Park Service crowdsources vandalism investigation -- A 21-year-old New York resident has been identified as the US National Park vandal thanks to a crowdsourced investigation. Casey Nocket is accused of painting images on rocks and boulders in several national parks. People who have seen her vandalizing the parks have shared photos online, leading a Parks representative to ask for help identifying her on Reddit, where users rallied to help. Read more

Twitter launches a new business site -- Twitter has revamped its business site (http://business.twitter.com), designed to help brands make better use of the micromessaging service. The new site features six sections, including information on driving clicks and conversions, increasing tweet engagements, and finding leads on Twitter. Read more

Guardian redesigns US website to attractive native advertisers -- The UK-based Guardian has introduced a new design for its US website. The goal: attract more native advertising with a format that supports a wider range of advertising options than just the traditional banner ad. "People come to us for content and we want to create a platform where marketers can share their content," according to a company spokesman. Read more

Marketers embrace Instagram -- Instagram is more popular than ever among marketers, with 86% of top brands weaving the mobile-focused image-sharing service into their strategies during the third quarter of the year. The number of brands that have posted daily has doubled in the past year, and 73% have posted to the platform at least once a week. According to Simply Measured, brands that maintain an Instagram presence increase user engagement. Read more

AARP rolls out a tablet -- If your elderly relatives haven't embraced tablets yet, AARP is coming to the rescue. The association of Americans over 50 is introducing the RealPad, based on a need it saw nobody else fulfilling. It comes with 24/7 customer service, a year of free AARP membership, and a simplified interface providing one-tap access to pre-installed apps, all for $189. Read more

Trends

Mobile

Taco Bell really, really wants you to go mobile only when connecting with them -- Concurrent with the launch of its mobile ordering and payment app, fast food chain Taco Bell has blacked out its website and social media channels -- including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram -- which now display only a link to the app download. It has also deployed the hashtag #onlyintheapp in an effort to drive all customer online engagement through its app. Read more

Businesses are desperate for app developers -- If you're looking for a new line of work, learning how to create mobile apps may be a smart move. As the world shifts to mobile, businesses are finding it hard to hire enough app developers. According to one survey, 85% of businesses have a backlog of between 1 and 20 mobile applications thanks to the "critical shortage of mobile developers." Read more

Workers like the idea of wearables, but no so much in the US -- Nearly 75% of workers worldwide could name a benefit of wearables in the workplace, and most like the idea. That number drops to less than 50% in the US, though, where less than 20% of adults have tried out a wearable, where only 5% have worn a fitness monitor or smart headphones. That compares to 60% in China and 52% in Mexico. Read more.

Google aims to make its wearables compatible with other platforms -- Currently, Google Wear -- the platform for wearables -- only works with Android devices, but Google is working to ensure its watches and other wearables will be compatible with iOS and other standards. According to product manager Jeff Chang, "We always want as many users as possible to enjoy our experience, so in terms of enabling more people to use Android Wear we’re very interested in making that happen." Read more

Research

This week on FIR

• Recording episode 779 of the Hobson & Holtz Report was a particular delight, since Neville and I were sitting across a small table from one another in my hotel room in London. We talked about the importance of "experience," sine we'd had a few over the weekend. There were also a few news items to cover, listener comments, and reports from Dan York and Michael Netzley. Listen here
• On FIR B2B #18, host Paul Gillin reports on the low levels of satisfactions among B2B marketers when it comes to their content marketing efforts, among other studies and research. Venture Marketing founder John Fox joins Paul to discuss whether the radical redefinitions of the B2B buyer journey is overblown. Listen here
• Linked Conversations host Chuck Hester joins Glenn Gaudet on episode 35 of AMP Up Your Social Media to talk about using LinkedIn for professional branding. Listen here
• Dan York has produced episode 2 of FIR on Tech with his special guest -- me -- exploring the Indie Web movement. Listen here
• Jennifer Kahnweiler, Ph.D. joins Mitchell and Michael on Thought Leadership. Dr. Kahnweiler specializes in helping people leverage introversion in their careers. Listen here

• I'm presenting a keynote at the SMX Milan Search & Social Media Conference in Milan, Italy in mid-November.
• I'll present a pre-conference workshop on social visual communications at a Ragan conference at SAS headquarters in early November.
• I'll deliver an opening keynote at an internal conference for Entergy in New Orleans in early December.
• I will also present at Ragan's PR conference in Chicago in early December.
• And, for good measure, I'll speak at a Ragan conference devoted to the issue of visuals and infographics in April 2015 in Portland, Oregon.

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