What all is wrong with the new facebook

Michael Arrington's post got me all fired up to write this.
Sure change is good. I welcome it, but ONLY if it makes my life easier, and in this case specifically, if it makes for easier networking/connecting with my friends.

So here are some things that I've been trying to figure out about the new facebook and jeez, are they annoying.

Sample 1
Lets say I want to use one of the application (Give Gift) to use on one of my friends.
Oh guess what? I can't cancel it!!???! Where is the goddamn cancel button? sure I found a workaround. You click on the 'write post' and the box disappears, but is that how Facebook had intended it?



Sample 2
So I played around some more and found out that some apps .. ahem.. DID have a 'x' on the top right. I was delighted! Ahh, an option to cancel right?
Wrong. What that 'x' does is prompts you to remove the application! Sweet stuff! I bet the developers are delighted!


This is enough for me to get the old facebook back. Sure bring on the new stuff, but at least test for basic functionality before you make it mandatory.

Puja Madan : most likely to stick to the old facebook till its around

Inspiration

Can FaceBook be my one-stop for .... everything online?

Mike Arrington's post on FB's inefficient messaging got me thinking a tad:

Personal communication and collaboration is becoming increasingly time-consuming. When I say this, I don't mean historically. From the past, we're definitely saving time by leaps and bounds. I mean this, in terms of our patience-levels online. Logging onto email, chat (Maybe not if you have gmail), one (or many) social networking site(s), a photo-sharing site, a blog (or many!) another semi-social site that lets me display my status (twitter, linkedin, spock) is just TOO much work.

I'd like it all put together. Facebook does a mighty good job of engaging its members on the social networking, photo-sharing, status-displaying front. It does not delight me with it's email service and does not let me blog.

Now, if only it would build on those (am I missing anything?) I'm guessing I wouldn't need to login to a gazillion services. I wouldn't need to change tabs.

Hmm, that would make me very happy.

The bane of hiring for a startup..

To start with, the junior rung of prospective employees don't comprehend what startups are. They don't understand that they'll need to work for a small-name company AND take a cut in salary (assuming they've worked before) AND do more than what their profiles require (read move offices, pay bills, carry out some random admin work). I think they also don't understand the wealth of experience that comes with working in smaller companies and ofcourse the stock! (If you hang around long enough to avail them ofcourse!) and so the job to convince and recruit the good ones is almost uphill.

My biggest problem has been choosing between a candidate with people skills against one with technical skills. Good, smart guy with communication skills. Doesn't know MS office or Internet. Whizkid at Excel and Google search. Dud at going out there and talking to people.

Ah well, its just another day...

Online Marketing audio guides

Nick Osborne has been writing and talking about effective Internet Marketing techniques for a while now. Here's a list of his audio-presentations, from increasing subscriptions to good copy for landing (squeeze) pages. Some are paid, but I reckon they're worth it.

So what's your networth?

Search engines like Spock, pipl and PeekYou are clear indications that people searches are becoming BIG. Not the lost-touch-with-my-fifth-cousin-or-schoolmate-from-grade-2 kind of searches. But searches for people. People you might work with. People you might consult for your business. People you might fund. People who've been referred to you.

If you're in the Internet space - developing internet technologies, or marketing them, then your resume is not a standard 2 pager. Its what shows up when you type John Doe in Google, and soon all the beta-people search engines. And what you discover there.

Online Community Management

Seth touched upon something of immediate relevance in this blog.

In India specially, this is a relatively new and still evolving concept and career opportunity. But it ranks pretty damn high on the exciting-and-dynamic-work quotient! Here's my two cents:

the Internet functions differently than more traditional markets. Lets say, when I go to buy soap, I'd pick it up and smell it first. With furniture, I want to run my hands across it. When opening an account with a bank, I want to look into the representative eyes and 'feel' if he really believes what he's saying himself. There's something tangible that aids my decision to buy. I use my senses (sometimes one, sometimes all) to finally go ahead.

The Internet wipes out all of that. Sorry, no touching, no feeling, seeing, smelling, sensing . Faceless sellers sell to faceless buyers.

In this case, the work of the Online Community Manager is firstly, to be as human and humane as possible. Develop (systematically and regularly) the image of a 'real' person(s) dealing with customer communication. And here's where his know-how of technology (as Seth points out) will come in handy.. how to personalize as much as possible while still handling large numbers? Design an 'About Us' section with loads of information about the people behind the product/service: What do they look like, what do they do? How do they spend their free time? How many kids do they have? Establish again and again (and through as many channels/points of contact) that these people are ordinary, human beings like you and me.

The other important responsibility of such a person is: communicate in ways that makes users feel they have an emotional stake in the product/service's life. This is the only way things get viral: when people are emotionally connected to something/someone. Then they talk. Involve your users and don't do lip-service to that. Let their be evidence that their opinion counts. (Eg. someone makes a suggestion which is not implementable right away. Shoot an email, acknowledging the suggestion, saying thank you, where you're at wrt to engg/tech and why its not possible right away. And when you DO implement the change, mail again saying 'hey we put it up. What do you think?')

Its a new and exciting place to be, there's a lot to learn. And by gosh, its fun!

Two companies I know are looking for Online Community Managers are Pinstorm and MangoSpring