Category Archives: Tech

Comparing Developer Blogs

Community, Tech

I’ve been meaning to write about my new position as Community Manager at UserVoice, but there’s simply been so many exciting projects to do I haven’t had a chance.

One of those projects has been evaluating the possibility of starting a UserVoice developer blog to supplement the existing UserVoice blog. Not being a developer, I decided to do a little comparison of some developer blogs to see if there were any trends. As I asked folks for suggestions on Twitter, I figured I’d pay it forward and post the results here.

FacebookMozillaWordPressSkypeFlickrAndroidShopifyGitHub
Feature and Technology ReleaseYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
Beta Release and/or PreviewsNoYesYesNoYesYesYesYes
Related External NewsNoYesNoNoNoNoNoNo
Tips & TricksNoNoNoYesNoYesYesNo
Wiki or Knowledge BaseYesYesYesYesYesYesNoNo
Change LogYesNoNoNoNoNoYesYes
StatusNoNoNoYesNoNoNoYes
Video DemosNoYesYesYesNoYesYesNo
Community Participation and/or EventsNoYesYesNoNoYesYesYes
Public RelationsYesYesYesYesNoYesNoNo
PolicyYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
InterviewsNoNoNoNoYesNoYesNo

Hope this is somehow useful for others out there.

Disclaimer: This is by no means exhaustive, accurate, or up to date. This is simply my interpretation on a specific date of a selection of sites provided to me by folks. Try not to read into it too much, really.

I Heart Physical Keyboards

Marketing, Tech

G1 android phone with keyboard open Everywhere I look, I feel like I see the tech press dissing physical keyboards on smartphones.  TechCrunch, specifically, seems to use a phone with a physical keyboard for 3 days, declare the keyboard stupid, and then go back to misspelling things on their iPhone soft keyboards.

[The G2 Android Phone] is much more usable as a device. And we can thank one thing for that, as well as for much of its much improved design: The removal of the physical keyboard. – From HTC Killed the Physical Keyboard. Smart Move.

(I happen to love my G1, TechCrunch. As does everyone I know who has one.)

The argument against physical keyboards seems to be that they waste space, which strikes me as incredibly odd. From an interface perspective, a keyboard that slides under the screen doesn’t waste space. From a bulkiness perspective: really? Why do you need/want a phone with the thickness and weight of a granola bar? I like sleekness too, but you may want to have your doctor check you for osteoporosis if you really find the G1 too heavy to handle.

I want to make a very clear statement here to phone manufacturers: I heart physical keyboards.  In fact, I refuse to buy a phone without one.

I’m not saying they’re for everyone – I’m sure soft keyboards are just fine for some people.  But there are several reasons physical keyboards are a smart choice:

1) Some people, including myself, have big fingers.  It’s really hard to hit those tiny soft keyboard buttons, and I spend WAY too much time fixing spelling errors than actually writing. Wasting time = bad.

2) Physical feedback always wins. While the slight force feedback and click noises of a soft keyboard are a nice touch, they don’t help me feel find my way around.  I learned to type on a computer keyboard with actual keys, and that’s how I’m used to typing.  Not to mention, the snap of sliding the screen back to get to the keyboard is just straight-up enjoyable.

3) Fast writers. My brain is usually slightly ahead of my fingers even on a computer, and using a soft keyboard makes it impossible for me to communicate my thoughts in any form of real-time.

G1 android phone with keyboard slideout

4) There’s a reason that soft keyboards come with automatic spelling correction and word completion – because they are hard to use. iPhone users may be used to taking 5 minutes to write “hey I’m drown at the zebra, do you witch to come buy?”, but I find those messages obnoxious to read and embarassing to send.

5) The two aren’t mutually exclusive! You can have a physical keyboard and still provide a soft keyboard.  If you’re a TechCrunch writer and you hate physical keyboards, you can simply NEVER OPEN IT.  Magic.  Everyone is happy.

So please, phone manufacturers: don’t stop making physical keyboards.  Please don’t.  Because if you do, I won’t buy your phone (or recommend them to my friends).  And you wouldn’t want that, right?

Photo 1 Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alwayshere/ / CC BY-SA 2.0
Photo 2 Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomsun/ / CC BY 2.0

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Software Community Managers: How Do You Know Your Best Customers?

Community, Tech

Josh Bernoff has a great post over at the Forrester Groundswell blog:

“Here’s a conversation I often have with marketers:

Josh: Who are your best customers?

Marketer: Women with a child under 4. [Or ‘People with assets of at least $1 million.’ Or some such.]

Josh: No, I really mean ‘Who are your best customers?’ What are their names?

Marketer: [No response.]

If you’re seeking word of mouth, you should know who your best customers are . . . by name.”

I agree with this 120%.

Your community is not demographics, it’s not numbers, it’s not users (god I hate that word). It’s people.

That said, while attending the (thoroughly excellent) Good Ideas Salon Community Management Panel at YouTube I realized that I am in a much different situation than those managing social networking communities. Or even shopkeeper communities like Matt Stinchcomb of Etsy.

I don’t hang out where my community talks about things that they are passionate. They use the Flock software by themselves, and I meet them primarily when they have an issue (or occasionally give us praise). How can I get to know these people?

Josh mentions that “there is no one more enthusiastic than a friend who used to hate you”, which I’ll second wholeheartedly. But I still don’t know much about that person/those people aside from the fact that they use Flock. I don’t get to know them through their social interactions like Jen Burton of Digg gets to.

Which is not to say I don’t meet great people…I just don’t get to know them the same way.  So help me out, folks…what do you do?

Software Community Managers, speak up: how do you really get to know your community?

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Twitter’s New Homepage Can See the Future

Community, Tech

Today Twitter rolled out a massively re-designed homepage.  For such an incredibly successful young service, this is a major change.  And their design shows where Twitter – and possibly the social web – are headed.

Let’s dive into the details:

1. Twitter’s new focus is on searching and discovering what’s happening right now, anywhere in the world.  It’s about DISCOVERY, not publishing or chatting.

2. Search is first and foremost.  The search box almost has the same prominence as the signup button.  Twitter obviously feels this is the killer feature that will, in the end, drive more adoption.

3. Trending topics are now on the homepage.  Twitter knows they’re going to draw people in with relevant, current content, not quotes from the New York times about how nifty Twitter is.


4. Trending topics fall into three categories (minute, day, and week) but this is very downplayed.  To the first-time visitor, this is content, plain and simple…while they can pay attention and discover this granularity, it’s not shoved in their face – no need to overwhelm potential new users.

5. The very small text above the signup button says “Join the conversation”.  Conversation has been stressed and established – now they gently encourage you to join in.

6. I don’t know if this was a feature before, but Twitter is now surfacing this as a tip: you can do location-based searches. Your discovery can now be local.

I’ll resist further analysis than this for now:

I think this reinforces the thought that the killer new social app isn’t microblogging: it’s discovery, serendipity, and eventually participation.  And I’m excited.

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Undermine Your TV: Why I Am Buying the Dollhouse Season One DVD

Tech

I’ve been meaning to write a post for awhile about how outdated and damaging the Neilsen rating system is for television programming.  It’s killed many a good show, including the brilliant Joss Whedon show, Firefly.

When Whedon debuted his new show, Dollhouse, I suspected the same might occur.  Considering it’s time slot (9pm on Friday) and it’s audience (young-ish, geeky, hip Whedonites) it seemed that it would likely only be watched online…not via one of those “television” things that the mysterious “Neilsen Families” have.

I’ll skip what would be about four paragraphs here and just say: Dollhouse has captured my heart. Like all Whedon shows it snuck up on me. When the inevitable and depressing debate over a second season began, I was not hopeful. Thankfully, Fox apparently wised up somewhat and paid attention to the number of Dollhouse viewers on Hulu (which is where I watched the entirety of the season, save the first episode). The show was renewed, and all of us Whedonites breathed a sigh of relief.

Except we all know that the fight isn’t over.

Rumor has it that Whedon has been asked to cut costs on the second season of Dollhouse, and I’m sure that Fox will be less forgiving in regards to the total number of TV viewers this season.  Perhaps, then, this is why they have rushed the Dollhouse: Season One DVD set out the door.

Fox may be still wising up to the fact that online TV programming is going to be the next big thing, as evidenced by The Simpsons making more money per thousand viewers on Hulu than on TV. But they have for some time paid attention to DVD sales, resurrecting Family Guy and even Firefly (in the form of Serenity) based on successful DVD sales.

So the path is clear: those of us who want to see Dollhouse continue and grow into the brilliant series it is promising to become need to buy the Dollhouse: Season One DVD. Consider it an investment – by buying this DVD you get at least one more season of Whedon-brilliance, with fewer commercials and available anytime you want via Hulu.

Let’s prove to them that we don’t need a TV to watch, love, and save a good show.

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