As technologies advance apace, the volume of online videos continues to increase fast. Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, Musical.ly are just a few platforms among many that massively share and distribute videos around the clock.
Everyone today is vying for consumers’ attention. Brands and marketplaces are all searching for a competitive edge in their direct-to-consumer channels to win and retain brand loyalty. In this crowded market, marketing teams recognize that a visual mobile and web experience is mission-critical for enhancing conversions, revenue, and customer loyalty.
The future of marketing depends on dynamic visual experiences. Marketers must connect with customers across multiple channels – the web, mobile, kiosks, email, search, and social as well as print and real time events. They must build brand awareness in increasingly noisy (and competitive) marketplaces. To rise above the noise, marketers must become well-versed in all things rich media -- using images, short and long form videos, and interactive contents in new ways to raise awareness, deliver powerful experiences, and boost engagement.
Everyone wants a great website. Few know what it takes.
Building engaging websites and apps are often primary goals for developers and marketers. The key to increasing your site’s performance is making your content relevant and engaging, and your website fast and fun to use.
If you are an avid YouTube viewer or a Netflix binger, you might have noticed some fascinating changes in their latest preview thumbnails. They sure are attention grabbing, aren’t they?
Video previews are becoming more and more popular, not the least because they entice viewers, attract clickthroughs and, more often than not, gain a happy and loyal audience. Problem is, the task sounds like an art in itself. Just how can you go about creating appealing video previews without having to rely on movie professionals? Have you ever wished that you could quickly create video previews like those on YouTube and Netflix, but still rest assured that they'll include the good stuff?
Doug Sillars, a digital nomad and a freelance mobile-performance expert, answers questions about video streaming and delivery, website optimization, and more.
Doug Sillars, a freelance mobile-performance expert and developer advocate, is a Google Developer Expert and the author of O’Reilly’s High Performance Android Apps. Given his extensive travels across the globe—from the UK to Siberia—with his wife, kids, and 11-year-old dog, Max, he has been referred to as a “digital nomad.” So far in 2018, Doug has spoken at more than 75 meetups and conferences!
Over the past several years, I've had a chance to participate in hackathons, as part of teams that developed a social payment app and helped users decide meals to cook. But it wasn't until last month that I got to experience a hackathon from the other side, as a judge.
It should come as no surprise that video use on the internet is exploding. You can see the dramatic growth of video on the average site in this SpeedCurve blog post.
With the growth in video comes greater bandwidth use, which is not only costly for your IT budget, but for your visitors as well. Beyond the expense, there is the user experience to consider. The heavier the page, the longer it will take to load, and the greater likelihood visitors will abandon your site. Page load speed is also an important factor in SEO ranking, so clearly video is something we need to take seriously and get right. Video is challenging, presenting terms still unfamiliar to developers - like codecs, bitrate and adaptive bitrate streaming. As a result, mistakes are being made in video implementation.
Over the life of a mobile device, the cost of a cellular data plan often exceeds that of the device itself. To optimize data usage and purge useless data on their mobile devices, users can enable Data Saver from Android 7.0 (API level 24). To do so, users toggle Data Saver in quick settings under the Notification shade or under Settings > Data usage. With Data Saver enabled, apps that aren't whitelisted cannot use cellular data in the background. They are also directed to consume less data while active.