5 Extremely Actionable Tips to Improve Your Content Writing

I'm a terrible writer.

That's correct – I'm a terrible writer and I'm going to teach you how to improve your content writing efforts. Oh, the irony!

The thing is that even bad writers can learn how to mesmerize an online audience. All it takes is a little bit of creativity and having a basic idea about what people want and what they expect.

As a result, even a bad writer like me can produce pieces that go viral.

What's the secret?

Every professional writer will tell you one thing – you have just a few seconds to impress the audience. If you don't get them hooked right from the start, you'll lose readers.

It doesn't really matter if you've written the best, most perfectly researched text in the world. Nobody's going to read it.

Content writing is a tricky thing and there's no universal formula when it comes to making sure that everyone will read through till the end. Still, a couple of techniques can increase your chances of success.

Great writing isn't about grammar and sentence structure (though these things do matter!).

Here are some of the secrets that will help you improve your content writing.

1. A viral headline will go a Long Way

Viral has become the codeword when it comes to online success. We all want to publish viral social media updates, viral YouTube videos and viral website or blog content.

Well, the things you believe have viral potential may not necessarily be the ones that your audience is going to be impressed by.

A few of the common elements of viral headlines you can test out however, include the following:

• Emotional appeal – make people laugh or feel something and you've got them hooked


• Something curious that everyone wants to know


• A trending topic (doing your research is crucial)


• A list, a series, a specific number of tips


• A how to guide, a practical explanation of something complex or something that everybody wants to learn how to do

Take for example Buzzfeed headlines. Analysis has been carried out to find out what makes them so likely to go viral. Guess what, most of them correspond to at least one or more of the criteria mentioned above.

These articles are currently top posts on Buzzfeed. Take a look at the titles and see how they correspond to the viral suggestions above.

Remember one thing – a viral headline should deliver on its promise. Don't go for clickbait headlines. If you promise people to prove whether Nicki Minaj's butt is real, you better deliver! Otherwise, you'll lose the audience that you've already misled into giving you a try.

2. It's all about the first paragraph

You absolutely need to have a great opener. The first paragraph will determine the fate of your text. Just think about it – have you taken the time to read content that has a boring, long and convoluted first paragraph?

This is the most difficult aspect of writing content. Coming up with the perfect opener every single time is impossible. But you can still turn to the following approaches and ensure the decency of the lead:

• Tell people a personal story and tie it into a bigger theme


• Ask a question that the audience is eager to learn about


• Provide a glimpse into a secret that you're going to share through the article


• Be direct and tell people what the article is all about


• Make it humorous, tell a good joke


• Start with a great and catchy quote that is relevant

This analytical piece shows what types of first paragraphs are most capable of getting the audience engaged. It also provides examples of lead graphs that belong to each of the categories.

Here's another interesting case study. Based on heatmaps, researchers have found out that an articles most important and engaging information should be made available in the first two paragraphs.

Heatmaps suggest that the overwhelming majority of readers focus on the first and second paragraph of a piece of content.

3. The biggest secret of professional writers

Try to guess what makes some writers better than others. Here's a hint – it's not extensive research, it's not practice (though experience will certainly help) and it's not in-depth knowledge of the topic being discussed.

Great writers have their unique tone and voice. Certain people's content is easy to recognize among hundreds of other articles.

Write in your own voice without trying to replicate anyone. Don't choose a certain writing style because you think it's going to appeal to the audience. People will instantly know that your text is far from authentic. This is one of the biggest sins in the world of content writing.

Many rookie writers commit the grave mistake of attempting to twist and redefine their own style. They're eager to write like the authors that they adore. Being inspired by someone is great. Trying to write like them is a grave mistake.

Tone and voice are key elements of branding. The following analysis compares the tone of different corporate websites. It's easy to see how they have nothing in common and how the chosen tone reinforces the respective corporate message.

Mint.com is an example of a website that maintains its unique tone and voice in every single sentence.

4. Everything but the kitchen sink?

Good content is focused content. People don't have all day to explore all of the ideas that you have in your head. Choose one topic and stick to it. If necessary, create an outline before you start writing content. An outline will keep you from digressing and losing the sharpness of your piece.

Great writers do just one thing and they do it perfectly. What's your point? Why are you telling the story? How will it benefit your reader? These are the questions you should be capable of answering before getting started with the text.

One final thing to remember is that you don't have to make your writing “pretty”. There's no need to use big words and long sentences. Tell your story, make your point and end when you're done. Trying to write a certain number of words and putting a lot of filler content in will instantly decrease the strength of the argument and of your writing.

Focus does help and this intriguing case study is the absolute evidence. Dive Rite, a small company, was struggling and it was virtually impossible to find online. By focusing content on its history and what the company stands for, the brand saw major improvements without spending a ton of money on expensive marketing.

By focusing on its history and heritage, this company was capable of giving its content focus and boosting web traffic significantly. 

5. Make your content persuasive

This is a very challenging aspect of content writing but an essential one. After all, you want to persuade people through your text. You want them to do something after they're done reading.

A few principles of persuasive writing include the following:

• Appeal to logic and to a person's sense of reason – make them believe that what you're telling them is the right thing to do


• Appeal to the emotions of people – make them desire something and get them feeling drawn to it. Use emotional appeal sparingly, otherwise you risk making the text too soppy


• Reciprocity – people like to get something before giving back. Thus, give them valuable information if you'd like them to undertake a certain course of action


• Appeal to traditions –through this technique, you will be asking people to accept an argument because it has worked in the past, standing the test of time

A simple example of how Buzzfeed utilizes the principle of reciprocity.

Wrap

All of these techniques should be backed by sufficient evidence. You can't just ask people to believe you because you've said so. Give them information, facts and logical arguments to build your credibility and establish yourself as an authority within your respective field.

Successful writing is difficult. It involves talent, strategic planning, practice and dedication. Take it slow, do your research and work on refining your writing skills. If you're consistent and eager to perfect your content, you'll soon see the positive outcome of your efforts.

Guest Author: My name is Alicia Honeycutt. I am a digital strategist and beginning writer at Essaydot. I love to write and read, investigate and share experience.  You can find me on Facebook.

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Pokémon Go grabs 'free-time' market share from Facebook, Netflix

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GUEST:

Pokémon Go has captured our collective imagination. It also looks to have captured a big chunk of our free time - time that Facebook and Netflix used to own.

It is absolutely insane how much of a stranglehold these two juggernauts have had on our free time - which makes it all the more incredible to see how a small app like Pokémon Go can grab so much of it away from them in such a short amount of time.

Let's dive into the statistics.

Netflix

Netflix has become the goliath of entertainment. In April it was reported that Netflix has over 81 million paying subscribers worldwide, just over half of which are in the U.S.

The last time Netflix reported on actual time usage was in its review of 2015, in which it said users spent 42.5 billion hours watching shows on its service. If you average that out by subscribers at that time, that is 1 hour, 33 minutes per day of streaming. This doesn't account for shared Netflix accounts, but it's still a staggering amount. That's 10 hours and 21 minutes a week, or about 1 and a quarter workdays.

Needless to say, Netflix has almost reached the point where it's as much a part of the daily routine as eating supper.

Facebook

Facebook is a different animal altogether. It's easily the biggest of the three in comparison, but that doesn't mean users average more total time on the service.

First of all, Facebook accounts tower over Netflix and Pokémon Go significantly. With over 1.65 billion active Facebook users, nothing else even comes close. Another staggering aspect to this is that 54% of all those users only access it on mobile.

However, when you look at the average use per day, Netflix has the advantage. Globally, people spend just over 50 minutes a day on Facebook's suite of apps, which includes Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. So for a week, that's 5 hours, 50 minutes, or close to three-quarters of a full day's work.

Pokémon Go

Now Pokémon Go has been live for less than a month, so the numbers are certainly not quite to the level of Netflix and Facebook yet. But they're still impressive.

So far, Pokémon Go's peak day saw a total of 25 million users. On an average day there are around 20 million users. With the launch of the game in Japan and other countries, we'll have to see how these numbers inflate. It has been reported that Niantic wants to bring the game to 200 markets around the world, which will definitely see massive increases in daily users.

The average usage amount is the really important part. According to this Forbes article, a new report gathered from 7Park Data shows that Pokémon Go users spend an average of 75 minutes a day on the app. In contrast, the Facebook app is only getting around 35 minutes per day. That's 8 hours, 45 minutes a week, or about one full workday, with some change.

How Pokémon Go challenges Netflix and Facebook

Now here's the head-scratcher: The statistics I've shared here on both Netflix and Facebook were from April - when Pokémon Go wasn't even on the radar. How does the sudden and significant growth of Pokémon Go affect the use of Netflix and Facebook? How big a slice of the pie has Pokémon Go really grabbed from these two?

Having studied economics in college, I think of this time exchange in terms of opportunity cost. What could be done with a resource if you didn't spend it on something else? In this case, what would people be doing with their time if they didn't choose to spend it on Pokémon Go? My guess is that a surprising number of Pokémon Masters would say they would be spending that time watching Netflix or browsing Facebook. But is it enough to really cause a dent in their market share of free time?

Android reports that in Canada, a country that has had the game for even less time than the US, nearly 30% of Pokémon Go users were skipping their day-to-day activities to catch Pokémon. These activities would include anything from school to work to sleep to (you guessed it) Netflix and Facebook.

In an attempt to get a good feel for this, I decided to run my own survey that contains two questions:

1. How many hours/week do you play Pokémon Go?


2. What would you normally have been doing if you weren't playing Pokémon Go?

I had everyone I know share it on social media and also put some promotion budget behind it, just until I got a semi-decent data set of a hundred responses.

Here are the results:

If you would like to see the survey, and the live results, feel free to respond to it here.

As you can see, the average time spent in my data set was a bit smaller than what was reported in the 7Park Data report, but not by much. I cut my responses off at 8+ hours, as I was comparing that to spending a full workday out catching Pokémon. However, there were still 47.5% of users who spent at least 4 hours a week playing.

Then the interesting part: 65% of these players would have spent their time watching Netflix, and 53.5% of Pokémon trainers would have been browsing their Facebook newsfeeds for at least part of that time. Those are HUGE percentages!

If we take those same percentages and apply them to the Pokémon Go user base as a whole, that means 65% and 53.5%, respectively, of 20 million people are skipping at least part of their usual Netflix and Facebook time to play Pokémon Go every day.

So yes, Pokémon Go is daring to do battle with the big players. What remains to be seen is if it can keep up the momentum, especially as it launches the game to the rest of the world. How will this impact Netflix and Facebook in the long run? We'll have to see.

Who has the advantage?

Clearly, the established champions have an overall advantage. Pokémon Go has its work cut out for it to really remain any sort of challenge in the long run against the media giants. But each party has at least one major advantage.

Netflix

Netflix's advantage lies in how interesting it continues to be to its users. A ton of that interest stems from dozens of original and highly entertaining projects that are constantly being released. And this content-generating engine is only getting started. You can find the list of new and returning shows for 2016 here. But the company is also spending a budget of $6 billion on original content this year, much of which will come to fruition in 2017.

This massive and constant injection of new and exciting shows will only continue to intrigue viewers, and will continue to spark interest for a long time after Pokémon Go completes its global launch. It also continues to have an advantage over Facebook on that front, as Facebook can only be as interesting as its users make it.

In this way, Netflix is really it's own biggest competitor. If it continues to put out some of the best entertainment anywhere, it wins. If it starts producing less-interesting or inconsistent shows, it could really shoot itself in the foot.

Facebook

Facebook and Pokémon Go have similar positives, with Facebook's just being more entrenched and proven. Both have enormous social impact, bringing people together in ways that hadn't been possible before. Both also have a huge advertising bonus. Facebook's ads are definitely much more custom and targeted, but you better believe Google will find a way to make that happen in Pokémon Go as well.

The beauty of Facebook is how passively it exists in everyday life. It can be used between appointments, with a quick check during a work break, or even just at a glance as you're walking with your mobile device. This is a passiveness that doesn't exist nearly as well with either Netflix or Pokémon Go, which require considerable more attention and effort. Because of how easy it is to use, EVERYONE uses it.

Pokémon Go

Pokémon Go has a few major advantages. One of these is that it gets people out and about, which is something that millions of people have always made resolutions to do but never had the motivation to actually follow through on. Another is that it's something that can be worked at and provides a sense of accomplishment, which is another huge motivating factor. However, both of these advantages have their limits.

Pokémon Go's biggest advantage is that it's on the cutting edge - and is just getting started. Its new (albeit basic) augmented reality component is fresh and exciting, leaving everyone to wonder what's next. Pokémon Go is in a position to continue to make big waves and push the boundaries of what's possible in video games and in augmented reality in general. Backed by a brand that has continued to add to itself over the years, there is still a lot of Pokémon material to go through, and the game continues to expand into new markets. This growth and innovation won't stop for quite awhile and might be the foundation upon which tons of other opportunities emerge.

I don't think Pokémon Go as it is now will continue to make as big a splash as it has, but Niantic could take it anywhere from here. Netflix and Facebook have mostly already created their identity, and their direction is clear. What Niantic and Google do with Pokémon Go, its technology, and the hype around it will determine the mark it makes on everyday life, and whether it will continue to control so much user time.

However this plays out, it's been pretty cool to watch as a small, glitchy app takes the attention away from giants like Netflix and Facebook.

Darren Faber is director of strategy and social media at digital marketing agency Foxtail Marketing.

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Facebook reveals its Area 404 hardware lab

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In one building of its sprawling Menlo Park, California, headquarters, Facebook has erected a 22,000-foot laboratory where many teams can come together to build and refine hardware. It's open to the Facebook infrastructure team that works on data center gear, the Oculus team building virtual reality gadgets, the Connectivity group working on drones to beam down internet from the sky, and even Regina Dugan's secretive Building 8 hardware research division.

Facebook has had various facilities that employees can tinker around in. At one time, the company used a mail room at its old Palo Alto headquarters for that purpose. But now there's a more holistic, integrated spot, with more than 50 workbenches and an impressive assortment of equipment. Facebook has been building its Area 404 lab - thus named because for a long time a lab of this type was “not found” - for the past nine months, and employees are just now starting to move in.

You can't see what's inside the lab from the hallway outside, because the windows are covered up. But it's not as if Facebook has hidden this facility in some remote place. It's right on campus, and software engineers are working just above the lab on the second floor, Spencer Burns, a CNC model maker at Facebook, told reporters during a media tour of the facility this week.

Burns emphasized that it's not very common for companies to let outsiders into labs like this. And that's true - Apple and Microsoft only rarely permit non-employees to access their labs. But Facebook has historically been more transparent about its hardware than other web companies, with initiatives like the Open Compute Project, the Telecom Infra Project, and the Surround 360 video camera.

While Burns said that there are currently no plans to let researchers from other companies set up shop and use the tools on site, the company did allow reporters to take a look around, just as it has let reporters visit its data centers. The facility stocks a nine-axis mill-turn lathe, a five-axis vertical milling machine, a five-axis water jet, a sheet metal shear and folder, a CNC fabric cutter, a coordinate measuring machine, and an electron microscope and CT scanner, as Burns and Facebook mechanical and power manager Mikal Greaves wrote in a blog post.

With all of this, Facebook can more easily create small and large things quickly, and then redesign and reproduce as necessary. There's no need to send off a design to the other side of the world. Manufacturing can even be done for small quantities, Burns said.

This facility will operate in addition to Facebook's other labs, like the Oculus lab in Seattle, the laser communications facility in Southern California, and the Aquila site in the United Kingdom. Given this level of investment, it's apparent that Facebook is not planning to power down its hardware development anytime soon. And that's important, given that not five years ago, Facebook was just another site that you went to on your computer. It will be fascinating to see what types of hardware the company comes up with in the years to come.

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Report: Snapchat is making scannable codes for the real world

Snapchat is reportedly developing a new form of QR code that opens unique content in-app when scanned. According to The Information, Snapchat's scannable codes could be found just about anywhere: a box of canned soda, movie posters or even in-store advertisements. They may also carry discounts on goods or services, possibly through a coupon that pops open in Snapchat. Like geo-stickers will do for location, these new codes will provide metadata. It may even be a way for Snapchat to monetize its userbase. The scannable codes are said to launch this Fall, though the source claims the project may be…

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Instagram Launches Instagram Stories: What They Are, How They Work and How Brands Can Use Them

In a bold move to encourage its users to create and share more content on the platform, Instagram has announced Instagram Stories, a feature that lets users post photos and videos that vanish after 24 hours.

The feature feels much like Snapchat Stories, a Snapchat feature that was introduced in 2013 and a pivotal part of the company's growth. And like Snapchat, the photos and videos shared in your Instagram Story are ephemeral and can't be viewed once 24hrs has elapsed. Content shared to stories also won't appear on your profile grid or in the main Instagram feed.

How Instagram Stories Work

Stories are rolling out globally on iOS and Android over the next few weeks. And while some users may have the feature available right now, others may have to wait a little longer to get up and running.

Instagram Stories appear in a bar at the top of your feed - and all Instagram accounts will be able to share stories, from your best friends to your favorite popular accounts. When there's something new to see, their profile photo will have a colorful ring around it.

To view someone's story, you simply need to tap on their profile photo, and their story will appear full-screen, showing you all of the content they've posted in the last 24hrs, the content will play in chronological order from oldest to newest.

Once you're viewing a story, you can tap to go back and forward or swipe to jump to another person's story. Unlike regular posts, there are no likes or public comments.

How to Create a Story

To create a story on Instagram, you have to tap a new stylized “+” icon at the top left-hand corner of the screen, The Verge reported. Or you can reveal the story camera by simply swiping left.

Your story follows the privacy settings of your account. If you set your account to private, your story is visible only to your followers. However, you can also easily hide your entire story from anyone you don't want to see it, even if they follow you. When watching your own story, swipe up to check out who's seen each photo and video. You can even choose to feature a particular part of your story by posting it on your profile.

A Couple of Ways This Stories Could Benefit Instagram

1. An Attempt to Increase sharing

When Instagram first jumped onto the scene in 2010, its defining feature was the ability to turn average- looking smartphone photos into professional feeling images using a range of clever filters and editing tools.

What made Instagram stand out, could be somewhat of a hindrance for the company now, though, as the bar for content on Instagram has grown increasing high and many of the platform's 300 million daily users, see the Instagram feed as a precious place for only the best content.

Speaking to The Verge, Instagram co-founder, Kevin Systrom explained: “If Instagram is built around highlights, we're filling in the space in between - and becoming more about visual expression in general. We're capturing all the world's moments, not just the best ones.”

How often people share on Instagram

The average number of Instagram posts per user declined between 2013 and 2015, according to a study reported in The Information. And at the same time video alone on Snapchat have hit over 10 billion views per day and saw a 25 percent increase in just three months between February and April 2016.

Union Metrics put together data on brands and Instagram (note: data came before the change to an algorithm), finding that most brands post 1 to 2 times a day on Instagram (the actual average was right in the middle, 1.5).

Stories provide a way for brands, and individuals, to post more without overwhelming people's feeds. As the company explained on their blog:

“With Instagram Stories, you don't have to worry about overposting. Instead, you can share as much as you want throughout the day - with as much creativity as you want.”

2. A New Focus on Messaging

We've seen a huge rise in messaging platforms over recent years, from Facebook-owned Messenger and Whatsapp (Facebook also owns Instagram) growing to over 1billion users a piece, and Snapchat becoming a dominant platform for 1:1 photo and video sharing, and messaging amongst teenagers.

With this update, it feels like Instagram could be about to make a move into the messaging space and become a place to not only share our best moments but discuss our every moment. If you want to comment on something you see in someone's story, you can tap and send a private message to that person on Instagram Direct.

If Instagram can crack messaging, then the app will become about much more than our finest moments, and with an array of in-the-moment stories and conversations with those closest to us to boot, it could become a truly social network.

5 Ways Brands Could Brands Use Instagram Stories

Brands aren't strangers to Instagram, and we could see a large number jump in and start testing stories over the next couple of weeks. Here's our best estimate and what we may see from those first movers:

1. Behind the scenes content

If the Instagram feed has become a place for only the most polished, pre-produced photos and video, then stories could be a way to add some authenticity the content that appears in the feed. With stories, brands have a chance to take their followers on a journey and tell the story behind the posts in their feed.

Imagine seeing a brand new post from Nike featuring a well-known athlete pop up in your Instagram feed, and then being able to go behind the scenes with that athlete directly afterward or even see some exclusive footage of the shoot in their story.

This technique could be used by brands of all sizes and industries too. For example, a restaurant could post a picture to their feed on a new dish and then create a story with a well-known food blogger reviewing it. Or a real estate company could take you on a tour around a property they've just posted about. The possibilities here are endless.

2. A potential way to beat the algorithm

Instagram recently added a Facebook-like algorithm to filter its feed and show users the posts it determines they'll be most interested in at the top of their feed.

We're still unsure whether Instagram will show all stories in chronological order or if they'll follow the algorithm, but stories could provide a way for brands to stay top-of-mind on the platform even if their content isn't always at the top of the feed. Experimentation with stories, and being a stand-out early adopter, could help brands to get their followers paying more attention to the posts within their feeds and boost their engagement across the platform.

3. Takeovers

Takeovers have become a big thing for brands on Snapchat. If you're not familiar with how it works, essentially, one brand will take over another's Snapchat account for a period and share content.

With Instagram stories, brands could begin to collaborate more with other brands or influencers. For example, at Buffer we regularly feature members of our community within our Instagram feed. Once stories open up globally, we could share a photo from one of our community and then allow them to jump on our story and share a little more context about the photo or video in our feed.

4. A rise in 1:1 communication

When social media first hit the mainstream, there was a lot of buzz and excitement about being able to talk directly with your favorite celebrities and brands. Stories give brands the chance to get back to the roots of social media and engage with their followers on a 1:1 basis.

For example, we could see brands running Q&A sessions via stories with people sending questions via Instagram Direct and the brand answering them within their story. We could also see stories being used to send 1:1 video messages to followers.

5. Live, timely content

There's a lot of excitement around live video content at the moment. And Instagram stories could give brands a way to produce live video content on the platform.

Live video is extremely engaging, and though Instagram stories won't allow for a long, un-interrupted broadcast like Facebook Live or Periscope, it could allow brands to make their Instagram accounts the place to go for live, interactive content.

Benefit Cosmetics have used Facebook to broadcast makeup tutorials, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York used Facebook to share the opening of a new exhibit. And there's no reason Instagram stories couldn't be used in a similar way to these broadcasts and take users deeper into a live event as it takes place.

Over to you

This is certainly a big move for Instagram and one that could shift the platform a great deal. Snapchat has proven there's a huge market for sharing fleeting, everyday moments of our lives and if Instagram can make stories work alongside its current offering, then this could be one of its most important updates to date.

What are your thoughts on Instagram's Snapchat competitor? Are you excited to test out stories? How do you think we'll see brands using the feature?Share your thoughts in the comments and I'd be excited to join the conversation.

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Instagram Launches Instagram Stories: What They Are, How They Work and How Brands Can Use Them

Trump vs Clinton: A tale of two different AMAs

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We're less than 100 days until U.S. voters elect the person they want to succeed Barack Obama as president. And as we inch closer towards November, both candidates are taking their message everywhere, both off line and online including leveraging popular services to interact with supporters.

One tool that has become important is the ability to “Ask Me Anything” (AMA), which Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump took advantage of last week, mid-way through the Democratic National Convention (DNC). For an hour, he responded to questions on Reddit in a session organized within one of the site's political sub-Reddits which was made up of supporters. But contrast how the GOP candidate did what was supposed to be an AMA versus his opponent, Secretary Hillary Clinton, who has taken to Quora for perhaps a more professional discussion of the issues and you'll get two different tales.

When Trump held his AMA, moderators enacted what it considered “security measures” designed to maintain the quality of the community “free from troublemakers.” These weren't official Reddit rules and the moderators were free to set up rules and guidelines as long as it adhered to the service's content policies. In order to ask a question of the candidate, users needed to be older than 30 days old and have more than 500 “combined karma.”

Clinton, on the other hand, has opted to pursue an AMA free of such extra security measures. Her, along with running mate Senator Tim Kaine, will participate in a session next week and have asked the Quora community to submit questions ahead of time. But it's all about perspective: Quora's mission is about sharing and growing the world's knowledge and as such it's a social network for professional discussions compared to Reddit where some topics and descend into more controversial and bizarre topics.

While Trump's Reddit AMA had measures in place, Quora chief executive Adam D'Angelo told VentureBeat that Clinton's session will not, but he feels confident that the Clinton and Kaine event will go off without excessive trolling. D'Angelo explained that Quora doesn't have special rules in place - it's one set of conditions for everyone on the site - and believes that the quality of conversations will be high because those in the community adhere to its policy of “be nice, be respectful.”

Clinton and Kaine aren't new to Quora, but D'Angelo admits that this is the first time that the site has had a presidential ticket from either party do an AMA-like event right after a party convention. He also said that the service would welcome participation by Trump and his running mate, Indiana governor Mike Pence.

So far, more than 36,000 people are following the Clinton and Kaine Quora event which the Democratic presidential and vice presidential candidates will respond to on Monday, August 8 starting at 9:00 a.m. Pacific. Questions already being asked include what the Democratic ticket thinks of Black Lives Matter, the policy on China, how to make college education more affordable, Clinton's stance on H-1B visas, appealing to supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders, why Clinton hasn't held a news conference in 200 days, the issue around Clinton's Goldman Sachs speeches, dealing with ISIS, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

On the flip side, Trump's Reddit AMA were filled with questions from disenfranchised Sanders supporters, Clinton's lack of press conferences, media bias, Obamacare, voter fraud, NASA, WikiLeaks and Net Neutrality (which Trump declined to answer), or if he's getting tired of winning.

While Reddit is accustomed to dealing with a diverse audience and commenters, in an election year filled with polarizing candidates, can Quora's self-policing community and professionalism hold up when Clinton and Kaine kick off their AMA? D'Angelo puts his faith in the service's ability to minimize trolling: “We can handle it.”

We'll see.

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Google's Project Ara founder creates a smart lamp to teach you better habits

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We're always looking for ways to motivate us around learning new behaviors, whether it's reading more, getting exercise, or even spending time writing. Perhaps the obvious place to turn to for help is technology and a new company has developed a lamp that it believes contains the keys to enabling positive habits within ourselves. Called Peak, this device is now available through a Kickstarter campaign and is the brainchild of Dan Makoski, the founder of Google's Project Ara initiative, and David Khavari, a former associate at Andreessen Horowitz.

Whether it's working out, running, spending time with loved ones, practicing a musical instrument, meditating, or anything else, the Peak lamp promises to help you build these patterns thanks to its smart technology. “Peak is a lamp and a conversation,” Makoski explained to VentureBeat. “At a fundamental level, you tell Peak a goal you're working on, and it breaks it down into small habits and encourages and celebrates you as you make progress.”

The idea behind Peak came from issues Makoski and Khavari encountered while working in the financial space - following his departure from Google, Makoski joined Capital One to work on mobile design while Khavari previously served as an associate product network at Upstart Networks. Both were working on ways to encourage people to take control of their financial behavior, but ultimately felt they weren't making a big enough impact.

Peak connects to your smartphone, enabling you to stipulate whatever habit you want. Touching the lamp will instruct the system to send you an “encouraging” text message with the aim of getting you one step closer towards the goal you want to hit. After completing that step, touch Peak again and it will record your progress before “celebrating” your success with a light show.

“Both light and text messaging were chosen because the literature supports their efficacy,” Makoski said. “Light is an unobtrusive, natural trigger, and text messages have the highest open and reply rates of common forms of digital communication. From a higher level, it just feels like friends text you and apps send you push notifications. So we wanted to stray away from the standard app feeling.”

The company views their product as more than a lamp - it's a platform. Makoski shared: “Our vision is to unlock people's potential through great habits, much like the vision of Nest is to learn how to make the home simple, safe, and efficient. We're instrumenting the platform to learn what factors play the greatest role in influencing positive action. We're looking at everything from time of day, size of steps and rhythms of routines, to the brevity, humor, use of emojis, personality and level of encouragement of our conversation.”

Following Peak's launch, it's envisioned that this smart lamp could see placement in offices for leadership teams, hospitals for chronic patients, and more. The company is also exploring the possibility of opening up its platform to developers and industry experts to “share their skills, knowledge, and insights to everyday people.” Of course this will all depend on the success of its Kickstarter campaign, which looks to raise $50,000 for the device.

At first glance, Peak isn't your conventional lamp that you'd pick up at Target or IKEA. However, it fits into a design pattern that Makoski brought with him following his days working at Google's Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group and at Capital One: “While doing our research, we realized light has a powerful effect on the human psyche – in the morning, blue tones can facilitate attention and wakefulness, and in the evening, amber hues engender relaxation and calm. From a design perspective, we like light's subtlety,” he said.

“To create the form itself…we had 4 designers from around the world create first takes, and we selected one to work with to create the final design. Ultimately we came to a mountain-like form that we call The Spire. We feel it's beautiful, and in our early testing it evoked a lot of great associations for people, from Mount Everest, a common symbol for achieving goals, to an iceberg, 90% submerged, like the latent potential that so many people need just a small nudge to unlock.”

Above: Peak cofounders (left to right) Dan Makoski and David Khavari.

Image Credit: Peak

Should its Kickstarter campaign be fully invested, Peak estimates delivery of its smart lamp to early backers some time in March 2017. However, if you're a “Peak Partner” and pledge more than $4,999, you could receive it as early as September.

With so many options out there to adjust our habits, will people be receptive to Peak? Makoski thinks it should be given a chance because “it's fundamentally different than the other options out there. Most habit-related technologies offer solutions that assume tracking functionality and punishment are the keys to forming new habits…We believe encouragement and tiny habits create the solution to forming new habits…Peak is psychological.”

“Like the decoding of the human genome, we're trying to decode human behavior and habits,” he said.

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Google's Project Ara founder creates a smart lamp to teach you better habits

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