Month: September 2014

1. Simplicity. You either opt-in or opt-out of people you follow. You will not be forced to see your best friend’s friends’ of friends’ picture that your best friend commented on yesterday. You will not be forced to see advertisements of the Steve Madden boots that you browsed reminding you to complete your shopping cart purchase. You will not unintentionally miss content because you filtering out irrelevant content with the F-shaped pattern.

2. The Explore Tab. If you’re finished scrolling through the updates on your newsfeed, the explore tab is available. Stickiness is achieved in 2 ways. First, by relevance. Instagram bases the explore tab photos on people you follow (and what your followers like). This helps you find out what is “in-the-loop” with the people you follow. It also bases the photos on the hashtags you liked. For example, if I liked a few photos with the hashtag #dogs #dogsofinstagram etc., I will get a lot of dog photos on my explore tab. Second, Instagram gets you hooked by implementing the unlimited scroll. Of course, scrolling down the never-ending explore tab (content that is 99% relevant to me) is NOT the best thing to do when I am taking a break from my study session.

3. The Pace. Instagram is relatively slower-paced than Facebook and Twitter. You can follow users without missing anything in between. I find that every time I open the Instagram app, I can go through all my newsfeed updates within 10 minutes. Whereas if I log into Facebook or Twitter, it would take me forever to get back at the updates where I left off. Even if I do somehow get to the point where I left off, not ALL content that I want to see appears on my newsfeed. Facebook and Twitter filters out what they think I want to see (which sometimes they do a good job of, but sometimes they don’t).

4. Usability. Instagram has an extremely user-focussed design. There are absolutely no irrelevant distractions like advertisements, excessive verbiage, unnecessary tabs that you never use, buttons that you never click etc. The design is simple and easy to use. Engagement is easily achieve. Instead of coordinating your fingers to tab the tiny “like” button (which is sometimes an issue for those with fat finger syndrome), you simple double click on the image that fills up your entire screen to like the photo.

If you haven’t already, experience the power of a bookbook.

Although I’m sure the majority of already have seen the advertisement because in my opinion, Ikea nailed the target audience for their campaign. The young trendy enthusiasts who would follow Apple’s launch announcement is the ideal target audience for Ikea. This group was excited about Apple’s long-await launch announcement held on September 9th, 2014. Throughout the day on September 9th, I noticed my peers efficiently utilizing their multi-tasking skills to take class notes while watching Apple’s announcement on the sidebar in real-time.

Similar to Oreo’s campaign that was launched within minutes after the superbowl power outage in 2013, the timing was perfect. This brings us back to the importance of timing in every campaign. Although Ikea’s campaign is not a response to Apple’s launch announcement, it is timed to launch during a period where there is hype around Apple.

Moreover, as the target audience of Ikea (the first place I would go furniture shopping is definitely Ikea), I found the ad entertaining. It struck an interest for me, where I gained awareness for Ikea’s catalog. However, if the point of the campaign was to initiate behavioural change (of me grabbing a catalog in-stores, or subscribing to the mail list), then I’m not sure that the campaign did its job. Maybe Ikea’s intent was not to trigger behavioural change. Maybe its intent was simply to enforce Ikea’s brand image of the hip, trendy furniture store. What do you think?