Tim Bauer’s Running Thoughts

Semi-daily webcast summaries/insights

David Armano: Enabling Doctors to be Patients

Ok, this one goes out to all the marketing and UX posse out there. Here is today’s riddle …

“Can any company really can weave into their DNA a ‘true’ understanding the customer? Really? I am talking an understanding so deep that they can honestly say they can represent, accurately, their needs and goals. If so, how?”

Now this webcast is by David Armano who quickly built a online community around him when working at Digitas. While the content is a bit old (18 months) the concepts being presented are rather timeless. How should individuals or companies use a blog to learn about themselves and more importantly those they serve. What is the biggest gain (hint it’s tied to the question above) from blogging?

I was curious and I have to admit I was amused by David’s cowboy hat (see his link below). So I fired it up to see what this advertising guru / rhinestone cowboy could offer.

Details Notable Points
Title/Link:

Duration:

  • ~20m

Speakers:

Recommend to Watch? No

  • Just because its dated. However, one of his strengths is visual representation of concepts. You can get a sense from a slide show he just posted covering micro-interactions.
 1. Four Keys of a Blog

  • Quality. Clarity. Vision. Community.
  • If you review his blog you can see he tries to add some visual sizzle periodically (and does well at it). But beyond that, he believes it’s the commentary interaction that is driving his readers to come back. So, as a business, you should ponder how your blog enables you to engage your consumer. Better yet enable them to engage with each other. Take a look at this example of how Nike is acting on these basic principles (i.e. enabling their customers to engage with one another). Same thing that David points out around comment interaction on blogs.

2. The Film That Defines How To Do His Job? The Doctor .

  • In his role focused on experience design, he feels this movie says it all. Doctor is brilliant but sucks at bedside manner (House?). Becomes patient and sees his weakness and why its important. Marketers struggle to understand the customer (patient) in cases in his view. They need to find a way to get into the skin of the people they serve and experience how what they are creating is interacting with them. Nothing earth shattering there … but his point was that blogs are a conduit for learning about your customers and what they think. Think about how twitter drives feedback to keynotes these days. Its a real time feedback loop. Marketers need the same thing … be it from blogs … or activity streams.

So, nothing to earth shatter but I would recommend tracking David because (1) he wears cowboy hats and (2) he creates excellent visualization on trends without losing the nuance of the point. A worthy add to any of your activity streams.

** START OF RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING **

• To Digitas
• http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/blogs_eye_view_video/index.html
• Marketing is about conversations, community … pull vs push
• 4/27/2008, 7:56 AM
• Done in 11/09/06
• How started
…………..○ Been w/ digitas in a year
…………..○ Started in late feb 06
……………………….§ So was this an early adopter phenom
…………..○ Mark Beecham called him (so he was their proto blogger)
…………..○ Logic + Emotion is his blog title
…………..○ Broad
• 4/27/2008, 7:59 AM
• Focus
…………..○ He comes up w/ simple visuals to describe thoughts
…………..○ That is his fuel for growth
…………..○ Visual learner focus
• 4/27/2008, 8:00 AM
• Image of him being separate from the audience … chasm
• How did he cross the chasm (same riddle as their customers)
• 4/27/2008, 8:01 AM
• Another picture of community clusters … how to get engaged w/ various community clusters
…………..○ Bauer comment - that is the interesting thing w/ Friendfeed comments … ability to raise your hand (bad or good) and have a voice in a community by following a leader or their friends
• 4/27/2008, 8:03 AM
• Visual on how blog allows him to validate ideas
…………..○ Does have some nice process flow images and/or concept diagrams
• Value based on traffic uptake on his ideas
• 4/27/2008, 8:04 AM
• Another visual … more radiate between ecosystems … organic versus rigid structure … pebble into a pond … multiple ripples
…………..○ @ 9:00 into the presentation
• Seth Godin (Go-din)
…………..○ Purple cow concept
…………..○ Written a lot of books (platform)
• His case (no book platform)
…………..○ 4 ingredients
……………………….§ Quality
……………………….§ Clarity
……………………………………□ Voice is fairly consistent (style of writing)
……………………….§ Vision
……………………….§ Community
……………………………………□ People take time to comment .. He visits and embraces them
……………………………………□ You can’t fake that
• 4/27/2008, 8:07 AM
• Another visual @ 11:30
…………..○ McMarketing drive through … how do you do more than sell a supersize #6
• Learn by doing (blog)
• 4/27/2008, 8:08 AM
• Airplane slide
…………..○ Film in 90’s “The Doctor” … he becomes sick … learns what he lacks (bedside manner) by changing the role. That drives the presentation. Marketers need to become patients
…………..○ Develop
……………………….§ Empathy
……………………….§ Experience
……………………….§ Curiosity

** END RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING **

April 30, 2008 Posted by bauertim | 3-No Go (unless you are bored) | , , , | 6 Comments

Arrington (TechCrunch): ShockJock or Caring Author?

Ready for some Silicon Vally drama?

It started normal enough. I figured, as much as I read TechCrunch and its Friendfeed activity stream, it made sense to listen to a spiel from their founder Mike Arrington at Startup School. Figured the guy had to have some notable perspective. Then I noticed Arrington duking it out with some guy over twitter on ‘defamation’ over, I believe, this blog (notes from that 2 minute spiel at the bottom of my notes). Watching that video (2 minutes of snippets from a 26 minute talk) … didn’t put him in the best light. I was now doubly curious on what he actually said in the real presentation … and what nuggets did he pass along. So I fired up the presentation and got to running.

As usual my raw notes are below, but here are the thoughts that jumped out at me as I ran (i.e. jogged) along.

Details Notable Points
Title/Link:

Duration:

  • ~26m

Speakers:

Recommend to Watch? No

  • Starts out slow with an implosion on his laptop but he regroups and delivers his topics. 10m of Q&A at the end was interesting. I would watch if you want to get a sense of his presentation style. Otherwise key points can be gleaned from raw notes below.
 1. Getting Noticed, Be The 1st To Own A Purple Cow

  • Man is the purple cow thing popular on the internet. Everyone makes references to it. Mike did as well pointing out that he will write about what hasn’t been seen before … which could be a purple cow IF its the 1st purple cow in your area. If not, no article. He then gave a good example of how news being ‘purple’ is really geographic in nature. Purple cows are mudane in the valley .. I guess bright blue is required.

2. Be a part of the community … signal to noise.

  • He points out how just pushing your agenda 24X7 on blogs and activity streams will get you blocked or tuned out. What you need to do is participate and add value with NO agenda the majority of the time. Then when you have a thing to push out there … it will probably get read.

3. The underbelly of online journalism

  • He was rather frank about this with examples like (1) leak me a story and I’ll remember you (2) link back to me and I’ll factor that in. I say “me” but he was referring to online rag writers in general. A fair, if not somewhat sad, description of how the process works in some cases. Granted there are methods for cream to rise to the top of its own nature … but it can also be pushed (in methods as he describes).

4. Don’t Hire A PR Firm

  • He felt the good ones were few and far between and booked. It would be better for startups to focus on blogging, activity streams and being involved. When inbound requests exceed their ability to process THEN look at a PR partner to handle that.

Solid (1) insight (2) honesty and (3) humility. Not what I expected based on the commentary from a few sources (i.e. Valleywag) … but hey … that is what some blogs deal in I guess (hype).

Keep up the good work Mike.

** START OF RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING **

9:21 AM
4/26/2008, 9:22 AM
http://omnisio.com/startupschool08/mike-arrington
……………○ 4/26/2008, 9:24 AM
……………○ Funny - Mac froze
……………○ SXSW .. Reference .. Journalist got pressure from dev audience on how to do a startup
……………○ 4/26/2008, 9:26 AM
……………○ Still problems w/ rig
……………○ Reads the onion everyday …
…………………………§ Story of writer going from there to cards
…………………………§ Has a good story worth his telling
…………………………§ Whats your companies story
……………○ 4/26/2008, 9:27 AM
……………○ Slides are finally up
……………○ They write stories they don’t want written
…………………………§ Google acquiring youtube in 3 days … was their break story
…………………………§ Share news about competitors … if you can do it ethically
…………………………§ Helps you directly (via traffic)
……………○ 4/26/2008, 9:29 AM
……………○ Purple cows / Innovators Delima
…………………………§ Cows - We see em all the time … stop and stare at purple
…………………………§ One time trick … then you need a blue cow
……………○ Popula site
…………………………§ Event site in germany
…………………………§ Random videos …
…………………………§ Popula.de worked in germany (not seen before) would of failed in US
……………○ Purple cow
…………………………§ 1 800 free 411 … took 6% of share
…………………………§ Briticanna
……………○ Mobile social networking
…………………………§ Disrupts facebook
…………………………§ Facebook weakness is protecting data
……………○ Training class w/ dog
…………………………§ He doesn’t want you to be background noise
…………………………§ Single impact … intro … that is interesting
……………○ Be part of the conversation however
…………………………§ Twitter
…………………………§ Each dev should have personal and company blog
……………○ Blogger linkbacks influence how they see you
…………………………§ Influences how they decide to write about people
……………○ 4/26/2008, 9:34 AM
……………○ Digg reference how it was a good chunk of traffic
…………………………§ Also reddit mentioned
……………○ His twitter is spking in 08
…………………………§ Provides significant traffic via engagement traffic
…………………………§ 90% activity sharing what is going on (Research)
……………○ Criticisms
…………………………§ Don’t be nervous
…………………………§ Supportive of startups
…………………………§ Embrace criticism .. Not trolls
…………………………§ Example … In 06 he trashed a company … ning … 97 comments … he was wrong … inflammatory headline used … started conversation w/ company … now a good relationship w/ that company … so they practiced embracing critic (him)
……………○ Challenge
…………………………§ Nice place to be … less trolls … mostly experimentation
…………………………§ Not afraid of ideas in public
…………………………§ The valley is about that
…………………………§ Yosi Vardi (quote of T. Roosevelt)
………………………………………□ Not the critic that counts … credit to man in the arena
…………………………§ Are you part of the community … in the turning point
…………………………§ So how do you interact w/ the model
……………○ Q&A
…………………………§ A lot of power … power corrupts … how do you not get corrupted
………………………………………□ Genuinely loves startup and entrepreneurs … they are his rock stars
………………………………………□ So if he maintains that focus he will do well
………………………………………□ Question is does it show it in his writing … it doesn’t in his view … so he is trying to stay true
…………………………§ Phone-my-Phone … Efficient crank calling tool
………………………………………□ Branded as “efficient crank calling tool” … how turn around mislabelling
………………………………………□ He thinks you are a special case … since the story is not a purple cow w/o that angle
………………………………………□ Other companies … make it regardless … might be negative from them … other press might see the diaglogue
………………………………………□ Best thing is to embrace and discuss
…………………………§ 2005 hang in his backyard, beyond that vision, what is techcrunch going
………………………………………□ What happens when niche isn’t niche
………………………………………□ Slashdot, digg … not readable comments
………………………………………□ He might want to spawn a new focus blog
………………………………………□ 90% of startups used to be covered … that focus
………………………………………□ Focus on CNET is the business model for now … unless he spins off
…………………………§ PR Firm … when hire … who is good … better to talk to founder or PR Face Person
………………………………………□ Get inbound requests you can’t handle … due to volume
………………………………………□ Use Twitter, Blog
………………………………………□ Goto events
………………………………………□ Look for right story, right time
…………………………§ Comment on nomadism … employees work from wherever … no central office
………………………………………□ He has no idea how building other stuff (not articles) is better done w/ dispersed teams
*************************
*************************
*************************
*** NOTES FROM THE REMIX ***
*************************
………………………………………4/27/2008, 11:15 AM
………………………………………Remix By ValleyWag (2:30)
……………………………………………………® 4/27/2008, 11:16 AM
……………………………………………………® Show clutter debacle
……………………………………………………® Cussing
……………………………………………………® Leaking a story
……………………………………………………® News about competitors … give to them …
……………………………………………………® Don’t pull our leash … yank every now and then
……………………………………………………® Mention and link to writers
……………………………………………………® Don’t be a troll if you need them
……………………………………………………® If you link back you it influences us
…………………………………………………………………◊ Repeat 3 times
……………………………………………………® Criticism .. Embrace criticism
……………………………………………………® Avoid trolls
…………………………………………………………………◊ Repeat 3 times
……………………………………………………® Inflammatory headlines
…………………………………………………………………◊ Repeat lines
……………………………………………………® Blow smoke up each others ass
……………………………………………………® Snarky comments … cool kids
……………………………………………………® Look at this point … creating stuff
……………………………………………………® 99% will fail
……………………………………………………® Fail greatly
……………………………………………………® You are a loser

** END RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING **

April 27, 2008 Posted by bauertim | 3-No Go (unless you are bored) | , , | No Comments

David Heinemeier Hansson: Forget Free, Go Fee

For those not tracking the geek world, David Heinemeier Hansson is a rather successful coder that built some well adopted apps (e.g. Backpack) and a framework that got some people excited about its ease (Ruby on Rails).

O.k. So what …

Well, DHH went on a rant about how the new business model of FREE that everyone is jumping up and down about. Specifically saying how it was nuts. In his view, “real” business startups (not those looking to get bought by some big fish) should focus on bringing value that customers pay for … not how they can be free and gain adoption from that.

Novel thought … but why is he pointing this out?

As usual my raw notes are below, but here are a few key themes that jumped out me as I watched this webcast over lunch

Webcast Details Notable Points

Duration:

  • ~40m

Speaker:

  • DHH (see link above)
    • Partner @ 37 signals (consulting firm based in CHI). Force behind Ruby on Rails and apps like Basecamp.

Recommend to Watch? Yes.

  • DHH always does a good job w/ slide structure and making the flow of his points (with a bit of shock jock foul mouth thown in). Worth the listen just for that.
 1. Free. Fee. Why should you care?

  • David points out an interesting trend in industry. The movement toward free. Recently there was a hoo hah when Google offered an application for free that was just like one David’s company sells on a per month basis called Campfire. I guess that got David thinking about this free versus fee model. You should care because anything you do for free could be the next ‘free’ offering from one of the big boys. What to do?

2. What can you do? Nothing.

  • Momentum is just increasing for free services. The bar only gets lower now that Amazon is offering a cheap hosting model via AWS and Google is offering the free Google App Engine. If you can host and scale for pennies on the dollar … you can’t count on infrastructure for a barrier to entry.

3. O.k. I lied. David Pointed Out Niche As The Answer.

  • David’s solution was focusing on a niche product that you sign a set of dedicated enterprise (not consumer, too fickle) clients to for monthly / yearly offerings. Free solutions will come but will struggle to get marketing to the niche. Its the broadly consumed offerings that will have to fight potentially face pressure on the ‘free’ front consistently.

In summary, gotta give hops to DHH for pointing out the frenzy in business today to launch businesses based on models that are not clear (just build membership) especially in a setting where VC’s are presenting before him. I think he is right to call for a refocus at the individual level especially as he talked about focusing on a niche and delivering to that niche. Much like the line Security through Obscurity … you can protect your business concept by starting small in niche markets. If you go after the mega models (like the next FriendFeed … you have big fish to swim with and will likely get eaten).

** START OF RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING **

http://omnisio.com/startupschool08/david-heinemeier-hansson-at-startup-school-084/21/2008
11:40 AM
……………○ 4/21/2008, 11:41 AM
…………………………§ 37 signals
………………………………………□ Not hiring
………………………………………□ Not looking for VC $
………………………………………□ Makes them different than most businesses
…………………………§ Their focus - how to be viable outside of big dogs getting bought out
…………………………§ New focus - Don’t focus on the $
……………○ 4/21/2008, 11:43 AM
……………○ A secret to making $ Online
…………………………§ Great application
…………………………§ ???
…………………………§ Profit
……………○ ??? = Price is key
……………○ Point is web 2.0 thinks everything is free … not true
…………………………§ BAUER COMMENT - BASECAMP and their model is paid … so his point is VC $ makes free ok
……………○ Simpler way to build a business
…………………………§ Have a price
…………………………§ Signup
…………………………§ Working 4-5 years … multi-million $ business
……………○ 4/21/2008, 11:45 AM
……………○ Shows campaign monitor (email service, track who clicks on what)
…………………………§ $0.01 per recipient
……………○ 4/21/2008, 11:46 AM
……………○ Shows FogBugz
…………………………§ On Demand
…………………………§ Buy the software
……………○ Show FaxItNice
…………………………§ Route around the fact that many businesses work w/ fax
…………………………§ Wrap it to a nice webservice
…………………………§ Pricing options
………………………………………□ $5 per fax,
………………………………………□ $20 retainer then a per send
………………………………………□ Send and receive faxes monthly
……………○ 4/21/2008, 11:47 AM
……………○ Not rocket surgery
…………………………§ Still hard but easier
…………………………§ Most businesses fail
………………………………………□ So why not try to be the next Google
…………………………§ Bad logic in his view
………………………………………□ Odds are not the same for barn burner … odds for a small niche product is better
…………………………§ Odds
………………………………………□ 1:10 is not facebook creation odds
………………………………………□ Example of relevance
……………………………………………………® 1:10 of making a million $
……………………………………………………® 1:10,000 for a billion $ business
…………………………§ Take better odds at smaller reward 1st … then go for the moon as the change in lifestyle from 0 to $1M and $1M to $1B is notable (the latter being small)
……………○ 4/21/2008, 11:52 AM
……………○ Example
…………………………§ 2000 customers
…………………………§ $40/month
…………………………§ 12 months
…………………………§ $1M year
…………………………§ 40,000 signups on trail … 5% conversion … 110 a day
…………………………§ …
…………………………§ What if you were happy @ $200k / yr = 400 customers @ $40/month
………………………………………□ BAUER COMMENT SO IT GETS EASER
……………○ 4/21/2008, 11:54 AM
……………○ Finding customers
…………………………§ Backpack
………………………………………□ Hard to get consumer to get people to pay
………………………………………□ Hard to establish business w/ that segment (consumer)
………………………………………□ Relaunch backpack 2 months ago … doubled the revenue by focusing on businesses
…………………………§ The Fortune 5,000,000
………………………………………□ The lifestyle business (mom & Pop store?)
………………………………………□ People make fun of that but he calls BS
………………………………………□ There is a lot of room in between
……………○ Craigslist
…………………………§ Without taking VC $ allows you to make the shots
…………………………§ Run @ your pace
…………………………§ $1M / yr … like no meetings
…………………………§ So its satisfying to not go for the brassring
…………………………§ Craig Newmark - $1B people are not happier
……………○ Good cause is incredibly hard and time consuming
…………………………§ Why flip business?
…………………………§ Enjoy it over 20 years
…………………………§ He questions the sell out startups … is it really the good life?
………………………………………□ Trade passion for meetings
……………○ 4/21/2008, 12:03 PM
……………○ This is not the movie industry
…………………………§ No need to dominate the box office
…………………………§ Solve small simple problems
…………………………§ Most of the great companies started small (200 companies)
…………………………§ Don’t Model after Facebook
……………○ VC Fuzz
…………………………§ Forget viral
…………………………§ Forget the overbaked ideas
…………………………§ Treat your customers nice and ask for $
……………○ Pressure to get started
…………………………§ People are selling stuff way before your idea
…………………………§ Sell it better
……………○ 4/21/2008, 12:06 PM
……………○ Basecamp
…………………………§ Developed w/ 3 people doing other stuff
…………………………§ Single server 1st year
…………………………§ Limited amount of time to work on something focuses your energy
…………………………§ He was contracting w/ 37 signals at this time … 10h/wk to develop basecamp
…………………………§ It makes the time really matter
…………………………§ Less time is a huge benefit
………………………………………□ BAUER COMMENT — Power comes from focus knowing value is each hour
…………………………§ Grew basecamp a year before you stopped doing consulting and just focused on basecamp
…………………………§ 7+ years for great businesses maybe longer
……………○ Don’t Overbuild
…………………………§ Deal with those issues later
……………○ Take it easy
…………………………§ There will never be less work
…………………………§ It will never be less
…………………………§ Amount of work in beginning creates more work
…………………………§ 14 hour days / 7 days a week … get out of that
…………………………§ Change the practices … or they will stick with you
……………○ 4/21/2008, 12:10 PM
……………○ Blame loss on someone else
……………○ 4/21/2008, 12:10 PM
……………○ Q&A
…………………………§ How does great achievement drive from small goals (i.e. how did Ruby on Rails happen)
………………………………………□ Solve simple problems. RoR was his effort to enjoy coding. Solve simple solution.
………………………………………□ Tons of VC come to them (RoR) .. .they say no … he uses RoR to build stuff … so he understands it …
………………………………………□ Solve simple problems that you are intimately involved with
…………………………§ What would you have done differently (BaseCamp, RoR)?
………………………………………□ Not much. Happy with results. Happy didn’t listen to give it away for free.
…………………………§ How many businesses are in the sweet spot of the fortune 5,000,000
………………………………………□ 500 to 1000 people … that is huge
………………………………………□ His focus
……………………………………………………® 3 people
……………………………………………………® 5 people
……………………………………………………® Guy doing something in his spare time
………………………………………□ Those people … want something that sounds like it works
…………………………§ The is no business too small for fortune 5,000,000
………………………………………□ Deal w/ people on monthly … you are not relying on 1 customer
………………………………………□ Big customers can yank your change
………………………………………□ Small customers but many you can control innovation
…………………………§ How stay focused
………………………………………□ How do you not get distracted … 10-14 hours a day
………………………………………□ Parent filter …
……………………………………………………® Joke
………………………………………□ Stop working in 14 hour a day … work 5 hours a day
………………………………………□ 37 signals is 4 day work weeks … 8 hrs a day … 2-3 hours productive
………………………………………□ Get 3 GREAT hours a day in

** END RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING **

April 21, 2008 Posted by bauertim | 1-Definitely Watch This | , , , , , | 6 Comments

RedFin: Making “More With Less” Possible?

“More with less” … who isn’t tired of that term. But what if it meant something? Would you listen then? I think RedFin is one such company. If they are successful, it implies a notable shift in the way customers will expect to be served (and billed) by service partners.

As usual my raw notes are below, but here are a few key themes that jumped out me as I ran (i.e. jogged) along to this webcast.

Webcast Details Notable Points

Duration:

  • ~40m

Speakers:

    • CEO, Redfin. Prior life Co-Founder of PlumTree.
    • CTO, Redfin. Prior life lead of BizTalk @ MSFT and lead architect for Plumtree.

Recommend to Watch? Yes.

  • While a bit informal (side conversations) at times the discussion between Scoble and the RedFin team was not slow in notable points. RedFin is a good example of a new approach to structuring a business. If you are curious its worth a watch.
 1. The Paradox of More with Less

  • So many businesses today try to charge more by doing more. Is that healthy? Looking at the restaurant industry in the U.S. I would say no. But isn’t that our style in the US? Value = More … right? Surely you can’t give a customer more by doing less. Looking at the RedFin model you would think again.

2. One Example - If Your Customer Can Do It Cheaper/Better … Let Them

  • So you could guess the “Less” is cost related. The tricky part is how value goes up as spend goes down. How do we stop trying to sell additional services and focus on the real value adds for our customers. In the case of Redfin, they pondered what a notable segment of customers in the real estate industry really wanted (assistance with the close) and what they could do themselves (picking a property). Sounds simple right. Do this when you know you are walking away from revenue … ah … more difficult no?

3. Another Example - Setting Aside Your Ego

  • In addition, Glenn mentioned at a Keynote he did at BloggersConnect how RedFin studied what information the customers were ACTUALLY using from them. The found that raw, unbiased data was king not their agent’s editorials on a home. Given that data, they checked their egos (i.e. not focus on sizzling descriptions of each property) and instead focusing on gathering raw facts. Again sounds simple, but consider that the facts the consumer value are the ones not easy acquired and you see the value opportunity.

4. Their Best Angle - Flat Fee … Not a %

  • Everyone has sold a home and thought why is the cost to sell my home a percentage? Isn’t the effort approximately the same regardless of home size? Shouldn’t the cost be based on the effort to serve not the value of my home? Seems simple enough but almost all businesses in the US are based on a GM % model. They are built from the ground up to increase the margins on the products they sell. But should all businesses, especially service businesses, charge based on effort not a % of asset value they are moving? Shouldn’t they be more of the two tier utility model (flat fee, usage fee) as described by Nicholas Caar in his recent book “The Big Switch”. RedFin thinks so.

In summary, RedFin seems to be a good representation of a rethinking that is going on in industry segments around two key questions if you are a services provider:

1. Should you try to define value in the form of a SuperSize meal?

2. Should you charge on a % of the value of the product you facilitate moving … OR … on the effort it takes to help you move it?

I suspect the answers to these questions will have implications for all industries … not just real estate.

sidenote: A great 60 second overview of RedFin in the style of those UPS commercials (whiteboard and all) as of late can be found here

** START OF RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING **

• Research Links
……………http://www.wellcomemat.com/home/channels/inmantv/18EAB4B3E1#wrapper
……………slides on starting business from him http://btc.montana.edu/meu/glennkelman/GlennKelman_files/v3_document.htm
……………scoble covered him in 03/07 http://scobleizer.com/2007/03/19/real-estates-worst-nightmare-redfin/
……………his post on what makes an entrepreuner http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/14/entrepreneur-20/
……………overview of redfin http://www.commoncraft.com/redfin
• 08/07 - KELMAN KEYNOTE AT BLOGGERS CONNECT
• http://www.inmantv.com/?p=52
03/07 - SCOBLE COVERAGE FROM PODTECH
• 4/16/2008, 6:12 AM
……………○ Glenn Kelman
……………○ CEO of RedFin
……………○ Micheal Young Head Tech
……………○ Trying to enable buying homes online
• 4/16/2008, 6:13 AM
• Fees
……………○ Refund 2/3 of commission
……………○ Check @ closing
……………○ Paid on customer satisfaction
…………………………§ Gives confidence on advice not selling pressure
• Locations
……………○ East and West coast
• 4/16/2008, 6:14 AM
……………○ Girlfriend talk (tangent)
• 4/16/2008, 6:15 AM
• How engage w/ Redfin
……………○ 75% of people engage
……………○ Listing from MLS
……………○ Estimate from Zilla
……………○ Past Sales from County
……………○ Lot outline
……………○ Information on schools / crime
• 4/16/2008, 6:16 AM
• Personal business
……………○ Still have to handle emotional payload
……………○ But limited sales function
……………○ Customer relationship management is guiding a confirmed buyer … not convincing them
• 4/16/2008, 6:18 AM
• Tangent
……………○ Scoble talks on value of agent
• 4/16/2008, 6:18 AM
• Problems / Push Back From Industry
……………○ There is a large place that remains for classical
……………○ There is a large segment that want to do more of the classical tasks and pay less
• 4/16/2008, 6:19 AM
• Survey on Performance
……………○ Savings on 2/3 from refund
……………○ Savings on negotiation … since agents are fighting for satisfaction … not higher fees
……………○ So they negotiate 1% better
• 4/16/2008, 6:20 AM
• Watching backs by realtors for you conversation
……………○ Inspectors … biased by who engages
……………○ Per redfin … don’t use inspector of realtor … they are not incented to find stuff
……………○ He isn’t here to disparage the industry
……………○ However industry has messed up dynamics … pay models focus on closing deal … which is bad for the customer
……………○ Selling side … agent is aligned with your interests … more sell … more you make and agent
……………○ Buyer side … more you pay the more agent makes … so agent model on buyer side is least effective in current
• 4/16/2008, 6:23 AM
• Separations
……………○ Separate on business model … 1/2 the separation for redfin is the biz
…………………………§ No spamming, no required registration to search, no telemarketing
…………………………§ Come to people on their terms
…………………………§ Pay on customer satisfaction
…………………………§ People that work with them ARE NOT salesmen … due to cust sat fee structure
…………………………§ Agents think people need help finding
…………………………§ Customers think they can find people just want help closing the deal
• 4/16/2008, 6:26 AM
……………○ Tangent scoble on personal experience w/ home buy .. How friend realtors guided him to do things that he would have done wrong (like overpaying). Non friends wouldn’t do that
……………○ This is an emotional business … you lock into one candidate … get someone on your side who isn’t emotionally involved in this
• 4/16/2008, 6:27 AM
• 2 challenges
……………○ Built great search site
……………○ Make process automated
…………………………§ What is demand etc
• 4/16/2008, 6:28 AM
• RS - What is difference between Redfin and classical
……………○ Classical will drive you around and find your home when in twon for a job
……………○ If you search well on your own. Redfin is a good match
…………………………§ Add film tours
…………………………§ Sent someone to let them in for a home tour
…………………………§ Working w/ seller to get details (close target, bids, pricing guidance for offer, etc)
…………………………§ Regular signature for offer
…………………………§ Present in person the offer
• 4/16/2008, 6:31 AM
• Measure customer sat
……………○ All parties … close or don’t close
……………○ If you are unsatisfied they don’t get paid at all
• 4/16/2008, 6:32 AM
• Technology review
……………○ Open source - linux, mysql, apache
……………○ Expanding the site is an interesting problem … replicate regional then globally
……………○ Personal service is hard to scale
• 4/16/2008, 6:34 AM
……………○ Use MSFT platform w/ virtual earth … property and school data
……………○ Blogging about houses
……………○ Crime stats
• 4/16/2008, 6:35 AM
……………○ Come to redfin
……………○ All data here or link to
……………○ Traffic / Commute data … not there
• 4/16/2008, 6:36 AM
• Emotional decisions
……………○ Want to read and research a lot
……………○ There might be some gaming on forums … so they monitor … balance points
……………○ They are dealing with the fine line of two parties opinions
• 4/16/2008, 6:38 AM
• Local services like vendors / retail outlets
……………○ Not there
……………○ RS - Hdtv available? For example
• 40 visits to see a house
……………○ Little pictures are not enough ..
……………○ So need more virtualization
……………○ Google deals w/ massive data
……………○ Redfin is a niche set of data
• Listing Alerts
……………○ By zip, geo space on map
• 4/16/2008, 6:41 AM
• Most fun and challenging thing
……………○ Fun - Knowing you are doing the right thing for customers
…………………………§ Worked @ Plumtree w/ Glenn
…………………………§ Amount of $ they save people is awesome
……………○ Challenge - Get over buying something online
…………………………§ Worry about charge card
…………………………§ Eventually it takes off. Get comfortable.
…………………………§ Not for everyone.
…………………………§ Make site clearly showing that its PEOPLE and SYSTEMS
…………………………§ Google is just systems
…………………………§ Brick and Mortar is systems
• 4/16/2008, 6:43 AM
• Demo
……………○ Home page. Search by region or neighborhood.
……………○ Comes to map w/ listings and icons
……………○ As zoom in see lot outlines
……………○ Get everyting that has sold in last few years … color coded on mod.
……………○ Mouse over with photos on it (can scroll in mouse over)
……………○ Info from county on prior sales
……………○ Estimates from zilla
……………○ Some is controversial
…………………………§ How accurate is zilla … not really
……………○ Don’t go buy houses just on zilla … it’s a guideline
……………○ Zilla was trying to provide fascinating information … they succeeded
• Tax record shows … flip for 50% profit … problem
……………○ Sellers want to hide that profit level
……………○ They stand firm.
……………○ They are honest w/ sellers if list with them or other sites …provide data that buyers want but you don’t want them to have
• Show on listings saving amount on average
• 4/16/2008, 6:48 AM
• End of demo
• 4/16/2008, 6:48 AM - excited to be on scoble
• Challenge for him
……………○ Trying catch things they missed on first rollout … adding features
……………○ While growing
……………○ He is used to world of small information … move to world of tons of information and people can screen down. Not a 3rd party.
• When spending $500k … make your best choice
• 4/16/2008, 6:51 AM - still talking in general … closing comments
• 4/16/2008, 6:52 AM
• Tidbit at end - Local agents, Bloggers
……………○ Tried to do it w/ low cost remote .. Didn’t work
……………○ Pricing information and knows the areas
……………○ Get more local everyday
……………○ Bloggers that talk about properties
…………………………§ Food fights start due to blunt comments by bloggers
• 4/16/2008, 6:53 AM - Close
……………

** END RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING **

April 18, 2008 Posted by bauertim | 1-Definitely Watch This | , , , , , | 3 Comments

Wikipedia: Trusting Those You Don’t Know

Unless your company name has the word “Encyclopedia” in it you probably are thinking PUNT on this post. Hold on. There is a smidge of truth here for all of us. This documentary … while a bit long in the tooth … is an example of how todays consumers are taking more control of the ‘truth’ and not just listening to a minority of company sponsored experts. Instead they are putting more stock in their friends … and … people they don’t know. They trust the crowd more than they trust the corporate experts. Strange but true.

As usual my raw notes are below, but here are the thoughts that jumped out at me as I ran (i.e. jogged) along.

Webcast Details Notable Points
Title/Link:

Duration:

  • 40m

Speakers:

Recommend to Watch? No, No, No

  • The documentary was way slow in spots. In addition, the points made on the surface were rather trumped up. On one hand you had the anti-Wikipedia crowd claiming Wikipedia was killing the “Truth” by allowing common joes to act like (and trump) expert opinion on Wikipedia. On the other front you had the pro Wikipedia posse pointing out the flaws in the current system. Flaws to close to the status quo of corporate experts today (i.e. an experts appointed by someone you don’t to define what “truth” will be put out there as a reference for the masses).
 1. So Bauer, what about Trust and Brand?

  • This whole documentary, in my humble opinion, is about trust (not truth). Historically that trust is often comes from an extension of that experts companies brand. Think of an IBM consultant. Or a speaker from Google. You trust these things not on the person but on the brand that represents them. Wikipedia is showing a model that isn’t about trust via brand (i.e. you believe the company vets the expert) … but rather trust via process (i.e. the process enables the crowd to find the answer, there is no expert). If they are successful, it implies how you build your brand today will need to change.

2. So what, Wikipedia <> My Business

  • Oh yes it does. Or should I say, yes it will. Wikipedia represents how the average consumer goes about fact finding. How they form opinions. That average consumer is your consumer. Their fact finding process on Wikipedia will slowly bleed into their fact finding around starting and/or continuing a relationship with you. Your being in product XYZ category makes you biased not smart. The crowds want the unbiased opinion. Voices that have no stake in you seeing them as an expert as they are invisible. Given that, they will slowly begin to listen more to sources out of your control. Sources that far outnumber your companies voice/brand.

3. It’s worse than Wikipedia … The “Truth” Isn’t In One Place

  • But it gets worse. You can’t go to one place to position your brand. There isn’t one post defining you like on Wikipedia. Your Brand can be debated and evolved everywhere and it is. Blog posts. Forum posts. Twitters. The list goes on and on. Just like Wikipedia but spread out.

4. Time To Pilot New Styles of Marketing

  • It’s isn’t just about you finding big name experts and having them be a part of your brand anymore. While you still should do that it will not carry the day. In addition you need to find a way to insure what the mini-experts are saying about your brand on all those fronts out there positions your company the best you can. Be just like those passionate people that follow specific wiki pages. Push your case to the masses, wait for them to react, and then respond and evolve to what they say in return.

So, what was rather a boring Documentary evolved into something that had many hidden messages. It was interesting to see how Wikipedia is just another place where the question “What defines who is an expert?” and “Who can I trust?” hasn’t been answered. In my view, if we can enable our customer to find trusted advisors, regardless of affiliation to us, we will earn that trust ourselves.

** START OF RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING **

http://thenextweb.org/2008/04/08/video-the-truth-according-to-wikipedia/
…………………………Author - IJsbrand van Veelen
………………………………………○ 4/14/2008, 6:13 AM
………………………………………○ Card catalog / library
………………………………………○ Larry Sanger - Co Founder Wikipedia (WP)
………………………………………○ What is the value of the information in wikipedia
………………………………………○ 4/14/2008, 6:15 AM
………………………………………○ Charles Leadbeater (CL) - Author “We Think”
……………………………………………………§ We Can, Need, Want
……………………………………………………§ Developing world the internet is the key to evolution
………………………………………○ Tim O’Reilly
……………………………………………………§ Web 2.0
……………………………………………………§ Second coming of web. Bust showed that movement of web to participation medium. How to harness users and participation to build services
……………………………………………………§ Conversation - not lecture
……………………………………………………§ Collaborate
……………………………………………………§ BAUER COMMENT - This is the big question in the flow it seems. How to use the www to enable business more than statically or extending systems.
………………………………………○ 4/14/2008, 6:18 AM
………………………………………○ Gathering of Wikipedian
……………………………………………………§ Talk about how people edit
………………………………………○ Back to CL - How WP started
……………………………………………………§ Wiki
……………………………………………………§ Saw possibility of creating an enclopedia
………………………………………○ Jimmy Wales - Co Founder WP
……………………………………………………§ Quick growth
……………………………………………………§ 8th most popular website
……………………………………………………§ English is primary
……………………………………………………§ Get it to India
………………………………………○ 4/14/2008, 6:23 AM
………………………………………○ Get it to South America
……………………………………………………§ BAUER COMMENT - VERY SLOW FLOW OF INFORMATION ON VIDEO
………………………………………○ 4/14/2008, 6:24 AM
………………………………………○ Andrew Keen -Author
……………………………………………………§ Point of guy who sees bad in www
……………………………………………………§ NEED, WANT, SHOULD, CAN ,FEAR (from prior speaker)
…………………………………………………………………□ I comes before all of these things
……………………………………………………§ More democracy, freedom, etc
…………………………………………………………………□ He disagrees
…………………………………………………………………□ Personalization and fragmenting of society moving into a “I” ‘Me” focus creates less democracy and freedom
……………………………………………………§ 2000 is the anti-60’s
……………………………………………………§ Social reform and commitment is where we need to be
…………………………………………………………………□ Challenge all forms of authority
…………………………………………………………………□ The hippies build the backbone of the www
……………………………………………………§ No one trusts authority
…………………………………………………………………□ However they represent a ‘counter-establishment’
…………………………………………………………………□ Who do you trust
………………………………………○ Back to CL - Quality of WP early
……………………………………………………§ Meant to be a content generation project not a publishing project
……………………………………………………§ Knew bad results would be the norm early
……………………………………………………§ Minority fought for ‘guiding principles’ of participatory internet (Web 2.0) … egalitarianism. Notion of anyone in authority being bad.
……………………………………………………§ BAUER COMMENT - So really the question here is WP’s oversight team
………………………………………○ Jimmy Wales - Positions
……………………………………………………§ So there is no one position … who decides
……………………………………………………§ Jimmy and CL seemed to break up … over the Wiki model (anyone being able to edit). CL wanted the authorization / validation of people
………………………………………○ Ndesho (archivist for Nigeria?)
……………………………………………………§ Ubuntu reference (in true form not OS … person w/o people around is not a person)
………………………………………○ 4/14/2008, 6:33 AM
………………………………………○ WP can’t be trusted
……………………………………………………§ At various points wiki can flux into marking up stuff
……………………………………………………§ Overview of topic and look at sources to reach final position
……………………………………………………§ So wiki is starting point
……………………………………………………§ Bauer Comment - That makes sense … enabling a drill through
……………………………………………………§ Research is people are lazy and they just go w/ WIKI
……………………………………………………§ Form core beliefs on things which are wrong
……………………………………………………§ Bauer comment - considering the full immersion of people in the stream they will get kicked around to shift from WP (if wrong in view of others) to other locations
………………………………………○ Back to CL
……………………………………………………§ Bauer comment - I suspect he is behind this video
……………………………………………………§ Assume there are no ‘right’ version
……………………………………………………§ That is bad
……………………………………………………§ There are experts
……………………………………………………§ There are reasons for gate keepers
………………………………………○ Encyclopedia Britannica (EB)
……………………………………………………§ They don’t see the point
……………………………………………………§ How can the masses be the right check/balance
……………………………………………………§ Game not reality
………………………………………○ Back to CL
……………………………………………………§ Spend free time … butt heads … experts vs masses … would they consider it
……………………………………………………§ There is no process for maximum accuracy prior to publish
……………………………………………………§ Key difference
……………………………………………………§ Comparison to submitting manuscripts and just binding up
……………………………………………………§ Bauer comment - he is discounting peer review process but there is a risk
………………………………………○ Andrew Keen
……………………………………………………§ Catastrophe
……………………………………………………§ Fragmentation of society, of nation state
……………………………………………………§ Replaced with individualized culture / identity
……………………………………………………§ Isolated from people … less collaboration
……………………………………………………§ Truth gets personalized
………………………………………○ Discussions in WP … that is where the various points come back
……………………………………………………§ Bauer comment - That is not well known
………………………………………○ 4/14/2008, 6:43 AM
………………………………………○ Andrew Keen
……………………………………………………§ Truth
……………………………………………………§ We are living in a surreal world
………………………………………○ JW - counters
……………………………………………………§ Can’t aspire to 100% accuracy
……………………………………………………§ However do you go w/ fluid … over static
……………………………………………………§ No way to tell difference
………………………………………○ Back to EB
……………………………………………………§ Someone else changes the points made
……………………………………………………§ Expert
………………………………………○ Counter
……………………………………………………§ Not bad to back and forth … you can see the various versions
………………………………………○ Tim O’Reilly
……………………………………………………§ Truth is hard to hit
……………………………………………………§ WP makes visible a process that happens slowly in print or in news or other mediums
……………………………………………………§ Media outlets are a spectrum of accuracy just like WP
………………………………………○ Back to AK
……………………………………………………§ Crowd say s is true
……………………………………………………§ Crowd likes web 2.0 … libertarianism
……………………………………………………§ Bauer comment - so who is on there bias’ the writing … but doesn’t that happen in any mass media outlet
………………………………………○ 4/14/2008, 6:48 AM
………………………………………○ Back to Archivist
……………………………………………………§ Web 2.0
……………………………………………………§ Enables expression of though across the world
……………………………………………………§ Bauer comment - what does that have to do w/ anything?
………………………………………○ Back to EB
……………………………………………………§ Truth is not democratic ..
……………………………………………………§ If it were … we would all know it
………………………………………○ LONG VISUAL
………………………………………○ AK - Book is –> Cult of the Amateur
……………………………………………………§ Idealize Innocent
……………………………………………………§ The less you know … the more you know … Oh Really?
……………………………………………………§ Cult existed in history … Jean Zach Trusso (sp?)
……………………………………………………§ Finally the cultists (today) they found a platform the innocence … it is the www
……………………………………………………§ Cult of amateur has found a home
……………………………………………………§ Bauer comment - is this sour grapes of those that were the experts seeing declining market share to the ‘amateur’
………………………………………○ CL - Problem is in people
………………………………………○ TO - WWW Standards
……………………………………………………§ AK was creating an angle to sell a book … no substance
………………………………………○ Back to AK
……………………………………………………§ I = Internet
……………………………………………………§ Culture of narcissi
……………………………………………………§ Intellectual Masturbation
……………………………………………………§ Learn about world by listening to experts
…………………………………………………………………□ Bauer comment - He has a point there … but how do you determine … however … can’t people self select experts … when you get into longer tail models where there are more … it is hard to point to one expert …
………………………………………○ 4/14/2008, 6:54 AM
………………………………………○ Www allows exploration of creativity in new ways … do it at greater scale
……………………………………………………§ Bauer comment great point — its not that the various people on www are experts … or talking new stuff … but doing the spin up from each others thought process
………………………………………○ Back to AK
……………………………………………………§ Take responsibility for how use
……………………………………………………§ 70M bloggers … why do people blog
……………………………………………………§ Good investment of time …
……………………………………………………§ No one is famous as bloggers
…………………………………………………………………□ Bauer comment - depends if you really know the blogger … but otherwise he is right … it’s a trust issue
………………………………………○ Back to TO
……………………………………………………§ The key is the movement to participation
……………………………………………………§ Not one way media anymore (books, tv)
……………………………………………………§ Now people go back and forth
……………………………………………………§ Isn’t that how old school research / innovation worked … talking and interacting w/ your peers? If so, the www just enables more frequent contact on your terms
………………………………………○ Back to AK
……………………………………………………§ Web 2.0 … winning
……………………………………………………§ Nothing inevitable about tech innovation
……………………………………………………§ How do we protect what we value … like Truth
…………………………………………………………………□ Bauer comment - I would reframe that to “TRUST”
……………………………………………………§ Next release will be cult of expert … due to amount of noise online
…………………………………………………………………□ Bauer comment - agree, however, how experts are determined will vary by person .. And will be far more broad … so there wont be 100 or 1000 .. There will be 10,000
………………………………………○ Archivist
……………………………………………………§ Experts are those are passionate about what they do

April 14, 2008 Posted by bauertim | 3-No Go (unless you are bored) | | 6 Comments

Boredom: The Basis For Interaction Design?

Some people think the web is driven by, or started with, something else that I won’t mention … however, if you think about it, boredom is really the core driver. Of course there are exceptions, but I am talking about the typical driver for people to start doing something different than they were doing a few seconds prior. Everyone moves between states of boredom.

Given that, this presentation from the IxDA conference in February caught my eye. My thinking was … how can understanding the state of mind associated with boredom drive better site design. As usual my raw notes are below, but my summary throws up a few thoughts from the presentation that resonated around this concept of boredom and its implication in designing your interaction with your user.

Webcast Details Notable Points
Title/Link:

Duration:

  • 27m

Speakers:

  • Molly Wright Steenson
  • She is a design researcher with a angle around architecture and the implications to systems it seems.

Recommend to Watch? No.

  • It was an interesting run by of some players in the space around cybernetics with architectural examples but, unless you are specializing in that area, it probably won’t net to much for you.
 1. Reverse The Interruption

  • There is alot of talk in the marketing space around not focusing on interruption of a consumer (50’s style) but rather look to interact/engage with the consumer (via Blogs, etc). Molly’s discussion around the injection of the unexpected and allowing the actor with an object to change it (be it a site or a physical thing) made me think you might be better served to do the same with marketing. Think about how the actor (your customer) can interrupt you, your product stream, your campaigns, etc. A fluid design but from the view of the consumer.

2. Systemic Designs Is Still … Often Boring

  • Most of the talk was based on non-system examples of fluid design (well all the examples were of this type). However, you can see how the field has tried to address the concept of boredom - portals, personalization, etc. But that still is rather controlled, boring set of blocks. Not that the designers don’t innovate, they do. The problem is the consumer can quickly find the limits of the design and typically that there is no ongoing randomness, no continual spark.

3. Did Google Watch This Presenation - and come up w/ “I’m Feeling Lucky”?

  • I think they did (kidding). It does support why the random search button (titled — I’m Feeling Lucky) can still be one of the three core functions on the google search. It’s the state of mind for many of their users. It implies that they understand that boredom is one of the core drivers of consumer activity on the web. Interesting, no?

4. Blogs + Real Time Interaction … Boredom Killer

  • Static content is … well … static. On the flip side, blogs and real time social tracking/interaction like twitter, friendfeed, etc all are built for a back and forth between the audience and content producer. The thought stream is constantly moving between the content producers and audience. And, better yet, it has the feedback loop Molly talks about as content producers adjust based on comments, what people are searching for, who is referring, what are they reading.

Granted, a heavy theory discussion but a consideration when designing and/or trying to define the value of marketing for an individual or a corporation with a blog / social networking angle. As you compete for customer interaction wouldn’t you want a process built on one of the core states of mind for your consumers. I think so.

** START OF RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING **

…………….○ 4/9/2008, 6:15 AM
…………………………..§ Phd princeton, ix designer
…………………………..§ Attributes of boredom … sloth, dejection, etc
…………………………..§ “extreme boredom distracts us form boring ourselves”
…………….○ 4/9/2008, 6:17 AM
…………………………..§ Agenda
…………………………..§ Typopology (eg categorization)
…………………………………………□ Situative
…………………………………………□ Repetition
…………………………………………□ Existential
…………………………………………□ Creative
…………………………..§ Lord Byron
…………….○ 4/9/2008, 6:19 AM
…………………………..§ Talk of boredom referenced in books
…………………………..§ Serin Kirkador (sp?) Either /Or .. Article
…………………………………………□ 4/9/2008, 6:20 AM
……………………………………………………….® Tower of babel .. Proof of boredom
……………………………………………………….® Consequences of boredom
…………….○ 4/9/2008, 6:21 AM
…………………………..§ Boredom is more essisential …
…………………………..§ Don’t avoid
…………………………..§ Don’t resist … embrace
…………….○ 4/9/2008, 6:22 AM - Her focus - Embracing Boredom
…………………………..§ Cybernetics
…………………………………………□ Discussion founder of this … steersman
…………………………………………□ Info through system … feedback loop … systemic and human
…………………………………………□ Bates, fuller, etc … some people
…………………………………………□ 1st order
……………………………………………………….® No observer
…………………………………………□ 2nd order
……………………………………………………….® Theromstat
……………………………………………………….® Observer changes the system
……………………………………………………….® Study of how people model systems
…………….○ 4/9/2008, 6:24 AM
…………………………..§ Gordon Pass
…………………………………………□ 1926 -1996
…………………………………………□ Musiccolor (?) - 2nd order cybernetic system
…………………………………………□ Phd in psych
…………………………………………□ Work 24 hrs … 12 hrs sleep … on drugs to enable
…………………………………………□ 1924 .. Music color machine created
……………………………………………………….® See what music / lights interacted
……………………………………………………….® Similar creations in 40, 50’s and so on
……………………………………………………….® He however wanted to introduce boredom
……………………………………………………….® Musician would play, sense not engaging by system, musician would change
……………………………………………………….® Iteract w/ each other
……………………………………………………….® Change interaction if no response from actors
…………….○ 4/9/2008, 6:27 AM
…………………………..§ Nicholas seek system 1970 software show
…………………………………………□ Gerbils and mech arm .. Build environment based on gerbils action
…………………………………………□ Another 2nd order system
…………………………………………□ Intro randomness into systems of building
…………….○ 4/9/2008, 6:28 AM
…………………………..§ Sedric price - generator
…………………………………………□ Archigram - group of students mag in 60’s … future concepts
…………………………………………□ Not interested in formalizism … wanted to create change in people via interaction with object (in this case arch)
…………………………………………□ Fun palace (1964)
……………………………………………………….® Radical
……………………………………………………….® Massive, changeable environment and go interact … try stuff on
…………………………………………□ 150 12X12 cubes
…………………………………………□ Boardwalk / catwalks connect
…………………………………………□ Moveable cubes
…………………………………………□ Community center for gillam paper company
…………………………………………□ Road, screens, cubes … all moveable
…………………………………………□ Architects talk about program
……………………………………………………….® Ix designers it is about how a space functions is used …v ersus how it was designed … design to what users do in a space
…………………………………………□ Obsessed w/ program
……………………………………………………….® BAUER THOUGHT - Would of loved clickstream
…………………………………………□ Compatibility machine
…………………………………………□ Shows how different layouts … show paths of iteraction on restructure
…………………………………………□ Mobile crane … move it around
…………………………………………□ Concepts of friendly barriers to get people to engage .. Not daunting … more of fun play
…………………………………………□ Draw up in menus … in order in which eaten … consumption of objects (interaction)
…………………………..§ 19:30m in still staying on basis for boredom (various prior thought leaders)
…………….○ 4/9/2008, 6:36 AM
…………………………..§ Factor - Polarizer (people)
…………………………………………□ Hard to get people to think that they can adapt the space they are in
…………………………..§ Outfit generator w/ sensors
…………………………..§ Create an arch that is responsive to a change of mind … so that it is fun to change mind
…………………………..§ Bauer thought … a lot of physical layout here … computer seems to be more apt
…………………………..§ Point that computers should have random aspect
…………………………………………□ Prog 1 - inv
…………………………………………□ Prog 2 - curr layout
…………………………………………□ Prog 3 - see what people want to do, providing tools, modelling
…………………………………………□ Prog 4 - (boredom) most powerful, rollup … organize and optimize space … if it isn’t changed … it changes itself.
……………………………………………………….® BAUER THOUGHT - So if change is already in play … you are good
……………………………………………………….® BAUER THOUGHT - BLOG model is far more dynamic than marketing site (boredom play)
……………………………………………………….® BAUER THOUGHT - The stimulus for change is the commentary (or lack of), the search feeds, the referrals … BLOG models can react real time in content provided where the physical store has to move slower
…………….○ 4/9/2008, 6:41 AM
…………………………..§ Wrap up - no notes
…………………………..§ Typepology of boredom
…………………………..§ Spend time making things usable … but you need to add friendly barriers .. Introduce randomness … provocation … system ec
…………………………..§ Left out current topics
…………………………………………□ Like pascian routines
…………………………..§ We don’t see systems as things that can be
…………………………………………□ Interrupted
…………………………………………□ Co-optd
BAUER THOUGHT - interesting point … marketing was interruption of consumer in past .. Now people talk about interaction not interruption … what if you went even further and said consumers should interrupt the flow from the company real time (or be able to)

** END RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING **

April 9, 2008 Posted by bauertim | 3-No Go (unless you are bored) | , , , | 2 Comments

Friendfeed: Enabling Drip Marketing 2.0?

I have always appreciated the concept of drip marketing. Unlike carpet bombing where you run ad campaigns in high volume forums with the hopes just 1% might be in the mood for buying your ’stuff’ … drip marketing is all about trying to stay top of mind with a CONFIRMED buyer in a long sales cycle. So instead of the lottery approach to top of funnel sales you are just a determined fisherman … casting your bait at the spot you know that bass is hiding … over and over again … every day … if not more. Presenting your lure in 10,000 different ways hoping one cast will get all the variables right (e.g. depth, speed, color, temperature, etc)

Friendfeed, more importantly, and Scoble’s plan to redesign his web presence around FriendFeed is really (in my view) an example of the next generation of marketing. A model where the drips occur so frequently, are so small, are so innocent you don’t even notice their interruption or what they are building to. You look for them. You want them.

You can read the running thoughts below but here are my initial thoughts around this “Drip Marketing 2.0″ angle.

Webcast Details Notable Points
Title/Link:

Duration:

  • ~45 minutes (Scoble)
  • ~5 minutes (Webware)

Speaker:

  • Paul Buchheit - Ex Googler. #23. Key player in Gmail, Adsense, etc.
  • Bret Taylor. Ex Googler. Key player in Google Maps JavaScript front end and the Google Maps API.

Recommend to Watch? Yes.

  • Always makes sense to take a listen and get a a sense of people that had the adoption of gmail and google maps.
 1. Why not just stick with email or blogs? Ask Burma-Shave.

  • Email and blogs are typically are stand alone bullets. The start of a story and an end of a story (be it words or images) triggers the aspect of your ego that wants that thing … regardless of medium. In and out. Impression made. Burma-Shave on the other hand didn’t try to tie it all up for you. They would draw the reader in with its pauses and builds between messages letting the consumer imagine the plotline they expected. You became a fly in the web. Jumping with Burma to the final realization of whatever the points were. Far more immersing. You didn’t tell the buyer. They discovered your point on thier own.

2. Burma-Shave & FriendFeed. Come on Bauer. Thats a stretch.

  • Well, if you look at Friendfeed as a tool for the consumer … it is. But if you look at it in the manner that Scoble is considering you can see something. What is more immersive and more of a relationship between content producer and consumer? A conversation stream that is 80% tidbits and morsels you can research and ponder with them followed by a wallop of a big gun blog post … or just a blog post? A really tight video How-To on your product segment … or a trickle of links showing your research trail on those products followed by that video? Which one does the consumer engage with more? Seth Goodin hinted to the same in his posts Little Scraps (how we are evolving to decisions made on scraps of data).

3. You have to be unbiased to play this game.

  • This model of trickling out your research before a summary blog emerges on point XYZ is perfect for anyone that is unbiased and/or covering a product segment. If you are a product evangelist for one product you will struggle to leverage it as you are perceived to be a shill. But if you are a distributor of multiple products … like Scobe’s research of all companies tech … or a retailer distributing the goods of any manufacturer in a segment … the consumer will consider your point.

4. It almost makes the product evangelist role viable

  • Many of product companies are toying with a full time product evangelist but struggle with the ROI. This style makes it viable. You get more content from the resource out because their daily research is shared (ala Beacon) to the consumers. You get better depth of contact with the consumers as they are researching it with you. And you get better marketing intelligence (unlike Burma-Shave) as they can (and will) comment back as the pieces of your daily FriendFeed build to something.

5. So what’s the role of FriendFeed? Aggregation of your tidbits.

  • Back to the webcast. FriendFeed is interesting in this conversation as it enables the evangelist to efficiently share out their research. An article on google reader at 8:30 a.m. A few relevant images from Flickr at 9:00 a.m. Twitter blathering from (9:30 to 10:30). A good quote from a book at 11. Some relevant blog posts on XYZ reader at 1. A webcast you recorded on QIK at 3. All tidbits leading to something (or nothing) in the form of a more formal statement (your blog?). Your power consumers will love the access you can provide them (and in turn spread more Burma-Shave tidbits .. covering highways you don’t even travel). You will love that all you need to do to pull your activity on XYZ social site to your blog is call FriendFeed’s API and pull it down (they do all the heavy lifting).

Overall, I agree with Scoble’s strategy. If you are a full time analyst (like him) or a full time evangelist for a B2C distribution, tools and techniques like the above will add notable value to your role. Definitely something to consider if you are in that position as an individual or a head of marketing considering such an investment.

** START OF RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE SITTING **
……………○ Brett Taylor
……………○ Paul G
……………○ Polyvor (fashion site) sits with them
……………○ Team of 5 it looks like
……………○ Started 10/1/07
……………○ All prog (4) + anna (non prog)
……………○ Emacs
……………○ Friendfeed links to all sites you use … stream of things from people you like
…………………………§ Information discovery
…………………………§ BAUER COMMENT - isn’t this just like Facebook beacon in a way
…………………………§ BAUER COMMENT - Its like an RSS feed but micro bursts on favoriting of something or actions that are feed enabled (like comments, favoriting, shared, rated) that typically people wouldn’t put on their specific blog
…………………………§ Fragment conversations to social groups .. So you know people in the friend feed segment .. Discussions are more like a dinner party
…………………………§ Blog is a radio show … take callers who like hearing their voice … not listening
…………………………§ RS - blog trolls show up to get attention from attendance
…………………………§ Can have a private feed … huge % of usage
………………………………………□ BAUER - IM?
……………○ 4/2/2008, 6:13 AM
……………○ How make $
…………………………§ User base focus now
…………………………§ Monetization is early (ads maybe)
…………………………§ Netflix recommendation …
………………………………………□ BAUER COMMENT - Again beacon difference is it can be private (will channels be broad enough ? Perhaps in aggregate)
……………○ Why not at google?
…………………………§ Google is good for large investment initiatives (ie android)
…………………………§ Small gigs work well alone
…………………………§ Google forces users too quickly … can focus the company on growth / infra too early
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