Mediaboss Marketing

Too much digital ink has been spilled over the apparent demise of email. Whats to replace email, and why email is dead, are all well-worn topics musing over a thin premise: social media will replace the well-worn 45-year-old medium. Yes, social media and collaboration platforms are now established, critical work tools. But these tools work alongside email, each channel complementing the others strengths.

Still, over the past two decades, social networks have guided emails continued development and vice versa and it will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. User-design, personalized communications and other elements bleed across the social-email divide. These changes can be boiled down to three elements, each improving on emails multimodal roles in todays world.

Email has always acted as a unifying element in the digital ecosystem. Digital registration, authentication and more almost always use email as the common denominator. Today, email has evolved thanks to the inclusion of more customer-centric data. These data range from social, to mobile, to offline, and more, and can be focused into a targeted medium that is as responsive and real-time as any social network.

But data is only half of the equation. How users interact with email and for what purpose has changed to accommodate both the growth of social and incorporate socials ability to relay information in a quick manner.

Until the advent and mass adoption of smartphones, email and social had a significant disconnect best described as immediacy. Social moved very quickly while conveying only headlines to attract a users attention. This headline functioned much in the same way as subject lines in email. Smartphones levelled the playing field by forcing all messaging channels to reorient themselves to a more headline focused display.

While social was already there due to character restrictions and just how the medium was conceived, email went through a metamorphosis that brought the friendly from, subject line and pre-header text into central focus. Instead of thinking above the fold based on preview panes, people had to start thinking in terms of the inboxs list-view and how to grab the attention of the recipient as rapidly as possible.

The reliable nature of email is one reason why many services employ it as a verification method. It helps prove, at the very least, there is a human at the end of the line, and not a bot. Email addresses are also used to verify and recover accounts and can act as a second form of verification, should a user or service need it. This is a powerful mechanism that most social networks have adopted as they push further into building out transactional and file-sharing services.

By taking note of emails strengths and weaknesses, some social media services are creating new verification methods. Some deploy verifications for password resets, security verifications or receipts through the app and others use SMS messages to directly contact the user. Regardless, theyre building out transactional communications between a buyer and seller, following many of emails cues.

In addition, social media sites are learning how to craft small, but impactful communications between a group of trusted friends while facilitating an activity or action. These communications are not just simple interactions like sharing photos, theyre sharing dynamic maps, locations, coordinating bill payments and more. Like email, social networks are evolving to meet the needs of the user wherever and whenever theyre required.

One could argue that Twitters move to expand the length of direct messages was in response to the utility that longer form communications like email provide when discussing or documenting complex thoughts that require more than 140 characters.

Peer-to-peer transfers, dynamic feedback and itemized receipts have been emails bread and butter for years, but the time it takes to open these missives have been slashed. It is only going to get faster and more personal as social networks build out and perfect their transactional efforts. Here, both email and social networks can work together to provide a superior customer experience.

The question that has to be answered is: which channel is best suited for quick communication vs. archival documentation? And, how quickly will brands and marketers adopt alternative mechanisms for closing the loop on transactions based on customer preferences?

Already cash registers accept NFC based payment methods in addition to credit cards and cash. They spit out receipts on paper or through email, or generated by a 3rd party payment system like Square.

With the right use of data, personalized marketing campaigns, loyalty programs and group deals can grow in effectiveness across both social and email. For example, maps to destinations can be sent to both an email account and a social networking app. New business-to-consumer communications, like chatbots, will soon play a bigger role in communication as well. They can do so by facilitating a one-on-one conversation between a business and a consumer as a user moves from a messaging application to an email and back all without losing its place in the conversation and scaling to meet increased messaging volumes.

These are great developments that can help simplify and coordinate digital livelihoods. Valuable feedback can be sent from a consumer to a business at the push of a button. Record-keeping, engagement and customer service has become more automated and personal across channels.

The two means of communication build on each other and improve their respective mediums to reach the ultimate goal: finding, identifying and sending a clear message that everyone wants and relies on.

Read next: Get started in cryptocurrency with this beginner's directory

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Social media didn't kill email but it did change it - TNW

Karnataka Bank has ventured into the social media by opening its official pages in social networking sites, namely, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Bank Managing Director and CEO M.S. Mahabaleshwara unveiled the official social handles at a function held at banks headquarters here on Wednesday. The official social media handle of the bank is @karnatakabank on Twitter and Facebook.

Mr. Mahabaleshwara said social media networks changed the way people interact with each other. The younger generation is well connected with social media networks. It tends to communicate anything on social media be it positive or negative. The bank has ventured into social media to leverage on its benefits and in pursuit of engaging the customers as well as well-wishers around the activities of the bank. Customers can connect to the bank instantly through social media, he said and urged customers to get connected with the bank through official pages/ handles in social media for updates and innovations of the bank.

Continued here:
Karnataka Bank forays into social networking sites - The Hindu

Recent news of Bitcoin going over $4,300 has a lot of people talking. Blockchain disruption has seen a major shift this year in the eyes of the mainstream, from a weird basement project to something that they literally can't take their hands (and wallets) off of. People from all walks of life are getting involved either in buying cryptocurrency or supporting various blockchain projects (Ethereum, NEO, Bitcoin, Siacoin, and others) aimed at disrupting old, centralized industries.

One of those industries or business models ripe and primed for disruption is social networks themselves. The same small number of players have been at it for over a decade now, with only a few exceptions. The power and control is centralized in just a few hands.

One of the issues, which most people don't realize, is that social networks essentially own all of your photos, content, and data when you post to them. You, the user, get nothing and these social networks continue to get bigger and bigger by riding off the backs of users giving away rights to their content. They are centralized in every way, literally decide what you will see and not see through their algorithms on your feed, and completely lack transparency. To me, this sounds like something ripe for disruption.

Social networks are currently the opposite of decentralized. They are controlled from the top down by large companies and their CEOs. And in almost all cases, in addition to giving away the rights to your data, they are also recording every single keystroke you make anywhere on their platforms.

Indorse, a new platform based on Ethereum, is creating a truly decentralized professional social network. On this platform, you own all your data and get paid directly for contributions. This solves the two major issues surrounding social networks:

First, nobody wants to create amazing content only to essentially sign away their rights to the social networks. You want to instead own all of your data, and actually get paid for it. Indorse empowers you and allows you to retain your rights instead of taking away those rights as a content creator.

Secondly, Indorse (who is currently running its ICO) physically pays you in tokens for helping them build the platform, rather than giving you nothing. On a side note, it's actually quite incredible that up until this point nobody has stopped and questioned the fact that the social networks make all this money and you, the user, literally do all the work. Instead of paying users for their content and traffic, they literally charge you to run ads to your own audience that you built. When you think about it in this regard, it's clear why this needs disruption.

Does this make sense? You build the business for them, they own all your rights and data, and they make all the money. Clearly not. Now that a company like Indorse is coming along, it solves these issues and puts the power back in the hands of the people. This is literally a picture-perfect business and industry primed for disruption through blockchain technology and the set of principles the community stands for.

On top of solving all of these major issues in the social-networking space, it will force some of the big players to adapt or die. The beauty of platforms like Indorse utilizing blockchain is that it forces change the same way Uber forced the taxi industry to change. At first, they tried to squash it and make it sound like some weird sci-fi alternate reality that was decades away, but then when it actually happened, they had to react or become obsolete.

Before getting involved in any cryptocurrency or ICO, you should do your own research. Nothing in this article should be considered investment advice.

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Blockchain Is Now Aiming to Disrupt Social Networks in a Major Way - Inc.com

(Updated with statements from Google and Gab.)

Gab, the conservative social network that has acted as a haven for people banned from the usual platforms, has been removed from the Google Play Store for violating the companys hate speech policy, the company announced on Twitter. Apple rejected it from the App Store in June for similar reasons.

That policy is pretty straightforward: We dont allow apps that advocate against groups of people based on their race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

Its not clear what specifically Gab did that warranted its being kicked off the store, but presumably it would have to be at the level of the app itself, not just someone idly venting hatred on the service. After all, theres plenty of hate speech on Twitter and YouTube, but those apps are still available despite a crackdown this week following the events in Charlottesville. Perhaps its a question of volume.

In a statement, Google didnt get too specific, but indicated it was a lack of moderation:

In order to be on the Play Store, social networking apps need to demonstrate a sufficient level of moderation, including for content that encourages violence and advocates hate against groups of people. This is a long-standing rule and clearly stated in our developer policies. Developers always have the opportunity to appeal a suspension and may have their apps reinstated if theyve addressed the policy violations and are compliant with our Developer Program Policies.

This doesnt mean Google has blocked the app entirely it cant do that. You just cant download it from the Play Store any more. It should still function fine and users will be able to sideload it if they like, and Gabs Twitter account indicates theyre working on making that easy.

Gab is aimed at people interested in Western values, individual liberty, and the free exchange of ideas looking to avoid the special interests pushing a very specific agenda in tech. If that dog whistle isnt loud enough, the investment page lists readers of Breitbart, Drudge and Infowars as the target demographic.

It was founded by Andrew Torba, who in December was removed from Y Combinators alumni network (which he had joined after taking part in the program) for his behavior among the other founders there.

I asked Torba whether there had been any recent changes or warnings that might explain the ban. He wrote back:

No there have not been any major changes. We have had an app on the Play Store for months. This is targeted. We have been very consistent with promoting free and lawful expression and speech for everyone for over a year now. We have a diverse community (and also a diverse team that includes our Muslim Co-Founder and Indian CCO) of 225,000 people from around the world. What you should be writing about is Silicon Valleys war on free speech and individual liberty online. This is the beginning of the alt tech revolution.

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Alt-social network Gab booted from Google Play Store for hate speech - TechCrunch

To show appreciation for their customers, mobile telecommunications firm, MTC announced its latest Aweh campaign which will give subscribers an additional 50% data for social media use.

The campaign which started this week and will run until 13 September and will be available to all MTCs customers that subscribe to any of the Aweh bundles.

Tim Ekandjo, MTCs Chief Human Capital and Corporate Affairs officer said that the campaign attests to the companys appreciation of its customers, adding that the gesture is an appreciative act of the unwavering loyalty and patronage from its valued customers.

Given the ever-changing and increasing social media features being rolled-out on a daily, data use has become a daily exercise, and it is against this background that MTC decided, through the Aweh campaign to give its loyal subscribers 50% extra data specifically for social media usage.

The offer is valid for all Aweh products, including those sold by MTC Dealers as well as those that are available via the vending units and Customers will not be required to make any additional payment, MTCs Product Solutions Manager, Andre De Jager said.

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MTC spoils customers with extra data for social networking - Namibia Economist