High Protein Menu

The social web is evolving constantly – trends begin and end at a rapid pace, generating fierce competition between services for users, traffic and more importantly – money.

Since the beginning of the web, the most popular social sites – beginning initially with stalwarts like Geocities until now, the current juggernaught – MySpace.

It’s not hard to draw comparisons between the two, primarily due to the fact that essentially they are the same service, albeit with some new technology and buzzwords tacked on. However, the similarities seem to run much deeper. Take for example the main features of each service. Both applications made it easy (at the time) for new users to start creating content, were primarily supported by advertising and both companies were sold to huge corporations… Geocities to Yahoo! for $3.57 billion, MySpace to NEWS Corp for $580 million.

A little addenum: Geocities now has over 25 million users, 7 years past its ‘prime’. According to alexa.com, Geocities.com is in the top 50 highest trafficked sites on the web.

At it’s peak, Geocities was one of the most recognised sites on the Web, likewise – MySpace’s popularity is unquestioned – they are reporting over 80 million members as of today.

Undeniably, the ability to easily create content for the web has been revolutionised by software developers over the past 4 years. Rather than spending hours learning HTML to create a page, making a new site is as simple as typing your content into a text box. Controls that were standard in desktop applications, such as toolbars, are now commonplace in many web applications.

The differences are stark – in 1999, a common Geocities user would have to learn how to add HTML, CSS and even Images to their sites. This was a huge barrier for entry for many non-tech oriented users.

MySpace (and it’s Web 2.0 ilk) renamed and refined this concept – something you may have noticed throughout many Web 2.0 applications. Although the implementation is essentially the same, most people customise their MySpace page using ‘codes’, or pre-designed CSS templates. However, the difference this abstraction makes to a user is profound.

Many other concepts from Geocities-era services, such as Webrings have re-emerged with different names. Their ‘fresh’ Web 2.0 equivalents, simply called ‘Groups’ and ‘Friends’ represent basically the same data, however the process has again been refined, primarily through automation.

For example, the previously accepted method of showing your friends would be by adding a picture or link to your website manually (which requires learning some HTML) has been replaced by a simple two click operation.

The fall of a juggernaught

In 1998, Geocities was on top of it’s game. With thousands of new members signing up daily, a huge amount of mindshare and the biggest online brand backing them.

The death blow for Geocities exponential growth is interesting because it seems history may be repeating. Previous Geocities users may recall some controversy regarding the Geocities Terms of Service not long after the Yahoo! buyout.

Similar questions are being asked regarding the new Terms of Service instituted after MySpace was acquired by NEWS Corp., although I’m not completely confident in their validity.

The reason I titled this post ‘The post MySpace Web’ is because after examining the context of the failure of Geocities, it’s becomes apparant that the same thing may happen to MySpace – even soon.

Statistics don’t lie – MySpace’s growth is exceptional, with hundreds of thousands of new members signing up each day. However, many of the same issues that plagued Geocities until it’s eventual demise post-2001 are beginning to come to light in much the same way for MySpace.

What’s on the horizon

Although NEWS Corp’s acquisition has not been met with such a furore, questions are starting to be asked, and the competition is heating up. Developers should be ecstatic – MySpace has familiarised millions of previously uninformed Internet users to what the web is capable of. It’s these users that will be lining up in droves to experience the next killer social app.

The technology is available now. Particularly due to 3 things: metadata, the convergence of mobile and web, and finally, RSS – users can come to expect a much more personalised and fulfilling experience from the web. Already, many apps are implementing technology to estimate (with reasonable precision) a users location, enabling apps to provide context sensitive content.

Combining technology like metadata in the form of tags and RSS allows users to access up-to-the-minute, context sensitive information customised and delivered specifically for them – on any of their web-capable devices.

The important thing to remember however, is that content delivery is only the end of the puzzle – the driving force behind the web has, and always will be content creation.

The tools of the future

The past 5 years has given us new tools. At the most basic level, most apps now implement simple text editing GUIs, replacing any need to for a user to know HTML or CSS. What the future holds is in new media – Audio and Video.

The advent and popularisation of Podcasts (primarily thanks to Apple) have opened the floodgates for users looking to create audio content. Users can now record their own live radio show and broadcast it to millions of users with relative ease, however – the real problem is between the device and the distribution.

Much the same problem exists for video content. Thanks to broadband adoption and the widespread availability of recording devices, video is finally starting to hit the mainstream, with services such as YouTube and Google Video leading the front on the distribution end.

But is the integration between devices and these services? Users still need to jump through hoops to transfer media from their seperate devices, and then use a PC or Mac to distribute them.

The future

The post MySpace web is about integration: between software, the web, and the devices that drive them. Services like Rabble are beginning to hit home in this space by combining the best elements of the web now:

Content Delivery

• RSS Feeds
• Tagging (Metadata)
• Content Aggregators
• Localized positioning

Rabble is taking advantage of the fact that most users already have the perfect content creation device available to them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. By leveraging mobile phones – with always-on GPRS or EDGE broadband Internet connections, video and photo cameras and of course, a built in Microphone, the new winner in the post MySpace Web will take all of the hard work out of creating new content for ‘your space’.

I want to make web applications that people use. Doesn’t everyone? Creating a new product that only a tiny portion of the population will even hear of is draining, but this is the fate of so many geek inspired web apps appearing almost daily now.

Lately, when I have been working on a new interface or application I ask myself – “would I use this if I was say, a cab driver?”. Honestly, most of the time, the answer is no. It takes an extremely compelling (and well marketed) product to appeal to a large range of demographics, even with the rising web application adoption rates spurned on by success stories like Myspace and let’s say, Flickr.

Companies like 37signals have no interest (it would seem) in creating web applications that appeal to a broad range of people. They’ve picked their niche (geek early adopters) and are running with it – with some measure of success no less.

I don’t subscribe to this mentality. I can’t remember a time in my life where I have wanted to (for lack of a better word) settle for a niche market in anything I do. I want it all, and to get it all, I have to understand what everyone wants. This is not easy.

I was hesitant to call Flickr a success story because it is a perfect example of an application that only appeals to a small niche of people. Although photo sharing is indeed one of the web’s ‘killer apps’, Flickr isn’t the largest app of it’s kind — indeed, it’s userbase is far behind that of it’s parent companies Yahoo! Photos service. The reason being is that it’s capturing the same market as every other marginally popular app, the geek early adopter market.

The hardest hurdle for me to cross is that I am part of this market. I, like many others find it extremely difficult to detach myself from the knowledge I have accumulated through hours of browsing the web. This over abundance of information hinders development – how do I put myself in the cab drivers shoes if I don’t remember what it was like?

I want to make web applications that people use. Doesn’t everyone? Creating a new product that only a tiny portion of the population will even hear of is draining, but this is the fate of so many geek inspired web apps appearing almost daily now.

Lately, when I have been working on a new interface or application I ask myself – “would I use this if I was say, a cab driver?”. Honestly, most of the time, the answer is no. It takes an extremely compelling (and well marketed) product to appeal to a large range of demographics, even with the rising web application adoption rates spurned on by success stories like Myspace and let’s say, Flickr.

Companies like 37signals have no interest (it would seem) in creating web applications that appeal to a broad range of people. They’ve picked their niche (geek early adopters) and are running with it – with some measure of success no less.

I don’t subscribe to this mentality. I can’t remember a time in my life where I have wanted to (for lack of a better word) settle for a niche market in anything I do. I want it all, and to get it all, I have to understand what everyone wants. This is not easy.

I was hesitant to call Flickr a success story because it is a perfect example of an application that only appeals to a small niche of people. Although photo sharing is indeed one of the web’s ‘killer apps’, Flickr isn’t the largest app of it’s kind — indeed, it’s userbase is far behind that of it’s parent companies Yahoo! Photos service. The reason being is that it’s capturing the same market as every other marginally popular app, the geek early adopter market.

The hardest hurdle for me to cross is that I am part of this market. I, like many others find it extremely difficult to detach myself from the knowledge I have accumulated through hours of browsing the web. This over abundance of information hinders development – how do I put myself in the cab drivers shoes if I don’t remember what it was like?

I mean, really. What were they thinking when they bought this?

I just sat here for 5 minutes this morning clicking through the navigation page trying to find a list of referrers. Simple, right? You would think so, but the answer is a resounding ‘no’ – the closest I could get to what I wanted to see was actually buried inside 2 drop-downs.

To make matters worse, the menus use names that seem to have no relevance to the actual content (the drill down to get to a referrer list was Marketing Optimisation > Marketing Campaign Results > Referral Conversion).

It’s a little disappointing really considering how powerful the service seems to be. I just want to know though, what were they thinking when the creators decided to obscure some of the most important data?

Perhaps it is time to give MeasureMap a try – hell, even awstats was better than this.

I’m really enjoying my stay in Melbourne a lot, and it has given me quite a lot of time to consider where I want to go in the future, and what I want to achieve during the remainder of my stay here. My good friend Dave with whom I am staying at the moment informed me that he is going to move in a little over a month – giving me around four weeks to make some headway into my future here.

Four weeks. It’s not a terribly large amount of time to get everything done, but if I don’t get distracted (much like I am now, sitting in a cafe in Brunswick St) it is certainly workable.

So, here’s my plan for the next month.

• Celebrate the launch of MatchTag – This is, without a doubt, the most important goal for my stay here. It’s funny how web development always seems to be plagued with problems – either everyone is working hard, or no one is working at all! I’m really looking forward to making some progress on this goal… hell, I get excited just thinking about it.
• Taxes – I need an accountant, badly. My taxes are like a bad feeling that sits in the back of my mind. It’s high time I just manned up and sorted them out once and for all. If anyone can recommend a reliable, intelligent accountant I would be most appreciative.
• Fitness – I joined a local gym yesterday and started training right away. It’s been months since I trained hard, and as a result I’ve lost a large amount of my muscle mass, but that’s just part of the process. I figure that in 4 weeks I can reach 68kg with 8-10% bodyfat pretty easily, which is a good spot for my body type.
• Plan the months ahead – Travelling is top priority on my list, and I can’t wait to start moving around, hopefully to Vancouver once our work on MatchTag comes to fruition. By the end of this month I will know where I’m going for the next 3 months.

This list is (obviously) for my own benefit. I find that I have a tendency to follow through on things if I have them in writing, and what better place to write things like this than my own blog!

Before I forget, I now have a myspace account! Feel free to add me as a friend as I have only a few at the moment. Finally, anyone in the Melbourne area, drop me a line if you’d like to catch up for a drink sometime. I’m always keen to meet new people in the industry, or just cool people in general.

I woke up this morning and a young friend of mine sent me a quick IM – ‘heard of the techcrunch fiasco?’ I have certainly heard of TechCrunch and read it occasionally, and recalled that they had redesigned recently, but hell – what a joke the comments section of CrunchNotes, Mike Arrington’s blog has become.

It seems that the ‘fiasco’ was due to him posting a quick mockup another designer sent to him which improved slightly on the original redesign. No big deal, right? Well, maybe in the real world – but the ‘blogosphere’ can make a mountain out of ANYTHING, and indeed they did.

30 comments later and poor old Mike is forced to try and justify something that really doesn’t need justifying. Sure, he could have used a little more tact in his original post — specifically, the line ‘There is a lot here that I intend to steal.’ struck me as a little left of centre (considering how antsy designers can get), but really, what is the problem here?

Upon further inspection, it seems that the drama got even more “intense” as Rachel resigned from her position of designer at TechCrunch. Good move, right? Perhaps, if Mike didn’t learn about this from a track-back. Nice one.

Are people really so starved for entertainment that something like this warrants such a huge and largely unjustified response? I’ve read through probably 100 comments on three separate blog posts now, and the amount of sheer stupidity in many of them is really dumbfounding.

Try to put things into perspective people, and Mike, if you’re reading this and still need another designer – drop me a line… sheesh.