What You Need to Know Today: October 29
Here’s what you need to know
TECH
Death of the hyperlink. Why are hyperlinks blue? Someone asks. “Blue hyperlinks can be perceived by nearly everyone, while red and green colors are difficult for 7-10% of men and about .4% of women due to varying degrees of color blindness,” says Dan Lundmark. The reason Mark Zuckerberg made Facebook blue is because he is red-green color blind. Since the dawn of the Internet, hyperlinks have lured readers into ‘clicking through.’ Our minds have been trained to click whenever we see blue, whether the blue we see is a hyperlink, or not. But, on mobile devices it’s different. We’re starting to see less smartphone users clicking on hyperlinks, while reading articles. Unlike a laptop or desktop where you can open multiple tabs, it’s a pain having multiple windows open in your phone. This is part of the reason why Facebook and Twitter introduced Instant Articles and Moments, respectively. The other reason is a bit more complicated, but it ultimately spells the death of hyperlinks. Full story.
+ BuzzFeed is one of the few websites that figured out how to leverage Facebook and Twitter’s link-killing plans.
What are Haptic ads? “Stoli is trying to get a better feel for mobile advertising—literally. Today, the brand and Horizon Media are launching a campaign with mobile ad network Opera Mediaworks and technology company Immersion that uses haptic technology to make consumers’ smartphones vibrate. While watching a 20-second video, people can feel their phones shake when a woman makes a cocktail or when a dog pees.” Check this out.
CAREER
How to sell U. G. G. L. Y. boots. “Women love the shoe, but it’s certainly not because it elevates their feet stylistically,” says footwear expert Meghan Cleary. “The shoes are engineered for comfort…” Love ’em or hate ’em Ugg boots are here to stay. The company has steadily grown since 1977, when a bored accountant named Brian Smith moved from Australia to California looking for something new to sink his teeth into. Racked has the full story behind those ugly, salt-stained boots your girlfriend wears every winter, and refuses to throw away. To be fair, this story is quite interesting. Smith initially struggled bringing Ugg boots to U.S. consumers until an ad campaign changed his entire target market. Then came the Tipping Point at the 1994 Olympics, and today, the $1.3 billion brand has plans to make your whole life more comfortable.
How a Zombie-House marketer is fleshing out its Twitter strategy for Halloween. Escape Rooms have blown up this year. People can’t get enough, and Room Escape Adventures is taking full advantage of this fad by offering Zombie-Houses this Halloween. To get groups (because no one goes alone) to buy tickets, Escape Rooms teamed up with a Twitter marketing-focused company SocialCentiv, and developed a pretty genius keyword targeting strategy. Here’s what they did.
LIFESTYLE
Up your small-talk game. “So, what do you do?” asked the woman, “I train marsupials for Elton John,” said my friend. My friend was a carpenter… I laughed. Unless you can think of funny job descriptions off the cuff, or you happen to be the most interesting man in the world, avoid this question at all costs. If you’re hard up for good small talk material, here are some questions to ask.
+ If you really want to have interesting stories to tell, consider doing this.
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#NOWYOUKNOW
“On Sunday, more than fifty thousand runners will mass behind the starting line of the New York City Marathon. What will they think they are doing?” The New Yorker on How New York City Made the Modern Marathon.
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