Dell Blog - Still Waiting for USB Port Shortage Acknowledgement

As I posted on Easton Ellsorth’s blog, the emerging future of corporate blog leadership should likely be:
LISTEN - to other blogosphere posts
ACKNOWLEDGE ISSUES - by linking to the post and talk only about how that issue is being addressed
LISTEN AGAIN - to all feedback
ANSWER - include a we hear you and are working on the problem if it can’t be immediately addressed
REPEAT

On July 7th, I posted a balanced review of my new Dell Dimension 9150, it would be great if Dell acknowledged the USB port shortcoming on their blog and discussed ways they could instruct UPS to actually treat people like the true customers they are when delivering packages. This would demonstrate that they are learning and innovating from customers which is what it is all about!


Comcast - Poor Interactive Ad Targeting Leads to Low Satisfaction

I recently have been seeing alot of interactive ads for Comcast Broadand Internet - $19.95 for the first six months. Well, when you are paying more than that and already using their ISP, why would they show you an ad showing that they don’t value current customers? Why wouldn’t you block these ads to you own IP address bank?  

If you are a Comcast (CMCSA) shareholder, you should be upset at the inefficient expenditures and the unnecessary contribution to customer attrition. If you are a current customer you feel like your current business is not as important to them as a new customer. This is yet another example of Comcast management not valuing current customers and employees.   


Google Desktop Migrates to Google Front Page

With no fanfare Google quietly added Desktop to the right hand top side of the Google Home Page this week. This is interesting as Google rarely changes the configuration of this page. It therefore seems that Desktop is of strategic importance to Google.

I wonder when they are going to swap Images for Video on the front page? I’ve been expecting this for a while.


Ebay Store Fee Changes and Town Meeting

Today Ebay announced changes in fees for store listings.

They are having a town meeting at 4PM Pacific time on Thursday.

It will be interesting to see what people think about these changes. My first glance doesn’t generate an emotional response either way.


Three Cheers for Yahoo!

Yes, Terry Semel reported disappointing earnings yesterday, but I want to applaud one of his actions from yesterday. Mediapost reported that “Yahoo previously said it planned to roll out Panama in the third quarter, but Semel said during Tuesday’s quarterly earnings call that the company was delaying the rollout to prevent disruption in ad purchasing and management during the holiday ad season. “We think this is the right decision for ensuring the most successful commercial launch possible,” he said, adding that advertisers should prepare to start using it in 2007.”

What I’m cheering in found in this quote from Josh Stylman from Reprise: At the same time, the delay also doesn’t hurt search engine marketers, said Josh Stylman, managing partner at Reprise Media. “It’s a pretty intense platform change,” he said. “Frankly, we’d rather make sure that it gets released properly and in a stable environment, rather than rushing it out before it’s ready.”

Congratulations to Yahoo! for putting customers need for a stable advertising experience ahead of short term earnings potential using beta software that could be disruptive to customers.


One Red Paper Clip and Google Adwords/Adsense

Congrat’s to Kyle MacDonald on getting his house for the One Red Paper Clip via trades! It’s an inspiring story that shows the power of blogs for both fun and creation of value.  

What is interesting about his blog is that frequently, the Google ads displayed on his page are good examples of ads not being placed or monitored well. For example, two days after Kyle was awarded a house in Kipling, Alberta, ads for books for author Rudyard Kipling were still appearing on the site. The keyword ”Kipling” only should have been dropped from the campaign immediately.  Then today, “Saskatchewan dating” appeared on the site. This ad should be geotargeted and I should not be viewing it while surfing the net in Chicago.

As I become more familar with Adwords, it becomes obvious that there are tools Google is offering for micro-targeting that are not being fully utilized.


My First Skype Spam Message

It would be a shame if I would have to start blocking people on my Skype list that weren’t friends already, but today, I got my first unsolicited spam message in Skype…you see the message below… 

[2:04:06 PM] 杨柳青 says: Nike shoes: we provide footwears  such as NIKE\ADIDAS\REEBOK\PUMA/PRADA,etc. .we also sell all kinds of stock  mobile telephone,mp3,mp4.
All our products are known for reasonable price with high quality.
Tel:008613959583863 联系人: Miss Zheng: http://www.shoescaps.com     MSN:yjxpt@msn.com
E-MAIL: yjxpt@yahoo.com .cn   
yjxpt@163.com
  SKYPE: yjxpt73    ICQ:324-401-461


Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia Launches campaigns.wikia.com

(Presentation summary - first public speech on topic observed by David Dalka at Barcamp Chicago)
Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia founder launches campaigns.wikia.com

Put the demos back in democracy

“The ideal encyclopedia should be radical. It should stop being safe.”

Imagine a world in which every single person is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That’s what we’re doing.

How big is Wikipedia Globally?

>>1MM English
>>400,000 German
>>200,000 French, Polish, Japanese, Dutch
>>42 languages >> 10,000
>>98 languages> 1,000

How popular?
Top 20 web site (Alexa)
Broader reach than
NYT
LAT
WSJ
MSNBC.COM
Chicago Tribune
~5.0 Billion page views monthly
200 servers

Compared about.com (flat line) versus Wikipedia

“Accuracy” Incident caused massive traffic increase

Basic Ideas:
Broadcast Media leads to broadcast politics
Soundbites (samples)
Stirring images
Participatory media
Leads to participatory politics

Graph of participation in elections (dropping)

Wikis for campaigns
-The Dean campaign showed the effectiveness of Internet organizing
-But all that people did was organize, not formulate policy or shape the arguments
-Dean fell apart because of other reasons

Wikis for campaigns
- Wikipedia works because it is organized around a few central principles: NPOV and WP:NT central among them
- Other wikis work when they have a central organizing concept
- A campaign wiki fits the requirements for a successful wiki

Open and Closed
- Wikis are general perceived as being wide open and in a sense of course they are
- But real world successful wikis always limit participation to people who can agree with the broad organizing principle

What will not Work
- Tight, top down hierarchical control will lead to a wiki that might as well be a static html campaign site, unable to respond quickly with the time
- Anarchy will lead to trolling and vandalism from the other side

Who controls?
- On the official campaign website? Then candidate can be blamed for any thing some might say so campaign would need top down control -> failure
- Completely outside the campaign

What will work?

Broad, welcoming, inviting participation

Question: How do you get past the Echo chamber?
“I think those things are changing. I really don’t know. Senate campaign in Utah is using Wiki.”

Practical Uses
- Organizing meetups – just like meetup.com except more fluid and flexible
- Authoring whitepapers on issues from the point of view of the community supporting the candidate (wikis drive people to the middle, away from extremism)
- Responding quickly with intelligent answers to developing events

Local meetups
- Local meetups planned for around the world
- First one is Chicago July 29
Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Delhi, Hong Kong, Copenhagen, Amsterdam
Locations to be determined - critical requirements are convenience and beer
http://campaigns.wikia.com/wiki/Local_Meetup_Schedule
Spread to world via blogs and WOM

Very interesting guy. He was a financial services guy just like me. I keep meeting more and more in this space. It rocks! Glad I got to hear him speak. Seems extremely motivated to change the world.


sustainablebirdhouses.com

When I attended the Internet Retailer conference last month, one of the things I learned was about the amazing number of small, niche ecommerce sites that exist out there. One of the learnings is that niche sites often outperform “we do it all sites” in many respects, if the SEO and Google Adwords campaign is microtargeted properly. 

I stumbled across this example of a niche site about birdhouses that I thought would be nice to share. Very unique ones in fact!


Metroproper Beta Launch And Party Saturday

I just got a sneak peak of  Metroproper from founder Phil Tadros and Jason Pettus, a new Chicago-based web 2.0 interactive and social business network, voter based journalism and classifieds product that is launching this Saturday afternoon. This will roll out to other markets after a brief Chicago beta. There is a launch party with Motorola as event sponsor on Saturday evening at the Motorola Q store downtown.
So what makes Metroproper different?
- It combines elements of Craigslist, Linkedin, Myspace and Digg into a one stop shopping experience
- They have some unique, though as yet unproven, monetization ideas. It’s good to see someone actually thinking about this issue before launching a site. I have a few monetization ideas of my own for their platform actually…
- Though I didn’t get to surf it, the pages look very clean and hopefully it will surf as good as it looks.

The Metroproper login page

A screenshot of a Metroproper.com profile

Classifieds are a feature that figures prominently in the community.


While there is considerable competition in this space, there is certainly room for improvement. If unmet customer needs are satisfied with a world-class customer experience, the world may in fact beat a path to Metroproper’s door. 

Speaking of beating a path to their door, you should do just that. Phil runs a coffee shop on the north side of the city called Dollop, it is located at 4181 North Claredon, the venture capital lines are open at 773.755.1955 - the wireless Internet is free, they are open late and Hoosier Mama Pies are quite tasty!  


Skype Protocol Hacked?

Techcrunch is reporting this that the Skype protocol has been hacked, meaning the Skype VOIP could be accessed without the Skype client.


Shally Steckerl: Leadership Recruiting Innovator

 Shally.Steckerl.jpg

Through my participation in linkedin.com during my amazing transition and discovery period, I’ve gotten to know some extremely interesting people. One of those people is Shally Steckerl (www.jobmachine.net/shally), a leading innovator in use of data mining and reverse viral marketing techniques for recruiting purposes.

Alright David, just why the heck are you interviewing a recruiting guy on your Marketing Innovation and Customer Listening blog? Well, many of the techniques he and his peers are using are strikingly similar to search engine and viral marketing so they are important to learn about. It’s one degree away but there is innovation happening on both sides and we should all be constantly learning from different perspectives. As you know, I love and embrace learning, innovation and process refinement, it’s what makes businesses with healthy cultures interesting!

David Dalka: What are you up to these days, Shally?

Shally Steckerl: I manage the central research team for Microsoft under a newly formed group called S.T.A.R.T. (Strategic Talent Acquisition and Research Team) led by long time Microsoft Staffing visionary Bridgett Paradise. We focus on candidate lead generation and Recruiting CI. I’m fortunate to lead a team comprising some of the most advanced and creative minds in the industry. I’m still maintaining jobmachine.net, blogging, and participating in many online communities and forums revolving around the Recruiting and Internet Research industry.

David Dalka: You are also frequently a public speaker at conferences in this regard…

Shally Steckerl: I’ve been fortunate to be invited to address my peers at conferences like SHRM EMA, ERE, Kennedy and Onrec on topics I’m passionate about like Internet Research and building a recruitment network.

David Dalka: You recently had a seminar about using linkedin.com for recruiting…

Shally Steckerl: I was invited to address 1,500 participants interested in learning more about what LinkedIn has to offer recruiters and how they can best utilize it as a candidate generation resource. I had a great time giving everyone a tour of how I use the website day to day and showcasing some of my “recommended practices.”

David Dalka: What are some of your other favorite resources to target candidates?

Shally Steckerl: I depend heavily on the Internet as a database so I frequently use many of the top search engines like MSN Search, Yahoo, Google, Ask, Exalead, IceRocket and Gigablast to name a few. I also scan many blogs and read search engine results from several RSS feeders. Finally, I make the most out of dozens of online databases. All told there are about 280 places I go looking for leads at any particular point in time though this number grows constantly.

David Dalka: For the previous items, are there differences in techniques when looking for non-technical candidates and if so what?

Shally Steckerl: Some sources are better for identifying candidates for a particular industry. Each of the 280 methods I mentioned has a range of industries. Some types of candidates have a more pronounced Internet footprint than others. I wouldn’t, for example, go looking for Auditors in discussion groups, or Research Engineers in annual reports. Non-technical candidates appear in diverse sources. Just like technical candidate some can be found with simple keyword searches on search engines while others are more easily found in deeper information sources like databases or archives.

David Dalka: Is decreasing the cycle time for hiring clearly competitive advantage?

Shally Steckerl: The clearest competitive advantage is being first in reaching top talent that has not yet considered other opportunities. First we must identify where that talent is, but then we also must quick reach them before our competitors find then. Having the first chance to offer a top candidate new opportunities is much more advantageous than being very fast at reacting to the same candidates that have applied at every competitor.

David Dalka: While I often see you speak on the topic of finding candidates from the recruiters’ perspective, let’s reverse engineer that. What are the best ways for a great candidate to become more visible to the recruiting community both on and off of the web?

Shally Steckerl: I think that candidates need to do the same thing recruiters should do, and that is go directly to the source. A good recruiter knows where the top talent is and goes straight there to get them. A good candidate should know where the best employers are and go straight at them. Make connections and find ways to reach your target audience. Identify your top ten employers of choice and define what roles you see yourself doing there, then do everything you can to meet everyone who could ever have anything to do with those roles. Get as close to the decision maker as you can then make a surgical and decisive move to influence them to create the role you want for yourself. The best jobs are “made to order” not “filled to order.”

David Dalka: What are the most common mistakes candidates make during the interview process?

Shally Steckerl: Quite a bit has been written about this by many recruiters with far more experience than I but I will take a stab at it. In my opinion, the worst mistake is interviewing for the wrong job. If the job doesn’t suit you right from the beginning you are probably not going to get it and even if you do you won’t be happy doing it. I think the second mistake is not visualizing your self in that role. I mean really seeing yourself doing that job day in and day out and being extremely confident that this job will have you leaping out of bed in the morning. To be able to do that you need to prepare well and get to know the role and the company before the interview. However, knowing is only part of it. Feeling it is the other part. The third and final fatal mistake I’ll offer is not asking for the job. That’s right. Many people walk away from an interview never having explicitly conveyed their interest in the position. This leaves hiring managers wondering if the candidate really wants the job. There should be no doubt at all that you are interested and willing to do what it takes to get the job but also get the job done once you get it.

David Dalka: What are some things candidates do best to make themselves stand out during the interview process?

Shally Steckerl: Ask for the job. Ask prepared questions about the role and the long term plan for the role. Look people squarely in the eye and ask for the job while you are shaking their hand. Give concrete examples of something you have done in the past that has given you the tools to competently complete the tasks required for this job. Provide evidence of how you have overcome unpredictable obstacles by learning and applying yourself, going the extra mile to exceed expectations. Oh and ask for the job – did I already mention that?

David Dalka: How do you see recruiting evolving going forward?

Shally Steckerl: Recruiting will become an intertwined ecosystem that brings together the ability to manage project vendors and partners while leveraging technology and applying the ability to understand business needs.

David Dalka: Thank you, Shally, I really enjoyed talking with you. Talk to you soon.


Google Careers Ad in Local Chicago Magazine

There was an ad in a local upscale Chicago publication this week profiling a local Chicago Google employee with a tagline that had a special URL that points you to the Chicago Advertising Sales job site. It then ends with ”Cute childhood pictures optional”. I think the ad is trying to soften Google’s image and it surprised me when I saw it. I thought all the companies that would like to feature me in the future in a similar ad campaign might like to see what they are getting for their money. I can hear that phone ringing off the hook as soon as I hit publish…

 dave-cute-childhood-pictures.jpg


Google Local/Google Maps - Michael Adelberg Summary of GeoDomain Speech

On June 3, 2006, Michael Adelberg, Strategic Partner Development Manager at Google spoke at the Associated Cities’ Geo Domain conference regarding local search trends and opportunities. Special thanks to Patrick Carleton and Brad Spirrison for making my attendance possible. You can view his slides here (well sort of I should have been closer).

Michael stated that it is his division’s mandate to, “Organize the world’s local information and make it useful.” He then stated that, “No one company can do it.”

“The most important use of Google maps will take place off of Google.”

Examples
Bus Monster – GPS actual bus locals with Google Maps

Unesco –  maps

Mashups - news site

Maxim magazine cover on the desert floor.

Sketchup - 3d modeling

New and Interesting
* Google Maps for Mobile

* Google Sitemaps – do our work for us. (Bloomberg type model)

* Google Base – product push – searching over structured content

* Google Co-op – social search


The Recent Economist Article

It probably isn’t surprising to you that many people in the Search Engine Marketing arena don’t read the Economist. So I’ll point out this unique article. Fantastic read here on advertising and how it’s changing. It will require new leaders with a combination of both people skills, branding and data skills like those found in the financial services industry.

It contains a quote from Rishad Tobaccowala of Publicis. He is a real innovator and someone I’d like to interview on this blog someday. I met some people that surround him recently and they were a quality bunch. It also talks about the timeline of Google and Yahoo!/Overture, etc.

One great paragraph in the article has elements of the thesis I’m now developing: “Now, however, chief executives are taking trips to Silicon Valley, often without their “chief marketing officers”, to educate themselves. And what they hear impresses them. Tim Armstrong, Google’s advertising boss in North America, preaches to his clients a “notion of asset management” for their products that “shocks” them. Traditionally, he says, most firms would advertise only 5% to 10% of their wares—the blockbusters—in the mass media to publicise their brand, hoping that it shines a halo on the remainder of their products. Now, however, “companies market each individual product in that big digital stream,” says Mr Armstrong, from the best seller to the tiniest toothbrush. This is called exploiting the economics of the “long tail”.” 

Once again, it’s a great read.


Google’s Quality of Landing Page Changes - A Closer Look

Search Engine Roundtable is reporting increases in costs to some legitimate ecommerce web sites as part of Google’s campaign to squash Made for Adsense (MFA) sites. I applaud Google for moving to squash these sites as it is critical to the integrity of their business model and vital to removing splogs and other unwanted Internet creations based on the Made for Adsense site problem that are choking the internet with unnecessary or scraped content that all of us waste time viewing pages.

If you read the entry on the on the official Google Adwords blog, it clearly states to contact Adwords support if “you do see an increase in minimum bids and you feel that your landing page is providing a great user experience, please contact AdWords support and we’ll take a look.” It then provides a link that lays out the new guidelines.

Before people throw stones here, I would be quite interested in learning who has sent these e-mails in and what responses have been received back. I would be surprised if they weren’t taking this feedback seriously as this is not about legitimate sites, it’s about getting rid of the MFA sites to rebuild full trust and integrity in the system for advertisers. I think part of the Michigan announcement is an acknowledgment that a higher level of service and interaction may be required to achieve the desired long-term result. Until someone proves otherwise, I think Google’s recent actions signals that it understands the importance of this issue, but it is a problem of considerable size that cannot be realistically be solved overnight.

Please post your replies from the support team here and join the conversation. Thanks.


Google - Behind the Screen

There is a recent documentary video from Australian television that focuses on Google. You can watch it here in 5 parts. Thank you to Andy Beal for pointing out the link.  It looks like it was filmed late last year as it talks a lot about book search and the surrounding issues.

It is an interesting video, not much new was learned by me however. The possible exception is that the founders tried to sell the idea several times and were told no, our search does 80% of what yours does. Sounds like there is something to be learned here though, to me it is that the web is about storing useful and accurate data to improve the customer experience as well as create value and trust. I love to be involved in listening and solving these types of issues and improving the customer experience.


Yahoo! Publisher Network Communication Recieved Today

I received a communication today that stated the following:

Dear David, 

Thank you for applying for the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta program. It is currently in beta and we are accepting a very limited number of new publishers, but we will let you know when we launch to the general public or if we are able to invite you to join the beta before then. To maximize your chances for approval, please make sure:


TiE Midwest - “Capital Efficiency for Growing Businesses”

I wrote an aricle about Mike Domek, CEO of Ticketsnow, Jason Fried, CEO of 37 Signals, Lucas Roh, CEO of Hostway. The conversation was moderated by Matt McCall of Portage Venture Partners and was hosted in Chicago by the law firm of Gardner, Carton & Douglas.

Matt led a truly inspiring discussion at the recent Chicago The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) event! Understanding how each of these guys built their businesses in a unique way is such a great story. What is also awesome is that it proves that there is no one right way to do it as Jason Fried of 37 Signals was radically different in his thought as he sat next to Mike Domeck of Ticketsnow.

All of these success stories are exciting to me and it made me realize how much fun it would be to be a part of a high growth company again.Matt led a truly inspiring discussion at the recent Chicago event! Understanding how each of these guys built their businesses in a unique way is such a great story. What is also awesome is that it proves that there is no one right way to do it as Jason Fried of 37 Signals was radically different in his thought as he sat next to Mike Domeck of Ticketsnow. These leaders also demonstrate that Chicago is capable of being the Silicon Valley of the 21st century. More on that in another post sometime soon.

All of these success stories are exciting to me and it made me realize how much fun it would be to be a part of a high growth company again. You can read my full summary here on the Wiglaf Journal, a Marketing and Strategy Journal which I contribute to. If this is your first time here, please subcribe to my RSS feed and come back sometime. Thanks.


Dell Opens a “Blog”

Dell opened a “blog”. I put blog in quotes because: It has moderated comments, no trackback ability and has numerous posts that are product pushes.

Here is what they should have done, one post admitting to mistakes of the past, saying we want to change, we want to listen and left it alone for like at least a week and let comments roll in. Then let those comments dictate what gets talked about next. Corporate blogging is about listening not PR. You must hire extremely senior, dynamic, highly skilled and understanding people with diverse experiences in life and a passion and understanding of process refinement for these roles. That would have gotten respect from the blogosphere. Rick Klau has a nice post on the topic of feedback.

Late last month, I purchased a new Dell, here is my unbiased review of it so far. It was written a week ago as a public service to both Dell and the blogoshpere. Maybe blog search engines need to reward those types of posts more, what do you think?    


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