Max Engel

3 Product Development

Trends to WatchJanuary 2013

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Topics Covered

- About Me

- Introduction

- Discussion of Key Trends

- Implications

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About Me

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A Bit About Myself

Max Engel, Product MacGyver

About Me

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About Me

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About Me

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Brickd.com(Lego)

8BitKid.com(nerdy things)

MaxEngel.com(work and personal)

Introduction

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Where We Are

What is Driving the Evolution of Online Storytelling

Introduction

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Introduction

Online Narratives Have

Changed

• Stories are being told in different ways

• Content is more readily available

• News is being commoditized

Circa iPhone app

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Introduction

A “Story” is Now Much

More

• The story only begins when the publish

button is pressed

• The line between content creator and

contributor is being blurred

• Users want to participate and be

engaged

Forbes’ new article page

Product Trends of 2013

3 Key Driver of Innovation

Introduction

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3 Trends are Shaping Product

Development

Introduction

Mobile SocialData

Discussion of Key Trends

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Mobile

How smartphones are reshaping how we build

Discussion of Key Trends

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Discussion of Key Trends

The Needs of Mobile Users

are Different

• Value in designing “mobile-first”

• Users enjoy “snackable” content

• Content needs to be optimized for on-

the-go consumption

Pocket iPhone App

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Discussion of Key Trends

Responsive Design

• One site across all screen sizes

• Often HTML5 sites leveraging CSS3 to

perform media queries to make content

adapt to the screen it is on

• Ensures parity across platforms and a

consistent experience

Sasquatch Music Festival Site

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Discussion of Key Trends

Native App vs. Web App

• Native apps help drive engagement via

push notifications and can leverage

device API’s for speed and functionality

• HTML5 web apps help fight

fragmentation

• It is important to choose the right

technology based on the problem being

solved

Grooveshark HTML5 app

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Data

Information is abundant and freely flowing

Discussion of Key Trends

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Discussion of Key Trends

Going Beyond Analytics

• Now the challenge is not getting

the data, but instead figuring out

how to make it actionable

• Real-time testing means content

can be optimized on-the-fly to

drive core KPI’s

• User intent can be better

understood

USA Today Uses Real-time Headline A/B Testing

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Discussion of Key Trends

Open Platforms and API’s

• Data can become a commodity

that innovative experiences are

built on top of

• Structured data projects like

Facebook’s Open Graph give

semantic meaning to online

engagement

SoundCloud Developer Hub

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Discussion of Key Trends

Personalization

Recommendations can be custom-tailored based on data

analysis

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Pandora(recommendatio

n as a product)

EchoNest(recommendatio

n as a service)

Spotify(music-driven

content

recommendation)

Social

Moving from feature to foundation

Discussion of Key Trends

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Discussion of Key Trends

Building on Social

• While social used to be a feature

bolted onto sites, it is now

enabling sites that couldn’t have

existed before

• Users need to be a part of the

content creation process

• Curation helps the best user-

generated content filter up

Rap Genius

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Discussion of Key Trends

Distribution

• Content no longer lives in a silo, and

users may not interact with your

content or brand inside of your walls

• Social media referrals means that every

page needs to be a landing page

• The lines between writers, contributors,

and readers will continue to blur

Soundtracking’s

Twitter Cards

implementation24

Implications

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While these 3 trends are going to

catalyze product innovation in the

coming year, it is also important to

recognize their pitfalls

Implications

• Monetization is still immature

• Users still love big experiences on big screens

• Certain interactions are better suited for unique designs

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Mobile is amazing, but…

Implications

• Be mobile first, web second

• Create content that bridges platforms seamlessly

• Consider when a responsive design might lead to bad user

experience

So maybe I should…

• Doesn’t lead to serendipity

• Emphasizes quantitative analysis of qualitative evaluations

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Data lets me do great things, except

it…

Implications

• Be data-informed, instead of data-driven

• Remember that A/B testing can’t create new ideas

So it might be better to…

• Authority still matters

• They often create a low social signal-to-noise ratio

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Users demand social products, and

yet…

Implications

• Not discount the importance of curation

• Never forget the power of an editor

So it might be better to…

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Conclusion:

trends are great, but being trendy isn’t

Implications

Thanks!

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My info:

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email:

max@maxengel.com

twitter: @8bitkid

web: maxengel.com