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Guest post by Mark Dykeman of Broadcasting Brain (FriendFeed/Twitter)
Let's take a moment to pause from our normal pontifications about A-Lists, aggregators, egoism, elitism, monetization, commercialization, capitalization, and such and talk about something bigger. This is something that would ultimately benefit the overall audience that we all share today and something that would act like the fabled tide that lifts all boats.Let's make the social media audience bigger. Let's get more readers, more engaged commentators, and more bloggers. Let's permeate into even more sectors of interest. Let's aim for every adult in the world to be an active reader of blogs.
You might think that I'm joking, but I'm not. I think it's in every blogger's interest to make the blogosphere, and its reading audience, bigger.
Why do we need to expand?
- Attrition - eventually we'll move on for one reason or another (yes, I'm thinking very long term here) and the blogosphere's audience will eventually be reduced to a smaller, weaker size
- Increase adoption and acceptance of blogging as a serious, valid form of content creation to a significant population that doesn't view it as being significant
- New blood and new ideas can help refresh us all and combat the echo chamber effect IF we are also prepared to accept the need to retread some old ground to education the newcomers
- To introduce people to new creative outlets to give them the opportunities for personal development and self-actualization
1. Continue To Make Our Technology Easier and Simpler to Use
Blogging has come a long way, particularly with content management platforms like Blogger, Wordpress, and Moveable Type, but there's still a learning curve, particularly if you want to do more than type and format and include links. New developments continue (Profy looks like a step in the right direction) and will need to continue. If we compare the development of blogs to that of automobiles, I don't think we've quite hit the power steering era yet.
2. Look Outward, Not Inward
We need to look outside of our niches for new and useful ideas. Tech blogging, as an example, tends to be the earliest adopters of technologies and tools, but maybe the members of this niche aren't always the best at how to communicate and persuade. Maybe we don't think of the most creative ideas to combine images, text, audio, and video.
3. Partner With Complementary Skills to Achieve More
Maybe tech bloggers can help other niches with the tools and in turn can get coaching on the “softer” skills of blogging. This encourages movement and sharing between niches which could have other beneficial effects.
4. Sell the Benefits to the Unconverted, but in Practical Ways
How can we help real-life organizations and communities in need? Can we help them communicate better with each other? Can we help them disseminate accurate information? Can we help them learn and teach each other? In short, can we show them how to use technology to address some of their existing problems?
5. Encourage Listening and Participation
Hutch Carpenter proposed that bloggers become more social and better networked as their “careers” progress, but after a certain stage the audience of people that they listen to begins to shrink again. This is a natural phenomenon that occurs to anyone as their schedules load up with requests and “must do” items. In my opinion we must continually try to fight that urge, otherwise we develop tunnel vision and lose sight of what is happening around us.
6. Apprenticeship
What about volunteering to take new users under our wings and be a resource to them, but in a more proactive way? Maybe create a general “helper” community for new users, or to promote these things better to the entire world. I proposed the concept of a social media apprentice a number of months ago. Maybe we need to work it in large numbers.
7. Focus on Long Term Payback
The networking component of social media is sometimes overlooked and undervalued. It seems that a lot of people enter social media with the primary intent of earning income purely through their blog. Some people are clever with the use of copy and advertising (or gobbledygook and advertising) to make a quick buck. Most of those people will eventually alienate any possible audience that would come voluntarily, when in fact, the most valuable “win” in social media is the strength of the personal network that you build. This is why LinkedIn is quite possibly the ultimate social media application because it has a very practical, serious purpose that many other applications don't have.
8. Jettison Your Bratty Side
Let's be blunt: there's a lot of posturing and acting that occurs in certain segments of the social media communities. Yes, there's no doubt that people reap certain rewards by behaving in certain ways to please the crowd. Unfortunately, those rewards don't spread very far - they tend to reward the actor. Will that work in the long run? For some, it probably will (unfortunately). For most of us, it's not worth it to tarnish your character in such a manner. Civility, respect, and compassion will probably go a lot further, unless, of course, you're the type of person who enjoys being manipulated by MSM (main stream media) techniques.
9. Keep Exploring - There's Always a Cutting Edge Somewhere
The frontiers that we can explore are only limited by our creativity, determination, and resourcefulness. Other people will want to see where you are going and what you are doing.
Fairness is in the eye of the beholder
We can complain that the early settlers took all of the good land, staked the best claims, and have put a stranglehold on the riches so that no one else can do well. Perhaps it's true. But consider this:
- For every Wal-Mart, a K-Mart may suffer, but a Target and countless niche retailers can thrive
- For every IBM, there's a Microsoft that comes along and reinvents an industry by being nimble, clever, and focused
- For every Microsoft, there's an Apple, a Google, and a Yahoo that changes the world under their noses.
What do you think? Why not share your thoughts?
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Community manager is a role that more companies will adopt in the coming years. Jeremiah Owyang provide a huge list of companies who have such a champion already, and more recently gave businesses a scorecard for whether startups should have a community manager. Here, I’ve talked about managing a community and what it takes. I’ve discussed what I want in a social media expert. I’ve even written about how we might do community management wrong. Here are some pieces of the puzzle that I think are vital to the role, and to its adoption for most businesses. Tell me what you think.
The Essential Skills of a Community Manager
The best community managers are like a good party host mixed with a fine restaurant host. I make a distinction because a party is more personal and a restaurant requires their host to think with a business mind. Community managers need both skillsets in equal space. A party host will connect people together, praise incoming guests appropriately, maintain conversations throughout the event, and see everyone safely off with a smile and a wave. A restaurant host must be certain the ambiance is just right, know that the kitchen is functioning appropriately, and help the rest of the staff pull off a flawless dining experience. The blend of the two mindsets suit a company’s community manager well.
Community managers must be experienced communicators. One thing a communicator needs to do well is LISTEN. Part of that involves building sites and community spaces such that people have a place to engage you directly, and part of that means using listening tools to understand what’s being said about you elsewhere. Upon hearing and understanding, a community manager should engage with their own authentic voice, not with a marketing message.
Community managers are ambassadors and advocates in one. This is complex, but a community manager’s first responsibility is to her employer, and yet, she must convey the voice of the people (customers and other stakeholders) such that the company fully understands the mood of the marketplace, the needs of the people, and the customer’s intentions. Further, the community manager must clearly understand the community’s position in the marketplace and communicate that in such a way that customers don’t feel they are being fed a line.
Community managers are bodyguards and protectors. Some communities find a bad apple in their midst. A solid community manager will understand the difference between a vocal critic and a curmudgeonly troll. Knowing when to remove someone politely and quickly from the party is an important matter. The rest of your guests will appreciate this. Just be sure that you know the difference.
Community managers must build actionable reports. It’s not good enough to send emails to your leadership saying, “We had 54 comments on that last blog post.” Metrics and reports appropriate to your organization are necessary to weigh the value of these efforts. Understanding the goals of your organization’s use of social media, and especially the relationship marketing expressed within having a community manager position in the first place are the key to understanding what to measure (I have several measurements I’ve communicated to companies over the last few months, each reasonably different).
Community managers cultivate internal teams for further support. As community managers are the face of the organization (or “a” face) to your online customers, being sure to promote internal champions, leaders, and other teammates becomes important. One reason is that you want your customers and stakeholders to realize the humanity within the company. Another reason is more for the company’s benefit: should the community manager leave the organization, some level of continuity might be salvaged.
Your Take
I’ve given you my ideas on what I find essential to a community manager role. I’m curious how you’d apply this to your needs, and/or if you can see what I might have missed. Your thoughts are valued.
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The Social Media 100 is a project by Chris Brogan dedicated to writing 100 useful blog posts in a row about the tools, techniques, and strategies behind using social media for your business, your organization, or your own personal interests. Swing by [chrisbrogan.com] for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them, as this is a group project, and your opinion matters.
Get the entire series by subscribing to this blog, and subscribe to my free newsletter here.
Photo credit, foxtongue
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Xobni, the Y Combinator email startup that turned down an acquisition offer from Microsoft earlier this year, has just lost its VP Engineering and first employee, Gabor Cselle. Cselle joined the company in March 2007, sporting a seemingly perfect resume that included work on the Gmail team and a Master’s thesis on “Organizing Email”.
The departure may not be abrupt (Cselle won’t be leaving until the end of August), but it is unexpected, and frankly, doesn’t make much sense. Since launching at TechCrunch40, Xobni has shown impressive growth and received widespread acclaim - Bill Gates demoed the service at the Office Development Conference earlier this year.
CEO Jeff Bonford (who joined the company only five months ago) says that Cselle simply decided that he was no longer happy at Xobni, and wanted to try building his own startup. Bonford says that Cselle likely wants his own shot at glory, and because of Xobni’s quick rise to success, members of the team may believe that launching a startup is far easier than it really is.
Cselle’s blog post on his depature seems to confirm this, at least in part:
“Ever since reading a biography of Bill Gates when I was 14 years old, I’ve wanted to be a founder of a company that makes a difference. I’ve wanted to build a workplace where people can be creative, productive, and happy, and a product that delights users and improves their lives. I feel like the time is now.”
Cselle may be itching to try his own luck, but Bonford’s explanation still doesn’t sit well with us. Microsoft just threw $20 million at the company, which it turned down, likely in hopes of a better offer somewhere down the road. Why wouldn’t Cselle wait for his payday and then jump ship to start his own company?
We’ve heard that Cselle has been unhappy at the company for months, but we haven’t been able to reach him for any further details (we’ll update the post as soon as we do). In his blog post, he says that after leaving Xobni in August, he’s going to travel the world, raising money along the way for a new email startup.
Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
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When Digg’s Lead Architect Joe Stump took the stage at the Facebook Developer Conference in San Francisco earlier today, something in one of his screen shots caught our attention. He was there to show how users will soon be able to log in to Digg without an account via their Facebook credentials (the new Facebook Connect product). But also included prominently in the screen, but not mentioned by Stump, was an option to log in via OpenID.
Digg founder Kevin Rose promised OpenID integration at a conference in early 2007, but the company has been silent on it since then. Like many other companies, they seemed to enjoy the positive press that the announcement made but were unwilling to schedule the development time to actually implement it.
Facebook Connect isn’t slated to go live until the Fall, and we assume they’ll push OpenID at the same time. We asked OpenID’s David Recordan what he knew - he said he noticed the same thing we did but doesn’t have any additional information on when or if Digg would finally implement the single sign-on solution. We also have an email in to Digg for comment.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
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It’s been a full day here at f8 2008. About 1,400 developers and partners are in attendance, and afternoon sessions are going on now. Here’s a full run-down of the day’s news so far:
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Facebook Announces “Great Apps” and “App Verification” Certification Programs for Good App Developers
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Facebook Announces Launch of Facebook Connect Beta
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Live Notes from Mark Zuckerberg’s Keynote at f8 Developer Conference
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Facebook’s Ben Ling on Guiding Principles for Apps
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Facebook Announces Crowd-Sourced Translation Tools Now Available for Developers
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Facebook Announces First Recipients of fbFund, Launches $10 Million Competition
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Facebook Announces Facebook Connect for iPhone
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Q&A with Facebook Execs at f8
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Neatorama found this photo of a 2nd Century AD bust that bears a resemblance to The Hillbilly Cat.
Roman Elvis (Neatorama)
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While the primary thrust of F8 Facebook announcements was for developers, I mentally translate what this means for web strategists at brands at Fortune 5000s.
One key announcement is Facebook Connect which allows for authentication on 3rd party websites. Then users can visit third party sites, login with their Facebook ID, connect with their friends and update their Facebook newspage –all without visiting Facebook.com
Essentially, the Facebook experience extends further into the web –beyond their walled garden.
Facebook Connect allows users to authenticate using their Facebook ID
Similair to OpenId (which not-coincidently was adopted by competitor MySpace) third party developers can allow website visitors to login to their website using their Facebook ID. This “Passport” system (much like what Microsoft tried to do) will let members leave comments on third party sites –as well as identify their friends on these sites.
Facebook Connect Will Allow third party sites to update Facebook Newspage
Facebook Connect allows applications, devices, websites to allow third party sites to embed a small piece of code on your site. Then, as users come to your site, (assuming they are Facebook users) could login to Facebook from your site and choose to share activities that would be shared on their newsfeed on Facebook.
Example via Techcrunch: “Mike Philips from Citysearch is taking the stage. He says they are launching a new site, where sharing information is a big piece. They are integrating with Facebook Connect. When a user looks for a hotel, restaurant, etc., Citysearch already has lots of reviews and data, but not a way to link up reviews from friends.”
[Soon, brands can connect their social applications and websites using Facebook Connect which will allow users to social activities with their network without ever leaving the brand website]
Recommendations for Brands
Interestingly, I talked to some Facebook employees, and they weren’t even looking as far as I was, (which means I’m doing my job well) so this prediction is something to still watch.
Brands should watch how this impacts the few launch partners first, let them sort out the bugs, and put this on the roadmap. Brands that have websites that have social actions (such as buying a product, rating, ranking, or leaving comments) should keep this in mind, as they can now extend the actions to Facebook streams.
Brands that are already trying to reach the Facebook audience (white collar workers and college students) should plan on experimenting with Facebook Connect as it can bring additional social functionality to corporate websites.
Your logins could become less relevant if Facebook adoption continues to take off in particular markets, for example brands that are already trying to reach this segment should put adopt Facebook Connect. I ran this Tim O’Shaughnessy, CEO Living Social, who agreed this is a big change.
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Google's Wikipedia competitor, Google Knol, officially opens its doors today. The site is already populated with several knols (definition: "an authoritative article about a specific topic"), but anyone can create their own knol as of today. The major difference between Google Knol and Wikipedia—as we pointed out in our original post—is that knols aren't collaboratively written in the same way Wikipedia articles are. Instead, a single user creates and moderates a knol.
Any topic can have several knols written on it, so the featured knol is based on your credentials and the authority of the article. There's also no anonymous editing of knols, so you'll need to sign in with your Google account to get started. Currently knols are limited (most of my search results turned up empty), but take a look at the lung cancer articles on Google Knol and on Wikipedia for some comparison browsing. Now that you can officially take a look, let's hear if you think Google Knol has the chops to overtake your Wikipedia obsession in the comments.
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Like so many McCain campaign disasters — choosing Phil “Poor People Suck” Gramm as financial adviser or announcing a press conference on an oil rig during a hurricane — it probably seemed like a terrific idea at the time: Harass Barack Obama into embarking on an international fact-finding mission thing, which would obviously provide so many embarrassing gaffes and make Americans scared to death of the Boy Muslim President.
Instead, Obama has turned the world into an exciting and hopeful background for his candidacy. Here’s what we’ve noticed, so far:
- The U.S. troops in Afghanistan endorse his plans there.
- … Where he also made a three-pointer from way downtown on his first try.
- The Iraqi government endorses his plan over the Bush/McCain non-plan.
- He struts around without body armor, a foot taller than everybody else — in painful contrast to Ol’ Walnuts looking like a Kevlar burrito wearing an old lady’s sun hat.
- The hawkish Israelis say, “Hey, this fellow will let us nuke Iran, too. We like him fine.”
- The saner Israelis say, “Hey, maybe this guy isn’t such a one-note warmonger and might actually accomplish something over here.”
- The Jordanians say, “Welcome, Mr. Cool. Our king will drive you around and you guys can figure everything out.”
- Germany’s Angela Merkel pronounces him “well-equipped — physically, mentally and politically.”
- The Palestinians make him a bagel!
Meanwhile, McCain has bumbled and stumbled from one fuckup to another. He doesn’t know where Iraq is, he doesn’t know when his precious Surge started, the magic sheiks his polices protected were murdered by Al Qaeda a year ago, he whines about the media following Obama’s epic trip, the trip McCain forced Obama to make.
Meanwhile, the NYT says “no thanks” to McCain’s crappy op-ed while his idiot staffers book him atop an offshore oil platform during a hurricane and cancel his one serious press conference of the week. It is all frantic and weird.
McCain Makes the Biggest Political Mistake of Our Lifetimes [Matt Littman/HuffPo]
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昨天凌晨1点09分，我贴出来一份调查，今天凌晨一点，我把调查隐藏起来，目的就是做一个24小的调查。如果我做一个星期的调查，结果也不会有多大出入。在这24小时之内，一共收到有效答卷11819份。具体调查数据大家可以到这里去看。
有这样的一组数据是很可贵的，现在很多人评论互联网，很多人谈论博客，很多人谈论互联网上的现象，但是都该有点科学依据。我的博客流量还可以，来的人乱七八糟什么都有，所以这个调查数据还有点普遍性。我觉得老六啊、土摩托啊就不用调查了，差不多都是这么一些人在上网。调查设计的不太有针对性也是出于这个目的，虽然这组数据不是百分百的准确，但至少能说明一些问题，但总比没有数据强。以后我没事就老调查。
我为什么要做这么一个调查？我说了，知己知彼，我基本上在明处，你们都在暗处。打个比方，当我看到博客留言时，我总是好奇，这个人到底是干什么的，多大年纪……一连串的问号又让我对现今的网络空间产生很大兴趣，是什么人营造的互联网空间的气氛？嗯哼，现在有些眉目了。
一、你是男的还是女的？
好多人说看我博客的以女性居多，现实中倒是总听人说，我有个朋友，女孩，特爱看你博客。但我一直怀疑，比如我签售的时候就发现，其实男女比例差不多，还没有一边倒的态势，势均力敌。这次调查用铁的事实告诉大家，尤其是告诉老六——我其实没有女人缘，我有男人缘。55.50%的男性看我博客，41.86%的女性看我博客。我估计我博客的内容百无禁忌，低级庸俗下流的东西比较多，深受男性喜爱。另外还有2.63%的人没有填写性别，这大概是他们自己还搞不清是什么性别。或者让我想起当初我参与一起调查，说中国有将近3.3%的群体是同性恋，或者2.63%跟这个有关？
二、什么年龄的人在上网？
我打算写一篇文章，谈谈互联网上兴起的抵制之风，我武断地认为，是因为80后占据互联，他们从小过着要星星不给月亮的生活，如果你给他月亮，他就抵制，做父母的只好给星星。这种脾气从小养成了，大了就跟单细胞动物——草履虫一样了，除了抵制就不会干别的。但是这篇文章我没写，因为如果我写了就会有一帮80后的人站出来抵制我，而我肯定哑口无言，因为我没证据。没有调查就没发言权，我先调查，然后再去写。调查结果显示：30岁以下（1978年以后出生，计划生育开始）看我博客的人占73.59%，这个数据告诉我们，今天的互联网被独生子一代统治了。30岁以上的人所占的比例不到1/4。现在你可以明白中国互联网的基本构成了，谁持彩练当空舞？是独生子们。当然你会说，你这一万多人有代表性么？没有你调查出来一个我看看。
我的确是对“80独”有个人偏见的，我不隐瞒自己的态度，你可以举出很多优秀的“80独”，我也能举出很多劣质的“80独”，谁都可以一竿子掀翻一船人，所以这么争论也没意思，还是用事实说话，看看今天的互联网上流行的东西，大概可窥中国当今国民素质之一斑。反正不管你爱听不爱听，愿不愿意接受这个结果，我分析的就是这样的。我认为，中国独生子一代比任何一个时代的人都没有归属感和安全感，因此他们喜欢以群氓无首的姿态形成一种势力，来寻求一种认同和归属。具体答案其实可以看一本书《群氓之族》，虽然这本书讲的是关于宗教信仰民族纠纷的，但是道理同样适合当今中国互联网上的各种风潮、现象、运动、热点。有兴趣的人不妨买来看看。
三、什么地方的互联网最发达？
其实这个问题我本来不打算设置了，33个省市自治区的名字就让我输入大半天，其实我都能想象得出，这个结果是什么样子。事实上跟我以前看到的结果没有任何差别，北京、上海、广东、浙江、江苏、山东的网民最多。看来我以后卖书就到这几个地方卖，哈哈。欢迎你们抵制哦。
四、都什么职业的人看我博客？
这个结果跟我猜想的差不多，我从留言就能看到一些模样。学生居多是毋庸置疑的。另外我的分类可能不太科学，原来的模版有三十多个分类，我认为太麻烦，比如商业与金融，很难说这批人是做什么的。它占的比例很高，另外“其他行业”的人占的比例也很高，我很奇怪的是，制造业的人很多，你们都制造什么——除了孩子之外？传统媒体行业占的比例不算高，这个很正常，因为从事这个行业的人整体基数就不大。从事公关和广告行业的人也不少，你们别光看，该做点广告了。
五、链接是多么重要啊。
如果你想让你的博客受到关注，最好的办法就是让人多多链接你的博客。一多半的人是通过别人的博客链接或是页面链接找到我这里的。但是我也看到，有23.41%的人是经朋友介绍过来的，这说明，俺滴口碑还是可以滴。
六、比尔·盖茨的同一个世界。
这个调查其实我最想知道的是有多少人通过RSS看我博客，因为这个没法统计，有18.14%的人是这样看我博客的。像我这样只会用IE浏览器的人看来是绝大多数。比尔·盖茨当年推出IE，我抵制了两年，最终还是“屈服塔”（约翰·特拉沃尔塔港译名）了。
七、大宝天天见。
居然有一多半的人每天都看我博客。你说我要不在这上面卖点东西你们是不是很失望啊？我以前一直觉得，每天看我博客的人，大约占20%，看来比我估计的要可怕得多。谢谢惠顾。
八、终于知道服务器为什么要崩溃了。
其实我的博客适合每三四天来一次，但是一天一次的占一多半，一天两次的也将近1/4，难怪给我提供空间的朋友说服务器总报警呢。建议大家以后一天一次就行了，次数多了我受不了。
九、人们上网就是图个乐。
原来大家喜欢看我扯淡，还喜欢我谈论社会话题，不过令我欣慰的是，大家对我的个人私生活没兴趣，但你们一定要对《文化@私生活》感兴趣哦。另外，由于我总拿周边的朋友开涮，居然大家也有兴趣了。其实从某种心理学角度来说，当你去谈论一个对方不熟悉的人，他会没兴趣的。还好，我这些朋友多少还有点知名度，看来以后要经常祸害他们。另外还有4.17%对我的任何文字都不感兴趣，谢谢你们受累到这里的目的就是单纯增加我的点击量。
十、有钱人真多。
看我博客的年轻人较多，但是从收入这个结果来看，似乎有点不对，这可能是我在设置上的问题，从这个结果显示来看，有钱人跟没钱人差不多各占一半，如果按月收入5000元来计算的话。你会问，干吗要调查这个？答案很简单，任何现象都与经济有关。
十一、本科生消费互联网。
从调查结果看，中国研究生学历的人并不多。本科生（包括大专生）仍然占大多数，这说明当今互联网上的学历构成基本以本科生为主。目前中国大学本科教育堪忧。
十二、网络与生活越来越紧密。
如果一个人每天在互联网上呆6个小时以上，可以视为他进入网络生活了。当然，有相当一部分人是打开电脑就进入互联网，网络只是联系外部世界的一个窗口，但不管怎么说，大部分人已经适应了网络这种生活方式。
十三、你觉得我该卖什么呢？
好多人看到这个调查，以为我要做网上买卖了，其实你看现在“掏包网”那么火，还用我调查么？我在这里调查是想看看大家对消费什么感兴趣而已，万一我明天找厂家谈广告呢，空口无凭，要有数据为证。
十四·十五、你会越来越习惯的。
消费方式就是个习惯问题，不习惯的人早晚会习惯的。
十六、网上最适合卖的东西是什么？
不管是单选还是多选，看来人们习惯在网上消费的是图书和数码产品。这个也不用我调查，至少看我博客的人都喜欢这个，看来看书的人还是多。
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Aaron Massey has a good write-up of the DNS vulnerability that was discovered by security researcher Dan Kaminsky and leaked onto the Internet this week. In a nutshell, a flaw in the design of the DNS protocol (which translates domain names like "techdirt.com" to IP addresses) will make it possible for malicious individuals to invisibly redirect web traffic from legitimate sites to sites of the attacker's choosing. This is a huge deal because a ton of online applications and services depend on reliable DNS for their security. You might think you're visiting your bank's website, but if your DNS server isn't patched you could really be sending your password to hackers in Russia. Kaminsky tells Wired that fewer than half of the DNS servers on the Internet were patched when the details of the vulnerability leaked, so it's a real problem. If your ISP hasn't patched its DNS servers, you can protect yourself by switching to OpenDNS until they do so.
There's a long-running argument in computer security circles about the best way to release information about security vulnerabilities, with a lot of security professionals favoring immediate, public disclosure of all vulnerabilities. Kaminsky chose not to go the public disclosure route because he felt this bug was too serious to take the risk of its being misused. Kaminsky approached the major DNS vendors in March, and managed to keep the details secret long enough for them to develop fixes for their products. Then, on July 8, Kaminsky announced the simultaneous release of these fixes, while still keeping the details of the vulnerability secret. (The fixes worked in a general enough way that they didn't give away the details of the vulnerability.) He had been intending to keep it secret until August 8, so that systems administrators would have a full month to prepare their networks. Unfortunately, the information leaked out on Monday, leading to a scramble to patch the remaining DNS servers before exploits start showing up. Given the scope of the patching effort (16 people from various organizations were invited to the secret March summit among DNS vendors), I think it's pretty impressive that the details didn't leak out earlier.
Timothy Lee is an expert at the Techdirt Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Timothy Lee and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.
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<Scene: Steve Ballmer's office, some time ago>:
Door opens, a man's head peeks in. He's the manager for the XBox360 "Steve, got a minute?"
"Sure, what's up?"
"Well, we have the latest sales figures, and they look good. We're selling steadily in our core markets."
"Excellent news. Outselling the PS3?"
"Oh handily. The only real advantage they have is Blu-Ray, and it's not that big a deal. Most people think standard DVD is good enough, you can still get an upscaling player for less than a Blu-Ray player or a PS3, and there's not enough available Blu-Ray content to push a wide-scale switch."
"Hot damn! So much for Sony's vaunted long-range planning. How are game licenses?"
"Kicking ass Steve. We have some great games, and face it, Xbox Live! is something Sony just can't match. Guitar Hero, Rock Band, you name it, the XBox Live! integration is the feature that keeps us far ahead of them."
"I knew it! People want that kind of environment. It's good to be number one!"
"..."
"We are number one, right?"
"Well...that depends."
"What do you mean: "That depends"?"
"Well, in terms of game sales, and HD Console sales, we're kicking ass"
"That would imply there's an area we are not kicking ass in."
"Um...yeah. That would be a correct statemement."
"Wait, not the Wii. The Wii is still outselling us?"
"As a console? Yeah. Not games, but everyone's buying one. Grandmothers, housewives, people who we could never touch."
"What the fuck? We have better graphics, a better online platform, you name it, we have it better. HOW are they outselling us?"
"Well, it's still the same thing. Xbox Live is great, but that's still one person in a room by themselves. The Wii has that whole "have a party" vibe. And there's Mario."
"MARIO? How the fuck is that fat plumber kicking our ass?"
"Steve, people grew UP with Mario. Donkey Kong. Mario Brothers. Super Mario Brothers. Mario Kart. They've even got online play for Mario Kart"
"You're fucking kidding me. Tell me you're fucking kidding me that last year's graphics and a shitty kid's racing game are not the reason they're kicking Xbox ass!"
"Um. No. There's something else that's even more popular than Mario. It's selling like the Wii did when it was released."
"WHAT ELSE? What else does that two-bit schlockmeister of a company have? Every time someone says "Wii" my fucking aorta clenches up. So what is it? Tell me now, then drive a fucking SPIKE RIGHT THROUGH MY HEAD. Finish me off."
"Um...well..."
"Spit it out. What game is letting the fucking plumber kick my ass?"
"Well, it's not just a game...exactly. It's also new hardware."
"What? They got better graphics?"
"No, no. It's not that"
"Then what?"
"Fit"
"What?"
"The Wii Fit"
"What the FUCK is a Wii Fit?"
"It's a balance board and game that helps you exercise."
"What the HELL do you mean 'It helps you exercise'?"
"Yoga, strength training, balance games. Keeps track of your BMI and your weight. Helps you lose weight and get in shape."
"So let me get this straight...we have top-notch graphics."
"...Yes..."
"We have great sound."
"...Yes..."
"We have Xbox Live!"
"...yes..."
"We have the best set of games, including Halo-fucking-3, that every fucking gamer practically anally raped themselves over, and you're telling me that with all that, Nintendo, with shitty graphics and lamer sound is kicking our ass, because they came out with a game that lets every fat fucking housewife and grandparent stand on a boogie board in sweatpants and DO FUCKING YOGA!!!!!!"
".......yes.....pleasedon'tkillme...."
"Leave. Now."
"But..."
"Leave, or fuck the chair, I'm going to stuff my WHOLE FUCKING OFFICE UP YOUR FUCKING ASS WHILE I CONTEMPLATE WHY THE COMPANY THAT SELLS MORE SOFTWARE THAN EVERYONE ELSE COMBINED CAN'T DO SOMETHING SIMPLE LIKE FIGURE OUT A WAY TO OUTSELL NIN-FUCKING-TENDO!!!! DON'T TALK, DON'T DO ANYTHING BUT LEAVE MY OFFICE, AND LET ME LIVE WITH THE FUCKING SHAME OF GETTING MY ASS BEAT BY VIRTUAL RICHARD FUCKING SIMMONS!!!!"
You just know that both Sony and Microsoft are sitting there thinking about the Fit, and wondering just what the hell is going on with the world when a yoga game is more popular than the latest GTA.
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Aza recently posted on modal overlays, those dialogs that pop up and disable the background behind them. You can click anywhere inside modal overlays, but you can’t click anything in background until the dialog goes away.
Usually when we think of modals, we think of dialog boxes like the one below from Google Documents. Aza’s critique applies to this kind of modal. After you call up the find/replace box, you can’t click anywhere but inside the dialog. That means you can’t scroll the document underneath the dialog or copy and paste a word from the document into the dialog box while the dialog box is displayed.
But that’s not the only kind of modal overlay. Check out this Preference pane from Apple’s Me.com. It has nothing to do with modifying the content behind it. It could just as well be a separate screen.
Actually, this fact that it could be a separate screen caught my interest. At 37 we never use modal overlays. All our settings screens are completely independent from the other screens in the app. In order to explore the difference between these two approaches, I mocked up an alternate version of Apple’s preference screen that fills the entire window like a typical web app might.
It’s interesting to compare these two versions. I have to admit I like the modal one a lot better. On the one hand it has more visual interest and depth. On the other, it raises some interesting questions about navigation.
Modals as alternatives to navigation
Two questions that often float in our minds when we use software are “Where am I?” and “How do I get back?” There are common techniques we use to ease these concerns like tabbed interfaces, breadcrumbs and “Cancel” links. We should think of the modal overlay as a tool in the same family. It is uniquely powerful at quieting these nervous questions. “Where am I?” is a non-starter because you never left the original screen. And “How do I get back?” is trivial when the original screen remains visible in the background.
Screen size as a reflection of importance
Another thing I like about the modal approach to Preferences is that the preference screen doesn’t feel equal to the other application screens. You get the feeling it didn’t deserve its own browser window’s worth of real estate.
When we design the UI for a particular screen we always try to make the important and frequently-used elements larger and more prominent than the lesser-used elements. It’s a good rule of thumb to think that if elements in the same context all have the same size, then they must be equally important. Apple’s Preferences modal applies the same principle to the scale of entire screens. The preferences screen is itself smaller than the browser window that plays host to the more important screens full of real data.
Modals aren’t all bad
While Aza’s critique still holds for modals like the Google docs example above, Me.com demonstrates that modal overlays do have a place as an alternative to navigating between independent screens. It’s also very interesting to consider which screens really deserve their own browserful of real estate and which should be reduced to substates of other screens. I suspect that when people praise applications for being particularly “Ajaxed” or “Desktop” in style, this lack of navigation between separate screens is a big part of the appeal. Apple has shown that it’s possible to bring desktop-style interactions into web apps without falling into the extreme of a desktop clone. It should be fun to see where other designers take the inspiration.