Isabel Walcott Draves

How Ironic!

The other day, the first wolf came to Massachusetts in a long, long time and we didn't give it a very warm welcome.  The grey wolf has been extinct in MA since 1840 (although one believed to have escaped from captivity was spotted here in 1918), so this was a rare and special event.  The nearest wolves live in Ontario and Quebec, leading experts to speculate that this wolf was perhaps a captive animal kept as a pet, or a hybrid wolf/dog.

However, it doesn't really matter anymore what it was, because it was shot dead by the farmer whose sheep the wolf was eating. He got permission first from a state biologist (because farmers' rights exceed other endangered species' rights by law in the USA).

"In 2003  the world sheep population was estimated at 1.03 billion head".  With the exception of Michigan and Alaska, the wolf is an endangered species in the USA.  "Species considered by the ESA to be endangered are considered to be at risk of extinction in all of or a large part of their range."

I noted this event with some sadness, but I didn't get around to blogging it until I heard this news: the world's longest-living animal, a 400-year-old clam from Iceland, was just discovered.  And -- need I say it?  Killed.  Of course, the news article isn't about how we killed it.  In fact, it doesn't even mention that we killed it.  It just says it was "dredged from the water" and then there's a picture of it split in half on a table.

An endangered grey wolf comes to Massachusetts for the first time in 167 years and a state biologist give the OK to shoot it.  Man just killed the oldest living creature on earth and the articles are all "we can't believe how old it was!"  I wonder how old it would have gotten had we allowed it to remain alive?  Is it just me, or is something about the way we treat our home and neighbors seriously messed up?

A Simple Definition for "Social Media"

I'm whipping up a little presentation to help me lead a discussion on Social Media for Business at Podcamp this weekend.  In doing so, I discovered that there is no solid definition for Social Media on the web.  I've seen confusion around this term at live events as well.  What is Social Media?

Let me clear it up once and for all. 

Social Media: Any communications format where the users publish the content.

Is that clear enough?  Yes, it can be multimedia - music, pictures, video as well as text.  Yes, it can be a blog or a social network like Facebook.  Open Source is social media, although they would hate to be associated with a term that traditional marketers are trying to hijack.  Social media can even be offline - like New Moon Magazine for girls, the citizens' band in radio, even the op-ed page of the New York Times (although arguably so because pretty tightly controlled).

Social media is media by society - as opposed to the top-down publishing model where one person (company, really) with a controlling editorial voice is in charge of the voice of the publication or the channel.

The entire web is social media - webpage after webpage, published by whoever wants to buy a domain name.  The only thing that can break it: destroying net neutrality and allowing carriers to prioritize their own content by providing better bandwidth for it, making content they don't favor slow as molasses for the end user.  Let's not even go there.

Hope that clears it up!

Microsoft Goes Open Source!

Well, not exactly.  But everyone who remembers how heartily Microsoft criticized Open Source ("resulting in the development of multiple incompatible versions of programs, weakened interoperability, product instability, and hindering businesses' ability to strategically plan for the future","has inherent security risks", "fundamentally undermines the independent commercial software sector" etc.) can now revel in the recent announcement by Russ Nelson at the Open Source Initiative that Microsoft has really gotten on the Open Source bandwagon by getting their own Open Source licenses approved! 

Yet another convert to the cause -- and an important one.  (In a way, it's actually old news).

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (the Slashdot ranch that is), the restless natives complain that Microsoft, as the biggest hater of Open Source in the history of the concept, should not be allowed to participate in, "embrace and extinguish", co-opt, or otherwise join the Open Source movement. "ItsaTrap", proclaims one of the more mentionable tags labeling the post.

Look on the bright side folks.  It's not every day you hear Bill Gates say "I was wrong."

Cover Girl!

Just had the surprise of going to Confabb.com to check out some upcoming conferences, and seeing myself on the cover (in pink, natch).  Too bad it is not such a great picture.  Hey, at least I'm not making monkey ears like Micah Sifry! Shout outs to Chris Herot, Robert Tolmach, Bob Frankston (back turned), David Spector, Greg Elin, Stepan Pachikov, and Jerry's Mom.

Walt Mossberg and Richard Saul Wurman Chat

Walt: He invented the TED conferences, the best conferences I'd ever seen.  And he sold it, but it's not the same conference as it was when he ran it.  Sort of like going to college for 3 days.  Only got the best professors, and each only allowed to talk for 15 minutes.  Nobody ever left the room while people were speaking.  Saul said his conference was the dinner party he always wanted to have.  Larry Ellison followed by Billy Graham followed by jugglers who explained the mathematical principals behind juggling, then Yo You Ma, then Normal Lear, then Jeffrey Katzenberg.  On and on and on.  Storytellers, singers, three nobel prizewinners.

Saul: 18 years. It was geeks and geezers - everyone was over 70 or under 30.

Walt: He looks younger than he is.  There's a tremendous opportunity online.  I've been online every day since 1983.  There was a community, you made friends with people you never met in real life.  What is it about conferences, why do we do this?

- there's a sidtrack about how Wurman can only type in caps and doesn't like to push shift.

Saul: Marriage is about a conversation.  It's not about sex, it's about having dinner with somebody.  You're never taught how to have a good conversation, the things that allow you to communicate with another human being.  Underneath it all, you're making a connection.  I support Witness, the Peter Gabriel charity that distributes video cameras.

I never have the head of a company speak, or a politician.  Legally, they can't tell the truth publicly about their company.  And I want people to tell the truth.  I'm not joking.  A politician of course, forget about it.  We applaud candor because we don't expect a public official to have candor and actually tell the truth.  Steve Jobs isn't a truthful person in public, he can't be.  I'm out here telling my truth.  It might not be factual, but it's my truth.  (audience laughs).  You want at least that.  Them thinking it's their truth.

Walt: Let's talk about your new deal.

Saul: The problem about atlases is you don't drive across the USA alphabetically.  Every state is a different size, so every map is a different scale since they only have one page each.  What used to be 10 minutes is now an hour.  There's no comparative information on the cities of the world.  So I thought I'll do that project.  19 cities that have 20 million people each, a clever title "19,20, 21".  A way of selling, a clever title.  We'll make transparent how we put it down.  So I'm starting to do it, I have 3 partners: chairman and president of Radical Media; others.

Have a conference coming up: http://the-eg.com/ . An exhibit that will be live.

Bif-3 Afternoon Session Notes

Matt Mason: "Think like a pirate", he moved from the recording industry and piracy on the side to making a magazine and giving the magazine away from free.  Founder of RWD magazine, made some money, then fell in love, then got involved in preventing world hunger.  He sent an email to everyone in his inbox - anybody know a cameraman who can come with us, we'll cover your airfare, come to Africa.

Two days later the email had gone over the whole world. News people saying we don't get to do these stories anymore.  The footage made it into the mainstream media -- just as he used to do with getting indy music into the mainstream media radio stations.  Donations to world hunger that year spiked by 1.1 million.

How can we bring together media volunteers with these non-profits?  Started Wedia.tv -- he's obsessed with spaces where the market won't go but pirates will.

We've seen piracy pressuring industries from film to pharmaceuticals.  Pirates are the sharp end of innovation.  When they do something good people support them and they invade the market space.  Usually our response is to throw lawsuits at them.  That's fine when what they're doing is stealing.  But what about when they're doing something good?  They'll keep coming back.  And if you're in the business of just throwing lawsuits around, then you don't have a really good business (unless you're a lawyer).

This is how the recording industry was founded, and it's how lots of companies are starting today.  We can either fight them in the courts or in the marketplace.  And that is "The Pirate's Dilemma".

Studiocom Chief Creative Officer Juan Fernando Santos -- "User generated content" - I hate the term actually.  But let's talk about democratic publishing.  It's changed the definition of content. We've also changed the definition of community.  Pre-internet you only saw the idea of region, location-based.  People only talking to people they know.

Later, the definition becomes one where people exchange ideas through a network. Still only talking to the people you know about.  Bulletin boards, you had to be on the right BBS to participate.

Now, the definition of community could be anyone who read your blog, who searched for it.  The power of experts has declined.  It's hard for brands to participate.  But they can sponsor places that have graeat user-genrated content, or they can do mediated content.  Editors like this.  They can re-prioritize content, pick and choose which content they want to feature.

Our mantra is that every action, if shared, is content.  Regular people are the most credible sources.

A few additional nuggets

More nuggets from the BIF-3 conference.  After the three speakers spoke individually, they got on a little panel and shared a few insights.

Dave Balter: We found that it was not the extra stuff that really drove the bzzagents, but personal contact and getting recognized by the corporation.

Dan Heath: My brother looked into what kind of story made it into Chicken Soup for the Soul or People Magazine. There are three basically:
Connection Plot - people meeting with others
Challenge Plot - people overcoming a challenge
MacGuyver Plot - innovation coming from somewhere
There are lots of other kinds of stories, but these three stories have the power to inspire.

Paul English: To raise money you must really believe 100% in your business.  I like the co-founders model, where each party talks about an aspect that really works for them.  If you don't think the joke is funny, you can't tell it well.  So don't try to do the other person's schtick.

Bill: How do you walk the walk, and not just talk the talk? 

Dave: Our advisory board was no longer really working, so we disbanded it.

Dan Heath: Tells a funny story about a FedEx worker whose truck broke down and convinced the Airborne Express person to drive her around to finish up her last few deliveries.  On the flip side the "We'll leave the light on for you" hotel isn't that friendly in real life, they're just cheap.

Paul English: When people see you are really passionate about an idea, it's easier to galvanize them around it.

Bill: Two minute start-up advice?

Dan: ideas aren't enough, you'll need to get everyone on board.

Paul: have fun

Dave: it's a wild goose chase to find the top or elite person for staffing - just find anyone willing to be passionate.

Notes from BIF-3

I'm here at the Business Innovation Factory BIF-3 conference, just for the afternoon session.  Bill Taylor (author of Mavericks at Work) is hosting the "Mavericks" session, introducing 3 "storytellers".  First up is Dan Heath author of Made to Stick - why certain ideas stick and others don't.  Then Dave Balter from BzzAgent, then Paul English of Kayak and participant in lots of other enterprises, such as Partners in Health.

Dean Heath suggests that limiting the field of scope of something can help you think of new things.  He ad everyone write down everything they could think of that was white - and then everything they could think of that was white in their fridge.  He says most people have an easier time with the second task.  (I, however, did not get this result).

My first list: Snow, paper, shoes, pants, clouds, eyeballs, paint.  OK - eyeballs?

My second list: Milk, cottage cheese, ice cream, rolls, bread.  (I was just about to write "mayo" when he said time's up).

Heath suggests that limiting the perceived universe helps people understand, define and make decisions.  Alien is "Jaws on a Plane".  Therefore the spaceship is rickety, claustrophobic and chaotic as opposed to shiny, spotless and lycra-clad.

He talked recently with a friend who started a boutique hotel described as "Real Simple" meets "Dwell".  The look is modern, spare, elegant. The penthouse is a Yoga studio.  They've waged a war on clutter and there's nothing on the front desk.  The housekeepers tidy and organize your stuff in your room (IWH: what a nightmare!).

His point is that "staying in the box", as opposed to "thinking outside of the box", can help decisionmaking and design.  It's constraints that liberate.  He urges us all to help someone "find the right box" today.

Dave Balter: marketers used to tell us what to think, what to buy, and what to try.  We wanted to change that and make it so that people told us what they thought.  We got pretty businessey, and wanted to stay creative, so we started blogging.  Other entrepreneurs said "as soon as profits enter the equation, creativity goes out the window."  (I wonder if he was talking to Dave Sifry?)

So they hired an artist-in-residence (Seth Minkin) and integrated him into the business.  It's ended up building word of mouth for BzzAgent.  Storytelling.  At first it was a failure, as a way to make the company more creative.  But it has worked as a way to integrate employees and as a conversation piece.

While Dave was talking, Seth was painting in the background, and then explained his "totem pole" picture, with each section of the totem pole representing different aspects of the company.

Paul English - his mom passed away, and he had to take care of his father who had Alzheimer's.  Dad was frustrated that the IVR (Interactive Voice Response) phone systems couldn't understand his slurred speech.  This was depressing for Paul so he started trying to figure out how to talk to a real person when you call a company and created GetHuman.  At Kayak he insists that everyone who calls be able to talk with a person.  And this sometimes means the programmers  spend so much time fixing bugs that they can't do new development work.  But they have the accountability of talking directly to the customer and seeing what problems they have caused with their bugs.  They're not layers and layers away from their customers.

Now, maybe I am just feeling grumpy today.  To be frank, I thought Dan Heath's idea was a little frightening. I can see it being effective for limiting the scope of brainstorming sessions -- but doesn't it also limit the breadth of human expression and ultimately curb innovation?  Isn't it only a good solution for people who aren't very creative?  I would hate to think that every new movie, instead of really being new, was only "the girl version of SpiderMan", "Snow White for African Americans", or "Die Hard on a Bus".  Maybe I should just accept that many people are unable to think outside the box and we should think of a way for them to "innovate" too, so we can get everybody doing it.  But I hate the idea of reducing innovation to that state.  I'd rather bring the people up to the gold standard,than lower it to meet them.

I thought Dave Balter's talk was a little gimmicky - if you have a really interesting story to tell, you don't need to manufacture a conversation piece.  Maybe this is just what he does.  If he can create a similar gimmick for a client that doesn't have a story to tell, and it gets their story told, well, he is doing his clients a service and that's a legitimate business.

I liked Paul English's talk, he seemed pretty down to earth.  Pretty soon it will be as hard for corporations to reach us by phone as it currently is for us to reach them.  I like to plug the national Do Not Call registry.

 

Customer Service Starts with Hiring and Training!

Two weekends ago I was in Chicago for Steve's birthday and I stayed with Marilyn.  We went for brunch with her friend Allison, who told an interesting story about her new car shopping experience a few weeks before.  We were driving around in her new car, which was comfortable and lovely.

Allison is in sales for a well-known software company.  She doesn't look like a spoiled suburban wife with furs, botox, a personal trainer, or flashy jewelry.  She looks like a normal person, like the rest of us.  She wears sweaters and jeans on the weekend, like everyone else in Chicago.  And she decided one day to buy herself a brand-new Infiniti.

Before Allison went out to buy her Infiniti, she did her research online.  She found similar cars and figured she would do a little comparison shopping at the Lexus and BMW dealers.  She determined the right price to pay - cheap enough so that she wouldn't get taken for a ride, but enough to allow the dealership to make their profit.  She knew she wanted an Infiniti because, she figured, it had some good features and her cousin worked there and could get her the friends and family discount, save her $10,000.

Allison and Marilyn walked into the Lexus dealership, and were greeted by an older salesman.  He asked her to tell him, honestly, if she thought she would be walking off the lot today with a new car, and Allison said no.  This was the first place they looked and she had more research to do. They asked to test drive the Lexus Allison had researched, drove the car around a little.  The salesman asked for her name and phone number so he could follow up with her, and she shared it and she and Marilyn took off.

Then, they went to the Infiniti dealership where they were greeted by a young salesman.  Allison asked to test drive the Infiniti she wanted, and the young salesman looked skeptically at her and said "That's an expensive car", asked her if she was sure she could afford it.  Clearly he had already decided the answer was no.

Shocked, Allison answered yes, at which point the salesman told her to fill out a form where she had to include her personal details.  Allison looked at the form and saw that it was a credit application that required her social security number.  We're always hearing that we shouldn't share that number with just anyone. She said she wasn't comfortable giving out her social, that she just wanted to test drive the car, and that she didn't want to do a credit check yet.

The salesman told her that in that case she and her "partner" wouldn't be test driving the car today.  Her partner?  Allison realized that the salesman had just called her a lesbian to her face - incorrectly. Indignant, Allison asked the salesman if he wanted to sell a car today.  I can't remember what she told me he said, but it was something other than "of course, forgive me" -- something like "only to someone who is actually going to buy one".  Rude, and way off base.

One thing led to another -- I can't recall the gory details -- but  the salesperson continued to mock and make fun of my friends, and assume they weren't really in the market for the car.  After asking whether it was a requirement to provide a social security number before test driving a car, Marilyn found the answer was no and they went for a short drive. 

The salesman was still rude to them when they got back.  Thanking him for letting them test drive the Infiniti, Allison asked if he wanted her phone number to follow up with her about the car and the features once she'd had a chance to do some more research.  "No," he replied.  "Are you sure?" she asked. "Yep," says he.

Fuming, my friends left the dealership to talk it over.  Did Allison want to buy the Infiniti anymore?  No way.  And, as she put it, she could get it from another dealership, but she'd still need to get it serviced at the one near her house and didn't want to give them her business.  She'd rather pay ten grand more and get the Lexus from the friendly salesman.  Which is exactly what she did.

The story doesn't end there.  Allison knows a top technical executive from Nissan, which owns Infiniti.  She called him, and he put her in touch with a senior executive in Sales and Marketing there.  She received a personal call and spoke at length with him, telling him the story.  He apologized profusely and asked if there was anything he could do to get her to change her mind and buy the Infiniti. 

Allison said no way, but she'd appreciate an apology from the dealership, and she soon received a call from someone senior at the dealership to listen to the story and apologize.  "I don't know who you know, but we got a call saying we needed to contact you right away", the  representative said.  Allison is in sales, and she wanted to make sure everyone at the dealership understood that while a satisfied customer tells a few friends, an outraged customer tells all her friends (and now it's on the web).

You can bet the young salesman heard about it afterwards.  He heard she had friends in high places, despite her humble appearance.  He heard she went straight out and bought a Lexus, too.  The personal customer service from the Nissan exec and the dealership rep couldn't make up for the young man's mistakes, though Allison appreciates the effort they made.

In most cases, the parent company never hears from the annoyed would-be customer who got turned away, because the would-be customer doesn't know any executives there.  Even the dealership would have likely been unaware.  As consumers, we help companies when we go out of our way to teach them.  Salespeople at the dealership level are pretty low on the totem pole, but careful hiring, training and supervision is essential for brand reputation and shouldn't be neglected.  Apparently it's time to pay closer attention at Infiniti.

Who is more powerful?

I just accidentally clicked on the wrong tab:  this instead of this
Since I just discovered the Compare People app on facebook: Who is more powerful, Facebook or Forbes?  In February 06 Forbes.com claimed an audience of close to 15.3 million (MediaMetrix), which plummetted to 7.3 million in July of last year (ComScore).  Meanwhile, Facebook in July of last year was already ahead of Forbes with 14.3, and had 26.6 million users in May of this year (ComScore).  Facebook practically doubled in growth since last year and looks to quadruple in size within the year.  In the latest traffic results released by ComScore for July 2007, Facebook is #17.

Today, Alexa gives Forbes.com a traffic rank of 479 and shows that the percentage of the web audience it captures is trending steadily down from around .2% last July to around .15% this summer.  Meanwhile, Facebook traffic crossed Forbes' in Jan. 06 and has started the hockey stick  growth, passing 3% daily reach in early August of this year.

If you're a "serious business" in the habit of publishing or broadcasting, it's time for you to start exploring the power of social media.  My partners and I can help you, so please don't hesitate to contact us - isabel at isabelhilborn.com is a good place to start.