Andrew Lark

Continuous Learning

Loved this post from Leo on learning. I wonder what would happen if all of us built a learning plan and stuck to it. I've been learn math and wine via The Great Courses. Also learning about Sea Kayaking, which has involved a bit of swimming.

Media Habits Evolving in Aus

Some interesting insights... all reinforce that the channels are adding to and broadening traditional distribution and reach.

Nielsen, OzTAM and Regional TAM reported that 95% of households have at least one digital TV set, up from 90% in the first quarter of 2011. Some 70% receive digital stations on all of the sets they used.

• During a typical month, the typical person watched 113 hours and 38 minutes of television, rising by six hours 31 minutes on an annual basis.
• 44% of Australian households possessed PVRs or other time-shifting technology, and the average amount of time dedicated to playing back content has grown by four hours and 31 minutes, to 12 hours, since Q4 2010.
• 77% of homes are connected to the internet, and Australians normally spend 43 hours 54 minutes using this medium on a PC per month.
• Watching any form of online video, from broadcast content to user-generated clips, contributed three hours and 27 minutes to this total.
• 49% of Australians aged over 14 years old now own a smartphone. This total has grown from 35% at the start of 2011.
• Smartphone subscribers spent 1 hour 20 minutes watching all forms of video through this route by the end of last year, measured against 35 minutes in the first quarter.
• 10% of metropolitan households now own one or more tablets, with 5% of the online population viewing video content in this way by the close of last year, up from 2% at the end of 2010.

Perhaps they got the store concept wrong

Interesting read on Bloomberg about retailers shuttering their Facebook stores. What's surprising is that they didn't try new concepts all together. Why would you shop the same experience in Facebook that you could have on the web? If the alternate store is one bookmarked click away, then there is hardly stickiness.

We've had an alternate experience at CBA - the Facebook community is vibrant and its an exciting channel. We don't want another branch in Facebook, we want Facebook to be an extension of our branches. For the two together, to create a better and differentiated experience. Ok, it's early days. And that's why shuttering stores seems remarkably shortsighted. 

It also seems to miss one of the killer elements that Facebook offers us all - a compelling and low-cost platform on which to experience and play. Play is the key factor. It is what people do when they get there. I wonder how many of these retailers tried to reinvent retailing as a game in facebook? 

We'd give Facebook an "F" for fun, and and "A" for marketing impact.

Giving Up Email

Enjoyed this read and thought this bit was spot on:

We have finally understood and came to terms with the fact that we could no longer sustain that method of working in an environment where we now know there are much much better collaborative and knowledge sharing tools out there with social software. We are finally embracing that notion that we need to smarten up in our very own use of email, even if that implies playing games, and start considering how email is no longer the king and master of the corporate world, but just another useful tool for certain types of interactions where it is rather suited for the job.