Disqus - Latest Comments for srini kumar

Re: Anatomy Of A Twitter Bot

srini kumar — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:04:21 -0000

This is just about the most intelligent comment on Twitter I have ever read. Someone out there really understands twitter in the VC community, I am happy and amazed. This is going to be a massive set of businesses - almost like an open-source listserv. I wonder if Twitter has some juicy account names set up in reserve for itself... it could be like a domain-name spree... and what company wouldn't want this kind of access to its fans? (other than bad companies of course)

You might like us too (metanotes.com) :)

Re: Can We Live In Public?

srini kumar — Sun, 25 May 2008 06:58:44 -0000

Fred, you are going to love this.... it's a PRIVATE TWITTER, basically a journal for yourself. we are betting that even heavy twitters know they would take 100 times more PRIVATE notes; most ppl are simply not that extroverted.

http://the-time-log.com -> i still have some work to do, but it is a NEW KIND OF WORD PROCESSOR. try it, you'll be hooked - especially when you connect your smartphone (no more syncing! tag everything! w00t!)

i think you'll be thrilled with our first product, which dovetails nicely into the METANOTES platform. john and i have been working under wraps for months; emery and matt are starting to kick into the mix too. June is going to be an amazing month for METANOTES INC :)

-srini

Re: Am I Bored With “Web 2.0”?

srini kumar — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:19:44 -0000

Fred,

We have our first VC presentation (ever!) this Wednesday, and I want to thank you for this insight into your mindset.

I want to assure you that the revolution has not yet begun; that social media's impact on the world through open-sourcing politics, journalism, information and commerce is still taking baby steps.

I believe social media could be just as instrumental for breaking down dictatorships as was CNN during the 80's broadcasting into Russia. I believe social media is the force that is going to fix this nation's educational deficits and render our information enterprises bulletproof. I believe that social media can augment the human brain; I believe that memes direct our behaviors, and learning to effect positive behaviors such as "taking notes" is the METANOTES mission.

Thanks for reminding the industry of the importance of values of excellence and intelligence that precede those of short-term ROI. After all, we should not be so reductionist as to pretend Google is simply a money-making machine. Google is a giant engine augmenting human intelligence; Google has had a deep impact on human beings across the globe both directly and indirectly. This is the kind of business that I believe you should continue to keep your eyes out for, Fred, and the revolution is just beginning; you ain't seen nothin' yet :)

- srini
metanotes.com

Re: Why there will be many Twitters (Scripting News)

srini kumar — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 08:14:09 -0000

Nobody down here is going to compete effectively with Twitter, but Friendfeed's very name is just *asking* to be Friendsterized. A celebrity-dominated Twitter sounds awful. I think there is a very big brand opportunity for "other Twitters" but I don't think celebrities is it.

Re: One question on Flickr Video: Why?

srini kumar — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 23:43:51 -0000

yay if it's embeddable. there are so many available segments in online video. "go up against youtube" is a mistaken premise - there is room for all. unless these companies segment, they're doomed, but segmenting online video offerings through holistic branding - piece of cake. we met several brilliant flickr folks during the web awards ceremony in austin last week. they are no slouches, flickr has a PHENOMENAL brand for video (there's even an indie film revue down in chapel hill nc called flicker - it is obvious), and every single segment that is on TV and then some could sprout its own channel. look at the wine guy. i rest my case.

Re: Google Dropped the Ball on Jaiku

srini kumar — Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:39 -0000

i think this is why facebook and even yahoo have played so hard to get: M&A has often meant innovation-freeze or utter demolition of the original brand (cf Jot). both ceo's obviously feel that they have some tricks up their sleeve that they want to implement before they will consider the market truly educated about what they can do as autonomous entities. it may be foolhardy, but unless you HAVE to sell out (in which case you should build it, promote it, and flip it like YouTube), it just feels wrong to do so until you've really fleshed your ideas out in your product.

Ev & Biz are absolutely certain that they are just getting started with the Twitter saga. Jaiku might have been sort of "done" as far as the lead coders were concerned. Totally different ambition sets but the bottom line is that there is no substitute for a founder's passion as far as innovation is concerned, even if it makes them turn down a truck of money. After all, Ev has already been through the Google thing, right ? He would know....

Re: Twitter Cuts Overhead, Raises Money

srini kumar — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:54:21 -0000

twitter hasn't crossed the chasm yet. a twitter pro option (with what features?) would work, but everyone-must-pay would screw it up. twitter is a growing company and its management should prioritize its eternal soul over the need to make quick ROI.

Re: AddATweet: The Web’s New Commenting System?

srini kumar — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:36:38 -0000

DMITRY !!! GENIUS !!!! It's the return of ThirdVoice but COOL !!!!

Twitter haters take note: you ain't seen nuthin yet, the developer ecosystem is on the verge of launching some genius stuff from out of the blue.

It's an innovation analogy with the iphone I think. when first launched, the buzz around the iphone was all "look how cool looking, genius multi touch screen, wonderful OS". A few years out, that shine may be gone but the application ecosystem is out of this world. Twitter users are about to find themselves the beneficiaries of a similar proliferation in value.

Congratulations again Dmitry !!!!

- Srini
metanotes.com

Re: The passionates vs. the non passionates

srini kumar — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 02:31:11 -0000

substitution effects. that's the most dependable method for crossing the chasm. cf netflix.

great post Robert !!!

Re: Twitter: Where Nobody Knows Your Name

srini kumar — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:08:07 -0000

Pure crossing the chasm action Kara. The echo chamber are the early adopters. If you listen to them, you will fall into the chasm. What dooms companies is an addiction to their own customer base - there are larger segments out there that have never heard of you, but you ignore them.

* Facebook = out of the student population in Boston MA - that is across the chasm.
* YouTube = clearly across the chasm.
* MySpace = out of LA, a hit with mucisians and their fans = across the chasm.
* HotOrNot = obviously across the chasm.
* Twitter = has a chance.
* Friendfeed = not a chance.

Twitter is smart enough to know that keeping their service useful for general audience means keeping it simple and not necessarily hipping it up.

Friendfeed is like Friendster. It is for dorks. I am sure they are nice people, but they are nice google engineers who are out to wow cool the industry. I wonder if Socialthing has a chance with the youth set - they don't sound that dorky to me. Friendfeed = not a chance.

Although as you pointed out in your post, most Internet users barely know how to SuperPoke, and such aggregators are like third-level derivatives of things that people might actually use. I strongly doubt they have a chance but Socialthing might be a flexible company able to deliver something else.

Re: Twitter: Where Nobody Knows Your Name

srini kumar — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:18:38 -0000

a few more points - sorry !

* If twitter figures out how to monetize without alienating users, they will be internally motivated to capture more users and might invest in a marketing campaign to cross the chasm.
* Twitter might be integrated into smartphones (not just iPhones either) in the future. I know that's how I found out about Yelp, and it probably would work wonders for Twitter.
* Twitter gives any future social network a News Feed with zero coding effort. Their developers are keen to see other developers integrating Twitter and one of these OTHER services may become a hit.
* Cynicism about Twitter has been proven wrong again and again. The market is wide open for them and they have engineered it so that anyone faster than them should integrate them as a matter of course. It must be very exciting to be part of Twitter right now... even their backend difficulties prove they are solving problems other firms don't have yet.

Re: Winklevosses AboutFacebooked!

srini kumar — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:56:00 -0000

is there a statute of limitations on this kind of thing ? i came up with the idea for myspace in like 1994. :)

- srini
metanotes.com