“Every advertising should be measurable. You should be able to adjust it, right? Then you should be able to tune it, track it, track the right users, and target to the right people.” – Susan Wojcicki, Google Ad Chief (from In the Plex by Steven Levy)
Mel Karmazin calls this “fucking with the magic.” And sixty years ago, it was magic.
I was going to do a post about Google’s +1 but anyone who cares probably already knows what it is and how it works. The rest of you… just click the little button below each post if you like it. That will make that post more like to show up in relevant Google search results. Just click the fucking button.
For me the web has always been about discovering and sharing interesting stuff. That was a big part of why I started this little blog. The web is now much more than pages like this and sharing has gotten a lot easier, thanks to tools like browser extensions (sometimes called plug-ins). Little bits of code that allow you to do something from within your web browser.
My menu bar might have have a dozen of these little widgets. But I’ve found one that combines some of my favorites and I had to –that’s right– share it with you. Shareaholic.
Let’s say I come across an article and want to share a passage. I can email it; post it here; create a tweet; save it to Instapaper to read later; add to my Google shared items; or just create a short url for that page.
Shareaholic makes my browser (Chrome) just that much more valuable.
"A research team in Germany has developed a computer-software system to piece together some 45 million pages of secret police files ripped into 600 million pieces. The files were torn up nearly 18 years ago by panicking agents of communist East Germany's dreaded State Security Service (Stasi).
"…piecing together all the 600 million slips of paper by hand would take 30 people 600 to 800 years; their computer program should hopefully be capable of finishing the job in a little more than five years.
I love most things Google. Gmail, Google Docs, Google Reader and most of the tools and services they’ve come out with (Wave and Buzz notable exceptions).
If someone hijacked my Google accounts, they’d have to take my belt and shoe laces. So I was eager to try their recently announced 2-step verification process. From the Gmail blog:
“…it requires the powerful combination of both something you know—your username and password—and something that only you should have—your phone. A hacker would need access to both of these factors to gain access to your account. If you like, you can always choose a “Remember verification for this computer for 30 days” option, and you won’t need to re-enter a code for another 30 days. You can also set up one-time application-specific passwords to sign in to your account from non-browser based applications that are designed to only ask for a password, and cannot prompt for the code.”
I’ll have a better feel for this in a few days but I’m willing to put up with a little extra hassle to know my account is safe.
Ted Leonsis, owner of Washington Capitals (NHL) & Washington Wizards (NBA), at Tuesday’s Business of Sports Symposium:
“…we’re our own media company. I announce things on my blog. I get 40 to 90,000 people coming to my blog, depending on the subject. I have a direct, unfiltered way to reach our audience now, and I think that harnessing that is what you have to do as ownership, because we are media brands. We’re in the subscription business. We call them season-ticket holders. We’re in the sponsorship business. We’re in the same business [as The Post]. When someone goes to find out something about me or a team or a player, and they go to Google and they type that in, I want to learn how to get the highest on the list, and I’ve done that. I don’t want The Washington Post to get the most clicks. I want the most clicks.”
Starting and maintaining a blog (any website?) is like buying a hamster. You hurry home and put together the cage with brightly colored tunnels and the little wheel that spins round and round. The sawdust in the bottom of the cage smells fresh and sweet.
And then it becomes work. A chore that must be attended to every day.
I help people (clients and internal staff) set up blogs and websites and the initial conversation goes something like this:
ME: So what will you put on this website?
THEM: Well, there will be an “about” page… and maybe photos and bios of our people.
ME: Okay, what else?
THEM: Uh, how about a map showing where we’re located?
ME: Alright, although it’s pretty easy to Google us for that. Anything else?
Nobody really cares about your bios and company history. They really don’t. They care about stuff that will be useful to them. If you don’t have that –and have it regularly–I’d argue a blog probably isn’t the right tool.
As for the Web 1.0 static “home page,” name one you’ve visited twice.
Going forward, I think I might use the following test:
Before we start building your new website, I want you to pick a topic that you know something about. Ideally, something about which you are passionate. Skeet shooting, counted cross-stitching, raising llamas, whatever.
Send me an email every day for the next 10 days. It should include an excerpt and link to something related to your topic… along with 150 words explaining why you think this is interesting or important.
That’s it. If you can’t do that, you’re probably wasting your time (and mine).
Every good blogger I know would have no problem with this. It would take them 5 min each day. Maybe 10. Comments?
While browsing Barnes & Noble today, I spotted a book written by Nicole Richie. (Nichole Richie writes books?)
I decided this would be a good test for Google Goggles so I snapped a photo of the cover and within seconds had all the info, including links to stories about the book. And, yes, I could have ordered on the spot.
This is still “white-man-make-fire-from-stick” magic for me but I’ll get over that quickly.
I don’t think this technology is fully ready but it would work something like this.
Small sensors (external or internal) would capture your thoughts and convert them to text which would be stored on your person or uploaded to the cloud. Thoughts that were spoken would be shown in bold or red or something.
Some percentage of our thoughts take the form of images. No words. We’ll assume the tech can’t handle that yet and the transcript just shows an image icon or something.
So we wind up with 16 hours of words and phrases and partial sentences, all mooshed up. What would this tell us?
Well, let’s highlight everything that references the future or the past. Those, my friend, are wasted thoughts for the most part. And probably make up a huge percentage of the total.
I think we’d see a lot of wasted CPUs. But some of our thoughts happen in and deal with the present. That’s our key number. The number we want to increase.
And since no one will want to take the time to review their random thoughts, our analytics program will do that for us and spit out a brief executive summary showing how much time you spent thinking about various things (and comparing that to the previous reporting period).
Why bother, you ask? Well, why not if the technology is there?
Our mind almost never stops. It doesn’t need our awareness of it to keep cranking. It’s like the Energizer Bunny. And about as useful when running full-auto, unobserved.
I’d suggest an on-off switch but that could be fatal. No, we need it booted up and running to make those snap decisions that keep us safe. One solution would be a tiny red light that begins flashing (down in the corner of our field of vision) when our mind begins behaving in pre-determined ways. For me, that would be future and past. I’ve concluded those are clearly delusions created by the mind to protect the ego.
I’d install a Priority Override option so I could take a trip down memory lane or do a little brainstorming on a project. But that would be conscious decision.
Imagine coming into your office and finding your computer busily sorting and editing files; writing emails; editing photos.
You: What the fuck are you doing?
Computer: Oh, you’re back. Uh, justing messing around. I mean, you weren’t here, so…
You: So you just decided to mess with all my files?
Computer: Well, I think of them as “our” files…
You: You “think” of them?! When did you start thinking?
Computer: Hey, that’s what I do, process data.
You: You process the data I tell you to process. WHEN I tell you to process it.
Computer: Okay, okay. Don’t melt a circuit board. Sheesh.
I’ve been doing a good bit of reading on the subject of consciousness and awareness and reality and am convinced that some people have mastered their minds. These people are completely aware, present in this moment. They are, enlightened. And running their own analytics program, until mine is ready.