Author: Christopher Carfi

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The Business Blogging Field Guide, Part 3: The Recommender

“Recommender” blogs (commonly known as “link blogs”) are not designed to be a destination in and of themselves, but are instead a resource for readers of a particular business blogger. One can almost think of these types of blogs as reviews or, as the name suggests, recommendations of items that the blogger believes will be of interest to his or her readers. In contrast to almost all of the other types of business blogs, Recommender blogs oftentimes do not contain commentary on or visibility into the company for which the blogger works. Rather, the blogger becomes a resource for his or her readership and, as a side effect, brings more attention to the organization for which the blogger works.

“Recommender” example #1


Blogger: Jeremy Zawodny
Role: Platform Engineering
Company: Yahoo!
Blog Location: http://jeremy.zawodny.com/linkblog/

“Recommender” example #2


Blogger: Robert Scoble
Role: Technical Evangelist
Company: Microsoft
Blog Location: http://www.scobleizer.com/linkblog/

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Doc And Adam Need To Think Different About Podcasting

Adam Curry and Doc Searls slag on the iPod shuffle and its appropriateness as a device for listening to podcasts. In an article today in InternetNews, Doc comments on the device:

“It’s neither a boon nor a bust. It’s just not useful for listening to podcasts. Navigating inside a long podcast — and many are very long — is difficult even with a regular iPod, as it is with all players. So, rather than fix the one feature that’s lame about the iPod, they eliminated it completely.”

Adam echoes the sentiment.

“Apple hasn’t picked up on podcasting because they are thinking about how things work from Apple to the rest of the world. They are not seeing what is happening.”

Adam, Doc…I respect the hell out of both of you. But blaming the device is only looking at half the problem.

The other half of the problem is in the structure of the podcasts themselves. When a broadcaster podcaster constructs a long, monolithic podcast of, say, forty minutes or so, it is a black box. It is monolithic. The only current way around this is to create detailed “show notes” to give the listener (who is your customer, btw) some visibility into the inside of this black box. This is the core of the problem, not the device. This currently needs to be done separately from the podcast.

Let’s take a step back, and look at another example of monolithic content that is delivered digitally…DVDs. The DVD makers figured out early on that they needed to break their creations into “scenes” to make them navigable. Podcasters need to do the same thing.

Three solutions:

  • The pragmatic one: Podcasters…break a monolithic ‘cast into parts, and post them separately. More work on your part, but solves the problem. And its doable today.
  • The midrange one: Create a way to easily bundle the monolithic content with a cue file or the equivalent that tells where things are. If a customer is interested in better navigation, the customer can split the podcast based on the cue file prior to loading it to a device.
  • The long range one: After the podcasters do their part to indicate the cues, Apple, Creative and others build devices that take into account the bundled MP3 and cue files, and allow random access navigation.

To dismiss the device is only looking at a small part of the issue. The onus is just as much on the creators of the content to provide clearer navigation clues into the things that they are creating.

(hat tip: nevon)

Update: Come to think of it, the midrange option could be handled inside of iPodder, iPodderX, or Doppler as well, I s’pose. Have the podcatching client split up the podcast on its way in, based on the cue file, and then automatically write out the component parts for easier navigation.

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The Business Blogging Field Guide, Part 2: The Tour Guide

“Tour Guide” blogs are the ones that give a glimpse into the company. Not unlike an actual physical plant tour, this type of blog gives a “behind the scenes” glimpse into the goings-on of the corporate machinery. Sometimes they cover current events at the organization, introduce the reader to some of the members of the company, or highlight particular products or items of note. All this talk of transparency for the customer? Tour guide blogs are a start.

“Tour Guide” example

Blogger: Noah Acres
Role: Director of Sales and Marketing
Company: Bigha
Blog Location: http://www.bigha.com/blog/index.php

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The Business Blogging Field Guide, Part 1: Intro

Think of this as our little safari into the wilds of the blogosphere. An expedition to create an initial taxonomy of business blogger species, if you will.

There have been lots of folks who have done the “what is business blogging” thing. What I haven’t seen, however, is a good description of the different ways that companies are using blogs at the point of interaction with the customer. There seem to be a few:

Over the next few posts, we’ll take a look at each of these in more detail.

And another thing. Some of these will now be podcast as well. You can subscribe to the feed right…up…there if you want.

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More Thoughts. More Discussion. And A Lot More Space.

“Caffeine?”

“Check.”

“Snacks?”

“Check.”

“Notebooks?”

“Check.”

“Thesauruses?”

“I think you mean ‘thesauri.'”

“You know what I meant. Do we have ’em?”

“Check.”

Looks like the list is in pretty good shape. Now, I’d love your help.

Todd Sattersten has announced the More Space project. What is More Space? Todd:

“So, I have this idea. There are all of these great bloggers talking about the subject of business. The trouble is the format of blogging only allows for maybe 500 words in a post before most readers lose interest.

What happens if you gave these writers more space?

I know you have a ton of questions about the project. Here are the major points:

  • There will be 10 writers.
  • The essays will be published online in text and audio and we are going to publish a really cool book.
  • The project starts today and will drop sometime in April.
  • Everything will be done in the open. Bloggers are going to write their essays on their blogs. We are going to publish everything we do from vendor selection to costs to sales. The project is going to be as transparent as it can be.”

There is also an FAQ on the project here.

Other folks involved are:

Now, here’s where you come in. Per Todd’s open request, I’ve submitted a proposal to join this august group. The proposal starts with the Social Customer Manifesto itself…but there are a lot of different directions where this could go. The points in the Manifesto need to be fleshed out in much more depth. There could be more reporting similar to what was done with RealNetworks a couple of weeks back. There are a whole bunch of thoughts that are starting to coalesce around how blogging, wikis, social networks, etc. help to significantly reduce the time it takes for an organization to notice and respond to customer, competitor, and marketplace issues. There is the opportunity to highlight companies that are doing these things well, and use this as the beginning for a series of vignettes on the people and organizations who are moving in this direction. But, ultimately, it boils down to the answer to this question: what do YOU want to discuss and think about? Because, in this scenario, you are the customer.

So…if you have some thoughts on where this might be able to go, the More Space blog is the place to capture them. The link to the proposal is here…would love your input!

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Latest Macworld Rumor — Flash-based iPod (Code Name: “Shuffle”)

(UPDATE!: iPod Shuffle confirmed.)

“An Italian enthusiast reportedly snapped photos with his cell phone of an Apple banner, normally covered until Jobs’ speech, that promotes a flash memory-based iPod. Security officers allegedly tried to chase down onlookers who might have taken photos.” (from eWeek)

Rumored specs:

  • Code name: “iPod Shuffle” or “iPod Micro”
  • 1GB storage
  • Small, vertically-oriented
  • $99-$149
  • Tagline: “Life is random.”

Perhaps called “Shuffle” since it may not have a screen (thus requiring randomly-ordered songplay).

If true, could be a very interesting transitional device…instead of being the “system of record” for audio, this instead could be a viable device for putting together a drivetime playlist. Grab the handful of songs or podcasts that you want for your commute or your jog, load it up, and you’re on your way. (Come to think of it, this would be a great form factor for audiobooks or language tapes as well.)

Update:
From the US Patent and Trademark Office database…

Word Mark SHUFFLE

Owner (APPLICANT) Apple Computer, Inc. CORPORATION CALIFORNIA 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino CALIFORNIA 95014

Goods and Services IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Computer hardware; computer software; prerecorded computer programs for personal information management; database management software; character recognition software; telephony management software; electronic mail and messaging software, paging software; database synchronization software; computer programs for accessing, browsing and searching online databases; computer operating system software; application development tool programs for personal and handheld computers; handheld electronic devices for the wireless receipt and/or transmission of data, particularly messages; handheld electronic devices with video, phone, messaging, photo capturing and audio transmission functionality; software for the synchronization of data between a remote station or device and a fixed or remote station or device; Portable digital electronic devices and software related thereto; handheld digital electronic devices and software related thereto; digital audio players, including digital music players, and software related thereto; digital video players and software related thereto; MP3 players and software related thereto; handheld computers; personal digital assistants; pagers; electronic organizers; electronic notepads

Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK

Serial Number 78528005

Filing Date December 6, 2004

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No, We Don’t Sell A 186,000 Mile-Per-Second Death Ray

“Here we are one day, a small company in Corvallis, OR (on a holiday!) manufacturing and selling outdoor recreation equipment, then the next day we’re asked to be experts on everything from terrorism to the Patriot Act.” – Noah Acres, Sales & Marketing, Bigha

Bigha’s doing a great job explaining to customers their (non)-involvement in the laser-on-the-airliner story. He also posts the full transcript of an interview he had with a belligerent interviewer.

“I could tell this wasn’t going to be a friendly article by the line of questioning. I kid you not, this is pretty much how it went:

Jim Wright: “Mr. Banach is facing 20 years in prison for pointing his Jasper at planes, and I go to your site and the first thing I see is photos of it pointed towards the sky.”

Noah Acres: “Anyone can tell the difference between a star and a plane. In order to point at a plane, you’d have to point, and then actually follow it. This guy put effort into this.”

JW: “I just think your site could be more clear.”

NA: “How could it be more clear. We state explicitly not to point towards they eyes of people or animals and to avoid vehicles and aircraft. This is stated on our site and in the manual that comes with the Jasper.”

JW: “But what if somebody points at a bird?”

NA: “We say not to point at animals. A bird is an animal.”

JW: “That’s up for debate.”

NA: “I would classify a bird as an animal.”

JW: “But if you look in the dictionary, a bird is not actually an animal.”

NA: “I think most people consider birds to be animals. I can’t put the enitre world species list on my site.”

JW (in not-satisfied tone): “OK, thanks. Bye.”

If you look at the site today, you’ll notice we put up a new warning on the Jasper homepage. “Warning: Do not point Jasper at aircraft, motor vehicles, people or animals.” Or birds. Or dolphins. Or zebras…”

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That Crackle You Hear? That’s The Kindling Catching.

As alluded to below, some great things going on today. Macromedia. Microsoft.

In social customer land, blogs are going to be first. For a non-technical customer, it’s easy. Click “comment.” Speak. Repeat. It’s great to see some of the leaders out who are not only getting it, but doing it. Smaller companies (Clip-N-Seal, T-ShirtKing) that understand have been doing this for a while now.

Now, the challenge for Dowdell and Scoble will be to take it to the next level. Now that the forum is open with the customers, what is going to be done? And by when? Despite all their hassles over the last few months (oh geez, the colo is on fire!), Technorati has managed to navigate through adversity and challenges that directly affected customers, and has done it the right way. Let’s call it the “Sifry method” of dealing with customer issues:

1) Say what happened – State the case, tell what happened, explain what the situation was. Don’t BS, don’t make excuses. Just the facts.

2) Say what you’re going to do about it – The short term fix. How are you going to put out the fire. (Usually, this is a figure of speech.)

3) Plan for Murphy – Ok, the immediate crisis is over. What are you going to do to make sure this doesn’t happen again?

4) Report back – Let the customers know what’s going on. Was the short term fix applied? Are the long-term changes happening?

I’m chomping at the bit for the wiki and social networking tools to get easier to use from a customer point of view. They’re likely to be the next enablers, but they have to get to the point where the non-technical customer can intuitively understand what they can do to inject themselves into the process.

Update: Holy cow! GM is blogging…with comments on, even! (hat tip: dave)

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Apple: The New Sony

(UPDATE!: Mac Mini unveiled.)

Oy. I was all queued up to write about someone doing something positive with their customers (check the comments; they’re awesome), and this comes across. Dan Gillmor, Om Malik, and many others are reporting that Apple has just sued Think Secret, one of their most rabid fan sites, which has been hosting rumors of a $499 iMac. Gillmor:

“I’m fairly sure of this: If the party leaking information to Think Secret had sent it, say, to the San Jose Mercury News or New York Times, and had those publications run the news, Apple wouldn’t be suing them. Both have deep enough pockets to defend themselves.”

Sony v. Kottke anyone?

So, Apple is going after Think Secret in order to plug the leaks that Apple has in its own organization. Sony is going after Kottke for information that he had gotten from a source.

Eugene…Craig…anyone…help us out here!

As the customer guy, this doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. Why go after the customers, when the root of the problem is internal? Do it once, you make a point. Do it twice, and “ok, already.” Do it three times, and it may start to put people off. In fact, this is starting to happen. From Allen George, an Apple customer:

“Many Apple fans (in this context I prefer “Apple apologists”) have sided with the company, citing dubious reasons such as ‘protecting the investors’ et. al. I disagree with their point of view.

I ask:

  • In what material way do these rumors hurt Apple?
  • Does Apple ever consider the fact that people are actually interested in their products as a result of this?
  • Why is this suit being conducted?

At any rate, this site – one of the most reliable Mac rumor sites out there – will almost certainly be shut down as a result of this. Apple’s legal department is well known for its bulldog like tenacity and ferocity, so it’s unlikely the owner will be able to stand up to their wrath.

Another example of corporate power against the ‘little guy’? I think so.

And a reason for me to actually consider _not buying_ Apple products.

[shakes head]

Why Apple why?”

MacHeads discuss the situation here.

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Applying The Cluebat, Episode #742: Before Advising Your Customers To Do Something, You Might Want To Do It Yourself

Interesting bit from Steve Rubel about PR firm MWW Group‘s new “weblog marketing practice” which “will advise clients on strategies to create, participate in, monitor, and advertise in blogs,” according to MWW’s Alissa Blate.

Rubel nails it:

“Blogs are just the beginning. The bigger trend is that consumers want to have a role in talking about products and even in marketing them”

and

“Consumers are in control, and consumers are the media. It’s a paradigm shift that’s going to change PR forever. We need to be listening to bloggers as much as talking to them.”

Steve’s points are spot-on. But with respect to MWW…I am the only one that finds it really funny that MWW is doing this…and that they don’t have a blog themselves?