After a several month hiatus, we’re back with a new season of TechCrunch Cribs, the show that goes inside the doors of tech companies to show what it’s like for the employees who work hard (and often play hard) there. Today’s episode takes us over the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County’s picturesque seaside town of Sausalito, which is where Glassdoor calls home. Most… Read More

 The Gillmor Gang — Robert Scoble, Frank Radice, John Taschek, Keith Teare, and Steve Gillmor. Recorded live Friday, May 15, 2015. I read the news today, oh boy… on Facebook. And if you believe that, I’ve got an AOL to sell you. Plus, the latest G3 (below) with Mary Hodder, Kristie Wells, Francine Hardaway, and Tina Gillmor. @stevegillmor, @scobleizer, @jtaschek, @kteare… Read More

First we told you it was no longer enough to simply have a web site. Now it’s not even enough that you’re on social media. Mobile is huge – it’s all everyone is talking about – and to truly be effective in your marketing efforts, your focus now needs to be on ensuring that all aspects of your communications are mobile-friendly. That means everything from your web site to your social media presence. Now Twitter points out that it’s through video that you can most effectively communicate with mobile social media users. Here are the facts.

The Twitter report shows that globally, 90 percent of videos watched on Twitter are now being seen through a mobile device – whether that’s a smartphone or tablet – rather than on a desktop or laptop. Of all Twitter users, 82 percent use the social network – which until relatively recently has been primarily text-based – to watch video content.

Also evidenced in the report is the different use that is served by video on Twitter as opposed to that on other platforms, like YouTube. The report drives home the fact that Twitter represents a means for users to discover new video content, even if they weren’t necessarily looking for it. 70 percent of those surveyed said they primarily watch videos that they have discovered on the platform, whereas the majority – 63 percent – of those actively looking for particular videos use YouTube, rather than Twitter, to do so. In Twitter’s own words, consumers go to Twitter to discover content they don’t already know about rather than searching for something specific.

This is good news for advertisers – showing the value that can be driven for brands using videos that Twitter users discover while interacting on the platform in other ways. So too is the fact that video content directly embedded into tweets, rather than hosted on third-party players like Youtube, generates higher engagement – 2.5 times as many replies, 2.8 times as many retweets, and 1.9 times as many favorites. This is likely because of the lesser effort required to watch and interact with native video, as opposed to third-party content which typically involves additional clicks before being able to view it.

The report says two main things to advertisers. Firstly, sharing video content needs to be an increasingly essential part of your social media strategy – and will bring particular value in helping you to connect with the growing proportion of users who access sites like Twitter through mobile devices. Additionally, the research highlights the success stories that businesses are seeing using Twitter advertising methods like Promoted Video – so now could be the time to consider whether sponsored tweets are a good fit for your organization.

To learn more about harnessing mobile devices and social media to boost your business, give us a call – or drop us a tweet!

Even if you think your company is on top of its social media marketing efforts, chances are there is yet more that you could be doing. In particular, the mobile arena continues to grow and develop seemingly without slowing down – and if you’re not harnessing the potential that this segment represents, it’s about time you started to. New data from Twitter demonstrates just how important it is not only to be harnessing access to mobile social media users, but to be doing so through video. Here’s what you need to know.

The Twitter report shows that globally, 90 percent of videos watched on Twitter are now being seen through a mobile device – whether that’s a smartphone or tablet – rather than on a desktop or laptop. Of all Twitter users, 82 percent use the social network – which until relatively recently has been primarily text-based – to watch video content.

Also evidenced in the report is the different use that is served by video on Twitter as opposed to that on other platforms, like YouTube. The report drives home the fact that Twitter represents a means for users to discover new video content, even if they weren’t necessarily looking for it. 70 percent of those surveyed said they primarily watch videos that they have discovered on the platform, whereas the majority – 63 percent – of those actively looking for particular videos use YouTube, rather than Twitter, to do so. In Twitter’s own words, consumers go to Twitter to discover content they don’t already know about rather than searching for something specific.

This is good news for advertisers – showing the value that can be driven for brands using videos that Twitter users discover while interacting on the platform in other ways. So too is the fact that video content directly embedded into tweets, rather than hosted on third-party players like Youtube, generates higher engagement – 2.5 times as many replies, 2.8 times as many retweets, and 1.9 times as many favorites. This is likely because of the lesser effort required to watch and interact with native video, as opposed to third-party content which typically involves additional clicks before being able to view it.

The report says two main things to advertisers. Firstly, sharing video content needs to be an increasingly essential part of your social media strategy – and will bring particular value in helping you to connect with the growing proportion of users who access sites like Twitter through mobile devices. Additionally, the research highlights the success stories that businesses are seeing using Twitter advertising methods like Promoted Video – so now could be the time to consider whether sponsored tweets are a good fit for your organization.

To learn more about harnessing mobile devices and social media to boost your business, give us a call – or drop us a tweet!

We all know mobile is big – and still growing. Any business serious about leveraging the internet in its marketing efforts – whether that be through social media or otherwise – needs to be putting serious effort into the mobile compatibility of its campaigns. But new data released by Twitter emphasises the point further, and highlights the importance of using video in your mobile marketing too. Here’s what you need to know about this growing area of online customer engagement.

The Twitter report shows that globally, 90 percent of videos watched on Twitter are now being seen through a mobile device – whether that’s a smartphone or tablet – rather than on a desktop or laptop. Of all Twitter users, 82 percent use the social network – which until relatively recently has been primarily text-based – to watch video content.

Also evidenced in the report is the different use that is served by video on Twitter as opposed to that on other platforms, like YouTube. The report drives home the fact that Twitter represents a means for users to discover new video content, even if they weren’t necessarily looking for it. 70 percent of those surveyed said they primarily watch videos that they have discovered on the platform, whereas the majority – 63 percent – of those actively looking for particular videos use YouTube, rather than Twitter, to do so. In Twitter’s own words, consumers go to Twitter to discover content they don’t already know about rather than searching for something specific.

This is good news for advertisers – showing the value that can be driven for brands using videos that Twitter users discover while interacting on the platform in other ways. So too is the fact that video content directly embedded into tweets, rather than hosted on third-party players like Youtube, generates higher engagement – 2.5 times as many replies, 2.8 times as many retweets, and 1.9 times as many favorites. This is likely because of the lesser effort required to watch and interact with native video, as opposed to third-party content which typically involves additional clicks before being able to view it.

The report says two main things to advertisers. Firstly, sharing video content needs to be an increasingly essential part of your social media strategy – and will bring particular value in helping you to connect with the growing proportion of users who access sites like Twitter through mobile devices. Additionally, the research highlights the success stories that businesses are seeing using Twitter advertising methods like Promoted Video – so now could be the time to consider whether sponsored tweets are a good fit for your organization.

To learn more about harnessing mobile devices and social media to boost your business, give us a call – or drop us a tweet!

 Mosaic Manufacturing made waves a few weeks ago with the launch of the Palette, a system for printing multi-colored 3D objects. We were lucky enough to hang out with the team in Montreal where they showed us their device in the flesh, proving that they probably have one of the most compelling color printing add-ons in the market. Read More

 If you get tired of asking Microsoft how old you look, here’s a variant from startup Lulu — a site that answers the question, “How Dude Do I Look?” Lulu launched the project last week. CEO Alexandra Chong said it was hacked together pretty quickly as an “homage” to Microsoft’s How Old project. Chong talked to TechCrunch TV about the project at Disrupt… Read More

 The Gillmor Gang — Dan Farber, Robert Scoble, Kevin Marks, Keith Teare, and Steve Gillmor. Recorded live Friday, May 8, 2015. My Watch finally shipped, MacBook Nirvana, and @Scobleizer’s Oculus obsession. But enough about me… Plus, the latest G3 (below) with Halley Suitt Tucker, Rebecca Woodcock, Francine Hardaway, and Tina Gillmor. @stevegillmor, @scobleizer, @dbfarber,… Read More

 TechCrunch TV talked to a long list of New York startups during Disrupt NY, but we were also joined by a local nonprofit called Brooklyn on Tech. As co-founders Jessica Santana and Evin Robinson explained in the video above, they both grew up in Brooklyn themselves. Read More

 Hello from far-too-hot New York City, where Jonathan Shieber, Ingrid Lunden, and myself found a few chairs, a few beers, and a few topics to dig into as Disrupt came to a conclusion. This time around, we dealt with massive capital rounds, Oculus’ recent news, and this thing called New York City. There is more footage that followed this session, involving an increasingly large cadre… Read More

 The Gillmor Gang — John Borthwick, Robert Scoble, Keith Teare, and Steve Gillmor. Recorded live Friday, May 1, 2015. @Scobleizer gets his Watch, @borthwick on TwitterGate, and why negative filtering is the New Deal. Plus, the latest G3 (below) with Halley Suitt Tucker, Kristie Wells, Rebecca Woodcock, Francine Hardaway, and Tina Gillmor. @stevegillmor, @scobleizer, @borthwick, @kteare Read More

 Hello from New York, friends, where TechCrunch’s staff has taken up residence to put on a small confab that you might have heard of. This week, the lovely Anthony Ha, the brilliant Colleen Taylor and myself are on hand, and on foot, to dig our way through the week. This time around, Microsoft managed to go viral by promising to guess your age, Twitter and LinkedIn hit the skids after… Read More