Fransgaard's blog - Latest Comments

Re: Love this: My Twitter activity as an infographic.

Fransgaard — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:21:34 -0000

lol

Re: How to create a professional website using WordPress as a non-digital Graphic Designer

Fransgaard — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 04:13:30 -0000

Hi Lewis. Thanks for your comments.
I think we actually agree, so here's a couple of points of clarification (which I'll add to the blog post for clarification):

1: When I wrote "digital designer" I mean the person who do the user experience, the visual concepts and the top level design. I am not talking about a digital art worker or a template designer.

2: What I meant with a digital designer not having to learn HTML I meant not learning HTML to a PROFESSIONAL level. Understanding the basics is good but much more important is understanding what can be done with HTML.

I got a fairly good idea of what can be done with Javascript but I can't write it myself. Similar I know HTML quite well, having hand-coded some of the most accessible sites in the past, but today I wouldn't pass myself off as a professional HTML developer.

In fact I think fronteend development is too often not given the credit it need. It seems to fall on everybody and nobody to do it, but those who do solely fronteend development are miles better than those who do it as part of other roles.

You are right about the steep learning curve for a self-hosted Wordpress and yes, I tend to recommend About.me and Flavours.me as well to people. But the last couple of years I have seen a surge in emails/DMs both from graphic designers/offline art directors (both friends and people i don't know) asking for advice in producing a more professional online presence.

I know Wordpress so that is what I am recommending. Most non-digital savvy people are able to get self-hosted Wordpress sites up and running. Just because they are not digital professionals doesn't mean they are not intelligent and Wordpress, its instructions and its community are all very helpful. My experience with Drupal is it is much more technical and the admin interface is not easy to understand for non-digital people.

Re: How to create a professional website using WordPress as a non-digital Graphic Designer

lewisnyman — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 03:48:46 -0000

I have to disagree about not needing to know HTML to be a competent digital designer. HTML is the language of the web. It is fundamental to understanding how people access and interpret your content on a variety of different browsers and devices. It's the same as a print designer not understanding how different papers affect the colour of the design.

It seems like having to maintain and manage your own server space is a pretty steep barrier? It seems easier to suggest a hosted service like Wordpress.com, tumblr, or Drupal gardens instead of a self hosted solution.

I've been recommending about.me to a lot of friends recently because all they really want is a kind of digital business card.

Re: Love this: My Twitter activity as an infographic.

Katharine Robinson — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 07:52:47 -0000

I was a bit disappointed with mine - it thought I was a wine drinking gamer!

Re: 2012 – The return of the adults

Fransgaard — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 10:20:10 -0000

True. The teacher might not be the best example, but at least he is stepping up on the kid's terms, which many teachers are very scared to do (and rightly so as they don't feel at home in this new world of connectivity).

Re: 2012 – The return of the adults

Ed Fowler — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 03:37:08 -0000

Not sure about the rap teacher. As examples of fighting misogyny
with misogyny go it's not a great example. He may have been a better rapper but
he's still just as much of a sexist pillock.

Re: How I would improve Pinterest

Fransgaard — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 04:50:05 -0000

That's where the current legal systems fall down because how practical/feasible is it to actually do this?

This might be of interest: http://directmatchmedia.com/pi...

Re: How I would improve Pinterest

Saul Fleischman — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 04:45:36 -0000

Whatever went down when Cashmore deemed it SM Week, I wouldn't know; as for our intellectual property, when someone takes claim to what we hold dear, what we've put much time and the culmination of years of experience to produce, then we may take a different stance on what people see to achieve with "repinning..."

Re: How I would improve Pinterest

Fransgaard — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 04:39:40 -0000

Prior to Social Media Week I would have said yes, but now I just don't know. It seems current laws, and indeed current legal systems, simply cannot adapt to the new world of " always connected"

Re: How I would improve Pinterest

Saul Fleischman — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 04:13:04 -0000

It's about intellectual property and how social media pushes the envelope. We need to make noise when platforms allow the masses to take what we've created, right?

Re: How I would improve Pinterest

Fransgaard — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 03:50:36 -0000

You are touching on something that is hitting us fast: Social Governance and how social media complies with the law.

As to how the legal aspects of Pinterest work, I don't know but one of the speakers during social media week said: That the future of digital products and law was "Compliance will need to be built in at product level and throughout" rather than now where it's a lot of firefighting later on.

Social Governance is a new aspect of social media for me and one I think is going to be crucial for all aspects of digital work including ux and certainly social media. My captured sound bits on Social Governance from Social Media Week 2012 can be found on these two links:

http://fransgaard.com/impressi...
http://fransgaard.com/impressi...

Re: How I would improve Pinterest

Saul Fleischman — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 02:01:45 -0000

Fresh off Chris Pirillo @lockergnome blog is a detailed discussion on content ownership and the problems with pinning others' content. My simple reply: "then why does Pinterest, not a 3rd party, provide a bookmarklet that allows us to effortlessly pin your content to our own boards, if its a Pinterest-defined 'no-no'?"

As for your UX suggestions, while I have not encountered the zombieboard problem (THE UNDEAD BOARDS, you termed this; I prefer zombieboards), your other suggestions are spot-on. I would especially like to CNTL-click on several images and then repin to a selected Board. For sure, the fluidity on Pinterest could use improvement. Ah, but will they listen...?

Re: Getting the full story: Multi-channel storytelling using social media

Fransgaard — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:39:04 -0000

The beauty of a connected world.

Re: Getting the full story: Multi-channel storytelling using social media

Saul Fleischman — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:12:22 -0000

Its happening @fransgaard @locohama and to many of us. Just last year I got back in touch with a guy I hadn't seen since we were both 13; a friend of a friend re-shared a Facebook post of mine, and it found its way to him. (Could this be part of why we share our original content on more than one network? Its at least one of the reasons.)

Re: A Social Enterprise view on Klout

Fransgaard — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:24:03 -0000

Absolutely and that is the core of my issue with the current discussions about Klout: People tend to either see it as the solution to everything or completely pointless. Klout is but one facet and those who understands this will be able to give it the right amount of attention well aware of its short-comings.

Re: A Social Enterprise view on Klout

Patrick Allmond — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:23:39 -0000

Klout is a valid number, but is not a valid measurement of your clout. It does not gauge what a good lead or prospect is. And it does not tell you what that person's spending habits are. It an analytical, quantifiable measurement of the data a person is producing. And it can be easily gamed. As long as those making a decision based on that number know what that number truly represents then we are in good hands. If people start believe that a high Klout score indicates credibility, clout, influence, etc. then we are screwed :)

Re: A Social Enterprise view on Klout

Fransgaard — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:28:50 -0000

True, but they are both facets of a multi-faceted customer profile. These are ofcourse simplified profiles for example purpose only.

Re: A Social Enterprise view on Klout

Edwin Res — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:03:19 -0000

Klout (or whatever tool you use) is a marketing tool. Monthly spending is a sales KPI.
Always consider that when using these metrics.

Re: Thoughts spawned by CloudForce 2011

Fransgaard — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 06:47:25 -0000

Absolutely. I loved it when the presenter mentioned the 2 mill views. The whole room were stunned. Brilliant presentation technique.

Re: A Social Enterprise view on Klout

Fransgaard — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 06:29:40 -0000

Agree, Klout isn't perfect, far from it (for example why doesn't it count interactions on self-hosted sites?) and that is why it is very important to no over-estimate it, but saying it should be ignored is utopia from a industrial scale social CRM point of view.

Another danger is ofcourse whether a person perceived as influential by Klout actually IS influential in the product you are trying to sell.Good video, Clive, thanks for that one.

Re: A Social Enterprise view on Klout

Fransgaard — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 06:22:02 -0000

I think Klout (or equivalents) are here to stay as they help filter on an industrial scale in a social environment that by nature expect each customer to be treated individually which I doubt is economically feasible for most companies.

Cool, do you have a link to your article?

Re: A Social Enterprise view on Klout

Clive Roach — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:22:35 -0000

Very interesting. Indeed, I hope that Klout can realize its full potential after the just announced round of extra funding that it has received. I still feel that it falls short in defining exactly how and why scores are what they are. The recent changes on the site I do feel is moving things in the right direction, now that it shows WHERE you influence actually is when you compare yourself to others. This helps when you are looking for influencers that have influence in YOUR targeted network.

I like this topic a lot and made a stab at defining the definition of "Influencers" compared in a short cartoon on YouTube. I think this helps to understand why Eva might have more value because she is better connected and can maybe entice her social graph to possibly buy what she likes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v....

The combination of Radian6 with Klout looks great, but it should enable users to also see HOW people actually might influencers others by showing WHERE they have influence

Re: Thoughts spawned by CloudForce 2011

Clive Roach — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:00:53 -0000

Great to hear how the audience reacted to JuicyStar07 and what significance she really had. This is a great example of what Social media can do with our expectations and per-conceived ideas.

Re: A Social Enterprise view on Klout

Dalia Lasaite — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 15:39:54 -0000

Thanks Robert for a great post! Agree that a lot of dissatisfaction with Klout comes when people are taking it personally. As a brand you will need to segment your customers by their "influence", although in our view the best way to measure that "influence", at least for online retailers, is by how much money do these influencers bring you. Recently blogged about this at Campalyst blog (sorry for self referring :) )
Dalia

Re: A Social Enterprise view on Klout

Fransgaard — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 09:00:15 -0000

Thanks, yes, digital behaviour can also leave a first impression both on people and systems.