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Mukund › Comments
Maryam says "what does that get you in the real world?" to "I have 1,000 more followers than @jasoncalacanis ." :-)
Louis Gray, Patrick Jordan, Ken Kaplan and 15 other people liked this
Nothing, more tabloids chasing you down.
- Richard A.
It sure gets me more abuse at home! :-)
- Robert Scoble
It depends on the cost to acquire them and who they are
- Andy Beard
More demands on your times, you still get quiet periods, and more complain when you don't answer.
- Richard A.
contacts
- vijay
My wife asks me that daily. What have your virtual friends done for you in your real life. Its a good question. What was your answer. <planning to take furious notes>
- Mukund
Beau: if only that were the truth! I think it got me more spam on that topic, though. Sigh.
- Robert Scoble
As two people are married ;-), who cares, as long as the mistress is happy :-)
- Richard A.
Mukund: I got a couple of bottles of wine and chocolate for speaking at a dinner tonight. Of course I turned that over to her. :-)
- Robert Scoble
What is this real world Maryam is talking about anyway?
- Todd Hoff
It depends on the tone of how she queried this one... Was she saying it in a tone that made it seem like she was excited and going to offer you something?... Or was she really asking what does that get you, as in... Why is this good? Guessing the latter, I think that it just shows that people want to know as much as possible about being online and what's at the cutting edge of technology all the time. Simply, your status on Twitter is important for your job, salary, and all companies you share info about.
- Colleen
Hopefully a lot of Karma
- Edwin Khodabakchian
Spam?
- Phil Boiarski
You get smarter as a result of conversations with your followers. This leads to the question, what do you get in the real world as a result of being smarter?
- Bruce Lewis
from fftogo
Edwin im curious, how do you equate many followers to karma ?
- atul abraham
from twhirl
@ Bruce You are assuming all conversations are smart.
- Phil Boiarski
Phil, not exactly, but you're right that there's an assumption in there. It's like assuming that you'll get a more nutritious diet from a store with 1000 more choices. You probably will, but it depends what those extra choices are and which of them you eat. I think Robert generally does a good job choosing what morsels to digest.
- Bruce Lewis
from fftogo
In television contract negotiations, viewership matters, just sayin'.
- Jim Posner
perception of influence
- Megan
Re: louisgray.com: BuzzGain Launches In Beta to Help Companies Enable "Do It Yourself PR" - http://www.louisgray.com/live...
"Allen, I have alerted Mukund, and he is looking into it right now. Thanks for the feedback."
- Louis Gray
Hey allen, could you please tell me what version of IE you were using. There's a little More... link next to Brian's bio for the entire page. We'll remove that so its not as confusion. Thanks for the heads up.
- Mukund
BuzzGain Launches In Beta, Enabling "Do It Yourself PR", Monitoring - http://www.louisgray.com/live...
Nicholas James, Mike Fruchter, Hutch Carpenter and 13 other people liked this
Disclosure: I am an advisor to BuzzGain
- Louis Gray
fabulous product idea. :) I am working on something similar...hmmm
- Susan Beebe
Following @mukund on twitter now
- Susan Beebe
"Sign up for Private Beta" page returns 404 error
- Susan Beebe
Similar in concept to our product vibemetrix. http://vibemetrix.com glad to see a pay model, we need to break the shackles of this "everything must be free" mentality. If something provides value we should not be opposed to paying for it. :)
- mikepk
Louis, I'd like to look at this from an Investor Relations perspective rather than a PR one. I'm pretty much the only IR tech blogger, so please make sure I get an invite. :)
- Dominic Jones
Much like Social Radar as well (http://infegy.com/socialr...) - who presented at Highlight Midwest.
- Paul Arterburn
@Susan, I told him about that issue. You can sign up here: http://buzzgain.com/web...
- Louis Gray
@susan we are working to fix the flash issue. @mikepk - Amen brother.
- Mukund
@dominic/IRWebReport drop me an email at mukund at buzzgain dot com and we' can help you get there with a financial specific dashboard. Thanks
- Mukund
Looks much like Radian6, as well.
- Steve Lynch
from twhirl
@ Mukund. Thanks.
- Dominic Jones
Louis - thanks! Just signed up... :) Cheers this is a well thought out product. I am very impressed with Advisory team and Founders too ... Brian Solis as co-founder is awesome!
- Susan Beebe
Steve Lynch - we have a secret weapon - Louis on our side.
- Mukund
25 Things You Don't Know About Me (and wish you still didn't)
Rob Michael (Atmos Trio), Alfredo, Iggy Mwangi and 107 other people liked this
1) I was born two months early, and weighed four pounds. My grandmother wouldn't visit in the hospital because she didn't want to "get attached".
- Louis Gray
2) Due to the prematurity, as my dad tells it, I had a 50% chance of being physically disabled and a 50% chance of being mentally disabled. They still haven't figured out which one it's going to be.
- Louis Gray
3) I lived in Guadalajara, Mexico for three years as an infant while my dad attended medical school.
- Louis Gray
4) I learned to walk before I could crawl (and got two hernias as a result). I had surgery for various ailments, including hydrocephalus, seven times by age six.
- Louis Gray
5) The first sentence I ever put together was, "No mom, you're wrong."
- Louis Gray
6) From kindergarten to third grade, I went to four schools in four years in three states.
- Louis Gray
7) I used to go to school with an eye patch on one eye, alternating sides each morning, to strengthen the muscles. When I didn't wear the patch, I wore glasses (until so many pair were broken my parents stopped replacing them).
- Louis Gray
8) In kindergarten, my teacher had me run the slide projector and read the captions to the other kids while she set up the next activity.
- Louis Gray
9) I couldn't swim until fifth grade. In 4th grade, I fell off a raft in the middle of a lake at a school outing, and an eighth grader dove in and fished me out. I literally can't remember "being rescued".
- Louis Gray
10) I went to the California state spelling bee championship twice, after winning county, in 5th and 7th grade. In 5th grade, I finished 17th. But in sixth grade, I didn't even win my homeroom.
- Louis Gray
11) I fell in love with baseball in the late '80s with the Bash Brothers. To this day, I could probably tell you almost every Jose Canseco stat from 1988 without using Google.
- Louis Gray
12) I didn't date until I was sixteen. The first girl I ever asked out to a dance ended up going with a guy her friend set her up with and I got stood up. By the time I got married, my aunt told my fiancee that I was "historically undervalued".
- Louis Gray
13) On more than one occasion, a friend and I played hooky from Boy Scouts and went shoplifting at the local convenience store.
- Louis Gray
14) I drove the family's wood-paneled station wagon (a 1988 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser) in high school. It seated 7, and I once got it airborne and broke the axle.
- Louis Gray
15) I once logged on to my mom's AOL account and posted a racy note on her behalf in a lesbian teachers' forum, saying she was good in the classroom and the bedroom. She got e-mail for years.
- Louis Gray
16) I attended morning seminary all four years in high school, starting at 6:30 a.m.
- Louis Gray
17) My big plan was to go to UCLA with my best friend and we were going to be roommates. He got in, and I didn't. Two weeks later, I was accepted to Berkeley.
- Louis Gray
18) While at Berkeley, I was a reporter for the student newspaper, and covered City Council, the UC Regents and crime. I wore a police scanner during class, and wrote about hit and runs in the margins of my notes. One night, I ran to the scene of a double homicide, getting there before the police tape had blocked off the area.
- Louis Gray
19) The next day, I got a 19 out of 100 on a midterm in my major.
- Louis Gray
20) I ended up with a GPA below 3.0 at Berkeley, but still forced a double major in four years. By my senior year, I was commuting to Silicon Valley every day.
- Louis Gray
21) When the first startup I worked for folded, I signed with their sister company in the same office two days later. I stayed at my desk as my old boss packed up and left.
- Louis Gray
22) I am so cheap that the first date I took my eventual wife on was to Great America because I had free tickets. I had two pairs of tickets, and planned to take another girl the following week. I didn't use the second pair.
- Louis Gray
23) I once met Steve Jobs at the Palo Alto Apple Store. I asked him an iPod support question, which he got right.
- Louis Gray
24) I created a set of comics called the ANtics featuring Oakland A's players. The first comic strip was featured on TV during an A's game. http://www.louisgray.com/live...
- Louis Gray
25) I have more ideas than I have time and want to make sure FriendFeed and all the Web relationships we have built can stay personal and close as people change and our small communities get larger and more visible.
- Louis Gray
#1 how close did you two get eventually ?
- Mayank Dhingra
15 is CLASSIC
- Marco(aureliusmaximus)
#15 very funny!!!!
- Business Blogger【ツ】™
oh no you didn't...in you know which accent
- sofarsoShawn
I went to church with Jose Canseco in Silicon Valley in the 80s. That dude donated a lot of money to the church, which let them buy video equipment. So, my video career is, in part, due to Jose Canseco. Great list.
- Robert Scoble
Mayank, re #1, we do fine now. She calls me her "#1 grandson" because I was her first.
- Louis Gray
True to LG form - I loved every word of it. Thank you so much for sharing and participating. You RULE.
- Mona Nomura
funny stuff
- cjmart
This is one post I'm glad I clicked expand all comments on.
- Bryce Roney
win
- Amber, Random Time Lord
I love this list of 25 as much as I love chocolate.
- Derrick
Wow... The "25 things about me" meme has never been so interesting until now.
- Rishabh Mishra (p248)
LG's list is fun to read.
- Alan Le
Well, I thought I was following you on Twitter Louis .... Guess you're maxed out. It refused my request early this morning. (It's OK ... I'll still read you here :)
- Charlie Anzman
Amazing and very interesting! Great work.
- Nation Hahn
This made me laugh out loud, nice one Louis!
- Sally Church
I don't even know you, yet felt oddly compelled to read all 25. If we ever meet, let's reminisce about these things that happened to you that I now remember. :-)
- Jeff Eddings
I had a feeling that you were the spelling bee champ. That was great. Thanks for sharing!
- Michael Fidler
from twhirl
15 is a classic :) Great share, Louis :)
- Baard @ Pixum
Hah i'll go toe to toe with you and your Jose Canseco stats with Will Clark stats
- Steve C
#22 You did scalp the other two tickets, though, right?
- MVB (Grinch of FF)
Love the "historically undervalued" (#12)!
- asiriusgeek
@15 When did your mom learn you were responsible (though based on #5 she probably knew you were behind the email somehow)
- MaryAnn Chick Whiteside
mcw, re #15, deducing it was me wasn't hard. My friend and I had been on the computer earlier in the day, and we pressured each other into posting it. She probably learned within 24 hours.
- Louis Gray
And yet you can still play around on a computer. What a great mom!
- MaryAnn Chick Whiteside
::bumps::
- David Cook
BuzzGain » How many twitter followers does it take make an impact? - http://news.buzzgain.com/?p=76
Chris Messina and Mukund liked this
great article on Twitter and "influence". Thanks to @smazurov for sending over
- James Clark
What did you think Jim?
- Mukund
From an outreach model I would break the "influencers" down into those with the widest reach, which the article suggests as followers, and then I would want to take a close look at the on-topic postings. So the Top 100 will have influence over the widest demographic, but it only takes a few on-topic influencers to gain leverage with a specific target audience. So getting positive mentions from the top 100 is always helpful, but getting narrow and focused from on-topic influencers is just as important.
- James Clark
BuzzGain » The blogging platform of choice for Main Stream Media - http://news.buzzgain.com/?p=81
Mukund liked this
What did you think about it Mark?
- Mukund
BuzzGain » The blogging platform of choice for Main Stream Media - http://news.buzzgain.com/?p=81
mike "glemak" dunn and Mukund liked this
What did you think about it?
- Mukund
Reading: "BuzzGain » The blogging platform of choice for Main Stream Media" ( http://news.buzzgain.com/?p=81 )
Mukund liked this
What did you think Chantelle?
- Mukund
Facebook Co-Founder Departs To Build “Extensible Enterprise Productivity Suite” - http://www.techcrunch.com/2008...
Ross Miller, Derek Coatney, Mark Krynsky and 25 other people liked this
"Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz (right) and colleague Justin Rosenstein were leaving to start their own company. ... Fortunately, Rosenstein (who formerly worked at Google as product manager of Google Page Creator) has posted more information about their reasons for departure in a Facebook note to friends, which we have reproduced with his permission below. In it, he describes briefly how Moskovitz and he plan to build to an “extensible enterprise productivity suite” that uses Facebook Connect as its user authentication system and borrows many of Facebook’s own design conventions. The two of them thought about building this suite from within Facebook but eventually decided that it would make more sense to build it within their own company. The choice quote: “We hope our products will become to your work life what Facebook.com is to your social life."
- Paul Buchheit
from Bookmarklet
As suggested by Bindu :) http://friendfeed.com/e...
- Paul Buchheit
See Dustin's note on Facebook too http://www.new.facebook.com/note...
- Susan Beebe
im already excited :)
- Zee.
This is really exciting .... I expect big news on this
- Susan Beebe
Hey Paul! I suggested a Friendfeed version of Yammer!! Save this link for your next post --> http://friendfeed.com/e... : )
- Erhan Erdogan
Getting out while the getting's good
- Jason Carreira
"Facebook really is That company. Which company? That one. That company that shows up once in a very long while -- the Google of yesterday, the Microsoft of long ago. That company where large numbers of stunningly-brilliant people congregate and feed off each other's genius. That company that's doing with 60 engineers what teams of 600 can't pull off." -- Rosenstein, 2007/6/15, http://paul.kedrosky.com/archive...
- j1m
Can't wait to see what Justin writes about his new promised land! :)
- Adam Lasnik
“There's so much work to be done in the area of making things harder for people at work. We're passionate about hiding and omitting the very things we all need to be more productive. Whether it’s work output or the collective knowledge of an organization, we’ve got to make it become less searchable and less relevant. For enterprise developers, we’ll nurture an ecosystem that makes it...
more...
- Noah Carter
this marks a great step in taking pokes and pie throwing into the enterprise. :)
- Mukund
Well, you know, a little sheep-throwing would lighten up the enterprise.
- j1m
Akiva's brother or who else? anyways that's necessary thing so be luck with him ;)
- A.T.
I spend way more time in FF than I ever do in FB. Heck, I only check FB about once a week nowadays.
- Ian May
I had a similar suggestion for CompanyFeed http://friendfeed.com/e...
- Shakeel Mahate
like Yammer to Twitter, this sounds like a feature not a product. so at very least there were personal or political conflicts that led them to conclude this wouldn't be prioritized at Facebook. perhaps Zuckerberg should sue them for stealing IP...
- Jon Price
@Jon, I totally disagree. Yammer is just the privatization of microblogging for the enterprise sprinkled with a few more features. This sounds like a platform architecture modeled much like Facebook apps but geared specifically for work productivity. I can see apps for project management, document management, HR and yes, even microblogging rolled into this. I also feel they both provided one of the most eloquent exit explanations I've ever read and I found them to be very sincere. I can't wait for this.
- Mark Krynsky
I'm on NBC 11 news tonight for a few seconds. http://www.nbc11.com/index... at 11 p.m. Pacific talking about Steve Jobs hoax.
Louis Gray, Hutch Carpenter, Mathew™ one of a kind and 4 other people liked this
Fake Steve Jobs was rumored to have a really bad case of indigestion, though.
- Karim
congrats. Always good to be on TV!
- suzanne vara
I once have been on TV, I was 17 and it was for smart people. What a shame :)
- directeur
from NoiseRiver
Do you know what sound bite they'll include?
- Ontario Emperor
from fftogo
Ontario: I have no idea. They filmed me for about six minutes and the camera guy thought that they would use about 20 seconds of it. We'll see. TV is always a guessing game as to what they'll use. It's possible they won't use anything at all.
- Robert Scoble
Wow, it's been a long time since I was on channel 11. You win for recency, Scoble!
- Pete Delucchi
The coverage turned out very well, Robert. Glad you were dressed sharp and you spoke with authority.
- Louis Gray
hey robert. thanks for the link to tim ferris's note on the startup roller coaster. It was a great guest post
- Mukund
I always find it interesting which videos get traffic. The ones I think are important rarely get the most views at http://www.fastcompany.tv
Susan Beebe, Jeff (the マクダジ of FF), Rob Diana and 5 other people liked this
That's the power of crowdsourcing right? Which is also why britney news pops up on MSM more than CO2 emissions.
- Mukund
Listening to our users, or simply studying their behavior, is usually very eye opening. I like Avinash Kaushik's simple 3-question survey as a way to really find out what your user's want (which is seldom what you'd like them to do).
- Carlos Granier-Phelps
i feel the same way about my blog posts... the ones where i feel i've written something really interesting get 0 comments...
- Jeremy Toeman
Shall we call this? Scoble's Law? ... Which ones do you think deserve greater attention?
- JD Lasica
Thats how it always happens.
- michael parks
from twhirl
Without doubt, my most thoughtful posts often get read least. It's frustrating, but shorter and simpler messages resonate more easily with most people.
- Michael Krigsman
CBS Snap Poll: Biden 46%, Palin 21% - http://donklephant.com/2008...
Alexander Carlill, Christopher Sacca, Billy Warhol and 7 other people liked this
CBS had to fire their last anchor for anti-GOP bias in 2004, and they've used deceitful editing in 2008 with Palin interview. I trust their polls not one whit. Hard to believe anybody could have watched that debate and come away thinking Slow Joe won.
- Rob Sterling
rather did investigative journalism and the GOP balked because they're the anti-fact brigade. and show me a credible source that proves they did 'deceitful editing' of palin's interview.
- Admiral Anika
Rob: you're wrong. Biden has won every poll tonight, not just CBS's. CNN had a focus group and Biden soundly won that too.
- Robert Scoble
Rob, I beg to differ
- anna sauce
*Cough* Fox News *Cough*
- Johnny Worthington
Rob Sterling -- you're grasping at straws. Biden is winning all the polls on the debate by a substantial margin, and for all the obvious reasons.
- Sean McBride
Intrade says differently. The question, "Barack Obama's Intrade value will increase more than John McCain's following the VP debate," has fallen more than 40% since the end of the debate.
- Mistletoe Glen
CNN poll: Biden 51%, Palin 36%.
- Duncan Riley
Rob, a link that shows this "deceitful editing"? It was Palin, sadly, who didn't present herself well.
- Ayşe E.
Fox News website interactive poll shows Biden 61% Palin 39% with 116k people weighing in. If Fox has Biden winning, he won.
- jcunwired
Fox news poll has been gamed, you can vote unlimited # of times...Their txt message poll was 87% Palin after 87k text messages. No poll is really factual in my opinion.
- David Ward
The best tool to monitor opinion on the Biden/Palin debate: Google Reader. Search GR on "biden palin" http://www.google.com/reader... Intelligent opinion is overwhelmingly giving Biden a clear victory in the debate.
- Sean McBride
Its all the "liberal media" unlike Australian media right?
- Mukund
Biden hands down - Stronger + Smarter - Nice Contrast to Palin - Bill Maher said it Nicely too Palin is a Moron + a Religious Kook!! ;)) Good Riddance Bush + McANUS + Brainwashed Flock!! ;)) Peace*
- Billy Warhol
Rob: you're smoking dope
- Ryan
David, there is no doubt in my mind that you will not find one poll tonight you find factual at all.
- jcunwired
Billy stop spamming this shit
- David Ward
now I know CBS is full of shit. for a while I was taking them seriously. if they got this wrong then the were wrong about the McCain / Obama poll
- Noah David Simon
Faboo - if you call what Rather did investigative journalism, then you're probably interested in this piece of the brooklyn bridge i have for sale.
- Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
Faboo Mama.... I ain't seen nothing like her since Sister Soulja
- Noah David Simon
Yes Billy, stop immediately. You know what the word Peace does to some people. Tsk. ;)
- jcunwired
Shop carefully Faboo, I suspect that bridge goes nowhere.
- jcunwired
JodyC +1 on that last line. Brilliantly delivered :-)
- Duncan Riley
How many twitter followers does it take make an impact? - http://news.buzzgain.com/?p=76
MVB (Grinch of FF), iSteeve, Kevin Johnson and 25 other people liked this
Depends on how many are bots and mal-lowers.
- LogEx
1. If I follow you and retweet you you'll have an impact.
- Robert Scoble
1, if that person can effect change.
- Ben Jackson
from twhirl
Amen, brother. Scoble's retweets are the juice.
- John McCrea
Scoble - laughing at your comment. @chrisbrogan has had a similar effect w/ me in the past. One mention and voila, many new followers. @Louis, I'd say that you start to hit critical mass at 100 but they obviously have to be the right 100. At 500-1,000, you can start to get some very effective research/survey results from your followers.
- Aaron Strout
John, you don't even need one follower, thinking about it. The world is moving to http://search.twitter.com so you can get found with very few followers there.
- Robert Scoble
+10 Scoble
- imran
Thanks Mr. Scoble. I just found someone to chat with about my executive dashboard project.
- Mattb4rd
Robert: so true. I am addicted to Twitter search. It is vital to my work (and fun).
- John McCrea
@Aaron, this is not a post I wrote, but one from Mukund at BuzzGain. And yes, I agree that Twitter Search is more important than Twitter's Web interface at this point.
- Louis Gray
I'll have to agree with Scobleizer - I visit Twitter Search more than Twitter itself these days. I learn way more from that interface.
- Chris Luckhardt
Haven't we been here before. 1st we all create content. Then, Search organizes the content. I suppose "Twitter Words" is next?
- Alan Edgett
Funny how often I've been asked the EXACT same questions. We've been having a nice discussion about this as well (1.6k views and 70 comments now) around a great article that was written by a member. http://tinyurl.com/3h8mdz
- Leif@Biznik
None - they all spend so much time reading twitter (and FF :) ) that nothing gets done!
- Chris Rogers
On who?
- Warner Crocker
depends on targeted/anticipated impact and target audience.
- Hayk H.
@Scoble - technically one, but realistically I have to go with @aaron
- Mukund
The real question is, how many twitter followers does it take to change a lightbulb?
- Jan Dawson
your message is more important, how to write compelling copy in 140 characters
- Dan Rockwell
from twhirl
impact? the summize purchase was great but tweetscan deserves a plug - & no one has monetized even the text aspect of twitter yet - ($800/MB is valuable bitspace controlled by telecom - SMS is hugely profitable) so ... impact? twitter matched to transactions are a way off - using bandwidth for scale & ROI on time to tweet are a bit too abstracted to make much sense of impact suggested in the article
- Wes Schadenfreud
BuzzGain List of 20 blogging objectives - http://news.buzzgain.com/?p=67
Mukund and Louis Gray liked this
...and how to measure them with examples
- Ross Mayfield
What did you guys think of the examples?
- Mukund
I'm as of right now I'm announcing that I am suspending being awake in order to solve my sleep crisis
Gaurav Mishra, Steve Rubel, Kevin Barrow and 13 other people liked this
Solution to your crisis = FriendFeed :)
- imabonehead
Crisis to your solution = more FriendFeed.
- Josh McHugh
So you are not going to debate me about your sleep now?
- Clarence Chiang
You mean to say that you cannot do more than one thing at a time?? ;-)
- Bo Stern
Good for you, Scott. This is the kind of non-political action that means something to Americans.
- Alexander Carlill
I second the motion.
- Brian Daniel Eisenberg
That tweet totally sounds like the lead-in for an It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia episode...
- abacab
I think you have to wear suspenders for that :)
- Mukund
I hope Scott approves his own message. :)
- imabonehead
yes, I'm Scott Beale and I approve of this message
- Scott Beale
BuzzGain " Relevance in blog search results - http://news.buzzgain.com/?p=11
Mukund liked this
thanks for bookmarking this Anjelina
- Mukund
BuzzGain » The T Mobile G1 Dream Google Android & Influence of “Gizmodo” vs. Walt Mossberg - http://news.buzzgain.com/?p=57
Louis Gray, Jeff (the マクダジ of FF), ~C4Chaos and 2 other people liked this
interesting read...
- Duncan Riley
from Bookmarklet
Duncan, thanks for your post. I was planning on doing more of these types of analysis and I'll send you a note as we progress.
- Mukund
Mukund, no probs.
- Duncan Riley
How do we save journalism? Since newspapers' business model is just disappearing very quickly, and advertising money is moving away from TV too, how do we fund journalism that we all need? Living off of $1 CPMs isn't gonna be it (that won't fund serious journalism).
Gavin, Jay Neff, Cedric Chee and 68 other people liked this
Craig: I saw something yesterday that makes me think affiliate marketing is going to be a BIG deal in about four years. But will it be in time to save newspapers? We're going to lose quite a few in the next four years.
- Robert Scoble
There's two issues here: one is that the product of journalism is so easily distributed now, it makes the purchase of its artifacts (the physical paper) unnecessary and even unseemly.
- Jim Benson
Interesting. I don't think that funding of journalism ala carte like that will work that well. It might here and there, but the real problem is we don't know what kind of journalism we need until after we see it. Would anyone have done ala carte funding to break open Watergate, for instance? No. Not before the fact. Not very sexy for anyone. After the fact? Yes.
- Robert Scoble
The second is that advertising was never quantifiable and never worked very well even in a highly regimented economy. Now, with a more distributed economy, blanket advertising is totally ineffective. -- To solve this we need to solve both problems. (1) dealing with a diffused distribution model and (2) dealing with a diffused economy.
- Jim Benson
Jim: the second part (that advertising isn't quantifiable) is what is killing newspaper business models. If you're a business, where would you rather put your ad budget? The local newspaper or Google? I know where I would rather spend my money.
- Robert Scoble
Value used to be assigned to two things (1) the object and (2) bulk eyeballs. Repackaging the assumptions of media is key here. They are no longer making a broadcast or a paper (a single big sellable object), but, rather, a lot of diffused things which is monetized in different - but not entirely dissimilar ways. What's funny is ... for news ... context sensitive ads are not applicable. At a school shooting story you don't want adds for automatic weapons, for example.
- Jim Benson
Regarding ala carte: I'm going to do another week in Washington DC. It costs about $10,000 to take a video crew there and get media done for a week. If it weren't for a serious sponsor I'd never get to do that. But that's not even serious journalism. To really chew on a story like Watergate you need months of investigative and relationship-building work. Maybe even years. I doubt it could be done by an outsider. That means having millions to fund that kind of work. Ala carte just ain't gonna do that.
- Robert Scoble
Jim: good point, the packaging and distribution of news is totally changing. Local news is moving to sights like Topix, too.
- Robert Scoble
here's one idea via spot.us: "If the public has a freelance budget, reporters don’t have to wait for an editor to approve their story. Now they can seize the day and pitch the public." http://blog.spot.us/2008... for example, crowdfunding Scoble-like reporters/bloggers. something like a PBS for the blogosphere.
- ~C4Chaos
What's interesting to me is that I'm now in a VERY small town, & the TV broadcast doesn't cover what happens up here in this tiny hamlet. So I'm more dependent on the local rag then I ever was back in the Bay Area. Perhaps creating newspapers that that focus on smaller geographical areas or "types" of people (SAHM moms, environments advocates, etc.) - which is, of course, what bloggers have been able to do with microniching.
- Michelle MacPhearson
By thee way, it's interesting that FriendFeed is good for a topic that can be settled in about 20 back and forth messages, but isn't good for longer topics that need a longer effort. We could build an entire conference for a few days around this topic. It's important for our society to figure this out, yet putting all the pieces and all the thinking together on this is very difficult. Admob, for instance, has one tiny piece (really great ads for iPhone) that can play a part in saving journalism.
- Robert Scoble
Unfortunately people are getting too used to free everything and seem to be surprised when people need to put food on the table. My wife is a magazine editor so I know first hand how the magazine industry is basically going downhill fast. People are getting laid off daily and taking pay cuts. I would have to say that the current magazine business model will be done soon after newspapers. Not even by virtue of sales and subs but by the reallocation and sheer lack of advertising dollars in this economy.
- Scott Lockhart
C4Chaos: let's be honest, though, a crowd-sourced journalism is going to give us all the news we already get. Celebrities and sports. Who will fund some geek to do investigative journalism that sounds really boring? I just don't believe in the masses. I think we need a better idea for how to fund this stuff. And, there's a lot working against you. The people with audiences are too busy to tear themselves away from what they are doing.
- Robert Scoble
I still think the key word is Quality. If institutionalized journalist will be able to bring good quality stories the people will buy their paper. In areas like army and politics the veteran publicist have the advantage since having better sources to deliver the stories, in other spaces like tech there's an advantage for internet journalists. Conducting profound inquiries that lead to...
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- Nir Ben Yona
Nir: I'm never buying a newspaper again, no matter how good the journalism is inside. Neither is my son. So, bad assumption there. Second of all, the $.50 you pay for the newspaper does NOT pay for the content inside. The advertising does. So, if the advertising disappears the great journalism disappears too (which is happening VERY rapidly in the Bay Area as the newspapers have laid off hundreds of journalists recently).
- Robert Scoble
I might be coming across as a Kevin Kelly fanboi today but here http://bit.ly/3aAu3e he suggests that people like to pay because it is; "1) A way of connecting. 2) A sign of approval. 3) A vote. 4) It indicates an alligence with the maker. 5) It feels good to the payer, to support." Hopefully this model might work for journalism, music, and other forms of digital art and expression
- jeremy ettinghausen
Nir: I can tell you with a very straight face that good journalism does NOT get readers. What does get readers? Comedy, celebrity, and sports and small, bite-sized news nuggets.
- Robert Scoble
Nir: also, we live in a Google World: a world of niches. Some niches pay better than others. Great journalism about digital cameras or cars pays MUCH better than good journalism about world peace, for instance. Why? Because Google's advertising system is biased toward transactional audiences and rewards the creation of content that feeds those audiences.
- Robert Scoble
Nir: I would have to disagree with you and agree with Robert - it's ALL about the advertising. That's why magazines give away subscriptions at ridiculous prices compared to their newsstand cost - guaranteed eyeballs to sell ads against. Even if readers were still reading newspapers and magazines at the same rate as they did in the 80s, if the advertising $ today were being diverted to more directed internet campaigns (Google, etc) the industry would still be in decline.
- Scott Lockhart
good point on crowdfunding, Robert. but i was thinking more of a PBS model. (also been reading stuff on this topic on http://www.pbs.org/idealab/). the PBS model had been successful for a long time now so its a good place to start. isn't that similar to crowdfunding but without the crowd necessarily dictating what stories to cover? speaking of media and journalism, maybe we can get Danny Schechter (aka "News Dissector" who produced Weapons of Mass Deception) pitch his two cents on this topic.
- ~C4Chaos
Seems to me there are two problems at work: producing paper is quite costly on the expense side (big fixed costs, typically union labor, etc.). And on the revenue-generating side, there seems to be not enough of what folks want to read (not enough local, overreliance on AP wire, etc.). I'd argue that papers' reporting isn't local enough/specialized enough to have value. With the right local/specialized content -- some professionally reported, some user-generated -- why wouldn't PPC work for the papers?
- Eric Johnson
Oddly I was just thinking about this subject. Unfortunately I came up with very little. One possibility is to create an Xprize type mechanisms so people are richly rewarded for the often unrewarding work of journalism. The key isn't newspapers per say, but supporting the idealism of those who take on the sacred work of providing societies' mirror of truth. This is a distributed people's journalism rather than one organized around artificial organizations like a paper.
- Todd Hoff
The PBS model will not work on the web. Why? Because the web decentralizes and disaggregates things. PBS worked because of the bundling of things together. Yanni raises more money for them than Nova does. But on Web bundling Yanni with Nova makes no sense.
- Robert Scoble
Robert: I'm the founder of Spot.Us (mentioned above). I agree that Water Gate wouldn't have been pre-funded, but reporting like this http://wiki.spot.us/election could merit pledges. Right now spot.us is in a VERY early stage (pre-alpha really) - but I do think it's a potentially new revenue stream. Not a silver bullet (I don't think there are any silver bullets), but it can't hurt to try ;) No matter what: I want to thank you for bringing the topic up - it's incredibly important.
- David Cohn
To continue the idea of support create a legal fund to help fight the battles. Lobbying groups to help fight the muzzle. Organize like a church or non-profit so people could contribute to a support network for journalists. Driving journalism solely through profits may not make sense. Journalism a higher social good packaged like spam. Maybe it should be organized more like other higher callings we appreciate?
- Todd Hoff
Private and public funding seems like a more likely avenue to save journalism. Paper press though is all but dead.
- Todd Jordan
I'll go along with Robert, where does an advertiser put his funds? Naturally they want to market to people in their market and not just splash an ad out for people who are not in their market to see To survive the newspaper industry will have to start going further into targeting their ads to a market instead of the the shotgun effect.
- Scot Duke
I know nothing about journalism, I'm just a professional code monkey. But I have a crazy idea - what about something like similar to kiva.org to fund journalism?
- imabonehead
Gregory: I think you would be surprised at how much news that is spread on the web was first broken by paid journalists, even today. I think the real issue is that the method of information delivery is secondary. It is more about having a free and independent "press" (or wordpress) that holds us all accountable and can provide its contributors a living. So losing newsprint itself is not a loss, but losing the 1000s of reporters and writers that are able to do what they do because of it, is...
- Scott Lockhart
@imabonehead Kiva.org is a BIG inspiration for my project: spot.us - in fact, I often just explain it to people as Kiva.org or Donors Choose for journalism.
- David Cohn
David, cool. Didn't see the url mentioned earlier by other posters. It's still an early Saturday for me. :)
- imabonehead
Robert & Scott: I totally understand your point and i do agree when it comes to day-by-day journalism. After all, it is a lose-lose situation for the institutionalized papers, they can't fight the speed and accessibility of internet news and info, especially for busy people like us who have no time for long articles reading while working. On the other hand i do find niche journals like Science Magazine or Nature for example, able to maintain worldwide readers with quality publication and pro debriefing.
- Nir Ben Yona
Nir: I would have to say that I be surprised if they are doing well... Magazines and newspapers are fairly different, yet similar in a lot of ways too. The magazine format with its combination of design and short and long form journalism is a little harder to replicate online and hasn't been done all that well to this point. If you want to see what is happening at least in magazines, even with very niche titles: check out http://magazinedeadpool.com/ There's a whole blog devoted to publications going under
- Scott Lockhart
<continue> with experts sharing their thoughts and researches. That is a quality journalism that attracts readers. Robert, i'm sure your 14 years son won't mind getting a monthly pro car magazine or a "PC Mag" alike version if he's into tech or gadgets. My point is that there is a place for quality and somehow (maybe naively) i'd like to think some people do go after interesting stories and not just "Celeb Gossip". Maybe it is the same as after the bubble burst, sort of a cleaning occurrence...
- Nir Ben Yona
in an ideal world there would be a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for journalism where journalists could practice their craft free (or almost free) of corruption. a combination of philanthropy/non-profit/donation and subscription model as opposed to journalism run as a for-profit business would save journalism standards. for example, The Nation (see http://www.thenation.com/) is running on a combination of subscriptions, advertising, and donations.
- ~C4Chaos
<continue> to let the good prevail. In my vision, in 10 years, the big newspapers will have a weekly internet edition threw their website and a weekend edition with more investigative stories.
- Nir Ben Yona
This year in magazines these are the losses in advertising revenues for some very established US magazines. What were are seeing here is just destroying their already small profit margins: Entertainment Weekly (-16.8%), Kiplingers Personal Finance (-15.3%), US News & World Report (-30.3%), Home (-30.9%), and Scientific American (-20.3%) Lucky (-12.2%), The New Yorker (-20.1%), and ESPN The Magazine (-14.8%)
- Scott Lockhart
sorry for possibly over-commenting this thread, but it is a subject close to my heart and my shared back account. :) Cheers!
- Scott Lockhart
Nir: you're wrong. My son thinks magazines are pretty worthless. He reads MacRumors and Engadget, both of which bring him much better and more timely news than any magazine can (and more of it, too). FastCompany is actually doing very well compared to the magazine industry, which is interesting (it grew last year). But the category it is in lost several competitors, so overall the trend is right and probably will catch up with FastCompany at some point which is why we're investing online more and more.
- Robert Scoble
Scott: but maybe it is part of the global recession that has dropped margins everywhere, not just in journalism.
- Nir Ben Yona
Here's the process: 1. End of newspaper advertising ends artificial subsidy funding of "quality" journalism; 2. Supply & demand takes effect; 3. We start to get our first picture of what value people will put on different types of information.
- Dan Conover
I'm interested in saving journalism, but the question posed here seems to be about funding. Guess it's a chicken-and-egg thing. Seems like the distance between the reader and the writer has knocked a lot of the middle folks out of the picture, and it's harder to justify the kind of money they're asking for. When it comes to value in journalism, however, I still prefer hard facts over style, design, even spelling and sometimes grammar (and I'm a picky art director). Trust costs more than packaging?
- ɐ ɯıʞ sıɹɥɔ
We'll know an awful lot more about the future shape of journalism about a year or so after the 20th century metro newspaper system collapses/goes on life support (I'm guessing by summer of 2009, but that's a guess). But the one thing I'm pretty sure about is this: There won't be one way of funding journalism, and we won't lump everything that gets reported under that one heading anymore.The fundamental idea: There should be a logical connection between the info you produce & its supporting revenue streams.
- Dan Conover
Robert: i guess i'm a dope concerning nowadays kiddies. As for FastCompany, i do hope you will keep delivering the good stuff as long as possible. BTW, do you agree with my conjecture of a daily internet edition and weekly hard-copy version, coming up in few years?
- Nir Ben Yona
I think you will get a mixture of rich corporations and individuals trying to fill the gap, like Google. But pushed out from the security of the newsroom, there will also be a flurry of entrepreneurship among the journalists who are displaced. Don't assume that subscription won't work in the future, either. It may well be that newspapers have actually been obscuring the need and opportunity for a higher quality journalism. I believe The Economist has achieved impressive growth against the secular trend.
- Tim Penn
journalism doesn't necessarily imply newspapers, does it?
- Adri Munier
No, but about 90% of what "A-List" blogs do is NOT journalism. I'm no authority, but I'm beginning to see why people say there is a difference. "Editorial Discretion" Oh, @Tim, you're absolutely right. Online and print content can thrive in a subscription model if there is value. The mistake newspapers made was giving it away in the first place.
- Andrew Feinberg
And the general newspaper model makes zero sense now. A daily packaged product can work for niche content, but who reads the entire newspaper? I use the big paper websites for different reasons (local, national, international, etc). Political news? Niche publications. I buy (or sometimes expense) Roll Call, CQ and CongressDaily. People in the Cable/Internet/Telecoms buy CommDaily and WID. There are tons of other niche trade pubs that are thriving. It's the blob of daily newspapers that needs to be split up
- Andrew Feinberg
It's important to realize that journalism is a process, not a product. Newspapers might not survive but the craft of Journalism will. The question is... how? There are no concrete answers right now - but I do think that practicing journalists are earnestly trying to figure that out (for the first time). @Robert - I don't think Ala cart funding for journalism will lead to Brittany Spears stories. There are ways around that - I'll try and write a blog post at blog.spot.us with more details.
- David Cohn
Since there is no known answer to this question, the most important thing to do right now is launch as many possible experiments in as many possible directions, increasing the likelihood that we will find good answers a little faster. But it's vital to understand that this is essentially *research* -- practical research, but research nonetheless. And in research, the dead ends are...
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- Scott Rosenberg
This is currently an unsolved problem, a hard concept for some to grasp. Every possible answer--rich people! foundations! internet advertising! crowdfunding!--has some pretty glaring defects. No one has the solution yet. Right now the most promising developments are Talking Points Memo (http://is.gd/1cVX), funded by ads and reader support and doing investigative journalism of the kind we want; Pro Publica, funded by rich people (http://is.gd/uLu) and spot.us, which is crowd funding.
- Jay Rosen
Jay lists 3 good funding sources. Also consider: Nonprofit corporation (supported by pledge drives, sponsorships, foundations, etc.); true-cost intelligence subscriptions (as with STRATFOR) and smart amalgams of keyword/display/classifieds/and various affiliate-type programs. And where I think it gets REALLY interesting is when you start creating information tools that have specific value to the end user. You add value, you take profit.
- Dan Conover
The trick? In Web journalism, you're paying for people costs. You're not paying for trucks and paper and ink and presses. So when people say "The Web can't pay for journalism" what they're REALLY saying is "The Web can't support newspapers and TV stations."
- Dan Conover
The thing I'm really looking forward to putting my energy into is developing some kind of smart, shared business infrastructure that would connect individuals who make content to all the reliable services that a new-media businesses will need to make money. You might be able to make some money writing useful articles and selling your own ads and doing your own site, but that's not a bright long-term prognosis. And yes, I'm a newspaper guy who signed up for a buyout last week.
- Dan Conover
Won't journalism always win Pulitzers? Which brings a sort of global cache and prestige... which is what newspapers hope to gain, such that the world will pay attention, right? That's at the highest level. There can always be prestige and prize for journalism at all levels... even if it has to come from new sources.
- Christopher Galtenberg
it's so easy... just do as in Italy, where crap newspapers (most all of them) are financed by the government!
- Luigi Centenaro
Newspapers are thriving in the ethnic market, primarily at the local level. The reason for the success is that their readership is starving for intl/local ethnic information. Weeklies are the way; most papers are run by journalists from their respective countries-it is extremely streamlined. Journalists need to take the initiative with sales professionals and open up local, weekly newspapers that serve specific niches/markets/topics. Also, home delivery is a must, as is a strong grass-roots component.
- Harold Cabezas
Robert, I think you could ask a different question here, too. Was there a journalistic failure running through the housing bubble and its aftermath? In his new book, Robert Shiller suggests there was, but he made the arguments clearly before about the tech bubble. Given the scale of importance of this story, if we ask what might journalism have done differently, the answer might also suggest useful commercial or funding structures.
- Tim Penn
Altrustic funding isn't the answer. Newspapers will have to stand on their own merits just like any capitalist enterprise. I'd like to more Nritish style
- Hutch Carpenter
British style that is. More point of view included in the reporting. You win on your point of view.
- Hutch Carpenter
Journalism needs a couple of things (1) a lower distribution cost structure and a lower news acquisition cost structure. If you look at online news folks (like Scoble, others) they've found an effective way to lower the distribution costs of their journalism. To lower news acquisition cost you need to look for alternatives to collecting news, whether it's UGC or leveraging a freelance network like Beet.tv is doing with TurnHere (disclosure - I work for TurnHere).
- Morgan
<continued morgan> (2) the big media companies need to move quickly into diversified news outlets (as has been mentioned above) reducing the number of pages in newspapers, moving from trying to bash the mass over the head and instead move towards aggregating the long-tail of news consumers to roll up in to a critical mass not through one communication vehicle (i.e. a paper) but through many diverse channels. Finally they need to go for more sponsorship money and less ad money as we've seen in other biz.
- Morgan
whatever it is can't be based on lame-O advertising cuz i NEVER click those.
- Susan Beebe
I haven't commented on this yet because I really don't have anything substantial to contribute yet. But it's had me thinking for 24 hours. I guess that's not a bad thing.
- Chris Baskind
One of the things implied in all this (at least for me) is the idea of completely self-selected news. It's an exciting development to be able to do that, but what are we missing? Scoble hits it on the head when he says Watergate reporting wouldn't get done under this model. If we're going away from news bundlers like newspapers, can we find a new business model to finance serious journalism? And what does a society without serious journalism look like?
- Tom Landini
I don't like that I can't tell when these comments occurred. I have no idea if I should bother to comment. Has the conversation moved on or do people come back and talk more?? And what's with not being able to use paragraphs? Lots of text is a pain to read.
- Dawn
Lots of interesting thoughts here. I have to say that this very subject is on my mind daily as I personally aggregate Hispanic news and have done so for 3 years to the tune of 40k+ posts. Just one niche among many but I worry about the loss of journalists especially since at least within the Hispanic community it is perceived that there aren't enough journalists covering issues...
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- Tomas
Dawn: yeah, time stamps on comments would be very cool. Generally I find a conversation on FriendFeed can go on for about a day. Same with this one. it's pretty much died out, even though a few interesting comments have trickled in today.
- Robert Scoble
Then FF will never go mainstream. "Non-passionates" don't want to have to be plugged in 24/7 in order to be able to participate. Thanks for the clarification.
- Dawn
I'm actually doing a three-post series on how the internet has changed the economics behind the publishing business this week on Eat Sleep Publish. I'm also doing an event (a mini mini version of what Robert suggested above) in Seattle this Septermber to get smart ppl together to round-table about what the business model is. Robert - you going to be in town?
- Jason Preston
All I can say is - I hope newspapers will not go away - since I enjoy the print medium and the ability to carry my paper without having to plug it in every time. One of the reasons why i pay for my Economist is the convenience of having it, rolling it up and enjoying it without having to wait for XP or MaxOS to boot and show it. And even with always-on OSes (like Palm and iPhone), still enjoy the feel of paper.
- Sanford
Further to my comment about Robert Shiller and the role of the press in positive and negative feedback loops, a full review of the book is here http://bit.ly/1IFiZb, with further links out.
- Tim Penn
Question: WHY do we want to save journalism in the first place? Why not let it die its own death like fax machines and pagers.
- Mukund
In the UK we have something that will buck the trend: the BBC. It's funded by a "licence fee', which you have to own BY LAW to have a television in your house. I.e. If you don't have a licence, you're busted. Sure, the BBC has to justify the fee annually, but the UK population seems, on the whole, happy with what it gets: unique, high quality local and national TV, Radio and web uninterrupted by advertisers. A place where in depth "Because it's important" type journalism may still be able to flourish?
- Tom Beardshaw
First, get the facts on ad revenue for newspapers. Yes, ad revenue is shrinking for papers and they have had to shed bureaus and reporters. But they still get more money for their paper ads than their online ads. And they aren't standing still, they are evolving as well, the pressure of all the blogs and podcasters has forced all the major news sites to completely transform with all kinds of user-friendly features. And you still find the Murdochs of the world buying papers. This story is far from over yet.
- Prokofy Neva
I cover Bakersfield City Hall. It is not big and glamorous enough for these national-oriented projects like ProPublica. Yet I doubt I could be funded by donations because the crowd who would donate is similar to the crowd that runs for office -- politically slanted. I could get funding from one of the conservative camps by being sympathetic to them. But how does that serve the community?
- James Geluso
The REAL problem is there really isn't much "legitmate" journalism out there anymore anyway. As a former reporter, what newgatherers are putting out there for average citizens day in and day out is absolutely pathetic and, many times, inaccurate. With reporters having to do more with less, the problem continues to grow. Advertisers should "buy" with more caution than ever...or not at all!!!
- Jennifer Windrum
Newspapers as we know them are doomed because they're no longer a sustainable product in the era of the internet. The question is why should the whole industry (journalism/publishing) die because of the medium (paper). They must figure out a way to become profitable through the new medium (the internet). I think The Wall Street Journal has the right formula. Not so much the The New York Times.
- moncef b
Mark Cuban was onto something with sharesleuth: http://sharesleuth.com/about.... The company funds good investigative journalism by trading on the information in the financial markets first, publishing second. Barring that, I believe it may be time for public journalism as ~C4Chaos argues. If people really want good journalism, they should be willing to pay for it.
- David Pennock
I Did This in 1999... - http://www.flickr.com/photos...
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Randy Hall, Thomas Hawk, Mitchell Tsai and 6 other people liked this
funny mouse faced
- Mukund
If someone started lolhumans.com, this should be the first image
- Outsanity
did it taste good?
- Richie Keith
um. EW
- Mona Nomura
Ball mouse? Scary...
- Dennis Laumen
I dare you to do the same but this time with a mouse from a public computer on an international airport :)
- George The Writer
I was hoping that was old, that shirt is old school :)
- Douglas Porter
from twhirl
Who needs lolhumans when there's already a lolgeeks? http://lolgeeks.com ;)
- Nathaniel Payne
+1 to lolgeeks.com !
- Candace
strange. look at the glasses! haha
- Ryan
All hail geeks!!!
- Roberto Bonini
Not as funny as when you did this... (video) http://drop.io/0rxlag7...
- Jim Williams
You ate a mouse? hehe Well, for 2008, you'll need to bite into a wireless one. ;)
- Daynah
Video proof that Chris Pirillo had an iMac before. - http://drop.io/lt1hijm
- Jim Williams
According to my son, I'm a meaniac. I love that he's creative with word creation.
Danielle, Hashim Warren, Dobromir Hadzhiev and 8 other people liked this
i am soo stealing that word!
- chartreuse
Should be added to the Urban Dictionary; it's brilliant
- Gordon Swaby
Like father like son!!
- Mel Buckpitt
that's a good word. really
- Mukund
I think we all are in Blogging 2.0! We have to be or we become irrelevant!
- Igor The Troll יִצְחָק
Is twitter finally working for you? I've had constant issues, thinking of giving up and moving on
Bring it on over to FriendFeed, Mukund. The grass is always greener...
- Ryan Kuder
I haven't got time to login to Twitter anymore. I just use FriendFeed.
- Daniel Schildt
I am planning to move away from twitter also Ryan
- Mukund
My replies came back more than a week ago. You should contact them & ask before leaving.
- shelisrael1
Anyone figured out how to get replies to work in twitter :(
If they haven't fixed it, you really can't do much to get it working.
- Daniel Schildt
yes, right you are
- Mukund
5 tips on launching your company / service in India - http://bestengagingcommunities.com/2008...
Adam York Gregory, Daniel Schildt and Riaz Kanani liked this
Interesting, learned something new from this about India.
- Daniel Schildt
Thanks Daniel, its a learning opportunity even for me
- Mukund
I feel "dirty" - why and how bribes work in Bangalore - http://bestengagingcommunities.com/2008...
Mitchell Tsai, Yuvi, Kamath (नमः) and 3 other people liked this
See Mukund's story on how they shook him down for bringing multiple laptops and phones into India. For those of you who've traveled to the area, what's your strategy? Similar stories?
- Louis Gray
You pay the bribe or you ship your extra stuff and take your chances that way. Bribes are a common and necessary part of most economies on this planet. Paying out is nothing to be ashamed of.
- Kevin D. White
I'm from a nearby city, and unfortunately, it's all too common. Sigh. That guy's monthly salary would probably be 'round 10k Rupees (250$), which isn't much. Maybe an economist can clear this up?
- Yuvi
@Yuvi I'm not sure what there is to clear up. You highlighted the most important point. The bribe is necessary because without it the official would not be able to afford to live a decent life. I am not implying that corruption is a good or necessary thing. There is a vast amount of literature on the negative negstive effects of corruption at the macro level. But at the micro level, one-on-one, you pay the bribe/tip/bite and move on because it is the normal customary accepted thing to do.
- Kevin D. White
Fortunately I've never had a problem in or out of Banglore with multiple laptops or phones - I've never had my bag marked with a red x either
- Andy Davies
I have to agree with Yuvi that his salary is low, but I feel guilty myself for aiding the process
- Mukund
Ideas vs Judgment and Execution: Climbing the Mountain - http://paulbuchheit.blogspot.com/2008...
renato shirakashi, Rob Kurrus, Janette Toral and 22 other people liked this
FriendFeed is the perfect opportunity to use Erlang!
- Jim Norris
(Edit) Idea * Judgment * Ability + Timing = $$$
- Louis Gray
Is there a difference between "judgement" and "execution" except for the scope of the decisions being made? I'm not sure there's a sharp line anywhere between deciding the structure of a for-loop and deciding what product you're building in the first place.
- ⓞnor
Louis, I think Timing is a combination of Judgment and Luck. I've updated the equation accordingly. :)
- Paul Buchheit
Dan, I don't know that there is a sharp line, but I think of judgment as deciding what to do and execution as doing it. To use the mountain climbing analogy, judgment is choosing the path, and execution is following it. Maybe I'm misusing the words though...
- Paul Buchheit
Your analogy would make a good children's book. Mountains are the new black! If you can figure out how to incorporate a zebra into the story, Pixar may buy it. (according to the ew Shaw Report, zebras are the new "pandas", which were formally the new "penguins.")
- Ginger Makela Riker
+ Determination + Persistence
- Greg K.
I like the fact you added luck. And that I wasn't dismissed outright!
- Louis Gray
Good point. This equation keeps getting more complex :) (though I think it's a multiplicative effect, and determination and persistence seem pretty similar)
- Paul Buchheit
Is there any way - besides bookmarklet-ing it myself - to get this entry into my FB mini-feed? Nothing hits better than a well constructed visual allusion... Certainly on par with Buffet's Squanderville letter - http://tinyurl.com/2dnkn7 for the pdf - :)
- Will DeLuca
Paul's got a 100% hit rate on TechMeme. http://www.techmeme.com/080331...
- Louis Gray
"The idea has value because it comes from someone who has a history of being right." I'm not sure that the picking-good-ideas skill transfers over from past successes as much as good judgment or execution. The idea seems like the most nebulous part of the equation after luck. A skilled climber who finds gold at the top might have been a lousy prospector, and he wouldn't necessarily be...
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- Mark Ayzenshtat
William, we're planning to add a "reshare" feature, but for now you just need to either paste the info into the share box at the top of your feed, or use the FriendFeed bookmarklet (or share from delicious, reader, etc).
- Paul Buchheit
Mark, having heard product and startup ideas from a lot of different people, it's pretty clear that some people have better judgment about these things than others. That said, the biggest successes often come from people with no history (in part because there are so many of them).
- Paul Buchheit
There's one thing with these mountains though: unless you already found gold, you never know if you already reached the top. I.e. it will be almost impossible to know the difference between a bad idea on which you might want to give up trying, and a good idea which you haven't pushed through with long enough. Real mountains have a rather very well-defined top, compared to that.
- Philipp Lenssen
Paul, Why is success only measured in pots of gold, couldn't it also be something else, like knowledge, friendship, feel good factor?
- Shakeel Mahate
Financial outcome is the standard criteria for startup success, so it's reasonable to talk in that direction. If your goal is something else entirely (like simply keeping yourself and some friends amused, or having a major impact regardless of personal wealth, or getting invited to cool parties), then it's hard to talk reasonably about questions like "so how important are ideas versus execution".
- ⓞnor
Liked this post. Good, well thought out and balanced Good job Paul
- Mukund
We are succumbing to a national Too Much Information epidemic. http://snurl.com/2253m
Yes this is overdose and can be filed under "and why again should I care?"
- Mukund
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