File this one in your web marketing plan and set an alarm for this Friday. Facebook announced on its blog today that it will allow all of its members to select Vanity URLs for their profiles and fan pages starting this Friday, June 12, at 9:01 pm PDT. Vanity URLs are customized web addresses that have long been an integral part of most social media websites like MySpace and Twitter.  I've had http://www.linkedin.com/in/hunterjensen for years, but Facebook fan pages have always had a long string of random numbers instead of a URL based on your company's name, products, or services.  The opportunity to customize your company's Facebook fan page will be a great marketing opportunity for businesses because it will make it easier for current fans and potential customers to find your fan page and remember your web address. “When your friends, family members or co-workers visit your profile or Pages on Facebook, they will be able to enter your username as part of the URL in their browser. This way people will have an easy-to-remember way to find you,” writes Blaise DiPersia in the Facebook blog. “We expect to offer even more ways to use your Facebook username in the future.” This will also have SEO implications as it will be possible to select keyword-rich URLs, which will help the pages rank higher. These fan pages are available to the public (you do not need to be logged in to view them), and indexable by search engines, so expect a mad dash for popular keywords like http://www.facebook.com/pages/sex or http://www.facebook.com/laser-eye-surgery. Customizing your company's Facebook web address will not only increase your searchability but will also give you another opportunity to highlight your company's online brand and image, so be careful in your selection.  Facebook's fine print for this selection recommends, "Think carefully about the user name you choose. Once it's been selected, you won't be able to change or transfer (your vanity url.)" Your company will be able to choose a username on a first-come, first-serve basis at www.facebook.com/username/. The turnout for this vanity URL is expected to be high.  If you're happy with your trademarked brand name, you shouldn't have too much of a problem. But if you're looking for something a little more strategic, be prepared to wait in the digital version of the line outside of a Star Wars premiere.

This is a question that we go through with nearly every mobile client we work with at Barefoot Solutions. Mobile technology is progressing at breakneck speed right now and it's very difficult to keep up. So to start, what are the technology options for launching a mobile strategy? While there are an infinite number of variations, the options can mostly be put into 4 buckets: Mobile Websites Mobile Web Apps Hybrid Apps Native Apps Mobile Websites are simply websites that have been optimized for mobile devices. A good example of this can be found at http://m.techcrunch.com. Changes to the layout are made by recognizing the user agent as a mobile device and optimizing for its limitations. This can include removing ads, increasing the size of clickable areas, and most importantly, accounting for the smaller screen size. Mobile Web Apps are still mobile websites, and thus must be accessed via a phone or tablets web browser. The difference between a mobile website and a mobile web app is that mobile web apps are built to mimic functionality of native apps. By adding controls like date pickers, tab bar navigation, and other native feeling controls, this gives the user the experience of using a native app. Typically these are built using frameworks such as Sencha Touch or JQuery Mobile. These frameworks are effective because they have already built most of the common controls using HTML5 and Javascript. Building all of those controls from scratch would be a significant undertaking, but JQuery Mobile you can focus on functionality, rather than building the sometimes complex user interaction necessary for mobile devices. Hybrid apps also utilize frameworks, often built with HTML5, Javascript and CSS, to produce native-feeling apps. Some examples are Phonegap and Titanium Appcelerator. The difference between a hybrid app and a mobile web app is that the hybrid apps are actually compiled and treated as native apps. This means that, on your iPhone for example, a hybrid app must be downloaded from the app store, and will live as an app icon on your home screen. Hybrid apps are appealing because they allow you to develop only a single app, but then compile for the various app stores and be available on multiple platforms. Another benefit of hybrid apps is that they have access to the phone's hardware. Access to the accelerometer, image gallery, camera, bluetooth, and other sensors on the phone are often a requirement for the more advanced apps. Finally, we have purely native mobile apps. This means that they are written in Objective-C for iPhones, or Java for Android applications. They are compiled, and submitted to the app store for distribution for that devices particular users. Mostly, native apps have to be built as a separate piece of software for each platform, and are able to share very little code. So if the desire is to make your app available on iPhone, Android, WinPhone, and Blackberry, you would need to build four separate apps. So with those as the options, what factors should go into deciding on a platform? To start, it's important to identify the goals and limitations of your mobile strategy. Then you apply those goals to the four factors below to make a decision. Cost Mobile apps become more expensive as you get closer to the fully native experience. A mobile website can often be implemented by altering layout and stylesheets of an existing website, and as such is a low cost product that can be accessed on any phone or tablet with a web browser. Native apps, on the other and, require quite a bit more development time, which then gets multiplied by the number of platforms that need to be accessible. As such, native apps are the most expensive option, by far. User Experience If this decision was based entirely on cost, then a mobile website would be the obvious choice. But what about the user experience? Unfortunately, native apps, while the most expensive option, also provide the best user experience. By interfacing directly with the native SDKs, native apps have a very fast and responsive UX. Think of the difference between using a desktop app like Microsoft Word, versus Software as a Service like Google Docs. Because Microsoft Word is a compiled and installed application, it directly interfaces with your machine and allows it to be more powerful, and responsive. The same holds true for native apps. Further, native apps have controls like pickers, navigation tabs, action bars, and others that are immediately recognizable to users of a platform. When building a single app for multiple platforms, you must find commonality amongst those platforms and therefore can't entirely mimic a native experience. While this will work for some apps, others, particularly those that are entirely consumer facing, need the native UX to provide users what they have come to expect from their apps. Difficult to develop and maintain Many organizations now have in-house web developers, or at least people with some experience with HTML/CSS. This makes it possible for some organizations to build a mobile website or mobile web app without having to hire outside of the company. Native apps however require a very particular skillset. Objective-C developers, for instance, can be difficult to find and expensive to hire. While it may be feasible to hire a firm for the initial development of your app(s), there is also the matter of continually managing this relationship to account for updates, bug fixes, operating system upgrades, and other required maintenance over the lifetime of the app. Depending on resources this may not be feasible for some smaller organizations. Reach Mobile websites and mobile web apps are available on any device that has a web browser. This is basically any feature phone or smartphone these days. As such, they have the furthest reach with the lowest cost. Hybrid apps can also be available on multiple platforms for only the cost of building a single app. Further, along with native apps, they have the added benefit of placement in the various app stores. This allows apps to be discovered by users in a way that just isn't possible with the mobile web. This also allows the possibility of reaching high in search rankings, or earning a featured placement in an app store which can provide a serious spike in downloads. So what approach should you choose? It seems to be like the odds are greatly in favor of the non-native options, but very often that is not the case. As I mentioned, the user experience on non-native apps is just not where it needs to be. Even with hybrid apps, buttons can take a half-second longer to respond to a tap, and scrolling can get slow and choppy. In the beginning of 2011, Facebook's mobile app took a largely hybrid approach. They were faced with considerable user unrest, and suffered a fairly low rating in the app stores. In the middle of the year they re-architected to a much more native experience. Their apps are now faster, more responsive, and the user feedback has improved considerably. At Barefoot Solutions, we always recommend native for any purely consumer facing app. Period. If you want to have a chance at gaining significant traction, it is imperative that you provide the best User Experience possible. It is often better to launch on only a single platform, with an excellent user experience, versus launching a mediocre experience on all platforms. When we start talking about internal apps, mobile web apps and hybrid apps become a much more cost effective solution. For example, if you're building an app to help your sales staff in the field, and this staff uses a variety of devices, it often makes sense to build a hybrid app. This will allow most of your staff to use the app on their devices, and they will most likely be willing to look past the slight lack of performance. If you are a restaurant that just needs contact information, directions, and a menu available on customer's phones, then a mobile website is probably the right strategy for you. Overall, this is a decision not to take lightly. Jumping from one strategy to another often requires an entire rebuild, so it's important to get this right the first time. At Barefoot Solutions, we're happy to provide a free consultation to discuss your mobile strategy and provide an in-depth look at what might be best for your startup or existing company.

There is no denying the demand for mobile applications in just about every capacity. The phenomenon began with consumer facing apps, allowing businesses to entertain, sell to, or build value for their customers. Then the call for business apps started to climb, as companies understood that having the mobility of mobile (see what we did there?) enabled employees and management to work more efficiently. But once you get to the point where you fully understand the need for mobile - what’s next? Chances are you’re not in the business of building apps yourself and even less likely to have an on-site developer already. Not that you won’t get there, but the big question is, “Where to start?” As such, we’ve laid out the choices for you to see your mobile app development options: 1) Hire On-site Developer It’s a wonderful thing to have a developer on site. Should a bug arise, they are right there for you to interface with and determine what is wrong. Not to mention they are in your same time zone, a huge plus for those of you who understand the joys of working with others around the world. Oh those 11:00pm meetings… However before you can dream of the convenience of a developer on-site, consider your particular business model. Besides the mobile app, what else can they help you build? Do you run a technology based business where your clients use your software? Or would this be a one time project and the developer would no longer be needed? In weighing your options, understand that an on-site developer, while convenient, is a pricey option. 2) Hire Offshore Developer Offshore developers have their fair share of pros and cons. One of the best things about these developers is they tend to be one of the cheapest options. It is not uncommon for companies to hire dev teams in India or Russia, and the cost per hour is considerably less than developers in the US. If you are a start-up, chances are you’re watching a close budget and looking to save cash anywhere you can. Though you may save money on the front end of the project, there are also challenges to consider that could cost you. We get requests every week from companies that have tried and failed to work with offshore development teams. Given language barriers it may not be entirely clear what you are looking for, leaving opportunity for misunderstanding. The team could build something you didn’t want, requiring you rework the app on your dime. Additionally as time zone was a convenience with the on-site developer, that is a weakness in this option. The aforementioned countries are on the other side of the world, which means when you submit requests they will likely not get back to you until the next day. While your eye may be on the budget, it’s probably on the clock too. Hurdling language challenges and time spent going back and forth could be more expensive than anticipated. 3) Do It Yourself At this point you might be unsure of hiring someone else and considering, “Maybe should I learn to code?” Understanding a programming language is a powerful tool, so if you’re at all interested, learn code! The first thing to consider here is that the two languages most commonly used to build iOS or Android native apps are Objective-C and Java. However bear in mind that Apple just released its own programming language, SWIFT. It is absolutely brand spanking new and will be replacing Objective-C over the next few years for iOS development. If you do choose to go this route, be prepared to spend at least 6 months to a year in full-time study. There are many great resources out there that can help you on your way, so fortunately there is no shortage of that. However if you do have a shortage of time, it would be advisable to try one of the other options. Do also remember that while creating your first app is great, perhaps you don’t want to put your company on the line with your first project. 4) Hire Mobile App Development Specialist Whatever it is that you do, you’d like to think you specialize in that thing. Maybe you are the best in medicine or the best in construction management. When considering developing a mobile app then, a natural option is to hire a mobile app development company. These companies already know the ins and outs of creating a mobile app - because that’s all they do. The benefit here is they have already built so many apps they can help you conceptualize precisely what it is you are looking for. While a traditional developer may have great ideas on how to do so, chances are that’s not all they do in their life of coding. The investment in a mobile app specialist may be an investment, but we choose the word investment wisely. The ROI on having a sleek looking app with rich design and drop-dead simple UX could be the game changer to helping your business explode. So which option is best for you? You get to decide. Yet if you need help figuring out how you want to approach building a mobile app or have any questions, we would be happy to point you in the right direction.