Brian Feener

We are currently in the 4rd generation of internet content, not in the second, like everyone likes to say.

1st Generation Web was content creation that was very top-heavy.  The biggest stories, few writers, all professional.  You had to go out and find it and it wasn’t easy.

2nd Generation Web was portals such as AOL, Yahoo and the pre-2000 ESPN http://web.archive.org/web/20020827230635/espn.go.com/main.html.  You still had to go to specific places for specific information.

3rd Generation is niche and (useful) search.  The Google, Blogger, and Wordpress explosion.  The first instance of it being really easy to find something that you’re looking for.

4th Generation will be (is?) niche and aggregation.  Where as people were patient enough to wait for content, with so many channels out there to tune into, why not just wait for the content to come to them.  Whether pushed to their RSS feed, a non-customized page, or their phone, people will get content delivered to them as quickly as its produced for instant (or time shifted) consumption.

How does this change your strategy?

I can search for music by artist, by album, by genre, by related artists….

Why not date? What about searching for a song released on your birthday? See all rock songs released in 1969.

How important is the minutia to your customers?

What would an infinitely large table serve the needs of?

What would an infinite amount of tables serve the needs of?

The Grammy Awards were held last night and there were more performances than ever.  (No link, just take my word for it.)

If there are a so many performances, why not go Live Aid/ Farm Aid with the whole thing and make it a festival?

Who are the performances for?  The audience at home, or the one in the crowd?

I’m just saying that if there’s going to be 50 performances over the course of the night, let’s reconsider the format of the awards show.

In business, it pays to zig while everyone is zagging.

Who’s doing your HR when you outsource?

It matters because what you produce with outsourcing will eventually get to your customer.

My rule of thumb - if it’s a silent product (t-shirt, cell phone), outsourcing is fine.  Unless you want your product to go from silent to special (homemade cookies, custom-made guitar).

If it’s a product that has customer interaction, never out-source.  Your company should be able to control its own people (through HR) and keep the spirit of the company in-house.

When you outsource, you’re letting a 3rd party hire and control your image.

I mention this because Comcast, who hires third-party contractors for their on-site work, never showed up yesterday.  Yes, it is Comcast’s fault that their third-party contractor didn’t show.

It’s great that you were able to convert 98% of all errors to “stable.”

It’s great that we have this new HR form to fill out when we need to get a vacation day.

It’s great that the over all budget will be re-allocated to new spending procedure that will greatly enhance the effectiveness of the entire company.

What’s in it for me?

It’s a fair question, right?  What’s in it for me?  Why do I need to know?  Why am I in this meeting right now?  Why have you taken the time out to put down 70^10 bullet points in your presentation, explaining each one in detail?

Why do I need to know, and don’t tell me because it’s important?

When you are communicating, keep in mind that your audience may not have the same emotional investment in the data that you do.  Whether you like it or not, you’re selling something.

You’re selling ideas, emotions, investment opportunities, problem-solvers, programs, and YOU!

Data is great but ALWAYS tell your audience what’s in it for them.

A little while ago, I talked about how NPR was running a registration drive and part of their promise to listeners was to not deliver about Lohan, Spears, or any of that other gossip-style news. (Read article here.)

Today, on Super Tuesday, NPR promised to stay away from election coverage and wait until all the results were in before making any calls about any races.

Just because you can give a zillion opinions about everything and anything, sometimes it is better to hold back a little bit. The long-tail is not universal.