Great Perspective on Hiring: Seek "Tiggers", Avoid "Eeyores"

As much as I rely on Facebook, Twitter and (to a lesser extent) RSS for my daily reading list - email still is my best source for high quality content and ensuing discussions. Email of course is limited in functionality and difficult to manage.

Anyhow, via email, I was pointed to The New York Times' article Are You a Tigger, or an Eeyore? It is part of the NYT's Corner Office section (always good reading) and is an interview with Mindy Grossman, the chief executive of HSN Inc. Lots of good nuggets on management, building culture, etc - but the Q&A about hiring is great... dead-on perspective that is as valuable to job seekers and hirers:

Q. Let’s talk about hiring. A. There are a number of things that are really important to me. One — and people laugh that I have this philosophy — is that you only hire Tiggers. You don’t hire Eeyores. It doesn’t mean they have to be loud, but I need energy-givers and I have to get a feeling that this person is going to be able to inspire people. Are they going to be optimistic about where they’re going? Are they going to attract people who are like that?

No. 2 is, will they be able to stand up to me when they believe in something? I’m very passionate. I need people who are going to be able to make me look at things in a different way. So, I have to ask those questions, like, “Give me an instance where you really believed in something and you were able to change the course and it was successful, whatever that was.” That’s really important, because you don’t want people telling you what you already know, or not telling you what you need to know.

Netflix Streaming Arrives on Playstation 3

I have been a Netflix subscriber for a few years - sometimes very active and other times 'pausing' my account. I was excited to have Netflix (finally) arrive on Playstation 3 because it is a potential solution to what many Netflix subscribers suffer from (including me): laziness and hassle. All things being equal, on-demand streaming certainly provides a better experience than mail rentals (which is why Comcast On-Demand is so great). So I was interested in three things about the Netflix / PS3 integration:

1. Activation and Netflix.com integration 2. User experience on the PS3 system 3. Picture quality

#1 and #3 were terrific - Netflix walked subscribers through the activation process clearly and easily. And the picture quality and movie controls are excellent. For starters, a disc arrives that has thorough instructions on the envelope, sleeve and disc:

Once you insert the disc into the system, you are asked to activate the unique code on Netflix.com. When you visit the site, you are immediately prompted to do the same:

A couple seconds later, the system activates and you arrive at a slick UI with movies from your online queue (which seems to be the best way to manage content):

The picture quality is crisp and the streaming was quick, uninterrupted and only required a slight delay before the movie started. A few hours after the movie's competition, Netflix follows up via email to ask about the picture quality and experience - a surprising but welcome email (excellent customer communication):

So what needs improvement? The finding experience (recognize a theme in usability issues across the web? iTunes, eBay, Facebook, etc all suffer these issues) is nearly unusable. The best way to find (search isn't even an option) and manage content is through Netflix.com - which historically is a leader in UI.

With full online support clearly available on the PS3, there is an opportunity to merge the two experiences with a Netflix-lite module that users can opt to browse through.

Very promising start that certainly makes my subscription more valuable / productive.

LOLapps Releases New Website, Sees Facebook Growth with Yakuza Life & Band of Heroes

Polaris portfolio company LOLapps has launched a new version of their website to conclude an active week where two of their new social games (Yakuza Lords and Band of Heroes) are the 8th and 9th fastest growing on Facebook. If you are unfamiliar with LOLapps, you have probably used one of their applications on Facebook: over 44 million people use LOLapps apps each month:

- Quizzes (hundreds of thoussd of personally created quiz applications) - Gifts (user generated gift creator) - Diva Life - Band of Heroes - Yakuza Lords

Yakuza Lords and Band of Heroes are both new games and are growing very quickly on Facebook. From InsideFacebook's Top Gainers of the Week:

"Two other role-playing games are also growing fast, and although neither lists a developer, both appear to be made by LOLapps. While both have the same underlying interface components (more on that over on ISG), each one has surprisingly striking, unique-looking graphics. One, Asian mafia-themed Yakuza Lords, grew by 155,000 users to reach 930,000 monthly actives. It is on its way to graduating from this list. The other app, World War II RPG Band of Heroes, is smaller but growing relatively more quickly. It gained 161,000 to reach 269,000 monthly actives."

Diva City, Yakuza Lords and Band of Heroes are just the first for LOLapps: "[we] will be launching a new game every few weeks to address the huge demand and niches that our users care about."

If you are interested in partnering with LOLapps, you can contact them and learn more here.

Facebook Launches "Friends of Connections" Ad Targeting

One of the biggest stories not heavily discussed this week was Facebook's new Ads Platform targeting of "Friends of Connections": "How do you find more fans for your Facebook Page, more people to interact with your Application, or more people to engage with your business? Target friends!

'Friends of connection' targeting is now available for Facebook Ads. Expand your audience reach by delivering your ads to the friends of people already connected with your Page, Application, Group or Event."

As brands and marketers focus energy, product and budgets on increasing their Facebook presence (fan pages, ads, etc), this is a very powerful lever.... particularly for brands with already-popular fan pages.

Consider that the average Facebook user has 150 friends (this is across all 350million users - so it is probably much higher for active users... who are most likely the people being targeted here. Let's say the average for a highly engaged user is 300 friends).

A fan page with 10,000 fans then has the potential to reach 150,000 - 300,000 fans. For a brand like starbucks that has 5,000,000 fans, this allows them to reach a hug percentage of active users... and in a socially relevant way.

Here is a screenshot of the targeting in action from AllFacebook. Notice that the social context of the ad (Your friend Rolland Lawrenz is also a fan).

Facebook describes the unit further:

"Let’s take a look at an example. Annie is a fan of the Etsy Page. When Etsy wants to promote their Facebook Page, they can choose to target an ad to Annie’s friends by selecting the 'Friends of connection' filter. Annie’s friends will receive the Etsy ad with the following sentence: 'Annie Ta is a fan of this Page.' Annie’s friends are naturally more interested because Annie’s interaction with Etsy is showcased directly in the ad. "

Targeted, relevant and dynamic - it's a terrific ad unit and another example of how Facebook's social graph is changing advertising.

Spotted: Zynga's Billboard on 101 (Grand Avenue)

This week, I wrote about the resurgence of billboard advertisements on 101 - spotlighting Droid, eBay, Zazzle, Yahoo and Zynga. While driving this morning, I captured this photo of Zynga's billboard on 101 around Grand Ave (exit 425):

With no direct branding other than the red / white dog - I do wonder how many people (even in Silicon Valley realize this is Zynga's logo. And worth noting, there is no direct call to action particularly considering that Zynga's activity is within its games' brands.

101 Billboards: The New Ad Unit?

Driving up 101 North last night, we passed billboards advertisements for: - eBay (several billboards featuring their new ad campaign) - Zazzle (see below, clearly in time for the holiday gift giving season) - Zynga (which was simply a red sign with their white dog - not text whatsoever) - Droid (featuring the handset and prominent Verizon / Google logos) - Yahoo (a pink billboard featuring their new ad campaign)

When did advertising on 101 become so fashionable? I understand that Droid advertisement (it is time sensitive and a consumer product play) but since 2003, I have not seen such a flurry of branding-based billboard ads... Perhaps the prices have plummeted!

The Role of Ego, Competition, Badges & Statistics on the Web

Over the last three nights and dinners, the same debate has arose among three separate groups of friends: the role of competition within the the web and user behaviors.

My strong feeling is that, other than pure content digestion (like reading the New York Times), the web is driven by ego. Ego does not necessarily mean self-adoration or superiority - but it does mean the desire to be publicly thought of as interesting, smart, authoritative, popular, etc. And, equally important, the desire to be display improvement across those traits.

Competition thus is a key component of ego and the public persona because it signifies rank and progress.... and it incents activity. It is why 100,000s of people review products on Amazon; why millions blog; millions more post status updates to Facebook and Twitter. I am guilty of all of these (and many more).

Badges play a critical role because they: 1. signify authority and reputation 2. incent continued activity and growth 3. encourage users to promote their successes From Amazon Reviews to Foursquare badges, users want to continually unlock new badges and then gloat about their 'rank' once it is achieved. When I launched eBay Reviews & Guides, our team thought long and hard about the number of badges available, how they would be represented and (importantly) the spread between different achievements. As we predicted, user activity was highly correlated with the desire to be viewed as authoritative and well-read.

Below is the profile badge for Harriet Klausner, a librarian and the #1 reviewer on Amazon with over 110,000 votes on her Amazon reviews, lists and guides. Harriet has reviewed over 20,000 items and her reviews are far from short - normally thoughtful paragraphs that are well-written. Why does she review 1,000s of items a year? I don't know but assume it is part knowledge base, part an interest in sharing and part a desire to maintain her 'fame' and #1 reviewer status:

MySpace figured this out early on by publicly displaying friend counts and lists - a public popularity widget of sorts. Have you ever been in a conversation where you are asked "How many Facebook Friends / Twitter followers or LinkedIn connections you have?" It is as much a question of curiosity as it is a measurement of their own activity.

Understanding this (and that it is subconscious root of so much of our web and social activities), I ask for more. I would like to see same game mechanics that make Farmville so popular applied to my personal web usage.

Below is a screenshot of my favorite iPhone App, Golfshot, which applies detailed statistics to your golf rounds and history. It is amazingly addictive and powerful (the data unquestionably improves my golf game):

I want to see deeper statistics around the web activities I spend so much time on (Facebook, Twitter, blog, email, etc):

- Which of my Facebook posts are most popular? - Which friends interact most with my content? Does that change by content type? By interaction (like, comment, share, etc)? - How does my activity compare with others in my graph? - Who do I message most on Gtalk? Email? How often do we talk? Who responds most promptly? - How have my activity and social graph changed over time?

There are countless ways to represent activity, engagement and progress... and I want to see more - particularly presented in statistical, data-heavy manners!

Welcome Droid (and the Ensuing Marketing Blitz)

Droid officially launched today and, as I wrote last night, I expect Droid (and the forthcoming hardware line) to significantly increase Android's market share - and subsequently the developer attention it warrants and receives. Meanwhile, I also expect the Droid marketing blitz to to ramp aggressively. Below are a few screenshots of large, flash-based ad units across VentureBeat, Alley Insider and Verizon.com (a text ad even exists on Google's homepage).

The messaging across the campaign and its various states are: - Droid is Dropping - Droid has Arrived - And my favorite, Compromise Officially Deactivated

Android is About to Explode: 17% of Smartphone Traffic, Droid Launching

On the eve of Droid's much anticipated launch on the Verizon network, Android is poised to take off and grab challenge the Apple's recent dominance. Even with Droid's launch, Android saw significant market growth in September - representing 17% of smartphone activity vs. 13% in August. According to AdMob's September 2009 Mobile Report:

Devices running on Android accounted for 17% of smartphone traffic in the US in September 2009, up from 13% in August 2009. The HTC Dream (G1) was the number three device and the HTC Magic was the number 10 device in September 2009 in the US. As with the iPhone OS, much of the Android traffic in AdMob’s network came from applications.

The iPhone still represents 48% of smartphone activity, but Android has moved ahead of RIM (14%). And the future for Android is bright considering:

- Droid's rave reviews - Droid's multi-handset product line and low prices - Android's carrier agnostic approach (while Apple is currently tied exclusively to AT&T)

Also noteworthy, the iPhone now represents a staggering 60+% of AT&T's smartphone activity. If Droid, for instance, reached even a fraction of that dominance on Verizon (which is dominated by RIM AT ~35%), Android will realize serious growth.