Community goes corporate
.7.10 | No Comments »
October 7th, 2005 by Alex
Boyd Neil of Hill & Knowlton has written a very kind and thought-provoking post in response to the launch of Social Signal. Boyd’s observation is that corporate communicators have a lot to learn from social movements and community activists about how to use the Internet as a tool for bottom-up community engagement and marketing campaigns.
It’s an interesting twist because I’m used to coporate communications being held up as a model and example for nonprofit people — particularly online, since corporate web sites often seem to be a few steps ahead of their nonprofit counterparts (at least aesthetically). While I’ve grown increasingly convinced of the potential of decentralized online collaboration as an engine of social change, it hadn’t occurred to me that part of its impact lies in shifting the balance of power between the private and nonprofit worlds.
For all sorts of historical, cultural, and perhaps even structural reasons, civil society organizations may be just that much ahead of private (and I suspect also government) organizations in their ability to adopt, adapt and exploit participatory, collaborative models. If that’s the model that is most effective — and most available — in the era of online communications, then the shift towards online community may actually put community organizations in a newly powerful position.
Of course the other possible — and equally hopeful — scenario is that private sector organizations will learn to adopt and adapt participatory models for their own benefit. I say, bring it on! All my experience and observation of community collaboration suggests that the structures and processes of collaborative work and decision-making have a transformative impact on organizational culture and mission. Democratizing corporations — by giving employees, customers and the broader community a greater role and stake in their decisions — could have an even larger social impact than democratizing government and civil society groups.
And there are more opportunities than ever for corporations to immerse themselves in the experiences and innovations of web-savvy, collaboration-driven community organizations. Dare I suggest that participating in Net2 could be a great place to start?
More love for Zagat
.6.9 | 1 Comment »
September 6th, 2005 by Alex
Ah, the joys of the automatic reply. Zagat canceled my subscription as per my request, and here’s what their e-mail included:
If you have a moment, could you let us know why you decided to cancel?
Is there anything we can do to change your mind? We rely on customer
feedback to make improvements to the site and the overall customer
experience, so we’d truly appreciate any comments you might have.
Gosh, I am SO glad I took the time to share my views in that previous e-mail.
Zinging Zagat
.6.9 | No Comments »
September 6th, 2005 by Alex
I’m going to resist turning this space into my own customer service department, but here’s another little skirmish in my own personal war on obnoxious web sites. Tonight’s target is Zagat, purveyors of other people’s opinions. Long before epinions and Trip Advisor figured out how to [not?] make money off of what other people think, Zagat had cornered the skinny book market with its trademark burgundy restaurant guidbooks.
Then the Internet came along with its promise of FREE MONEY and even more opinions and also FREE MONEY, and here Zagat’s has got this big stockpile of opinions all ready to be uploaded. It was a no-brainer for Zagat to create an online service, and for some time there was a glorious moment when you could surf through the Zagat guide and search for restaurants in your hometown by location or cuisine or service feature, and it was only when you wanted to do something really exotic like cross-reference restaurants by favourite ingredient that the nice Zagat folks would hit you up for cash.
Then it all went terribly wrong.
Now if you hit the Zagat site you’ll have a few minutes of delightful expectation as you review the wide variety of features you can easily search on. Go so far as to click one of those features, however, and what you’ll get is a big come-on to subscribe to their service.
As annoyed as I am by these unanticipated come-ons, I am even more annoyed by (a) bad food, (b) starvation, and (c) driving through a strange city in my pajamas, which is why I found myself taking eight (!!!) minutes tonight to complete the subscription form that granted me the privilege of 30 days of Zagat access for a mere $3.95. But that seemed like the fastest cheapest route to find good food that delivers in San Francisco, which is where I am now and for the next five days. Surely I can extract $3.95 worth of meal-hunting value in five days.
Hah! The restaurants that Zagat’s listed as offering delivery did not, in fact, offer delivery — at least not the first two we called before giving up. (Not very persistent, I admit, but maybe I would have felt more patient if I hadn’t spent eight minutes on the site registration process.)
But here’s the really cheeky part: Zagat’s confirmation e-mail notes that “For your convenience, your subscription will renew automatically until you tell us otherwise.”
Hmm…do blogs count as telling them otherwise? Maybe not. So here’s what I wrote:
YIKES! Please don’t renew my subscription. I’m guessing that “automatic renewal” is buried somewhere in your fine print but FYI other sites that do automatic renewal offer it as an opt-in option, not an opt-out.
And actually wasn’t very happy with even my one-shot $3.95 subscription. Bought it so I could check into which restaurants offer delivery in SanFran (I’m here on vacation)…the restaurants you list as delivering don’t necessarily (I called 2 then gave up.)
Also while I’m at it can I say that it’s very unusual for a site to offer links that are viewable to subscribers only without labeling them as such? I know you’re trying to drive subscriptions but it more or less violates netiquette standards. If you’ve got subscribers-only features, label them as such; don’t offer them as links and then smack me in the face with a subscription come-on.
Gosh, I can’t wait for the Zagat survey on e-business sites.
Movie Central digs me out from Six Feet Under
.17.8 | 1 Comment »
August 17th, 2005 by Alex
Today’s online customer service award goes to Movie Central — that’s the (Western) Canadian equivalent of HBO.
I emailed the address listed on their web site last Monday (August 8th), as follows:
Subject: Six Feet Under season 5
hi,
I’ve somehow missed Season 5 of six feet under — I only just now
discovered that the season is almost over!! and it’s our whole reason
for subscribing to movie central, so i’m heartbroken. Can I ask when
you’re going to start showing season 5 again from the beginning so I
don’t miss it again?
Let me tell you, I wasn’t really expecting an answer. So I was just delighted when I got an actual e-mail from an actual human being today:
I’m sorry to hear this! We premiered Six Feet Under in a similar
time-frame to HBO. We will be re-airing this season likely in about 4
months or so. So you don’t miss it again you might consider subscribing
to MCeNews which will send you weekly updates on the series and movies
airing each week. Another great new series about to start is the HBO’s
Rome premiering on Movie Central August 28th. Check into our website for
more details.
The truth is they’re obviously flogging this Rome thing, but I was impressed that they thought to suggest a consolation prize. And really thrilled that Six Feet Under will indeed be mine, if subject to delayed gratification.
Meanhile would all Six Feet Under watchers please take this as a big NO SPOILERS warning. If I hear so much as a peep about Season 5 from any of you I’m going to be scouring my site logs for evidence that your IP number accessed this post. If I discover that you knowingly ignored my NO SPOILERS warning I’m going to subject you to creative RSS-enabled public humiliation.
Technological leapfrogging
.17.1 | No Comments »
January 17th, 2005 by Alex
I have a story in today’s Toronto Star on Leapfrogging the Technology Gap. The story looks at
communities or even whole countries in the developing world that are using information and communication technologies to leapfrog directly from being an agricultural to an information economy. It’s a phenomenon that combines technology high and low in innovative ways, and is generating not only economic benefits but a new world of educational, social and political opportunities.
It’s accompanied by a second story, Tsunami a setback for e-Sri Lanka, which looks at Sri Lanka’s aspirations for technological leapfrogging in light of last month’s Indian Ocean disaster.
Web-based project management
.16.12 | 1 Comment »
December 16th, 2004 by Alex
As part of my ongoing love-in with 43 Things, I looked into its development environment, something called Ruby on Rails. Ruby is a programming language that claims to be easy for even a new programmer to learn. Rails is a web application framework for Ruby; it sounds like it may make the process of developing web applications much faster and more efficient.
I gather than Ruby on Rails was developed simultaneously and symbiotically with Basecamp, a very intriguing web-based project management tool. It looks like a very usable, economic tool for managing internal communications, project timelines, and task allocation and completion.
E-commerce comes to Canada
.5.12 | No Comments »
December 5th, 2004 by Alex
After years of being marginalized by the online marketplace, Canada is finally getting access to a wide range of online retailers — thanks to Borderfree, a service owned by Canada Post. Borderfree lets online retailers easily sell their products in international markets, including Canada.