All posts by Steffan Antonas

91 Posts

May 20, 2009 · Journal

George Needs A Job

george Everyone, meet George. Every morning at 7:45am for the last 6 weeks I’ve passed him on my way to work in Carlsbad, CA. Every day he’s up before me, standing proudly in business attire with his bright yellow sign that says in huge bold letters “I NEED A JOB”. Today I stopped and interviewed him on camera in hopes that I could share his story with all of you, because it’s quite inspiring (see the video below).

I’ll let George tell you about what his 6 weeks holding his sign has been like in the video, but I would like to share some additional thoughts about him. Off camera I had a chance to chat with George and ask him very directly about why he believed standing at the side of a main thoroughfare in Carlsbad was a good idea and what the experience had been like for him. I genuinely wanted to hear what he had to say – 6 weeks is a long time to stand in the hot sun holding a sign like this one. His answer was incredibly humble, optimistic and honest. He said “I am one of the huge percent of people who’ve been laid off in California, and all of them are looking for work. This turns the tables in my favor. Every morning I have people see me who can help. People have come together to help me pay my rent, and this week I’ve had more interviews than I’ve had in 3 years, but it’s taken 6 weeks of standing here to get to this point. It’s hard because it hurts your pride standing on the side of a road with a sign like this, but the experience has been positive and I’m optimistic.

May 20, 2009 · Business & Entrepreneurship, Community, Design, Social Media, Technology, Top Posts, Web Strategy

Built It, Then Make Them Experts

There’s a lot we can learn about best practices for creating and releasing software or web services to the masses from watching the video gaming industry. Successful video game companies know how important it is that they engage and immerse users quickly because they know they aren’t just in the software business, they’re in the fun business, and there’s nothing fun about sucking at a game. Recognizing this, they’ve developed innovative methods for getting complete novices engaged and enjoying the product as quickly as possible. I call this the “zero to fun” metric.

Getting a user from zero to fun as fast as possible isn’t just a gaming industry must. Everyone wants to enjoy the experience of using software and the web, and how much we enjoy the experience is largely a function of how adept we feel as users. Making a user feel like an expert is key to making their experience remarkable, and for that reason, giving a user that feeling quickly should be one of the primary goals of any company releasing software or web services to the world.

May 1, 2009 · Business & Entrepreneurship, Design

The Real Dynamics Of First-Mover Advantage

Mick Liubinskas (Co-Founder and Web Product Director of Pollenizer) wrote a piece today on ReadWriteWeb as part of their ReadWriteStart channel that had some great points about the realities of “first mover advantage” that I’ve heard echoed by many battle-hardened internet entrepreneurs. The post is titled First-Mover Advantage Is About Compound Interest, Not Market Share. Here are some of best nuggets:

April 30, 2009 · Uncategorized

Why The Public Sector Needs To Commit To Scientific Research

Speaking at the National Academy of Sciences 2 days ago, the President reinforced the need for a sustained national commitment to science. His firm stance that “science is more essential for our prosperity, our security, our health and our environment and our quality of life” is an important step in shifting the national consciousness to build a strong culture of innovation. I particularly appreciated this explanation of why the public sector needs to commit to research:

“Basic scientific research is scientific capital. The fact is, an investigation into a particular physical, chemical or biological process might not pay off for a year or a decade or at all. And when it does, the rewards are often broadly shared, enjoyed by those who bore its costs, but also by those who did not. And that’s why the private sector generally underinvests in basic science, and why the public sector must invest in this kindof research. Because while the risks may be large, so are the rewards for our economy and our society.”

Right on, Mr. President.

April 28, 2009 · Business & Entrepreneurship, Design

Mulitple Prototypes, Better Feedback

I mentioned in a previous post that open-social development for products has been a getting a lot of press lately. Companies are learning that true customer insight starts by including customers and users in the development stage. Getting prototypes into the hands of your potential customers early-on, and iterating a ton based on the feedback you get, can pay huge dividends in the long run…but only if the feedback you get is good. One key insight can greatly improve your chances of getting what you want from your guinea pigs…

When it comes to prototypes, more is virtually always better.

One prototype is a solid start – it’s better than nothing, and has some value. The trouble, however, with showing someone just one idea and asking them what they think is that their answer is likely going to be tainted by what they think about you because you’ve presented an idea that you’ve (obviously) committed to. If they are a friend (or simply want to develop rapport with you) they’ll likely respond positively regardless of whether idea has true merit. The opposite is often true if you suggest a single idea to someone who doesn’t like you (for whatever crazy reason). What you’re likely to get is an unnecessarily negative response or no real feedback at all. In both cases, the person you’re trying to glean insight from is less likely to give you the kind of quality, objective feedback you need.

April 17, 2009 · Business & Entrepreneurship, Technology, Trendspotting

Trendspotting At Web 2.0 Expo

I recently spent a week at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, CA. I had a ball. There’s something (dare I say Worldchanging?) about the O’Reilly events this year. There’s a sense of community, shared responsibility and agency in the air. It’s one thing to be social in the blogosphere and participate in online communities…but it’s quite another to be physically present among this many smart people clustered together, sharing their data, ideas and experiences. Over the course of the week I saw a number of presentations that echoed common ideas about what’s going on right now, and what forces the major players are responding to. Here are 5 of the most noteworthy trends:

Local Is The New Global

Consumers are increasingly taking a look at their lives through a local-lens and using the web as an information resource to improve their offline experiences and purchasing power. The emergence of mobile phones as computer devices (i.e. GPS-enabled iPhones etc) lines are blurring the lines between online offerings and on-the-go, real-world ones. Geolocation services on mobile devices, as well as off-line meetups organized online, embedded mapping and “find near you” services on the web are hightening people’s awareness about what’s around them and getting them out of the house, building communities in their local areas.

April 7, 2009 · Social Media, Technology

An Interview With Alex Iskold, Founder and CEO of AdaptiveBlue

This just popped on to my radar and I thought it was worth sharing. A number of people have asked me about what Glue is and what it does since my latest post on the major upgrades AdaptiveBlue released last week during the Web 2.0 Expo. Nick O’Neill has done a 15 minute interview with Alex Iskold, the CEO of AdaptiveBlue, that highlights exactly what Glue is, what it does and gives a detailed demo of the new features that allow you to have conversations around (and get recommendations for) books, movies, restaurants, wines and other objects as you browse the web.

Interview With Alex Iskold of Glue from Nick O’Neill on Vimeo.

March 30, 2009 · Technology

Geeking Out At Web 2.0

I’m heading up to San Fransisco tomorrow for the 2009 Web 2.0 Expo. I am thrilled. If you’re going to be there, and want to meet up in person, come say hi! Here’s a quick list of events and sessions you’re likely to find me at:

Wednesday Sessions 4/1/2009

Why Local Is The New Global (8:30am, Wednesday 04/01 in 2009)

On the influence of consumers’ local-thinking in this new world, and how even online brands and companies are better served by thinking about their customer’s and audience’s offline worlds.

WWCMD? What Would the Community Manager Do? (9:40am, Wednesday 04/01 in 2006)

What makes an effective Community Manager? How can we apply the Community Manager’s approach to all aspects of running a business? In this session we will work together to create a list of best practices and then discuss what we might be able to learn from them.

Beyond Buzz: On Measuring Conversation (10:50am, Wednesday 04/01 in 2006)

As our media model transforms, how do the metrics evolve? Moving beyond buzz levels, this presentation offers new methods to gauge the depth of interactions and emotional connections online, offering a new model of ROI.

The Lean Startup: a Disciplined Approach to Imagining, Designing, and Building New Products. (1:30 in 2009)

Learn to do more with less. The Lean Startup is a practical approach to creating and managing a new breed of company that excels in low-cost experimentation, rapid iteration, and true customer insight. It uses principles of agile software development, open source and web 2.0, and lean manufacturing to guide technology businesses that create disruptive innovation

Best Practices in Social Media Integration for Web Publishers and Content Providers

Web publishers from the New York Times to CollegeHumor have recognized the importance of social media as a major driver of traffic. This session will explore the best practices employed by the publishers who have most successfully integrated social media into their platforms.

March 24, 2009 · Community, Cyberculture, Social Media, Top Posts, Web Strategy

Status Culture – Public vs Private and Why It Matters

[tweetmeme]I recently made the decision to stop feeding my Twitter posts into Facebook. The reason is simple – I continually get negative feedback from my non-Twittering Facebook friends on how I update my status. Some hated how often I updated, some didn’t get what “@” and “RT” was, some didn’t like that they couldn’t join in on conversations that weren’t actually taking place inside Facebook’s walls, and some people didn’t like how “impersonal” most of my updates were (I use Twitter like a shared feed reader a lot).

Not all the feedback was bad, of course – I don’t mean to exaggerate. I’ve gotten quite a few Facebook friends into Twitter because they noticed the difference in how it’s used and saw the value. No, my choice was because there’s a significant difference in status culture between the two platforms, and, because I’m a heavy Twitter user, I would continue to violate social rules inside of Facebook (and piss off my friends).

Recognizing the emerging differences in status culture is an important step to understanding how people behave on either platform and how we can shape interaction with good design. In this post I’ll offer some insights into the differences between Twitter and Facebook, how they change people’s behavior, and argue that the differences in public-ness and prive-ness cause fundamental and important shifts in how people interact and use each platform.

Friends vs. Followers: How We Group Contacts And Establish Relationships Matters

How we establish and organize our relationships makes a difference to how we interact on any platform. The design of the connection mechanism drives who we (can) connect with, how we connect, and how we display our (implied) relationships (and social responsibility to others). Makes intuitive sense, right?

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