An ex-colleague sent me this last week and it’s probably the best example of augmented reality to date, demonstrated at TED in 2009 (though it never quite refers to itself in that way).
I think it addresses a really good point: we have all this meta data about everyday objects, companies, products and services hanging around online, but have yet to find a way to successfully merge that with what we do offline.
It’s important to think not just as a consumer, but as a business person for a minute: What if you could “see” the top (and bottom) rated items on a menu? Or who thought which starter went will with the steak? Perhaps a little more scarily, what if they’re checking out your printer at the store, but notice that a significant number of people feel a competitor’s brand prints better images?
We’ll probably only begin to see widespread adoption of such technology in the next 10-20 years, but the implications are going to be huge and it wouldn’t hurt to think about them now.
1) No one seems to really know what responsible participation means. Does it mean different things depending on context? For example, does “responsible participation” take on different manifestations in a B2C context as contrasted with a public-sector context?
2) Responsible participation, regardless of the context, needs to be two-way. I’m astounded at the sentiment on one side of the fence that calls for, or demands responsible participation, without even being engaged and participating themselves in the first place. Reciprocity is a global norm, no?
John collecting opinions
As a side note, I had a subsequent class visit to Edelman the following week, and the topic of discussion was “Crisis communication”. Before any of us could bring up the Wal-Mart example, the speaker brought it up first as an example of how they had to deal with it and it’s nice to see them openly acknowledge past mistakes and use them as a learning experience.
All in all, it seems like Edelman is genuinely trying to tap into the community to aid them in their social media efforts and this is only the first of such discussions. I’m looking forward to see what comes next.
After yesterday’s post detailing how Evernote has changed my life, it’s no secret I’m a huge fan of the service. Evernote isn’t the only option for storing data in the “cloud”, but why is it such a great one? I think there are a few key lessons that can be learned.
1) Focus on creating an awesome product
I was listening to Managing the Gray with CC Chapman, and Evernote CEO Phil Libin was being interviewed. Something that he mentioned was the conscious decision to focus on product development and spend on engineers and creating an awesome product instead of spending on marketing. Instead, they let it evolve organically by word of mouth. It’s something I personally believe in. Make sure your product is the best it can be, and doesn’t suck, before even thinking about marketing it or reaching out.
2) Freemium model
When you look at other “cloud” storage apps like Hordit and gasp at unlimited storage, Evernote’s 40MB per month for the free version and 500MB per month for the paid version ($45/year) may seem far away in comparison. However, I’m convinced Evernote has it’s business model planned out correctly. I use Evernote daily and I have used 0.1MB out of my 40MB free, with 2 days left to go. Unless you’re an obsessive hi-res photo-uploader, there is no reason why 40Mb isn’t enough. As a student, I don’t need a premium services (yet), so I appreciate the effort to cater to both the free and the paid user segment is something
3) Participating in the online space
Whether it’s participating in podcast interviews like on Managing the Gray, having an Evernote blog, a Twitter account, a Facebook page or a Friendfeed page, there’s no doubt Evernote’s presence online is both everywhere and value-adding
4) Listening to their fans
Of course, there’s no use just having a presence online if you don’t use it to engage with your fans. Their most recent email update reads:
As many of you know, we’re big fans of Twitter. A while back we asked you to tell us what you liked about our @Evernote tweeting and what you didn’t. The response was clear: more suggestions on how to use Evernote and fewer links to media coverage. So, for those interested in the latter, we just launched a second Twitter account focused solely on media and blogosphere coverage. Check it out: http://www.twitter.com/evernotepress
As a company, the desire to push out your press releases is overwhelming, but I think being receptive to fan’s opinions and actually changing behavior, is a huge plus and shows great respect for Evernote users.
I’m sure there are many other things Evernote is doing right, but these are the four that really jump out at me. What else do you think Evernote has done right?
I’ve been a user of Evernote since 8th December 2008, and I don’t think there’s been a day gone by since then that I haven’t used it either on my desktop, laptop or iPod Touch (they have a version for Windows Mobile too).
The premise of Evernote is simple. It’s your second brain. Everything you need to keep track of, or remember, you key it into Evernote and it’s stored in the “cloud”, which then can be accessed via web, mobile or even the Evernote client that can run straight off your desktop. All of these are synced centrally, so you always have the latest version of your updates when you access your notes.
Evernote comes complete with the ability to recognise words within images, the ability to tag and geotag notes, include photographs and voice, and for the premium (paid) version, to sync the same version of files everywhere, which can be useful for people editing documents on the go.
I first really realised the power of Evernote when I clipped some details of my flight on a whim, and then was at the airport trying to check in, but they couldn’t find my name. My e-ticket had the flight number, full name etc, but not the booking number. Luckily, it was a matter of taking out my iPod Touch, checking the tag that said “flight” and all was solved.
Since then, my Evernote usage has evolved in several different ways:
As a fan of GTD, I have a “tickler” tag in Evernote where I keep track of things I need to pay attention to each day. So I can open up Evernote and know I have a presentation due in 2 weeks. You can read about more about using Evernote and GTD here.
I’m obsessive about keeping track of what money I spend. I used to key it into my phone, but then would have the hassle of switching between my phone screen and my computer screen (where I key expenditures into an Excel sheet). Now, I just key it into my Touch with the tag “todo”, sync it up, and when I open my Excel sheet, it’s right there on the same computer.
I keep an “archive” folder in Evernote, where I put things like Amazon shipping costs (so I don’t have to keep going to Amazon and searching for the shipping page), quotes from books, my Sony service number and other things that might be useful.
I keep track of new books/music/games to check out when I’m at the store, and when I get home it will be on my Evernote so I’m reminded to check out reviews of it to make a purchase decision later
I used to take notes in class and save them as “week 1″, “week 2″ and so on. Now I just open a note with the tag “comm250″ and type everything in there in chronological order, which makes revising so much easier.
Everytime an idea pops into my head, I label it “todo” and key it in. When I start up my computer, the “todo” tags are usually the first things I look at, so it helps me focus.
As you can see, the uses and benefits of Evernote really are like having a second brain, and being able to tap into that literally anywhere. I’m rarely in the situation where something important flashes into my head, and I’m stuck trying to recall it two days later.
Because I’m using an iPod Touch, there are a few functionalities that I’m limited from using. Geo-tagging, for one, which can be very useful. For example, if you always have the same type of meeting at a particular spot, you can tag that location, and everytime you’re in there for a meeting, you can call up that tag and see previous meeting notes.
Similarly, if there’s something that needs to be done at a particular store, you can geo-tag it and when you’re in the vicinity, use that to remind you.
Still not convinced? Check out Evernote’s short introduction video. You’ll be sold.
Tomorrow, I’ve got another post lined up with some thoughts on the lessons that can be learned from Evernote, so if you’re a fan, check back for that. Meanwhile, how do you use Evernote? What tips and tricks do you have?
Reading the comments for the last couple of posts really got me thinking more about this subject. I feel like the “this is new media and there are new rules” excuse is quickly wearing its usefulness thin, and there is no excuse for people not to know these things anymore. Even if they don’t know, there are tonnes of places on the internet to research, like this one:
Are You Willing To Invest The Time?
It’s taken from Beth’s Blog and the primary focus of the blog post was how much time it takes non-profits to use social media, but I believe it applies pretty much across the board.
A quick note to the people who have been spamming the SMB Facebook Group and other groups? Social Networking comes last. If you’re not willing to spend that 20hrs/week investing in all the steps, then maybe social media isn’t for you.
I commented on this blog last week and said “I guess to some in the social media world all the steps are sometimes done simultaneously, but demonstrating them in increasing commitment levels and in a “linear” format will definitely help people just coming into it to understand it better!”
So take note of this. You start from listening, not plunging head on to creating content and “spreading the word”.
The Photography Analogy
I draw parallel to learning how to understand the technical functions of a DSLR camera for the first time (a situation I’m in). I came across this post from Digital Photography School which says:
ANY friend of mine who comes to me early on in their photography “career” asking for lessons is forbidden from shooting in any mode other than AUTO for at LEAST 3-6 months. In my mind that’s enough time to get your framing style down to the point where it’s just, for lack of a better word, automatic. . . second nature. When that happens, THEN you’re ready to explore other settings.
As someone who bought a Nikon D40x last December and is still shooting in auto and only just beginning to understand terms referring to manual settings like “exposure”, “aperture”, “ISO settings” and the like, I identify with this completely.
Similarly, if the fundamental concepts of conversation, feedback, community, partnership and dialogue are not understood by you or your company, leaping ahead to more complex ideas like blogger outreach or community management or setting up a Twitter account is probably not the best move for you.
In Closing
Take the time to familiarise yourself with the social media scene that is relevant to you, and don’t jump in expecting to yield results. More often than not it will frustrate the people you’re trying to reach out to, and yourself.
As the name suggests, reQall helps you recall the stuff you need to do all day long. Although I’m pretty happy with Remember The Milk as a little add-on to my Gmail and I Want Sandy for meeting reminders and the like, the big advantage that reQall has over them is an iPod Touch application.
reQall becomes most effective when you’re in an environment that is highly connected. For me being in a school where there is wireless everywhere, and a home that’s wifi enabled is more than enough. The Firefox extension allows you to enter “What popped into your head”, and it understands simple context like dates and times, which is exactly what I need. So I’d be surfing or chatting to someone and someone says “oh by the way the assignment is due next Monday”, I can type that immediately right from my Firefox browser.
One other thing I like about the interface of reQall, is that it’s separated into an actual to-do list that is time-sensitive, a shopping list and a notes list. There’s even an option to upload images to trigger your memory, if that works for you. I really like the shopping list and notes function now that I’m living pretty much on my own. Everytime something runs out I just enter it in from my iPod Touch and sync it up and when I head out to the store, it’s all in one place (you don’t need internet access to retrieve data from your iPod Touch).
If you’re like me and was thinking long and hard about updating your iPod Touch software to 2.0, I’d almost say that the reQall app alone would be reason enough for me to pay that $9.99, so consider giving it a try.
