pragerd
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Random Acts of Internet Greatness, 8/30/2010
Aug 30th
There’s a lot of great stuff that pops up on the web constantly. For some reason, there were even more things today that caught my eye than usual. This list was also compiled without even checking my Google reader once. Information overload indeed.
Whether funny, brilliant, interesting or a mix of all three, here they are:
1) Innovation and Early Adopters, Beyond the Bell Curve
This chart has been spreading around the web in the past couple of weeks. It comes from Everett M. Rogers in Diffusion of Innovations, the landmark 1962 textbook that looks at how technology spreads throughout society:
The article does a fantastic job of going through misconceptions surrounding early adopters based on this chart.
The most egregious assumption based on this chart — That 13.5% of the population are early adopters. In fact, the 13.5% refers only to the population that uses the product.
Let’s use internet use in the US as an example.
79% of US residents, or 276,500,000 people use the internet.
The number of early adopters would be based on that 79% of Americans who actually use the innovation, rather than the total popoulation.
Beyond a few misconceptions, the article really forces you to think about the costs and benefits of brands going after “early adopters.”
Is “Let’s target early adopters” the new “Let’s make a viral video?” …..
2) Regulating the Use of Social Media Data
The prolific Dana Boyd wrote a short piece on her blog where she says we should focus less on what data companies can collect from internet users and focus more on how they are allowed to use that data.
This line of thinking reflects an environment where privacy becomes regulated by the state rather than something that is up to individual control. Instead of fighting the erosion of privacy tooth and nail, why not just restrict what the data can be utilized for?
Unfortunately, this line of thinking, moving the responsibility of privacy control away from individuals and into the hands of the state, would not mesh well with a US culture that emphasizes choices and personal responsibility.
We are great at telling overweight people to get in shape, and telling the stories of people who have overcome obesity through hard work and will-power, but terrible at implementing change to a culture that creates and fuels that obesity in the first place.
In the same way, the Governement will (eventually) require personal choices on what we share online to be front and center, focusing on providing choices and personal responsibility over regulation on how the data is used. Sigh?
3) Confessions of an Online Moderator
If I was a community manager, especially in a social space where the discussion was heated. This would be my manifesto. Fantastic example of turning job frustrations into constructive thoughts.
4) Peter Travers Gives “The Social Network” Four Stars and Calls it the Movie That Defines The Decade
Travers, you’re my boy, and I’m so excited to see this movie. That’s all on this point.
5) Technology Aside, Most People Still Decline to be Located
“Just 4 percent of Americans have tried location-based services, and 1 percent use them weekly, according to Forrester Research. Eighty percent of those who have tried them are men, and 70 percent are between 19 and 35.”
Further proof that the success of location based apps is about shifting cultural attitudes towards privacy first, and providing better incentives and rewards second.
Popularity: 4% [?]
The Future? More Like an Augmented Reality Fantasy, But Still Cool.
Aug 13th
From Wired. Via Bruno Boutot’s Google Reader.
Popularity: 10% [?]
“Foldit” — Using a Game to Make Non Scientists Tackle Scientific Puzzles
Aug 13th
Foldit is a way to turn science into a game. Users are rewarded for creating the most stable proteins. It is a great way to get many creative people attempt to decode some of science’s biggest problems.
Even more interesting? Scientists weren’t always the best at figuring these problems out.
Hooray for fresh perspectives.
This comes from a fantastic post by Clay Parker Jones, “Five Interesting Things, Version 2“. Not surprisingly, all five things are interesting. Read it.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Branded Electricity For the Texas Longhorns? You bet.
Aug 2nd
From AdAge:
Texas longhorn football, powered by “Champion Energy Services.”
Okay, so it’s a little more interesting than the headline lets on:
“Texas Longhorns Energy will be powered by one of the nation’s top retail electricity providers, Champion Energy Services, and will provide renewable green energy to alumni and fans in deregulated regions of Texas. Each new customer account will generate funds for sustainability initiatives for the respective schools.”
Good idea? It will be interesting to see how this works out. It’s interesting to see how “faceless” utility companies try to become more likeable in today’s consumer environment.
h/t @applegirl
Popularity: 10% [?]
Delivering Recipes Via Barcode, Annotating Objects With StickyBits
Jul 30th
Food52, “Where kitchens meet” is teaming up with food brands and Sticky Bits to deliver recipes to its readers.
From the Food52 site:
“We’ve recently come up with a new way for you to access food52 recipes while you’re at the grocery store, or even while you’re wandering around your kitchen looking for something to cook. Using the stickybits application, we, along with a few intrepid volunteers, have linked hundreds of our community’s recipes to the bar codes on ingredients all over the country.”
Get the recipe for these double chocolate espresso cookies when you scan a bag of Domino light brown sugar with the Stickybits application.
Some other recipes you can find:
• DeCecco spaghetti links to Daddy’s Carbonara
• Organic Valley Sour Cream connects to Blueberry Almond Breakfast Polenta
• Whole Foods 365 Organic Creamy Peanut Butter has recipes for Salted Double Chocolate Cookies and Barbacoa Beef Cheek Tacos
• Heckers All Purpose Flour links to recipes for Chocolate Bundt Cake and Classic Southern Buttermilk Bathed Fried Chicken
I think this is cool, but I also realize that I’m not exaclty normal when it comes to adopting new technologies. Is this exciting or pointless? Are we going to see more and more objects annotated.
Via MobileBehavior
Popularity: 14% [?]
Cisco Attempts to Copycat the Old Spice Campaign (Snooze)
Jul 28th
No doubt that we all saw the copycats coming, but Cisco got a jump on the competition, having “Ted from accounting” respond to Tweets via Youtube.
via AdFreak
I understand the desire to replicate Old Spice’s success, but instead of copycatting, we up the ante?
While this Cisco business is kind of cute, responding to Tweets with a video unless your character is already ubiquitous and memorable, isn’t interesting anymore.
Is Ted from accounting interesting enough to dominate the internet for a day? For a week? If the agency who created this contacted the reddit and 4chan communities, do you think they’d be responsive like they were to the Old Spice campaign?
Enough about Ted. We get that he inspires a smirk rather than awe.
This is not a call for orginality, this is instead a call for remixing and improvement. How would you make the Old Spice idea better?
If we are talking stunts, instead of more guys in towels making videos, how about more stuff like what Wheat Thins did a couple of weeks ago?
Popularity: 13% [?]
Gowalla Partners With Paul Frank and Element Skateboards
Jul 27th
You know my obession with bridging the offline and online divide. One of the easiest, and most powerful, ways to do this is by offering tangible rewards for digital activities. It’s great to see Gowalla partner with Paul Frank and Element.
The Paul Frank promotion offers you 20% in flagship Paul Frank stores across the country, and the Element badge gets you a free water bottle and an in store discount.
Why this is especially cool –
1) It follows a new trend in location based rewards where users unlock more than a badge for following a brand and checking in. This is similar to Starbuck’s Foursquare promotion, where the mayor of each Starbuck’s location gets a dollar off their coffee. The Paul Frank and Element rewards take it even further. In the Paul Frank and Element scenario, everyone wins not just mayors.
Why this may not matter–
We saw yesterday just how far location based services are from mainstream adoption, with Forrester even advising marketers to “wait and see” on these technologies.
A side note — While I might not have the data to back this up, I feel like the Gowalla audience takes pride in not only being early technological adopters but identifies as less mainstream than your typical Foursquare users. Put simply, would the Wall Street Journal ever partner with Gowalla?
From this perspective, a partnership with Paul Frank and Element, two brands who definitely embrace orginality and quirkness, makes a lot of sense.
So what will it take for Check-in technologies to go mainstream? Are partnerships that offer tangible rewards, rather than badges, the first step?
Popularity: 10% [?]
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