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06.11.10 How To Make Your IPad Applications Social  By
Michael GrayIn case you didn't already know, I'm the owner of an iPad. Like a lot of other people I didn't get it when it first was announced: like everyone else, I thought it was meant to be a laptop replacement. It's not. While you can use the iPad to get things done, be a content producer, and a publisher (look for more details in an upcoming post), it really wasn't meant for that (see iPad was made for everyone but us). It's a consumption device. Having spent a few weeks with mine, I have a few thoughts about what makes a good iPad app and what you can do to get more out of yours should you build one. For those of you who don't have an iPad, a brief primer: applications that were written for the iPad use the full screen and work better than apps written just for the iPhone. All iPhone apps will run on an iPad, but, unless they have an iPad component, they run miniaturized and (quite simply) suck. The experience is like going back to an amber monochromatic dumb terminal. It's wholly unsatisfying. The Facebook app is this way, so I just run the normal Facebook website on my iPad. Being a consumer device, one the things I use it for is reading the news. Some of the apps I use are the NPR app, USA Today app, BBC app, and New York Times Editors Choice app. You can see screen shots for each of the apps below.     From a social media perspective, there are a few things you want from an app. First and foremost is the ability to ability to interact with the outside world, especially through social media sites. At a bare minimum, you want the ability to email links out of the app. All of the apps have this ability, however that's the only option the New York Times offers. IMHO if that's all you are going to offer, you're missing out. By contrast, all of the other apps offer you the ability to post links to Facebook and Twitter. Now you could make the argument that Twitter adoption among the mainstream population is fairly low, but iPad users probably have a higher Twitter adoption rate than the general population, so including it is a good idea. You can see screen shots from the individual stories for each of the apps below. Continue reading this article. About the Author: Michael Gray is an SEO specialist and publishes a Search Engine Industry blog at www.Wolf-Howl.com. He has over 10 years experience in website development and internet marketing, helping both small and large companies increase their search engine visibility, traffic, and sales. Michael is a current member of Internet Marketing of New York ( IM-NY.org) and a guest speaker on Webmaster Radio. He is also an editor for the popular search engine new website Threadwatch.org. |
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