For FriendFeed has become my replacement for Google Reader, which I only visit occasionally now to see if there are blogs I need to add to my feed.

But, if you are going to replace a reader with FriendFeed, how do you manage the flow of content. While tools will likely improve over time, I have adopted a simple strategy.

1) Scan for items with obvious links

As I power through the front page of my feed, I look for items that are obviously links to longer articles. I can then decide if I want click through to that article. But rather than opening it in a new tab right in front of me, I use the wheel-click option in Firefox and open these articles in a background tab. This allows me to scan through the fees and read the articles when I want.

2) Read Twitter/indenti.ca/Jaiku/etc. last

Personal conversations come second for me. If there is a thread I am interested in, I will wheel click the Twitter page for the person and pick it up that way…or use Twitter Search. Being the kind of person who processes personal communications last makes this easier.

3) Use the FriendFeed interface as much as I can

If there was a way to open posts in a frame such as the way that video and images are embedded in FriendFeed, I would never go to anyone’s actual site. While that may be a feature of the future, the storage implementation for the FriendFeed team is potentially enormous - unless they choose to retrieve the content on the fly.

And finally…

4) Gripe about TinyURL, etc. links and how I don’t know where they lead

A great feature of the future for FriendFeed would be to translate obfuscated URLs to their base URLs in a rollover

And there you have it. Not the world’s most intense primer on using FriendFeed, but it works for me!

Tags: friendfeed, google reader, optimize, strategy, summize, tinyurl, twitter, twitter search

Today, I want to talk about what happens when you aggressively adopt an online strategy, but leave your print subscribers behind.

I subscribe to a great architecture and design magazine, whose name I will exclude from this discussion, with a fantastic and informative online presence. The archive and articles available to subscribers are a fantastic resource for people just beginning to explore this field.

In February, I noticed that they had updated their site with the most recent issue’s content and cover. I was somewhat miffed, as my print copy had not yet arrived in the mail. Immediate assumption: print copy lost; request re-transmission.

Today, I checked the site, and all of the content for the March 2007 issue is online. And I don’t have my copy of this issue yet.

Based on the response to the e-mail that I sent to the circulation and publishing team, I may be the first person to bring this to their attention.

When you are in the dead-tree print industry, the Web (1.0 and 2.0) are crucial extensions to your existing business model. But the aggressive use of the Web channel to deliver your content to the rest of the world before the print subscribers receive their copies is doing damage to your business.

Subscribers pay extra in order to gain access to your magazine before the rest of the world can get it. This must extend to the Web channel. As a subscriber, knowing that someone can read the contents of the magazine online before I get my chance to look at the print copy is unsatisfactory.

Subscription content infers a level of exclusivity to those who buy the gold ticket. If you give everyone the gold ticket at the same time, then a subscription loses it sense of exclusivity. Then the magazine loses guaranteed revenue. Then the magazine is gone.

Information should be free. I chafe against the subscription gateways as much as the next person. But if you base your entire business on a subscription model, you better not undermine your own subscription business by giving the subscription content away for free.

Tags: magazine, content, subscription, print, Web

Tags: app, attention, business, content, design, EAD, extension, HTTP, IE, IM, information, IP, it, leave, live, media, Om, One, online, online presence, pr, strategy, Technorati, update, web

Three Apple vets form a company with no product and no strategy.

They go public and make $30M. [here]

How do I get a piece of this action?

Technorati Tags: Acquicor, Apple, 1999, sham, internet bubble

Tags: app, Apple, blog, HTML, HTTP, IE, Internet, it, Om, pr, strategy, Technorati

The gang at the Never Work Alone blog have a fantastic post describing some of the solutions to the Introverted IT / Extroverted Sales-Marketing integration issue.[here]

The best points:

• When hiring, place a premium on being able to explain technical issues to users and determine whether they’ve mastered the material. Expect this to cost more.
• Offer raises for taking training in oral technical communication
• Offer “days off” learning the essential business function of the department. You don’t understand what they do, they often don’t really GET what you do either, nor why its important - gieve them a chance to understand each other
• Train non-IT staff to repeat back in their own words what the IT person explained to them and confirm that they got it right (a good idea for any complex communication)

My eternal salvation comes from falling into the first category listed above. I can tear apart a packet trace and spot issues at the TCP layer, and then turn around and explain this issue to the VP of Marketing in terms that she can understand, and are relevant to her.

That is not dumbing it down, as many IT people feel. This strategy (or survival mechanism) allows a technical person to appeal to a wider audience. Being recognized across your organization, not just in your team, leads to greater rewards in the long run.

Tags: ads, app, audience, blog, business, cro, EAD, HTML, HTTP, IE, IM, Issues, it, marketing, Om, One, pr, run, strategy, TCP, users

Dear Arrogant Monopolistic Cable Operator:

The day of reckoning is upon you. Your formerly monopolistic power has been drained by years of failed mega-mergers, media plays, satellite providers and gross mis-management. Your cash cows are showing signs of Mad Cow Disease.

The final straw for me is your incredibly pig-headed strategy of price inflexibility on your high-speed Internet service. I pay what I consider a ridiculous amount every month for what is a necessary service for me. Now I see that your Telco competitors are slashing prices every way they can to win back business.

I read that you will lower your price if I call you and threaten to move to an alternate provider. But only for 3 months.

You really need to step back and realize how dead your business is going to be in 2 years.

I live in the testbed for fiber-to-the-home in Massachussetts. Every day, Verizon linemen, training to string fiber to every home, drive up and down our street, leaving spools of high-speed goodness on every corner.

They say that in a year, I can have incredible speeds to my home, for less than what I pay for your high-speed Internet service.

So, Mr. Cable Operator (you have to be a man, because only a man would be this pig-headed), what are you going to do to keep me a customer?

Sincerely,
me

TECHNORATI: Comcast, dsl,Cable Operators, Verizon

Tags: business, comcast, customers, EAD, HTML, HTTP, Internet, it, live, media, Om, pr, strategy, Technorati, Verizon

Dave Winer points out that Apple and Google have suddenly stumbled into potential PR/brand issues in the last 24 hours that could easily be resolved in a customer-focused blog. [here]

I have beaten Apple on more than a few occasions on their lack of blogging cred. [here and here and here]

Google’s blog strategy is…well, weak.

Meanwhile Sun and Microsoft are more than willing to jump into the blog pool and take a few bumps and bruises along the way.

If you can’t take the heat…you will get burned in the fire.

Tags: app, Apple, blog, Blogging, brand, cro, Google, HTTP, Issues, Microsoft, Om, PHP, pr, strategy, web

If you thought this was bad, SAP strives to exceed its previous level of obsfucation.

Nicholas Carr quotes from the transcripts at the Boston SAP Sapphire conference.

Let’s look through this thing. Remember we had the fridge. We decided to retire the fridge. We’re going to talk about a new metaphor from now on. What is NetWeaver and how does the whole thing come together? We talk about what we call the body of information. If you think about how the body of information is constructed, there are multiple pieces in there. It’s the mirror, if you want, of what we had with the fridge. The only difference from the fridge is that all the pieces have to work together. The face is the portal. If you think about the brain behind the face, there are two halves. The analytics, the structured side; knowledge management, the unstructured side. The brain is critical not only for storing information but for processing. Anything that comes through the brain gets context. Through this brain, and what’s supporting it, is probably the backbone of your body of information: master data management. If you don’t have master data management, your body may be there, but it may not be able to move. And that’s very critical to understand. Every information that goes through, every transaction that goes through, at some point in time touches master data, and if you don’t have a coherent master data strategy and a coherent master data management server, you will not get an agile body. MDM is one of the biggest things that is happening right now in NetWeaver. Through the backbone, you get a lot of events. The events contextualize themselves through master data into the brain and then get back and thrown into the rest of your body. That network is like your nerve system.

Brain. Melting. I. Must. Follow. Blindly.

Via Chris Selland

Tags: analytics, app, backbone, Boston, critical, data, HTML, HTTP, IE, IM, information, IP, it, LAN, Om, One, PHP, pr, server, strategy, tn

Skip Angel has taken and expanded Marcus Buckingham’s 12 Questions on measuring success at work. [here]

Many of these were eye-openers for me. I have marked it as unread to re-visit again.

1. Do I know what is expected of me at work? (This will check to see if the person’s roles and responsibilities have been clearly communicated.)

2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right? (This will get to the roadblock with tools that the individual is using so the manager can resolve.)

3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day? (This question determines if the job is taking advantage of the individual’s strengths or desires.)

4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work? (When I saw this question, it was an eye opener and a reminder to give recognition and praise more often. Not to assume that “no news is good news”.)

5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person? (Another eye opener, does the individual believe that they are getting my attention and I care about how they are doing?)

6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development? (This will provide information on the individual’s mentors as well as for you to see some of the leaders in your organization.)

7. At work, do my opinions seem to count? (This is a great question and will deal with issues where an individual is feeling shut out of decisions.)

8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my job is important? (Like the first question, this question really tests the employees on what has been communicated — in this case, the company vision and strategy.)

9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work? (This question helps to see how this individual relates to others and their contribution to the team.)

10. Do I have a best friend at work? (Work is a community as sorts, so this is an interesting question to ask and get responses to see where there are tighter relationships between individuals.)

11. In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress? (Just like the recognition question, this is a gentle reminder to a manager to keep up with the progress of people on their team.)

12. This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow? (This question sets the stage on aligning personal goals to opportunities either within or outside of the organization. It also tells the individual that you care about them wanted to learn and grow.)

Tags: 3G, Adblock, attention, blog, community, EAD, HTTP, IE, IM, information, IP, Issues, it, live, Om, One, opinion, personal, pr, strategy

According to Scoble, Microsoft is reversing its position on the Washington State anti-discrimination bill. [here]

Not to be harsh, but in my mind, “Too Late, was the cry”.

The damage is done. I am happy that they are now coming out in favour of this bill, but this is now tainted by their initial withdrawal of support. This response, no matter how it is spun, is seen as hollow and meaningless.

I am sorry Scoble, I do not share your excitement over this announcement. I expected it, and I am not impressed by the sentiments that are driving Microsoft as a corporation to make this decision.

They should have had spine in the first place; courage after the battle cannot put a shine on the tarnish of cowardice during the battle.

Adam Barr confirms the reversal. [here]

Ballmer’s e-mail can be read here.

Kevin Briody

C|Net’s take.

Rob Enderle lays down some good vibes for Microsoft. I am still asking where their spine was in the first place…

Dare Obasanjo says “Microsoft definitely does not suck as an employer” [here]; no Dare, they have just shown us what all good political animals already know: the strategic back-pedal is a valid strategy.

Udo and I, talkin’ the same language! [here]

TDavid’s comments. [here]

David Weinberger. Why, oh why, is nobody critiquing this flip-flop?

Tags: app, ASP, blog, cro, EAD, HTML, HTTP, IM, IP, it, LAN, Microsoft, Om, One, PHP, pr, strategy, web

James Governor hits for six with this gem.

By bringing their correlation capabilities with Web metrics (Urchin) and site visits (Web Accelerator and Toolbar), Google will be able to direct even better, more focused ad placement, based on visitor location, time of day, Originating ISP, “actual” bandwidth, and any number of other metrics that they will have at their disposal.

I am interested, and concerned, with the brilliance of the Google strategy.

Tags: bandwidth, Google, hits, HTML, HTTP, IE, IM, ISP, it, metrics, Om, strategy, web