Welcome to this edition of on Q with Q!  Below are links to this week’s top news in tech and social:

Apple announces the introduction of two new operating systems- MACWORLD

Facebook enters the hashtag game- FACEBOOK NEWSROOM

Twitter gives strategists a taste of an analytics dashboard- MASHABLE

Justin Timberlake tries to bring sexy back with new MySpace- WIRED

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In the early days of Web Content Management Systems (CMS), there was a nice man on the sales team who’d once asked me: “Jeremy, why do you developers hate every CMS?” The answer was simple but nuanced: at the time, the platforms did not speak to us as developers.

There were plenty of CMS platforms out there, though most would force a developer into using esoteric patterns which were contrary to the way that a problem would be approached if it were a fully custom solution; contrary to what we knew to be the best way. As well, many of them came with large libraries of pre-built controls. At first glance this sounds like a good thing; however, after the world has seen the same control countless times over, something a little different is often required. Hence the problem: primarily, developers found themselves in situations where the pre-built controls–that were supposed to save them time–were of no use. Solutions often had to be built from scratch.

Ultimately, many of the CMS platforms boiled down to frustrating systems with time-savers which saved no time at all. It’s no wonder that the development team cringed every time a new platform came onto the scene.

After a while, we acclimated. We learned the patterns and they became second nature to us. We would play nice in the sandbox with them, but we didn’t have to like them. And then an interesting thing happened: we evaluated Sitecore for the first time. Initially we had a difficult time understanding it; it seemed quite foreign. One was left with the inevitable question: “how do I create a page?”

Following the developer training, it quickly became clear why we were having a difficult time: it did not behave like the CMS platforms to which we were accustomed. It was abstract and followed object-oriented practices. There were a few “ah-ha” moments that lead us to realize exactly how powerful the Sitecore CMS platform was. It would let us do anything as long as it was properly tied back to the CMS API; not to mention that it’s quick to get out of the way when required. Add in a proper inheritance model and you have a platform with far more flexibility and re-usability than any CMS platform that had been evaluated to date.

When explaining something intangible and abstract, I often like to relate it to something tangible. The early page-based CMS platforms were similar to Lincoln Logs®: they gave a pretty good indication as to how they should be assembled and a project could be built quite quickly. An abstract CMS, like Sitecore, is more akin to a ball of clay: it doesn’t tell you what it’s supposed to be or what form it is supposed to take. One thing is undeniable: so much more can be made with a ball of clay than could be built with Lincoln Logs®.

CMS platforms have certainly come a long way.

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A few months have passed since Twitter began its great experiment into “in-feed video” and brands have embraced it with open arms.  But more than simply creating content for engagements sake, some brands are using the platform as a value add.  They are creatively thinking outside the box and using the 6 second window to give users a reason to follow.

1.  Lowes - Making projects more manageable 6 seconds at a time
 

2.  Malibu Rum – Creating e-cocktails with island inspiration
 

3. Kate Spade – Embracing a brand’s lifestyle
 

Do you have other favorite brands on Vine? Leave them in the comment section below!

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This Wednesday marked the end of another successful Tech Crunch Disrupt conference in New York City. While the travel and conference costs kept many techies at bay, Tech Crunch did an impressive job streaming the events live. Based in Washington, members of the agencyQ team followed along during keynote speeches and the hackathon presentation as they unfolded. While there were hundreds of businesses and start-ups featured, there were a couple that really caught our attention.

Here are Q’s Tech Crunch top 5 start ups to watch in 2013:

1. Rambler- Hackathon Winner, Purchase location visualization

2. Vox Creative

3. Floored- 3D real estate mapping

4. News Genius- Applying Rap Genius annotation to current news

5. Adafruit- Helping people get more comfortable with their own electronics

Click HERE to read a full list of the participants and leave your favorite below in the comment section!

Featured image by Eventful.

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Join us in welcoming Lauren Turner, our new Vice President, Agency Director, to the Q team! As a longtime digital specialist with award-winning results, Lauren Turner brings a broad range of skills in digital communications, social strategy and social design project management to agencyQ.

Prior to joining agencyQ, Lauren spent 4 years as a Digital Producer at Social@Ogilvy, Ogilvy’s global social media practice. While at Ogilvy, she led a wide range of integrated teams on a variety of social strategy, user experience, visual design, content creation and web/mobile application development projects for some of the agency’s largest and most high-profile clients.

Her work — from a website redesign for the Architect of the Capitol to a major London 2012 Olympics corporate campaign for BP — has spanned the government, NGO and commercial sectors, often with industry-leading results. She also regularly contributed to the agency’s training initiatives and new business endeavors.

Previously, Lauren worked as the Marketing and Communications Coordinator for the Museum of Photographic Arts (MoPA) in San Diego, where she managed all paid, owned and earned communications for the Museum and its programming.

Lauren holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Integrated Marketing Communications with a minor in Art from San Diego State University. She currently resides in Alexandria, VA, with her dog, Ellie.

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