Here are ten things in technology that happened recently and how they affect your business and your clients’ businesses. Did you miss them?
1. Twitter is removing photos and links from its 140-character limit. Twitter has been struggling with the decision to increase its 140-character limit, and so far the purists are winning. But it was recently reported that the company will no longer be including photos and links in that count.
Why this is important for your business: The more space you have, the more information you can provide to your Twitter followers. This move should hopefully give you a little more wiggle room to get the messages out.
2. A translation earpiece allows you to understand languages you’ve never learned. According to a report from Forbes: “Two Bluetooth earbuds, one in your ear, one in your other-language-speaking counterpart, let you communicate almost normally, just by speaking your own language.”
Why this is important for your business: If you do a lot of international travel, language is a huge challenge. This little gadget won’t be able to negotiate better deals for you, but hopefully it’ll help you better understand what’s going on!
3. Employee monitoring is reaching a whole new level – and is creating new issues.
Why this is important for your business: Wearable tech and the Internet of Things will bring with it better tools for improving productivity and health in the office. But the potential invasiveness of these products could also bring serious legal concerns.
4. Amazon Echo has a new challenger in the market: Google Home. Amazon Echo has been getting a lot of press lately because it’s a very cool little device that will perform functions and look up information for people on voice commands from across a room. It’s considered to be one of the first functional examples of how the smart home will work in the future. And now Google is getting into the game with its own competitor: Google Home.
Why this is important for your business: Here’s yet another hint of what’s to come in the smart home industry. If your clients make products or technologies for the home, they may want to think about how these devices will affect their future sales. And whatever’s being used in the home will also be used in the office, so look for these products be potential productivity tools for your employees too.
5. Instagram allows for longer videos and more ads. Instagram’s carousel ads originally just allowed marketers to show multiple photos of a product on the same post, just by flipping through them. Now the feature has been expanded to include videos.
Why this is important for your business: As video continues its assault on the Internet, you need to be looking for new and better ways to get your message across to your prospects and clients. If your audience is on Instagram, carousel ads now provide you with an even better way to improve your messaging.
6. 117 million LinkedIn e-mails and passwords are for sale on the dark web. Per Forbes: “Fresh LinkedIn credentials went on sale on a dark web market known as The Real Deal. The dealer, who goes by the name Peace, is now offering 117 million LinkedIn usernames and passwords for a considerably high price: 5 Bitcoin, worth approximately $2,200.”
Why this is important for your business: Yikes. Change your LinkedIn password immediately.
7. Twitter has stopped caring about “buy” buttons. Twitter is said to have moved most of the staff working on its “buy” buttons initiative and many others have left the company, according to
Why this is important for your business: Have you or your clients offered “buy” buttons to your Twitter followers? You may have been the only one. When Twitter announced last year that it was adding “buy” buttons to individual tweets, many thought it was going to change the face of e-commerce. Apparently it didn’t. No one really cared. So if you ignored this trend, you probably did the right thing. “Buy” buttons on the social media service are a bust.
8. Snapchat could now be worth $18 billion. With its current round of funding, the social media service is now one of the highest valued “unicorns” ever. And, according to a Forbes article, its rising valuation also could suggest that the startup’s advertising business is healthy.
Why this is important for your business: Healthy? I’d say so! If you haven’t tried Snapchat, try it. It’s addicting. And a picture is definitely worth a thousand words – particularly if it disappears into the ether forever. Millions of teenagers are using this service, which has seen nothing but growth in its popularity over the past few years. If your business is targeting this market, this seems like a platform that’s right for your marketing dollars.
9. GoDaddy offers a cool new app to evaluate your startup idea. According to
Why this is important for your business: Maybe this is just a marketing gimmick, but I don’t think so. Getting feedback on a startup’s potential is probably the most important thing you can do before risking your time and money on what you think is a great idea. Look for more AI technology like this one to appear over the next few years that will add another point of view to your decision-making process.
10. A craft company creates the perfect beer holder. It’s genius. A
Why this is important for your business: Using green technology to make your business stand out in a crowded field of competitors? Also genius. Congrats to SaltWater Brewery for giving us a reason to drink more beer.
