Cody Costa Rica Consulting
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Monday, April 29, 2013
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Twitter's User Experience: Heading Towards A Cliff
THE PROBLEM
While Twitter's user base continues to grow at a heady clip, the service is running into a major problem stemming from the increasing number of people that Twitter users are now following. The challenge derives from the lack of an easy solution to filter out interesting conversations (#hashtags) and the people participating in those conversations (first party sources.) I currently follow more than 800 people, the vast majority of which, I am disinclined to decide which filter to apply to them. To me, and, in my estimation, others, this seems more of a problem waiting for a brilliant solution built by a lightning smart Twitter engineer than an item which needs to be placed on my personal "To Do List."
AUTOMATIC GROUPING OF USERS CURRENTLY FOLLOWED
The first thing Twitter should do is to build an algorithm which gives users an option of filtering everyone they follow into separate groups ("Lists") as they are currently known automatically.
Additionally, in order that things don't keep getting out of control in terms of people following a thousand users without grouping them, all new follows should require a grouping label as well. Those Twitter users who are merely attempting to boost their Twitter following by doing mass follows will be annoyed, but those people are most likely not reading their Twitter feed anyways.
In my opinion, a more apt metaphor than "List" would be to group people by how users decided to follow most people in the first place: interests. Everyone moderately interested in the entertainment industry tends to follow Ryan Seacrest and Kim Kardashian. Ryan and Kim should be grouped automatically into the "Entertainment Interest" and should be available by one click.
A GEOSPATIAL METAPHOR APPROACH TO TWITTER NAVIGATION
While Twitter's user base continues to grow at a heady clip, the service is running into a major problem stemming from the increasing number of people that Twitter users are now following. The challenge derives from the lack of an easy solution to filter out interesting conversations (#hashtags) and the people participating in those conversations (first party sources.) I currently follow more than 800 people, the vast majority of which, I am disinclined to decide which filter to apply to them. To me, and, in my estimation, others, this seems more of a problem waiting for a brilliant solution built by a lightning smart Twitter engineer than an item which needs to be placed on my personal "To Do List."
AUTOMATIC GROUPING OF USERS CURRENTLY FOLLOWED
The first thing Twitter should do is to build an algorithm which gives users an option of filtering everyone they follow into separate groups ("Lists") as they are currently known automatically.
Additionally, in order that things don't keep getting out of control in terms of people following a thousand users without grouping them, all new follows should require a grouping label as well. Those Twitter users who are merely attempting to boost their Twitter following by doing mass follows will be annoyed, but those people are most likely not reading their Twitter feed anyways.
In my opinion, a more apt metaphor than "List" would be to group people by how users decided to follow most people in the first place: interests. Everyone moderately interested in the entertainment industry tends to follow Ryan Seacrest and Kim Kardashian. Ryan and Kim should be grouped automatically into the "Entertainment Interest" and should be available by one click.
A GEOSPATIAL METAPHOR APPROACH TO TWITTER NAVIGATION
A proposal for Twitter's next generation user experience is included in the slides at the following link. The user flows as well as some monetization ideas are included.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
A Friend, Is A Friend, Is Sometimes More Than A Friend...
INTRODUCTION
SCM SUMMARY
Gladwell's book makes a number of insightful points, which have become a part of the modern day lexicon. The phenomena most pertinent to Facebook, which Gladwell describes, though, are his descriptions of people "with a particular rare set of social gifts."[3] These people are known as Salesmen, Connectors, and Mavens (SCMs).
Salesmen are people who have a presence, charisma, and an ability to match the thousands of subconscious nonverbal clues that take occur anytime two people meet. Gladwell gives the example of a wildly successful financial adviser, Tom Gau, who operates on the West Coast[4], and Peter Jennings, the late ABC news anchor.
Connectors are those people who love people. They truly enjoy getting to know meet people and then are disciplined about staying in touch with those people. Connectors bring the world together and are often responsible for introducing people from different areas of society due to "their ability to span many different worlds is a function of something intrinsic to their personality, some combination of curiosity, self-confidence, sociability, and energy."[5]
Mavens specialize in being experts of their particular vertical field. Mavens have an intense desire to solve others problems by solving their own problems, often starting "word-of-mouth" epidemics in the process. "Mavens are really information brokers, sharing and trading what they know."[6]
THE SCM RELEVANCE TO FACEBOOK
So, how does this relate to Facebook? Well, to answer that question, one should ask, "What does Facebook have that the global advertising industry wants?"
SCM SCORE
Once Facebook's analytic team has mapped out who the Salesman, Connectors, and Mavens are, these individual should be assigned a score based on these three talents. Each of these unique individuals should then have four scores: a score for their level of talent based on being a Salesman, Connector, or Maven, and another score based on core competencies and then an overall score.[7]
SCM PARAMETER: THE RULE OF 150
Why are our brains so big? Tracking relationships is terribly complex and, apparently, relationships are important. Likely vital, in fact, to human survival. It only takes one person to track a herd of wooly mammoths, but more than one person to scare a group over a cliff, or take them down with spears.[9] The average person normally can only have meaningful relationships with is 150. Gladwell calls this the "Rule of 150."
First proposed by British anthropologist Robin Dunbar, he theorized that "this limit is a direct function of relative neocortex size, and that this in turn limits group size ... the limit imposed by neocortical processing capacity is simply on the number of individuals with whom a stable inter-personal relationship can be maintained." This rule has been deployed with success in the military and companies such as W.L. Gore and Associates.[10][11][12]
First proposed by British anthropologist Robin Dunbar, he theorized that "this limit is a direct function of relative neocortex size, and that this in turn limits group size ... the limit imposed by neocortical processing capacity is simply on the number of individuals with whom a stable inter-personal relationship can be maintained." This rule has been deployed with success in the military and companies such as W.L. Gore and Associates.[10][11][12]
SCM DARK MATTER
CONCLUSION
To recap, the advertising industry, and the companies who make real products which people consume and which drive the global economy (Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Nike, Unilever), wants to, or should want to, create targeted campaigns to not everyone, but to those special people who drive Gladwell's "The Law Of The Few."
Does this strategy have undertones of elitism? Perhaps. Will the people identified by Facebook's SCM filtration be offered perks and amenities beyond the wildest dreams of those(us) without a barest modicum of influence? Most likely. Will us normal people still pattern our own behavior consciously or sub-consciously over these now super elite friends of ours even though we mildly resent the special attention big companies are now showering all over them? Definitely.
But then, a friend, is a friend, is more than a friend, whether we admit it or not.
To recap, the advertising industry, and the companies who make real products which people consume and which drive the global economy (Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Nike, Unilever), wants to, or should want to, create targeted campaigns to not everyone, but to those special people who drive Gladwell's "The Law Of The Few."
But then, a friend, is a friend, is more than a friend, whether we admit it or not.
[3] Gladwell, Malcolm. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference. (Little, Brown, and Company, March 2000) p. 33.
[4] West Coast of the United States
[5] Gladwell, p. 49.
[6] Gladwell, p. 69.
[7] Facebook should utilize all information sources possible, such as University Professor web pages, LinkedIn, Twitter and traditional media sources (magazines, Forbes, Fortune, Public Relations firms) to complete the polyhedrons . Facebook would also be well served by hiring professional talent scouts to rate potential Salesman, Connectors, and Mavens on looks, which, for better or worse, makes a difference in the influence any given individual has with other people.
[8] I am defining Free Cash Flow as Cash Flow from Operations - Purchase of Property and Equipment. The major cost in extracting this information from the Facebook data set will, by my estimates, be purchasing super computers, which would fall under Purchases of Property and Equipment, giving them $1.549 billion to invest, in 2011.
[9] Note: I have never tried any of these activities.
[10] Gladwell, p. 179.
[12] Dunbar, Robin. Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language. (Harvard University Press, 1998).
PS: Once the SCM Polyhedrons are in place Facebook will be able to incur a recurring, annual, multibillion dollar profit stream. To learn more about this business development model one would have to talk to the author in person.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Budweiser's New Design: Simple Brilliance
The new Budweiser can, released in August of 2011, is, in my opinion, brilliant. The can combines the best elements of the prior Budweiser cans with two other classic package designs: the bright red Coca Cola can as well as the Marlboro pack. The Budweiser design team must have had a simple, yet sophisticated, insight that products that target consumers associate with "fun, cool, and addictive" also strongly associate those products with the package design.
This journal is not advocating that millions of people being addicted to caffeine, sugar, and nicotine is a good thing, but, from a design perspective, Budweiser must have realized that there exists a niche in the global consumer's mind, carved out by Coca-Cola, that responds to red backgrounds, beautiful letters, and angular covers. The storm released after The Coca-Cola Company released their white Christmas cans evidences this mental association.
Coca-Cola and Marlboro cigarettes are two of the most successful and addictive products ever, so Budweiser is proving that imitation is the most sincerest form of flattery. The subtle brilliance, though, lays in Budweiser's unique take on two classic packaging designs. The cherry on top is the red tab with the crown silhouette, literally on top of the can. I would not be surprised to see Coca-Cola stages a little reverse imitation and rolls out some colored tabs on one of their flavors. My guess is that the Coke team would first try a black tab on the Coca-Cola Zero can.
The bow tie design is also perfect, especially when one is holding the tall can at a party or a bar. Just the right amount of red and white show through one's hand to signal to the world that the person is, indeed, drinking a Budweiser regular.
Anecdotal evidence from a few of my friends, [Speedo Domino and Huck], who are fans of Budweiser, prefer the original cans. Anheuser-Busch InBev's financial report for 2011 noted that "...Budweiser continued to show good signs of stabilization with share declines decelerating and brand health indicators improving," though. Whether the improved sales are due to the general economy or the design of the cans is a matter debate, unless AB InBev decides to release their market research data at some point. CCRC's vote, clearly, is to stick with the new can design. Cheers!
Please note that drinking responsibly is advocated by Cody Costa Rica Consulting.
This journal is not advocating that millions of people being addicted to caffeine, sugar, and nicotine is a good thing, but, from a design perspective, Budweiser must have realized that there exists a niche in the global consumer's mind, carved out by Coca-Cola, that responds to red backgrounds, beautiful letters, and angular covers. The storm released after The Coca-Cola Company released their white Christmas cans evidences this mental association.
Coca-Cola and Marlboro cigarettes are two of the most successful and addictive products ever, so Budweiser is proving that imitation is the most sincerest form of flattery. The subtle brilliance, though, lays in Budweiser's unique take on two classic packaging designs. The cherry on top is the red tab with the crown silhouette, literally on top of the can. I would not be surprised to see Coca-Cola stages a little reverse imitation and rolls out some colored tabs on one of their flavors. My guess is that the Coke team would first try a black tab on the Coca-Cola Zero can.
The bow tie design is also perfect, especially when one is holding the tall can at a party or a bar. Just the right amount of red and white show through one's hand to signal to the world that the person is, indeed, drinking a Budweiser regular.
Anecdotal evidence from a few of my friends, [Speedo Domino and Huck], who are fans of Budweiser, prefer the original cans. Anheuser-Busch InBev's financial report for 2011 noted that "...Budweiser continued to show good signs of stabilization with share declines decelerating and brand health indicators improving," though. Whether the improved sales are due to the general economy or the design of the cans is a matter debate, unless AB InBev decides to release their market research data at some point. CCRC's vote, clearly, is to stick with the new can design. Cheers!
Please note that drinking responsibly is advocated by Cody Costa Rica Consulting.
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