The ease and difficulty of being heard
The last few days have been quite amazing - beginning with Monday, watching the growth in popularity of the Guardian iPhone app during the course of the day. This was before any ad had appeared, there was nil pubilicity through official channels. As far as I can see it the Wellspring of information was the combination of the app store and Twitter. And it was on twitter that you really got the sense of a thought spreading like wildfire. There were hundreds of tweets in the #guardianapp hashtag, and then I don’t know how many hundreds or perhaps 1000s more there were which didn’t use #guardianapp. John Moore and others at the Guardian did a great job of commenting, answering questions and retweeting. It was the first time I’d ever been part of following and participating in the launch of something via Twitter, and particularly engaging because it was our product out there, and the response was great.
Monday was also the day on which I started writing a blogpost about the design process. I should have done a bit of self syndication, and posted my thoughts here as well. I know there are not many who read this, but enough that there are others to share posts. It has never really mattered to me before, but now, when I am trying to be heard out there in the world and establish myself as an app designer it matters rather more. So from now, some of what I post there will also be readable on Tumblr.
Many have trodden this path (blogging, SEO, the strategy and tactics which go with self promotion) but I can see I have to stand on their shoulders to see the way ahead. So read, enjoy, recommend and tweet, and don’t forget to comment and buy that lovely new app! (links to itunes store)
2 years ago