Search isn’t dead, it’s everything

Over on Alex Barnett’s blog, he quote Steve Gillmor as saying:

“Search is dead. The amount of viewing/listening time is finite. It’s not about finding stuff; it’s about throwing stuff away.”

No. This assumes that everyting worth paying attention to has already been invented, discovered, and internalized, and so from here on out it’s simply filtering down to those things you need/want/like most.

Reminds me of a few quotes:

 ”If you’re looking for the next big thing, stop looking. There’s no such thing as the next big thing.”
-Nicholas Donofiro, IBM EVP of Innovation (and Irony?) and Technology, March 2006


“Everything that can be invented has been invented.”
-Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899


Every time we all feel tapped out, something new and wonderful is invented. Some new thing we need to try (hello blog search). Or even some small mundane need, like good local restaurants (hello, local search). Or we discover we can access information in ways we never thought possible, making that information vastly more relevant and useful (hello book search, and image search, and so on).


With so much information proliferating, we’re not entering a period of filtering out and throwing away, as Steve says. We’re entering into a period where we more than ever filter through the mass of new and ever expanding information to drill down to exactly what we’re hunting for.


Search isn’t dead. In its various incarnations, search is everything.

Dave Winer yesterday noted that:

At the same time, one of these three companies might want to try to make some friends among the bloggers. It’s not in Microsoft’s DNA, Apple sues the bloggers to keep them from talking about them, and Google is the most arrogant self-absorbed company to hit Silicon Valley since Netscape. None of these companies do community marketing efficiently, and they all really need to be great at it.

For some background, I work on community marketing for Windows Live. Just been at it for a few months now, but prior to that I did some developer community marketing for a few years. I can’t speak with authority for every part of Microsoft, and I can’t speak to the first part of your post about our competitive position vs. Google and Apple (“above my pay grade” as they say). I can talk a bit about community marketing at Microsoft and Windows Live in particular however.

Whether our marketing efforts with bloggers have been efficient or effective, at a minimum we try to be open about what we’re up to, and we always look for honest feedback.

In that spirit, I’d love to hear Dave’s (or anyone else’s) ideas on what we should be doing better for reaching out to bloggers, the right way. The more feedback, the more honest and critical (and constructive…), the better.

 [update: Scoble comments on the dinner we all had with the LiveSide guys last night who we invited to SAS as well…making friends with bloggers…:-)]

Now, my own comments on Microsoft’s community marketing:

As a community marketing manager for a large tech company, there are five basic things I try to do:

1. Listen and learn
Rule #1 of working with the blogging community (and any community) – listen and learn before you act. Read hundreds of feeds and searches, always pay attention, and toss out preconceived notions about how marketing *should* work (push, direct, etc…yeech). Many MS marketers have grokked this by listening and learning from own massive employee blogging community – and believe me, they will let us know if and when we do something dumb. Loudly. Frequently. And I love that.

2. Support, energize, get involved in and help build the community
Call it “Pulling a Tara” as this is exactly what Tara Hunt from Riya does so well, and describes even better. Part of how we support and energize the blogging community is by recognizing them (formally, such as with MVP, or informally in a range of ways), giving them some link love (through various community sites and programs), sponsoring events that matter to them, supporting user groups, and so on. We try wherever possible to be a positive participant in rather than dominate over the conversation – doesn’t always work, but that’s the goal at least.

3. Connect bloggers and the community back to the product teams
Especially in tech, most of you all really want to hear direct from the PMs and Devs who actually get their hands dirty with the code. I often joke I’m the last guy you want on stage – I’m merely there to introduce the PM or Director on the product team you really want to meet. Community marketing helps this through user group tours, supporting Webcasts and chats, promoting our blogging efforts, and blogger events like Windows Live Sessions and Search Champs.

4. Help the community connect with each other
Sometimes through sites we own, or sites other groups at Microsoft own and we just love, but most of the time through broader efforts around making the outside community as successful and vibrant as possible.

5. Get the hell out of the way (“facilitate” is the nicer word I put on my review)
My job is to stir the pot, mix in good programs to support the community and the product teams, and then get the hell out of the way to let it all happen. I don’t jump in and be the oppresive marketer or PR guy saying “no you can’t do that, it’s not on message.” I don’t try to filter or restrain. One of the best things I can do is facilitate the connection (#1, #2, or #3 above) and then step back and not try to manage or control it all.

Of course it’s up to the blogging community to make the call if we’re doing a good job of working with them. But at least within the “big tech company” arena, I believe we’ve made some positive strides from the marketing side of the shop.

There are lots more examples, and more coming down the pipe every day from groups all over the company. For all that though, it’s just a start and Dave has a good point. We (marketing) need to do a hell of a lot more, and as he noted, do it all better.

So I’m very open to feedback. What can and should we (Windows Live) do to better make friends with the blogging community?

On the adCenter name change

MSN adCenter is now Microsoft adCenter.

We make a lot of odd branding decisions, but this one makes perfect sense. Although Search Engine Watch calls it a “very curious decision” I think the rationale for it is right there in their post:

Advertisers will also be able to see their advertisements appearing across a number of MSN & Microsoft properties in the future, including Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Spaces, Windows Live Safety Center, Windows Live for Mobile, Office Live and Office Online, and the Xbox® Web site Xbox.com.

It’s that power of cross-property advertising that makes adCenter such a compelling offering, and because it splits out across so many properties, with varying brands (Windows Live, MSN, Xbox, Office…), “elevating” it to the Microsoft brand is an entirely logical decision.

(disclaimer – I’m not on the branding team nor involved with adCenter, so mine is not the voice of official commentary)

 

360Voice is amazing, but eerie

360Voice is what its creators called a blogject, defined via Wikipedia as “an object that gathers metadata about its interaction with people, other objects, or its environment.” In short, it gives your Xbox 360 a voice and a blog, and it uses a voice reminscent of a snarky HAL 9000 to narrate your activity on Xbox Live.

For an example, check out Major Nelson’s:

Major Nelson’s Xbox - 05/04/06

I told Major Nelson ‘Don’t make me hurt you!’ and the threat worked. He showed up yesterday with a gamer score of 3392 in his back pocket. He played FC Instincts Predator, EA SPORTS FN 3, and wished it would never end, but it did and that was sad.

Major Nelson’s Xbox - 05/03/06

Major Nelson didn’t play any games yesterday… big loser…

major nelson’s Xbox - 05/02/06

Where is major nelson at? I want to disown him. I am putting myself up on eBay ASAP.

Major Nelson’s Xbox - 05/01/06

Major Nelson rocked out with 3392 points. He played Battlefield 2: MC, Bankshot Billiards 2, Marble Blast Ultra, as well as basked in the glow of my great blade navigation interface!

I love this idea, even though it is a tad spooky – definitely is a great illustration of what a passionate user community can do when they get their hands on some useful data AND a product team that embraces this kind of thing.

Code name versus release name

This comment on Scoble’s blog from David Webster, who apparently is in charge of naming for Microsoft and therefore must wear either a target or armor, rings true – stop with the obsession on code names and just come up with release names early in the development cycle.

Sure there are problems with this – getting the OK to invest in name search and approval when the project itself might or might not yet have the greenlight to release; lack of real control over timing of initial disclosure (especially these days with blogs – disclosure is increasingly rarely the choice of the project team or PR).

But the goal is one I believe in. Let’s lock naming early and start building equity in the brand right from the start, rather than waiting for an official public beta or even RTM.

Software codenames have become a “geek chic” item, a chance for everyone to come up with their own cool swag and logowear and show they were in there way back when. Remember the logo for Longhorn that floated around everywhere?

It’s fun, and neat for team morale, but I agree with David in that it detracts from the long term success of the brand and product.

On Sphere

Since everyone seems to be gushing about Sphere, the new blog search engine, here’s my own small witty observation: When you do a blog search (blog:yoursite.com) it provies a “Profile” popup link which tells you something about the blogger. My own vanity search is below, with some useful stats, although HOW I am averaging 17 links per post is a bit confusing (hint: I’m not).

sphere

New Apple ads are just genius

This is a shining example of understanding your audience and communicating a vastly complicated concept – the difference between two operating systems – in human terms. http://www.apple.com/getamac/ 

Joe Wilcox from Microsoft Monitor has a great write up:

Microsoft could learn a whole lot about Apple’s marketing approach, particularly for the eventual release of Windows Vista. Other high-tech vendors should take notes, too. Communicating products’ value is not easy–otherwise why would high-tech companies spend millions hiring advertising agencies? Apple has taken one of the most recognizable metaphors–interaction between two people–and communicated something very big in a small way. The approach is compelling, to say the least.

I agree with Joe. I hope our Vista advertising is pursuing something as clean, simple, and relatable as this. (Actually I hope our Windows Live advertising team is doing the same…)

 

Techdirt once raised the question: what happens when the MySpace generation runs for office?” This refers to the massive amount of personal and potentially incriminating (on moral or just plain “woah, that’s strange” grounds) information teens are loading up their MySpace pages with, possibly forgetting that it never goes away

With the announcement last week that Facebook is pushing out into social networking for work, the logical extension of that thought is:

“What happens when the Facebook generation goes to work?”

I’ve long been a fan of Facebook. Having worked in college marketing off and on for the past 3 years, I’ve seen first hand the incredible way in which the tool has weaved itself into the social fabric of college life. One of the most amazing aspects is the level of detail many students put into their profiles – what online groups they belong to, personal contact info, interests, hobbies, likes/dislikes, etc. The self-segmentation, one could call it, is a marketers dream as Facebook enable fairly granular ad targeting based off of it.

But all that detail, all those “wall posts” and strange less-than-work-appropriate groups students join, creates a problem. What happens when you graduate and associate your profile with your new employer? Say you were a hell-raising over-the-top frat boy at UCLA and now are a fresh-out-of-college new hire with Microsoft? All that detail, all that social activity, is now visible to all your new co-workers (and managers), many of whom never used Facebook in school (we used something called “Pine” thanks) and don’t really have the context to understand all the crap in your profile.

Will we see wholesale scrubbing of profiles occur? Sanitizing by recent graduates in order to appear more professional and perhaps less offensive for new co-workers? Probably – and unfortunately that means all the rich social detail that means so much to your friends goes away, and with it a lot of the value of Facebook to you.

Facebook is trying to straddle three goals here:

#1) retain new graduates by helping them stay connected with old college friends as they head off into the workforce. In effect become the LinkedIn with attitude and party history for a new generation. 

#2) attract new users from the working world – the current LinkedIn crowd – by providing them a tool and community for discovering and networking with each other.

then there #3) link both of those communities together to form a seemless community experience.

The question is: how do you accomplish #3 without destroying the rich, massive, detailed history accrued by the crowd in #1, and with it the value of Facebook to them?

If you have to sanitize your profile in order to be socially acceptable in the professional world, why bother? Why not just save that for your college friends, and start up a new clean profile on LinkedIn?

I suspect we’ll start to see per-group permissions come into play on Facebook very soon, similar to what the Windows Live Contacts team is rolling out. In Live Contacts you can choose to display selections of information to specific audiences, for example buddy groups within Messenger (“Work” vs. “Friends”). That’s the only way I can see Facebook successfully accomplishing all three goals and making this transition into a useful corporate social networking tool without undermining its value to students.

A commenter on Mini-Microsoft’s blog wrote up the single best no-BS, warts-and-all description of how the promotion and review system works at Microsoft.

Link here.

This is definitely not what HR will claim about how it’s supposed to work, but Mr Anonymous here brilliantly captures, admittedly with almost depressing cynicism, how it actually does work.

To anyone thinking about joining the company who reads that post and gets discouraged – all I can say is like any large company, there are good managers along with the bad. I have had both, and the good ones know this system (horrendously broke as it is), and work it on your behalf. And don’t obsess reading too much on Mini’s blog – it’s a magnet for the cynical, and while that is healthy for the company, it’s a bit one-sided. On balance this is still a fantastic place to work, it’s just unfortunate that we are saddled with such a counterproductive annual review and promotion system.

Update from Madrid (delayed)

[meant to post this last week from Spain…cleaning out my BlogJet drafts folder!)

More observations from travel:

1. Got to love Amsterdam taxis – drivers in suits and ties, all brand new German cars that are better than anything I could afford…you feel like you have a chauffeur service every time you jump in one. And like cabbies everywhere, they pull sh*t sprinting in and out of traffic that at once makes you smile in amazement and worry about soiling yourself.

2. Arriving at a hotel at midnight, following a long day of work, only to check back out at 6am for a 7:30am flight to another country…sucks. No way to sugar coat that.

3. Of course, I didn’t have to fly into Madrid, do a series of presentations and meetings, and immediately fly out to Hong Kong via Zurich like my travelling compatriot.

4. The Spanish dub of “Master and Commander: Far Side of the World” is actually really good. I understand about 6 words in total, but the voice over actors should get awards for really capturing the essence of it (ok…I’m tired…). Ironically they didn’t dub over the sailors all singing “Our Lady of Spain”.

Meeting up with an old friend and former Microsoftie (who ran away to Spain and grad school a couple years back) tonight before we drive 6 hours northeast to Barcelona in the morning in his restored vintage ‘65 Mustang convertible. Niiiiice…




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