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Drowning in Awesomeness

The double-edged sword that comes with keeping abreast of all the latest developments in technology means that we're always aware of the latest and greatest applications and services to try...but it also means that we've tried all of them. Unlike the average user, who doesn't even bother creating a Facebook profile until several of their friends cajole them into doing so, technology early adopters are the first to sign up and create profiles on every service that launches.

Sometimes these services have value; if so, they trickle down to the rest of the world over time. For example, social networks like MySpace and Facebook changed the way people interacted online. Flickr made photo sharing fun, easy, and social. YouTube let everyone be a star. However, sometimes they're not so great after all, and they end up fading away into nothingness in that area we've affectionately dubbed the "deadpool."

These failures don't seem to dampen our enthusiasm for trying the "next big thing," though. Every day, the web is filled with posts about this new app or that great service. When you think about it, it's really rather impressive that there are that many of them out there - enough to be written about in a seemingly nonstop fashion.

For technology enthusiasts, it's not enough to just "try" the new apps and services though. If they're the next big thing (or so everyone says), we're supposed to jump on board and use them, use them, use them. Scoble even recently threatened to expose some of the so-called "A-Listers" for not being active enough, saying:

"I thought about embarrassing most of the A listers on FriendFeed, because very few of them actually read that many blogs (I can tell, they rarely comment on, or link to, or FriendFeed with other people’s blogs)"

Forecasters see weak economy, higher unemployment

The
Web needs fixing. The standards and recommendations that define the Web were
last revised in 1999. Since then, the Web has grown from a document retrieval
system into an application delivery system. We have made significant progress
since then, due to the cleverness of the Web development community and the
surprising expressive power of JavaScript, but we are at the limits. The Web is
no longer a driver of innovation. It is now a serious impediment.

The Web is
overly complex. It is visually underpowered. It is hopelessly insecure. It is
now under competitive assault by new proprietary platforms that hope to capture
the next generation of applications. Can a system as large and as open as the
Web heal and adapt itself to the challenges of the 21st Century?

"When looking for good ideas about customer service, ask around," writes Paul Williams in a post at MarketingProfs' Daily Fix blog. "Exceptional services experiences are rarely forgotten." He even asked his parents for their input on the topic, and they came up with two experiences that made a lasting impression:

• While vacationing on St. Thomas in the 1970s, they made dinner reservations at the Cafe Brittany. On their arrival the couple found two matchbooks embossed with their names. "The restaurant made custom matches for every reservation," explains Williams. "My mom still has them."


• Following LASIK surgery performed by Dr. Peter Polack of Ocala, Fla., his mother received a $25 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble with a card that read, "Enjoy your new eyesight!"

According to Williams, these examples have three things in common:

• They're an unexpected surprise.


• They have relevance for the customer.


• They foster a fond remembrance of the brand.

The Po!nt: Asks Williams, "How can you offer your customers an unexpected surprise, something relevant, and something that helps them remember your brand?"

Source: Daily Fix. Click here for the post.

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