Month: March 2021

Many of us use search engines to find answers to questions, shop, find reviews, or do research.

Search engines like Google try to match results that best answer your question or query. The goal for content creators is to get you to click on their website, video, or other content on the search results page.

A report by SparkToro and Similar Web found that many are not clicking through to other web pages after searching on Google.

According to the report, last year 64.82% of searches on Google (desktop and mobile combined) ended without someone clicking to another page. The number is likely higher due to “undercounting some mobile and nearly all voice searches…thus it’s probable that more than two-thirds are ‘zero-click searches.'”

The way we are searching is changing

We have more options than ever to search and learn information online. If we want we can grab our mobile device, ask our smart speaker a question, or log on to our computer and search in a more traditional way.

Barring the accuracy of the information, we do not even have to use a search engine and can search on social media, Wikipedia, or any other similar website.

Regardless of the way we search, the how is a predictor of where things are going in terms of search.

According to eMarketer, in 2019, nearly one-third of the United States population is using voice search features. This is only expected to increase as more and more people use voice features and smart speakers.

When using voice searches, many of us are not looking at a screen or device to get information. If you are conducting a voice search on your smart speaker, the expectation is that you will get the answer in audio form and not have to go and look at a screen. This will ultimately result in fewer people visiting websites.

Maximize your site for voice search

All is not lost in terms of getting exposure in search results. First, we need to establish a new set of goals and expectations. For example, if someone is looking for the hours of a store, asks their smart speaker or smartphone, and gets the answer that should be viewed as a success even if they never visited the store’s website.

The goal of any content creator should be reducing the number of clicks or friction someone has to get the information they need. It should not take someone having to search for the answer on Google, click your website and scroll down to the bottom of a page, or have to click to another page to get the answer to a question. People want their questions answered quickly and accurately.

With the shift toward more mobile and voice-based search continuing to rise, we must tailor our content to be more conversational. This is a good thing and your content should be audited to make it more conversational, have less jargon, and use simple sentences.

A good trick is to listen to how broadcast newscasts are structured. Most news stories are written for a fifth-grade reading level because it is easier to understand when listening. Sentences are often basic, short, and fragmented because that is how we speak. Complex sentences increase cognitive load, taking longer for you to understand, and potentially lose focus and comprehension of the entire story.

This article would be hard for someone listening to it to understand because of the complexity of the information and longer sentences.

Focusing on optimizing your content for voice-based searches is a win-win for your content.

Focus on niche-based content in your industry

Some industries are extremely saturated and will become challenging to stand out on Google.

As with any content marketing strategy, find out where you can shine in your industry and create more specific and niche-based content.

Using the store hours example from above, that is a very specific question someone is seeking. The answer should also be very specific and easy for Google or other search engines to locate as most voice-based search results are pulling information from these sources.

Find opportunities on your website to provide easy-to-find answers to the most common questions surrounding your business. Combine that with common questions you think your target audience will ask about your business to create opportunities to be featured in voice-based search results.

Over the years, dark mode has been gaining popularity and has been integrated into operating systems, apps, and even websites.

Dark Mode uses a darker background and lighter text instead of the traditional lighter background with dark text (Light Mode).

As more platforms, apps, and operating systems begin to allow users to choose whether they want to use dark mode, should your website or app also utilize this experience?

I have been experimenting with implementing dark mode on my website but is it worth it?

Aside from personal preference, there is not much scientific research to determine its effectiveness, accessibility, or usefulness. Whether you should have dark mode for your app or website depends on your audience and the content you are delivering.

Some may find dark mode to be easier to read

Many people choose dark mode because they feel it is easier to read information. Nielsen Norman Group found that people with normal vision (or corrected-to-normal vision) tend to do better with light mode whereas people with cataracts and related disorders do better with dark mode.

Regardless of whether your website or app uses dark mode or light mode, information must be easy to read and accessible for all readers on your website. A number of factors are part of this including the mobility of your visitors, design, layout, and how your website is coded.

With so many people consuming content on a mobile device, we need to consider that your readers may be visiting your website on the go. Reading content in dark mode while standing in the blaring sun will be extremely challenging. The opposite is true in low-light situations where dark mode makes it easier to read the content.

It is harder to find errors in dark mode

While you may find dark mode to read in certain situations, your task or activity may be another factor to consider in whether or not to use dark mode. Dark mode may work better for casually browsing-type tasks rather than tasks like editing or proofreading.

In an interview with WIRED, Susanne Mayr, a human-computer interaction researcher at the University of Passau, found that readers “detected more errors and/or read faster when dark text was presented on a light background than under reversed conditions.”

Mayr says that when reading off a dark background, our pupils dilate, leading to blurred vision. This can make us more prone to not catching mistakes. When we read content on a lighter background with darker text, Mayr says we get better image quality and are able to read the finer details easier.

Keep in mind, this is situational and environment-dependent. At night, reading in dark mode can be beneficial as it may reduce eye strain.

You could save battery life

From a technological standpoint, dark mode may be better for your device’s battery depending on your device’s screen type. If your device uses OLED and AMOLED displays, Dark mode could have an impact on battery life. For devices that have LCD screens, dark mode does not affect battery life.

Give options

Most of the recommendations are centered around whether or not it is beneficial for someone to use dark mode. With limited scientific evidence, the use of dark mode ultimately comes down to personal preference.

The best recommendation is to give your visitors the option to choose what mode they want to use when viewing your website. This gives users the flexibility depending on their preference or environment to choose what mode they want to be in.

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You log on to Facebook or any social network and you’ll find a stream of posts, all vying for your attention.

Many of us are seeing content and information that is specifically curated based on our interactions, engagement, our friends, and even how long it takes us to scroll past a post.

Over the years, there have been a lot of discussions on whether or not social networking platforms are biased against certain groups. Studies have indicated that this is not the case and it does not make sense based on how social media algorithms are designed.

Algorithms on social networks like Facebook deliver content that you are most likely going to engage with. It does not matter if it is a promoted post, advertisement, or regular post. Once Facebook gets an understanding of who you are, your interests, likes/dislikes, it can then start filling your feed with various content. The more you share, engage, and spend time on the site, the more Facebook can learn and tailor content specifically to you.

Facebook is a business

Facebook cannot make money if its targeted advertisements do not generate results. Hence, the outcry from Facebook when Apple announced it is requiring apps to get permission to track our activity across the internet and apps. It uses this information to deliver targeted advertisements to you through your Facebook feed.

This is maybe a huge blow to Facebook’s advertising revenue if large numbers of people opt out. Have you noticed when you search for something or visit a website, your Facebook feed suddenly begins showing you content based on that search? That’s Facebook tracking you across websites and apps.

You can manage how advertisers can reach you in your feed by going through the Advertisement Settings on Facebook.

Our feeds are personal echo chambers

When we look at our feeds it is a reflection of us — our politics, likes/dislikes, and beliefs. This creates a personal echo chamber in that we must make conscious efforts to find alternative information and points of view.

To illustrate how different our feeds are from one another, The Markup built a Facebook Feed viewer to give an idea of what Facebook’s algorithm is displaying to different groups of people. These groups include women vs. men, Biden voters vs. Trump voters, and Millennials vs. Boomers.

The Markup says the observations “should not be taken as proof of Facebook’s choosing to target specific content at specific demographic groups.” There are a number of factors that go into determining what posts will show up in our feeds and not all of those factors were accounted for in the project.

See how different our Facebook feeds are based on different demographic backgrounds and voting preferences. 

“Social media platforms are the broadcasting networks of the 21st century,” said The Markup’s editor-in-chief, Julia Angwin. “They dictate what news the public consumes with black box algorithms designed to maximize profits at the expense of truth and transparency.”

For the project, Markup performed daily captures of Facebook Fata from more than 2,500 paid participants between December 1, 2020, and March 2, 2021.

The Markup says Facebook declined to comment on the results of its project.

The COVID-19 Pandemic has created an increased demand for people to communicate distantly whether for work or with family and friends through various video apps and services.

Early in the pandemic last year, I wrote a post about the various video conferencing apps that are available. There are dozens of options available with varying features and costs.

It is safe to say that I do not think you need a study to tell you that all of these video chatting apps are making us exhausted!

According to a Stanford University study, there are things we can do to decrease fatigue and make video chatting apps a little more bearable.

“Videoconferencing is a good thing for remote communication, but just think about the medium – just because you can use video doesn’t mean you have to,” Professor Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL), said.

Here are four reasons, according to researchers, why you feel tired about using video chatting apps for a prolonged period of time:

1. Excessive amounts of close-up eye contact is intense. Solution: Take the chat application out of full-screen mode to minimize face size. Also, consider putting space between you and the monitor to increase a personal space bubble.

2. Seeing yourself during video chats constantly in real time is fatiguing. Solution: If possible, users should hide the screen showing themselves during the video chat. Researchers say it is unnatural to see yourself in this way because when we talk to people in person we are not viewing ourselves from an outside view holding a conversation.

3. Video chats reduce our usual mobility. Solution: Create a distance from the camera that will allow you to have a place to take notes or doodle. This will replicate in-person meetings better than having the camera and screen more in your personal space. Also, turning off your camera when it’s not necessary can be helpful in allowing you to be more relaxed without worrying about what you look like on-camera.

4. The cognitive load is much higher in video chats. Solution: Researchers recommend during long meetings to take an “audio break” and turning your body away from the camera. This will allow you to take a break from being “non-verbally active.”

While some of us will be going back to the office post-pandemic, many of us will most likely still have to deal with video meetings. This will be especially true for those who continue to work from home either part-time or full-time.

I would expect video chatting outside of work to be a little higher than before the pandemic. With so many of us isolated from family and friends, it has created more opportunities to reach more people across various age groups. Combine that with organizations using video tools to connect during the pandemic and this mode of communication may still play a role in our lives moving forward.

While most of us will want to move away from video chatting apps like Zoom and FaceTime, it may create opportunities to share family functions with people who are unable to attend.

Nothing can substitute in-person communication and we will once again shift to communicating in this way after the pandemic is over. I think it is naive to think that once the pandemic is over these tools we have been using over the last year will not have some effect on our personal and professional lives moving forward. This makes finding ways to limit “Zoom Fatigue” all that more important!