Seeing Forests

I just got turned onto Ruba by Bowman.  Wow.  Nice work.  It’s Yet-Another-Travel-Guide creation tool but they got one thing down - FAST.  And I mean speed of guide creation.  Basic Step-by-Step process but what I really loved at first was my trying to create a guide for Amsterdam and added the Dylan Hotel.  Immediately geo-coded the hotel accurately and then presented a set of pictures for me to add - all of which were obviously the Dylan Hotel.  Then, in order to save the guide, I was required to setup an account - or, naturally, login with Facebook.  One-click (finally Single Sign On?!?) and I was done.  Had to be less than 60 seconds start-to-finish.  Now, THAT’S fresh.

And as an update I just tried to find “Five Flies” in Amsterdam.  Frakking thing translated that correctly to the top choice - d’Vijff Vlieghen - one of most expensive taste-free meals I’ve ever had.

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I really liked Sebastien’s summary of Malcolm Gladwell’s presentation at YPA.  The three principle themes of framing, connectors and mavens are clearly worth contemplation.  My first reaction is normally, yeah, yeah, people who know a lot and/or know a lot of people are important.  We know that.  But when it’s put into this context (and with this kind of story-telling) it give things a needed freshness.  I agree with Seb about the importance of connectors and mavens and their clear relevance to social networking.   I’m not quite ready to concede the re-framing though.  Malcolm’s admonition that YP’s framing is “we buy from people we trust” just doesn’t seem to be on par with the analogy in his story, that Sarnoff changed the frame of reference of radio from “reporting news” to “bringing the world live into your living room”.  To me, this kind of “global impact” is the kind of re-framing that YP needs.  It’s a vibrancy, and immediacy, and an authenticity that’s at the heart of this opportunity.  And it’s nothing that giant iron robot that is Google has any concern over.  

(As an aside, I think it’s a little bit of synchronicity here that I just posted personally about outdated phrases in our language caused by fading technologies like radio).

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Sebastien quotes Seth Godin: “Google is the Yellow Pages” and I’m thinking not-so-much and not-quite-yet.  Although that’s a good quote, I think the arguments behind it are a bit specious, particularly his “completeness of data” argument.  I don’t know about you, Seth, but I’ve driven around with my iPhone open to Google Maps trying to find a FedEx (taken to the corporate shipping facility), any Camera store (taken to home photography studios), or home movers (taken to a company that literally moves entire houses by putting them on frakking trucks).  So, no, completeness of data (really the reliance upon syntax rather than semantics) doesn’t quite cut it to derive Google = Yellow Pages.  Yellow should be all about understanding and acting upon intent.   Simply having a database of intentions doesn’t mean you know what to do with them. 

Don’t get me wrong.  Google is getting it done when it comes to straight-up business name lookups.  That’s an ecosystem that YP has to live with and leverage effectively.  I just think there are going to be a lot more opportunities for intelligent applications that the YP industry (or its derivative) can supply.   Whatever happens, I do feel confident that I’m not going to exist in a “private network based around ZIP codes” in the future though.  ZIP Codes?  ZIP Codes?  Talk about dinosaurs, print directories, and daily general newspapers…ZIP Codes?  Where’s Jim Sterne when you need him?  B)

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Now this is getting very interesting, according to TC.  FB is going to be a relying party as well as an issuing party.  Smart stuff.   I’ve always been a fan of YP/WP being identity issuing parties (kind of like espace perso).  Would this have been a good thing for all of those walled garden user accounts now?  Jack them all right into Facebook.  Seems like that would have a good position to be in…

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Reposting for Twitterfeed.

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I think there is a train of thought that the deconstruction of the newspaper industry portends the death of print.  I kind of jumped off that train with Monocle.  I am not sure how successful this “monthly” magazine is going to be but I really like this magazine.  It’s an outstanding combination of “deep local global” news (like Tasmania’s relationship with Antarctica, the prospects for entrepreneurship in the Falklands, and the state of fashion in Uzbekistan), political analysis, and broad business briefings.  If it stopped there, it’d be just a great reference source (wonderful maps and infographics).  However, they combine this hard information with some softer stuff: international design trends, fashion reports, and shopping guides.  I particularly like their business model as it seems they are attempting to build a design brand and sell products on top of a subscription model.  With an outstanding sense of brand and great production values I think it’s quite worth a look.  I think it also gives an international perspective to drilling down on local that’s unique.

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I like Greg’s post on Perry’s point about TechCrunch’s post about following Pizza on Twitter.  It makes me wonder what businesses are more apt to have people follow them on Twitter for what purposes.  What kind of categorization we could apply and predictions we could make? Naturally, this is going to be organic.  The hipper, cooler, and sexier businesses (like NakedPizza) are going to adopt no matter the category.  And, of course, those businesses that stand to do business with coupons, discounts and deals seem like early adopters.  But would business in all of these classic “Personal Shopping” categories get on the bandwagon (or should I say “find the rave”?)

• Restaurants
• Hair Salons
• Spas
• Clothing Stores
• Accessories and Jewelers
• Cosmetics

What about businesses in these kind of “Weekly Errands” categories?

• Groceries
• Pharmacies
• Specialty Food Shops
• Liquor Stores
• Dry Cleaners
• Pharmacies

Or the businesses in the “Big Ticket” categories?

• Furniture
• Computers
• Electronics
• Automotive
• Sporting Goods

What’s going to make me want to follow an individual establishment or a national chain?  Sure, coupons, discounts and deals.  It could also be breaking news (new product lines, weekly recipes, tips and tricks) and insider events (a celebrity appearance, an exclusive showing, a special tasting).   It’s going to vary in a lot of dimensions but at the end of the day (well, year) we could just as well be overwhelmed with our Twitter feed of local businesses as we are on the TV, Radio, and Junk Mail.  And it’s not helping me DISCOVER new businesses that I might want to follow.  Still, worth figuring out.

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Suffering succotash!  Just in time for the new heads-up displays coming out from TechCrunch (HeadCrunch).  Now I can stare at my house and wait for people to drive by and tweet.  I mean, this is cool, (thanks Pierre) but what is the frakking use case (is that one k or two?)   Seriously?  Help me.

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Greg’s post on Yelp iPhone Upgrade (following a TechCrunch post) got me to thinking more about the mobile-centric experience of local.  Yelp is going to allow users to post reviews from their iPhone, along with seeing “what’s nearby”, getting your “friend feeds” or just ”reviewing” your “me feeds”).  Basically, though, Brightkite users have had this functionality for a while.  I think Brightkite is a superset of Yelp, wherein you share an “experience of place” with others.  Implicit within your sharing of an experience of place is a “implied review”.  Someone tells you they’re having coffee at their favorite coffee shop, or posts a photo of a cinnamon roll, or dedicates a sake bottle to a friend, you know these places are good without reading a paragraph written by someone who may or may not be on somebody’s payroll.  It seems easier to me for BK to start adding more specific review functionality (like ratings) then it is for Yelp to start adding more general local social functionality both from a technology and a brand perspective.

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So, I was asked for directions to my house for an Easter dinner I’m hosting.  I wasn’t quite in the mood to go into detail explaining this and the next thing I knew I just typed Michael Bauer in Google Maps in Denver.  My name was top of the list with marker A at my house and a street view showing my car parked out front.  I’m not that worried as I have a full-time security team on the premises but I’m beginning to wonder if that’s enough.  :)  Actually, I’m beginning to wonder if there’s some new privacy management business model here. 

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