Web Development Archives - Beyond Social Media

White House Valentines Display

By David Erickson | February 14, 2021 |

Beyond Social Media - Presidential Valentines Display - Episode 338

BL and David discuss Dr. Jill Biden’s White House Valentines display; stellar Thank You page examples; the American Shame Card collection of gun-control advocacy postcards; fact checker bylines; the explosive growth of social audio; Microsoft’s AI voices; Lincoln TV; Duolingo’s singable commercial; Super Bowl Social Media; conference sounds for livestreaming waiting room; Twitter gets into the newsletter game; Google News analytics courtesy of Google Search Console; Norton’s prying eyes and listening ears commercial…and much, much more.

LinkedIn and Twitter Jump on the Story Bandwagon

By David Erickson | March 7, 2020 |

Beyond Social Media - Twitter & LinkedIn Stories - Episode 299

Episode 299: BL and David discuss LinkedIn and Twitter are jumping on the Story bandwagon; the City of Austin cancels SXSW over Coronavirus fears; The Office’s Kevin’s famous chili returns; a viral voicemail plays in movie theaters; The Simpsons are recreated in CSS code; AR glasses let firefighters see through smoke; Redditors fight disinformation; Heineken has a drink and drive public fridge; WHO TikToks Coronavirus …and much, much more.

Alexa’s Brand Voices

By David Erickson | February 15, 2020 |

Episode 296: BL and David discuss Google’s Project Witness that uses virtual reality to generate empathy for jailed children; Amazon’s program to create actual brand voices to play on its Echo smart speaker; ASCII art of refugee programmers; tech titans’ efforts to combat coronavirus misinformation; augmented reality Google Maps; Facebook’s bug bounty program; Chrome’s website security deadline; reviews in Google Search Console; a glaring user experience fail in Adobe Acrobat; Target’s Minnesota Badgers miscue; …and much, much more..

How China Censors American Companies

By David Erickson | October 11, 2019 |

Beyond Social Media - US Companies Cave To China, Episode 284

Episode 284: BL and David discuss American companies that cave to Chinese censorship; a Sesame Street character who addresses addiction; Target’s emphasis on audio branding; Siri comes to Spotify; an adorable MSNBC interruption; an augmented reality opera marketing campaign; whiskey pods; Amazon’s initiative to get voice assistants to work together; top sites that fact check fake news; malicious apps in Google Play; Google crowdsourced shopping ads; Google will soon block mixed content; and much, much more.

Alexa Answers

By David Erickson | September 15, 2019 |

Episode 280: Co-hosts BL Ochman and David Erickson discuss Amazon’s crowdsourcing of responses to Alexa users’ questions; Google’s Recover Together website of resources for addicts; Twitter’s new arrangeable photos feature; Google’s ‘original reporting’ algorithm designed to give more visibility to primary source, trustworthy journalism; WordPress’ purchase of Tumblr; the Zooniverse crowdsourcing network supporting science experiments; an example of a great follow-up PR pitch; the Attorneys General investigating Google; Ledo Pizza’s ill-advised 9/11 tweet; …and much, much more.

Apple's Augmented Reality Platform & Vincente Fox's Viral Trump Takedown

By David Erickson | June 8, 2017 |

Beyond Social Media - Apple AR - Episode 190

Episode 190: Co-hosts B.L. Ochman and David Erickson discussed Apple’s announcement of its augmented reality platform; Google’s attempt to sell directly from search results with its new buy button; Vincente Fox’s public service video message to Donald Trump; Official presidential tweets, suitable for framing; the untested legality of #BlockedByTrump victims; McDonald’s stoner billboard; Twitter’s new deal with the NFL; The Intercept’s Reality Winner fail; real fake news; how some potential Harvard students discovered that the Internet is a permanent record; plus great new apps and stats you should know…and much, much more.