Internet Psychology from Graham Jones

Welcome to another weekly digest of material from my website grahamjones.co.uk. Enjoy.

Leveson has wasted his time

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significant. The press in the UK is already tightly controlled. We have libel laws which are the most stringent in the developed world, for instance, and the law governing inquiries and tribunals, such as the Leveson Inquiry, means that such public inquiries can actually be held in camera meaning the press are not admitted and cannot report on them. And according to McNae there are 800,000 Inquires in the UK each year! Remember too that the whole phone hacking scandal came about because the police failed to investigate what is an illegal act. The newspapers and journalists that did this were not just acting unethically, they were acting illegally. There was no need for an inquiry into this issue people should have been prosecuted. Indeed, several cases are already being prepared and charges have already been made albeit, some would argue, several years too late. So Lord Justice Leveson spent months hearing evidence and nodoubt burned the midnight oil to produce his massive report, all focused on the regulation of the print media. Meanwhile, bloggers, Twitter users and those who write on publications which are solely produced online can carry on regardless it seems. So if you were a savvy media owner who wants to behave unethically and without fear of regulation the solution is easy. You simply focus your activities online where most of your audience is going to be anyway and your printed version is produced by a company established in a foreign country outside the jurisdiction of the UK regulatory scheme. True you would still have to abide by the laws governing publication, but hey-ho you could get away with all sorts! The political debate will drag on for several more months yet, the print media owners will fall into line with the Leveson proposals and meanwhile the rest of us will continue to ignore print pubilcations in favour of online news, where untrained writers can produce all sorts of nonsense without knowledge or training in media law and where unethical and immoral writing happens already on a daily basis. In a couple of years time the politicians will no-doubt demand an Inquiry into online writing to try and get it regulated. The Leveson Inquiry is a wasted opportunity because it could have dealt with that issue now, but didnt. Politicians still seem to believe in the power of the press; they dont seem to have noticed the Internet. They are much like many business owners who focus on old-fashioned, real-world ways of gaining business without seeming to realise that the majority of purchasing decisions already start online. Too many people are paying attention to the wrong things it seems. No doubt Leveson will change the ethical approach of many newspapers and well all think that the regulation is a good idea
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The long-awaited Leveson Inquiry Report is out, but it looks like it was not worth the wait. Indeed its is an example of a psychological phenomenon which is sweeping the political and corporate world at the moment distraction. People appear to be focusing their attentional resources on the wrong thing. The Leveson Report, for instance, has 2,000 pages in four volumes, summarised in a 49-page Executive Summary of which only one single sentence mentions blogging and social media. And that sentence on page 6 is merely pointing out the obvious, that newspapers face competition from online media. I am not sure we needed an inquiry to tell us that. The latest study of news consumption shows a massive growth in online news with a further dramatic fall in newspaper usage. Newspaper owners cannot ignore that trend. Though print is unlikely to die completely, if the trend continues print newspapers will become a minor part of the activity of news organisations, rather than the main focus. Indeed, many people might argue that this is already the case with The Times having its paid-for online versions and The Daily Mail website bringing it 30% more readers per day than individuals who see its print version. Meanwhile in the Westminster bubble politicians are debating what can be done about the ethics of print journalists and how they can get them into line without heavy handed legislation which would hamper a free press. Well first Id suggest they read McNaes Essential Law For Journalists which will show them that the current laws covering news gathering and reporting are

when it finally arrives. But meanwhile the bulk of us will face unethical reporting and immoral writing in the place where most of us get our news these days, the Internet. Missing that out in the Leveson Inquiry was a major flaw. Just like missing out prosecuting illegal acts of so-called journalists was a major flaw by the police. Related posts 1. Writing Perfect Press Release for Guaranteed Exposure 2. Falling newspaper circulation is a failure of engagement, so take a tip bloggers..! 3. Who is your blog for?

And how do you show people you love them? Stop talking about yourself and talk about them and their world. The more you talk about your customers and what they are interested in the more they will love you. Alternatively, you could adopt the Donna Summer method and just pant a lot. Related posts 1. Customer service is not about your customers 2. I luv u well if I did Id SAY so! 3. Internet Marketing Psychology Helps You Sell More

You really must love your online clients

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You need to know the age of your website vistors

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Donna Summer managed to win millions of teenage boy fans thanks to her erotic songs being banned by various radio stations. Songs like I Feel Love and Love To Love You Baby featured more groaning and heavy breathing than was thought good for the nations youth in the 1970s. But there was no doubt it; Donnas fans loved her, they loved her music and they loved what it did to them. Love and Donna Summer went together. Few businesses, however, get customers who love them or what they do. We might say we love a particular brand, but does that brand actually evoke the same emotional responses as we might have got by listening to the panting of a sexy songstress? Many brand owners talk about the emotional value of their products and services, but most only appear to pay lip service to the notion that people might love their products. However, new research shows that if you can produce feelings of love for your business you are onto a winner. The study found, for instance, that if men love their beer they buy 38% more of it than similar men who are indifferent. And for people who simply adore their washing powder, well that ups the sales by a whopping 60%. The research confirms many earlier studies that increasing your sales income is significantly linked to creating higher emotional value in what you sell. If you get your clients to love you, then you will raise your sales. But love is a two-way emotion. We love someone when we feel they love us. A brand has to show it adores its customers if they are to start to feel they want to love the product themselves. You cannot expect love to be a one-way street. So, if you want to sell more from your website or make more money online you really need to demonstrate you love your visitors. In turn, theyll begin to love you back and that will eventually help your sales figures.

How old are your website visitors? Some website owners know, of course. But not knowing the age of your website visitors could present you with a problem. Thats because new research shows that as we get older we tend to use different strategies for reading. If your website is designed in a way which favours younger visitors, yet you really want to target older ones, then you will not get the results you want; they will depart from your website in the blink of an eye. Designing a website requires knowledge of your target market, of course, and their likes and dislikes. But choices over things like column width, font size and character style can all either put off or attract your target market, depending on their age. As people age we expect their vision to alter and for them to require reading glasses. However, it is not that simple. If your website is aimed at older people it is more than just the distance they sit from the screen that affects their ability to read your text. Older individuals use different reading strategies. Young people tend to use the fine details of the characters they see in order to help them interpret the text on the screen. But older people tend to use overall word shapes to read the text. This means that if you have a young visitor profile the fonts you need to use are those which accentuate the fine character differences. Whereas if your target market tends to be older, you need typography which provides well-defined word shapes. The latest research on how we read shows that older people are much more able to cope with characters which are not well defined and which tend to be more blurry. Yet younger people need fonts which are highly detailed and very well defined. Facebook, for instance, uses a font called Lucida Grande, which requires you to spot the very fine differences in characters to be able to read it quickly. The age profile of Facebook tends towards the younger end of the demographics which may well be because the font chosen is easier to read for younger people.
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However, if your target market is older, you will need to select a typeface which provides variable shapes to words Lucida Grande words, for instance, are all similarly shaped with little variation. But modern fonts such as Verdana and Georgia are more blurry around the edges meaning they may well be more suited to an older age group. Choosing the font for your website is not just a matter of adopting the defaults, nor simply the one you like; the age of your target market is an important consideration in your font choice. Related posts 1. Social Reading Raised to a New Level by Interactive eBook With Integrated Facebook Connection 2. Should you smile online? 3. Make things up to truly engage your online visitors

people will know where it is or even know if you have a search box. But ask them to find it and they will be able to spot it assuming, like the fire extinguisher it has the vivid features we associate with search. Hence the word search becomes essential, instead of fancy word such as find things or trying to be clever by using an arrow instead of the word. Thats rather like painting the fire extinguisher yellow instead of red people would not be able to spot it. Equally, if people are asked to find your email address theyll expect a link, rather than a fancy word picture or some device supposedly designed to eliminate spam. And similarly, if your users are wondering if you have a blog, theyll expect to see a link entitled blog rather than wording supposedly deemed to be more attractive such as news or updates. In other words, most people will not pay attention to the vast majority of what you offer them on your website. But when they want to find a specific item such as a search box, an email link or a blog they will focus on features they expect. If you dont provide them, you are, in effect, painting the fire extinguisher in the wrong colour. And thats much the same as financial journalists concentrating on the features of a new Governor of the Bank of England which the Chancellor was not considering. Related posts 1. 5 steps to a successful SEO campaign 2. Overcoming writers block for bloggers 3. Google changes signal the end of objective search

Mark Carney appointment points way for websites

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The surprising news that Mark Carney is to become the new Governor of the Bank of England will have shocked many people in the City as well as the dozens of pundits who confidently predicted that the current Deputy Governor, Paul Tucker would get the job. Indeed, bookmakers will be counting their losses this morning and there are red faces throughout newsrooms as financial journalists and city watchers have to apologise for their failed prediction. Whilst every expert was facing the City of London and seeing the obvious Paul Tucker, the Chancellor was facing in the opposite direction towards Canada. Now, of course, the newspapers are full of praise for the appointment saying it is an inspired choice. Some are even brave enough to apologise for their mistake. However, it is easily explained. When you look for the answer to a solution in one place you tend to ignore the other possible sources. This is partly a psychological effect known as inattentional blindness we do not see things which are obvious because we do not pay attention to them. No-one was really paying attention to what was going on in Canada and so they missed the obvious candidate for the job. Recent research shows that such lack of attention means we do not even remember where essential items are, such as the nearest fire extinguisher. In spite of the fact that people had walked passed the nearest fire extinguisher in their office building thousands of times, they were mostly unable to recall where it was. Importantly, however, they were able to find the fire extinguisher quickly when asked, which shows when they paid attention to something they knew exactly where to find it. Such issues are important online. Few people will actually pay attention to where your search box is they will have inattentional blindness to it; it will be there on your page, but few

Online technology is not the solution to success

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Controversial MP Nadine Dorries has arrived back in the UK after a few weeks away from parliament starring in the ITV gameshow Im A CelebrityGet Me Out of Here. She went off to the Australian jungle amid a blaze of criticism from fellow MPS who said she should be back here in the UK representing her constituents. She was immediately stripped of the Conservative Party whip and senior Government figures lashed out at her behaviour. Of course, what the people criticising her did not reveal was that for most of the time whilst she was away Parliament was not actually sitting. Plus her main critic was doing so from his luxury holiday pad, thousands of miles from London. Ms Dorries is a former nurse, turned businesswoman who became a director of the healthcare insurance company, BUPA before becoming an MP. She has twice been elected by her constituents returning increased majorities on each occasion. You only need a snapshot of her biography to realise that she has indeed been
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successful and that clearly many of her constituents think she is doing a reasonable job for them; otherwise she would have been unlikely to have increased her majority and enabled a swing away from her main opposition at the last election. To her opponents in the Tory leadership, success is equated with towing the party line and supporting the boss, David Cameron. Yet in spite of not always being a true-blue and being a vocal and outspoken critic of the Prime Minister, she still gets elected. The Conservative leadership must dislike that because it goes against the grain. It is an example where the perception of success and the reality are different things. We often believe that in order to achieve success in one walk of life we have to do what is the right thing and what other people have done to succeed. Yet, often, success comes about by doing something different or by behaving differently. To many people in the Mid-Bedfordshire Parliamentary Constituency the fact that Ms Dorries was prepared to eat ostrich anus as part of her bush tucker trial means she is a real person, unlike so many of the grey-suited political yes men clones who oppose her. Much to the disgust of Central Office she may well be able to increase her majority still further at the next election even as an independent MP. Equally, many business people I know are somewhat disgusted by a fellow business owner who earns around 2m a year from his consultancy business WITHOUT any kind of web activity whatsoever. And that is in a sector where the prevailing view is that a website is fundamental to success. And remember when First Direct appeared on the scene..? The view at that time was the only way to succeed in the banking world was to have a branch on every street corner. First Direct has done remarkably well considering it has no branches! Sometimes, success is not about what you do, but about HOW you do it. So, when it comes to the online success of your business are you doing things because they are deemed the right thing to do? do you do your online activities because everyone else in your sector does them? Have you put any kind of analytical thought into what you do online? New research about the use of technology in the classroom underlines the point. This shows that using new technology in the classroom because it is the done thing has little impact. What matters most is the way teachers use that technology. Equally online it is not the fact that you use social media, or that you use email marketing, but it is the way you use it. And often the best way to use it is in ways which other people are NOT using it. Being innovative, different and unusual is likely to make you stand out. Doing things the same way other successful people do it is merely making your business a clone, a me too. After all, if you want to be an MP you could wear a grey suit, do the same as every other MP and blend into the background. Or you could be Nadine Dorries, the most talked about MP in the country. And if you use online technology in just the same way as each of your competitors you will not be the most talked about business in your sector. Related posts 1. Multitasking is not all it is cracked up to be online indeed it might harm you 2. The Internet is making us all much nicer

3. Which came first? Social networks or social people?