Junk Mail With a Purpose
Posted by goodmind on August 20th, 2008
According to AdAge, Direct Mail works, though not for its original intended purpose;
New Orleans has found a novel use for the massive database used by Valassis Communications’ RedPlum direct-mail operation. Normally used to send promotional circulars to virtually every household in the U.S., it’s now being used to track the speed of recovery in the Crescent City.
Non-profit organizations are able to use the street level data (i.e. which households are actively receiving mail) to measure repopulation progress, and determine where to target rebuilding efforts. This may not seem like a big deal, but it can actually save these groups valuable time and money, since they no longer need to conduct repopulation surveys themselves.
You can check out the full map here, courtesy of the Greater New Orleans Data Center. Like Wired, we’re anxiously waiting for them to figure out an equally useful purpose for online spam.
Dialed In
Posted by goodmind on August 18th, 2008
“Deep Dialing” is a service that might be more significant than Deep Throat;
Toronto-based Fonolo works by using transcriptions of the phone menus of large companies so that users can navigate them visually. Users simply pick the company they need to call, scan through the company’s phone menu visually, then click the spot they need. Fonolo will automatically dial, navigate the menu and then dial the user’s phone. When the user answers, they will be connected to the right spot in the menu—hence the name, Deep Dialing. (via Springwise)
It will be interesting to see if customer service satisfaction ratings will improve as a result of the service, as one of the most common frustrations is time spent on hold.
Mapping Our Social Media Usage
Posted by goodmind on August 8th, 2008
As promised yesterday, here is our social media usage map;
We found that in trying to create this map, the process was actually more enlightening than the final product. Before producing the above, we first made a list of the applications we use on a regular basis, then sorted them into categories. The categories we came up with reflect how we use the applications, or more accurately, why we use them;
Interestingly, there is significant overlap between many network based applications, such as Twitter, FriendFeed, etc, because they have more than one function, and span several categories of use. FriendFeed in particular is actually an aggregate organizer; it organizes the organizing applications. However, we realized that we don’t use FriendFeed for this purpose as much as we should. Currently, it’s just another account, but it could potentially function as sort of an umbrella dashboard to directly manage our other accounts, adding FriendFeed to the “Organizer” and “Production” columns respectively.
So in a sense, the best way to manage sprawling social media usage is with an application that spans all categories of social media use in the first place. This is not to suggest that the best solution is to create a centralized hub for all social activity (ahem, Facebook), but rather, the next generation of web applications need to be multi-purpose and portable.
A Mapmaking Social
Posted by goodmind on August 7th, 2008
Visualizing a complex process is typically the best way to understand it. By the same token, visualizations can also reveal a greater degree of complexity than expected. This appears to be the case with mapping social media usage;
Andrew Shuttleworth, a social media junky living in Japan, thought it might be helpful to try to map his social media usage. The result is a staggering view of how information we put on the web flows (via ReadWrite Web).
On his blog, Shuttleworth reflects on the endeavor and concludes that;
Overall, it was very helpful to see an overview of how my online information flows…[it shows] the complexity consumers are dealing with in the Web 2.0 world, and it will be interesting to see how the leading services help us deal with this. Facebook is of course the best example to date.
But why wait to see how it all turns out? Maybe if more people map and share their own social media usage, similar to Shuttleworth, someone with a programming background will be able to take this behavioral data, and develop an acceptable solution sooner rather than later.
We’ll be playing cartographer over on Dabbleboard, a free online whiteboard, and we’ll try to post our own map by the end of the day. Feel free to create and send us your visualization as well, and we’ll add it to the collection.
Learning to Share
Posted by goodmind on August 6th, 2008
It’s amazing how often we need to be reminded of what should be obvious – collaboration works best when everyone shares. This is because it’s so hard for community and commerce to coexist happily on the web. However;
In “We Think: Mass Innovation, Not Mass Production”, British innovation and creativity guru Charles Leadbeater makes the case, based on countless well-documented examples from all over the world, that innovation in the era of the Web has become a collective, collaborative effort. “You are what you share”, he writes. Walking his talk, he shares part of the final book and the full first draft on his website. (via SwissMiss)
Maybe this logic holds true for books sales, as Leadbeater will soon find out from his with a personal experiment.
Better Than CliffsNotes?
Posted by goodmind on July 31st, 2008
McSweeney’s now offers Hamlet (Facebook News Feed Edition). It’s not written in iambic pentameter, but it’s still pretty good. Here’s Act III for your enjoyment;
Polonius says Hamlet’s crazy … crazy in love!
Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Hamlet are now friends.
Hamlet wonders if he should continue to exist. Or not.
Hamlet thinks Ophelia might be happier in a convent.
Ophelia removed “moody princes” from her interests.
Hamlet posted an event: A Play That’s Totally Fictional and In No Way About My Family
The king commented on Hamlet’s play: “What is wrong with you?”
Polonius thinks this curtain looks like a good thing to hide behind.
Polonius is no longer online.
Hamlet's Facebook Picture
What’s in a Name?
Posted by goodmind on July 29th, 2008
Within the past year, alternative operating systems (as in non-Microsoft) have been gaining market share. This trend coincided with the well documented release and consumer fall out over Windows Vista. According to recent research, it looks like Vista may have one more competitor;
Microsoft has a secret new operating system they’re showing to XP-using Vista haters, reports Cnet’s Ina Fried. Codenamed “Mojave,” over 90 percent of the focus groups in San Francisco loved it, with at least one moved to effuse, “Oh wow,” while using it. When can you get hold of this wondrous new operating system? Right now. Mojave is actually just plain ol’ Windows Vista. (via Gizmodo)
For what it’s worth, if we didn’t have to go through the process of installing Vista, we’d probably like it too.
(If you want to know more about the ‘behind the scenes’ reality of software development and release, we recommend the novel to your left)
Navigating the News
Posted by goodmind on July 21st, 2008
DoodleBuzz is a “typographic news explporer,” an interesting blend of art therapy and aggregator worth checking out, if only for the novelty of the experience. In order to see the results of a search query, you have to actually doodle. The relevant headlines populate your artistic expression, and story excerpts may be viewed by scribbling a new design right next to the results.
DoodleBuzz started life as a series of simple sketches in a notebook, originally looking at how to create an interface system that as much as possible moved away from the ubiquitous “click here” that seems to pervade the web.
It’s kind of a poor man’s touch screen interface, but it’s a navigational model we might be seeing more of in the near future. Apple has already made a “tactile user experience” the industry standard, and some analysts even predict the computer mouse will be extinct within the next 5 years, in favor of technologies that leverage existing motor skills. At least DoodleBuzz is a technology we can afford…
Post Modern Political Commentary
Posted by goodmind on July 17th, 2008
Of late, there have been some interesting discussions in Congress (no really). Texas Rep. John Culberson started a new social media scandal by using Twitter, and a video site called Qik to post his commentary on the legislative process in real time. Culberson believes that these platforms give constituents the opportunity to participate in discussions, and sees his constant Twittering as a dialogue. He’s able to hold spontaneous “Town Hall” meetings over the internet, by posting to Twitter mere minutes before the actual event.
Unfortunately, current House rules ban “work-related activities on non-House Web sites,” which has resulted in a bit of tension on the House floor. This rule exists to separate the commercial (campaign) content from the actual political issues online. Basically, information available on any official House of Representatives website (a “.gov”) is certifiable political content. Anything ending in a “.com” is personal marketing. That’s how Congress sees it anyway.
Then how do consumers voters see it? Well, Culberson’s dynamic Twitter feed is far superior to C-SPAN’s static camera feed, since followers of the former are actually engaged. Plus, there’s the rise of the Obama “brand,” which continues to evoke highly emotional reactions from all sides.
We’re not trying to be cynical here, but it’s pretty difficult to preserve any sort of distinction between personal marketing and politics when social media is the easiest way to reach a sizeable, yet targeted audience, and the most cost effective way to produce and distribute a message. As long as it’s authentic, Personal Punditry can even be biased, but still be effective. Just think of the Federalist Papers as an 18th century blog network, and you’ll see the political potential for social media in the 21st century.
(via FOXNews.com, as posted on Twitter by John Culberson)
The Long and Short of It
Posted by goodmind on July 16th, 2008
So there’s been some scandal upon the paperback release of Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail. Slate recently ran an article summarizing the major holes in the theory, as identified by Anita Elberse in Harvard Business Review. Elberse certainly backs her case with ample evidence, mostly culled from Australia’s version of Netflix. However, she also makes a shrewd observation about the supply and demand economy of niche markets that’s so self-evident it’s easy to overlook.
Venturing into the Long Tail is not a matter of taste, but rather an issue of capacity. The good news is that niche markets are probably inexhaustive. The bad news is that these most of these markets are too exhausted (lazy) to seek out niche products, in favor of more conspicuous choices.
Elberse uses the example of Australian film buffs on Quickflix, who consistently rented “unpopular” films. It turns out, these sophisticated connoisseurs also rented their fair share of blockbusters too, they just had more “capacity” for watching movies, and therefore had to move on to more obscure films out of sheer necessity.
We wonder what Elberse would say about our capacity for reading blogs, which, like Quickflix/Netflix, are technically subscription based services. Taking a look at our diverse RSS feed begs the question; are we discerning readers, or simply voracious readers?
