Sam's World Of No

So, all of a sudden, we’re all addicted to Twitter. I can follow my favourite female singers, have ladies who like to lounge in their underwear follow me. I can bitch about a company and all of a sudden their customer experience manager is on my case, trying like hell to sort my problem out so I tweet about how good their service is. And this is great – I get my problem sorted quicker.

It’s fair to say that Twitter’s influence is, in some spheres, pretty large. TechCrunch gets more traffic from Twitter than from Digg. That’s pretty impressive, considering the amount of time that people still spend gaming Digg. But its influence is still pretty limited. As a rule, it’s still fairly restricted to the technology industry. It’s not that easy to use, and as replies, retweets and hashtags take over, it’s becoming more and more like a raw message format than something that’s human readable. URL shortening services are hardly accessible to the lay person.

I think we’ve all tried to explain what twitter is to a friend, even a tech-savvy one. Perhaps we’ve got as far as getting them signed up and an iPhone client downloaded. Three months later, they haven’t updated it. They don’t understand what it’s for, and they don’t have any followers. People who abandoned MySpace and Bebo for Facebook  in a heartbeat are not migrating to Twitter in the same way.

Twitter is still a niche product. So, if it does become the ‘pulse of the planet‘, is its current utility as a community management/traffic driving/networking/brand management/corporate communications/customer service tool going to be limited? I think it might be.

I follow 119 people – and something like 20 of these tweet on any sort of regular basis. Even that is a bit much. I had to unfollow Jonathan Ross and Zeldman; I couldn’t hack it. More than 20 new tweets in an hour and I’m screwed. How am I going to cope if every tweet that mentions a company has an @reply from that company’s community management being dead helpful? I’m not. If there a billion people on twitter, I’ll be swamped and I’ll have to leave.

More to the point, how am I going to get that personalised service if said community managers are inundated because there are a billion people on twitter? Think of the companies with REALLY dreadful customer service, like O2 and BT. How are they going to keep up with the moaning? They couldn’t, unless the metric/filtering stuff gets really clever. So there goes my personal service.

So perhaps we should view the current state of Twitter as a VIP customer service and get-satisfaction-esque issue resolution tool available to geeks who can understand it. Will every moan and question get dealt with if the user base multiplies? No, unless the very basis of the whole idea changes. There’s a reason that all of these companies have taken their phone numbers of their sites and instead installed automated customer service systems/mantraps – individual interaction with the whole customer base just isn’t possible.

Will Dell be able to post and get a conversion on real-time offers of limited product lines/refurb products, if the user base was massively bigger? Not under the current model – the offers would be snapped up so quickly that people would stop bothering to click on the links.

What of real time web? What of it. Whilst aggregating tweets is a good way to find out news really quickly, it’s a job for a computer, not a person. I can’t have more than one or two ‘news’ (be it world affairs, the BBC or something on formula 1) users in my follow list; anything more is information overload. I rely on power users to filter the real time web down for me, again in real time, so that it’s just enough information to digest.

So perhaps the future of Twitter under the current model is stronger groups/networks that are reliant on real-world connections, mixed with a lot less business interaction and a selection of a very few, very important, power users.

Sounds like a pretty shaky business idea to me. No doubt, I’ll be proven wrong.

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… at the Matchbox!

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GPS, 3G, Exchange support and an online software store. Oh, and calculator that rotates to become a scientific calculator. And a load of corporate IT stuff.

Put it like that, and the iPhone 3G/iPhone 2.0 update doesn’t sound like much. Plus, you still can’t copy and paste. You still can’t take video, and you still can’t send MMS. No, really. You can’t even send a vCard (my biggest iPhone gripe). But all of this will eventually change, and in the mean time the iPhone, whilst ostensibly doing less out of the box, empowers users by doing what it does much better than its competitors. Simply put, it’s a better piece of kit than anything else out there, by miles and country miles. It’s even creating a new economy, in a time when new economies are hard to come by.

But this release should be giving sleepless nights to all sorts of people, and not just those involved in making phones. The breadth of the platform means that the competition that the iPhone is taking on is now much more extensive. Check out this quick list of companies which, frankly, now mostly suck. We’ll start with the direct competitors, and then we’ll look at the new targets on Steve Jobs’ world domination radar.

1. All Windows Mobile phones – “This is nuts”, proclaimed Scott Forstall at the iPhone 3G announcement, while discussing the program manager that Microsoft considers acceptable behaviour on their mobile platform. Opening a can of whoopass on Windows Mobile is hardly a challenge; there’s a reason that the enterprise software giant already lost the mobile OS battle to BlackBerry. Every used ActiveSync? Yep, me too. It was hardly the best time I’ve ever had.
2. All BlackBerry phones – Oh dear. We’ve got enterprise support on the iPhone. Push email, push calendar, push this that and another. I don’t work for a massive corporation, but when sitting in business class I see the poor souls on their BlackBerrys, whittling their fingers to a sharp point as they frantically type emails on a tiny screen. I want to give them a hug and an iPhone. Now I can. BlackBerry are advertising a lot at the moment – perhaps that is the answer to being totally outclassed by a device that does the same as you, and then a whole truckload more as well.
3. All Nokia phones – Now the second best phone manufacturer in the world, Nokia is still streets ahead of the lesser competition. It has by far the best usability of non-iPhone phones, and its models boast a healthy feature set and a broad range of designs. 5 megapixel cameras and, yep, copy and paste, are serious features. But pick up a Nokia. Welcome to the feeling of cheap plastic. Touch the screen to operate it. Oh wait. No touch screen for you. You have fun on those tiny buttons. In terms of how tactile the handset is, the iPhone makes every Nokia look like a maiden aunt. But hey, the Nokia still has loads of features. Have fun trying to use them. Have fun trying to connect to a wireless network. Worst fun ever.
4. All Motorola/Samsung Mobile/LG Mobile/NEC/Sagem Mobile etc phones – See above. But with no consolation prizes. Let’s send these fail champions home. People are now paying for iPhones instead of having your free alternatives. Sure, they’re paying less than they were, but still. You’re screwed.
5. All Portable Sat Navs – How long until a serious Sat Nav solution comes out for the iPhone 3G? Not long, I would imagine. I’d buy it – the iPhone screen is plenty big enough to run Sat Nav, and yet again, I’m not forking out for a new unit with a brand new interface that was probably programmed by blind monkeys.
6. All portable games consoles, especially the Nintendo DS – Nintendo have been doing an excellent job at expanding their consoles to a much broader market, and the Wii and DS have been massive commercial successes. I know this, because 2 years later and it’s still not the easiest thing in the world to get hold of a Wii. Hardly the same story for XBOX 360 or PS3. You’re practically driving over them in the street, as they sit there, constantly lowering their own prices. The DS is the same story as the Wii, as it focuses on a market that appreciates simple, useful and mobile applications. But the iPhone does all this too. And it does it on your phone. Ouch.
7. Every page of Google SERPS after the first page – Google’s iPhone search web app only shows the first page of results. Below this list, it offers a small ‘more results’ link, that bounces you to a second window containing a normal Google search page. It’s kind of a “well, if you really MUST” option. Now, we all know that Google page 1 is where it’s at, and that the percentage of people going to page 2 and above is paltry. The iPhone brings every page after the first page one step closer to never, ever, being seen.
8. Your home phone - Apple haven’t quite killed off the cellular networks – iPhone 2.0 only allows VoIP apps to run over wifi (so you can’t take advantage of unlimited data tariffs by routing all your voice calls in their direction) – but when you’re within range of a reliable and secure wifi connection (like the ones we now all have at home), you now have the ability to use your favourite handset to make free calls.
9. Every Apple remote – I’ve never felt the love for this flimsy and surprisingly powerful piece of white plastic (ever tried to use an Apple remote in a room where more than one device is in range?), and the remote app for the iPhone does its job so much better. I’ve used remote controls on Windows and Symbian mobiles for a few years now – Apple’s solution is so far ahead it’s unbelievable.
10. Every digital guitar tuner and every set of those stupid panpipes that people use for guitar tuning – My last example is small but indicative of a wider point. For £3, you can put a guitar tuner on your iPhone. £3 to never have to try to tune a guitar with panpipes ever again is like a Christmas present. There are lots of Apps like this – the most expensive app of all is a great example.

I’m sure there are more.
Apple have, yet again, taken a massive step forward by doing a lot of things that, once you see them, make a stupid amount of sense. The apparent simplicity of it all is sickening, frankly, but it’s deceptive. It’s not just selling software and phones that plug in. It’s selling software and phones that plug in every time, work everytime and generally make the rest of the electronics industry look like they spend their days scratching their heads aimlessly.

One thing I haven’t spoken about is Mobile Me; for me, this is the biggest question mark. Of course, it’s more than a paid-for email/calendar service, but with so much excellent competition out there (I can’t see me moving from Google Mail any time soon…), can Apple really charge people for something that has been free for longer than most of us call recall?

But I forget, this is Apple. Their software will be better, and its value will follow naturally.

Put it like that, and it sounds so simple, but what Apple have done is far from the easy option. Naysayers seem to think that the logic of “Better product, more sales”, is somehow too obvious and facile a goal to bother with. What they miss is that creating getting more sales is really easy, compared to the near-impossible goal of joining a new industry and promptly becoming its technology leader. Even if you think that Apple are all hype, you can’t deny the industry position that they now hold.

Some of this, of course, is hyperbole. Putting a clock on mobile phones didn’t render the watch obsolete overnight. Other manufacturers of mp3 players still, miraculously, sell mp3 players that aren’t iPods. And yes, I suppose I have been, as Americans put it, drinking the Kool-Aid, whatever that means. But you have to admit – this is a pretty interesting day.

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I have been very focused recently on my personal development, and carving a career path out of a selection of broadly-defined roles. In addition, I am keen to increase the amount of professional training I receive, so that, frankly, I get better at my job.

Where does a web professional turn for this? I have yet to find out. Have I missed something?

Is the best option the British Computer Society, whose first selling point on all of their selling materials (with which they will barrage you once you register an interest) is the letters you get after your name? Apparently I could stick ‘AMBCS’ after my existing letters for just a nominal fee (and other puns as well). What, exactly, would this prove? Nothing. But hey, I’ll admit flirting with the idea, though, so I delved deeper into the benefits.

So firstly, I’ve got the letters. I already have 8 (and opening and closing parenthesis, let’s not forget), so another 5 would be a nice addition. John has more letters after his name than in his name. That’s surely something to aspire to.

In addition, membership would, of course, mean that I could join your Internet Specialist Group, and peruse thrilling materials, such as the Chairman’s 10 favourite websites. These include Yahoo, multimap and the BBC news site. But let’s be fair. The site hasn’t been updated in 3 years.

That’s right. The British Computer Society’s Internet Specialist Group website hasn’t been updated in three years. I suppose that’s fair enough. It’s been a fairly quiet time.

Oh and another great feature of the BCS’s ISG site – it doesn’t validate. I’d forgive this; not a lot of stuff does, but the image that fails validation is the very same image that proclaims the code to be valid XHTML. That’s right. They’ve taken the code that the w3c gave them and rendered it invalid. Nice work.

The other benefits of membership are even more attractive. Of course, I have the weekly e-newsletter. One can only imagine the delights that it holds. Also, 50% discounts on Microsoft products. Thanks, but I’ll stick with my 100% discount on open source software.

Oh, and networking. Because I want to spend my time discussing escalation matrices with IT chumps. No thanks. I’ll keep my £50 and spend it on beer.

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I entered the business world, young and fresh-faced, after 18 years of full-time education that had, when it came to communication, focused on written and in-person verbal. I had become adept at communicating complicated ideas in a written format, and in explaining them in rather less detail in person.

I lesson I learned slowly (as my boss, Ian Cowley will attest) is that, in business, you have to use a tool that you are never really taught to use – the phone.

That might sound stupid, but let me explain. All through school and university, you are expected to submit work in written form, and to be able to prove your ability to describe it in person on occasion. Seminars and tutorials, where most students sit in silence and absorb the knowledge that their colleagues, who have actually done the appropriate preparation, reward those who can talk well and explain effectively. Your main assessment, however, is almost always in some written form.

If you have problem at university, you either go see a tutor, or send him or her and email. Only one lecturer who ever taught me gave out his office phone number and encourage people to ring it – and I bet nobody ever does.

And so generation upon generation of extensively educated people knock on the door of the business world without any formal training in the most basic of skills. I was the same; I’d never used the phone as an interface for business before and was reticent to do so, and I still see a lot of people who seem to be under the impression that text-based communication works well in all circumstances. These people are wrong.

Even the most experienced communicators find it difficult to convey exact meaning and tone in a written form. At work, I frequently get extensive emails that I can’t make head nor tail of, and require a lengthy reply. I’m the fastest typist in our office (with a score of 400+ on this test, without fail, and occasionally 500+), and it will still take me 20 minutes to put together an 800 word email. That’s a lot of time to take away from the serious business of writing code. Often, a 5 minute phone call would knock the whole subject on the head – because nobody types as fast as they talk!

Here is how people should treat communication methods:

Email - good for information-intensive communications that will last a number of days, and will often supplement phone calls. You can’t look up information from a phone call, so for hard data, email is the place. But do yourself a favour; tune your email down to only check the server every 20 minutes or so. This does wonders at reducing the immediacy.

Instant Messenger – good only for very quick questions, and passing around snippets of information. It is impossible to run any sort of business process via this limited medium.

Phone – seems like it takes longer, but is good for actually getting stuff done.

In Person - the very best. Take every opportunity you can to see and experience the people to which you are talking. These conversations are almost always the least guarded and most productive.

So to those people who think that the email is the place for long task descriptions and the phone is simply for quick questions, think again. This is the real world; your long, rambling email is simply not going to be read. Email is fine for a quick question, but if you fancy getting something actually done… pick up the phone.

Oh, and I am so near to putting a filter on my email that automatically deletes anything marked at a priority higher than ‘normal’. I have never, ever, received a ‘high’ priority email that had any right to its lofty status. If it’s that important… pick up the phone.

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