Archive for Carla Thompson

La La La

July 10, 2009 at 10:02 am · Filed under Carla Thompson, Digital Media, Social Media, Startups ·Tagged , ,

In the spirit of my last blog rant post, I’m attempting to view technologies with a slightly different eye these days. And that eye is decidedly mass-consumer. Would my next-door neighbor use this product? Will my suburban-mom friends have time and inclination to give it a whirl? If the answer to both is no, then your company needs to re-think its consumer strategy. As we attempt to move the tech industry out if its insular bubble and into the real world, these are questions we absolutely must start asking.

[Caveat: this reasoning shouldn't be applied to DEMOfall applicants, as the goal is to identify companies on the cutting edge of the industry.]

I looked at two music-focused sites this week, thesixtyone and LaLa. LaLa has been around for a while but I didn’t check it out until I noticed it on Facebook Connect. My music fanatic friend, stepwinder, pulled me into thesixtyone and it only took me 20 minutes to discover that thesixtyone wins hand down from a consumer perspective. The site got me involved immediately from sign-up. And I still haven’t figured out what to do with LaLa.

Upon signing up for LaLa, the service spent most of the morning pulling songs from my hard drive into its site. That’s about as far as I have progressed. It isn’t immediately obvious what I’m supposed to be doing on LaLa. From an analyst perspective, I would dig into the FAQs and About section to gauge the benefits of using LaLa. But from the viewpoint of a consumer, I don’t have time or inclination to do so and would move on to a site whose benefit is more readily apparent. If I can’t figure out in half an hour why I need this technology, I clearly don’t have a real need for it. Or at least you haven’t convinced me I do.

thesixtyone, on the other hand features ingenious “quests” that give the user immediate tasks to accomplish while also familiarizing them with the site’s key features. Through nifty little pop-up bubbles and an interface that never pulls one away from the music, thesixtyone integrated me into its universe in no time flat. This is not something a lot of sites or services can boast, either. Even such mainstream services as Facebook, Twitter, and FriendFeed require a certain level of ramp-up time. Hell, my husband still hasn’t figured out the point of Facebook and he’s a software engineer.

Though thesixtyone isn’t for every consumer in the land – you need a desire to seek out new music – it is an excellent example of how to involve your user base and ramp them up quickly. It’s one of the most ignored aspects in the technology business and yet the simplest: teach your users, in an engaging and immersive manner, how to use your technology. I know – it’s bizarre I even have to type that, isn’t it?

So, LaLa, forgive me if I missed something – in fact I’m sure I did. But you had the unfortunate luck of arriving on my computer at the same time as thesixtyone. Now I must get back to upping my reputation points…

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Observations from the Real World

July 7, 2009 at 11:58 am · Filed under Carla Thompson, Observations

Ah vacation. There’s nothing like a little time off to give one perspective. So it was that a week ago Friday, I tweeted that I’d be making no tech-related updates during my time off.  Then, I promptly forgot about Twitter completely. I made a once-daily visit to Facebook to keep up with personal friends and Lexulous games, but otherwise I let social media fall by the wayside.

The time off was everything I thought it could be. I did some major closet-cleaning, hung out with my kids, read The Monster of Florence (no, thank you), and generally existed in the real world as a run-of-the-mill human who thinks FriendFeed is catchy slang for a dinner party.

It was enjoyable to be free of deadlines for a week, yes, but it was also eye-opening to step back from the swirling vortex of the technosphere and look at it from afar. I love my job. I love the potential of emerging technology.  But in these days away, I realized I hate the level of commitment social media demands of us, and I hate what it’s done to Silicon Valley.

Way back in the last century, tech celebrities rose up through smarts and perseverance. Bill Joy, Linus Torvalds, Andy Grove, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and many others made their mark with high IQs.  Silicon Valley was a meritocracy, where what you did mattered more than what you said.

Now, Mensa membership doesn’t cut it anymore;  you’re only as good as your last retweet. The Valley’s upper echelon consists of those who know how to game the system through link bait, site stats and SEO.  Now, what you say matters even less than how many people you get to listen to it.  In this swirl of tweets and status updates, some of the smartest people I know are also some of the least-known.  They’re too busy innovating to update their blog and Twitter page and their work goes ignored in a Valley that has become “egotocracy” where meritocracy once reigned.

Silicon Valley has become the Hollywood of the North, with less Botox and bulimia but the same amount of  who-you-know b.s. that serves only the selfish. We’ve become so enamored of ourselves that we’ve lost sight of why we’re here in the first place – to provide a nurturing and vibrant environment in which entrepreneurs can develop and propagate technologies to further humanity.

Occasionally, the social media echo chamber rises above itself. Twitter, for instance, managed to silence my continuous complaints with its recent role in the Iranian uprising. The service didn’t install a new leadership in the country, but it did provide a voice that didn’t exist ten years ago.  It was proof that what we do in Silicon Valley has real-world relevance. That in the vast eddy of seemingly frivolous sites and services, there are products that can affect real change. And that the time we spend pimping personalities and arguing over tech conferences is valuable time wasted.

I’m under no illusions that this little rant will register in the tech world. But for my own sanity, I’m starting my own New Year this week, complete with resolutions. It’s time to take my life back from the all-consuming technosphere. It’s time to reward and recognize intelligence again. It’s time to restore civility and creativity to our industry. It’s time to graduate from high school hijinks and recognize the limitless potential of emerging technology. It’s time to grow up.

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Searching for Answers in Search

June 10, 2009 at 9:45 am · Filed under Carla Thompson, Events, Search Technolog, Semantics ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

There has been an influx of announcements in the search world lately – Wolfram Alpha, Bing, and Siri among the most high profile – so our upcoming panel at SemTech 2009 really couldn’t come at a better time. Set for next Wednesday, June 17 at 8:30am at the San Jose Fairmont, our Executive Roundtable on Semantic Search will pick some of the biggest brains in the business to share their insights on where search is now, where it should be going and what role semantic technology should play in this complex sector.

With both Microsoft and Google represented, we’re sure to discuss Bing and its new place in the search game. Yahoo and Ask.com will share their experiences as legacy sites that must constantly innovate to stay viable. And up-and-comers True Knowledge and Hakia can give perspective on what it’s like to battle the behemoths in a space that is always hungry for more. In short, we’ve got every aspect of the search game covered so you won’t want to miss it.

If you’re not already registered for SemTech, do so now. Friends of Guidewire Group get a $300 discount on a full-conference pass. If you’re only interested in semantic search, the conference is offering a special Semantic Search Day pass for $195. This gets you access to our panel, a one-on-one Wolfram Alpha interview by Nova Spivack, and access to the exhibit hall.

Hope to see you all in San Jose next week!

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Up the Stream Without a Paddle

May 19, 2009 at 2:07 pm · Filed under Carla Thompson, Observations, Social Media, Web 2.0 ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

There are many big brains in the tech industry but one of the sharpest is Nova Spivack’s. He is one of those people who has so many concepts banging around in his head that you can literally see the neurons ablaze as he talks. I’ll admit that I sometimes fear conversations with him, lest my ignorance quickly be revealed. So I was happy to read about his latest concept, The Stream, as it dovetails perfectly into something I’ve been noodling on lately.

The theory behind The Stream is that the next phase of the Internet lies in “the collective movement that is taking place across” sites and services. That the ideas and conversations occurring on Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed and the like are a new layer on top of the existing Web. As Nova puts it:

The stream is our collective mind, what the Web is thinking and doing right now… a world of even shorter attention spans, online viral sensations, instant fame, sudden trends, and intense volatility. It is also a world of extremely short-term conversations and thinking.

His concluding question is, of course, how users are supposed to cope with the stream. And that’s where I’d like to step in. I’m all for the idea of a dynamic stream. But it’s time the rest of my online tools caught up.

The camel’s back broke for me last week as I was going through my RSS feeds. Keeping up with individual items has been a thorn in my side for months now. I can never manage to check them daily and inevitably end up reading only the first few dozen, then deleting the rest. So I was already cranky when I came across an item touting the latest social profile aggregator (I honestly can’t remember the name now). I almost threw my laptop out the window. I have no desire to 1) aggregate everything into one place or 2) visit a Web site to do this. That’s when the light bulb came on: I no longer want to visit Web sites. I want pertinent and relevant information delivered to me on a desktop app and on my Facebook feed. I just don’t have the time or inclination to click around anymore.

I’m not the only one in this mood. Webgiftr, a reminder/recommendation service for gift giving, recently announced that it is shutting down its Web service and migrating all user data to Facebook.  The company clearly saw dwindling site visits combined with increased Facebook activity and did the math. One of our Innovate!Europe finalists, Mixin, is integrating event information into the Facebook feed, making it easier to determine where your friends will be this weekend. This shows foresight on their part and I hope other services begin to follow suit.

I agree wholeheartedly that the stream is a smart – and potentially lucrative – concept on which to place your business bets. The trick now will be two-fold: integrating it into the necessary, high-traffic sites and applications and homing in on the content streams that will matter most to consumers. FriendFeed hits closest to the mark currently; it’s key problems are an unpopular interface, difficulty integrating real-world friends, and too much noise. But if it can face down those challenges, it seems to me a relatively seamless way to insert the stream into everyday consumers’ lives.

In short, I love the idea of The Stream. It’s time to think about content, and our relationship to it, differently. The age of the frequently updated Web site is over. Thinking about content, in all its forms, as an ever-shifting overlay to our time online should be our key focus in the months ahead.

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Guidewire On… Travel

May 1, 2009 at 2:13 pm · Filed under Carla Thompson, Startups ·Tagged , , , , , ,

Market Sector: Online Travel Sites

Primary Players: TripAdvisor, Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity

Startups in our Sights: Mobissimo, TripJane, Citiport, TouristR, TravelMuse, Joobili, Liligo, Bluewalks

Latest Entrant: Ruba

Market Analysis: Crowded. Kludgy. Disparate services scattered across myriad sites. Online travel is one of the messiest sectors in the Web information services market today. There are many solid reasons for this – huge number of carriers and destinations, federal regulations to navigate, and differing travel philosophies across cultures, to name a few – but we should be farther along in the process than we are currently. Travelers must navigate at least three types of sites just to book the basic logistics. When you throw in destination highlights and items for the itinerary, it’s enough to make the most seasoned traveler run for a travel agent and tour book.   That’s not to say that we don’t see plenty of opportunity for the site that gets it right, but at this point we don’t see a complete package anywhere.

Analysis of Newest Entrant: Ruba.com is an easy-to-use, visually engaging destination source, offering mini-tour-guides in a variety of themes. Relying primarily on user-generated content, Ruba makes it super-easy to throw together your own trip highlights and share with others. It’s key advantage is integration with Facebook Connect, allowing users to post trip guides to their profile and, more importantly, source their Facebook friends for travel advice. We like that Ruba’s VP of Engineering comes from Google Chrome and that company revenue plans include partnering with sites like Orbitz and Expedia, rather than battling them. Making their mark in this crowded space, however, is going to require some super-savvy marketing and positioning tactics.

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The Vortex: Partying like it’s 1995

April 24, 2009 at 9:28 am · Filed under Carla Thompson, Week in Review ·Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

The problem with neglecting to post The Vortex on a weekly basis is that it easily spins out of control. I’m staring at a raft of links I’ve saved up, wondering which ones will flag me as Out of Date, the ultimate sin in the technosphere. If you see something past its sell-by date below, just pretend you’re in a time machine.

News from the Social Media Vortex

-The social network we all forgot, MySpace, lost its founding CEO Chris DeWolfe this week. The rumored replacement is – surprise! – a former Facebook exec. Owen Van Natta, who hasn’t been confirmed officially, will hopefully figure out how to unseat his former employer as the top global social network. Also on his list – lose the wallpaper.

-In other news from the 20th century, Yahoo is shutting down GeoCities, in a move that likely had many commenting, “But how will my cat blog now?”

-In a Wall Street Journal piece, Mark Penn discovers that there are now almost as many bloggers in the US as there are lawyers. Bloggers of course quibbled with his math but the point is clear: we must defeat them! Quick, someone start a blog comparing the merits of frivolous lawsuits versus writing opinion pieces in your mom’s basement.

Apps on the Radar

-In place of an app I’m liking, I’m issuing a plea for an app I can’t seem to find. Anyone know of a translation app for the iPhone that *doesn’t* need a data connection to work? The ability to translate umpteen languages into English doesn’t do much good if you’re abroad with no data plan or Wifi.

Ephemera

-In the category of Horrifically Inappropriate Technology, we nominate ‘Baby Shaker,’ the new (approved!) iPhone app. So to confirm: cursing in iPhone apps – hell no; assault and battery of infants – welcome to the App Store!

-And in the category of I’m Thinking He’s an Atheist, we nominate John Soden III of Thomas Weisel Partners in San Francisco. This little gem is a bit old but you’ve got to love a guy who sends an office-wide email on Good Friday saying, “Unless you’re an orthodox something, please get into the office… Join Wells Fargo and become a teller if you want to take bank holidays.”

Tweet of the Week

-My Tweet of the Week section was thrown a curveball this week with the launch of Tweetingtoohard, a site that honors self-important tweets. Of course the flip side is that Twits will now be jockeying for position on the site, leading us even further down the Me Me MEEE abyss that is Twitter.

-In lieu of highlighting the self-important then, I’ll just settle for the funny. Which is apparently hard to find, as my nomination goes to Jason Kottke on April 1st: “Why is the Internet taking so long to tell me what to think about latest episode of Lost? It’s been over for 32 minutes!”

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Facebook Jumps the Shark

March 24, 2009 at 11:42 am · Filed under Carla Thompson, Observations, Web 2.0 ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

The hullaballoo over the Facebook redesign has reached Threat Level Red; in its latest issue, Entertainment Weekly likens it to New Coke and Betamax. Ouch. When a mainstream entertainment magazine is taking jabs at your user interface, you can be sure of two things: 1) nothing you do escapes notice and 2) you screwed up.

The official poll on Facebook has now reached 1.2 million thumbs down. The comments generally fall into three main categories. There’s the “If I wanted to be on Twitter, I’d sign up for Twitter” contingent, the “Where the hell did everything go?” camp, and those that think, “It’s too much information I don’t need and not enough that I do.”  But perhaps it’s summed up best by  Tom Henderson of ExtremeLabs, who simply said, “No soul.”

Whatever your individual nits, the consensus is that Facebook is turning into something the majority is not entirely happy with. And in the democratized world of the Internet these days, the majority expects to be heard.  The question is whether, and how, Facebook will respond. They’ve made mistakes before and backtracked somewhat (see Beacon). But they’ve also faced a loud outcry before and ignored it (see News Feed). Perhaps the more appropriate question is this: if they ignore us, will users retaliate and leave? Or are we too deeply entrenched in the site to walk away?

Robert Scoble is of the opinion that Facebook should turn a deaf ear to its hapless users, who wouldn’t know a good business model if it bit them in the rump. I’m paraphrasing a bit, so will let Robert sum it up for you:

Zuckerberg is not listening to you because you don’t get how Facebook is going to make billions.

I’d wager every last cent to my name that 99.9% of my friends on Facebook don’t care one whit about Facebook’s business model. They’re consumers – they use a service because it benefits them in some way. Do you use Crest because you like its business strategy? Do you watch NBC because it has great ad sales?  Are you on Twitter because you like its business model? (Impossible – they don’t have one. Cue rimshot.) The answer to these questions is of course no. Brand loyalty is established because consumers develop an affinity for the user interface: I like the way Crest tastes, I like NBC’s programming, etc. While there are cases in which business strategy comes into play in buying decisions, those are generally from a negative angle, i.e, I don’t like Wal-Mart’s business strategy, so I don’t shop there.

If users leave Facebook, it will be for one reason only: they’re no longer enjoying the user experience. “Here’s how we’ll look in five years” has zero interest to mainstream consumers. So my advice to Mark Zuckerberg – because I know you’re not hearing enough – is to ignore Robert Scoble. And if Valleywag tipsters are to be believed, ignore your own advice. When over one million of your users are complaining, they may be on to something. Companies who listen to their customers are rewarded handsomely in the long run. Companies who don’t, lose them.

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The Vortex: Less is More

March 20, 2009 at 12:14 pm · Filed under Carla Thompson, Week in Review ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Were I to tag this week, it would look something like this: SXSW, Facebook redesign, Foursquare, Christopher Walken, not Christopher Walken, Rackspace, Rob Cordry. Allow me to explain…

News from the Social Media Vortex

–SXSW occurred and a good time was had by all, especially Foursquare which seemed to win the “Twitter of 2009″ buzz award during the week. What’s Foursquare? It’s the new version of Dodgeball. Not familiar with Dodgeball? It’s a handy mobile stalking tool.

–The Facebook redesign occurred and is not receiving the warmest of receptions. In a polling application created on the site, 954,000 users so far give it a thumbs down, with 58,000 approving. Will the masses cry loud enough to be heard? I’m working on a longer blog post about this, so check The Guidewire later.

–Robert Scoble disappointed me by neglecting to mobilize his army, at least for the moment. Instead, he’s launching a new content community with partner Rackspace, called Building 43. I’m a little fuzzy about what the new site is exactly, as his explanation involved Creative Commons, cloud computing, interactive videos, and something about boats in a tide.

–My initial excitement over Christopher Walken on Twitter was quickly dashed. It’s apparently an “experiment” – and an old one at that – by Clusterflock.org. Dear Clusterflock: 1) Don’t toy with my complex Walken-related emotions and 2) Change your name. Immediately.

Apps on the Radar

–My good buddy Josh pointed me to Contxts.com, a why-didn’t-they-think-of-this-sooner technology. SMS business cards. Brilliant. Think of the trees, people, and sign up for this hugely simple service.

Tweet of the Week

–My new favorite Tweeter is Rob Corddry, who curses heavily and never fails to amuse.But his rant to his two-year old couldn’t match the sheer terror inspired by Jason Calacanis: “Just had lunch with the former head of the CIA. fascinating discussion about religion, nukes, the middle east, oil and electric cars.”

Where to start: How did faux-celebrity Calacanis wangle lunch with the former head of the CIA? Did he bring a hit list with him?  Can we get more details on the “nukes” part of this discussion? Will any of us ever sleep peacefully again? I need answers.

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Apply to Launch at DEMOfall 09!

March 16, 2009 at 8:45 am · Filed under Carla Thompson, DEMO Conference ·Tagged ,

Though DEMO 09 wrapped a mere two weeks ago, we’re already making preparations for DEMOfall 09, to be held September 21-23 in San Diego. The call for applications is now open, so if you’re working on a game-changing, innovative technology, apply to launch today. For more info on the benefits of launching at DEMO, click here. Final application deadline is June 30, 2009, so get in the queue early!

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Special Guidewire Discount for GamesBeat 2009

March 10, 2009 at 10:07 am · Filed under Carla Thompson, Events, Gaming ·Tagged ,

Our friends at VentureBeat are hosting GamesBeat 2009, an inaugural conference for the gaming industry’s top players. Scheduled for March 24, 2009 at the Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco, GamesBeat will feature some of the biggest names in gaming, representing the multiple ways gaming will shape our experience with the world.  Tickets to the event are $595 but friends of Guidewire Group can get a 15% discount by using the code ‘Guidewire‘ on the registration site. Register now and don’t miss headliners like:

  • John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment
  • Seamus Blackley, head of games at Creative Artists Agency, and co-creator of the Xbox
  • Curt Schilling, founder & chairman of 38 Studios and World Series-winning pitcher from the Boston Red Sox

Over the course of the day, heavy hitters and rookies will shoot it out over the industry’s next big ideas. Gregg Sauter of Nokia N-Gage and Susan Panico of Sony Playstation Network US will discuss platform wars with MySpace, Facebook, and ngmoco. Media and entertainment players get in the game as Graham Hopper, head of Disney Interactive Studios; Ira Rubenstein, VP of interactive for Marvel; and Dave Williams, senior VP of Nickelodeon Kids and Family Games Group look at mass-market opportunities for video games.

The complete line-up can be found on the speaker list and agenda.

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