Kawasaki, Scoble and Tweet-Spam - BITTER

So I'll admit that I'm not the biggest user of Twitter but I've started getting my feet wet. I have my criticisms of course, which I've posted in a previous entry. I realized though, that there are definitely some offenses within Twitter that I would call worse than others.

I will preface this whole segment by saying that I really like both Robert Scoble and Guy Kawasaki. One of the first "professional" books I ever read was Kawasaki's Rules for Revolutionaries. I read Robert Scoble every month in Fast Company.

My problem with how both of them operate their Twitter accounts is that they are about 20%-30% personal (meaning either observations, pearls of wisdom, or the comment about breakfast) and 70%-80% random reposting of links to various web articles or pages. Kawasaki, for example, has tweeted 54 times thus far today. About 40 of those tweets were just random articles such as Hubble's Greatest Hits and Crimes Most Stylish Crooks. When I add Scoble's 39 tweets, 20 of which were article/page reposts, you can imagine how difficult it gets to find anything else, especially when you follow dozens of people.

In my previous post I referred to Twitter as being like "listening to 100 collective streams of consciousness all at the same time, unfiltered." Now imagine that a few of the 100 are screaming. These users have what could be referred to as "twitter tourette's".

"Sitting down at lunch, but they are serving breakfast....... 30 Funniest cats! Fast electric cars! Who likes horses?........ lunch was good...... New Microsoft ad campaign! Twitter for Moms!...... shit.bitch.fart."

If I were Digg, I'd be taking notice. I'd be trying to sell "guy.digg.com" and "scoble.digg.com" right away. That would really make much more sense. At least there, we could follow an organized, structured list of the pages/sites/videos/images that our favorite "publishers" wish to share. Because that is what I see in Twitter. I see the full swing shift from 90% monotonous posts about cats and teeth brushing to 90% republishing of other materials, which is what Digg already does.

On Twitter, I'm much more interested in personal pieces of information. In Scoble's defense, he actually has a decent share of tweets today about more personal iPhone problems that he and others were having. Buy for Guy Kawasaki, I would much rather get less as long as it was things Guy wanted to say. That's why I'm actually in the middle of reading Reality Check right now.

Someone who really seems to have it nailed down is Tony Hsieh from Zappos. He tweeted twice today and both were messages very relevant to his tribe of followers. One was about a pizza making vending machine that he suggested might find its way into the Zappos offices and the other about a book he just finished reading that he was adding to the Zappos library. A couple of very relevant updates.

I know. I know. If I want to, I can just stop following people who basically spam my Twitter feed. I may have to do that. I did it with the feed from TechCrunch already. It's just tough when I know that some of the tweets will be really meaningful to me from these individuals that I have followed off of Twitter. Add to that the fact that I've seen other big names figure out a really great standard of messaging on Twitter, and I guess I just wish for the best of both worlds.

Guy Kawasaki and Robert Scoble's overuse of Twitter as Digg gets a BITTER.

Best Buy Plots Against Price Match Guarantee - BITTER

Jacqui Cheng at ars technica reported yesterday that a class action suit has been filed in the state of New York against Best Buy "alleging false advertising and deceptive practices" relating to its fullfillment policy on the "price match guarantee". This guarantee reads as follows from the Best Buy website:

BestBuy.com Price Matching/Price Guarantee

If you've made a BestBuy.com purchase and discover a lower price offered on our Web site or at a Best Buy store on the same available brand and model, let us know and we'll match that price on the spot, tax included.

Exclusions:
The BestBuy.com Price Guarantee does not apply to competitors' offers; third-party offers; online auction sites; shipping charges; clearance, Outlet Center and open-box items (when price matching with a Best Buy store); items for sale November 27th through 29th, 2008; special offers or promotions such as mail-in incentives, gift-with-purchase and financing offers; services such as installation; or typographical errors. Best Buy stores in Puerto Rico have their own price match policy.

Apparently, an internal Best Buy e-mail was used in the court filing detailing examples of how employees should try to not honor the policy. You can read exerpts on the ars technica site.

Anyway, I am not surprised by this lawsuit in the slightest. I have tried to price match at Best Buy in the past and indeed been met by these excuses and walked away without the policy being enforced. Of course, when the policy was first enacted, I price matched many times successfully. I think a lot of people were doing it and management likely decided to start trying the tactics described in the lawsuit.

The mistake that Best Buy makes on a daily basis is that they use their customer service policy as a marketing campaign with no plan to follow through. Not good, especially when their biggest competitor just went out of business. And that doesn't mean Best Buy can get comfortable because stores like Walmart are jumping right into the ring in home electronics.

Best Buy, for my own personal experiences that seem to jive with the allegations in this lawsuit, you earn a BITTER.

The Container Store Sliding Drawer Organizer - BETTER

So the best thing in my kitchen might actually have cost about $15 at the Container Store.

Many a night I spent frustrated at how little space I had in my silverware drawer in the kitchen. I always looked around at stores like Bed, Bath, and Beyond for a better drawer organizer but never found one.

When the Container Store opened, my wife and I were browsing around when I found the most amazing drawer organizer. It is something like this. It is 2-tiered. That means there is literally a bottom section that is the full width of the drawer and then a top piece that is only half as wide that slides back and forth. Sheer genius. You can hide the stuff you don't use every day like the serving pieces and ladels under the one side while everything you normally use is plainly accessible.

It's amazing that will all the gadgets and electronic appliances in the kitchen, the coolest thing I have is a little piece of molded plastic.....

Container Store, for offering a much wider array of storage options than most, AND solving my kitchen drawer problem, you get a 2-tiered BETTER.

Paramus Miniature Golf - Phone Says Open. Padlock on Gate Says Closed. - BITTER

So I thought it would be nice to take my boys to play miniature golf today since the weather was pretty good. I called up the Paramus Miniature Golf course to check if they were open. Yes says the recording on the phone. 10am - 10pm 7 days. Sweet. I headed right over.

After the 15 mile drive I was psyched to see it wasn't busy like I thought it would be as I pulled up. Then I got closer and noticed a padlock on the gate. It wasn't open after all.

My younger son started crying, of course, as he had been quite keyed up to do some golfing. I'm not really sure what happened here. I'm guessing it was just laziness in not changing the phone message.

Paramus Mini Golf, I'll probably go back because you have the nicest course in quite a distance, but today you earned a BITTER.

Twitter BITTER and the Social Network Bubble of 2009

Social Networks. More than likely you belong to one at this point. They seem to be popping up everywhere. Your friends are on them, and they invite you to join yet another. Newscasters mention them, celebrities, and athletes are now using them. The problem is, there are simply too many of them to keep up with, to keep updating, and to keep straight in your head. My theory is that 2009 will be the year that we start to see some social networking backlash. I could be wrong, but....

In it's most basic history, the first MAJOR social network to catch on was MySpace. It started as a way for unsigned, independent musicians to promote their music without a major record label. That changed, though, and millions of people had Myspace pages. There are MySpace business pages, Myspace bullying, and MySpace court cases.

The next MAJOR social network to really catch on was Facebook (even thought it was created about the same time as MySpace). It started out with college students only, but soon opened up to anyone and everyone. Facebook was more structured, though. It wasn't overloaded with crappy backgrounds and non-stop music restarting with every press of the back button. MySpace has been retooling, but Facebook got hold of people's attention pretty good. Besides, Facebook lets you send virtual drinks to your friends! Who wouldn't switch social networks for that?

I believe that today, the fastest growing social network is LinkedIn. LinkedIn was originally meant to be about creating high quality professional connections. If someone was listed as a connection, you could be guaranteed that the two connectees knew each other well enough that if you asked one to introduce you to the other, they could. Not so today. LinkedIn is all about the number of connections, quality be damned. This is a basic point that all the networks fall victim to. As soon as you make the number of friends/connections/followers public, it turns into a competition to get the highest number.

And then we get to what I'll call the peak of the bubble, Twitter. Twitter is referred to as a microblogging tool that allows you to broadcast out short messages to you legion of followers. It has become the mainstream face of social networking. It is mentioned on the news, people like Shaq are using it, and even President Obama made major campaign announcements over it. I remember being introduced to Twitter by the online news show, Rocketboom, quite a while ago. The host, Joanne Colan was trying to do the newscast but kept getting interrupted by inane little blips, called tweets, on her cell phone.

With Twitter, we are starting to see people with thousands of followers, even hundreds of thousands. I'll bring it down to about 100 for what the average person might contend with. Now, the best way I can illustrate what Twitter is like would be if you stood in a room with 100 people and had to listen to their collective streams of consciousness all at the same time, unfiltered. It really can be quite difficult to manage. And some people tweet more than others. I thought it would be a good idea to follow TechCrunch on Twitter. They completely overwhelmed my "newsfeed" (to borrow the term from Facebook) with 10 times as many tweets as anyone else and I had to stop following them.

CNET has an article online about getting started with Twitter. It recommends that you should not just tweet every little detail of your day as was the norm in Twitter's early days. Here's an excerpt:

Finally, what should you write? Literally answering "What are you doing?" may get boring fast. At least to folks following your time line. Some of the most enjoyable posts are witty observations, breaking news, and links to interesting stuff, like Web sites and pictures.

How many people do you know that can consistently provide you with short, witty observations? I tend to think that many people are signing up to see what it's all about but in the end will simply be lurkers (people who are basically idle, listening but not contributing).

If you look at the complete over saturation of information that the average person has to deal with and will have to deal with, you'll get the idea. On a given day, you might start off by checking your e-mail and your Facebook. Then you go over to check your Twitter account (unless you've got them tied together). Perhaps you check your blog and respond to a couple of posters, or you read a blog you follow and post there. Then you check your cell phone and there are more text messages on there that need to be answered. And THEN, you might actually have to check your voice mail and talk to someone. E-Mail bankruptcy is already upon on. The average person simply doesn't have the mental capacity to handle much more and it is increasing exponentially.

We've already seen networks fading away this year. Second Life, once quite popular and touted as the future of online is retooling and repurposing as a distance learning application. My prediction is that LinkedIn will be next. Users might not start cancelling their accounts en masse, but I bet that their growth will crash and few professionals will regard it as anything of value.

In all honesty, if you are out at a sporting event, shouldn't you just be enjoying the event and not worrying about telling everyone at that exact moment where you are and how much you're enjoying the event???

And here is the real problem with social networks, born out of their greatest value (in my opinion): the power to turn dormant friendships into passively active ones. This is where people you haven't talked to since high school or college all sync up on a social network. Everyone is following everyone and so you get tons and tons of updates every day from people you have not seen and may not see for years. This can have a dilutionary effect in the long run because you will start paying less attention to your newsfeed and maybe miss the really good stuff from the ones we're closest to.

I suppose the question that will really be the deciding factor will be how much the human brain can handle and get through in given day. I think we're already exceeding capacity.

Domino's Pizza Part 2 - Still BETTER

I hate doing a follow up to the Domino's post so quickly, but they've done something that warrants it (and not just as a comment on my last post). In the mail today, I received a letter from the Manager of Domino's Store Operations thanking me for being a great customer. Also enclosed was a little card entitling me to a free pizza with no strings attached. This is likely about a $7 value. Not much, but it is the gesture that really matters here.

This is just really good, personalized service. I didn't have to join a loyalty program at Domino's to get this service. Yes, I saved a profile online so that I could order pizzas over the internet, but that's it. Domino's figured out based on my order history that I am a regular customer and acted upon that in a very localized way. I'm not naive. I know it likely was a form letter churned out to all customers matching a certain segment. That doesn't really matter.

What does matter is that I got something personalized, that reflects my wants. It's not just another newspaper insert or mass mailer. Further, the Manager of Store Operations included his cell number in case I had anything to say as well as a special e-mail address to write to with comments. That's bold service.

All in all, this was a perfectly executed marketing campaign. Domino's Pizza has amazingly earned another BETTER.

TV Network Programming Directors - BITTER

I'm sure over the last 5 years you've noticed a little change in the programming lineups of the major TV networks. No, I'm not talking about the steady decline in the quality of shows on network TV culminating in NBC's decision to replace the grittiest hour of prime time, 10pm, with more watered down Jay Leno fare. I'm talking about the mysterious change in scheduling that has some of the more popular shows running 32 or 62 minutes. 

Are the TV shows longer? Nope. This was exposed years ago when NBC started running its Super-Sized  40 minute long episodes of Friends. Those were just filling in more ads. Why the change now then? I have a basic guess: DVRs. 

I theorize that this entire change in programming strategy was designed to screw with first generation DVRs, which a lot of people still have. By first generation, I mean that it can only record 1 show at a time and has no program overlap protection (clipping). By running shows 2 minutes long, it means that the viewer at home cannot record a show on NBC let's say at 9pm and then another show on ABC at 10pm. You can so it, but it would involve setting up a manual recording that will actually force you to start the 2nd program at 10:05pm. Setting up manual recordings was the thing that most people had trouble with when VCRs were popular, and I think the network heads know this. The plan is to screw up the DVR so it can only record the first show.

Of course, this only really worked for the first network that decided to do it. Once everyone was doing it, it stopped being an edge and even the first network was just as likely to have their shows manipulated out of viewership by the new system.

Thanks to companies like Tivo, we can now record multiple shows at the same time, partially fixing the problem. In addition, if a show runs 2 minutes over, the next show will start promptly 2 minutes in, automatically. Since usually this 2 minutes is the opening credits and the "previously on...." you don't miss much. The whole convoluted system just ends up being a pain in the ass that really has no benefit but that lots of people have to spend millions trying to fix for us, the home viewer.

Whoever was the first person to come up with concept and to all those who followed, you get a big BITTER.

A BETTER Way to Wait in Line

If your establishment has multiple registers, it would seem that there are 2 ways to setup the customer lines:

1. Individual lines at the registers. Let the customers decide which one to get on.
2. One line for all registers. The employees call the next customer in line.

For me, the clear choice is number 2. Having a single line eliminates all the anxiety of trying to choose the fastest line and all the analysis of the clerks and the people waiting on each line and how many items they have that goes along with it.

When you are waiting on "the slow line", nothing burns more than watching someone get on "the fast line" well after you and then seeing them leaving while you're still on line. If everyone is on the same line, there is no decision to be made and the line actually seems to move faster because someone is always moving up to a register.

The store that comes to mind as a winner in this area is Kohl's during the holidays. Normally they operate under scenario #1 but in the holidays, when everyone is particularly stressed and their lines are very long, the switch over to scenario #2.

Everyone who ever got burned on the slow line, especially by the deceptive looking person with only 1 item who is actually holding the place in line for a person with 50 items, let your voices be heard below! If you know of stores/restaurants/etc. that have great line setups, please post them.

Domino's Pizza Online Ordering - BETTER

In 1997, I remember going to the Pizza Hut website to check out some experimentation they were doing with online ordering. It wasn't widely available and it didn't really take off. At the time I remember thinking that the process was probably e-mail and couldn't possibly replace the phone order. Oh, how times have changed in a decade.

It wasn't Pizza Hut, but Domino's that really stepped up and made online ordering work. Like many things online, it really does take longer than picking up the phone but there is a level of control that you just can't replicate by having a conversation. I've happily spent 15 minutes ordering pizza on the Domino's website.

The first really cool feature is the pizza builder. The original release just allowed you to build your pizza without seeing it, although a more recent release changed that. As a customer you can really "have it your way" to take a slogan from Burger King. An example of a pizza I frequently get: "Thin Crust, half plain cheese pizza, half with no cheese plus pineapples and ham". I almost always get a follow up phone call on that one because Domino's wants to be sure I didn't make a mistake. I placed that order tonight and got a phone call within 1 minute. That's instantaneous response in my book.

As if being able to build my order, apply coupons, and even pay for delivery pizza on a credit card wasn't good enough, Domino's took it to the extreme by adding a "pizza tracker" to their website. This is an online display that tells you whether your order is in one of the following stages:

1. Processing
2. Prep
3. Baking
4. Boxing
5. Out for Delivery

It even tells you when it left on delivery and who took it. I love it and my kids love it. Whenever I order from Domino's (sometimes I really want pizzeria pizza), I leave it up on the screen so that my oldest can watch for the changes in status. It really does what Domino's intended for it to do, which is to lessen the anxiety over how much time it has taken between the order and the receipt of the food.

Did you know that inside Domino's they have a video screen that shows them how they are performing in customer service against all other Domino's restaurants in real time? Good committment right there.

I should point out, in case I get feedback from Pizza Hut saying they offer similar features, they do. It looks like they tried very hard to copy what Domino's did, but they fell far short. The website was sub-par and unreliable. I could not be bothered with it after 2 failed attempts on separate occassions.

Domino's, for mastering the online ordering process and actually turning it into "an experience", you have won a loyal customer away from Pizza Hut and get a BETTER.

Zappos.com - BETTER

My wife has ordered shoes from Zappos.com in the past and I never heard of any problems, but I'd never actually ordered anything myself.

So this past week I had a big professional event to attend in New York. The one thing I realized with just a few days to go was that I really needed to get a new pair of shoes. I was literally getting ready to go out and hit Macy's when my wife said I should just go on to Zappos' website. She told me they always give overnight shipping and I would have the shoes on time.

I went to the website and it is pretty easy to use. They have great filters by size, color, style, and others that really narrow down the options for you. They also make it very clear that they have a "free returns" policy to break down that barrier of fear most people would have buying shoes they have not tried on. I was a bit nervouse myself since my shoes are a 10 1/2 but my sneakers are 11 1/2.

I actually found 2 pairs of shoes I liked and ordered them both. The shipping said it could be 5 days or so, but again my wife reassured me. I figured I would get both, see which one I liked once I had them, and I'd send the 2nd pair back.

Sure enough, I did get the shoes the next day. I picked a pair, which I actually think I owned once before, and everything worked out.

Zappos.com, for having the foresight to break down barriers for customers and allowing them to essentially mimic the in-store experience in their living rooms, you get a BETTER.

Corn Refiners Run Ads for High Fructose Corn Syrup - BITTER

So I saw the following commercial on television the other day:

I was completely blown away. An organization called the Corn Refiners Associations is trying to combat all the negative press given to High Fructose Corn Syrup by attempting to convince people that not only is it safe for our kids, but that you just might be a moron if you believe otherwise. I did provide a link above to their website above, but be warned. It is a propaganda machine, hard at work. 

The woman in the ad says that HFCS is fine in moderation. I offer anyone reading this blog a challenge. Go into your pantry and/or refrigerator and start scanning the labels of the food items you have for some variation on high fructose corn syrup. I'll warn you. You are going to find it a lot. I'll give you 2 items that surprised me the most: Ketchup and Bread. And then it made perfect sense to me why kids love to dip everything in ketchup. There is a secret sweetener in there. 

Because corn is subsidized by the government, it supplanted sugar as the sweetener of choice by manufacturers. The problem is, it is HYPER processed and your body does not digest it anywhere near as easily as regular sugar. You may have noticed things like "cane soda" or even bottles of "blue agave" sweetener in your local supermarket. These are products made from either sugar cane or other natural sugars. Even these should be consumed in moderation, but they are far more natural than the typical HFCS product.

Unless you completely control your diet and make everything you eat at home, you are going to consume some high fructose corn sugar. To that extent, it's really not going to be a problem. However, I personally have started scrutinizing the labels of almost all the foods I buy from the supermarket, especially for my kids. One of the best brands is Annie's Homegrown, which has lots of great products that don't contain HFCS. They carry it at ShopRite, Whole Foods, and even Amazon.com. Yes, they make ketchup too.

If you want to learn a bit more about the food industry and how corn (and most industrially processed food products) is killing us, I highly recommend reading Michael Pollan's, "In Defense of Food" and "The Omnivore's Dilemma".

Corn Refiners Associations, you get a BITTER.

If you want a little more information, Consumer Reports did a write up on this ad as well.

Hampshire Self Storage Rents Out Customer Parking - BITTER

If you ever had to load or unload anything from a door into a car (or vice versa) you understand that the closer the car is to the door, the better. And so starts the story of Hampshire Self Storage.

There are numerous entrances to the storage building so that you can enter as close to your individual unit as possible. Parking spaces line almost the entire outside of the building for customer convenience.

Unfortunately, somebody decided to start renting out the parking spaces without really considering the impact on the customers who actually have storage units. Today, I saw boats on trailers, snow plowing vehicles, commercial vehicle like plumbers vans, and numerous race team trailers and pickup trucks. These vehicles are all parked in the spaces closest to the entrances. While there are, in fact a few numbered spaces on one side of the lot, Hampshire has decided that there is more money to be made.

I actually have no problem with that. I just want them to do it in a way that has the least impact on customers. I went into the office and spoke with someone who was working. I asked if, as a courtesy to the customers, they could get the owners of these vehicles to park them in the spaces furthest from the doors. The response I got was very casual. "The thing is, there are no numbers on the spaces and these guys bring the vehicles in at night, so there's nothing we can do."

I couldn't believe what a defeatist attitude this was. Sure there is something that can be done. Paint enough numbers on enough spaces to allocate an assigned space to each person renting a parking space. Problem solved with about $10 worth of paint and a brush. Instead, they end up annoying the regular customers who actually have a need for those particular spaces near the door, some of which, like me, have been customers for almost 10 years spending thousands of dollars with them.

I know that the average person doesn't really feel empowered at work, but with at least 3 rival storage facilities within 5 miles, I would think that Hampshire would be more customer friendly.

I won't even get into the story about how I discovered that the prices on the units had been lowered only to be told that the onus is on the customer to find that info out and have their rental rate changed....

Hampshire Self Storage, for not caring enough to manage your parking lots properly, you get a BITTER.

Organics Turkish Bath Towels by Crate and Barrel - BITTER

Ok. So I like buying organic. I get organic food when its available and I try to get my kids clothes made from organic cotton (do you have any idea how many chemicals are used in making a traditional cotton shirt?). 

So I go into Crate and Barrel looking for some organic bedding which I saw online. I could never buy sheets without touching them. So the sheets are alright but they are mail order only, so I figure I'll get them online. While I'm there though, I thought I'd replace some towels that were fraying. 

I saw the Organics Turkish Bath Towels. They felt really great so I bought them.  Here's the weird part. I used the towels for the first time today, and they simply do not get you dry. The towels do not absorb any of the water. They just move it around your skin. Maybe the friction is supposed to dry you off. I have never experienced anything like that in a bath towel. Hand towel? Same deal. My wife tried the towels with the same results. 

To add insult to injury, the towels shed. I was covered in ivory colored lint after I used the things, and yes, I did wash and dry them before use.

I threw out the receipt because I was certain the towels would be great. I mean, who has ever heard of a towel that doesn't get you dry. That's the whole purpose of the towel. I guess Crate and Barrel engineered the drying right out of the towels. Hopefully they can look it up on my credit card or something.

So I was planning on buying the sheets, like I said, but after my experience with the towels, I'll be looking elsewhere for my organic sheets. Anyone got any recommendations?

Crate and Barrel, since you sold me towels that don't absorb water for a very premium price, you get a big BITTER and a lost order.