New Triberr Review – Better than Old (Legacy) Triberr?

March 21, 2013 By: In: Blogging 6 Comments

Having done many projects from WordPress blogs to complex enterprise software implementations, I tend to ask these questions when a website/software will be redesigned or upgraded. Consider these as fundamental questions that should be addressed from the beginning or early inception of the idea. Here are some of the questions at the top of my mind now that I\’ll use to review the new Triberr:

  • What is the main objective of the upgrade/redesign?
  • What is working; what is not working now?
  • What are the features (requirements) needed by stakeholders
  • How will it benefit the business
  • How will it impact the customer
  • What are the risks that could potentially stall progress
  • How will you evaluate the success of the project

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What is the main objective of the upgrade/redesign?

From a customer perspective, I believe that Dino and co.  hits the jackpot when he discussed in a blog posts that the old Triberr\’s usability leaves much to desired. The upgrade is supposed to bring complete design overhaul that will offer an awesome user interface.

Looking at the new Triberr you can definitely see the vast improvement in design. While this definitely gives Triberr the \”eye candy\”, UX is much more than aesthetics. Later on I\’ll discuss some small annoyances with the new Triberr.

What is working; what is not working?

This is based in my experience alone.

What is working : the idea about tribes, tribe invite system, freemium business model, blocking/muting, posts distribution through Twitter and other social networks

What is not working well: Triberr comment system (there\’s a huge room for improvement here), laborious manual post approval (workflow could be tedious when you have hundreds of tribe-mates , pagination is sometimes hit or miss, post filtering sometimes does not work and statistics not accurate.

What are the features (requirements) needed by stakeholders?

I could only speculate that most of the top requested features are the inspiration for the redesign but I believe there are more pressing issues that must be addressed within Triberr soon. Things like Triberr plugin to be available not just for WordPress but also in other blogging platforms. Not sure why Triberr can\’t just have universal JavaScript code that lets you import posts using RESTful API or something similar. Then there are requests for granular scheduling controls so that you can only permit certain time for sharing posts. Ultimately these will make Triberr more useful but it is not available yet.

How will it benefit the business ?

The way I see it — with the redesign, more users will take Triberr more seriously, consider it within the same league as Twitter and Facebook, and include Triberr in their social media strategy. More power users = more prime members = better cash flow.

How will it impact the customer?

My first reaction after the new Triberr rolled out was this:

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After a while it turned to something like this:

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It seems that Triberr is back to beta status. I seriously don\’t feel bad or disappointed because what Dan, Dino and company created is tremendously helpful to blogging community so I am not complaining. I\’m just concerned to prime members and how new comers perceive Triberr as a service or a platform. While paying members get to preview the latest version of Triberr before regular (non-paying) members get to see it, some major bugs are still in the wild after the new Triberr is released to the public.

The transition from old (legacy) version to the new version is also not seamless. Some users still love to use the old version but having to two versions only confuses some. For example some posts appear only in the legacy version forcing me to switch back and forth the old and new versions to approve certain post. I\’m not sure why this is even happening. The infinite-scroll feature also lags when loading more posts and this frustrates both new and old Triberr users. I know it is still work in progress but isn\’t better UX the primary goal of the redesign? It should have been the top priority.

The no-click approval feature truly saves time and prevent clicking fatigue and in my opinion, one of the best features introduced — but it doesn\’t mean it is flawless. Some users reported that it is not working as expected.

So far the experience is so-so. Half the time you\’ll read accolades, then half the time you\’ll read complains about certain feature that doesn\’t work really well.

What are the risks that could potentially stall progress?

Regular Triberr users have witnessed the long downtime last week and it shows that even a well planned event could go wrong. It also showed how many Triberr supporters are out there willing to understand the tough situation that puts Dino, Dan and Andres sleepless for several days.

With the amount of transparency and accessibility from last weeks trials, I wonder why the new Triberr doesn\’t feel as polished as I expected it to be. How do Triberr team prioritize and resolve bug fixes is beyond the scope of my review but Triberr could learn more from the difficulty last week so that they could cut the risks involved in bug fixing and day to day operations.

How will you evaluate the success of Triberr Redesign?

Only Triberr can answer this but if I were to measure the success of the redesign, I would use measurable data such as prime membership sales, post shared in all social networks, total engagements, new sign-ups and more quantitative information.

Summary

Over all it feels like the new Triberr needs more time to fully materialize. While the basic features work there are bugs all over the place. To add insult to injury, the database corruption one week before the public release of the new Triberr  made it a difficult experience to everyone not just to Triberr team.  In the end, the focus for better user experience seems to be overshadowed by unpolished features.

I certainly look forward to progressive improvements and rolling updates that will eventually solve the issues I have discussed here. More power to Triberr!

Update: The tribe has spoken! See the comments below. Team Triberr will have bug fixing marathon over the weekends. Stay tuned!

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How Safe is Your Blog from Hacking?

February 20, 2013 By: In: Blogging 4 Comments

If you search my blog, I have written enough topics about security wishing that it will help normal (non-geeky) people be more aware of simple exploits on their browsers and WordPress blogs. Hopefully it leads them to heed my advise and be more careful online.

I think I am paranoid enough that I worry how other people access the files that I share with them and I also mind where my files are going. In times when cloud is becoming the new norm in hosting files, trust has become a sensitive topic to me when choosing providers.

Don\’t miss reading about:

WordPress Security Plugins

What You Need to Know About Cloud Storage

Everyone gets hacked one way or another

Unless you don\’t have any digital footprint or you live inside a cave, you probably have been hacked in one way or another.

Even the biggest social network companies get hacked. LinkedIn had several million user passwords leaked. Many famous Twitter accounts get hacked everyday. Even Facebook gets hacked and they don\’t even know what hit them. So what keeps hackers from hacking your website or blog?

After installing all the recommended WordPress security plugins, how sure are you that you\’ll be safe from exploits or zero-day attacks?

You can never be 100% sure. Even if your host has the most advanced firewall it could still be vulnerable. That\’s the thing about security. No matter how hard you try in securing something, there will always be someone trying to break inside.

Don\’t overlook security warnings and updates

If you know that there are security holes on your software, don\’t wait too long. Act immediately and patch things up.

The beauty with open source software like WordPress is that you get to receive upgrades almost immediately after a security report had been reported, or at least in a regular interval. Of course, it is equally ugly too because anyone who has knowledge about the problematic code can exploit the reported issue quickly too. It doesn\’t make closed software safer because there will be a limited number of developers working on a patch unlike open source — there are potentially hundreds or even thousands of contributors willing to fix the security hole immediately. But here is a catch — as an end-user, you have an obligation to update your own installation.

If you are lazy to update or you don\’t have the courage to mess around with codes or manually patch files, forget open-source and get a hosted service instead or hire a pro or someone who understands it more than you do. (Hire me?)

Commonly ignored part

The weakest link in security hardening is often the user. If you don\’t change your thinking about your blog security, you\’ll end up regretting it.

Do not forget to back-up. I repeat: DO NOT forget to back-up!

WordPress security tools are there to remind you that you cannot bullet-proof security. Even the WordPress plugin \”Bulletproof security\” is not so bullet-proof. It gets update from time to time because it has security flaws too. You always have to check the security status regularly and act quickly to prevent disaster from happening.

Remember: Security is not set-it-and-forget-it.

Server and Network-Level Security

This is not commonly discussed in WordPress blog security but as you add more layer of security, there is a bigger chance that you\’ll survive or prevent an attack.

Take CloudFlare as example. It is a free service that could remedy several security problems with websites and blogs on a network level; however, it is not a one-fits all solution.

You still have to update your operating system! Yes, many people have switched to the cloud but even if you are hosted in the cloud there are still components that needs to be updated because you cannot run a website without an operating system such as Linux and Windows.

Recovery

WordPress has a long list of FAQ when your WordPress blog get compromised. It is not only applicable for WordPress blogs only. Most of the tips there are also good for other online software that was hacked.

Stay calm.

You have to stay calm to be able to deal with this situation. The first step before you respond to any security incident is to calm yourself down to make sure you do not commit any mistakes. We are serious about it.

For me, the most important tip listed in the list is to keep your calm. Panicking usually results to more disastrous result. If you back-up regularly and you keep your back-up files safe you can recover almost instantly. Hopefully you learn a lesson or two from the bad experience and do not repeat the same mistake again.

Photo credit to ndanger

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Warning: Mobile & Responsive Design Is Not Just a Fad

February 8, 2013 By: In: Blogging No Comment

You might have read an article reporting that there will be more mobile devices than humans by 2017. It is not a joke. According to this post, our mobile data appetite doubled in size in 2012 so if you are ignoring mobile and responsive design you should think about it.

Last month I noticed a record high stats in my blog. About 25% of my visitors came from iOS or Android operating systems which means more and more people are using their mobile devices for browsing the web – if this isn\’t obvious yet. Even desktop owners would switch to browsing the web in mobile devices.

 A study revealed that 37% of PC users migrate activities to mobile devices according to NDP Group. 

Every month I discover more and more of my friends are buying iPad and Android tablets, not to mention they already have mid-range to top of the line smartphones. Not all have mobile data plans but they always have access to free Wi-Fi whether in the coffee shop or in the office.

Responsive Design

Now going back to my visitor statistics, I made a decision to finally switch to a responsive blog design. I have been planning about it since last year. Beginning 2013 with a new look and feel seems to be the best timing. I already have mobile theme specific for mobile browsers for several years but I favor responsive design because it is more fluid and it adapts even to different PC monitor sizes. I went back to coding CCS3 last weekend and understood how effective responsive design is. Think again – if you don\’t cater for the needs of your blog readers, and found your blog unpleasant to read they will leave and read elsewhere.

I don\’t change my blog themes a lot but if my documentation is correct my blog is officially on the 5th major redesign. Below is a screenshot on how my blog would look like on a very small screen. Also try re-sizing your browser to see it in action.

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Mobile First Design

The best example on mobile first design is Instagram. From the very beginning it is focused on mobile phones only. Even after Facebook bought it the focus is still on mobile design.

You might have read terms like graceful degradation and progressive enhancement also. They tend to be interchangeable but there is a slight difference.

If you are just starting a blog, you might consider progressive enhancement instead because it is the real mobile first design. You already present the best design possible on mobile devices and when there is a need to use bigger screen the site would scale up and be enhanced.

Between graceful degradation and progressive enhancement, progressive enhancement is much better in theory because when you start simple and neat in a mobile device then scale up to a bigger desktop screen, your design would be better off than a design made to fit for a bigger screen and then reduced to lesser quality after.

In the case of my blog – I started this long time ago so it\’s not simple to scale down with mobile first design.  I use many widgets and they tend to favor bigger screens.

To be honest, this graceful degradation and progressive enhancement sounds like a chicken and egg argument so I\’ll leave it to you what\’s best for your website or blog.

I just started my Facebook Page. Please like it if you like what you\’ve read here. Link found below. Thanks!

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How to Survive Without Internet At Home and Still Be Awesome

January 15, 2013 By: In: Blogging No Comment

How to Live Without Internet At Home

I started 2013 with extremely low information diet. I was aiming to have my yearly fasting and praying but I went through the trouble of spending minimal time on the internet instead — for two weeks. To be honest it was more painful than fasting food.

What happened seems like a divine intervention. My DSL connection was completely down as well as our fixed-line telephone, and for over a week the only thing my internet service provider could tell me is that the problem was already reported and assigned to their technical group for the immediate action and troubleshooting (even though there is almost no technical support at all). For a problem to last that long, they should have prepared  a more sensible reply on what was happening. Ultimately, it was fixed… after 2 weeks.

Looking back, it seems like a blessing in disguise because now I can genuinely tell you how to survive without internet at home while keeping your sanity intact,  and still be awesome.

1. Enjoy the great outdoors

How about getting some sunlight every day until your internet is back? Stroll to the nearest park, get some snacks at your favorite food cart, go bar hopping at night or island hopping, discover local attractions,  travel to a far away place, try mountain climbing, cycling, running, swimming, snorkeling and more.

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2. Spend time with your family and friends

Single and ready to mingle? Time to do some real action instead of stalking your love interest in Facebook or just stay indoors with your parents for some cheesy mommy or daddy bonding.

Catch up with your friends by hanging out with them in person not through Google+ hang-out. It is so much better than instant message or SMS.

Married? How about dating your spouse and treating them at their favorite restaurant. If you are a parent, play with your children. Nothing is more awesome than spending quality time with your kids.

3. Learn something new

This is the best time killer when you want to pursue greatness on something. Perhaps YouTube could offer the best learning resources for guitar tutorial, cooking instructions, and other disciplines but you still have to spend a lot of time doing real work to master them. Now is that time so don\’t waste it.

4. Entertain yourself using other media

Having a cable TV subscription might be getting unpopular to younger generations but if you happen to have one with your mom then perhaps you could endure staying at home without internet simply by watching HBO series such as Game of Thrones or anything interesting to watch.

There are many alternatives for entertainment – don\’t forget FM radio, magazines, e-books and even good old print books.

5. Explore your hobbies

Have that DSLR collecting dust? Go out and practice your photography skills instead of relying heavily on Instagram filters to make great pictures.

Can\’t update your blog because you don\’t have access to the internet? You can still write your drafts on your favorite word processor or get busy thinking of interesting topics to write about once your internet access is back.

How about using your talent in Draw Something to draw something cool on real canvass this time around?

6. Go shopping

This is specially for the girls. I know my wife loves shopping. If you do, then I am sure you can easily exchange internet access to shopping experience. I enjoy window shopping gadgets but reviewing them online and reading how fan-boys troll each other is more fun.

7. Plan or execute a DIY Project

It takes time to plan a project and if you failed to plan, you plan to fail. Personal project could take  different forms for different purposes. Examples are: redecorating your living room, building a tree house and installing a home theater system — just to name a few.

Don\’t expect your next project to be successful if you didn\’t put much effort on planning and making sure you have all the right tools.

8. Get yourself busy at work

Convert your restless energy at home to productive force at work. You might impress your boss and get recognition, or simply get a few minutes to browse your favorite website when no one else is looking.

Also, spend this time escalating your internet problems to social media channels of your ISP.

Hopefully you are not working from home because if that is the case then this is not applicable for you. I work from home from time to time so you could imagine how difficult it was for me without internet access.

9. Use offline apps

I\’m glad that there are so-called offline apps. I strongly believe that for an app to be truly useful it has to offer some degree of usability when not connected to the internet even if it is meant to connect online. I\’m glad that free apps like Pocket and Pulse can cache online content for offline consumption later.

Plenty of games fall under this category but I hate that some games needs to connect to the internet before you could play them.

10. Use your mobile data plan

I strictly don\’t count mobile data plan as internet at home because not everyone has mobile data plans and not every place has good 4G connection. However if you do have a data plan it is probably limited even it was deemed \”unlimited\”. Telcos cap your bandwidth because they can. Also, having a data plan and keeping it on is like a double-edged sword. My phone\’s battery could not last a day when I use HSPA+ continuously. I could only imagine that LTE phones could easily drain battery faster.

11. Find an open or free WiFi

Here\’s the last tip but it\’s a cheat! If you know how to crack your neighbor\’s WiFi password then you have no problem surviving without internet at home — after all, you could use your neighbor\’s internet. Just kidding. Besides, it is illegal in some places. Your last resort is to ask nicely for WiFi password for temporary access if you really can\’t live without internet.

Other method involves wardriving — the act of looking for open WiFi in a vehicle. I have tried wardriving before and it is a dangerous practice if you don\’t know what you are doing. I suggest you just drop by to the nearest coffee shop to get complementary free WiFi access.

Hopefully when you follow these tips you can still be productive while your internet connection is still not available. I know that prevention is better than cure so I am now thinking of a better continuity plan to minimize my internet downtime.

Now it\’s your turn. What will you do if you have no internet access for 1 week or more? Do you think you could survive this ordeal?

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The Best of MV Tech Blog: 2012 Edition

December 31, 2012 By: In: Blogging No Comment

If you have WordPress Jetpack plugin installed you should have your 2012 Annual Report by now. Below is the summary.

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WordPress only reports the top 5 in the annual report so I used Google Analytics as well to get the top 10.

My top referring sites in 2012 are mostly social networks  – Twitter, Stumbleupon, Facebook, Youtube and  XDA Forums.

Also, according to WordPress some of my most popular posts were written before 2012 so my writing has staying power. Sounds awesome! Now, here\’s the list:

10. Windows 8 Consumer Preview VirtualBox Installation Step-by-Step: It seems that many people interested to test Windows 8 in virtual machine. VirtualBox is free so it\’s not surprising it is popular.

9. iGoogle Alternatives – Find a New Start Page Before Google Shutdowns iGoogle in 2013: After all, many people still use a start page. I\’m not sure if it was a good move for Google.

8. BlueStacks on Windows 8 to Run 400,000 Android Apps: BlueStacks is getting better and better and if they continue to make more Android apps run with 100% compatibility on Windows 8 it might become the best way to run Android on x86 machines.

7. Google Black Navigation Bar: Remove, Disable or Change It: People are still not stopping to make Google black navigation bar a facelift. Maybe Google should consider giving more options to people like how Microsoft gives more option to customize Windows start menu and Apple, OS X dock.

6. Windows 8 Release Preview VirtualBox Installation and Error Troubleshooting: This is a surprise because I have three Windows related blog posts in top 10.

5. 8 Blogging Lessons from Game of Thrones (Part 1): Game of Thrones is one of my favorite show this year and it will return on March 31, 2013 as  hinted in HBO teaser.

4. Browser Wars Illustrated: From #7, up to #4. I never thought browser wars is that popular.

3. Free Facebook Mobile Access (Philippines Promo): While the promo is not available anymore, some people are still looking for free Facebook access using their mobile phones. With the increasing availability of LTE phone I could see that it will stay on my top posts for quite a while.

2. Kindle Comparison Chart – Kindle Fire vs. Others: Same as last year, still in #2. I really think I should write more about gadgets.

1. How to Wisely Use DFA Passport Appointment System: Still my #1 post. I hope it still serves as a helpful guideline for many Filipinos who are confused on how to get the new Philippine e-passport.

I wrote a total of 83 posts this year and this is my most active year in blogging yet after my long hiatus in 2008.

I know I can do more next year so I am excited to start 2013 already. In just a few hours, it\’s already 2013. Happy New Year !

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Multiply.com Social Network To Shut Down on December

November 28, 2012 By: In: Blogging 1 Comment

This post is a reminder for those people who have not backed up their Multiply.com content yet. I\’m going to share my sentiments about Multiply.com and how I backed up my data easier instead of using Multiply.com\’s tools and recommended browser extensions.

Do Multiply\’s Long Time Users Matter?

The news had been out for several month already and it all started with \”we are sorry\” note from Multiply.com\’s CEO Stefan Magdalinsk back in August 2012. To be honest, I was indifferent with the announcement even though I have old blog posts and pictures stored in Multiply.com.

I have expected Multiply to revamp their website long time ago because I have not seen any new feature in the website for a long time. What I don\’t like with the announcement is how Multiply.com decided to shelve the entire social network feature in one overhaul instead of small increments or several phases. What do you expect from long-time Multiply.com users, wave the white flag peacefully?

Multiply.com already knows that the decision will be unpopular but it didn\’t matter because it is a necessary step moving forward (at least for their business).  I\’m glad that I didn\’t buy a premium plan because if I did, I probably have uploaded more than 10 gigabytes of photos and videos, and I\’ll be scratching my head now how to move them somewhere else.

The transition period could have been bitter-sweet than disappointing if only the migration tools work flawlessly.

Until The End of the Year

Initially the plan is to make the export tools available until December 1, 2012 only. After that, there is a very big chance that you will not be able to get your data easily. However, Multiply decided to extend it until the end of the year. What will happen come December 1, 2012 is that you can\’t create new content using Multiply\’s social network features. Below is the excerpt of the update I receive in my email yesterday:

Come December 1st, your site will still be available online for viewing. However, you will no longer be able to create new postings, upload any social networking content (such as photos or blogs) or make any new comments on your existing entries for social networking. However, we will extend the availability of the download tools until the end of the year so you can back up your content at your leisure.

Preserve all content from your Multiply Account

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The screenshot above happens when you try to download pictures using the media locker download option.

According to Multiply.com, Media Locker option is already available to all users so that you can download all your content more easily. See the screenshot of the email announcement below:

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Apparently, it doesn\’t work. Even if you want to get Multiply Premium account now  just to download high-resolution through media locker (which is silly at this point), the link to Multiply Premium account doesn\’t work. Kind of frustrating if you just want to get all your pictures and videos organized per album.

I have over 1 Gigabyte of pictures in Multiply and to download them all using the download media link (http://multiply-id.multiply.com/download-media) — is simply ridiculous. The recommended Chrome extension and Firefox add-on will attempt to download all the media linked to all URLs present in the page but you still have to click, potentially, hundred times  if you have a lot of stored pictures in Multiply.com.

Multiply has an export tool for Blogger. However, Blogger can\’t fetch photos and videos. Even if you get your blog posts migrated, the old picture URLs will still point to the original Multiply.com content — which is a very bad idea.

Another alternative is to use the Tumblr export tool. However, even if I just want to get my photos  through Tumblr, I won\’t…. because it doesn\’t work. You have to know Tumblr to understand that it has a lot of limitations. Tumblr only support 10 pictures in one photoset. If you import your Multiply albums, it only imports one image. Just like Blogger it points back to the original media in Multiply. Useless! Also, you can only upload 100 items at a time in Tumblr so you have to choose which item category you want to import. You probably want to import only blog posts, reviews and photos anyway. If you can\’t really import photo albums properly, you should at least be able to download them per album right?

There should have been a WordPress export tool but it didn\’t materialize.

If you have tried all these options, you might have lost hope already. Don\’t worry. It\’s not over yet.

The best option I found to download all media effortlessly is to use a download manager such as Free Download Manager (FDM) so that you can download all your pictures and videos without interruption using the media download page.

I don\’t know why Multiply.com did not recommend this approach when it is as easy as downloading all the links using a download manager.

Final Words

I am not disappointed that Multiply.com is transforming their business model to focus on e-commerce. In fact, I am excited to see Multiply.com\’s transformation. What I am very disappointed at is how they made it very difficult to migrate out of Multiply to other blogging and photo-sharing platforms. Without users who supported their social network, Multiply.com would not even exist and find its new direction in e-commerce.

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Paper.li Epiphany: Why It Doesn\’t Work and How To Fix It

July 23, 2012 By: In: Blogging No Comment

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I\’ve discovered Paper.li 2-3 years ago. I remember being fascinated by it….for about 3 minutes. And then never returning to it ever again. Why?

What is Paper.li?

If you already know, you can skip this section.

From their About page, they say that Paper.li is a content curation service. It enables people to publish newspapers based on topics they like and treat their readers to fresh news, daily.

How Does It Work?

Really, really easy.

You sign in with Twitter and click to create your own newspaper. Amazing! AMAZING! Technology.

If this technology existed in the 90s, it would have put NewYorkTimes (and all other newspaper-y blogs) our of business.

How It\’s Used

People usually use it as a self-promotional tool. This is natural, of course. Humans ARE Attention-seeking animals.

I have never, EVER, clicked on someone\’s paper.li link to check out what they\’ve \”curated\”. I will explain why in a minute.

How It Should Be Used

I think it would be way more effective if you shined a spotlight on someone else, and hyper-focused it on one subject.

For example, a god way to generate your own paper.li is to include people who are authorities in a particular subject. Pulling all of their work into your paper on weekly basis might come in kinda handy.

Why It Doesn\’t Work

The thing is, no matter what you do, it\’s not going to result in any tangible benefit, and here\’s why.

The people you\’ve included in your paper are not going to feel thankful and reciprocate simple because it takes no effort what-so-ever for you to feature them in your paper.

Potential readers are not going to read it because:

  1. They also know it took no work what-so-ever to generate this page
  2. Since it\’s SO EASY to generate your own paper, if they want to keep an eye on certain folks, they can just create the paper of their own

Humans are willing to pay more money for hand-made products rather than mass-produced ones. Because we understand, deep down inside, that one is worth more than the other not because it\’s better necessarily, but because it took longer to produce.

How To Fix It

Make it harder.

There\’s an apocryphal tale of Betty Crocker\’s initial failure (in the early 1950s) to appeal to housewives because it provided a ready-made cake mix with everything you need to make your family a delicious cake.

This marketing campaign, which focused on the easy of use, failed miserably.

The sales were sluggish, and the appeal of the product was abysmal.

So, General Mills -the company behind the Betty Crocker brand- put a psychologist to work who came back with an idea. Make it harder, he said.

Remove the egg-mix from the box and have housewives add eggs themselves. This will make them feel like they are part of the process and that they had higher degree of involvement with the baking process.

The theory goes — and it turned out to be correct- that if Betty Crocker does all the work, then she gets all the credit. But if the housewife adds the egg, then that tiny, little small step allows her to see her self as a crucial player in the cake-baking process.

Therefore the satisfaction the family gets from eating the delicious cake goes to the wife, not to Betty Crocker.

Sure enough. Betty Crocker removed the egg-mix, and launched a new marketing campaign focused on the pivotal role of the matriarch in the cake-baking process.

Note the focus on the \”homemade goodness\”, and \”YOU add the eggs\”.

Find Yer Egg

I think paper.li needs to find its egg.

Maybe they pull the free version and make it unavailable to all. Turn their technology into a WordPress premium plugin and sell it to businesses who are dying for a good curation-solution.

It has the be a plugin because I want the curated content on my blog, not on paper.li. And no, embedding paper.li on my blog is not enough.

I admire the fact that they developed this technology and they have stuck with their basic model from the get go. I think the basic model is hurting them now.

They need to make it more exclusive. Customer focused (instead of paper.li focused which is currently the case), and they need to find their egg.

Too Easy

I\’ve said it before, and I\’ll say it again. Making things too easy can backfire.

Here\’s a 2 part question gor you.

  • How can you make things more difficult for your customer whilst improving their experience?
  • How can paper.li do the same?
\"Dino

Dino Dogan

Founder of Triberr. Lousy Mixed Martial Artist and a recovering Network Engineer. Pretty good singer/songwriter, trainer of dogs, and a blogger of biz. Fun at parties and a global force for badassery.
Website: http://diyblogger.net
Twitter: dino_dogan

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