musings of a social architect

The magic word

Great post by Seth Godin on consumer motivation. Here are a few choice quotes.

I meet a lot of confused marketers, and the primary cause of their confusion is that they believe that money equals motivation. They believe that people will choose the best value. That people will buy what they need. That the best products and services will spread because they deserve to be talked about. That employees can be persuaded to do things by paying them more and that consumers will buzz something if you reward them with cash.

This is true. Every once in a while. It's true for people who deep down equate money to ego. This tiny subset of the population really and truly keep score via cash. They are rare indeed.

We're constantly on the lookout for someone's real motivation. We don't understand why someone would volunteer at a charity or take a lower-paying job or recommend a cool new CD or post something on their blog. "What's in it for them," we wonder. Here in the world capital of capitalism (yes, I just made that up...) Americans have fallen in love with the idea that money can feed the ego. Almost all the time, that's wrong....

I don't blog to make money. I don't run ads on my site. I don't even blog to win awards. I blog because it pleases me to see my ideas spread. I like it when I see people talking about one of my ideas--without even mentioning where the idea came from. That means it's the idea that spread, not my brand. Which is the whole point.

Hello Kitty Chess Set

Look at this adorable Hello Kitty Chess Set -- just the thing to brighten up a foggy Coastal summer day. Via Shiny Shiny.

iSync & Nokia Series 60 phones

Om Malik and Russ Beattie both had posts this week on syncing a Nokia Series 60 phone with the latest version of Apple's iSync. Great resource for any of you Nokie/Apple fans out there.

It's good to be recognized

Well, my name has shown up on a list of Open Media influencers. I'm happy to have my work recognized - and flattered to be in such good company. Tomorrow evening is a party for the folks on this list - I'm hoping that I'll get a chance to meet some people I admire, and see some old friends.

The Long Tail: "Pre-filters" vs. "Post-filters"

Chris Anderson has a great post about "Pre-filters" vs. "Post-filters". I like his terminology, and even more so the crisp distinction that he's drawing. Very useful stuff -- especially if you're a product designer, trying to decide what type of "community features" to implement (as many of my clients are).

What's different about those kinds of filters and the ones I've been focusing on is that they filter before things get to market. Indeed, their job is to decide what will make it to market and what won't. I call them "pre-filters".

By contrast, the recommendations and search technologies that I'm writing about are "post-filters". They find the best of what's already out there in their area of interest, elevating the good (relevant, interesting, original, etc.) and ignoring or downplaying the bad. When I talk about throwing everything out there and letting the marketplace sort it out, these post-filters are the voice of the marketplace. They channel consumer behavior and amplify it, rather than trying to predict it.

This is an important distinction. In the existing Short Tail markets, where distribution is expensive and shelf space is at a premium, the supply side of the market has to be exceedingly discriminating in what it lets through. These producers, retailers and marketers have made a science of trying to guess what people will want, to improve their odds of picking winners. They don't always guess right--there are surely as many things that deserved to make it market but were overlooked as there are things that made it to market and then flopped--but the survivors get a reputation for some sort of mystical insight into the consumer psyche.

But in Long Tail markets, where distribution is cheap and shelf space is plentiful, the safe bet is to assume that everything is eventually going to be available. The role of filter then shifts from gatekeeper to advisor. Rather than predicting taste, post-filters such as Google measure it. Rather than lumping consumer into pre-determined demographic and psychographic categories, post-filters such as Amazon's custom recommendations treat them like individuals who reveal their likes and dislikes through their behavior. Rather than keeping things off the market, post-filters such as MP3 blogs create a markets for things that are already available by stimulating demand for them.

back from our vacation to LA & Las Vegas

We're just back from a fabulous 2-week vacation -- a family visit to Los Angeles, plus a "couples getaway" to Las Vegas to celebrate our 10th anniversary. We had a great time - I'm all-the-way relaxed and ready to tackle my summer projects.

This was my first trip to Las Vegas in many years -- and wowee kazowee, the Strip is a Trip! Everything is designed to be larger than life and to sweep away your everyday, practical mindset. The whole town says to you "Relax - have fun - play some games, win some money, spend spend spend!" To plan our trip, we relied heavily on the Las Vegas page of TripAdvisor.com. This is fast becoming one of my favorite travel websites - the reviews are honest and filled with useful details.

The highlight of our trip was an evening at the Rio hotel (just off the Strip, filled with locals) seeing the Penn & Teller show. For nerds like us, this show was perfect -- fast-paced, filled with insider humour and self-referential asides. Penn is an irreverent intellectual who tosses off math jokes and catches a speeding bullet in his teeth. After their show, the magicians even posed for pictures with their adoring fans in the lobby. What's not to like? :-)