TechCrunch has released details of a project codenamed ‘Titan’ that may well change the face of e-mail marketing. Facebook are planning to launch a full functional email solution much akin to Gmail or Hotmail in the coming months. So what will it include?

• Access from the walled garden of Facebook or via POP/IMAP (Outlook/Express/Live Mail can be used to read your email.)
• A unique @facebook.com email address. Probably based on your Vanity URL

The quick win could be for Facebook to utilise it’s Microsoft connections and base their email solution on Hotmail, but knowing Facebook they are going to develop this themselves.

If they do develop something unique to themselves from the ground-up then we could have a whole new email client to deal with – more testing of e-mail rendering and spam scoring is guaranteed…

So where does this fit in the webmail landscape? I think Gmail has a hardcore, committed following that love the labelling, organisation and simplicity of the conversation based layout. The big threat ironically could be to Microsoft and it’s Hotmail solution. This has become a spam filled webmail system that people are using as a rubbish bin for unwanted email. If a new solution was introduced that offered better spam control, a great user-interface and was hosted on a website you visited almost daily then I think the winner is clear to see.

This project is one that all digital marketers will have to watch closely.

Read more about this at AllFacebook in their 5 Features Facebook Should Add To Their New Email Product

After much speculation online and off Apple today announced their new iPad device, but is it something that left you thinking ‘I must have one of those?’.

For me it doesn’t sit comfortably as a device that I need, but I can see 2 key markets for this. Firstly the Apple fans, Apple are always guaranteed early success as the strength of their brand, affluence of their average customer and quality of their products mean early sales will undoubtedly be good. Yes this will look lovely next to their MacBook or iMac, but it doesn’t mean you have to buy one!

The second market is the social web user, someone who loves Facebook, gets a few emails a day (mostly from Facebook), enjoys their photo collection on Flickr, etc. This market up until now has bought a netbook or cheap laptop, but these people doesn’t really want the hassle of Windows Updates or unreliable hardware, they just want something that works… this could be it and with the aggressive pricing I feel this will go head-to-head with a netbook.

Quite a few commentators have said that the educational market potential is huge, but I can’t see this replacing a pile of text books for a lot of people. A collection of e-books inevitably will be tied to the device, so there’s no sharing of books (unless you like your friend enough to lend them your Apple iPad!) and the cost of buying a book will probably be higher than the offline version.

The next few days will be interesting to see the different uses that people suggest and that may sway my opinion, but at the moment it’s a pass from me…

Apple are the undoubted masters of the top-secret launch event. Their next unveiling is set for Wednesday 27th January at an Arts Centre in San Francisco. The web seems to have been whipped up into quite a frenzy for whatever Mr Jobs and Co. are going to announce and if it has as much impact as the iPhone has had then the speculation will turn into something that creates even more digital marketing opportunities.

Tune into the biggest live blogging event of 2010 (okay it’s the first too) at your chosen tech blog of choice from 6pm GMT…

Engadget | Gizmodo | TWiT

For businesses that are used to focusing on their PPC ROI and website conversion ratio, it’s often easy to take the normally reliable distribution of customers orders for granted. The recent strikes have resulted in a change of focus for pro-active, customer focused businesses from online to offline. Over the last week time has been spent:

• Researching, contacting and negotiating with alternative couriers.
• The implementation of a new third party courier into daily workflow and IT infrastructure (online & offline).
• Adding and updating online content to keep customers informed and reduce the impact on their conversion rate.
• The cost of upgrading customers orders to the least effected postal service Royal Mail offer (whilst negotiating with couriers) to ensure timely delivery and customer satisfaction.
• Dealing with the increase in customer communication via phone, email and live chat that delayed deliveries causes.

Large volume mail order businesses are in the envious position of having the resources to be able to switch couriers and take a fairly small hit on their bottom line, but for a small-scale e-commerce venture that relies on Royal Mail the strikes have had a serious impact:

Quantitative estimates of the number of items delayed (30 – 65 million items!) gives only a partial impression of the real impact on businesses around the UK that rely on post as a key part of their business. The unknown factor in all of this is customer perception, will people simply not even consider firing up Google and searching for the item they need to purchase. Instead heading for the safe harbour of the local high street, knowing that it maybe more expensive, but that potential delivery problems are not a factor in their buying decision.

One thing is certain, ‘bricks and mortar’ shops on the high street will have benefited from all of this.

1. Creative Commons Imagery via Google Search – This has only just gone live, but Google image search now allows you to search for images that you can use on your site, with your blog posts, etc for free (just don’t forget the credit).
2. User Testing @ fivesecondtest.com – For free? Well it’s not a massively comprehensive solution, but if you want to check if a design is conveying the key brand messages, this online service might be perfect. Simply upload a concept design and people then have 5 seconds to look at the design and feedback to you what stood out.
3. Wireframe Tool – The Pencil Project is a great browser-based sketching an GUI creation tool that works inside of Firefox. One simple download and away you go…
4. Twitter’s taken over the online world, which is probably a good thing. Grab this free Twitter Icon Set made available by the ever-excellent Smashing Magazine.
5. WordPress templates are easy to find, but quality ones that work with the latest versions 2.7+ are not so easy.  Here are 15 high quality, but still free templates that Noupe have pulled together.

Would love to hear any great resources any of you have found for free recently in the comments?

• Social media gurus FreshNetworks look at the rise of Flash Mobs to celebrate the life and music of MJ. Some great YouTube clips on there.
• Times Online highlights the power of Twitter for real-time news (Every article like this must make Google cringe).
• Twitter and Facebook had massive usage increases as the news spread, the Tech Blog at the LA Times looks at the numbers.
• The LA Times looks back at how gossip website TMZ stole the limelight from TV news channels all over the world.
• TechCrunch reports that the web as a whole struggled to deliver information as everyone rushed online to get the news.

Unfortunately my experience of the event was a very distant one, but I caught occasional tweets from various people attending The Future of Digital Marketing event organised by the excellent Econsultancy. There were some real gems of wisdom in there, below I’ve picked out the 10 best:

1. Social media is about engagement. Use to engage, not direct sales (via @econsultancy)
2. Twitter and its like will be a greater source of consumer traffic than paid search by 2012 (via @tanyagoodin)
   
3. Twitter’s not going to be around forever, Twitter shows the limits of current technology (via @econsultancy)
   
4. Telling me my own name after asking me what it is does not count as personalisation (via @econsultancy)
5. Google sending Adwords vouchers because they’re scared of social networks pulling eyes away from search (via @aizlewood)
6. Social networks represent the most significant consumer marketing opportunity since Google (via @tanyagoodin)
7. Social media is the result of social change, not a technology revolution (via @econsultancy)
8. 65% of users say online compliments the shopping they do in-store…(via @ZiaZ)
9. Twitter is about brand exposure, sharing content, engagement, not SEO, or link building (via @econsultancy)
10. Retailers looking to integrate online & store: don’t lose customers because they don’t want to buy online (via @econsultancy)

Only one blog summary is online so far, but I’ll add more links as more appear:

• Katie Morwenna – FODM
• Visible Banking

There was even some interesting digital marketing intelligence shared:

• BBC have 110 newsletters delivering 360m emails each year (30 m per month) (via @juliansambles)
• Approximate Twitter numbers: 6m users, $250M valuation, and yes, u can make money (Dell – $3m to date)
• 98% of high net worth individuals are buying online. 35% of Britons are spending more online. (via @econsultancy)

So in my time of I need I turned to the ever-reliable Google for the latest information and it was after a number of searches that the weakness of Google for breaking news was exposed. Saving the day came Twitter! Yes there was alot of noise on there from people, like me, despairing over the lack of information available, but eventually the O2 and Carphone Warehouse twitter streams started to post information. O2 broke first with estimated pricing, but then around 9pm left a message saying they were finished for the day. Carphone Warehouse then picked up and exceeded O2’s early strong position with Twitter user ‘@guyatcarphone‘ posting useful links and responding to peoples enquiries.

Around 11pm the retailers websites kicked into life with the bare essential information, tariffs appeared on O2’s site, then Carphone Warehouse again outdid them with a simple, but effective iPhone 3G S pre-registration system.

All in all, an interesting launch to follow online and Carphone Warehouse clearly went the extra mile in providing the personal touch for the UK early adopters amongst us.

One of my favourite sites – Lifehacker – has started to do a feature on what’s in people’s laptop bags, quite a nice idea, so here what’s been in mine today:

So this Belkin Laptop Messenger Case is my selected laptop enclosure. It’s got an internal removable laptop sleeve, loads of internal storage and good number of zipped external storage points. It’s really light weight, but robust enough to take an occasional battering!

The VIP Passenger

My Dell Latitude D830 has served me well for the past 20 months. Nicely described as a 15.4″ business notebook, it’s slowly become a desktop replacement and isn’t really ideal for people who are always on the move.

My favourite feature is the quality of the build and especially the keyboard which is a pleasure to use. The least likeable feature is the overall bulk of this laptop, especially when compared to a netbook.

The Cables

• AC Adaptor for the Dell laptop
• Apple iPod headphones

The Data Carriers

A single 4GB SanDisk Cruzer is all I had today, but various size variations of that brand and drive can often be found in my laptop bag.

The Analog Stowaways

• A4 Ruled & Margin 100 Page Recycled Paper Notebook
• 2 x Biros and 1 x Pencil
• 10 Business Cards

In Ear Entertainment

I love to take my first generation iPod Nano out and about with me. It’s only got 2gb of storage and it’s been around the blocks a few times, but the battery retains charge well and it holds the perfect about of music & podcasts.

Other Misc Technology

• Three 3G USB dongle – great for getting online on the move.
• Logitech MX Revolution laser mouse
• LG Viewty mobile phone (soon to be replaced by the next gen iPhone?)

Reading Materials

• This weeks NMA (21st May 2009)
• May 2007 Revolution Magazine
• The Times (22nd May 2009)

Please also be aware that developing content and keeping on top of your fans questions and queries can become a full-time job, build in management and review time in your work schedule. There are some great resources below that make essential reading before you click the ‘Publish’ button…

Facebook’s very own guide – giving you background information, how to prepare and a step-by-step guide.

A handy 10 page Facebook Pages PDF (updated March 2009) also from the Facebook team that gives you an extra level of information, from Page publishing through to looking at user statistics.

Following Facebook’s recent overhaul Mashable pulled together a superb Guide for Social Media Marketers – highlighting the opportunities and challenges of setting up your first Facebook Page.

Mashable is a superb social media resource and their 5 Elements of a Successful Facebook Fan Page post really supported that position.

If you are seeking inspiration Peter Kim setup a very useful Wiki packed full of social media examples. Sort by type, find Facebook Pages and there are some good examples there.

Probably the best way of researching is to dive into Facebook itself and search for brands, most of the big boys have pages, with varying examples of how to and how not to setup a Fan Page on Facebook – Skittles, Maltesers and Innocent all offer good, simple examples.