What keeps Developers up at Night
A brief look through the most innovative software that is coming up lately shows that the developers are going out of their way to give the users software that offer increased entertainment, utility, smooth performance and increased adoption into platforms that target the smart phone and tablets. In terms of entertainment, someone can note from the vast activity that goes on behind giving Facebook a new feel through the upcoming live journal. Social media sites are trying to outdo each other and give their fans a new feel for what they already have and that includes better engines that allow existing functions to be completed via drag and drop mechanisms or simply press and go approaches.
Developers aim to Deliver improved user productivity
Today, the user interfaces chosen by most social media sites or software developers has a common trend where there is a reduction in the amount of keystrokes and clicks which someone has to make to perform a task. For example, Facebook decided to give its users the improved and easier interface that allows people to simply drag and drop photos or videos onto a status update, thereby eliminating the need to click buttons and point to the address of the stored photo. The amount of time people spend carrying out common tasks reduces and this allows them to enjoy most of their time looking at the other value-added services and mingling with friends.
Developers are focusing on redesigning all their user interfaces by bringing in new tech or varied architectures which will make the applications respond faster to the user commands. In 2013 and onwards, it has become unaffordable to have apps that take too long to load. Saving of records and the time that a page takes to record the changes made. The same sentiment moves away from only PC markets but is also giving the same value to the masses that do their computing via tablet computers and handheld devices. There is a growing number of Applications that are meant for Android phones and Apple’s iOS. With this, it is detrimental to make applications that only fit the PC user and ignore those people who are surfing the internet via cell phones.
Social media takes a more expressive stance
The reasons the operating system developers are monitoring closely the operations of software makers is because they know that they cannot fully rely on the web as the only place to capture the masses and make revenues. Facebook continues to test new ideas such as sharing statuses through visual icons which include emoticons which show that someone is reading, drinking or watching television. These can in future be used in place of typed updates. The ability to write up your own emoticon will also be handy in trapping the market segment who like to be different from everybody else. The web is not enough according to Microsoft and that is why they focused on making a touch-interface so that they can have a bite of the tablet market’s cake. The tablets are having a kill where social media and social media apps are concerned. It is now apparent that some people just need a means of keeping in touch with what is going on through the news wires, update their statuses, read eBooks and even relax and eat as they listen to online music streams. Someone would therefore prefer to use a machine that can fit in an airplane tray instead of carrying around bulky laptops.
Sharing more than just updates
The popularity of an App or software will in many cases depend on the value it delivers and to a great part, the fun delivered while at that. There is a reason people got tired of simply saying that they are listening to a certain track. These days, people want to embed a playlist next to their profiles in social media. There are media sharing apps such as GetGlue where someone and his friends can see some upcoming online programs and their schedules. When someone sees someone else’s watch list he can get the kind of taste someone has for media and with time, people with similar tastes for media will end up flocking together. For developers, this simply means there will be a growing opportunity to advertise.