Weekly digest 25th May

Short and sweet this week because we’re all tired of hearing about Facebook’s IPO. Well, aren’t we?

Last week’s poll results… and this week’s poll

Thanks to the handful (literally) of you who responded to last week’s poll. 100% of those who took part answered that they did not trust Facebook to keep their information private…

This week, I’m asking you to help me with a bit of research. So… here’s the question: Do you have a television set in your home that is connected to the internet?

It’ll take you 10 seconds to answer, so please take part here:

http://poll.fm/3q5oo

Facebook launches a Camera app

The $1billion purchase of Instagram starts to make sense as Facebook have now launched their own camera application that is eerily similar to Instagram. Facebook Camera, which is now available in the App Store for free, dramatically improves upon the photo capabilities offered by Facebook’s main apps.

It’s currently only available for iOS owners (sorry all you Androiders) and will allow you to upload multiple photos and apply filters in much the same way as Instagram users will be familiar with. This really highlights Facebook’s swift move to mobile and Mark Zuckerberg has made no secret of prioritising mobile integration. Worryingly, he hasn’t yet worked out how to monetise the mobile users and until he does, investors will be concerned that Facebook’s already sliding share-price won’t pick back up to IPO levels.

I find it interesting that Facebook have clearly decided that they have too much functionality and too many strings to their bow to attempt to harness them all in one application. I actually think this is a good idea. Due to the limited screen size available to mobile applications, navigation needs to be extremely intuitive and therefore the site architecture not too deep. Splitting the Facebook offering into separate apps enables them to keep the user experience simple and highly targeted.

Even really bad television is social…

Watching television and movies precisely because they are so bad is not a new phenomenon. However, now it is becoming something of a sport on Twitter and you can join in using #hatewatching.

Negative social buzz may not be a good thing, but “hate watching” is an entertaining activity — driven by short and imaginative Twitter wit — and by extension it could drive a little viewership on its own under the umbrella “all publicity is good publicity.” That certainly seemed the case during the premiere episode of The GC, with social buzz driving increased ratings during the course of the show. However, ratings have since dropped indicating that such negative-driven spikes in viewing will not be sustainable. In the end, content is still king and quality is important.

Health warning – while “hate watching” may seem a harmless activity, it can also lead to disillusionment and anger if channelled in the wrong way. Steer clear of Michael Bay movies and anything starring Danny Dyer and you should be fine.

This week’s pretty picture…