Testing out MacJournal
I’m just briefly testing out MacJournal here to see how it does with uploading to a WordPress blog. This is an update I’m doing to this post to see if apostrophe’s are now being properly handled.
More high-profile blogger bellyaching
Back in July, Robert Scoble wouldn’t stop talking about the wonder that is Facebook (search for the word Facebook on this page, for example). Then, less than a week ago, he posts a very honest and interesting look at the truth about web traffic - the truth being that there simply isn’t as much traffic out there as we’d all like to believe.
But wait a second, I seem to remember that back when Scoble was extolling the virtues of Facebook, he claimed that part of the reason blog traffic was down was the fact that people are spending their time on social networks like Facebook.
Now, every other post he writes on his blog or Twitter account seems to be for the purpose of bellyaching that he can’t add more than 5,000 “friends” to his Facebook account. This last one states that he agrees with the statement “Facebook sucks” because of this problem. Yeah, yeah, we get it.
Inasmuch as Robert Scoble is an influential web personality who is nothing if not thought provoking, I think the time has come for a large company to stand up for themselves, and not give in to the bitching and moaning of the edge cases. It seems like the Robert Scobles of the world can’t handle it when they can’t simply complain and get their way.
The truth is that Facebook is designed with a 5,000 friend limit for a reason. Nobody truly has more than 5,000 real-life friends, so why bother having to architect a system to handle more? Facebook has a vested interest in ensuring that people use their system in the way that they intended, and get a good experience while doing so. Scoble is abusing the system, then complaining bitterly that it’s not working out for him. In the long run it’s not going to hurt Facebook in the slightest, but it sure is making Scoble look like a spoiled brat.
Testing Ecto
I’ve been reading quite a bit about the latest beta version of Ecto, and decided that I had to try it out for myself. Typically I’m not big on external editors for blogs, however I have to say this one is growing on me, and I’ve only been using it for about four minutes.
I wish that it were possible to have my AOL overlords allow API access of some manner so that I could use one unified interface (something like Ecto) to write posts for all of the blogs that I could potentially write for.
If you’re a Mac user and you want to see what I’m talking about, check out this page.
Hat tip to David Chartier.
Pirillo, Scoble and me at NorthernVoice
I happened across this photo on Flickr of the Windows Vista demo that Robert Scoble gave at NorthernVoice, with help from Chris Pirillo. It shows Pirillo, Scoble and me at the table.
Moosecamp: Leadership Hacks by Dave Sifry
This session was an unexpected treat. I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing Dave Sifry (of Technorati) speak before now, but it’s clear he was born to do it. He made great use of the time he had. The first half of his talk was a brief lecture, lessons he has learned in being an entrepreneur, encapsulated into a set of rules. The second half involved getting people involved in sharing a bit about what they’re about, and a “leadership hack”. Here are my notes:
Dave’s “Rules for Entrepreneurs” (stolen right from his first slide)
- Find your passion
- Team, team, team (A players hire A players, B players hire C players)
- Lead, don’t manage
- Develop leaders
- Prepare for the scalability traps
- Back of the napkin it! (A business model should fit on the back of a napkin for it to be viable, otherwise it’s too complicated)
- Remember, it is a business
- Vision is easy, execution is hard
- Fail fast
- Be of Service
Notable quote: “Starting a new business is an intensely egocentric act; you’re basically saying ‘I know better than all of you.’” (funny moment; Dave delivered that line with his middle finger extended). “So you’d better be passionate about it.”
Leadership / Entrepreneur Hacks from attendees:
- Give it away, it’ll come back 10x
- If it’s not working, change it
- Get passionate about what you’re doing
- Tell the truth, be willing to cut your losses when something goes bad
- Never underestimate the challenge in getting something off the ground
- Make listening and communication top priorities
- Never underestimate the motivation of a noble cause
- Say “thank you”
- Find out what motivates people
- Patience - you may have to wait for the market to be ready for your idea
- Be willing to reinvent yourself
- Figure out how to get customers from day one
- Once you have customers, listen to them
- Document your assumptions, so others working with you know what’s going on
- Hire people that are passionate about your product or company
- Keep (make) it real - getting out of the basement into an office can clarify and solidify your resolve
- Always build the bare-minimum product necessary to ship
- Keep perspective
- “Indecision is decision” - “I’d rather make a wrong decision than no decision” (’cause then you can fix it)
- Create a culture that makes meaning for your employees and customers
- Whether you’re conscious of it or not, your corporate culture is being built - so be conscious of building it
- Figure out what your mantra is - for Technorati it’s “be of service”
- If you’re going to go to the trouble of hiring a good team, then trust them
- Ship the bare minimum, and don’t be afraid to iterate
- You not only need to be open to serendipity, you need to invite it.
- Once you find a thread of interest, follow it even if nobody understands what you’re up to
- Look for reasons why you’re wrong
- Aim high - the worst you can do is aim low and miss
Tags: leadership, leadership hacks, entrepreneurship, Dave Sifry, Sifry, NorthernVoice, Northern Voice, Moose Camp, MooseCamp
