Getting this blog rolling here in early 2012 and connecting to the blogosphere is a plunge into the global streams of creative people and communities in my various fields of interest. It requires adapting my own lifestyle and time management to align with that: my previous blogs were driven by ulterior motives, to generate new sales leads, to improve search engine traffic, and to promote and positive particular companies and brands. This one here is different – it’s about the art of participating in the worldwide community, engaging good ideas and creative endeavors, learning, sharing, and simply “putting it all out there to see where it goes.” It’s a bit of leaping without a net – but some forms of Providence are only revealed by leaping, there’s no other way! The precipice is exhilarating.
This here blog, and leaping without nets
Mastering the user experience
We’ve developed an advanced approach to assessing interactive systems, especially on the web, in this new landscape of devices, apps, users, and learners. This process uncovers hidden impediments to user and business success. This method has produced significant ROI and bottom line results for clients that have employed it so far. To deliver on the promise of human, personal, and spiritual development, connection, outreach, community, and learning through interactive systems, the user experience must deliver. The art and science of this realm is central to all these projects, and likely all future projects.
Super Bowls and Gold Mining
Today is the Super Bowl, and I watch as much for the commercials as the gridiron action — and I love football! I remember with some fondness and more than a little mirth the crazy commercials and amounts spent on those ads back in the heady dot-com days of the late 90′s.
Has it really been 13 or 14 years? Wow…
Now that I’m immersed in the virtual world of blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, numerous online communities and groups, and the online activities of a few select professional associations, I’m getting a good view of the landscape and the goings-on in this latest online craziness.
Surprise! A significant percentage of blogs are about… blogging. A large portion of social media content is about… social media. And social media about blogs, and blogs about social media.
I’m reminded of the gold rush days of the 19th century. Most of the fortunes made were not from the precious metals extracted from the hillsides. The vast portion of the revenue was selling stuff to those hopeful miners – picks, shovels, explosives, lumber, clothing, liquor, food, and all the other necessities of working miners and mining communities.
Gold rushes are often like that: the revenue from services, experts, gadgets, equipment, and hype far exceeds actual income realized from the “gold”. Has anyone ever quantified the ratio of what the dot-coms of the 90′s actually earned in real sales, vs. what they spent (or flushed)? Given the staggering volume of waste and silliness (including all those ridiculous Super Bowl ads), business plans and business models that were pure vapor, and the number of the companies that remain today, that ratio seriously favors the expense side.
But let’s not discount the value of Super Bowl exposure. Turns out, the big musical acts that entertain us at halftime are paid exactly ZERO for the privilege of one of the largest television and PR audiences in the world. Visit Newser’s article on Madonna’s Payment for Halftime Show? $0 to hear the rest.
