Email Newsletter Subs Trump RSS - Study

An unsurprising study out of Hubspot this morning reveals that email subscribers to many blogs factor in 12x larger than those who read through RSS. I am not seeing this in my own stats however. Only 1.5% of you read site feed via email. Still, I keep thinking about where RSS reading is going these days. I love the technology but have begun to explore other opt

Borrowing a page from Matt Cutts, for January I am trying a 30-day challenge - to reduce my use of RSS. I am trying to only dip into Google Reader as a data warehouse. I am finding that email newsletters, Gmail filtering and Twitter lists/Listimonkey maybe all I need. It simplifies my streams.

Anybody else seeing a shift to email newsletters? E-marketer reports that companies are increasingly integrating email and social media.

Gmail Points To Possibilities Of The Data Decade

Photo credit: Cinefil on Flickr

The following is also my column in this week's Advertising Age.

If you threw me on a desert island (one with internet connectivity) and said that I could use only one website, it would be Gmail.

For the last five years Gmail has become the most indispensable tool in my communications and productivity system. I've even found a full-fledged Twitter client, Twitgether, that integrates into Gmail.

My use of Gmail is unorthodox in that I also use it as a massive database -- a backup brain and more. For years now I have been e-mailing myself articles that I think I might need later. Along the way, Gmail gives me a preview of what the algorithmic, personalized future of advertising and media will undoubtedly resemble.

The 2010s (or "the Tens" as it might be called) will be the Data Decade. Companies that understand how to harness it will win. Those that don't will perish. The same goes for marketers.

The Harvard Business Review highlighted this issue in its recent list of breakthrough ideas for next year: "When a 12-year-old can gather information faster, process it more efficiently, reference more diverse professionals, and get volunteer guidance from better sources than you can at work, how can you pre

tend to be competitive?" wrote Bill Jensen and Josh Klein in the January 2010 issue. The article outlined a bank that was having trouble parsing its massive amounts of data into reports that senior executives could actually use. The breakthrough idea? "Work hacking," or working creatively to get your best data and information.

And that's what Gmail has done. Google has built an ingenious search-advertising business -- it's all about intent. You need to enter a query before you are served with relevant ads. However, over the next decade, trusted sites such as Gmail will have learned enough about us that they will start to surface media, social and advertising content before we even ask. This is why I believe Facebook will succeed wildly. Like Google, they are data-driven, using what they call "the lens of friends" to connect us in real-time with products and services. This was one of Facebook's takeaways from the recent Le Web conference: We increasingly discover online content not just by algorithms but via this lens.

Google understands it's all about data. And Gmail is where you really can see a glimmer of where they will continue to shine in "the Tens" and how all those free services around the search engine will add up to revenues fast. Here's a simple example.

Recently I became fascinated with the work habits of Thomas Jefferson (a hacker and data geek if there ever was one). I am particularly intrigued by his fondness for stand-up desks, which are exactly what they sound like. As someone who already sits for much of the day, the thought of standing at the computer instead of sitting when I get home is actually appealing. So I began e-mailing myself articles on the topic that I found on websites. A few days later the little news ticker in my Gmail inbox began to show me ads for stand-up desks, which I have clicked on and have used in my research for what I might end up buying for my apartment.

Think about that: Gmail surfaced high-value information in the form of ads even when I wasn't searching for it. That's an early view of what the Data Decade will look like.

Three Ideas for 2010 Part III: Lifelogging and Self Tracking

Happy 2010! Note this is the third in a three-part series on ideas anyone can ride in 2010 and beyond. - part I is here and part II is here.

Image credit: Evernote Web site

One of the great mindset shifts from the last decade is that today, finally, people of all walks are recognizing that what gets captured and measured gets managed (to quote Peter Drucker).

In 2010 and beyond we will become far more savvier about using data (both our own and aggregate streams) to make decisions large and small. Those who commit themselves to becoming data-driven will be in the best position to succeed both in business and in life - just ask Google. Consider leading yourself and inspire others to do live and work the same. In 2010 I am personally trying to apply data-driven tools, thinking and insights to all of my goals.

One way anyone become more data-driven by logging his/her life. This isn't a new idea. In fact, it's ancient. Consider former senator Bob Graham. He takes meticulous daily notes on the mundane to foreign policy in notebooks and has done so for decades.

"I start each month with a fresh notebook, the color which would follow the last notebook of the previous month.  On the inside cover of the notebook I write the information which will determine its overall position in the total collection of notebooks (the first notebook used in July of 2009 would be 7/09A), the date upon which the notebook was commenced and completed, and the information which would assist in recovery of the notebook should it be lost (address, home-office-cell numbers and email address) and, finally, an index of when the sections of notebook were completed by my having finished the “things to do” lists  in that notebook."

Self-tracking goes beyond just capture, though. You need to use the data to glean insights. Google Spreadsheets has a great way to do this with their gadgets. You can even set up forms for to make capturing the data even easier. For more on this topic, read Chris Brogan's "three words," Flowing Data and The Quantified Self. Other tools to look at include 23andMe, Nike Plus, Evernote and a host of others. 

Oh and if you think this is just for geeks, think again. Even parents are obsessed with data. For more, see the video embedded below or here.

There's no doubt in my mind that if you dedicate yourself to using data wisely to plan and measure you will succeed no matter what your goals are. And, increasingly, the tools to make this happen are getting easier and more accessible all the time.

Holy Moses, We're Bored and Out of Shiny Objects

Image credit: Moses with the Tablets of Law by Wally G

For the last several months there's been a ton of interest in the mythical Apple tablet. Just how much? Since July Google searches for the words Apple and tablet are up 400% percent and news reference volume is up 150%. Apple has said nothing so that leaves a lot of room for armchair quarterbacking, the latest of which is a thoughtful and intelligent discourse between MG Siegler at TechCrunch and Joe Wilcox. But there's a bigger story here: we, the early adopters, are officially bored.

Twitter is out of beta and nothing arguably as innovative is seeming to replace it - although growth maybe peaking. Facebook and smartphones have become mainstream. Everything else - even some significant innovations in the mobile computing space that I am sure we will see at CES - is being (incorrectly) considered iterative. And so we're left to debate the merits and need for the Apple tablet, a fantastic imaginary device addressing arguably a need and market that does not exist currently, except perhaps in our imagination.

Mind you, I am not saying this is wrong. I am am just trying to scratch under the surface at the psychology of the meme. Perhaps part of the reason there has been so much debate is that the economy has slowed the pace of industry innovation and so what's in front of us can't meet the expectations of a select, yet influential few - the early adopters.

So, we keep talking about the tablet in full view. The press therefore rightly keeps writing – the conjecture is a story too. Plus the occasional new rumors and opinion keep the the cycle going.

All of this is a fascinating study in the psychology of our times and how conversation drives the news and the hype cycle, potentially setting up everyone to fail given the outlandish expectations.

Perhaps only divine intervention will give us what we want, even if we may not need it.

Three Ideas for 2010 Part II: DIY Work Hacking

Happy 2010! Note this is the second in a three-part series covering three big ideas to ride in 2010. Part I is here.

DIY Work Hacking

Photo credit: Dave Malkoff

In a column in the New York Times last month Tom Friedman described how do-it-yourself (DIY) technology tools, particularly cloud computing services, are empowering workers to do more with less. The Harvard Business Review in their January/February issue describes this as Hacking Work (article available behind the paywall).

"When a 12-year-old can gather information faster, process it more efficiently, reference more diverse professionals, and get volunteer guidance from better sources than you can at work, how can you pretend to be competitive?...Hack work, and embrace the others in your midst who care enough to do so."

Good advice.

I have been a DIY type my whole career - always on the lookout for ways I can use technology to streamline my work. One of my favorite techniques is to use bookmarklets. If you don't know where to start, visit marklets.com. They have a great directory. Another great resource for ideas on hacking work is, naturally, Lifehacker. The photo above is the site's editor, Adam Pash. I am not sure if this is a sign of the times or not, but Lifehacker's global traffic was up 37% last year according to their own stats, which they make publicly available here.

Doing more with less is part of The Great Reset. Those who embrace using new technologies and tools will not only survive, but thrive. No one will teach you necessarily how to do this on your own. Each information worker needs to take matters into their own hands.