Behavioral Economics

For years I've been trying to get my head around what is the 'thing' that we as online consumers want out of the online experience. Essentially what is it that we're 'acting out' through our online activity?

I believe the answer has a lot to do with 'behavioral economics'.

"Behavioral economics and behavioral finance are closely related fields that have evolved to be a separate branch of economic and financial analysis which applies scientific research on human and social, cognitive and emotional factors to better understand economic decisions by consumers, borrowers, investors, and how they affect market prices, returns and the allocation of resources.

Behavioral economics is that branch of one, which deals with the study and application of analysis with scientific approach on social,emotional factors for understanding the consumers,investors and the market,and the resources.

The field is primarily concerned with the bounds of rationality (selfishness, self-control) of economic agents. Behavioral models typically integrate insights from psychology with neo-classical economic theory. Behavioral Finance has become the theoretical basis for technical analysis. [1]

Behavioral analysts are mostly concerned with the effects of market decisions, but also those of public choice, another source of economic decisions with some similar biases towards promoting self-interest."

-Wikipedia

If you look at online companies; such as, Threadless they understand that the best way to get people to care about a product is to motivate them to take action. By becoming involved in the product or service we, as consumers, feel a sense of connection. Being able to submit our opinion, ask a question, and access resources creates a sense of belonging and familiarity. Another great online service is Get Satisfaction.

I think this is very powerful considering how alienated we can feel by technology. We become frustrated when we call customer service and can't speak directly to a person. Social media is the cure for automation's failure to be everything to everyone.

Australia's Best Music Site

I'm a big fan of fasterlouder.com.au. It's the best Australian music site I've visited. The runner-up would have to be moshcam.com- in fact, it would be cool if the 2 sites merged. (hint! hint!)

in reference to: FasterLouder.com.au > Fasterlouder.com.au is Australia's leading independent live music hub. Stock up on music and tour news, reviews, gig photos and idle gossip, or bitch to your heart's content in the forums. (view on Google Sidewiki)

Monthly mobile plans shouldn't cost more then your rent.

I recently had an interview with a major telecommunications company here in Australia, and it was without a doubt one of the most horrible experiences of my life. Picture yourself in a bland, dreary meeting room with a couple of wise-mouthed kids. Each time I started describing an idea they only let a few words in before cutting to the next question. Having no chance to clarify the meaning was misconstrued and they'd be armed with enough ammo to send the concept straight into the gutter. The feeling is similar to the dream where you turn up at school naked as the day you were born, or having a classroom of middle school kids laughing at you for farting loudly.

The request prior to the meeting was to familiarise myself with the company’s handsets and applications. I did this, and my observation was that they had lots of clever add-ons for their customers, but with all the extra costs on top of their basic plan. To me, this was an issue. As a consumer who opted to go with a different service provider because of the exorbitant fees I felt like this was an opportunity to bring my knowledge of social media to practical use.

Knowing that part of the job would include managing the app pages on the website the first order of business was to address the lack of consumer info. There weren't any indicators that customers were interested or even using any of these applications. I wanted to bubble-up how often the apps were downloaded. I also wanted to be able to read reviews and here feedback from customers. - To this point I received smirks and scrunched brows, and was asked, “you do know that this is a producer role, correct?”

My point was: If you want people to buy something they don’t need during an international financial crisis you’re going to need to do more then post generic info that states nothing and gives no indication of the added value by buying it.

The next thing I wanted to do was to allow customers to participate in the apps that are provided by voting for them. As I’ve stated in previous posts, Threadless and Amazon do a fantastic job at appreciating the wisdom of the crowd. Using algorithms to lead decision making is the key to sustainable development. Why guess what customers want? Why assume when you can ask them directly? Who cares what types of apps an executive in an ivory tower wants to buy when the majority of your customers want something entirely different?

Another way to enhance the added services is to provide an extra layer of support. I really like the value of open sharing and transparent customer service. This is why Zappos is such a strong favourite amongst internet shoppers. Bravely stand behind your policies and don’t hide individual responses. If the business is based on solid values and positive customer service attitudes there shouldn’t be any worry, right? Get Satisfaction is the modern way to cope with new challenges in managing customer-business relationships. Replies come from other customers or the organisation's employees.

While researching ideas I stumbled on an article about how Sprint has opted to create a developer sandbox, and shared this as an option for generating a massive directory of applications. Local businesses could create applications ready for use on all smart handsets, why not?

The final angle was to restructure the costs being sent to the customer. Why not involve advertisers instead of charging customers for apps? Or follow what other subscription-based business are doing to attract more users? The Washington Post allows you to become a subscriber in order to access certain online articles, or allows users to sign-in using the Washington Post Facebook application. The trade-off is free articles for access into certain portions of the user profile. Some say it’s a potential privacy issue, but it’s not compulsory - it’s a choice. If users would prefer to pay for an uninterrupted experience they are free to do so. Monetising the experience through advertising is a great way to keep costs down for the customer, and will likely generate more revenue in the long-run.

I also like free apps that make buying choices easier. A great example of a cool music app is Guitar Hero for iPhone. The commerce aspect can be easily set up via the App Store, and an application gives artists or labels an easy way to distribute content.

At the end of the interview the 2 goons asked me, “so what applications would you produce?”

My response was and continues to be, “Whatever the majority of customers want to buy and use. My biased opinion is irrelevant”.

Needless to say, I wasn’t invited for a second interview and have never received any form of communication from the industry giant. I guess some people have the wrong perspective of social media, and empowering consumers. The reality is that there are tons of apps out there and most are FREE. If you want consumers to pay for something you need to ensure it's set up as a valuable service.

Gameplay Matters

More and more company’s are becoming involved in social media. Some brands attempt to foster an online community or create online personas - to mixed reviews. Getting these types of endeavors off the ground is a huge undertaking and in no way should be attempted without a little research and hands-on experience. There’s nothing worse then awkward participation by someone unfamiliar or uncomfortable with social media. I don’t think McDonald’s needs a Twitter profile, I don’t think anyone read Kmart’s blog, and Microsoft's "advertars" (Avatars generated by advertisers to pimp their products in MMOs and virtual worlds) while creative and clever isn't the best idea. I believe it's important to know about the historical precedents in order to tailor a strategy for adaption and integration.

Online communities aren't as new as you might assume; they actually started with the creation of MUDS in 1975. Cyberculture, screen names, moderation, forums, avatars all came from these innovative games. Game creators learned very early on that one person can’t monitor everything and enlisted hardcore gamers to become the eyes and ears within the game; thereby, allowing the creators to focus on enhancing the overall experience. Moderators were provided with the tools to refocus fellow gamers - idle minds lend to idle hands. The role of a moderator is not to police other players, but to positively challenge them. I have observed that our current online communities operate quite similarly.

There are all kinds of ways to enhance the online experience. Apps and Widgets allow users to come to you instead of the other way around. By being dynamic and linkable they add a valuable service.(Going mobile is a great way to get ready for what's to come in the near future.) Another great innovation is trivia games and recommendation tools. Thanks to social media users can rate products and services negating the need for traditional marketing surveys. Also through association you can become memorable. Contributing to the experience in a positive way should be an objective instead of lurking in the shadows and noting every negative comment. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) created a Virtual Tsunami in Second Life. It is not only a great example of eLearning it also illustrates how to become apart of an online community by enhancing the experience.

Another example is Sugar Inc. which focuses on creating communities for women between the ages of 18-49 and boasts 8 million monthly unique visitors and more than 50 million page views. Because the experience is transparent advertisers can speak to consumers directly without having to jump up and down to get their attention. The Sugar Network is comprised of 16 distinct lifestyle and entertainment sites covering topics that include celebrity, fashion, shopping, beauty, entertainment, food, health, etc. ShopStyle integrates fashion and design trends through social media and commerce tools to create a personalized shopping experience. Sugar Inc. has managed to create sites that feel as though the user is existing within a fashion magazine. Another shopping site called Threadless invites community members to submit t-shirt designs online, and the designs are then put to a public vote. A small percentage of submitted designs are selected for printing and sold through an online store. Creators of the winning designs receive a prize of cash and store credit. Also of notable mention: ebay, etsy, and Kaboodle.

I’m far more interested to engage with a brand through play then stark advertising that interrupts my regular online activities. As an example, if I went into a store and the sales staff kept trying to force me to buy a jacket that wasn’t my size and didn’t interest me I’d quickly run out the nearest exit. Advertising within an online community can be a delicate art. The best way to engage an audience is to provide them with a service that adds value to the user experience. Think of a street vendor selling hot dogs - setting up at rush hour in front of a bus stop might get you a few customers; however, setting up at lunch time inside a business park or beside a nightclub at last call is far better idea. Knowing your customer and giving them what they want at the right time is vital to increasing conversion.

Read more about "social commerce".

Usability Focused SEO Strategies

Recently I had a brief phone call with someone asking me how to ensure a website quickly shows up in the first page of a search engine result. I offered that showing up in organic search can take time, and a fast solution is pay per click. Conducting an entire site overhaul is commonly what it takes to show up in the top results of an organic search. There are also simple tricks to show up in local search results. Geotargeting is an easy way for locals to find you.

Years ago, SEO was an extremely dry concept entailing keyword strategies and primitive analytics as clairvoyant as a Magic Eight Ball. (Anyone who tells you they can read a users’ mind using a heat map is a charlatan.) The answer to a question such as this one is not simple and can’t be summarized without insight into a company’s objectives and core demographic. Also, the truth of the matter is that SEO has far surpassed traditional online marketing and keyword selection. SEO starts with good development strategies and ends with consistent testing. Knowing your user and seeing your site through their eyes is the best way to developing fine-tuned optimization.

To start, knowing that web browsers are the point of entry should help in determining keyword selection. I think it’s a good idea to know what the experience is like in both the latest version and preceding version of Firefox and Internet Explorer. Not only test that your site is efficient and bug-free, but conduct regular outside user testing to gain insight into how users find your website. As an example the Awesome Bar in Firefox slowly adapts to a user’s preferences and offers better fitting matches when entering a URL. Firefox can also tell websites your physical location resulting in more relevant and useful results (for example, getting directions or finding restaurants nearby). Another idea is to consider what languages are most common in specific regions. Certain browsers can translate site copy; however, it's not always perfect and you might want to consider providing translated versions of your site. I recommend using Google Trends for Websites to find out more about keywords based on regional statistics. Knowing what capabilities exist within a browser will help you know how to optimize the user experience and improve SEO.

An important element of SEO development is ensuring your content is properly categorized, labeled, and indexed. Amazon.com is a great example of how to label and index content. The site is consistent with it’s use of titles and descriptions which lends to optimal searching - both internally and externally. Search Engines such as Google dislike Dynamic URLs. Masking dynamic content using URL Rewrite will optimize the pages of your site. Also, creating an XML site map and using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to assist crawlers in locating the important content is an easy and important undertaking. Always remember that content is king, and duplications or sloppy organization can ruin SEO.

Linking and navigation are also vital to improving SEO. The easier it is to get around your site the better the overall experience for everyone - both users and bots. Google’s Webmaster Guidelines clearly states that it is important to ensure there is a clear hierarchy of content and text links. “Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link.“ Another vital element is to employ robots.txt to prevent crawling of search results pages or other auto-generated pages that don't add much value for users coming from search engines. Using my previous example, Amazon is a great site to model after in terms of it’s use of linkage. Internal links whisk you through near flawless navigation while external links and widgets are fun to use and easy to setup. Amazon’s affiliate program is one of the best I’ve seen and it’s resulting traffic is phenomenal. Amazon’s online presence stems from a quality website and utilization of online partnerships. The more sites that link back to yours means you must be important or at the very least extremely popular.

In conclusion, the whole point to the beautifully simplistic algorithm deployed by leading search engines is to ensure a quality experience for the user. The 1990 attitude of “if you build it they will come” doesn’t cut the mustard anymore. Your website needs to work well, actually know it’s audience, and be setup as a service to the user. All the marketing in the world can't make a site run better and SEO is Web Usability - contrary to what some may believe you can't enhance the experience by adding a blog. The purpose of a quality search experience is to present the user with the information they want to find; not send them to content masquerading as important in a desperate attempt to gain more site traffic. Always ask yourself, "does this have value?" if not loose it and focus on what matters most.

**BTW, Are there any developers out there who know whether the Rudd government decision to mandate online filtering, and to retrofit it to a decentralized network architecture has any ill effect on search?

Yelp or not to Yelp

Several years ago on a trip to San Francisco I discovered a very resourceful website called Yelp. Heard of it? If not, there’s no doubt Yelp will be popping up in your city sometime soon. Yelp, Inc. is a Web 2.0 company that operates a social networking, user review, and local search web site of the same name. According to Wikipedia, over 25 million people access Yelp's website each month, putting it in the top 100 of U.S. Internet web sites. Founded by Jeremy Stoppelman in 2004 the site is near to becoming an international household name. In the spring of 2009 Yelp crossed the pond venturing into new UK territory.

There are lots of fantastic tales to read on Yelp, most of which come from quip personal anecdotes regarding local haunts by the site’s regular community contributors, but there is also a controversial story regarding the enterprise. An extortion claim is a journalist’s wet dream, and the question as to whether Yelp hides negative reviews for a price is an interesting concept to explore. Yelp strongly denies the allegation, but it does seem suspicious that the site seems to thrive despite little advertising. What’s the business model?

Yelp runs quite similarly to Google’s search results. Businesses can pay for top results on internal searches. In other words, sponsored results. A fantastic concept in my opinion. Users see what the community is saying, but businesses are also provided with an opportunity to get attention. In many ways, Yelp is an interactive Yellow Pages with Web 2.0 capabilities. It is also an example of how to get around the SEO minefield by using a smaller website to gain traffic and potentially increase sales.

Other tools were implemented to breakdown potential walls including a free REST- and JSON-based application programming interface (API). The API provides access to business listing details, reviews, photos, and ratings and can be used to add business information to a website, widget, or mobile application. The API has been used to integrate business reviews into existing Google Maps applications such as on Zillow.com and HotelMapSearch.com. Additionally, Yelp implemented Facebook Beacon, a part of Facebook's advertisement system that sends data from external websites to Facebook, ostensibly for the purpose of allowing targeted advertisements and allowing users to share their activities with their friends. Certain activities on partner sites are published to a user's News Feed. Yelp is also mobile and can be used on the go through Apps and a smart-phone friendly site.

Many similar sites exist, but Yelp’s success stems from it’s foundation in community framework. By using user generated content and not turning to professional writers for their reviews the end result is a cultivation of peer to peer networking that fuels habitual behavior.

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Reading in the Brave New World

We exist in a consumer society - I hope I’m not stating anything new to you with that statement. Our current challenge is how to remain hardcore consumers while minimizing our carbon footprint. I’d say, reducing the amount of bleached, heavily treated paper is a good start.

After years working for a major book retailer I can assess that people want options, and the way we read has been changed forever by new media. As an example, it’s surprising to discover magazines and newspapers without any online presence except to list statistical information concerning their distribution and ways to advertise. Forget about seeing an App or podcast available. Instead of embracing new directions there seems to be a sadness over the dwindling sales of printed material and traditional media. There are also concerns that modern communication and information searching tools will injure our intelligence.

Luckily there are experts on the subject and we don’t need to continue scratching our heads over how to understand the reading brain. Maryanne Wolf, is a cognitive neuroscientist and child development expert from Tufts University and author of the exceptional book, Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain

“Human beings were never born to read,” she writes, “Reading is a human invention that reflects how the brain rearranges itself to learn something new.”

Contrary to what your 3rd grade english teacher led you to believe reading is an evolutionary exercise and doesn’t follow an intrinsically strict rule book. If language and reading were to remain the same we’d still be saying ‘thou’ and ‘shalt’ instead of ‘you’ and ‘should’. The main difference in these contemporary times is that technology is at the helm of consumption. New forms of communication are altering spelling and causing the older generations to squirm at the sight of lol, brb, and whatever other forms of new speak the kids are talking these days.

While I can’t say that I’d jump at the thought of reading a book or even short story written entirely through IM abbreviations it would be an interesting visual representation of the times. After all, isn’t that what most art tries to achieve? The classics that define our culture will never die because adaption ensures their survival.

Finally, tools such as Literature Map will take care of those pesky publicists who believe their opinion should dictate which books are worth reading. Peer to peer sharing and personalized recommendations are how I want to find new authors and books worth my time and money.

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What is this thing we call privacy?: Part 1

There isn’t a moment in our modern day that we aren’t confronted by someone wanting information from us. Whether it be Greenpeace good-doers soliciting donations on nearly every street corner, or a website requiring you to register as a member. There is so much information floating around us we are in a constant state of information overload. In many ways, information has become a commodity.

In fact, if you search information overload the results will illustrate nearly everyone is aware of a potential problem, but no one can be certain what to make of it. On the one hand, we adore the playfulness of social media and the ease of open communication within a network, but at the same time we are fearful that the price of these tools is too much personal information. No longer are we remote islands onto ourselves, but digital villages of white noise, colourful images, encapsulated in a blur of promotion. The ability to exist within this new world is to trade information about your true identity.

According to Roger Clarke, “cyberculture' is the concept of a group or groups of people achieving cohesion by means of the information infrastructure”. As a consultant specialising in strategic and policy aspects of eBusiness, information infrastructure, data surveillance, and privacy he is a good source on the subject. In a paper entitled Dissidentity, Clarke raises an important point regarding the psychological need for private space.

“There are many different contexts in which human behaviour depends on the freedom and constraints associated with the identities that they use.”

Wikipedia defines privacy as; ‘the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively.’ To me, the reality is that no one should expect to be entirely private when online. Privacy is a relative term in the offline world and it’s no different online. There are a few colourful words to describe a person who would walk around wearing a mask and cloak. Usually, when someone has something to hide it’s because they participate in some sort of action that they believe would change other people’s perception of them. Fear of embarrassment, judgment, hate, as well as a multitude of other emotions can lead people into strange behaviours that they’d rather keep to themselves.

I can entirely appreciate the notion of privacy and why most people do not wish to have personal information disclosed without their explicit consent. When I provide my email address to a site in exchange for a newsletter, registration, or information there should be an understanding that my email addresses is not to be used for any other purposes then the agreement of which I consented. In other words, my email address should not be sold on a list for other product promotions and third parties should not contact me as a consequence of my participation in divulging my personal information. Spam is a cute name for a very big problem. Another issue is identity theft; which I'll try to tackle in another post soon.

Some believe that the World Wide Web is a virtual space, cyberculture, or cyberspace. The reality is that who we are online is not a different person from our offline selves, and the laws in which we conduct ourselves online should be in keeping with the laws that stop us from stealing and hurting people in the physical world. The ability to be intrinsically more of our darker selves or indulge our fantasies is a freedom and not a right. An abuse of freedom has the power to alter the structure of a society, or at the very least break down trust. Anarchy is a beautiful yet unrealistic dream that would sooner turn into a nightmare then a Utopic wonderland.

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More Services Less Advertising

The 'meat' of a website can often become overshadowed by trendy fluff counteracting the integrity of a site. The current formula is a simple one: get the "exclusive" stuff that users want to look at and then blast them with advertising- pop ups and banner ads, flash video is a must, and don’t skimp out on the explosively loud audio that will get a user to leave your site faster then the librarian can get across the room.

What we need is more services like RSS feeds, iGoogle, and all those great apps that help us reach the content we want to find. Having content fed to us and restricting the amount of searching may make you wonder: What about the advertising that pays for websites? If there is less traffic to sites how do we make money? Don’t fret there are lots of ways to get attention and promote products then flash banners and pop-ups.

Regarding SEO, let's say you have mastered your keywords and SEO’d the crap outta every page on your site. Do you really think that all you have to do is sit back and watch the dollars flood in? You could have the most perfectly constructed website when it comes to being found easily through search engines, but your site is meant for humans - opps.

I’d recommend most sites focus on the following: Quality Internal Search, Precise Auto-Recommendations (ex. if you like ‘this’ you may also like ‘this’), RSS Subscriptions, and Applications that have a purpose in the real world. A few ideas that quickly come to mind are: a wishlist to save time shopping - with a recommendation tool of course, a digital loyalty card (it worked for Starbucks - why not make a digital version to suit you?). Be bold and creative instead of following every other site - the point is to get noticed not be the same, correct?

Promotion is more effective when it seems to happen serendipitously. Make sure your business or product is associated with review sites or other recommendation tools and apps. Become a sponsor of online events and games. Focus on partnerships to combine products and services. Where you exist elsewhere is almost more important then existing at all. Being an online player is no longer a passive relationship between site and user. Ex. trade-shows, conferences, live events and performances, contests, etc. Find out what else is relevant to you and become apart of the experience. Wired Magazine's latest issue discusses Facebook's most recent advertising strategies which willfully block out Google. Integrating into social networks is important, and might overshadow the effectiveness of SEO in the years to come.

Being locatable is not enough. If a user finds your site and isn’t impressed they’ll leave and all that time (and money) becoming a SEO savant is wasted. Think of a website as a service instead of a presentation, and hopefully you’ll manage to find a way to connect more meaningfully with your users instead of relying on bots.

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Ignore the man behind the curtain: The Rise of the Algorithm

Once upon a time MySpace was my singular online destination. This was back in the day when I maintained a profile and spent hours tweaking the html much in the same vain as the rockin’ homemade acid wash jeans I once loved. These days my taste has mellowed and the empty moments of my day are now filled with twittering and the occasional dip in the Facebook pool.

So what is at the heart of the MySpace vs. Facebook controversy? I believe that it is primarily due to the oversight of installing a robust algorithm to ensure users remained engaged in their online community. Knowing that users are there to listen, create, and share should have been enough to inspire a cool tool to keep users engaged. Instead the focus remains on selling ad space and monetizing promotions. By the time Facebook became a household name the opportunity for MySpace to engage their users through internal services and apps had passed. I would have expected MySpace to work on interactive shopping and peer-peer recommendations. Instead they remain banner crazed and the level of noise on the site is what I imagine crazy to feel like, or at least a brutal migraine headache.

Facebook recently enhanced their internal algorithm to mixed reviews. Nothing is perfect, ever; however, community upset is perhaps the most problematic issue to manage. Civil upset can evoke a mass exodus. A reality that Friendster and other online communities know all too well. I’m not overly concerned whether Facebook retains its hold on the online community monopoly because I have no doubt that something bigger and better is inevitable (Twitter?). What is interesting to me is the gentle tweaking of internal algorithms that make the experience seem magical. OK, ‘magical’ is pushing it in terms of the Facebook experience, but my point is most users have no idea how or why the news feed produces its results, etc.

Lastfm.com is a great example of what I would have expected to see from MySpace. The sites algorithm is among the best I’ve seen and the experience is simply sweet. Recently the site changed from free streaming for all to a subscription model. Except for the US, UK, and Germany all users of the site must pay $3/month (USD) to enjoy the delightful radio station algorithm that seems to be able to read your mind and present music you currently know and love, music loved but forgotten, and music you never heard before and love immediately. Despite being able to provide a great service the change in payment model didn't go unnoticed, to say the least.

The mark of a good algorithm is that the more you engage with the site the smarter it becomes. Amazon.com has put this technology to good use for years, and it’s among a handful of reasons that it remains my favourite online shopping destination. If eBay and etsy could do the same thing for me I’d likely spend more time and consequently more money too. Providing a service that does the work of searching around for me is a place I want to spend my time. The only way a good algorithm can be bad is when users aren’t savvy enough to know the difference between intelligent technology and a breach of privacy - but that is a whole other topic that I’m not in the mood to address at the moment.

For now I’ll leave you with a final thought: What would happen if an online community with a sophisticated algorithm for predicting recommendations was mashed-up with products and services? The answer is the end of crappy online banners and wasted efforts on online promotions.

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A Few UX Pet Peeves

Job hunting is perhaps the best way to find lots of badly designed websites. As someone focused on web usability it's hard to overlook poor content strategy.

Here are a few of the biggest mistakes I’ve noticed regarding content hierarchy, poor categorization, and confusing layouts.

1) Everything is in the middle of the page. Upon arriving to a website we have a tendency to look at the centre and then we normally scan the content from left to right (this makes sense considering in using the English language we also read left to right). When a home page is scrunched up into the centre of the page with everything competing for attention the brain has to think too much. And when we have to think too much our experience is usually poor.

An easy way to avoid this is to determine what is the best available service for the user. In the case of a job search it is the tool which allows the user to get quick results. Yahoo! Jobs illustrates this perfectly by placing the search tool in the top left corner and electing a clean palate to demonstrate quickly and easily the hierarchy of content. Another great attribute of of the Yahoo experience is the grouping of similar content. This simple cohesive organizing of content creates value for the user, and ideally elicits registration and regular visits.

2) What am I supposed to be looking at? This is a question you never want a user to ask. When everything is all over the place, and no formal navigation is in sight we have a tendency to loose interest. Solid navigation isn’t reserved for websites only. Blogs also need to think about the audience and their ability to locate specific content. Too often with a popular and well established blog the content takes on a life of it’s own leading to a confusing experience for new users.

When there are links to social media tools and real-time conversations there should be a clear distinction between this and blog posts. The ‘About’ content does not need to be above the fold or even on the main page. I have a tendency to prefer blogs from the likes of Blogger for this very reason. The tools provided allow you to manage content in a clear and concise fashion. We can easily asses who writes the blog, who reads the blog, what tags are associated with the posts, what types of categories exist, badges clearly assert how one can contact the blogger(s) associated with the blog, and a community results from links and a blogroll.

The sense that everything is related is the calling card of a well organized website or blog. I don't think a Home page needs to explain everything at once. To me, the Home page is similar to a thesis statement. A first impression is hard to change and it's really important to be able to illustrate the core attributes of the site in a clear and concise fashion. This also includes pages that take longer then a few seconds to load - I realize that Flash and other cool media stuff makes a site pretty and adds lots of razzle-dazzle, but I don't think any type of media should block or slow-down entry into a website. Let the user control their own experience by providing clearly laid out content and navigation.

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Show me the free WIFI!

Deplaning at the Sydney Airport a few weeks ago I was informed by the Virgin Australia staff (the best airline I’ve ever had the pleasure of flying on btw) that the airport provided WIFI. Ever since acquiring my MacBook I’ve been on a constant quest for free WIFI. Especially when I’m traveling the pursuit justifies alternative routes and accommodations. No free WIFI means I’ll go elsewhere, and unfortunately it also means that I’ll usually pay more for the ability to check my email whenever I want. I was thrilled and eager to share the happy news that I’d landed safely with my friends and family. Sadly I had misunderstood ‘available WIFI’ for ‘free WIFI’. The WIFI is currently not free at the Sydney Airport. As with most international airports there are several service providers selling temporary connections at exorbitant rates. I declined and miserly waited nearly a week to inform my family that I hadn’t been tackled by a kangaroo or chased down by any emus.

Many inner-city areas have started providing free WIFI; however, it remains elusive most of the time. I can understand that service providers are in the business of making money, but can’t there be some sort of way to provide free WIFI and still make a profit? Why is it in the era of information overload and efficient communication technology that more often then not is there a lack of affordable or available WIFI? I'd love to be able to leave the house with just my phone and be able to buy stuff.

I’m not the type to try and hack into a secure wireless network. Simply because I know how much I’m currently paying per download and there’s no way I’d allow a stranger to use my account - so why would I mess around with someone else’s? What I think instead is that we need a global WIFI revolution.

Every country and region seems to have their own system for charging customers - most of which are out of date and lack validity. The system that makes the most sense to me is providing free WIFI and enhancing service packages for customers using WIFI enabled devices. Considering that most service providers are in the telecoms business it isn’t a huge leap to consider a new alternative. Why not provide free WIFI and make money through different types of services?

Interestingly, Estonia is one of the first countries to provide free nationwide WIFI. Other European countries are enjoying the benefits of free WIFI by creating new services; such as, Nokia’s beta trial at the Kamppi Shopping Centre in Helsinki, an indoor positioning system allowing users to send an SMS with precise location information to their friends. I can’t say that I’m enough of a shopping addict to require such a service, but I can see similar GPS tracking systems playing a vital role in locating lost children or pets.

I’m not sure what the answer is exactly, but I have a feeling there is some savvy entrepreneur out there who will see an opportunity in all of this madness and push the traditional game players out of our way.

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SEO vs. Interactive Engagement

For the past few months I was busy traveling and not focused on blogging; however, I’ve now returned to reality and am actively searching for work, again. Working in interactive media is a challenging area in which to suss out potential work. Usability is still new, I suppose, because it’s rarely listed as a title or responsibility, and yet, if you were to infer a meaning from most digital media roles that aren’t specific to design or dev it’s essentially usability in a nut shell, or some form of it in any event.

The other observation I’ve discovered is not new, but it continually baffles me that many employers put an awfully high premium on SEO knowledge. Although I’d never claim that popping up in search results isn’t an important element of being a notable online player; I will assert that it’s by far not the most crucial in developing relationships with online customers/users. I believe that it is a tool to play the keyword game, but the real talent is to blend experience with products and services.

Keyword searching is a flat and empty experience; however, contextual advertising builds online relationships and provide a service that users are craving. A great example is SEGA’s use of ‘Toggle Skin’ a new rich media format created by CNET Networks. If social media have taught us one thing it is that users crave personal customization. Once SEGA successfully integrated it’s brand into the GameSpot UK PS3 pages users were provided with a third layer. Suddenly there is context through a richer experience.

Think of it in terms of the High Street. How often do you follow the advise of a person handing out flyers dressed in a sandwich poster? Personally, I’ve never been enticed by someone getting in my face and trying to persuade me, especially when it comes to parting with my hard earned money. However, when I walk by a department store with a gorgeous window display illustrating the wares on sale I’m far more motivated to wander in for a closer look.

There is a fantastic book called Changing the Game: How Video Games Are Transforming the Future of Business, and I think anyone with any type of online business should pick it up.

My advise would be to understand your core users- not who you wish were your users, but the actual demographic of the users who visit your site. Once you know your audience do your homework and become an expert on their online behaviour, or hire someone who is the embodiment of the users visiting your site. Do regular usability testing with your core demographic and find out what they think about your site, products and services.

SMO, to me, is the ability to engage an audience in order to persuade and entertain. Having a discussion isn’t literal. No one expects Nike to speak to anyone personally - Nike isn’t a human it’s a brand, and everyone knows it. Nike knows it too and that’s why they’ve come up with fun ways to stay in touch with their online users. Interactive shopping is definitely the future of online advertising.

Become apart of the experience instead of shouting at users from the sidelines.

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The cult of the amateur: How one man's views taint only his own reality

I recently visited my local bookstore and saw a title that offended me to the core: The Cult of the Amateur: How blogs, MySpace, YouTube, and the rest of today's user-generated media are destroying our economy, our culture, and our values by Andrew Keen. I was going to do a little research on Keen to gain some insight into who he is, as I’d never heard of him, but the info on Wikipedia leads me to think he isn’t worth any effort. See for yourself, he's truly uninteresting. Also, I think the reviews posted by readers on Amazon do a better job then I could at defining the many flaws in Keen’s theories.

The internet fascinated me from our very first introduction back in the early ‘90s because it provided new opportunities for self expression. Suddenly there was this tool that allowed me to connect, build a peer group, express my thoughts, and read from a fresh perspective. Blogs are powerful and have led me to support the online community in any way I can. I’ve worked in various roles, in an array of capacities, all in hopes to learn everything I can about the platforms that cultivate freedom of expression. I believe that every single person deserves an opportunity to express themselves and experience the powerful self-esteem boost by attracting a following.

On the flip side, it’s quite flattering to be considered such a threat by someone like Keen. I don’t think he’s an elitist as he claimed on the Colbert Report, instead I’d say that he’s scared of being seen as something of a charlatan. In my experience, there is no such thing as a professional artist. There are commercial artists, but that isn’t the same thing. To say that one person has value because they generate revenue and another does not because they share their work for free is ignorant to say the very least. I don't believe earning money equates to having talent.

There are lots of wonderful books out there regarding modern technologies and their effect on our culture. Understanding web 2.0 and the tapestry created by its many collaborators will perhaps reveal a more realistic view on where we're headed, check out: Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida, The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki, Groundswell by Charlene Li, Here Comes Everybody by Clay Skirky, Small is the New Big by Seth Godin.

A final thought to consider is the historical legacy of self publishing. For example, Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass was published in 1855 and continues to have a profound effect on the American psyche. I would assert that self publishing is as vital to Democracy as voting. It would be interesting to know what Whitman would do if he were alive today. I think he'd be extremely active on Twitter. Being able to communicate and provide unique personal insight is not new and could not possibly destroy a culture that is founded on individual freedoms and self expression. More recently Iran and South Korea are able to communicate with people outside of the country because of social media. More and more technology can go where 'professionals' can not lending to a truly independent voice corresponding what is really happening on the ground.

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Do you tweet?

"Twouble with Twitter"

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Am I a feminist?

On Sunday, I returned from SXSW. I’d never attended before and it blew my mind. I stayed for 10 days, and by the end felt like my brain had been processed through a meat grinder and my liver was floating in a sea of beer and vodka; in fact, I’m still sweating pure liquor. My yoga class was brutal yesterday.

Anyway, the interactive portion was truly brilliant. I’ve attended several conferences in Toronto, and found little nuggets of interesting insights, but the speakers at SXSW were exceptional. My only disappointment was with the majority of the panel discussions. At times the conversations came off as ego stroking and less about useful insights. That said, there was one panel that did affect me because of the context of the discussion. The panel was titled, Everything I Needed to Know about the Web I Learned from Feminism, and consisted of 4 females discussing their views on how feminists are persecuted for their beliefs online.

First off, as with most panels, I felt the title was extremely misleading. The discussion did not address what principles from feminism related to the web, but instead what I observed was a reinterpreting of their experiences with aggressive comments as attacks to their feminist ideology. Fair enough, but this is, in part, why I have a hard time with contemporary feminist views. I dig the philosophy of feminism. I really enjoy reading books by Gloria Steinem and Naomi Wolf, but I’m not sure that I fit in with the feminist crowd of today. I don’t entirely care if someone has misogynistic views; in fact, there are plenty of times when I use this character flaw to my own benefit. The blonde stereotype is alive and well and doesn’t apply only in the context of sexist men.

To me, hurtful or sexist comments are a situation when we need to step back and ask ourselves what is a reasonable expectation. If I allowed myself to feel angry and persecuted every time I felt I was treated in a sexist manner I'd spend most of my energy on situations that are outside of my control. Also, I don't think we need a society of politically correct robots. While no one deserves to be singled out or mistreated for any reason there needs to be open dialogue. Tolerance is not a one-sided action. At this stage of the game the issues remain big picture issues like seeing more females in politics vs. expending ourselves and our resources on discussions about nasty comments or off-hand remarks.

At the end of the panel I went up to a woman who had raised her hand and asked for help with her sexist co-workers. None of the panel had much to say. They basically were like, “don’t let those bastards beat you down sister!” I told her that she should address the issue with HR as sexism has been illegal for 20 years or more. She wasn’t very friendly this woman, and felt compelled to list all the places she’d worked and how much professional experience she had, and went on and on about how unique and complex her working environment is. She wasn't listening to me and didn’t want my help. Without a thought she was essentially attempting to put me back in my place as a dim blonde with no authority on the matter.

And as to men bashing women online, I don’t agree with the panels’ assumption that it is an attack on their principals. I think it’s more like anonymous online users who are bored and know an easy target when they see it. Once a bully knows what buttons to press he/she will go to the limit with it. Or maybe it's just like being in the backseat with your little brother as kids. Remember when he purposefully tried to annoy you by reaching into your personal space; hovering his finger inches from your face. Why react the same way now that you did back then? Just ignore him and soon enough he'll find some new way to get on your nerves.

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Don't let the haters get the better of you.

Lee Stranahan interviewing Kevin Smith conveys an insightful perspective that everyone participating online should keep in mind. Allowing every negative comment or post to cloud your better judgement is not productive and a waste of your time. Check it out!

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Welcome to my blog.

I'm starting a post that I know I will never finish. The nature of it is not something that can be concisely articulated into a neat and tidy essay, but I can express the shape of the idea here; which is finding the strength to be authentic.

Instead the modern landscape is filled with brands and advertisements and pressure to conform to a socioeconomic sect in order for businesses to analyze specific consumer demographics. This can't be the free society envisioned by the founding fathers. Thoreau's Civil Disobedience is collecting dust on the shelf of history. The new generation aspires to conform and fears rejection. Very few proudly carry their freak flags in the offline world anymore. It's like there's a spinster librarian hushing everyone to be quiet. "Shhh - share your opinion elsewhere. Aren't there online places for your kind?" it seems to me that the worst thing is being thought of as strange or weird. Why is that? Or more importantly, why do we care? Who said everyone has to like and accept us? Maybe this is the dark side of too much political correctness.

Before my rant gets misinterpreted as propaganda or conspiracy theory I'll stop and go back to the premise of this blog. The role of social media in my life and why I think it has importance. I recently read Clay Shirky's book Here Comes Everybody, in it Clay gives a profound overview of the current online landscape and presents examples of how people are organizing and effecting change by their participation on social media platforms; such as: blogs, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.

Brands and consumer focused businesses need to remember that a consumer is not a faceless mindless entity in which to understand through statistics and dogmatic primitive analysis. The beauty and purpose of social media is to release all of us from the chains of categorization and the simplistic roles they evoke. Advertising and marketing no longer needs to be the likened to the pastor delivering a sermon, but rather a country fair where wares are on display peddled by trustworthy friends of the community.

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