Oatmeal Stout - Justin Thorp’s Web 2.0 blog

So… I’ve been reading a lot of good books lately and for some reason have forgotten to mention them here.  The book that I’m reading now is “Designing for the Social Web” by Joshua Porter.

I’ve been reading Joshua’s blog Bokardo for a while.  His insights around the social Web have always been really spot on so I didn’t hesitate to pick up his book.

In the book, he analyzes a lot of examples in the social Web that we are all familiar with while abstracting a lot of high level ideas that everyone can use.

Some of the highlights so far have been things like the intro to the rise of the social web,  AOF  (Activities, Objects, and Features) method,  how to build authentic conversations with your users, and how to communicate the actual benefit of your service in a way that will get your users coming back over and over again.

Buy This book.  You’ll love it.

I have the coolest mom on the face of the earth.  She is an inspiration and an angel in my life.  She has been there supporting me and cheering me on through every twist and turn.

Happy Mother’s Day Mom!  I love you.

If you haven’t yet, call your mom and tell her you love her.

There is this new trend which has been popping up.  Instead of sitting at a desk, people are standing.  I noticed this first at Clearspring.  There are a handful of guys who work standing up.

Last week, Jamis at 37 Signals wrote a blog post about, “Standing versus Sitting.”

I’m really starting to think about it.  Maybe I should give working standing up a shot.  What do you think?  Would you do it?

Happy Tuesday everyone! Found this priceless photo of urinal football on my buddy Paul Downey’s Flickr feed. Sooooo funny! It made me smile so I thought I’d share.

Now back to work!

So… I’m sitting here in the Dulles Airport Gordon Biersch Pub in D Terminal and of course I have a lot of random thoughts….

• If you survive frequent travel, the number one tip I’d give is be prepared but also be flexible.  To use technical language, “shit happens.” (pardon my french)  Your going to have a flight that is going to get delayed and there will be absolutely nothing you can do about it.  You can huff and puff but it’s not going to do you any good.
• This weekend I was hopping out to Indianapolis to spend the weekend with my family.  My flight was supposed to be at 10pm.  It’s now at 12pm. It sucks but *shrugs*.
• I’m excited to see my family.  They’re are my heros.  They were the biggest influencers in who I am today.  They showed me unconditional love and supported me the entire way.  I can’t wait to give them massive amounts of hugs.
• Listen to your users.  As a community manager this has been my biggest thing to do thus far, you listen when people say good things and even more importantly you listen when people say bad things.  People appreciate you taking the time to hear their concerns.
• When a user will take the time to tell you what you’re doing wrong, this is the time you need to listen the most.
• Don’t always listen to your users.    Over time, things change.  Some people don’t like change.  They get so sucked into a way things are that they don’t appreciate change, even when it’s for the better.  The best current example is the Flickr Video situation.  Flickr adds the ability to do video and the people go ape shit.  It’s crazy.
• When you have some new product or Web site you want me to use, you’re really asking a lot from someone.  It has to be helpful.  It has to give me pleasure in some way.  Otherwise, i’ll just play with it for a week and never touch it again.  I have to be able to integrate this functionality into my life.
• Really take time to show people you care.  Be intentional about it. Yes, this may mean taking things a little bit slower and yes it may cost more but it’s WAY WAY better.  Different people like to be appreciated in different ways.  Find out what way someone likes to be loved and show that to them.  It’s the way to build real relationships.
• Don’t be that guy.  No one likes the guy who just calls you up after not talking to you for a year and asks for something.  If you go out and form real relationships with people and really care about them, the next time you need something they’ll be more likely to fall all over themselves and do it.

This weekend I had the pleasure of hanging out with some awesome RIT students and alumni at BarCampRochester3.  I led a discussion on widgets and the social aggregator.  Clearspring was also one of the sponsors.

I had a fantastic time.  Kudos to the organizers.  Word is they’re going to try and do 2 BarCamps next year.  That’s awesome!!!!!!!!

Not to sound like the all knowing college graduate but if I could impart just one piece of wisdom to folks who are currently in college it’d be to start thinking earlier about your personal brand.

There is a “global neighborhood” out there that is discussing the same ideas that you’re into.  Get out there and join the conversation.

When you’re in college, it’s super easy to think that it is your world.  College can feel very insular.  Before too long you have to get out in the world and your voice competes with the rest of the world.

So… some practical tips:

Go to Vista Print or if you’re a hipster MooCards and get some business cards. Everytime you meet someone, it’s the opportunity to start a new relationship and having sometype of way to connect with eachother at a later date is SUPER important.

Start a blog.  I think it’s the best way to join in the on going conversation that’s happening.  Personal Web sites are becoming part of your personal identity.  They represent you just as much as how you dress for an interview.

Seek out people outside of your university who’re in your industry. Go to something like a Meetup.com or go find a business leader that you respect and talk to them.  The more you make the connections and the relationships outside of your university early the better off you’ll be after you graduate.

I guess one thing that I’ve learned for myself is that I don’t wanna work with folks who do something because they wanna get rich.  If they make their decisions in life based on what markets are going to be the most profitable or what’s popular, it’s just not for me.

It’s more important to do something for the love of what you’re doing.  It’s about having a love for the product and a love for users.

Instead of waking up in the middle of the night thinking about what will make you more money, wake up in the middle of the night thinking about how you can better serve your users.  If you think of service first, the money will follow.

As I said before, don’t worry about your business model.  Worry first about your pleasure model.

If you think about it, the greatest companies didn’t worry about making money at first.  Google didn’t know how they were going to monetize search when they started but look at them now.

Last Wednesday,  I popped up to New York City to fill in for our CEO, where he was scheduled to speak at a conference.  I had never to be to NYC before so I especially jumped at the opportunity.

In NYC, I felt pretty overwhelmed.  Everything is way bigger and more packed then Washington DC.  Felt like if you stopped on the side walk for more then 5 seconds you were going to get run over.  Yet, I needed to be able to find my way around.

My iPhone quickly became my best friend.

To be able to pull up Google Maps was amazing!  With the triangulation feature, it was able to pull up where I was and use that as a base for the search.  I could find a landmark or place super quickly.

I felt like I could maneuver my way through NYC without much of a problem.

It really demonstrated to me the power of having the Web in your pocket.

So… Tomorrow I’ll be giving a talk at AJAXWorld in NYC tomorrow entitled “The Social Aggregator - Widgets Reshape the Social Web.” It should be good.

Attending the conference? Live in NYC? I’d love to meetup. Drop me a line at justin@clearspring.com.

Heh… I think my heart is just starting to stop palpitating.  I was getting up from my desk to throw something away and my foot must have been wrapped around my headphone chord.

My work MacBook Pro went flying and shut in the process. Because Apple makes resilient products which are amazing, the computer is fine.  Thank God!

When can I get my MagSafe headphone connector?!?!?

Anyone else almost had a fatal laptop emergency?