Tech companies are always cultivating ideas they think users will appreciate. Only recently, Google has been testing out changing the colour of hyperlinks in the search engine results pages, from traditional blue to black. But there’s a small problem – people don’t always love these ideas. So, lets take a trip down memory lane and look at some the tech giants #UltimateFails. Twitter Twitters biggest fail was narrowly avoided. In January 2016, reports surfaced of a character increase to 10,000. Since Twitters birth in 2006, the 140-character limit has epitomised the brand. The character cut-off is to help sort through the fluff and get you straight to the juiciest part of the story. The suggested increase was met with a torrent of criticisms from users pleading with Twitter to reconsider its plans, using the tag #Twitter10k. Twitter bosses have since listened to their fans and this March, CEO Jack Dorsey confirmed the short character count would stay. Microsoft The Zune was introduced as an alternative to the hugely popular Apple iPod. It was released in 2006
5 years after first generation iPods were launched. The two music listening devices were similar in price, but many saw the Zune as substandard when it came to the crunch. Even the former Microsoft boss admitted that there was never really a reason to buy one. Whilst Zune wasn’t a bad product, its release was too late into a market that was already saturated, causing it to be an almighty flop. Google The fact that Google Wave is difficult to define is probably the main reason for its failure. E-mail, instant messaging and document editor mash-up, Google Wave was supposed to be a handy way for people to collaborate on a project in real time. After just 15 months Google pulled the plug. Largely due to the horrendous complexity, user take up wasn’t brilliant and the invite only activation didn’t help. At the end of the day, users just didn’t get it and who wants something they don’t understand. Apple The rocky U2 and Apple relationship. In 2004 the U2 iPod came pre-loaded with the band’s back catalogue and their signatures on the device. It was $50 dearer than its plain counterparts but people weren’t buying it – literally. In 2014 Apple were at it again, forcing the new U2 album down peoples throats. The backlash was unprecedented; users ripped apart this unrequited marketing stunt and its infringement on their privacy. Apple was forced to release a tool allowing users to remove the album and Bono, the lead singer of U2, apologised for the blunder. Facebook Poor Facebook, they’ve had a fair few ideas that have bombed. So, we’ve round up the best of the worst. Facebook Gifts allowed users to buy virtual and physical gifts for friends. The service never took off and users complained it was annoying, subsequently Gifts closed. There was Facebook Places – abandoned, Facebook Email – scrapped, Facebook Poke – eliminated. But the winner of the biggest Facebook flop has to be Facebook Beacon. An ad platform with dodgy user and privacy rules; it resulted in a large lawsuit against Facebook and was swiftly shut down. Obviously none of these failures have been catastrophic as all of these companies are still alive and kicking, making millions of dollars. It just goes to show that failure is an important part of successful businesses. Thanks for reading our ‘#TechFails’ article. Be sure to visit the rest of our Digital Marketing Blog for all the latest happenings in Digital Marketing. We’re Digital Clicks, SEO specialists working in Cambridge with clients across the whole country. We specialise in SEO campaigns, especially when one wants to optimise for a local SEO campaign in Cambridge. For more information, any help or advice for your campaign or to know more about how we work, don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of the team. Error: Contact form not found.Post navigation
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