innovation

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Tweet for Content CASH app

March 18, 2010 in music business, tech by George | 2 comments

Finally, finally, FINALLY!

I’m just so excited about this that I literally can’t contain myself. I’m certain that the implications of this will take a while to ripple out there, but, rest assured, the implications are large.

Anyone who’s been in the game at all is about as tired of using the phrase “email for content widget” as they are of using the word “tweeted.”

That said, to many, this idea that the currency of the day is email, and that you best give someone something if you’re going to ask them for an email, is still novel.

Importantly, beyond being novel, it’s far from easy to just poop out an email for content widget on your site. If you’re fortunate enough to have access to, for instance, the Topspin tools it’s as simple as grabbing some embed code, and you have a snazzy widget ready to rock. But, if you don’t have access to these great tools, or if you don’t want to forgo a percentage of your sales for access to these tools (obviously, because there’s no revenue generated for an email for content widget, you’re not giving up revenue, but, justifiably, Topspin does take a piece in order for you to use their tools where commerce is involved), you’re pretty well shit out of luck unless you’re a coder.

Well, today, CASH added something to the landscape (disclosure: I am a proud CASH board member).

I first saw this functionality via a link from a tweet from one of the original CASH founders, Billy O’Connell. As I’ve learned, it’s a good idea to go where Billy leads, and so I clicked on through to Zoë Keating’s twitter page where you could get a free dl for a tweet. (Just in case she changes this, I’m including a screen grab, below):

Well, this just delighted me to no end. Finally, someone was moving the ball a little, and finding a different value proposition/exchange.

I happily went on my way off to date night with Marci, where we discussed all of this not at all; in the most delightful fashion. (Btw, antibiotics be damned, I drank some wine, and it was good).

Upon our return, and after getting the kids to sleep with an inspired reading, if I do say so myself of The Hobbit, and thinking the night couldn’t get any better, I logged on figuring I’d just check my email real quick and try to go to sleep early before my flight to SXSW tomorrow to see my brotha’/partner, Sean, and blather on at my panel.

Instead, I see this tweet from CASH.

Clicking through, I get to this page. Again, worth a screen grab:

What makes me so giddy about this is the following:

1. Good, inventive iteration on the tired “email-for-song” trope; now, tweet-for-code. So, so RAD! Should get people thinking about other transactional elements.
2. Free
3. Some of the burden is placed on the user/artist/whomever – not a passive thing; you gotta work a bit for it (this is, by the way, good). Another good step in the direction away from artists waiting for “Hand of God” help, and forcing them to figure some shit out.
4. Not obligated to Tweet to get it, but, again, some work required: you gotta go to Github to get the code (of course, this means you gotta know what Github is).
5. Moves the discourse out of the “music business,” and into just good, current markets-as-conversations/sharing of information business model I’ve been prattling on about; business, not “music business,” business.

Anyway, big ups to you, Jesse. You moved the ball.

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Innovate and *still* die

October 6, 2008 in innovation, tech by George | 1 comment

Woz in the Telegraph.

Posted by email from George’s posterous

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An Example of the Inverse Relationship between Features and Customer Satisfaction

September 8, 2008 in marketing, tech by George | 5 comments

I recently presented an idea that basically claims that gratuitous features lead to low customer satisfaction. Certainly not rocket science, but with the proliferation of useless features on so many of the tools upon which our modern lives are built, I felt someone had to speak up.

I presented a couple of products that had eschewed gratuitous features in order to create a satisfying customer experience: The Flip camera and Google’s “classic” search were my examples. Speaking of Google, I recently read a good article on the development of Chrome. In it they mention how the development team had attempted to strip away any unnecessary features:

When deciding what buttons and features to include, the team began with the mental exercise of eliminating everything, then figuring out what to restore. The back button? No-brainer. The forward button? Less essential, but it survived. But if you’re a big fan of the browser status bar — that meter that tells you what percent of a page has loaded — you’re out of luck with Chrome.

The trade-off: less features, but more speed. That’s a no-brainer. Anyone is going to opt for speed. Customers will be far happier with a super-fast browser with less (hardly used) features, than with an average-speed browser with a bunch of (extraneous) features.

So…Google clearly gets this relationship.

You know who doesn’t? Microsoft.

They continue to attempt to woo customers away from the Siren-like call of the iPod by adding new features to the Zune. I’ll make no snarky Zune comments. Instead, I just have to wonder why they don’t look for some lacking core competency of the iPod – they do exist – and come up with a solution and hammer the hell out of it.

For example, if they stripped away a lot of Zune features that – if sales are any measure – no one cares about, and instead offer an mp3 player with, say, absolutely killer battery life. Or an mp3 player with stunning audio fidelity. Or an mp3 player with a scratch-resistant surface. Or an mp3 player with a self-serve replaceable battery. Or an mp3 player with killer a replacement/repair policy.

All of the above are things I hear iPod users complaining about all the time. You know what I don’t hear them complaining about? Precisely the features that Zune will be introducing: being able to buy what you hear from FM radio, etc.

Do it, Microsoft! Do it! Strip away all the unnecessary features. Stop trying to compete with the innovative genius that is Apple (who will be launching a new iteration of the iPod tomorrow, that will likely take any of the worthwhile features that Zune is introducing and present them in a far superior way), and instead focus on a select feature (or two) and just kill it.

To present my “law” in a more positive way: Less features presented in an extraordinary manner leads to greater customer satisfaction.

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George’s Law of the Negative Correlation between Features and Customer Satisfaction

August 21, 2008 in innovation by George | 5 comments

My post on the Coder/Manager dilemma got me thinking about the unintended consequences of feature additions to products (specifically web-based, but not exclusively). I’ve come up with a theorem that is very much a work in progress.

I hereby thus propose “George’s Law of the Inverse Relationship between Features and User Friendliness.” For every added feature above base functionality, user friendliness is reduced by .075 of the existent base unit total for user friendliness.

Let U = user-friendliness. Let F = features.

So, if we assume (for easy math), a base of 10; that is, you have a site/UI where the features (F) = 10 and the user friendliness (U) = 10, and you add a new feature, your features = 11, but your user friendliness = 9.25; another feature added: F = 12; U = 8.55. And so on.

Don’t get me wrong, new features are crucial, and can increase user friendliness, but only if the new feature(s) replace(s) an older feature. In this manner, your feature list doesn’t grow, and thus your user friendliness is not reduced.

The best example I can give of this doesn’t come from the web world. Rather, it’s the Flip Video Camera.

This camera strips away all the features that 99.9% of the video camera owners never use anyway, and takes a dead-simple approach. Customers love it. The NYT calls it “One of the most significant electronic products of the year.” It’s wildly successful. It succeeded because it focused on what the customers really wanted/needed, and worked to give those features to them in the best way possible. Axiomatically, the only way you can give these customers their most cared-about features in the best way possible is to eliminate ALL of the features they don’t care about. Flip’s challenge moving forward is to innovate, and, yes, add features without screwing up what makes their offering so great. This will mean not only adding features, but also subtracting older ones that are no longer relevant.

Want a web example?

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Better than the Van

July 21, 2008 in music business by George | 4 comments

I am certain one of my students presented this idea for one of their final projects. While I don’t think said student brought it to fruition, I still think it’s a great idea. Basically, a network where bands who need a place to crash can connect with those willing to let them do so. All I know is that in college and grad school my house was that place, and it led to many good times

Check it out: HERE.

[via The Tripwire]

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