Being a student at UNCW the great tragedy at Virginia Tech hit very close to home, both geographically and personally with the number of friends with friends who went to VT or people known directly at VT. With that, I will be participating in the one day blog silence for VT. During the times that I generally reflect on my thoughts of what to post, ideas to post, and so forth, I will be praying for those at VT instead.
Categories: communities
Blogs transformed the way people think about life and everyday activities. If you wrote an entertainment blog, suddenly if you saw something while you were walking around you immediately thought “I need to remember to blog that!” For those whose thought it further transformed. they pulled out their notebook and wrote it down. This is the case whether the blog you write is marketing, entertainment, philosophy, writing, etc.
Google transformed the way people think about information. Suddenly if people needed to know something or had a question, the immediate response was “Just Google it.”
Cameras transformed the way people look at the world. Suddenly the world became a number of still visions. Every step someone took became a glimpse into what could be a beautifully captured scene. DigitalCamera’s then took it a step further to reduce the turn around time of the satisfaction.
All of the above products are not just ones that transform the way people look at blogs, search, life etc, but are also ones that are remarkable. It seems apparent that products that transform the way people look and think about things stick.
The question I wonder, does a product have to be remarkable to be one that transforms?
Categories: Marketing
Slight off topic to my usual stuff… A while ago I had the idea and did a little development with a few friends on what we called WebBrayne. That is, your brain on the internet. The whole idea was the logging of your search history and being able to search that history. Basically a Google for where you’ve been, or stated differently, a much more advanced History button because you can search all the contents of where you’ve been, not just the title. This makes for even more accurate results as you already have a conceptual idea as to what you’re looking for and what it says, and the result is going to be more accurate based on where you’ve been as opposed to everywhere on the net.
Well, the bandwidth requirements among other things was too much, so WebBrayne never came to be… from us at least. But Google has now taken a big step in creating it in a web form (it was in a desktop form via Google Desktop before, but limited imo) via the new viewing and managing of your web history. Seeing as how they’re already on it, and how I’m obsessed with a social web, I’ll pass on a few ideas I had been thinking for WebBrayne.
How big is your brayne?
With WebBrayne, the idea was to add a few “fun” widgets in. So logging certain things like the number of times you search your Brayne (how much you use your brain) and how much was in your brayne (how many sites you’ve been to) would be logged in a fun kind of fashion. In this case, the widget would follow with the size and activity of your WebBrayne. This could be expanded to the amount of “intelligence” gained based on a site, etc.
Share the knowledge
Sharing is caring! At least that was the case in kindergarten, and it’s coming back around a bit more now… or something. With this thought, you could do something I only wish you could do in real life. Link brains together I think I’d link up with someone like Seth Godin and one of my favorite designers. Anyways, the idea is to have a friend on WebBrayne and give him permission to link brains with you. With this, you could search your linked brains for what you’re looking for, possibly coming up on someone else’s knowledge, or you could simply search your own. Better term? Search Telepathy.
Keep the bad stuff out
Let’s face it- some people have things in their Brayne they don’t want others to know about. Thus filters become important. Adding filters to certain things burry them deep in your subconscious, so deep no one who is linked to your brain could find it… only you. Or remove it from your searches, too! Be careful, though! Who knows when you might have a Freudian slip! Haha. Just kidding.
Categories: Ideas · Web 2.0 · social · social networks
A downside to using wordpress is that, as far as I have found, I can’t tweak the look of my blog to the point where I like it and then update. Because of that, I apologize to any who are trying to view during the interim time while I examine what may be a nicer layout for you all with a design that better reflects my personality with marketing, and, well, in general.
If you all have any thoughts or prefer the older style better, or would like a different banner, let me know!
Update: Debating whether to stick with this theme or not. I found the way the column floats are done without a proper containing element if the browser isn’t wide enough, the 2 columns on the right are dropped to the bottom of the whole layout. This is definitely a problem since this design is not built for 800×600. What to do… what to do…
Update2: In talking to some people and thinking about it more… I am unsure of my current banner. It looks kind of like an ad for fedex… which it isn’t.
Update3: Contacted the developer of the theme I was going to change to. In the mean time, I reverted back to my old layout. Too much of a pain having such a high res theme that is going to float important elements as it did. But stay tuned! A blog facelift is coming soon!
Categories: Business
My girlfriend got me pretty good today.
Apparently while she and I were hanging out, she at some point noticed a few magazines laying on the floor, slightly tucked away under my bed. After I had left the room, she took a moment and examined just what they were. Having figured it out, she secretly snapped a quick picture and later e-mailed me with the incriminating evidence. The message of the e-mail was perhaps the most humorous.
“Some guys hide porn under their bed… you hide business magazines. So this is your secret pleasure.”
I plead the fifth?
Categories: Business
Antony Berkman asked me what I thought may be some mechanisms for creating “real connects.” Because I have quite a few thoughts on the subject, I couldn’t just do a quick response to his comment. So here are some of my thoughts.
The first thing to identify, I feel, is that the point of connection is to create a relationship. The point or extent of this relationship, however, is up to the initiator. I see it at this point to take a step back and look at simply the methods of initiating and improving the connection process, thus allowing the developing relationship to grow organically rather than trying to control the point.
Taking a look at the facets of connection, or even more subjective, what factors play a part in one person liking another? (Parts of these are taken from social science studies, others from personal experience working in sales and looking at social networks etc).
Authenticity and Avatar Converge
There is something to be said about avatars. While in communication and learning not everyone is a strong visual communicator or learner. There is something to be said about the effect of a lack of a visual asset. This is where avatars converge with authenticity, enhancing our trust in another online. By giving a picture of yourself you are going to have a higher staying power in a persons mind as they now have a connector. That is, their comfort with you and their ability to trust what you’re saying is going to be higher due to having a ‘tangible’ visual link in their mind. Take it as a concept of a blind date. You are more likely to go out to dinner with someone you have seen before. Likewise, you are more likely to believe what someone has written if you’ve seen them.
There is a bit more to this, however. A person’s picture matters, too. It matters because as much as we say it doesn’t, according to social studies, physical attractiveness matters. We subconsciously give attributes like honesty etc to the person. So taking that bit of extra time to take a better picture, or one that depicts your personality better, might be worth it. This is in part the reason why I have a separate picture on this blog in my “About Me” section- a picture that doesn’t cover all of my face like the one on the top right here. I also have another sociological reason to the picture in my about me section. Props to any who can guess it.
Similarity is king
We like people with common interests whether it is background, work, recreation, vacation spots, art appreciation, etc. Similarity is perhaps one of the biggest builders of connection. Being a part of leadership in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship here, I see this truth played out day in and day out. Don’t believe me? I put that last sentence for a reason. I bet if you were a part of either IVCF or a Christian organization in college, I gained some connection points. Likewise would have been the case if I had said I was in a frat, or a video game forum. Similarity is king.
Encourage
Support is a very important thing. You might not think this as a valid part of the equation, but it is. Receiving either a compliment in general or a supportive remark about something you’re working on has a large impact. This is proven true by Ma.gnolia’s “Give Thanks” button. People appreciate being appreciated.
Experience
“Remember that one time…”
Part of what builds a relationship is experiencing things together. Sharing in various moments of hilarity, sadness, or boredom. It exposes a person’s authenticity, character, and on the simplest level, creates a memory. The best example of this is an inside joke. They are powerful connectors. Inside jokes say “I know this person well enough to where we have had an experience to which I can say something only they will understand.” Such a thing can also be negative, too, creating barriers for others. A remark on the power of experience, experience over time builds similarity.
Events
This in part ties to experience. By creating both competitive and cooperative events where winners take place (ensuring that cooperative events between whatever competition was created comes after the competitive) you create a time of unity. The environment must be handled well, though. For example, because competition can create a negative hostility, frequent methods to counter-act it is to offset the competition with cooperation. I feel that Threadless is a good example of this. Another good example of association with events is the Conversation Age.
All of the above are what I perceive as the largest facets of building connection in communities. I am hoping to have a bit more time this weekend so I can apply the above as a case study to World of Warcraft which will hopefully show some similarities between how the design of games cross apply to communities.
Categories: Community Development · communities · social networks
I just read over on Mashable that there is a pretty strong rumor about widgets coming to Facebook. This follows what I’d call a continued number of blows against MySpace. I blogged before about Facebook opening its API and how that is a hit to MySpace closing its virtual borders. MySpace has also been adding further border control, not allowing some 3rd party widgets on its space which opens up another great opportunity for Facebook to steal the social networking crowd. I think if Facebook does it right, widgets will be a great opportunity.
[Update] Just read over on Mashable that MySpace has at least opened its lines back up to Photobucket widgets. Will be interesting to see if MySpace decides to start allowing more widgets again.
What about the Facebook users?
But what about widgets on Facebook? As a college student, I’ve enjoyed Facebook quite a bit since I started using it in place of MySpace. One of the reasons was the slick design, what was at the time a lack of “stalkerish” features, its photo sharing tech, and the lack of spam. So while on the one hand having widgets on Facebook would be a blow to MySpace, would it be a bigger blow to its own users?
Designing it right
I think Facebook can do it, so long as they go about it right. There are a number of approaches they could take. Below is just an idea on how to allow widgets while still making it unobtrusive and keeping a slick design. If I get the time later, i’ll post some other ideas.
(An AJAXY Show/Hide widget approach)
When a user clicks the “Show YouTube Video” it will drop down the YouTube widget showing the NHL footage and “Show YouTube Video” will change to “Hide YouTube Video”. In this case, it keeps things slick and unobtrusive. At the same time, the “Show X” can be contextual based on the embed code.
Some other options would be to have it as a link under the users avatar, add it to the menu on the bottom before “Wall-To-Wall”, create it as a separate post unto itself where the avatar is the logo of whatever widget it is and is collapsed by default. I think the main thing is going to be allowing users to not have to see widgets if they don’t want to. Collapsed, invisible, etc. by default.
Categories: facebook
Cord over at MarketingHipster asked an interesting question and setup a little contest for the best answer.
“With all these opportunities out there, what is presently missing? What would you change? What would your blogging community look like? If you wished to run MyBlogLog what would you want it to be? The sky is the limit folks, make a wish and let me know your thoughts.”
One comment I would make about MBL, imo, is I think it lacks the real connection. If anything it just feels like another location to pimp your blog and try to get more exposure. Where’s the facilitation of conversation? Where’s the real availability of connection and purpose? MBL is kind of like a Blog version of myspace. On the opposite end of MBL you have 9Rules which is invite only, but has much, much more connection.
So, if blogging is about conversation, why don’t we start enhancing that?
“The Sphere.”
(facebookish, I know. It was a quick mockup and that’s what was in my PS color pallete)
What of making the blogosophere more real? This isn’t so much a new idea as it is a redesign and friction reduction of a few existing things.
Joining Spheres
A sphere would be a group that you could make either public (via request to join) or private (invite only). Bloggers can then join or create a “sphere” or part of the “blogosphere” where they can then opt in to be informed of new posts under a certain tag (or in general) from people’s blogs who are in the sphere.
Now /these/ are conversations
Conversations are tracked via trackbacks and comments. At the top of the post you’ll see a list of bloggers who are currently a part of the conversation through comments, trackbacks, and comments from the trackbacks. Likewise, under the posts title would be quick links to those comments, trackbacks, trackback comments, and everyone who was in the conversation. This could even be taken a step further to where people could comment on that sectional as a whole.
That’s my most fleshed out thought, though the idea may be a bit chaotic in terms of how it would actually work. I’ll update this as they come over the next day or so.
Categories: Business · Web 2.0 · blogging · blogosphere · blogs · web2.0
As the end of the semester is nearing here at UNCW, my time is being crunched like like a stale cracker… or something. Needless to say, I have 2 months worth of stuff to do in 2 weeks time. But those aren’t my biggest concerns.
My biggest concerns are getting into a good marketing internship with a place I really mesh well with (or that is meshes with my creativity, ‘on-the-edge’ and change agent ideal ) or with some sick startup.
My other big concern is getting what I feel is something really solid and punchy enough into The Conversation Age. I have been blessed with the opportunity to be included in it so I want to make sure my inclusion is well worth it.
Because i’ve been so busy, I haven’t had a lot of time to pimp on MyBlogLog or post, but this will change in about two weeks. Both Gbits (this blog) and WTF (which will have some neat things coming its way very shortly) are on there. I’d also encourage anyone to check out the communities i’m a part of, as they’re awesome.
Oh, and the Red Wings are destroying the Flames. This pleases me.
Categories: busy
Don’t let them know.
That should be the customer service policy if a customer is “wrong”.
I had an issue with Blizzard Entertainment recently. I contacted what seemed like the right department. They responded telling me it wasn’t the right department and I needed to now contact a different one.
It takes the click of a forward button to send my e-mail to the appropriate department and I would have never known I sent it to the wrong place. The issue is still solved and they would have reduced the friction and frustration of a customer.
Categories: Customer Service · customer experience
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