Archive for October, 2008
If you’ve ever seen my Facebook profile, you already know that I basically don’t watch television (much to the chagrin of anyone who attempts to engage me in conversation about the latest programs). My husband and I used to say that the only reason we had cable TV at all was to watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on Comedy Central. However, since the discovery of Hulu, we now can say, without sarcasm, that the reason we still have cable is so the babysitter will still show up. That’s because we can now get our two favorite shows online. For free.
From Hulu’s site:
Hulu offers U.S. consumers a vast selection of premium video content, on demand, free and ad-supported: full episodes of TV shows, both current and classic, full-length movies, thousands of clips, and much more.
Yep. Missed the latest episode of The Simpsons, House or The Office? Want to watch Ghostbusters on the spur of the moment for Halloween? It’s shows on demand.
What does this mean to me, Laura?
- You need a broadband connection. As you probably guessed, you can’t really watch streaming media like TV or movies on dial-up. This also means that you may see patrons watching TV via Hulu on your library’s public computers.
- Closed captioning is available for some programs, but not all.
- There are usually ads, just like TV. Yes, they can often be blocked with add-ons to either the Mac Safari browser or Firefox. Hulu politely requests, however, that you refrain from doing so since this is how they provide all of this for free.
- Hulu has a very good range of RSS feeds available to notify you of new offerings in various pre-determined categories.
- Some programs are available in HD (high definition). One of those is the Joss Whedon web exclusive Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. (That’s your assigned watching this week.)
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Lately, I’ve been checking out a newish web app called Firefly. It’s a simple chat script that enables people to chat with each other directly on a web page, rather than in a separate instant messaging client or Meebo-like widget. You literally can click anywhere on a web page and just start chatting, once you’ve activated it.
How have I tested it? Well, I installed it some time ago on the “Mean Laura” blog. Did anyone notice? If they did, I didn’t hear about it. But it’s not to late to give it a try…see the little toolbar at the bottom right of this page? Just click “Start Chatting” and then click anywhere on the page to start chatting with others or just say hello.
What does this mean to me, Laura?
- It’s not particularly difficult to add to a site or blog, so it could provide additional social capability for you and patrons. However, keep in mind that this is almost totally unmoderated. You might want to make it available only at certain times or in conjunction with certain events. The admin does have the ability to ban specific people.
- Firely requires Flash; if you don’t have the latest version installed, it may not work properly.
- There’s a limit of 50 people at a time. The 51st person to try chatting gets put on a waiting list.
- I’m not quite ready to classify this under “Cute, But Useless”…yet. Can anyone brainstorm a terrific idea for using this app?
Dan Rockwell is a User Experience Researcher at Lextant.
[BACK STORY: I met Dan at BarCamp Ohio and started following him on Twitter. Then I started listening to his soundbytes on Utterli. One of his messages really resonated with me, and I asked him to guest post here on the topic of "getting" social media. Thanks, Dan!]
Anyone who’s watched a few hundred movies (like we’ve all done) knows that feeling of “oh yeah, I know what’s happening…” It’s that twinge of you “guessed it;” you know what’s going to happen next. You’ve seen the pattern, you’ve added it up. You feel a bit smug a first. Sometimes you look to see if anyone else figured it out. It’s a natural thing really and, lets face it, we love that feeling of “oh yes, we get it”.
For anyone following the buzz around social media these days, that feeling is like a constant hum your head, a subtle but noticeable nudge that you, yes, you,.. you get it. Sad part is, it’s often hard to share that joy of seeing the pattern in social media with folks on the outside of it. Folks that don’t get it. You’re right back in that movie theater, trying to convince a friend that in that one scene where the bad guy does X, you knew that was going to happen. Of course if they didn’t get that subtle nudge, that trace of the pattern that you got, well, here comes the debate. At this point, you can’t really win; after all it’s just a movie. However, with social media, you just can’t afford to lose. It’s far too important.
At first, I thought I was a bit crazy. I started seeing all kinds of interconnected events unfolding, small at first, larger over time. Patterns unfolding in my head. Naturally, I’m more drawn to folks that get the same nudge I get over social media. My “ah ha’s” resonate better with them. They get it too; there’s less resistance to the big idea and more of an open embracing arm gesture to bring it on. We iterate on ideas faster, all thinking in the same vein of sharing, learning, expressing, embracing, interconnecting and more.
But then there’s all those folks I know on the sidelines, looking at me as if I’m nuts. It’s understandable at times. It looks like a massive waste of time, all this twittering, blogging, social networking, social bookmarking, media creation, vlogging, super poking?!–for what, what’s the big “ah ah?” Folks on the outside of social media see time loss, that’s the biggest blank in their heads. They need to understand the real value of why are you doing it, because right now, all they see is time… disappearing.
The first mistake you can make when attempting to get a friend or co-worker to see the pattern is to threaten them with weight of it. I call this the “warning;” it never works and it’s a sure fire way to demotivate someone. Giving someone the “this will happen, you can’t escape it!!” mentality never works, you’ve seriously dropped the ball. In general if you back anyone up against a wall they will resist you to no end and logic goes out the window. So you can’t force someone to see what you see–you have to go back to that movie setting. What would the hero do? Well, a smart hero would do his/her research and find connections between your friend and the “ah ha” pattern.
You’ve got to make a bridge over into their world. Find a point where their life could be just a tad bit more interesting if they knew about the pattern. Then jump on that bit and show them how it could really benefit them.
You need to tap into what I call “universal truths,” whereby the pattern of social media helps all. We hear one of these truths all the time right now in social media marketing. Listening is a universal truth. You really can’t go wrong with listening. Today, everyone, and I mean everyone, is connected to the web is some way. Our lives, kids’ lives, businesses, products, markets, you name it, it’s all connected there on the web. You can go for a broad inquiry and collect a ton of data, or you can scale down to see the finer bits in between.
Once you get a taste for listening to the web, the hive mind of the planet connected by a billion bits of fiber, you can start asking it questions. Using tools like Google Insight Trends, Search Twitter or blog search tools, you can veer away from the beaten path of marketing speak buried in websites and plow into the mind of your customer.
So, big deal? Well the big deal is that people are in the system. Tap into the hive, think with it, and you’ll find it. Google is just the start really, the first place you go. If you want more real time knowledge, you go to Twitter or a blog search engine and start getting closer to the source.
Now you’re probably thinking, “oh man, this is work, I’ve already got a job.” Well, wrong again. Social media is smarter than that. The hive mind continually iterates itself and RSS is about the coolest thing fueling that hive mind. TweetBeep uses RSS to bring your twitter to you. Stop visiting 5 to 10 blogs a day and visit one with Google Reader and RSS. Subscribe to what you’re interested in, and it all comes to you.
Listening is very powerful. You start to eavesdrop on a 1000 conversations online. Who are all these people talking about…? Oh that person is reading the same book I’m reading, hey they do what I do, go to the same places I go, wait a sec that guy is from Brazil and he’s into what I’m into. Physical barriers are gone, this isn’t plain jane website exploration…you’re in the hive now–learn, absorb, see the pattern, iterate.
Once you start listening you’re ready for the next step–participation. Then you can roll into validation and tracking, one of my favorite aspects of the web. It’s all recordable, traceable, you can see your net effect online. Did an idea resonate, did a concept stick, change, iterate, improve, try again, all within half the time you’d think.
You have to listen, somehow. Odds are you’re doing it now, but you just haven’t leveraged the web and the hive chatter isn’t part of your iteration process. You may still add it up over time, but a little more data couldn’t hurt. Of course even the researcher in me debates that concept a tad. If you’re all about a vision, you must follow that vision, if you want more ideas, go get more ideas, and that means ya gotta listen.
Start listening, and start seeing the pattern. You’ll benefit and it won’t cost you any more time than you spend wondering what people are thinking with traditional methods.
There are a lot of online review sites. But one in particular is hitting the mainstream and has made the top 500 of all U.S. web sites, with over 3.5 million visitors each month. That site is Yelp. This Web 2.0 service is great for finding and creating reviews of restaurants, salons, all kinds of services and businesses–and, you guess it–libraries.
In fact, libraries are their own unique category (under “Public Services & Government”). You can not only find library reviews by city, state or zip code, but the options for sorting by highest rated, most reviewed and distance make this a very useful tool. Additionally, the site uses an interactive Google Maps mashup to show locations. In a unique show of usability, the Google map actually follows you as you scroll down the page…and you can tell it to quit following you at any time by simply checking a box.
Additional features include discussions about places and requests for recommendations. Going to ALA Midwinter? Ask Yelpers to recommend the best places to eat near your hotel. Want to know what people think is the coolest attraction in Cleveland? Or want to discuss what’s wrong with your place of worship? Talk topics related to geographical locations are available with almost any given search, or through the “Talk” navigation option.
Not only can people rate places, but they can rate the reviews of others. You can choose to rate reviews as Useful, Funny or Cool. You can even compliment or message the reviewer directly. This form of feedback helps visitors determine who dependable reviewers might be, much in the way feedback ratings on Ebay allow buyers to evaluate potential sellers.
What does this mean to me, Laura?
- Your library may not be in there…yet. Once you have an account (yes, they’re free), you can add your library/library branch. (However, don’t review your own library–not much credibility there, right?) Rather, try recruiting patrons to write reviews. Or even start a discussion on Yelp asking for reviews; people can be very obliging.
- People are generally very honest in their reviews. This can be a good source of constructive criticism and perhaps even testimonials.
- One important feature that’s missing, in my opinion, is the ability to get an RSS feed for any given establishment. Owners could then keep up more easily with the reviews. As far as I can tell, that is a manual process. There are only very limited RSS feeds available for certain cities and for your own or friends’ reviews so far.
