less tenure than me has shown me exactly what you are pointing out. I think the moment that we stop looking at the data and generalizing marketing strategies based on our perspectives is when we will fail to be successful marketers. Always paying attention to ALL our target audience is imperative to continue to succeed.

Jen, we could have had an entire Learnathon dedicated to this subject alone. To your point, as someone who’s served in-house for well over a decade, I quickly realized the value of agency specialists who spend their days living and breathing these details. With things so rapidly changing, it made sense to parter and “buy” these insights vs trying to keep up myself.

To other points on other posts: This kind of fractured, highly specialized media market made me wonder if there was greater value in managing fewer channels, really really well. (email newsletters! QR codes! What’s old is new again!

Jen, I absolutely loved reading your analysis here.
Facebook’s decision to dial back on the targeting options is interesting but also frustrating for the organizations/charities that have to key in on a certain margin of people. Part of me feels like this is hurting those orgs. For example, I always get ads surrounding M.S. because my mom has the disease and I am actively involved with the M.S. Society. It’s weird for me to get removed from that keyed in targeting, because their advertisements were informative – especially when the COVID pandemic started to come about.
I also believe this will disrupt those micro-moments you’ve mentioned. How can we ensure the right audience gets from point A to point B when we can’t target the exact consumer profile? I don’t know how this will create more opportunity honestly. But I am interested to see how this transformation plays out.

I went to Iceland in 2018 for a long weekend and loved it! It’s hilarious that they did this mockery of Zuckerberg’s announcement! I think it’s so funny how many memes have popped up about Meta and Facebook. I wrote my latest eportfolio post about this – do you think that the memes are helping our hurting the Meta brand? They definitely keep the conversation going longer than it would have if the announcement hasn’t been so weird.

Ha, this is very timely and funny! I agree with Kathy that all the memes have kept the conversation going a lot longer. I went back to watch the original post on Meta’s Youtube channel and saw that it hadn’t even reached 1M views. I find that very interesting and it definitely has me questioning Meta’s interest and likability factor. This goes back to our Mobile Marketing class discussion about use of social media/privacy. It seems that some of our classmates are moving away from it all and perhaps the general public is too.

Love this so much. It makes me want to drop everything and go to Iceland. I love how other brands are mocking Meta’s new stance on VR. Iceland’s tourism team needs a raise. I wish I could see data on how many people booked trips to Iceland and see if there is a correlation to this video’s views

Great parody and great opportunity to take advantage of what’s going on in real-time. Looks like Iceland made a push to get more tourism. Curious if they marketed through Facebook.. I mean Meta!

This is amazing and what a great way to incorporate humor with tourism!!! I wonder why ICELAND felt the need to promote themselves as a country to visit though? Do you think there has been a lack of tourism regardless of COVID?

HA! Great share. Iceland is pretty magical and this certainly captures the spirit of the culture I experienced when visiting years ago…

I think this is really interesting and definitely has potential, but it is hard to imagine a world where another company unseats Google from its position of power. That said, I hope it does give Google a run for its money!

Ooooooo interesting! Here are my thoughts:

1. I like the logo very much — especially for a search engine. Very refreshing.
2. I like the positioning + value proposition
3. I like the simplicity of the website, especially the primary light grey + black font… has this very minimalist Wikipedia or Craigslist vibe to it, but more modern
4. I love that they offer up joining the Slack community right up top
5. I love the hover state…. hover + BOOM, color!
6. I’m happy there’s going to be some competition in this space; DuckDuckGo freaks me out bc all of the ultra-conservatives in my life that use it, and that just makes me uncomfortable that a certain psychographic of folx use a single platform… feels isolated and rabbit-holey!

I appreciate this!!!!
Jb

Agree with Jen that the logo and color is amazing. I also agree with Erin that it will take alot for this browser to grab any users from Google’s tight grasp. I wonder what makes this different from browsers like DuckDuckGo. How will the company make money if it won’t track or sell users’ data? THere’s alot of questions coming from my head but this is really interesting

Thank you for sharing Kathryn, As someone who works in paid advertising, I am definitely aware of how Google dominates the search engine space. For context, majority of my clients either allocate all their paid search budget to Google or do a 90%/10% split between Google and Bing. The truth is even with endless funds Bing is just not able to spend in the way Google can nor does it yield great CTR results. I am excited to see how this new search engine is going to play a part in the space and if Ill be able to recommend it to my clients.

Although this is a great site (I just got to check it out for the first time!) I do not think that it will be my default browser as I personally like my data being tracked so that I can received targeted searches. This is a great alternative for those who are extremely cautious with their data and is a great investment for the future from SalesForce,

With any service or product giving out personal info is always a risk. BetterHelp is all about functionality, convenience, and a pleasant user experience. All users can use both mobile or desktop versions of this platform, depending on their preferences. Some people want to stay anonymous and ensure all their data and conversations with counselors are strictly confidential. As it states, you don’t have to tell your real name on BetterHelp. Even if you decide to go with your actual contact and personal data, you can be entirely sure that everything is highly protected and confidential. Suppose you are visiting the website as a California or European Union resident. In that case, your rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act or GDPR are an addendum to this policy.
Categories of Information Collected:
– Visitor Data
– Onboarding Data
– Account Registration Data
– Transaction Data
– Login Data
– Counseling Session Data
– Customer Data
– Counselor Data
– Communications Data

It’s really interesting that you wrote on this because today I saw a lot of people on my timeline talking about the collaboration between Travis Scott and BetterHelp. One of the main concerns that people had was that BetterHelp was not a secure app and that they were actually selling customer data, which is very concerning. This is not the first time I heard something like this about BetterHelp and other digital therapy services. I do wonder about how serious these companies are about protecting customer information and whether they are using the data received from consumers for any other reasons. Though like Jordan said, it seems like you don’t have to share personal information if you don’t want to which is good.

Great post! I hear adds for BetterHelp all the time on Spotify podcasts, and have always been intrigued by the concept and curious about their company success. I find it very interesting that Dr. Kirby left the practice, and this definitely makes me wary of the application. I think a innovation like this could be highly beneficial for society, allowing mental health resources to be more accessible not only because it is on own personal device but also financially. There is a huge gap in mental healthcare in America and across the world and I think technology like this could make a huge difference, but there is clearly a lot of privacy concerns to be thoroughly thought out. I will be looking into this brand further, to gain a better understanding of their business plan! Thanks again for sharing!

HIPAA, GDPR and CPRA/CCPA all present some pretty stringent standards regarding how any company can use individual health data.

Is that enough though? Who watches the Watchmen?

I’m admittedly not as well versed on this specific venture as you all are, but I appreciate your perspective. The risk with any data collection is that the “enforcement” really only happens in the breach. It may effectively punish the venture, but it’s cold comfort for those who put their trust in the brand.

Why is it that there’s so much ambiguity here? I would expect the T&Cs in this space require even more clarity than most, and yet I assume they are even more opaque and lawyerly?

Wow I had no idea that this was even a new feature they were considering. I logged into my app and couldn’t find the games so maybe it hasn’t made its way to iOS. Personally I don’t think this is a good move for Netflix, though I understand why they introduced this new feature. I just don’t see many people including myself to log into the Netflix app to play a game when I could be rewatching Criminal Minds for the 5th time. I feel like these games will distract from the real purpose of the Netflix app. Though I’m curious to see if there will be a decrease in time of people watching content on the app once the games roll out!

Interesting direction for Netflix. I’d imagine that this is an attempt by Netflix to attract a segment of the market that isn’t consuming their other content, as in gamers perhaps…? And to get as much data about them as they can?

I just posted about Twitch on our other class blog, and admittedly, I don’t know much about that at all, but I uncovered this tidbit in “A Marketers Guide to Twitch:” In 2020, the Twitch community watched over 1 trillion minutes of content in 2020. And every day, Twitch affiliates and their partners create more content than is available in Netflix’s entire catalog. I would imagine that Netflix is paying a lot of attention to those stats.

Seems that some in the business world are not convinced, here’s an interesting piece from Harvard Business Review about that: https://hbr.org/2021/11/gaming-isnt-netflixs-best-opportunity-for-growth

This is interesting… I wish Netflix was less secretive with its data, and we could better understand their reasons for this. Per Kathryn’s comment, perhaps it’s trying to reach gamers, or maybe it’s a tactic to further engage non-gaming viewers in their content. I think there are a lot of directions this concept could go… like what if you’re watching a cooking show and could order a meal kit from a famous chef based on your interactions? Or design a house in one of those fixer upper shows?
The first interactive movie to get on my radar was Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, which I didn’t love but mostly because I didn’t find the characters or plot compelling. I think with the right storyline and call to action, interactive shows/movies could be headed in a cool direction.

I understand their tactic (like mentioned above) to engage with different or inactive users in a new way, but I also agree that they should stick with what they know. Aren’t they big enough to just stick to movies/tv?

I found it interesting that Apple tried to hold up the iOS release because their App Store policies state that third-party apps cannot act as storefronts for other apps. In release emails backs in May it seems that Apple wanted Netflix to continue selling subscriptions within its app so they could earn a cut of the money – apparently Google had given Netflix a break on their standard commission. (https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/9/22772480/netflix-games-apple-iphone-ipad-ios-subscription-app-store)

Great Post Hannah! This is super interesting, especially because I feel like there was not a lot of buzz or marketing around it. As soon as I read this, I went straight to the app and could not find it. While I was on the app, I did some thinking. Where would they even put the “games” tab. It kind of feels like an elephant in the room, where it just doesn’t belong. When consumers think of Netflix it’s all about shows, movies and a personalized experience. They want quality entertainment. I understand with the whole metaverse, AR, VR, technology maybe this was an attempt to make users play games to feel like they’re a part of the shows. According to the article though, Netflix did this as an “attempt to keep subscribers and gain new ones”. This surprised me because there target market is “18-39 year olds who have an average household income of $102,000 per year.” That market is probably working individuals, not people who sit around and play games.

This kind of reminds me of when Netflix came out with their “Choose Your Own Adventure” film called Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. I wonder if they are concerned because of the plateau of subscribers and the rise of third party hosting sites. I like the idea of the games, but I am not sure that I would subscribe to Netflix just to play them

Wow! I had no idea this happened, but what a great feature addition on Netflix’s part. Considering the vast profitability that lying in gamification and the gaming industry I think this will be a success. Baking the new gaming features into the subscription model is an interesting decision on Netlfixs part, great for the viewer but I wonder if this decision will be more profitable for Netflix. I am continuously reminded of Netflix’s business plan after reading their case study months ago. I wonder if the gaming addition will change to add on pricing eventually to make up for lost profits elsewhere, this might be a good opportunity for Netflix to break ahead.

Meh! Feels true to Netflix to be experimental and transcend certain verticals. Will I partake in it? No. I’m not a gamer necessarily, but am excited for folx who are.

Do we also know that TV is a HUGELY social space, which makes games on TV/Movies fun… yep! Makes a lot of sense.

I think it’s just fun and even sticky; not sure it adds any additional value than that.

I may have the unpopular opinion here but I liked Netflix’s previous attempts at interactive film and the concept of “choosing your own adventure”. I think that when the games are live and the catalogue grows, interactive content will become increasingly intertwined with video-on-demand offering and Netflix is once again in the lead.

Thank you for sharing Hannah. I seem to be on the same boat as the rest of the people since I had no idea this was a thing. This either means Netflix is rolling this out super slowly so had not launched a full campaign for it or they need to fire their marketing team for lacking awareness campaigns. Either way, I do not see how this will fit into their overall strategy. Netflix has been doing well with several successful original content that I do not see people turning to it when they think to play games. From the article it seems they are selfishly using it as a way to gain market research to influence future decsions.

Before the pandemic I had never used Twitch before because I thought that it was an app mainly for gamers, and I’m not a part of that community. Like you said in your post, many artists used it to hold live shows and thats’s how I started using it. I don’t use it much now but I do see the appeal of the platform! I haven’t checked out the other content they have on the app but the fact that they create more content than in available on Netflix is very shocking to me. I think I may have to give the app another look!

Twitch ranked 37th globally for overall internet engagement. So it’s no surprise that Twitch is primarily for video gamers in the U.S., but it ranks 4th in line after (Youtube, FB, Insta, Twitter). Amazon purchased Twitch back in August 2014 for $970 million. Amazon’s Prime service comes with a premium Twitch subscription which I recently found out. Since the data leak in October 2021, which included info on creator payouts, I’m sure influencer marketing managers must be creative with their strategies.
Just in the year, 2021 Twitch achieved:
– 1274 BILLION minutes watched this year so far
– 8.7 MILLION unique creators streaming each month
– 2,808,000 average concurrent viewers
– 106,100 average concurrent streamers

Hi Kathryn! Thanks for the post! Just to offer some alternative things, I have quite a few friends that will watch Twitch streams of things you wouldn’t expect. One of my friends watches someone on Twitch that records themselves following along to Bob Ross’ paint guides. My cousin watches streamers do live-action fun things, like drive in cars really fast or perform skydiving feats.

A Japanese hotel gave 3 guests free stay if they were willing to livestream themselves the whole time they were there. Quite a few people took them up on their offer, which worked as a strangely weird promotional effort by the hotel (which had to have worked in some capacity because I’m talking about it here).

There’s quite a few niche communities, but I’ve personally never participated– there’s something so creepy to me about watching another person as they do something live.

Wow I had no idea that Twitch offered more than just game streaming. I feel like the way they market themselves doesn’t help to open it up to other people. When I see ads about Twitch (or at least the ones I can remember) they are all about gaming. I would like to learn more about their marketing strategy and find out why they aren’t marketing the other sides of Twitch.

I agree with many of you by saying that since I’m not a gamer, Twitch didn’t seem like the platform for me. My nephews use it for that purpose and I always ask “How do you find watching someone else play a video game so entertaining?”. same for kids that watch other kids play with toys on YouTube. Different generation, different trends. After a quick research, I learned that 41% of viewers on Twitch are between the ages of 16 to 24 years old which means that college students make up a large portion of the consumption of this form of entertainment. I predict that college students will play huge role in growing the gaming industry even more and it may become as competitive as other college sports. This will be interesting to see.

I don’t use Twitch and probably wouldn’t even know about it, but my husband just watches Twitch all day long in the background while he’s working. I wouldn’t have realized how many people are actually using the platform if I didn’t hear about it from him. He has his favorite streams, and the people who he watches serve as influencers for him. They help him decide what video games to play, and he even buys their merch. From a marketer’s perspective, I can see how gamers like him would be a huge segment to target – but they won’t reach me on that platform!

I have been on Twitch and have really seen how the platform has changed. Twitch in particular has dealt with the up and downs of competitors like YouTube and Afreeca. I know that it has been branching out from pure game streaming to other things, but I will be more interested to see how Twitch handles the new content. There was a trend when they were banning people streaming in hot tubs.

Thank you for sharing Kathryn. Before the pandemic I had no idea what Twitch even was and even after I have only seen the gaming side of it. I know the platform has had some very successful creators filming themselves play fortnite. I wonder why Twitch did not use its newly found popularity to market its other streaming services during a time the world was looking for ways the be entertained.

Hey Kathryn! I, too, am not an avid Twitch user but because of my job I work with many Twitch channels on producing content featuring my artists. There’s podcasts we work with that go live on Twitch first before releasing the recording on other platforms, and there’s music magazines – like SPIN – who have invested in their own Twitch channel for musician takeovers.
It’s true Twitch has evolved from gaming. It’s more-so a YouTube competitor than anything else.
I think the reason people gravitate to Twitch is the user experience. It reminds me of AIM a bit.

How interesting that you bring this channel to center of attention! I actually have not heard much of it myself so thank you for sharing the link to learn more. Gaming has always been an industry I have been interested in and hope to one day be part of. I definitely think that being aware of the importance of this community is imperative for many other industries like music that you had mentioned. Marketing is always surprising me with all the new ways we can reach our audience, things like Twitch is why I never want to leave the industry.