April 24th: Fun e-business?
The original “Trojan Horse” storyswas all about a gift with an unpleasant secret inside. This totally reminds me of some of the so-called applications I’m seeing on Facebook these days. Companies are providing cute little “quizzes” for people to take, which are actually just advertisements in disguise. In one of these, a phone company asks you to figure out “who deserves a spot in your Friends and Family” circle. In another, a camera company suggests playing a game by creating a story out of some photographs that you pretend you found. So, are you entertaining yourself with these applications? Or are you simply allowing the companies to offload their advertising budget onto your shoulders?**
**I’m not suggesting that these apps are “trojan horses” in the modern sense of “destructive computer virus”.
Are you a needle in a haystack wanting to be found? The field of search engine optimization was originally focused on helping companies show up at the top of the heap when people do keyword searches on the web. But as the social media revolution causes more and more individuals to participate in online activities, they too are feeling the need to make it to the top of the search list. This week I ran across a google application that purports to “take a little control over what comes up when people search your name.” I was immediately smitten by the idea, since I can’t think of a better way for potential employers to see the “real me.” I couldn’t get it to work, maybe you can!
Twitter Patter - Okay, okay, I promise to stop bashing Twitter for its paucity of valuable content. Instead, this week I’ll trash these guys who set a world record by sending over 200,000 texts in a single month (purportedly busting their “unlimited” plans). My very first thought when I heard about this was “who in the hell RECEIVED all of those messages?” Can you imagine how annoying that must have been? Oh well, I can’t help myself…I just have to say that it is definitely the same case with Twitter. The greater the flow of non-stop messages, the less ability I have to find anything of value in it. Once the stream becomes rapid enough, we’re in blipvert hell.
Are customers, once king, now middle management? Facebook is making a serious attempt to engage its users in decisions about site governance. Now that’s a good thing, right? I mean, democracy, the “American Way”, apple pie and all that. But is having your customer make policy really any way to run a profitable business? Besides don’t customers already “vote” every time they spend (or don’t spend) their money? Oh wait, is Facebook actually profitable?
