I’m getting a ton of mail about the iPod Nano "controversy". Mostly crowing about how powerful the blogosphere is and how the bloggers "won" (Elizabeth sends us to On Demand Business : Blogs : Todd Watson.)
Well, the reason the idea spread so fast is that Apple is eminently viral, especially re: negative stories about new stuff. Report: Apple to replace iPod nanos with broken screens – Sep. 28, 2005
The thing is, I think we’re noticing this a whole lot more than the general public. (the line to buy Nanos at my local Apple store was huge). And I think there’s a danger here, because alert marketers are also online a lot, and if you drink your own koolaid, it can backfire (by the way, there wasn’t Kool Aid at Jonestown, it was Flavor Ade… another example of how ideas spread and leave a history).
Yes, Apple discovered that 1% of the Nanos were defective, and yes, within a week, they agreed to take them back. Good for them. But no, this isn’t the sort of groundswell public conversation that all the online pundits (like me) keep telling you about.
You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Noted. But you also never get a chance to tell a great story with a boring product. The real story here is how gaga the world went over the Nano. Don’t hesitate to build something like this just because someone might build a blog complaining about a broken screen. Nope. Build something this cool as fast as you can so you can be in the center of our conversations.
September 28, 2005
Robert Prisament points us to big news about Kiss: Kiss News on Yahoo! Music.
The guys in make up are about to hire other guys in make up to go out and sing in concert.
As the babyboomers age, what happens to personal brands? L. Ron Hubbard is gone, but Dianetics lives on. Mark Levinson is still around, but it’s not him behind those amplifiers that cost $10,000. Is there something inauthentic about buying Martha Stewart fabric that Martha didn’t make, or listening to a Kiss concert with someone else singing? Or for that matter, lip synching?
Is it okay for a blog post to be written by someone other than the blogger? Daily Kos is now written by a team, not a person…
First we got smaller, with lots of tiny, personal brands. Then, as those brands succeed, the temptation is to scale them.
And, yes, the Beatles were never the same after Pete Best left.
September 27, 2005
For an idea to spread, it needs to be sent and received.
No one "sends" an idea unless:
a. they understand it
b. they want it to spread
c. they believe that spreading it will enhance their power (reputation, income, friendships) or their peace of mind
d. the effort necessary to send the idea is less than the benefits
No one "gets" an idea unless:
a. the first impression demands further investigation
b. they already understand the foundation ideas necessary to get the new idea
c. they trust or respect the sender enough to invest the time
This explains why online ideas spread so fast but why they’re often shallow. Nietzsche is hard to understand and risky to spread, so it moves slowly among people willing to invest the time. Numa Numa, on the other hand, spread like a toxic waste spill because it was so transparent, reasonably funny and easy to share.
Notice that ideas never spread because they are important to the originator.
Notice too that a key dynamic in the spread of the idea is the capsule that contains it. If it’s easy to swallow, tempting and complete, it’s a lot more likely to get a good start.
But that doesn’t mean that there’s no role for mystery or ideas that unfold over time. In fact, the unmeasurable variable here is style. Howard Dean’s ideas spread at the beginning–not because of the economic ramifications of his immigration policy, but because of the factors above. The way they were presented fit into the worldview of those that spread them.
A key element in the spread of ideas is their visual element. iPods and visual styles spread faster in the real world than ephemeral concepts. Pictures and short jokes spread faster online because the investment necessary to figure out if they’re worth spreading is so tiny.
And of course, plenty of bad ideas spread. Panic, for instance, is a superbad idea at all times, but it spreads faster than most. That’s because spreading an idea is rarely a thoughtful, voluntary act. Instead, it is near the core of who we are, and we often do it without thinking much about the implications.
In October, I’ll be doing a presentation for eComXpo that will include a preview of the new Squidoo project. I wanted to let you know about it, and I finagled a free pass for my readers.
Go to eComXpo October 05 Registration and sign up. Choose the cheap option ($29). On the next screen, you’ll see it goes to $0.
It’s virtual, so there’s no travel, and the show lasts for three days, so you can come when you like. My talk is the first day, the sixth, in the morning, but you can catch it on reruns any time you like.
September 26, 2005
Matt Galloway recorded KnockKnock as an audio book: Seth Godin’s Knock Knock – The Audio eBook.
Probably should avoid any sort of heavy machinery while using, but it’s there if you want it. Thanks, Matt!
Thanks to all who responded to my recent post about a bounty for a new engineer. And especially to those that bothered to post the ad.
Gil, a New Orleans native and Katrina victim, starts tomorrow. He’s incredibly talented. Just what we were looking for. We’re excited…
Thanks again.
September 25, 2005
According to the latest government data, those are the two most common names given to children of Hispanic parents in NY last year.
For Asian parents the story is different: name number one is Emily.
Names are a funny thing. Now, naming a company Google or Squidoo or BlueTurnip in the dot com world isn’t weird… it’s the equivalent of naming your kid Michael.
A recent study (sorry, I’m linkless here) by the government found that distinctly ethnic first names got fewer callbacks on otherwise identical resumes. Fair? Of course not. Not surprising, though, either.
Standing out is not the same thing as being remarkable. Standing out can just as easily get you ostracized. I don’t think Purple is the same as just being different.
If you haven’t been here in a while:
2 free ebooks can be found here: Seth’s Blog: Who’s There? the new ebook
A recent popular post (not about Akron): Desire for gain
How to sign up for RSS (what’s that?)
AND my new book (with Guy and Malcolm and Promise and April and Heath and Randall and dozens of other authors) all for charity: THE BIG MOO
September 24, 2005
We’re about four weeks away from the ship date for The Big Moo by The Group of 33.
and I was just told that they have completely sold out the first and second print runs of the book. Stuff like this happens to my co-authors all the time, but not to me, so thanks. (and don’t worry, they’re printing more as we speak, so you should have no trouble getting yours, especially if you pre-order).
100% of all author proceeds go to charity. We’ve already raised $140,000 thanks to you. If you haven’t ordered a few dozen for your organization, now is the time. I got my finished books yesterday and it came out just the way it was supposed to. Hope you like it.
September 22, 2005
Is this beauty from our hero, Tom Peters: tompeters! management consulting leadership training development project management.
The fact is, few people sit down and read non-fiction the way they used to. Tom is on the cutting edge in figuring out how to turn books into snacks.
