Now we all know what QR codes are. QR stands for Quick Response, now anyone who has ever tried to use one will know that they use the term “quick” very liberally. It takes around 23 seconds from seeing a QR code to actual recognition of scan. That is a rather long time for a Quick Response. However this is not my biggest problem with QR codes, the usage of them tends to be horrendous. It is my number 1 pet hate, QR codes require an interent connection to take you to the specified URL so why would anyone ever think it is a good idea to put them on underground posters? Tube trains? That is as useful as a chocolate teapot.

Now on to QR code killers. There is no such thing, why? QR codes are tiny, barely anyone uses them and they should not be seen as a standard to live up to. There have been more and more articles saying how this new system is going to take the crown from QR codes. What they fail to mention is that the crown is made of wood and who wants a wooden crown?

Whoever rules over this area of the market is basically ruling over a cult. There are very few people who use QR codes. Personally I can’t resist a QR code no matter how long it takes me to scan it but is that is rare and it only because I am a geek. I must however admit that I have never had a fantastic experience using them and I am less and less excited about it when I see one. The current crop of advertisers are ruining what has the potential to be great. Poor placement and over exaggerated expectations equal a bad user experience. Scan the QR code below!

Standard practice for QR codes

We commend these advertisers for what they do with creative usages and the initial CTR will be high but these negative experiences are killing the QR code and hindering the growth. My basic opinion is that these negative experiences make people far less likely to do it again and therefore the effectiveness decreases along with CTR until basically nobody uses them.

QR codes have potential, the readers need to be integrated into the camera app and not as a separate app, people need to know why they are using the code and also it needs to be in a great location. Baiting people in with pictures is all well and good but this has to be backed up with some serious content. The reward needs to be there and until it is QR codes will remain a fad and a gimmick.

Whether you like it or not you are living a new era of communications and you are being part of the fast-growing social media phenomenon (Twitter, Facebook, Blogging, Photo-sharing, Video-sharing, etc.). You have joined communities, groups, forums…

Being part of so many communities is giving you the opportunity to increase your business, family and even old friends network but at a price: how are you going to keep up? On one hand you’ve got the possibilities of a great social network you are already involved in (in most cases not very well organised, let’s face it) and on the other hand you are literally holding a “smart” phone you are not using very smartly… yet. Let’s go mobile and let’s do it the smart way.

Organise your contacts

Have you started to count your contacts in hundreds? It doesn´t matter anymore if your social network is spread across different communities (Facebook, Messenger, Skype, Google Talk, etc.). Everybody is trying to keep up with the latest ways of communications and so are you. Now it’s time to organise your social network.

I love testing applications that are going to help us being in contact and in a very simple way. This is why I recommend Nimbuzz Mobile. Nimbuzz is a new-generation mobile service that allows you to combine all your buddies from Skype, Messenger, Facebook, ICQ, Yahoo, Google Talk, etc. into one contact list. It allows you to chat, make phone calls, send messages and files… and it´s free

In your growing social community an important step is being able to communicate, keeping up-to-date. The concept of being in touch adopts a new meaning and goes further with applications like Nimbuzz.

Try it out and don´t forget to let us know what you think! We appreciate your comments.

Download Nimbuzz and start to really enjoy being in contact.

Affected US internet traffic drops from 15GBPS to 1GBPS!

The below graph shows average internet traffic across ten leading US ISPs when Google routed their services through Asian servers that weren’t up to the job. Google services including search, Gmail and Calendars were unavailable for two hours.

Is Google too powerful? Its services now account for around 5% of all internet traffic. Does this graph show how reliant we have become on one specific company?

Google’s argument that users are only one click away from choosing competitors instead may hold true for Search, but with every new service that the big G offers, are we not becoming more and more dependent on one company.

Check out more info here:

http://asert.arbornetworks.com/2009/05/the-great-googlelapse/