Someone is wrong on (and about) the internet
Ahh, the internet, the great equalizer where everyone’s voice counts… Being in Silicon Valley, I sometimes forget the rest of the country doesn’t necessarily live and breathe new gadgets and online experiences. That being said, I also don’t understand when people misconstrue what the internet is all about. A recent article on slate.com by Marshall Herskovitz, TV and film producer, has an interesting outlook that I couldn’t leave alone. Here is his introductory pitch to explaining the internet experience…
So I took a break, because I’ve never been happy serving anyone. And went to the Internet where I could be free. At least that’s what everyone told me. The Internet is the “Great Democratizer” where anything goes! You can do whatever you want! Uh—not exactly.Why? Well, let’s look more closely at what the Internet actually is. If, as they say, it’s a vast sea of information, the first thing to realize is that this sea is only accessible from certain harbors called browsers, like Internet Explorer or Safari. And, extending the metaphor further, all the information on this sea is contained in boats called Web sites. And then you begin to understand the problem. It turns out that this sea is invisible to us, untouchable, unusable. Our relationship to the Internet is entirely made up of our relationship to browsers and Web sites. And you know what? They suck.
They’re boring, one-dimensional, and unoriginal. Who decided that all Web sites should have a top nav bar and be rectangular in layout? Who decided they should abdicate any sense of design and be white and clean and uncluttered? No one did, and that’s the point. It just happened, because the creators of the Internet were thinking about other things.
From this (and the rest of his rant), I can only surmise that Mr. Herskovitz must not understand the internet. Maybe someone should create an user manual to help new users out.
I think the way Hollywood portrays the internet in movies and TV has led to some interesting misconceptions and confusion to what the internet is about and how people interact with it. The reality may not have the futuristic interfaces or 1-click access to anything (DMV information, Pentagon restricted access, etc…), but it’s still pretty damn cool. I can’t imagine life without full connectivity and the ability to learn and discover to my heart’s content. The internet brings walls down and brings people together. I look forward to what the future holds and enjoy what it provides today.
Voice blogging – are we ready?
As I peruse the many, many different web companies out right now, I’ve been noticing several in the “voice blogging” space. Voice blogging? Think blogging mixed with voicemail… Interesting concept, not quite sure if it’s the next wave. One of the biggest issues I see is sorting through the audio. Text is easy, audio requires much more effort from the user. Also, do we really want some of the youtube commenters in audio? I cringe at the thought.
To learn more, I signed up with Snapvine and made my first voice post. I was very impressed with how easy and quick the process was. I was given two options to record, by computer mic or by phone. I called the number provided and entered a code, then recorded away. You have choices to re-record, save, or delete until you get your “post” perfect. When I clicked “save” the computer screen immediately flashed to show I had submitted a post. Quick and efficient… I like the concept and think there is potential, but the real value (if it materializes) will be with the convergence with traditional blogging. (wow, that feels odd to type those two words together)
This CrunchBase profile gives a bit more background about them and their industry.
The explosion of social influencers
Back in the day, you had to wait for a newspaper or magazine to review a book, or the latest gadget. The internet changed the game. Today we’re inundated with reviews from everyday people. You can type in the model number of a product and get thousands of hits and 100’s of opinions from review sites and the average joe.
Quickly sketching out a timeline, it might look something like this.
From one perspective, choice is great. On the other hand, it is that much tougher to stand out from all the other choices. From a marketing perspective, it seems that a lot of companies rely soley on one track (usually SEM) to get the word out about their products. In a world of choice, you need to attack from multiple angles and one of the best ways is to motivate your users to become your biggest cheerleaders and influencers to their social circle. Of course, to do this you need to have a great product that excites people. If your product isn’t that great, then you need a much bigger marketing budget. (just ask Microsoft about Vista – he he, I kid, I kid)
KISS – Valentine’s Day Reminder
I am reminded that the best approach to almost everything is to just KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). This applies to everything from engineering to blog posts.
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
Community Power
We’ve seen many examples of how the internet can bring a like-minded group of people together to have insightful conversations, share news and recommendations. But how about solving other problems? Can we come up with the next pop artist, runway model or fashion designer? (Reality TV doesn’t seem to be doing a very good job). How about important problems, such as global warming, clean water, or sustainable agriculture? Can we harness the internet’s collective intelligence to do real good? Or, as anyone who peruses the comments online can’t help but notice, will the loud, dumb people always sabotage the discussion?
I think that finding a better way to harness teh internets will prove to be a key piece of our online experience in the future. As Marshall McLuhan once said, “The message is the medium”. And the message of the internet is ultimate democracy and freedom of expression. If we’re looking to involve a large number of individuals and their different perceptions, the internet accomplishes this natively. TV, however, does not. It simply pushes information out without receiving anything back, an open loop system.
A few groups have embraced the internet as the medium more effectively than others. The group/idea that has most harnessed it to date is politics and protest. From building a grassroots movement around a specific cause or candidate, to protesting injustice in it’s many forms, the internet has proved to be an excellent delivery system for the message to like-minded people. We can see examples in our current political primaries (the fundraising efforts of Barack Obama and Ron Paul) to the protests against perceived unjust treatment of members (Anonymous protests against Scientology).
All that remains to be seen is how we apply these concepts to bigger problems. And from a capitalistic viewpoint, when will corporations take advantage of this power to create better products and market them more effectively? The incentive, and potential rewards are huge and untapped. A message board or forum simply isn’t enough.
Who knows, maybe we will even be able to pick a decent pop artist one day soon.
Many-Eyes: Data visualization for Non-Scientists
Last Thursday, I attended one of the ongoing Parc Forum speaker series events in Palo Alto. The presenting duo of Martin Wattenberg & Fernanda Viegas hail from IBM Visual Research and the technology they were showing off is Many Eyes. The concept behind Many Eyes is that advanced data analysis shouldn’t be restricted to the scientific community. Any and all people should be able to support their hypothesis and opinions with visual aids that enhance understanding. This philosophy fits in perfectly with the blogosphere and shift away from mainstream media as a news outlet. Now, Joe blogger, can post about the correlation of fossil fuel pollution and population density and back up his view with pollution data number combined with land mass, all overlayed onto a world map.
After the jump – Sample Analysis of the CNN Democratic debate & Macworld 2008 Keynote address (more…)
Go Democracy!
Have you?
Normally, I prefer to not write about politics, but as we find ourselves here on Super Tuesday, it is definitely appropriate. Voting in the general election is important, but that’s not where you choose your candidate. You can only do that now, here, today.
So… What are you waiting for again? Go!
Save us Sergey & Larry!
Yahoo’s rebel forces have a hidden message for Google. Save us from the evil Empire! (Star Wars spoof)
Enjoy!
Seriously? Microsoft takeover of Yahoo!
Wow, I can see that Microsoft is tired of being in 3rd place for search and online advertising revenues, but how exactly do they envision bringing two big conglomerates together will solve their problems? Are there not enough examples of this being a really bad idea? AOL – Time Warner, Daimler – Chrysler, the list goes on.
A look at Steve Ballmer’s letter to the Yahoo Board states that Microsoft can align with Yahoo! to create a more competitive offering and consolidate operational and R&D costs. He spells it out like this… (more…)
Why strategy is critical
With the impending recession and all the media articles about pending layoffs at Yahoo!, I can’t help but think the culture of corporations as they grow has some terrible trends. That aside, I also think in the case of Y! the media is going too far and screaming for blood from their chosen poster child. Nonetheless, the trend is disturbing.
This article on News.com outlines the identity crisis at Y! and why it led to managers focusing on building empires and protecting their turf, rather than on creating the best product and experience for their customers. This is eerily similar to the big American automotive companies and their decline in the face of global competition. GM, Ford & Chrysler assumed that people would buy their cars just because they offered them. This led to cars that didn’t meet the market’s demands and a huge opening for the Asian and European automakers to step into.
