DCWEEK2010: Media 2.0 Day & The Probono Lounger
June 16, 2010
For the past two days, Team Armadillo has venture into the heart of D.C. for two separate “Digital Capital Week Events”:http://www.digitalcapitalweek.org.
Media 2.0
On Tuesday, Armadillo descended on to the headquarters of National Geographic for a full day discussion on “Media and it’s role in the Web 2.0 World”:http://www.bivingsreport.com/2010/dcweek-media-2-0-day/. With a heavy hitting list of speakers from NPR, USAToday, National Geographic and the Pew Institute it was a wonderful day chalk-full of information.
Some of the most interesting tid-bits of information from the day came from the round table discussion in the morning on Social and Traditional Media.
Yes, this topic has been dissected ad nauseam at many other conferences and events, but this panel provided some interesting insight into the evolution of Social Media by some of the giants of Traditional Media. From the NPR’s usage of crowd-sourcing to provide geo-locational information in advance of Hurricane Gustov to The National Geographic’s implementation of a powerful members site to allow a more immersible social experience with their product, it was a refreshing site to hear the supposed _dinosaurs of traditional media_ embracing and championing Social Media.
But one of the most interesting concepts came from USAToday’s Brian Dresher who revealed a new spin on a frequently discussed topic – *ROIII – Return on Interaction, Influence and Investment*.
This concept is one of the key factors that USAToday leverages to analyze and evaluate their implementation of Social Media. It essentially expands upon the typical monetary value placed on Social Media and instead looks at how much interaction and influence USAToday is able to grow with the latest upcoming technology.
Probono Consulting Lounger
On Wednesday, Armadillo Studios had the pleasure of partaking in a special DCweek event called – “The Probono Lounge”:http://digitalcapitalweek.org/2010/06/dcweek-goes-probono/.
Essentially, this 4 hour brainstorming/work session was designed to pair Designers, Strategists and Developers with local D.C. area non-profits and help them tweak their online presence.
Armadillo Studios was lucky to team up with an excellent group of WordPress specialists and developers to help two local organizations – “DC Food For All”:http://dcfoodforall.com/ and “Bread For The City”:http://www.breadforthecity.org/. And while some technical difficulties limited everyone’s ability to really pour into the code, the event was a great success with the seeds of future collaboration planted.
Up Next…
Thursday is another big day at DCWeek with the ever popular “140 Conference”:http://dc.140conf.com/ set to take place.
Categories: DC Digital Capital Week 2010,Fresh Ideas,Industry Conferences,Social Media,Web Design Trends
DCWEEK2010: Armadillo Invades Digital Capital Week
June 14, 2010
From June 11th until the early morning of June 20th entrepreneurs, designers, social media enthusiasts and techies from all over the D.C. region are descending on the American Capital for “Digital Capital Week”:http://digitalcapitalweek.org/.
And Armadillo Studios will be there.
*DC’s Digital Capital Week* is ten-days of New Media goodness. The event is attracting attention from developers, designers, media thinkers, and NGO’s alike. There are a variety of events planned for the week and Armadillo Studios will be in there full force. If you happen to be attending “Media 2.0 day”:http://schedule.digitalcapitalweek.org/event/ef6bb6b44f017240139de1066e59e0f0, ”
Social Media & Gov Day”:http://schedule.digitalcapitalweek.org/event/e2359bbe698d239fb753231256db2ed6, the “140confrence”:http://schedule.digitalcapitalweek.org/event/88c284b1f3ef3f8a5fccc0e0493a5e33 or even the closing party, keep and eye out for us.
But more importantly, Armadillo Studios will be partaking in the always popular “ProBono Lounge”:http://schedule.digitalcapitalweek.org/event/46e2ea163618042294c7c6dd65c56cad on Wednesday June 16th. The ProBono lounge teams designers, developers and strategists with local nonprofits and government organizations for an afternoon of collaboration. Because of which we will be providing our expertise and advice for a couple of local non-profits to help fine-tune their online strategies.
So if you are in the D.C. area for Digital Capital week and happen to see Team Armadillo at one of these events, don’t be afraid. Drop by and say hello. We’d love to meet you.
Categories: DC Digital Capital Week 2010,Industry Conferences
Congratulations To Mike’s Bloggity Blog
June 12, 2010
We just wanted to send a congratulatory note to our good friend Mike Morrison of Mike’s Bloggity Blog for being named the “Best Calgary Blog in Fast Forward’s Best of 2010 poll”:http://mikesbloggityblog.com/2010/06/bloggity-named-best-in-calgary.html.
We kinda feel like that proud cousin (or high school friend) that watches their multi-talented friend make it big.
So a big virtual HIGH-FIVE goes out to Mike.
Congratulations.
Categories: Calgary Social Media,Site News,Social Media
Facebook Fan Page Fan-tastic
June 2, 2010
It is with great pleasure that Armadillo Studios announces our new “Facebook Fan Page”:http://www.facebook.com/armadillostudios.
As you can see our new Facebook Fan Page is a fully customized site, which aims to show the *playful* side of Armadillo Studios and to also demonstrate the potential power of the *Facebook Fan Page*. We built all the elements of the Armadillo Studios landing page using FBML (Facebook Meta Language), a new cannon of design code which allows page owners to dramatically enhance the Facebook experience for their fans.
But Why Launch a Fan Page Now?
Some of you may be asking, _why is a Web Design and Social Media outfit only jumping on the Facebook Fan Page bandwagon now_?
To answer that, let’s look quickly at the Facebook platform.
When Facebook first started gaining some traction with the college crowd, it created a unique subsection for people to organize called *Groups*. As everyone now knows, Groups allow up to 5,000 users to band together to show their admiration for a wealth of topics. But the major flaw, with Groups, is that it was quite difficult to connect with your followers. Without a constant level of interaction between groups and their followers, most groups faded into the distance.
Now fast forward to the beginning of 2009 and Facebook is set to launch a new system called “Fan Pages”:http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/02/16/facebook-to-launch-redesigned-pages-for-businesses-tour-first-impressions/.
*Fan Pages are Group pages on steroids* – no limits on membership, the ability to post new content directly into your fan’s activity stream and the ability to customize the layout. When they first launched many organizations made the switch instantaneously, but one of the hidden elements of the new customizable elements was the ability to create new pages using *FBML* (Facebook Meta Language).
In recent months, FMBL has undergone a series of dramatic enhancements to the point where those who are familiar with the language, can now utilize this new tool to fully customize the Fan Page experience.
FMBL and The Future of Fan Pages
It’s because of the evolution of FBML that we felt it was time to create a new identity for the company on Facebook.
With FBML, organizations can now build a unique identity on Facebook which is akin to their own goals – something that will standout from the competition. These tools now allow users to create their own mini-web sites within Facebook. And with the unprecedented growth of Facebook in certain demographics, it is now more important than ever to make a great first impression.
Because of these developments, we believe that *Facebook Fan Pages are going to be a powerful new tool for companies and community organizations*. And while we think our own page is pretty darn fan-tastic, here are some examples of what can be done with Facebook Fan Pages:
* “The New England Patriots”:http://www.facebook.com/newenglandpatriots
* “Bullfrog Power’s – Pay More For Energy Campaign”:http://www.facebook.com/BullfrogPower
* “Gerry Loves Records – An indie record label out of Edinburgh”:http://www.facebook.com/gerrylovesrecords
* “Victoria Secret”:http://www.facebook.com/victoriassecret
So don’t just take our word on it, some of the biggest players in the internet industry are already taking note.
Fan Pages & Your Company
The beauty of Facebook fan pages is that they can built for a fraction of the cost of a regular web site and they also allow you a direct connection to your fans (via streaming your updates directly in to your fan’s stream). So if you like what you see with our own “Facebook Fan Page”:http://www.facebook.com/armadillostudios, send us a note at *info@armadillostudios.ca*.
If you get in contact with us to develop a Fan Page by July 15th, we’ll give you an introductory discount of 20% on our development rate.
Categories: Calgary Social Media,Corporate News,Fresh Ideas,Social Media
The Redesign of Mike’s Bloggity Blog
May 10, 2010
It’s with great pleasure that we get to announce our latest project, the redesign of “Mike’s Bloggity Blog”:http://www.mikesbloggityblog.com.
For those unfamiliar with this popular site, Mike’s Bloggity Blog is one of Canada’s most visited entertainment blogs. Consecutively rated as the best entertainment blog in Canada for the past three years, Mike is a witty and persistent blogger with over two and half thousands post of valuable entertainment goodness.
He covers all aspects of the Canadian Entertainment realm, from the latest news on CBC’s smash hit _Being Erica_ to the latest in Canadian Films to the Junos. Mike’s Bloggity Blog is slowly becoming the go to place for everything related to the Canadian Entertainment industry.
Mike approached us earlier this year with a goal to take his *Blogger* hosted site to the next level. He wanted to roll out a unique and professional design, but to also keep the lighthearted aesthetic of the original site.
So, we set about designing a new layout which would push Mike’s Bloggity Blog to the next step. We created a new colour scheme which also leveraged a bright new header, but also incorporated Mike’s trademark Wordle logo. We upgraded the sidebar to make it easier for users to connect with Mike’s Bloggity Blog through other social media networks like _Twitter_, _Google Friends_, _TweetMeme_ and his own _YouTube Channel_.
We also equipped Mike’s Bloggity Blog with a fabulous new fat footer, which enhances the user experience by allowing for easier navigation and allowing users to discover some of Mike’s other writing gigs.
The biggest challenge for this project was the transition from Blogger to a self-hosted WordPress web site. But after some data wrangling, an unexpected downtime with a web hosting provider and some very useful WordPress plug-ins; we were able to transition all 2,500 posts from the original Mike’s Bloggity Blog to the new site, without any damage to the existing Search Engine results.
So with that we are happy to announce the new redesign for Mike and wish him all the best in his quest to conquer the _Canadian Entertainment Industry_!