OurielOhayon

Tired of this "Social Web" expression

It was not disturbing until now, but now i am done with it. Like the meaningless "Web 2.0" expression, i hate the "Social web". Everything is social: Social experiments, Social meet up, social media, social service (mmmm sounds political), social features, social pizzas,...whatever...

Over time expressions like those become empty, specially when mainstream media take them and abuse them. It's been a long time i dropped the Web2 and talk only about "The Web". Not because i want to be different, but because this is what it is. The Web2.0 phenomenon has spread so much that there is no more difference between the pre-Web2.0 era and post web2.0 era

The same thing is happening with the soon to be gone expression "Social Web". It all started with Social Networks and, Social connectors...but soon people will realize that the whole web is about people connection and enabling them. Whatever the platform.

So from today i am dropping this expression and will use instead the "Connected Web" which is more generic and between us, sounds also better

You will probably say. But the web was always "connected". No. The web until a few years was mainly a broadcast platform more than a platform that really connects and enable conversation and exchange. A connected layer is being slowly but surely added to any single type of service we are using from videos, to picture sites, ecommerce, news of course...you name it . The new/next web is about making those connections much more powerful

What do you say?

On the adoption of a killer feature

So you have created a killer feature or service. And it is REALLY a killer. You think people will jump on it right away. right? Wrong...

:: Anecdote #1 A couple of years ago, i went for a ride with my father in his new car. We wanted to discover a new place and got lost on the way. We ended up asking lots of people for the right direction to get there and also to get back. When we arrived home. I suddenly looked at the car dashboard. I realized there was a GPS on board. I said to my father why did not you use it? Answer "I totally forgot i had one"

:: Anecdote #2 I recently took Yes MAX at home a kind of Tivo in Isreal. It allows you to record any TV show in a click and view it at you own convenience. I was looking at a recorded TV show i like (very rare when it happens). I surprised myself watching all of it. Including the TV ads. I could have skipped them. I did not. Why?  I did not think about it

In both cases, the feature is a killer. No one wants to get lost and no one (nearly no one) wants to see TV ads. But in both cases we just forgot the solution was right here. in Front of us.

On the web you can find tones of great examples of services that either increases your user experience or saves you time and effort. It is a no brainer to use them. But you don't. Just because you are used to do something. Even if it is wrong you still keep on doing it. This is how our brain works. We get used to things.

• Cooliris provides the best user experince to view pictures on the web. But i am not using it all the time. I forget it.
• Gmail is providing tones of cool labs features i installed. Most of which i forget (eg: quick links).
• Facebook now provides a way to create friends group which improves hugely the browsing experience in the newsfeed. But around me no one uses it.

A killer feature to get adopted need to be included in the flow of the user experience. Over time or by way of repetitive exposure or because it simply replaces what you do, but in a better, it will get adopted.

• Gmail provides an autocomplete feature for names and adresses in the search bar. Once installed you just have to use it.
• Xobni replaces Outlook search in such a better way that the first exposure is a WOW experience. Over time users stick to it.

Bottom line: what matters in a killer feature is not so much what you create but how you expose it in the natural flow of the user experience. Even if it provides a wow experience and solves a major pain and unless it really replaces what the user usually does, it takes time to be really adopted.

Technorati Tags: user experience killer feature adoption

Why is twitter not taking off in Israel. yet

Impossible to miss it if you are in Tech. Twitter is the hottest web startup right now. Although it's been out there for nearly 3 years the Israeli media only started to seriously cover it about a couple of weeks ago. All at once. And you would expect this would follow a wave of local adoption. Wrong

Twitter is not catching up in Israel. There is at best a few thousands users on the micro blogging platform. And this is not surprising. Here are some of the best reasons i can think of

• Israel is still digesting Facebook: Facebook has taken off very seriously here. Way before it was translated to hebrew. Most people don't get the difference between Facebook and Twitter. Although there is one. And it is not simple to get and digest until you really use both services. On Twitter your are by default public and on Facebook private. This has a lot of impact on the interaction between users. But it is hard to realize before you use it.
• Facebook is turning out to become more and more like Twitter: Status update is becoming the central nerve of Facebook and user might see a double jobbing in keeping both services running on. So many ask "What the point?" Note also that the massive adoption of Facebook has taken off with a 2 years delay in Israel compare to the USA. So there is a time gap that is uncompressable and i am afraid that the adoption switch will take some more time to happen
• No first class celebrity on Twitter: Twitter has taken off in the US and UK when top celebs came on. I mean really came on (not through an agent or something). Obama, Brittney Spears, Demi Moore, Oprah Winfrey. Where are the Yehuda Halevi, Adi Ashkenazi, Keren Mor, Aviv Geffen, Ivri Lider [update: he's actually on Twitter and pretty active on @ivrilider ]  and co...? Our Politicians tried poorly to use twitter during the campaign (not talking about fake accounts...). The only real politician interesting account is the one of the Israel Consulate..but it s not enough. Twitter is still a techie/geeky thing in israel
  
• No local businesses on Twitter: you can order pizzas on Twitter in the US, you can talk with sales agent of DELL on Twitter. I would love to see something like that in Israel
• Poor media presence on Twitter: Slowly newspapers and TV channels (themarker, globes, nana10...) are getting on Twitter. But the stream is not really interesting. It is an automated distribution of their own content. no real interaction with users. no real off-record content...Take a look in the US: CNN is really hot there, Many Radio stations (NPR for eg) enable you to track what is being broacasted by genre...
• Poor Twitter presence in traditionnal Media: Twitter will and must be integrated in traditionnal media channels. CNN produces a prime time show based on Twitter. I want to see a back channel for news, sport, live events....So far nothing happened here
• Poor community of developpers on Twitter: Twitter #1 asset is its API and massive community of developpers. There are tones of developpers in Israel. Very little have dedicated time and energy to twitter (maybe because they don t see the money around yet...unlike Facebook or the iPhone)
• No/Nearly no local apps for Twitter in Israel. My Friend Arik created @Moked (traffic report on Twitter) and @KinnerBot (reports level of the Kinneret) are some exception. QassamCount (also created by Arik, my partner in Topify) got some traction, but mainly because of Facebook
  

So as you see there is so much missing in Israel for Twitter to catch. It will take another year. Not less. Specially when you take into account that most users at first dump Twitter because they don't get it. And come back later when they know enough people who use it. This is what happened to me btw. [if you want a list of Israeli Twitter users, i recommend this one, and not because i am #1 there]

Someone asked me whether a hebrew translation would help. NO. tones of web apps have succeeded in Israel without a translation. Mainstream adoption is rarely about translation, it is about the right ecosystem, which is nt there. Yet

Technorati Tags: twitter israel

User behaviours are stronger than any walled garden. Always

There a not many laws on the web. But there is that one rules.

On the web if something can or should happen in favour of the user - it will happen, no matter how, as a company, you want it to prevent.

For years portal tried to convince us that the web should be closed and kept behind a login and a password. For years, news could be only read on those sites who were publishing it. For years, social networks were keeping profile private by default, For years content sites would try to artificially force page views with useless clicks and a terrible reading experience (some still do). I could go on and on and on. The list is endless.

Over time and as the web is becoming and will become the #1 media in a few years, users have savvier usage and higher expectations that many times conflict with the terms and services, the ergonomy and navigation of a web service. I have seen that with Instant Messenger where until a few years web access was a side feature and is becoming now the main driver of growth (see services like Meebo and eBuddy becoming bigger than ICQ) because users are now more mobile and have access to multiple computers and accounts.

The web is getting more sophisticated every day. Usage Too. The cost of fixing something and making it better (meaning more user friendly) is close to zero. If something is not done right, users will let you know and if they don't, someone will figure out a way to provide a solution. And if this feature is key it could lead to a new competing service that will eventually win.

If something needs to happen on the web because it's right for the user, it will happen. Someone will figure out a way and users will adopt it

IM is going web based, Webmails are offering now much more storage than ever, (for so long limited to 500 MB), Page refresh is going away, Voice is now free, Watching movies (Hulu..) and listening to music (pandora, last.fm) is now Free (and legal), social networks are opening themself (Facebook connect, Twitter, ...), News get syndicated and distributed (Rss, Agregators, Digg,...) without registration and without forcing users anymore to browse useless ad-supported pages....

If something can be free and can be distributed it will be. Someone will always find a smart way to do that

If something key is missing in the user experience and the service fails in providing it (fast enough), then someone will and at some point the attention switch happens and traffic migrates.

Twitter has yesterday committed a big mistake by announcing they would cancel an option in the service - not a critical one. Users reacted in mass, not because they were all using this feature, but because it was not explained and introduced right and they felt something was broken in the relation. You don't decide for your users. They are stronger than you. They decide for you. You serve them. Even if you can have the impression of the opposite.

If something is right for users, it will happen. Either because you will provide/fix it. Or because someone else will. But then you might loose something.

This is why it is always key to ask yourself before you add/take off a feature: is that right for my users? Do you give enough power back to people - which is/was what this all web 2 thing was all about (yes giving back power..). If you keep it too much for yourself then it means you re doing something wrong.



Technorati Tags: twitter experience walled garden web policy

Twinterview #8 @OriLahav

After @YaronGalai ,@Net , @mikeeisenberg , @GuyZo, @RanTav , @YaronSamid and @JayM here is Twinterview #8 (@OriLahav)


    140 character profile description

Married +2, live in quiet Israeli town, Sailor, Kayaker, blogger (olahav.typepad.com), podcaster (reversim.com), CTO of @outbrain


    A few stats ?

Don't remember when I joined, 338 updates to date, 124 followers, following 45 thinking of dropping some.

    How Do you use it ? What do you tweet about?

Personal stuff, @outbrain beta product for recommending stuff I loooove, asking & answering questions, did #memthem http://tinyurl.com/c2bhvz on memorial day.

    How do you updates your Tweets?

The old fashion way - twitter.com, on my Nokia from twibble or m.twitter.com

    A few Twitter tips?

Don't overflow, answer where you can help, let people know when you find a web gem

    What are your top 5 Twitter accounts you recommend and why?

• @NathanMilford-IT eng from outbrain,very interesting guy.
• @ediggs-Old colleague from shopping, now VcCafe.
• @egalai- comedian, Finance guy by mistake.
• @rantav-My partner @reversim.
• @TechAviv - always something interesting going on.

    You favorite Twitter app?

Not using many, Twibble is nice for Nokia. Topify made my followers management easier. I have idea for an app - anyone to take the challenge?

    What would you change with Twitter?

Make the links searchable. More functionality to m.twitter.com (replies?). Referrers are always /home without the username :(



Technorati Tags: twitter israel interview twinterview

Great news! Twitter takes the Topify direction

This is a typical case of "but what if a bigger company copies you". Twitter just launched "better" email notifications, which is something we try to do with Topify.com . In theory we should panic, and say "crap, well we'll try next time"

We won't for 2 reasons. The most important one, what we provide (with all the due modesty) is way better.  I am not talking about a little better. I am talking of X times better. More informations, more stats, integration of 3rd party data (for now MrTweet, soon more). And more importantly our emails are smart and actionable. You can follow back, block, unfollow and answer direct messages right from your email without having to go the Twitter page or open the Twitter client. If you are already following someone, we'll remind you so in the email (so you can either do nothing, or unfllow him)

This is where Topify brings value, because not only it helps spotting better worthy users but also improves your interaction with Twitter. Topify saves time and clicks. FYI to date we save about a 1/4 of a year in cumulated time to our users with our emails

Compare the new Twitter notification with Topify below. You get the point?







See the difference? It is not about the design, or the information but the experience that email can provide. We have too much respect and love for Twitter to say they copied our approach. After all we would not be there without them, but there is a very clear inspiration.

Twitter today implemented about 20% of what Topify does. Topify gives control back to users on email notification and is open to 3rd party services. I hope Twitter will take that direction too, but i am not sure they will be focused on that.

The second reason won't be disclosed but soon users will have way more reasons to use Topify than just Twitter.

My first reaction is some kind of pride to see a big fish taking the direction we initiated. It is confirming our initial approach and the vision behind topify is way beyond what you just see today. This is why this is just a great news for us.

Since we launched Topify (in private beta) we already experienced so many things: a few copy cats, a competitor who wants us to buy them, tremendous PR, thousands of daily fans, and now Twitter taking our direction. What's next?

update: that's interesting but i don't think i will have to push the message too much. Our users on Twitter are already doing it for us.. :)

1. 
   fdevillamil Twitter just introduced fancy html email, but nothing comparable to @topify 06 May 2009 from TweetDeck
2. 
   jaym @OurielOhayon From a quick comparison of the new twitter follower email to @topify, it is pretty clear twitter still has a long way to go 06 May 2009 from TweetDeck in reply to OurielOhayon
3. 
   khkremer @pauley Nothing new for me - I already got that via @topify. They also add MrTweet data. Very useful. 06 May 2009 from web in reply to pauley
4. 
   mobile_divide @erickschonfeld Not even close. Have you even used Topify yourself? 06 May 2009 from Tweetie in reply to erickschonfeld

-- this quote was brought to you by quoteurl



Technorati Tags: twitter email topify

Twinterview #7 @JayM - Jay Meydad

After @YaronGalai ,@Net , @mikeeisenberg , @GuyZo, @RanTav , @YaronSamid here is the TwInterview#7 (interview of israeli people i like to follow on Twitter) of @JayM


    140 character profile description

Married+3 boys. Live in LA. VP Products @Snap.com. Blogger-meydad.com. Likes: soccer, mntn biking, music, photography, social apps & tech


    A few stats ?

Joined twitter 26 March 2007, 1262 updates to date, 373 followers, following 180 (was 250 but cut down recently). More: http://bit.ly/9i10M

    How Do you use it ? What do you tweet about?

Mostly personal. For business I run @snap.com; Topics: random thoughts, usability examples, share links, music, #fiddme & #mntbiking pics

    How do you updates your Tweets?

TwitterFon from iPhone, TweetDeck from PC, twitterfeed.com to auto tweet my blog posts from www.meydad.com to twitter. Web & bit.ly rarely

    A few Twitter tips?

Be yourself. Don't auto follow your followers. Reply-All using @ wisely (use DM). Use Mr Tweet to improve. Use google “site:twitter.com <q>”

    What are your top 5 Twitter accounts you recommend and why?

>> US: @howardlindzon (witty, finance), @jonburg (conv. starter), @atul (good source for stories), @joshk (smart VC), @seanpercival (la scene)
>> Israel: @ourielohayon (tech,vc,life mix), @yosit (#fiddme), @hissrecords (indie music), @eitanshay (smart friend), @urilevanon (tech&music)


    You favorite Twitter app?

>> TwitterFon (chose this iPhone client after trying many [ouriel: i agree] ), TweetDeck (best desktop client) and Topify (big time saver in managing followers [ouriel: i also agree :)] )

    What would you change with Twitter?

>> Report spam,  hyperlink of words to save chars, threading, groups & group tweets,  auto-complete of usernames (also via API), @topify to all



Technorati Tags: twitter israel interview twinterview

Twinterview #6 @YaronSamid / @techaviv

After @YaronGalai ,@Net , @mikeeisenberg , @GuyZo, @RanTav here is the TwInterview#6 (interview of israeli people i like to follow on Twitter) of Yaron Samid (@YaronSamid) who manages his own account and TechAviv account (@TechAviv)


    140 character profile description

Yoav’s Dad, Orly’s man, Founder @PandoNetworks, @TechAviv, @NYV2. Board member @Aprigo, @Pond5, @InterMatch.  Now building third startup.

    A few stats ?

@YaronSamid - Updates: 636, Followers: 555, Following: 98
@TechAviv - Updates: 445, Followers: 752, Following: 143
@NYV2 - Updates: 66, Followers: 495, Following: 21

    How Do you use it ? What do you tweet about?

@YaronSamid - personal, interesting posts/news i read, share my own biz/life thoughts
@TechAviv - business, cover latest and greatest Israeli startups and global TechAviv meetups
@NYV - business, cover web video startups and news and NY Video meetups

    How do you updates your Tweets?

Update everywhere, anytime. iPhone, twhirl, tweetdeck and web.

    A few Twitter tips?

Don't take it too seriously. Twitter is to blogs, what IM is to email. Enjoy the conversation and speak your mind freely.

    What are your top 5 Twitter accounts you recommend and why?

@Techmeme - #1 source for relevant, breaking tech news
@YaronGalai - a good friend and great leader
@UmairH - arguably the smartest cat in the biz, and he's not in the biz.
@ourielohayon - Israeli hi-tech's leading voice on twitter
@fredwilson - the sharpest, most current VC I know

    You favorite Twitter app?

Tweetie for iPhone
Tweetdeck

    What would you change with Twitter?

Add groups and better topic search/management. I'm sure it's coming.


See you soon for TwInterview#7



Technorati Tags: twitter israel interview twinterview

TwInterview#5 @RanTav (Ran Tavory from Google)

After @YaronGalai ,@Net , @mikeeisenberg and @GuyZo, here is the TwInterview#5 (interview of israeli people i like to follow on Twitter) of Ran Tavory (@RanTav) a fine tech guy and cool podcaster


    140 character profile description

Software developer, mainly web application and other front-end stuff, currently at Google (YouTube), Haifa.

    A few stats ?

 Joined 4 May 2007, 723 days ago, 376 updates, 124 followers, following 51

    How Do you use it ? What do you tweet about?

Mostly business -  tell the world what I learn (software and web development), ask questions, post what I think is valuable to others

    How do you updates your Tweets?

Mostly business -  tell the world what I learn (software and web development), ask questions, post what I think is valuable to others

    A few Twitter tips?

Keep your networks separate and focus. ppl follow if interest/noise ratio is high enough.

    What are your top 5 Twitter accounts you recommend and why?

@OurielOhayon :) [my readers will finish thinking i am paying my followers...]

@Orli

@orilahav - my buddy at @reversim

@dibau_naum_h - For professional software development

@galm - highly quality, fresh web news

    You favorite Twitter app?

Tweetie, Twitterrific

    What would you change with Twitter?

Don't break so often, especially on the API...


See you soon for TwInterview#5

update: that is really cool. The Twinterview gave Ran the idea to create a bookmarklet to count characters

Technorati Tags: twitter israel interview twinterview

[execution is the key] Being 1st, vs Being the best vs Winning

Does it matter to be the best and to be first to win on the internet? The short answer is no.

The best pizza is not the most successful

A few weeks ago i discovered a new pizzeria that opened down my street. It arrived way after my favorite pizza shop a few meters away, but was already packed from the morning to late at night. Attracted by the crowd, i checked it out and went to order a pizza. It was not much cheaper, but a little big bigger. Now here is the interested bit: it is the worst or one of the worst pizzas i have ever eaten at all levels (ingredients, paste, sauce,...) and obviously people did not care. But the service was great and owners are eager to be nice. The other interesting part: the restaurant is NEVER empty.

What can we learn from that? people don t care about the best. people care about what's good enough for them. This restaurant is currently winning over my favorite because it is offering a product and a service that is matching people's expectations. It is not winning because it was first nor because it has the best product.

From my personal experience the same happens on the web. With a twist. When we launched LuckyVillage.com in France back in 2000, we were the very first to introduce the concept of Free lottery. A few weeks later we were 6 startups doing the same, some of them massively backed when we only raised 1m euros. Who was the winner? not the biggest, not the lottery with the best product (ours we believe, although we had an exit) but a very small company handled carefully, not vc backed, that arrived late and that was patient enough to see all of us out of the race. It is now one of the biggest casual play company in Europe.

When we launched Topify.com, we discovered a few days before that a competing service was out there (we were there actually much before but in closed teasing mode) much simpler, with less features. Why did they initially win? because Kevin Rose and a few others spotted them and promoted them. It drove them massive traffic. We know, although we had a much better product we could not win on traffic race. We were not first, and we were not the hottest. So we decided to fight on another field: patience, scale and customer service. Bingo! The competing service suffered serious downtimes and we were there to collect frustrated users and answer all request (which they were not doing), We were even offered to acquire them, which we declined. If you run a search on Topify you ll discover how happy our users are

Arriving first does not matter, having the best product does not matter.

In a couple of weeks, i will launch a new side project i have been working on very remotely for 3 months called project "TD". I discovered last week a competing service was launched, which honestly is pissing me off a little because we could have been first since all is ready, but for family reasons i had to delay the launch. It also gained major expositons from some big blogs. So are we done? We don't think so, not because our product is much better (although it is). But because their customer experience is poor and their model broken form day 1 (which they could fix..)..well you ll tell me when you see it.

Conclusion

The web is not a sport race: winning does not mean arriving first or being the best. Twitter won over services that were way better in terms of features and design and launched before them. Google wins on search engines that offer a better experience. Skype wins over any VOIP service although it arrived late. MySpace wins over 10s of Social networks way better designed. And the list could be very long.

There is a mix of winning factors: being first and having the best product are 2 of them but are not the most important. In my view here are some that are much more important: Listen and care (really) for customers, Speed of execution, speed of everything, pace of innovation, patience and consistency (you don t have to be the best all the time, but good all the time), design to scale, attention to details, site experience (not necessarily design), care for simplicity over feature set.

This is what i like to call execution and most of it is not AT ALL visible on a site when you look at it (of course if your site is crap...well... go sell pizzas)

ps: i have purposely took off the debate any business model related issue that will part of a different post. But yes monetizing is also a winning factor. But on the web it is not the most important one when you launch


Technorati Tags: execution win factors web internet startups competition