DISQUS

Thanks a bunch for sharing the photos! Maybe a little bit of history in the making. Cheers!

There are hearts flying over our heads right now. :) Thanks so much for doing this Zoe! Cheers!

Thanks a bunch for sharing the video Scott! Cheers!

You rock Jake. Thanks for spreading the love. :)

Yes, thanks for the quick response David. I've talked to some other folks at the ACS and it's clear to me that it was not intentional. No harm done, no hard feelings.

Thanks Jake! We often see videos that are likely inspired by our work - and we're flattered by them. Most will link to us as a gesture of appreciation for the inspiration, if they were inspired. We're happy that we can help people to create something new.
What surprised me about the video above was that it used direct quotes and visuals from our video *and* did not mention Common Craft as a source on the video page. I suppose there aren't many hard and fast rules in the new world of online video sharing, so it's likely a detail that was overlooked, but I would expect more from such an organization.

Hah! It was great to see you again at SX - I'm so glad you liked the show Dave. I really enjoyed the interview with Nora - what a smart and cool person. We've always joked, thanks to all our Canadian friends, that Common Craft is HUGE in Canada. I guess this one more step in that direction! :-)

Yes, pints will be raised at Gnomedex!

WOOHOO! Congrats on making the leap Sean. I really like what you said about using this as a lesson in risk taking for your kids. We're big believers that few people ever grew old wishing they had taken less risks. I look forward to your next big adventure.

Thanks a bunch for sharing our videos Chris! If nothing else, we want to help people understand. Cheers!

In my mind, viral and traffic is simply a side effect of quality content. If you create value, solve a problem or entertain people in a surprising way, people will want to tell their friends. Viral as the primary goal is a waste of time, I agree.

I've always loved this quote from anthropologist Margaret Mead:

"Never underestimate the power of a small but committed group of people to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Seems to fit nicely with this entry. :)

Hey Pete! Thanks a bunch for the link and kind words. I almost contacted you when we published it, but our last video was called "Social Networking in Plain English". Same format, etc. Cheers!

http://www.commoncraft.com/video-social-networking

Woohoo. Thanks for the kind words Sean. Here's to more tag drafting!

Interesting. What is it about this that makes me think that Phil and Gerry are the same person? Either that, or Gerry is a loyal disciple of Phil. Or, maybe all of the above.


I, for one, think we need more "Jakes of the world."

Woohoo. Congrats man. Done with the terrible twos! (not a reference to your blogging - promise!)

OK, I concede, you win THIS TIME.

Great post Sean. I think one of the points you hit on here and at Refresh Seattle is key: don't try to sell "community", but the benefits of community. You being in the "answer" business vs. the community business is an apt example.

Nice work Sean - I liked the recently posted abstract from your talk too. Mark is a good guy - a couple of years ago Josh Ledgard, Mark and I went out for a beer at the OC summit - it was an early version of I'm a Mac, I'm a PC. :)

Sean, I highly recommend "Made to Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath. I just finished it (and may have even told you about it before). Like a Malcolm Galdwell book, it makes you think about things a little differently, particularly around writing and presenting ideas.

I really like "tag drafting" as a way to describe how people will increasingly use sites like del.icio.us. It's all about discovery and creating a unique and specific method of finding the gems as they flow by you.

In some ways, social networking is built on the idea of author drafting. In a large social network the information coming out of the community is huge and broad. By marking members as friends, you can filter the noise of the network into a trickle that relates only to the content produced by friends.

Thanks Sean. I found that Coach Wie article interesting. He lists 5 reasons business leaders should care about Web 2.0 and social media/community is not listed once. He is all about efficiency through ajax integration, rich applications, etc. All good points, but all about building better web apps - what about people? What about competitive advantage through stonger relationships? What about the impact of user generated content? Then, of course, I read his bio:

"Coach Wei is the founder and CTO of Nexaweb (www.nexaweb.com), developers of the leading software platform for building and deploying Web 2.0 and AJAX applications."

Ahh. I see. Web 2.0 means different things to different people.

Great post Shawn.

Twitter is going to be interesting to watch. They have said that they are about to add group functions. I can see it being really useful to have a Bumbershoot group (for instance) where you and your friends Twitter what is happening through the weekend. It's tough right now because it's so broad. I do enjoy it though.

Have you seen this:
http://twittermap.com/twittervision/

Good stuff Jake. The first community I started was free - we used eGroups in 2000 (which soon became Yahoo Groups). This provided a great proof of concept - a way to test the waters with little financial risk. Once we got going we moved to a more brandable and sophisticated platform that still cost less than $10,000 a year.


It's a little like the problem people have with venture funding these days. Money changes the game and there can be too much of it. Starting up a community project with too much money can lead to bloat and useless technology. Ideas trump technology and are mostly free.

Hey Sean.
I like to see the assumptive close come up again. About long term market advantage vs. market relevance - I think both are stake. Lately I've often said that the basic rules of business have not changed - it's still focused on relationships with customers. What has changed is customer's expectations of what it means to have a reationship with a business. The businesses that succeed in co-production, co-development, etc. succeed because of the strength of these relationships and the willingness to pursue them. I cannot think of a better long term market advantage than productive and trusting relationships with customers.