What is 'useful'?

Apart from the inkling that working from a garage increases your chances of success (David Packard and William Hewlett launched Hewlett-Packard Co. in a garage. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started Apple Computer Inc. in a garage. Larry Page and Sergey Brin started Google Inc in a garage) I know very little about what it takes to create something useful on the web. As affordable garages are a little hard to come by in London (proof of this fact here) I set about doing a bit of research about other recurring traits of recent success stories and thought about how what I found out might relate back to my brand of choice, TopShop.

Look for opportunities where the personal and the collective can overlap
This seems to be one of the main reasons why sites such as Digg, and Del.icio.us are a success. They generate a sense of self, or allow you to express your identity as part of a collective or community. And this is all thanks to a wonderful thing called tagging (which I admit until now I hadn’t quite grasped the true worth of).

I got to wondering which is most important as I thought this might help to filter my ideas, and started to read about what Joshua Porter calls the “Del.icio.us Lesson”. He believes that ‘personal value precedes network value: that selfish use comes before shared use. Even though we’re definitely benefiting from the value of networked software, we’re still not doing so unless the software is valuable to us on a personal level first.’ i.e. he doesn’t believe that tagging for the benefit of a community is primary why people use sites. I disagree. Certainly in the case of flikr I think that the fact that you can share your experience with others is the reason they are so popular – otherwise you might as well save your pictures on your hard drive (although I suppose it depends on whether you define friends and family as ‘personal’ or ‘community’).

Any way, my learning here for TopShop is to start with something that is of use to the individual but can incorporate the collective. And to make use of tagging.

Identify a niche audience
It’s widely acknowledged that the key to MySpace’s success was music, as it is a defining factor in how young people create an identity for themselves. MySpace focused on a niche audience and found what would be useful in their world. It’s when you try to be everything to everyone that it starts to go wrong – which for many is the reason that Yahoo! is in a spot of bother (see the interestingly titled article 'How Yahoo! got bogged down in peanut butter')

But just because you don’t start out catering for everyone doesn’t mean that your site or idea won’t end up with mass appeal, if you subscribe to the ‘tipping point’ thinking of Malcolm Gladwell that is. Identify the right early adopters and your niche will become mainstream in time.

I think identifying the right niche for TopShop is going to be relatively difficult as part of the reason for TopShop’s success is that it appeals to such a diverse audience. From teenagers right through to the most avid fashionist. May be in TopShop’s case it’s more about defining an attitude than an audience (interesting fact: when the term Web 2.0 was coined in 2003 by Tim O’Reilly, it was with reference to an attitude rather than technology. Hilarious then that the wikipedia entry is very techno-focused.)

Ensure there’s a reason for your content to be constantly updated
Usefulness is often short lived. This is why user generated content = lifeblood. It’s important to give people a reason to keep uploading new stuff, to keep it fresh.

This should be quite easy to bear in mind when coming up with an idea, as TopShop is constantly refreshing and updating its offering.

Solve a problem
If you have a experiencing a problem or are frustrated about something, you can be pretty sure that there’s others out there experiencing the same thing, One of the best things I stumbled on illustrates this well. Zootit.com is a site that shortens long links. You upload the long link to their server, and link to it via a short link of your choice. Probably the best known example is Facebook, which was a way for university students to keep in touch.

As most of the best sites are a result of problems their creators have experienced, I’m going to focus on a problem that I have that I want to solve in relation to fashion.

People like to vote
Web 2.0 is really good at letting people vote – and it’s obvious that this is something people like to do.

As one of the key insights I pulled out of my research on TopShop was that girls like to get and give opinions I think that voting will be central to the success of my idea.

Make use of existing technology
In fact the majority of the today’s most popular (successful?) sites have made use of existing technology rather than come up with something new. The back end was already in existence, they just found a way to use it.

For TopShop I’d like to think of a way to use the mobile phone in line with on line technology because this is what people are going to have with them when they shop. This also feel the right way to go with the recent advent of mobile internet – prices are coming down and it’s becoming standard on most handsets.

With the above in mind I had a look to see what else was out there in the online fashion world that might inspire me. Whilst I didn’t set up a del.icio.us page, I did find it a useful way to search for related sites, as was Technorati. Killerstartups.com was another interesting place to browse. The site I found that interested me most was Wishpot.

Wishpot is a social shopping site that probably ahead of the game. Whilst there are a host of different sites that allow you to list or tag items you’d like to buy (or even make money out of someone buying something you’ve tagged) e.g. gifttagging.com, Stylehive.com, Wishpot has taken this concept one step further. With Wishpot social shopping goes mobile. Basically when you’re out you can record the stuff you’re interested in by sending a text (with barcode, style, colour, size etc) or picture message to you Wishpot account. When you later go online you can view your saved items, research prices, view ratings, ask others what they think.

My idea – i-want
With all the above traits in mind, and the best bits about Wishpot, I decided that a MattCam probably wasn’t the way to go and the idea of a guest blog to take away some of the reliance on Kate Moss a little dull. So I started by thinking about problems/frustrations I have.

I hate it when I see something I like on someone else, but don’t seem to be able to find anything similar in the shops. And I hate it when I have a favourite piece of clothing that’s reaching the end of its days and I wish I’d bought it in multiple colours, or could have a replica made, but unfortunately I haven’t planned a trip to the tailors in Bangkok (who’ll copy pretty much anything for you) for another couple of years.

I think it would be great if you could take pictures of looks or items (clothes, bags, shoes, accessories) you like with your mobile phones out in the street, then upload them to the i-want part of the TopShop site where you can tell people what you like about them (the colour, the detail, the cut). Visitors to the site would be able to vote on the things they liked too (tagging would help people search for a ‘look’) – as well as see what’s ‘hot’ on the street right now. The most popular items uploaded would be the inspiration for new ranges. TopShop would take the essence of the item and commission their own piece, which would end up in store.

What’s also great about this idea is that it’s of use to both TopShop and its customers.

From TopShop’s point of view:
- It’s an easy way to identify new trends, fresh ideas and what their customers want.
- It would increase traffic to the TopShop site, and there would be an opportunity to flag any similar items which are already in store, driving revenue.
- Risk of producing an item that no one actually wants to buy could be minimised by giving the people who vote on the piece that is most popular the chance to buy one of the made pieces (almost a pre-order list) which would help indicate the sort of stock levels required.
- This idea is also a perfect fit with the brand’s offline model - TopShop’s success is built on uncovering what’s hot on the street and getting it instore quickly.

Customers can not only get inspiration from the site, but has a genuine opportunity to input into what they see in their favourite store, probably appealing most to those who are constantly on the look out for new ideas.

Click on the links below to see my idea in glorious youtube technicolour

Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4

Be sure to read the description of each clip as the sound isn’t great, and neither is the focus!

I decided to show my idea by uploading video clips onto YouTube from my mobile as this was the one thing that wasn’t touched upon in the Cyberchase challenge, but something I’ve meant to learn how to do for a while. What a palaver though! I’ve been to Vodafone stores, to help desks, got passwords and codes, sent goodness knows how many messages to different sites… But apart from not being able to get the clips onto youtube in the right order, I’m pretty pleased with myself! Ideally I would have liked to have edited the clips together into one video, but due to time and the fact that I only just managed to get them online at all I thought I’d had enough experience of teccy stuff for one week.

So in summary, my TopShop i-want idea pretty much ticks off all of the ‘success’ traits identified, and relates back to the TopShop insights from the last challenge: it combines the personal and the collective, content will be constantly updated, it solves a real problem, it allows people to vote and uses existing technology. And not a garage in sight.

Yes, that is a harp in the background…

So the challenge is to interview a person or group of people I admire. About something that interests me. With passion. And with entertainment value in mind. Hmm.

Where to start?

Initially I was going to focus on pub quizzes. I wouldn’t say I was passionate about them (could have something to do with the fact that in the last few I’ve been to my team hasn’t faired too well) but I’m intrigued by their increase in popularity in recent years, how they’ve made a come back at the same time that social interaction is shifting more and more online, how with mobile phones and mobile internet the playing field might not be as level as it once was. The quiz master would certainly lend himself to the entertainment criteria, and I’d heard a rumour that Jon Buck in Fuel had worked out some formula or game plan to increase the odds of winning (before you go and ask him, it materialises this isn’t quite the case, although what with it being Jon Buck and all, it seemed pretty tenable at the time).

But tracking down quizmasters proved quite difficult, and on reflection my pub quiz tact seemed a bit of a round about way of approaching an interest in changing social networks. As the final weekend before the deadline approached, I realised I was running out of time. Not least with a wedding to go to on the Saturday and no doubt a hangover to deal with on the Sunday.

I gave myself a train journey home to come up with a solution, but got a little side tracked thinking about all the people I was going to see that I hadn’t been in touch with for a while. Good friends. People who I trust and admire. Coming together for one of the most celebrated kinds of social interactions, a wedding - a social gathering where passion and love are pretty much a given. And, knowing my friends, an event that wouldn’t be short of entertaining shenanigans.

And, suddenly it all fell into place. The way that my social circle interacts has changed significantly recently. A month ago very few of us had signed up to Facebook, and then, within a matter of weeks, the vast majority had a profile. I knew that I was going to be getting a ribbing on the fact that I haven’t signed up yet and consequently, within the blink of an eye, am a little out of the loop. But I realised I could now turn this impending conversation into an interview of sorts, and explore Facebook’s appeal amongst an audience that was never the intended target. Children of the 70s, long out of university.

The importance of preparation

I decided that there were a couple of areas I wanted to focus on.
My friends’ understanding of what is meant by social networking
- Which of my friends are using Facebook
- How they are using it
- How it’s affecting the way we interact with each other
- How Facebook sits along other online sites.

So I set about compiling a list of possible questions:
What’s the first thing that springs to mind when I say ‘social networking’?
- Are you a member of a social networking site?
- Which?
- Why?
- How much time do you spend on the site/when?
- How does this compare with the amount you see or call your friends?
- Is there are difference between ‘friends’ you communicate with online and those you communicate with offline (see/call/text)?
- What’s better about online friendships?
- Do you think online social networking is just a phase? Why/not?
- To put your online habits in to context have you done any of the following:
> Set up a blog?
> Read a blog?
> Bought something on ebay?
> Sold something on ebay?
> Used your phone to identify a piece of music?
> Listened to a podcast?
> Made your own podcast?
> Set up daily message alerts?
> Used netvibes?
> Visited flickr?
> Used del.ic.ious?

In reality

In the end I didn’t read from the list of questions. I just kept them at the back of my mind, alongside my objectives. I hadn’t anticipated that fact that my friends’ Facebook experiences were such that we could have talked for hours and several interesting thoughts materialised that wouldn’t have done so had I stuck rigidly to it. (Plus I’d had a glass or two of champagne by the time I put the dictaphone on and probably wouldn’t have been able to read off the list any way. I struggled to see the red on button for goodness sake!)

How it happened

Pulling a dictophone out at a wedding reception, brings a whole new meaning to intrusive research. Luckily most around me thought it hilarious, but I put it away sooner than I’d have liked to, because it didn’t feel like proper wedding etiquette (and the groom would have killed me, he thinks I work too hard as it is). I talked to four different people in the period between arriving at the reception and sitting down for dinner, that time when people are milling round seemed the most appropriate opportunity for something like this. Also I figured there’d be a fine balance between my interviewees having enough liquid refreshment to soothe away any shyness and slurring their words. I had intended on just interviewing one person for ten minutes or so, but photo calls, harpists really getting into their set’, rampaging sausages and the wedding breakfast kinda made that hard (listen to sound files to find out more…). In retrospect I gained from getting several different insights. And talking about social networking with just one person would have been some what ironic.

The four people I spoke to were Ben (a teacher), James (in media and technology), Kate (works for a cosmetic company) and Becs (until recently a London-based managing consultant but recently moved to Singapore). I did not identify these particular four in advance, there are twenty or so of us in my social group and these four just happened to present themselves to me first, to ensure no bias in interview selection.

My challenge to you: For comedy value, try to guess which interview I did first on the basis of the answers that were given, and the amount I giggle. The comment on the cyberchase blog about content production moving into the hands of amateurs seems rather fitting.

The interviews (unedited I'm afraid, but thus perhaps more amusing..)

Kate and Becky

Ben

James 1

James 2

Learnings

- My friends’ understanding of what is meant by ‘social networking’
Although James said that he’d read recently in online research that 70% of people understood what is meant by ‘social networking’ Kate and Becky asked me to clarify whether I meant the phase in the online sense or the everyday sense, which makes me think it’s perhaps not as ingrained as the former as much as we think it is (I’m sure this would be different if I asked some one younger mind). Amongst all the interviewees there was a general suspicion of the phase ‘social networking’. It seems to hold quite negative connotations of social status; people trying to use others to get to where they want to be. This is quite interesting when the definition of social networking is based around the idea of collaboration and is supposed to be less about the individual than the group http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking.

- Which of my friends are using Facebook
Out of the 20 or so of us, five of us are not on Facebook. Of the four I interviewed, two only got in on the act quite recently. This was mainly because Becky has moved abroad – i.e. circumstances. Yet now that they are on Facebook, they have found it rather addictive. I was interested to hear Kate’s story about the junior doctor who does it between patients, and the lawyer who’s on for three hours a day. It rather puts paid to my excuse of not having enough time. Interestingly, the two most sociable people within our group have not signed up yet. May be they’re just too busy getting on with real life. I would have asked them to talk to me a little bit about why they hadn’t followed the crowd, but they had other things on their mind, what with being best man and chief usher and all.

- How they are using it and how it’s affecting the way we interact with each other
No one saw it as an alternative to seeing friends. Rather something that allowed you to keep in touch with the friends you see regularly anyway, to keep in touch real time (roughly twenty minutes a day). For them it’s seen as different – better - than email, as it is less intrusive. You’re not sure if someone can talk if you email them at work – on Facebook, if they’ve signed in, you know they are up for corresponding. In my mind it’s an example of how people are looking to redress their work/life balance, the infiltration of your external social life into work environments. How you can be social when you can’t be social is Ben’s way of looking at it. A supplement to real-life conversations.

Although the above is primarily why everyone (except Becky) set up a profile, it was the talk of the opportunity for voyeurism that made the boys’ eyes light up. The sneaky look at ex-girlfriends, or people you’d forgotten about that you didn’t have to get in touch with. What was interesting here is that they see Facebook in a very different way to how they see Friends Reunited, despite, as far as I can see, the cross over here in purpose. Whilst all four had been on FR, to them FR was a bit of a novelty, something that was very much driven by the content provider rather than the individual user, and it is the fact that they feel in control on Facebook that makes it so appealing.

- How Facebook sits along other popular social networking sites
Out of the list of different online activities/sites that I asked about, very few had been used by my interviewees. I’m not sure if the versatility of Facebook has something to do with this (e.g. if you can share stuff and upload photos on Facebook, there’s no real reason why you should know about Flickr?). I found this quite reassuring – blogging and ebaying is talked about so often, it sometimes feels as if you’re the only one not doing it. I might not have a Facebook profile but I have a blog, I’ve bought and sold on ebay, I’ve identified music with a mobile phone and I know all about de.lic.ious (but may be not enough to get the full points in the right place).

What did amaze me though, as a non-booker, was the number of people who after hearing what I was doing, came and told me a Facebook story. Every one has one it seems, and everyone tells it enthusiastically. This may be what Facebook has over a number of other sites. People have a real affinity for it, and whereas at the start of the day I was pretty sure the passion side of things was going to come more from the event than the interview topic, I was wrong. Which in a way is a little sad. Because when you're sitting at a computer screen, you are alone. At the centre of the world, but alone.

So what’s the future?

Is Facebook going to be superseded by the next big thing? Almost certainly in my mind. Isn’t that why everyone is so excited about Web 2.0? The fact that you don’t know what’s going to happen next? May be I’ll just wait for that next big thing before I create another profile. Or may be I’ll bow to the pressure and be on Facebook by the end of the week. Just one of the 100,000 or so new users a day….


Here’s what some others think:

http://markevanstech.com/2007/06/16/how-long-can-facebook-stay-cool/
Facebook backlash

And how social networking means social divide:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6236628.stm


N.B.
I haven’t been able to edit my files at Dan’s computer. It says that the format isn’t compatible. This means I’ve only got my original files for you. Stick with it through all the screeching at the start, it makes sense after a couple of minutes!