Google+ -- one week later

I was just writing an email to someone about what I thought about Google+ one week later. Here's what I said, unedited:

1. There's a thrill of the new thing going on. You can start over with your friend lists. Start afresh. And early adopters love new toys.

2. They do photos really well. Sharing with Picasa is really good fun. All my photos are in Picasa. Now Picasa one-click defaults sharing to Google+

3. Google does APIs and tech stuff really well. So I presume that the tools they will make available through Google Labs will be extensive, fun, and flexible.

4. They have a HUGE graph. Imagine the users of YouTube, Picasa, GMail bringing it all together? I spend more time in Google apps than I do in Facebook. Facebook feels like I'm in a separate state. Google+ feels like another little town in my conurbation.

5. Sharing by Circles makes sense. It's what Facebook Groups should have been. But the interface stunk. I like the little animation of dropping Guy's face into different circles. It's fun, and it's really obvious and easy.

6. Google+ seems to have cleverly hit upon a Twitter/stream idea with following etc., and Facebook private sharing. People are "following" me, but I don't have to share with them if I don't want to. They will just see what I make public for them. It's like Twitter is built in. That's powerful, and probably the most important point, so should have been #1.

Google+ -- the thrill of starting over

Your life got messy. You have friends you wish you could just slough off. You're bored with most of them, and others you feel you wish you could ignore without seeming rude. So isn't it fun to start over? There are millions of people joining Google+ and starting over. I've spent the whole morning poking around. I go to peer at Facebook from time to time. Same old, same old. Blech. I'm starting over with Google+. Bye bye Facebook. I'll visit from time to time. But I'm having fun with my new friends on Google+.

I started a Google+ hangout. Nobody joined me, but that's OK. I was in my pyjamas with my hair akimbo, so it's probably just as well. I built my circles of hell and enjoyed deciding who should be where. (Circles feels like Groups should have been on Facebook. Not too restrictive. Easy to drag and drop people in and out. Easy to share with who you want (though I have yet to figure out how to make a post Public). ) I found lots of new people to follow, with lots of energetic chat that felt lively and enthusiastic.

It's fun to start over. I have a whole new circle of friends to play with. I'll bet many others feel the same way. We get bored easily, and for that reason alone, Facebook should be worried.

How my iPad re-kindled my love affair with my Kindle

I apologize to my Kindle. The nice, light, easy to read Kindle that is now sitting comfortably in my handbag. Being a bit of a nerd, I buy all the new toys. And the Kindle was a must-have. But I soon fell out of love with the nasty keyboard, the lack of a touch interface, the flickery screen. But I did become addicted to the instant books I could get to deal with insomnia.

Then I got my iPad. With a Kindle app. Joy.

But about a year later, I have gone back to my Kindle. Why? It's true. It IS readable in sunlight. It It IS light. I CAN hold it in one hand. All the things Jeff Bezos tells me.

But he's getting it wrong. But I wouldn't market it that way. He's comparison marketing to the iPad. That's not the point. People will use both. It's inevitable, and it doesn't really matter. The real dream he should be weaving is about how the world of books is available, instantly; that you can take your entire library on vacation, in your handbag; that you can get your kids a schoolbook instantly for that chapter they had to read tonight, and left in the classroom; that you can get a free sample of anything, and if you like it, buy it. (How many times have I bought a book that I've dropped after the first chapter. Mr Bezos has solved that.)

There are so, so many ways that Kindle is an integral part of my life. Weave the dream, and welcome back Kindle to my bedside table.

Social Media ROI

Which social media monitoring tool should you use?

Read the article here from Fresh Networks. Lots of good stuff to share.

Vitamin Water crowd-sourced their latest flavor

A new Vitamin Water flavor launching in March 2011 -- lime and cherry "Connect" -- was designed by Vitamin Water's Facebook fans. Fans created the flavor, designed the package, and named the product. This is the new kind of focus group -- consulted in during the product development cycle, right from the beginning -- with real "ownership" of the end result. Excellent.

Making Data Relevant: The New Metrics for Social Marketing

Excellent article: Making Data Relevant: The New Metrics for Social Marketing

My first e-book vacation

I just returned from my first iPad vacation. For the very first time, I took not a single "physical" book. Just an iPad, pre-populated with some yummy literary treats. The outcome? Good, but mostly not so good.

Good because it was easy to pack and lightweight and convenient, and I could bring five books and know that if I didn't like one I could try another.

Not so good for more reasons: first, I felt compelled to continue to check my e-mail while I was away. Hard not to. It was just a click away. Second, my kids snuck off with my iPad at every opportunity, to indulge in some Angry Bird baiting or heavy duty Facebook action. And finally, I couldn't take it outside. The screen just doesn't work in bright sunlight. And the beach? Forget it. I have no problem leaving a tatty paperback and a beach towel behind while I have a quick dip. But not my precious iPad.

So I won't be doing that again. Unless it's a solo/grown ups only trip to Florence or similar for the weekend.

Having said that, I'm reading a ton more at home. I've gone from reading about two books a month to four or five. I'm loving loving loving downloading Kindle samples. I am astonished at just how much money I am sending Amazon, and how lovingly they take care of me. They are figuring it out.

So I'm now officially fully embracing the e-book world. Just not on the beach.

Is this really a reason not to crowd-source?

Interesting article here in Mashable about Pepsi's attempts to crowd-source their Superbowl commercial. Just because Pepsi chose to feature in some way (I don't know how prominently) the Doritos/Communion Wafer submission -- a submission that offended Catholic groups -- doesn't mean we should throw the crowd-sourcing baby out with the bathwater. The outcome should not be a judgement on the value of crowd-sourcing.

When a large, savvy, and well-funded brand such as Pepsi chooses to walk on the wild side, and undertake crowd-sourcing, or social media "stunts" of any sort -- they have to take responsibility for their actions. Perhaps "someone" should have thought this through. "Hmm, I love this commercial. It's fun. Irreverent. But, well, might offend some. Should we feature it?"

Crowd-sourcing is exciting. It helps brands think in a new way about their brand. They get to see how people out there in the real world think about them. It shakes things up. I say, bring it on! But be judicial. Know that there will be submissions and content that may not reflect your brand's values. In which case, it's "thanks, love it, but no thanks."

Two million songs in one week?

Yup that's right. The Beatles have sold 2,000,000 songs in their first week on iTunes. Lest you be in any doubt about the power of Apple and iTunes. How could anyone be? It's my default location for buying or renting any media. Once they complete their inventory of movie rentals and purchases, and offer International titles, I'm all theirs. I'll bet my family will spend at least $50/month. They are a phenomenon and anyone who tries to innovate past them will have a hard time.

Not to be missed: Mary Meeker

Like any of you would miss Mary's insightful super charged fast review of what we should all be thinking about. In the thrust and parry of life at the desk and on the phone, sitting back to "think big" is I need to remind myself to do MUCH more often.

11/29/2010 - KPCB apparently loves Mary Meeker too. She's joined their team. Nice catch!

Internet Trends Presentation

I am Droid'ing... and it's growing on me

Naturally, given past behaviors, I was one of first in line to get the iPhone 4. I was so excited.

Two weeks later, I returned the phone. The dropped-call experience was a joke -- I don't think I never completed a single call. And forget iPhone to iPhone. My boss Sam Altman also had an iPhone 4. Every conversation we had would have to be re-started four times.

Then I started to get the "you have no SIM card" error.

Bah. I returned it. The Apple store guys were super helpful, and gave me my money back, re-provisioned my trusty old iPhone 3GS, and told me they'd order me a new one and let me know when it arrived.

I never got the notification.

But it doesn't matter. I wouldn't have picked it up anyway. The bumper I'll just keep as a souvenir.

Then the frustration with my old iPhone started to increase. I am sick and tired of seeing the green "call fail" button. Really sick and tired of it. And it seemed to be happening more and more.

So that, combined with the fact that I am marketing Android Apps at Loopt (I can't market something I can't feel) pushed me into the Android world.

I am now the proud owner of a Droid X. It's a brick. It's ugly. It whispers "Droid" at me in a creepy post-apocalyptic manner.

There are some odd things to get used to.

The period button is right next to the spacebar key so all my emails.have.periods.between.words.

It's weird getting used to a physical button/screen button combination. Apple has taught me to rely on the screen purely. On my Droid X, you have to press the home/back/search buttons at the bottom, and other times you press buttons on the screen. That feels like an odd boundary pusher.

The screen and apps and look/feel seems dark, and weird, and sort of male (I can say that ... it's my blog).

But I love that the calendar App merges all my calendars into one. Yay hey. And everything runs so fast! Particularly our Loopt app!

But most I love the Verizon connection. I can finish a call! Though I have to get a headset, because the thing weighs a ton and it feels like holding a laptop up to my ear. But that's OK. I can deal with that.

Apple better watch out. People are finding alternatives. It's becoming cool to dislike the iPhone, and renegade and brave to toss it back and Apple and say "you have to do better." I'm not going to just suck it up because it's Apple and I've loved Apple since I worked on Macintosh software in 1983. (Literally. I really did.) They have a problem. They need to fix it.

Top 5 mobile advertising trends to watch

Life at Loopt is a blast. For those of you that know me, mobile is the only thing I talk about these days. Interesting article in Mashable today -- top 5 advertising trends to watch:

1. SMS continues to grow and be important
2. Experimentation with rich media
3. Mobile sites vs mobile apps (personally I think these will merge to some extent in interesting ways; Apps will incorporate more and more HTML pages that look like App pages; just need to solve performance issues and you can bypass the whole App submission tango when you want to release new stuff). I remain amazed at how many sites stink on even the fancy iPhone and Android devices I used. Estimates state that by 2014 25% of Internet traffic will be on a mobile device. 25%! So for heaven's sake don't wait until then to get your Web site mobile-optimized.
   
4. Interest in geo-location (no duh!)
5. Growth of mobile video

Love it all. For someone whose mobile life started lugging around an Apple II, it's never been so fun to be in high tech.

Don't build an App just because you think you should...

Those of you that know me well know that I'm the market for my retirement flat in London. I'm nowhere NEAR retiring, but at some point in the next twenty years, I'm putting my feet up in my flat with a view of the River Thames and I'm going to love it.

So I patrol www.primelocation.co.uk when I have nothing else going on. It aggregates all sorts of delicious places and I mentally move into most of them, deciding where I'll put my brand new furniture that I need to buy along with my flat.

Imagine my delight when I saw they had an iPad App now? Quick! Download it! Perfect casual browsing opportunity as I half-watch TV on the sofa.

What a disaster. That's all I'm saying. Primelocation. Remove that App. It's a ridiculous waste of time and doesn't do you any justice.

Lesson? Don't make an App just because you think you have to. You may have a great site -- and Primelocation does -- but unless the App really does a useful job on the go, don't bother. Waste of time and resources, and doesn't do your brand any justice.

(And a better use of time? Fixing the iPad experience of your core site. Much more useful way to go.)

I take it ALL back -- thank you Amazon!

Back in October I ragged about the Kindle. In my defense, it was mostly about the touchy-feely bit of the Kindle. The device itself stunk, IMO.

As a passionate reader (been in the same Book Club for almost 16 years now) I have a highly emotional relationship with books and reading.

As an early adopter of technology, I bought the Kindle as soon as it came out. I had this plan that all my marketing wonk books could travel with me wherever I went, and when I needed to think about something, I could refresh my memory, get ideas, and get down with Seth Godin on demand.

But I really, really couldn't deal with the Kindle. I hated the screen. It flashed all the time. I poked. I prodded. I lost my place in the book. I couldn't browse. I pressed buttons too many times while waiting for updates, and went all over the wrong part of town. It made me feel old and stupid.

Then I got me my iPad. And I went away for a few days and forgot to bring my latest book with me (gasp). So I thought I'd test out the reading experience on the iPad and I bought the book I was then reading -- along with the rest of the known world -- Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Now I had been reading on the iPad lots. I wasn't JUST playing Bejewelled.... I read loads of newspapers and Web sites on it. But I hadn't read a book.

And now look at me. Two weeks later, and I've now read all three of Stieg's books in rapid succession. (A Stieg binge if you like.) All on the Kindle App for the iPad.

It's like crack. It's an addiction. I can get (almost) any book I want. Instantly. I can dip in and out of books. My library is with me wherever I go. Before I knew it, I'd got the complete works of Shakespeare. I bought two Ian McEwan books within 2 minutes of each other -- Solar (don't miss it) and Comfort of Strangers (unsettling). I bought two more Seth Godin books. I bought the Odyssey for heaven's sake. I was going book wild!

I wasn't surprised to hear that Kindle versions of books are now outselling hard cover books. I was fascinated to read about Wiley's new deal with Amazon for exclusive rights to e-versions of some of its books.

I still find the iPad tiring to read in long spells. But I like that I don't need a book light now!

So I take it all back. I can be an e-reader. I can. I can. Guess I'm not so old and stupid after all.

The curious potential of Chatroulette

Despite all the waving body parts of Chatroulette, I keep thinking how unbelievably great this platform could be for fostering interesting interactions between strangers. Check out this video:

Edgier brands are already finding ways to market their brand on chatroulette.

I can see all sorts of ideas around games in chatroulette space, spreading the word on a cause one person at a time, brainstorming with like minded groups if you could just chat with people who are tagged with an interest, like "Dr Who" or "The Monster Raving Loony Party." Imagine chatting with people at a conference. Demo'ing products. Providing crowdsourced customer support. Think about Good Samaritans -- help strangers who are feeling down.

And want to get really scary? How about live TV that includes "let's hear what random people think about XYZ?" A whole new spin on reality TV. Could be ads you run with the results. How about customer surveys? "Hey, I'm with such and such brand, what do you think about ...?"

Interesting. Can't wait to see what happens.

The Secrets of Apple's Marketing

We can only all dream of being part of a marketing dream machine like Apple, Inc. Today, I was forwarded an interesting PDF written by Steve Chazin. You can find the PDF (and hire Steve!) yourself here: http://www.marketingapple.com.


Here's a summary of the secrets. But read it yourself too!

1. Don't sell products. People buy what other people have. Make it easy for people to sell your product for you. With Apple, it's a lifestyle not a product thing. You want to dance like someone with an iPod.

2. Never be the first to market. Make something good greater. Improve the world. Fix something that already exists on the shelf. Focus on the one thing you do better than anyone, and make that matter.

3. Empower early adopters. Encourage and share real user's unbiased, heartfelt reporting. Help them market for you.

4. Make your message memorable. Boil it down to its syrupy goodness. Think big. Write small. Work on a tight, memorable message.

5. Go one step further. Surprise and delight your customers. Focus on the feel. What's your equivalent to that beautiful Apple un-wrap experience?

My first weekend with the iPad

So naturally I was waiting in line for the Apple store in Palo Alto to open so I could get my Kindle immediately! Back in October, I was already planning this. The verdict? While I could live without one, I definitely don't want to. And certainly my family won't want to!

Sophie trying out the iPad in Starbucks It was a family affair: My kids downloaded Scrabble and various Tap Tap games. My husband played a good number of games of Solitaire. I read the New York times -- app isn't nearly deep or rich enough. Why cut out all that content? I watched movies on the fab Netflix app -- though the screen is so mirror like I kept seeing my face in it. Didn't like that -- and it's hard to watch with more than one person. I watched part of a TV show on the ABC Player. I downloaded one or two books, but I can't see doing a lot of reading on this. I accessed my Kindle library on the Kindle app. A definite improvement on the Kindle experience. But where is the ability to annotate?! My husband played with the Weather Channel map and talked endlessly about where the snow was falling (and therefore where he should be skiing.) I can really see this as a terrific travel device. It's so, so much easier than carting around a laptop. If you're not planning on a lot of work that involves typing, then it's just right. It's not a device for sharing with others, unless you're playing a game of some sort. Even then, it's crowded for two. Buy some really good screen cleaner and a soft cloth of some sort. Greasy finger marks show up easily.

Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to Change.

Reviewing the Pew Research Center Report "The Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to Change." (I know I don't need to tell you that the Millennials are 18-28 year olds.) As this audience represents the vast majority of the people I "talk" to and about every day at Loopt, as well as at other companies, it's worth drilling down on what makes this generation tick.

This is a generation of adults that are confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change. They are less religious, more racially diverse, and on track to become the most educated generation in American history.

Here are some identifiers:

• 8 in 10 sleep with their cell phones by their bed.
  
• Nearly two-thirds admit to texting while driving.
  
• Three-quarters have a profile on a social networking site.
• One-in-five have posted a video of themselves online.
• Four-in-ten have a tattoo -- about half have two to five, and 18% have six or more. (70% say their tattoos are hidden beneath their clothing.
  
• One-in-four have piercings in a place other than their ear lobe
• Most have placed privacy boundaries on their social media profiles.
• 37% are unemployed, or out of the workforce; but 90% say they have enough money or that they will eventually meet their long term goals.
• Two-thirds are cautious about dealing with other people -- is the "war on terror" and other fear-mongering making this generation just less trustworthy and more cynical about their fellow human beings?
• One in four say they don't belong to a religious affiliation, but that doesn't mean they don't "believe" -- just as many pray as their elders did in their youth.
• Six-in-ten are raised by both parents.
• One-in-five are married.
• One-in-eight were 'boomeranged' back into their parents' homes due to economic circumstances.

These stats are interesting. They represent facts. You are either married. Or not. Tattoo'd. Or not. But what's even more interesting to me is their self-perception. When this generation were asked what makes their generation unique, they answered:

1. Technology use (24%)
   
2. Music/pop culture (11%)
   
3. Liberal/tolerant (7%)
   
4. Smarter (6%)
   
5. Clothes (5%)

You can read the report to see how other generations perceive themselves. Also fascinating.

The whole report provides validation for what I see every day. That the Millennial generation is the one that leads the rest of us into new forms of behavior and new technology use. From Facebook to Texting to Chatroulette. Older generations who ignore what Millennials are doing, especially in the technology arena, do so at their peril. Accept, learn, and embrace. Some of it is crazy. All of it is truly fascinating.

Tracking buzz with Viralheat

I'm a little bit loving Viralheat right now.

Viralheat will search the online world for mentions keywords, phrases, and brand names you choose. I'm fairly new to it, but I like the way it gives me charts so I can see the up and down moves in search terms so I see directly buzz increasing after a particular campaign.

My favorite part? The price! I'm just trying it out on the $9/month package right now. I'll move that up if it works out. But seriously. Most startups can't even consider the hundreds of dollars a month for fabulous stuff like Radian6. I wish I could. Honestly do. But it's not realistic.