A Microsoft Evangelist’s BlogPosts RSS
Posted in Marketing Thought, Quote on Jun 29th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
Any time you can successfully bring together people who have a reputation or skill with people who sell things, you’re creating value. If you find an appropriate scale, it can become a sustainable, profitable business.
(source)
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Posted in Management Thought, Microsoft on Jun 15th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
Takeaway: I don’t micromanage, but I do ask questions that require a discussion of detail.
Takeaway: I “budget” my time.
Takeaway: (on hiring) Tell me about your passion and what makes you so proud of. Your passion lies in your eyes which won’t lie.
Takeaway: Delegate decision-making process, and endorse decisions made by your people.
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I don’t know how you think about this. But as a heavy reader on-the-go, I always dream of a way to read the full article of a “partial” RSS feed while being offline (e.g. most news feeds). Any reader/plug-in that could achieve this would be great. It might affect the publishers’ potential ad profitability in short term. But I believe the advertising model will transform itself as suitable to the decentralized content distribution model, eventually.
More innovations on this field are needed.
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…as the quality of search engines has approached parity. Sure, there are no switching costs, and it’s easy to simply type in a new web address should a better engine come along, but the psychological pull of the leading brand in the space overrides those factors for many consumers. (source)
突然想起我們常說搜尋引擎使用上的「轉換成本」 (user從搜尋引擎A. 換到搜尋引擎B. ) 很低，只要網址輸入一下，或滑鼠點幾下即可。但這似乎只是表象。我們都忽略了一個另一個看不見的隱性成本 — 習慣。習慣所帶來的束縛力量恐怕不是學理上 ”perceived value” 可以衡量的。
難怪小時候都走同一條路上學…
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Posted in Management Thought, Microsoft, Quote, Thought on May 17th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
老實說一年多來很少見到 Ballmer 談企管心法的文章，總算昨天 (2009/5/16) 紐約時報 Corner Office 專欄請來 Ballmer 暢談想法，這不完整收錄一下是不行的啊！
開始之前，先節錄本日佳句：
Q: How do you assess job candidates?
A: … I try to figure out sort of a combination of I.Q. and passion. I just ask somebody to tell me what they’ve done that they are really proud of and tell me about it. And if it’s something you are proud of, you should be able to answer any question I can come up with, at least at a level that would satisfy my interest. I ought to be able to see your passion. It might be quiet passion; it might be bubbly passion. But I should be able to sense that you are one of those people who just sort of throws themselves into things.
好，訪談全文開始：
This interview of Steven A. Ballmer, the chief executive of Microsoft, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant.
Q. Are there areas you want to improve as a leader?
A. I race too much. My brain races too much, so even if I’ve listened to everything somebody said, unless you show that you’ve digested it, people don’t think they are being well heard. Sometimes you really don’t hear because you’re racing. It’s just the way my brain works. My brain is just chop, chop, chop, chop, chop. And so, if you really want to get the best out of people, you have to really hear them and they have to feel like they’ve been really heard. So I’ve got to learn to slow down and improve in that dimension, both to make me better and to make the people around me better.
Q. What’s it like to be in a meeting run by Steve Ballmer?
A. I’ve changed that, really in the last couple years. The mode of Microsoft meetings used to be: You come with something we haven’t seen in a slide deck or presentation. You deliver the presentation. You probably take what I will call “the long and winding road.” You take the listener through your path of discovery and exploration, and you arrive at a conclusion.
That’s kind of the way I used to like to do it, and the way Bill [Gates] used to kind of like to do it. And it seemed like the best way to do it, because if you went to the conclusion first, you’d get: “What about this? Have you thought about this?” So people naturally tried to tell you all the things that supported the decision, and then tell you the decision.
I decided that’s not what I want to do anymore. I don’t think it’s productive. I don’t think it’s efficient. I get impatient. So most meetings nowadays, you send me the materials and I read them in advance. And I can come in and say: “I’ve got the following four questions. Please don’t present the deck.” That lets us go, whether they’ve organized it that way or not, to the recommendation. And if I have questions about the long and winding road and the data and the supporting evidence, I can ask them. But it gives us greater focus.
Q. How do you assess job candidates?
A. If they come from inside the business, the best predictor of future success is past success. It’s not 100 percent, but it’s a reasonable predictor. For an external candidate, what I’ve found is that reference checks are super-important. I didn’t used to believe so much in reference checks. You can always get somebody to say something nice about you. But the truth is, if you ask enough questions and you ask around, you can really get a profile of who’s accomplished various things and who hasn’t.
And I try to figure out sort of a combination of I.Q. and passion. I just ask somebody to tell me what they’ve done that they are really proud of and tell me about it. And if it’s something you are proud of, you should be able to answer any question I can come up with, at least at a level that would satisfy my interest. I ought to be able to see your passion. It might be quiet passion; it might be bubbly passion. But I should be able to sense that you are one of those people who just sort of throws themselves into things.
Q. Is there a skill or qualification or trait that you’re looking for in prospective hires that didn’t matter as much 10 years ago?
A. Mostly, I’m still looking for what I’ve always looked for: extremely smart and talented people who love to work hard, who are passionate about technology and who have a great foundation in math and science. But compared to 10 years ago, technology is more complex, products and services span people’s lives in new ways, and our business is much more global. So it’s more important that people can think outside the confines of their individual expertise and their product group and connect the dots between technologies, customer needs and markets in new ways.
Q. What’s the most challenging part of your job?
A. Finding the right balance between optimism and realism. I’m an optimist by nature, and I start from the belief that you can always succeed if you have the right amount of focus combined with the right amount of hard work. So I can get frustrated when progress runs up against issues that should have been anticipated or that simply couldn’t have been foreseen. A realist knows that a certain amount of that is inevitable, but the optimist in me always struggles when progress doesn’t match my expectations.
Q. Fill in the blank. You want the culture of your company to be more _____ ?
A. Efficient. The right word is efficient. That’s the direction that every business leader is steering their company culture toward right now. Given the current economic climate and the uncertainty about how long the recession will last, this is a time when organizations need to do more with less, and Microsoft is no exception. We’ve made good progress, but for a company that has grown every year for more than 30 years, learning how to operate under more constrained circumstances is not always that easy.
At the same time, the need to be more efficient drives us all toward sharper focus on what is important and what can truly move the needle in terms of meeting customer needs and taking market share. Of course, we need to be innovative, but we also need to be efficient.
Q. Any books on management and leadership that you’ve found particularly useful?
A. Jim Collins’s book “Built to Last.”
Q. In all the speeches you’ve given, is there a favorite line or story or passage or quotation?
A. In February I was invited to share my business perspective on the economic downturn with House Democrats at their annual retreat. In that speech, I got to share something that my dad always told me growing up, which is a simple piece of advice that really shaped my approach to life and to business.
My dad worked for Ford for 30 years. When I was a kid, he’d say: “If you’re going to do a job, do a job. If you’re not going to do a job, don’t do a job.” What he meant was, if you really want to accomplish anything, you have to be committed, motivated, tenacious and smart about what you do. That’s really just the essence of the American work ethic, but it’s one of the most important things I ever learned.
Q. If you had to choose another profession, what would it be?
A. Education, probably. I like working with young people, and I think it’s really important to encourage talent. I love basketball, so I could see myself as a high school basketball coach. I think a basketball team that I coached would have a really good chance of being a winner.
Q. What would you like business schools to focus on more, or less?
A. I’d like to see more emphasis on the importance of taking the long view. Companies focus too much on short-term results in business. It takes patience to build a great business, and sometimes you have to be willing to make the long-term investment and then keep at it if you want to succeed.
Q. If you could teach any b-school course, including one that you create, what would it be?
A. Leadership. Microsoft has grown from 30 people to more than 90,000 since I started, so I’ve had the chance to play a leadership role at practically every stage imaginable in a company’s growth and development. I’ve learned a lot about leadership along the way from some great people that I’ve worked with and through experience.
I’ve come to believe that to be a great leader, you have to combine thought leadership, business leadership and great people management. I think most people tend to focus more on one of those three. I used to think it was all about thought leadership. Some people think it’s all about your ability to manage people. But the truth is, great leaders have to have a mix of those things.
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今天這個主題不是談台灣的金融市場，而是指台灣的社群網路環境。如果仔細看一下台灣流量前幾的噗浪、推特、部落格、論壇，其中的主文、留言真正具有深度的不多 (不要再發表懶人包了! 不要再謝謝大大無私的分享了!) 。大家有興趣的議題幾乎等同於「夠格」登上蘋果日報或壹週刊的議題。可想而知，這些譁眾取寵的內容，是不可能引起太多正經的討論。
我自己常混的幾個美國社群就較沒有這些現象，除了寫嚴肅主題的部落格能擁有大流量外，有時還會看到寫得比本文更長、更精彩的回應。有時一個議題會引起不同部落客交相引用，並於自己的部落格加入想法；網網互聯之下，彷彿形成一個超大型分散式論壇，雖然大家不在同一個介面之下，但無形中都在關心並深入探討 ”that really matters” 的主題。像滾雪球般，過程往往是某知名部落客率先發難，接著讀者蜂擁而上回應，回不夠的再拉回自己的部落格發表 (reblog)，這些 reblog 文章被 content aggeregator service 蒐集，再引起更多人注意討論 (re-reblog)。就我關注的矽谷科技部落圈來說，就常出現 ”This weekend, hearing every blogger buzz around oooo topic…” 這類的評論。雖然我有時也會受不老美的 imho 文化，一個「現象」竟然人人都想參一腳發表自己的見地，例如「Facebook 片面改變使用者條款」現象所引發的 “who owns the data” 事件就延燒了一整個禮拜，最後造成站方不得不使用民主的方式投票決定新版 terms of service。
也許對多數台灣人來說，網路還是一個休閒媒介，是一個娛樂媒介，是拿來放鬆心情用的，是讓頭腦暫時休息用的。也許這也和台灣教育制度從小不鼓勵發表，不鼓勵深度思考有關。
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Posted in Marketing Thought on May 13th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
Erick Schonfeld 認為線上廣告產業已正式進入緊縮期，主要是因為 09 年第一季的 4 大廣告平台的廣告版位營收年減 2.01%，季減 6.96%。這是線上廣告市場過去連 6 季成長以來，第一次繳出退步的成績單。
|
3Q07 |
4Q07 |
1Q08 |
2Q08 |
3Q08 |
4Q08 |
1Q09 |
|
|
|
$4,190 |
$4,758 |
$5,086 |
$5,185 |
$5,352 |
r$5,504 |
$5,331 |
|
Yahoo |
$1,544 |
$1,590 |
$1,572 |
$1,587 |
$1,563 |
$1,594 |
$1,383 |
|
Microsoft |
$670 |
$860 |
$840 |
$840 |
$770 |
$866 |
$721 |
|
AOL |
$540 |
$620 |
$552 |
$530 |
$507 |
$507 |
$443 |
|
Total |
$6,994 |
$7,828 |
$8,050 |
$8,142 |
$8,192 |
$8,467 |
$7,878 |
|
Sequential Growth Q/Q |
12.73% |
2.84% |
1.14% |
0.61% |
3.4% |
-6.96% |
|
|
Annual Growth Y/Y |
18% |
8.16% |
-2.10% |
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Posted in Marketing Thought, Quote on May 6th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
這句我也很喜歡：”Once you build a network, it’s extremely difficult for someone else to disrupt it.” 站在能量守恆定律的立場，這很公平。我們看到的各種 network 效應都是用數千小時心力去經營出來的，然而從旁觀者的角度來看，network effect 似乎是擺在那邊就會自己匯聚成型一般。所以通常故事結局都是這樣：眼紅的競爭者看到亮麗結果，也想跳進去模仿 (衝阿！社群無敵！衝阿！網路無敵！)，但俯衝之際就被進入門檻拌了一跤。嘿，沒想到進入門檻這般高。有多高？大概有三、四層樓那麼高。
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Posted in Marketing Thought on Apr 30th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
有時會聽到朋友抱怨說：iPhone沒辦法直接和 PC 傳輸檔案真的給他有點不方便、iPhone 沒支援藍牙同步，搞得我常常要把傳輸線帶在身上、iPhone沒有內建看文件程式，要看還要另外安裝，實在是麻煩…
那我問這些朋友，常聽你在碎碎念，那你喜歡你的 iPhone 嗎？ 不出乎意料，他們的回答都是「喜歡阿」。
任何產品都有缺點，市占率越大的產品，缺點就越容易在市場內產生共鳴，共鳴的結果就是缺點不斷放大。上面三個典型抱怨是 iPhone 使用者靠「直覺」都會跟你說的三種缺點，就算使用者不是真有在手機看文件的習慣，不是天天需要和 PC 同步，他還是直覺得地告訴你他「聽來的」缺點。
沒有任何產品，一開發出來就是完美的，然而厲害的產品，只需要一條公式：缺點+缺點+缺點 < 優點+優點+優點；厲害的產品，會讓你與它互動時忘記缺點；厲害的產品，會變成你的老公老婆小孩 — 罵歸罵，但還是愛。
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Posted in Management Thought, Quote on Apr 22nd, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
It’s hard to judge the young because (a) they change rapidly, (b) there is great variation between them, and (c) they’re individually inconsistent. That last one is a big problem. When you’re young, you occasionally say and do stupid things even when you’re smart. So if the algorithm is to filter out people who say stupid things, as many investors and employers unconsciously do, you’re going to get a lot of false positives.
– P. G.
組織文化、歷史包袱，基本上決定了這個 “algorithm”，但 people maager 有權力加入 parameters 來影響最後產出結果。
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Posted in Marketing Thought on Apr 20th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
有人說，marketer 就像是律師，只要確定利益立場，就能把白馬說成黑馬。反過來說，如果要逼 marketer 做一件最痛苦 (通常也不可能做) 的事，不外乎面對現實，放大缺點，(關起門來) 把自家品牌、自家產品拿出來鞭打，攻擊自家的產品、攻擊自家的品牌。
防止自 High 守則 No.1: 先開窗戶洗個不擦乾冷水澡，再開始寫 marketing plan。
Think about this: call a why-our-product-sucks brainstorming session before initiating any strategic planning. After all no one knows more about your product than you, as a marketer, do. If it’s not you who challenge you product most, then the market will do so on your behalf.
Wake up and welcome to the real world.
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日前和一位籌備紅酒貿易事業的朋友聊天，聊到 BP or not BP，我站在偏向 BP 萬言書無用論立場 - - 除非你需要找 Angel 或 VC pitch。但寫下基本的 BP 架構 (10 – 30 張 slides ) 仍有助於讓車子開在車道上。她的看法與我大致雷同，而且她大概不知道自己無意間說出了這句讓我反覆咀嚼的本日佳句 — 「很多事要做了才知道」。
–> 「你先寫給我 Plan，招集大家開會評估看看，確定可行你再去做。開完會後，如果有不可行的地方，你拿回去修改，再召集一次會議讓大家評估看看，確定可行你再去做，如果有需要加強的地方，你會後拿回去修改，再召集一次會議讓大家評估看看，確定可行你再去做。」
是不是很熟悉呢？克里斯汀生寫完<創新者的解答> 再出一本<執行者的解答>應該也能大賣。
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StumbleUpon，eBay 2007 年轟轟烈烈買走的公司，曾經引發科技界猜測熱潮，大家都等著看兩者結合會變出什麼新把戲，是隨機推薦競標品嗎？還是隨機推薦特賣品？Skype， eBay 2005 年轟轟烈烈買走的公司，其綜效也曾引領市場期盼，是新增買賣方即時線上通話服務嗎？還是購物金與電話點數的整合儲值？
反正現在怎麼猜都一樣囉，大環境不好，不太能下金雞蛋的母雞就先賣了。StumbleUpon 賣還給創辦人，回到 startup 狀態，Skype 就猛了，預計 2010 上半年完成獨立事業體切割，並公開上市，到時候只要你有錢就能當 Skype 股東。
通常 IPO 新股都有段蜜月期，存點錢，說不定明年的電話費都靠 Skype 的股票獲利支付啦！想長抱的也可以，就憑eBay官方新聞稿誇下的這句話：”The company recently announced that it expects Skype to top $1 billion in revenue in 2011, nearly doubling 2008 revenues.” - 3年內營收2倍成長。EPS會成長多少，就留給大家想像了。
相關連結：
StumbleUpon is a start-up again!
eBay Inc. Announces Plan for 2010 Initial Public Offering of Skype
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Posted in Marketing Thought on Apr 14th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
When companies start publicly supporting and promoting members of the media (IE FB and Twitter), there’s no way those reporters can be taken seriously anymore. They lose their credibility and no matter what they write, you have to question their objectivity. It’s akin to a reporter being paid by the company, because they are personally benefiting from these “suggestions.”
Paid reporters are essentially…flacks. – Sarah
這是在一則報導之後的留言，報導內容為： Facebook 將推出「站方推薦帳號讓你加入好友功能 (日後可能會發展成：推薦品牌帳號讓你加入好友)」。如果精明的人都在質疑這些 brand sponsored 帳號，那到底是哪類型的人在當 brand 的粉絲呢？
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Posted in Bill Gates, Microsoft, Thought on Apr 13th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
Steve Jobs: …And I think building a company’s really hard, and it requires your greatest persuasive abilities to hire the best people you can and keep them at your company and keep them working, doing the best work of their lives, hopefully. And Bill’s been able to stay with it for all these years. (一開始雙方互相讚對對方，Steve Jobs 特別指出說服力是公司初期招募與留住人才的關鍵。他本身就把 Steve Wozniak 從 HP 的金飯碗中遊說到車庫，一起創辦 Apple Computer。)
Bill Gates: …And his ability to always come around and figure out where that next bet should be has been phenomenal. (Bill Gates 稱讚 Steve Jobs 在在看趨勢與消費者需求這方面的眼光神準。)
Bill Gates: …And we had really bet our future on the Macintosh being successful, and then, hopefully, graphics interfaces in general being successful, but first and foremost, the thing that would popularize that being the Macintosh. (早期 Microsoft 是 Apple Computer 少數合作密切的 application vendors 之一。Microsoft 也把身家賭在 Apple 的麥金塔電腦。)
Steve Jobs: …But the net result of it was, was there were too many people at Apple and in the Apple ecosystem playing the game of, for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose. And it was clear that you didn’t have to play that game because Apple wasn’t going to beat Microsoft. Apple didn’t have to beat Microsoft. Apple had to remember who Apple was because they’d forgotten who Apple was. (Steve Jobs 回憶，直到他1997年回鍋上任以來，Apple 內部仍瀰漫著反Microsoft 情緒，員工腦中裝滿了與 Microsoft 的零和遊戲。但他一走馬上任，第一件事就是告訴大家：Apple 的成功不一定要建立在 Microsoft 的失敗之上。同時也在 1997 Macworld 大會上宣布 Microsoft 將成為 Apple 的 strategic partner。)
Steve Jobs: The art of those commercials (I’m MAC v.s. I’m PC) is not to be mean, but it’s actually for the guys to like each other. Thanks. PC guy is great. Got a big heart.
Bill Gates: His mother loves him.
Steve Jobs: His mother loves him.
Steve Jobs: PC guy’s what makes it all work, actually.
(Steve Jobs 說：是 PC Guy 讓 Mac v.s. PC 系列廣告獲得空前成功，一切都要感謝PC Guy.
)
Steve Jobs: …You know, what’s really interesting is–and we talked about this earlier today–if you look at the reason that the iPod exists and the Apple’s in that marketplace, it’s because these really great Japanese consumer electronics companies who kind of own the portable music market, invented it and owned it, couldn’t do the appropriate software, couldn’t conceive of and implement the appropriate software. Because an iPod’s really just software. It’s software in the iPod itself, it’s software on the PC or the Mac, and it’s software in the cloud for the store. And it’s in a beautiful box, but it’s software. If you look at what a Mac is, it’s OS X, right? It’s in a beautiful box, but it’s OS X. And if you look at what an iPhone will hopefully be, it’s software.
…And so the big secret about Apple, of course–not-so-big secret maybe–is that Apple views itself as a software company… (Steve Jobs 認為 Apple 的成功來自 software design，iPod 說穿了就是成功的software (含iTunes) 在一個漂亮的盒子裡，Mac 說穿了也是一個成功的 software 在一個漂亮的盒子裡。Apple 甚至比較喜歡把自己定義為 software company。說真的，山寨當道，hardware 可以很快被模仿走，software 卻很難，君不見市面流通的山寨版 iPhone OS 還是長得很山寨？獲利模式建立在 software solution 之上的公司，要時時擔心被大量盜版，但若同時擁有 hareware + software 的 vertical solution，可以握有更多對產品品質的掌控度。)
Bill Gates: The mainstream is always under attack. (簡潔有力，Windows, Office = mainstream)
Steve Jobs: …What I’m saying is, I think the marriage of some really great client apps with some really great cloud services is incredibly powerful and right now, can be way more powerful than just having a browser on the client. (WOW, Steve Jobs 也 echoed 微軟的 Software Plus Services 策略。)
Bill Gates: …How quickly all these things that have been somewhat specialized, the navigation device, the digital wallet, the phone, the camera, the video camera, how quickly those all come together, it’s hard to chart out. But eventually, you’ll be able to pick something that has the capability to do every one of those things. (my thought: 創新比較有可能發生在 specialized devices 上，但 specilized devices 終究會匯聚成 genenal purpose devices。然後失去創新動力，然後再引領出另外一波 specialized devices 創新，然後再匯聚，and the process repeats itself again and again.)
Steve Jobs: …No, that wasn’t my answer. You know, when Bill and I first met each other and worked together in the early days, generally, we were both the youngest guys in the room, right? Individually or together. I’m about six months older than he is, but roughly the same age. And now when we’re working at our respective companies, I don’t know about you, but I’m the oldest guy in the room most of the time. And that’s why I love being here.
…And, you know, I think of most things in life as either a Bob Dylan or a Beatles song, but there’s that one line in that one Beatles song, “you and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.” And that’s clearly true here. (回首從前，Seteve Jobs 和 Bill Gates 很早就互相認識，也曾是全公司最年輕的員工，如今兩卻往往是”the oldest in the room”。)
Steve Jobs: …You know, because Woz and I started the company based on doing the whole banana, we weren’t so good at partnering with people. And, you know, actually, the funny thing is, Microsoft’s one of the few companies we were able to partner with that actually worked for both companies. And we weren’t so good at that, where Bill and Microsoft were really good at it because they didn’t make the whole thing in the early days and they learned how to partner with people really well.
And I think if Apple could have had a little more of that in its DNA, it would have served it extremely well. And I don’t think Apple learned that until, you know, a few decades later. (初期 Microsoft 在尋找合作夥伴這方面做的比 Apple 好很多。Steve Jobs 甚至認為，如果當年Apple也多一點”partnering DNA”，情況也許會大不相同。)
Click here to see the original videos
And here is the bonus - Mac. v.s. PC, kiddy version:
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又到了畢業生準備履歷的季節，一位朋友問我是否應該要詳細描述過去社團、工讀經歷的種種？我告訴他，如果面試你的長官，以前有過和你類似的經驗，那他 appreicate 你的機會就很大，如果他過去啥都沒做過，但現在照樣坐上官位，那他會跟你說，你這一些經歷，在我眼中都是bullshit (不好意思，這應該是心中的OS，經粹煉後，從面試官口中說出來的，應該是「嗯嗯」)。
但我要說的是，你不應該看重這些經驗是否能為你帶來外在觀點的優勢，它能為你帶來的，應該是內在信心能量的累積。這是一種「我可以把這件事情完成」的信心能量。你可能百思不解，為什麼身邊功課好，卻沒啥課外活動的同學，三不五時就是考慮東，考慮西的，在那邊分析東，分析西的，在那邊說「我不行啦」、「這個好像不適合我」這類的話。但面對一樣的抉擇，你好像就覺得，「以前都做過哪些哪些事情了，這次似乎也不會難到哪裡去…(傻到不知道 limit 在哪裡)」，沒錯，那就是你過去累積的信心能量發動引擎了。
開始工作後，不幸地，一次次誤闖企業叢林禁區，你過去累積的信心能量又會逐漸開始減少，甚至歸零；但如果你是個有累積能量習慣的人，三個月、半年、一年、一年半，你又會覺得過去在社團經驗中過關斬將的感覺又回來了。然後你會開始挑戰體制。沒錯，那時就是你的信心能量又接近100%了。
這時的你是最佳狀態，是公司能讓你完全發揮潛能 (或說是好好利用你) 的最好時機。同時也是你考驗這家公司的氣度，檢視公司「分封」給你舞台大小的時機。信心能量接近100%，有點像是接近100度C 的沸騰水，全身上上下下的組成分子都在一種完全活潑的狀態，但茶壺太小，一不小心溢出沸水就會燙傷自己，此時你需要共多空間，或把這些能量舀到另一個更大的水池，以煮沸下一個水池 (而不是茶壺) 為目標。水燙了，打開蓋子加冷水，或直接關小火，是一般人的選擇，但聰明的你，一定不會這樣選擇。
以上是我像投顧老師一樣，給這位朋友的「短天期會員」建議。但沒有收入會費啦！
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Posted in Marketing Thought on Apr 11th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
延續上一篇，For those who don’t know what is S.P.A.M.
From Wikipedia:
Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems (including most broadcast mediums, digital delivery systems) to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately. While the most widely recognized form of spam is e-mail spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media: instant messaging spam, Usenet newsgroup spam, Web search engine spam, spam in blogs, wiki spam, Online classified ads spam, mobile phone messaging spam, Internet forum spam, junk fax transmissions, and file sharing network spam.
People who create electronic spam are called spammers.
本日最中肯關鍵字：unsolicited
比較值得討論的是，有些行銷人員 (自我洗腦後) 自認的好東西，巴不得和全世界分享的資訊 (多層次傳銷?!) 的好東西，在大眾眼裡根本是廣告垃圾。Marketer 自我意識很重要，許多中世紀領主的傳訊者 (messenger) 就是連自己在做啥都不知道，訊息才剛送到敵陣，馬上就被對方砍了。很多在BBS / 論壇上的帳號也是這樣被版主砍掉。
As the old adage goes: “Don’t shoot the messenger.” But who instead? I say shoot the one who sent out troops of spammers. Shoot the commander.
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Posted in Marketing Thought on Apr 9th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
Microsoft: 97 percent of all e-mail sent on the Internet is spam…
我很怕有一天又會有哪個單位宣佈： Twitter 或 Facebook 全站有 ?% 的內容是 spam。我們大家都不喜歡 spam，但當想到如何把訊息最大化散布時，卻又自私地想到使用 spam 類型的手法。WHY?
因為 spam 很簡單，成本很低，就像隨地丟垃圾一樣，順手，還會引人側目。Sorry. 對焦慮的行銷人來說，不管側目白目，能吸引注目的行為就是好目。
要遏止這種低劣的手法只有一種：不要傻傻當白目，大家把眼睛放亮一點，在論壇、部落格文章、信箱中看到這類型礙眼的廣告文，要勇於檢舉，把這類型不負責任的行銷人員或業務代表洗出場。籌碼乾淨之後，行銷活動背後的投資人就會發現活動 ROI 是負的，下次就不敢出資請打手了。
PS. spamming 表面上看起來省錢，其實執行起來，消費的卻是品牌名譽資產，越是新創小品牌越沒有 brand reputation 的包袱，越能這樣亂玩，或說是大賭一把，大不了名聲壞了，換個名字 (或產品) 重新來過。但大公司可就不一樣了 — 除非你負責的品牌值數十億，可以讓你慢慢敗光。
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Posted in Marketing Thought, Microsoft on Apr 6th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
繼紅髮 Lauren 後，此次我們找來了美國阿宅擔綱主角演出，這回任務雷同：$1500 美金預算 (比上次多$500)，你能買到符合理想規格的電腦，製作單位就幫你出錢。當然這一切都是模擬情境劇，重點只是在凸顯一件事…
“Mac is so sexy, but…”
Ouch!, price-value ratio, it hurts.
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Posted in Marketing Thought, Microsoft on Mar 28th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
我特別喜歡這句：“I’m just not cool enough to be a Mac person.” (片中女主角逛了Apple店之後發現東西都超貴爆預算所說出的話。)
就是這句話讓這支AD在美國部落圈廣為流傳，什麼都是假的，只有省錢是真的！哈哈。既然常常被虧，那不如跳出來自己虧自己，幽默自嘲人人愛啊！
btw, I’m a PC 之可愛4.5歲妹妹篇也值得一看。
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Posted in Marketing Thought on Mar 27th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
企業成立行銷部門不一定對大眾有益，但政府單位成立 國際行銷部門，向全球推廣「來我們國家旅遊」這項產品，才是把人民的納稅錢燒到對的地方。
最近韓國 Seoul Festival 2009 (捷運) 廣告打得很兇，相信大家多少都有印象，現在連CNN上都看得到 (全球大老闆們，時機歹歹，快來我們韓國首爾散散心，花花錢吧！)：
連到 landing page，你會驚訝滴發現出現的是繁體中文網站 (自動偵測各來源IP國家，轉換到適合語言)，上頭正在舉辦看影片，寫心得比賽，現已經有超過30頁台灣粉絲的留言了：
以下是題外話：
如果把整個政府比喻為一家公司，對內來說，這家公司擁有最龐大的既有客戶資料庫 (全民，想像一下，在不違反法律的前提下，可以任意寄送 dm / edm )，以及最龐大的廣告inventories 資源 (道路、車站等公共建設，只要不違反法律，可在任何「留白」處宣傳尋息，還有一天到晚追著政府一舉一動的記者媒體，提供免費的新聞 PR)，只要懂得利用，可以輕鬆 initiate 各種 nationwide campaign，讓人民做出你期望的行為。對外來說，這間公司的競爭對手是其他國家，其他國家的人民是潛在客戶。如果以「人才靜流入數量」來當國家經營成功的指標之一，那美國在這方面算是贏到了不少潛在客戶 。
這麼刺激的戰場，怎麼會無法吸引行銷人才來大玩一把呢？
我始終覺得，企業在行銷人才的取得上不虞匱乏，但政府，甚至是學校、藝文、慈善機構等組織一直無法透過有效資源 (包含人才) ，把比較有「理想性」、「非營利目的」的價值觀傳或訊息遞出去。追根究底，不外乎沒有架構行銷系統的意識 (e.g. 我們做的事情因為某某某種理由，不需要特別宣傳推廣啦)。不外乎官僚舊思維 (e.g. 啥？你說啥行銷，孟德斯鳩有說要做這件事嗎？)，追根究底， 還是得向企業的行銷部門學習。
Marketing talents to be recruited: “Show me the commitment, and I’m in.”
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Posted in Bill Gates, Google, Microsoft, Thought on Mar 25th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
Thank you young guys, you created tons of job opportunities (including mine), you made our life interesting, you disrupted the world once ruled by beauracrats.
let’s see the numbers in detail:
| Founder | Company | Age at Founding |
| Bill Gates | Microsoft | 19 |
| Paul Allen | Microsoft | 21 |
| Steve Jobs | Apple | 20 |
| Steve Wozniak | Apple | 25 |
| Larry Page | 24 | |
| Sergey Brin | 24 | |
| Jerry Yang | Yahoo! | 26 |
| David Filo | Yahoo! | 28 |
| Mark Zuckerberg | 19 | |
| Dustin Moskovitz | 19 | |
| Chris Hughes | 19 | |
| Chad Hurley | YouTube | 27 |
| Steve Chen | YouTube | 26 |
| Jawed Karim | YouTube | 25 |
* The average age: 23
* Two were born in Taipei, Taiwan
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Posted in Marketing Thought, Microsoft on Mar 24th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
Today’s news: Microsoft (MSFT), via its Federated Media ad network/platform/agency, is sponsoring a page that collects Tweets from various executives. Twitter will get an undisclosed payment for giving the site its stamp of approval and for promoting the site on Twitter itself. Federated says it plans on launching similar programs on Twitter with other clients. (source)
你可以在這頁特製的 Twitter aggregator 中，找到各公司高級長官的 tweets。當然，別忘了看看你們公司是不是也已經 ”PeopleReady (for Twittering?!)” 。按一下中間上面的Banner 就可以知道答案。
Brilliant!
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Posted in Marketing Thought on Mar 23rd, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
"Many who build technology think that a technology’s feature set is the key to its adoption and popularity. With social media, this is often not the case. There are triggers that drive early adopters to a site, but the single most important factor in determining whether or not a person will adopt one of these sites is whether or not it is the place where their friends hangout. In each of these cases, network effects played a significant role in the spread and adoption of the site. …
Marketers know all about stickiness, but how many of you measure network density? You purchase all sorts of data from Nielsen and comScore that tells you about uniques, but do you know anything about the cluster dynamics of the users? Are you able to see when the network graph is reaching a sustainable point or, more importantly, when things are starting to fracture? … We can’t role out cool new technologies if we can’t get cluster effects. We don’t just need network effects to get things to spread; we also need to think in terms of complete clusters. And we need to design with this in mind….
…Specific genres of social media may come and go, but these underlying properties are here to stay. We won’t turn the clock back on these. Social network sites may end up being a fad from the first decade of the 21st century, but new forms of technology will continue to leverage social network as we go forward. If we get away from thinking about the specific technologies and focus on the properties and dynamics, we can see how change is unfolding before our eyes. One of the key challenges is learning how to adapt to an environment in which these properties and dynamics play a key role. This is a systems problem. We are all implicated in it - as developers and policy makers, as parents and friends, as individuals and as citizens.”
(source: Danah Boyd’s Speechat Tech Fest)
Danah Boyd是微軟前幾年招募進MSR的學者，研究領域為新媒體，擅長從文化、行為、與社會學角度分析社群網站現象。看膩了媒體報導、研究報告，偶而從學術觀點瞭解社群網站在我們的生活 (或在我們的campaign) 所扮演的角色，有助於深入表象。
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Posted in Google, Microsoft, Thought on Mar 20th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
Gmail Blog說以後放錯收件人、打錯字、忘記打主旨等「手滑」等級的失誤，現在都有解了。你可以在Gmail Lab (Eng) 中開啟這項新功能，日後寄出的信件，會有5秒delay時間，讓你取消寄送。不過5秒夠讓潛意識 (或反射神經) 通知大腦 something wrong 嗎？
Outlook 應該也可以加入這個功能，而且如果能設計成可自行設定延遲送出秒數，那應該可以減少許多 email 擦槍走火事件。畢竟很多人都是寄送鍵一按，心境一轉，氣就消了，但這時才後悔口氣下太重，一切都為時已晚。
偉哉科技，國家棟樑應該多朝這種輔助「人性缺陷」的方向，去思考下一個改變世界的發明。
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Posted in Investment, Management Thought on Mar 19th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
So I’ve become fond of an approach where the company pays management bonuses on "incremental year ove year ebitda." The way this works is you pick a base year and for the next year you pay management a bonus of x% of the incremental ebitda they generate. The best way to do this is a five year plan with a goal of obtaining a significant increase in ebitda so management has time to make the investments needed to get there. (source)
僅是基於當年財報營收、淨利來犒賞管理階層，恐怕會發生長官們只想短線操作，把原本該投資的expenses都省下來美化帳面。所以改用基於EBITDA成長百分比的方式派發紅利比較能長短兼顧。
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Posted in Marketing Thought on Mar 17th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
…if social media sites want to find a way to monetize engagement, there needs to be some added value for the marketer. What that might mean for platforms is giving up some control over data (something that Facebook has been wrestling with) or the type of interactions that marketers are able to take part in. Eventually search engines found the right balance between commerce, control and user-friendliness, a balance that I believe social media sites will eventually strike. There will be some false starts to be sure but there is much to be gained for all parties –marketers, social media platforms, and users – in getting the balance right. (source)
如果身邊有經營社群的朋友，可以問問，hey，你們每天這樣日也操，眠也操，心中想的，是為使用者創造價值，還是為廣告主創造價值？
大部分 (我可以說全部嗎) 的 social networking sites 都是 build-for-users in mind，如此一來，天大地大 user 大，不敢惹衣食父母，只能靠 (non-intrusive?) 廣告來 drive revenue。大家吃飯的傢伙都一樣，久了就沒競爭力。對user太好，結果錢賺不飽。
那有沒有可能蓋一個 community site that is built for marketers in mind? 應該有，據我所知，時下已經有些社群論壇，專賣會員data base，或提供user behavior的資料給 marketer/ marketing agency。而且還會強調說，賣給第三方的資料，統統都是匿名。
不過…你敢到賣匿名病歷的醫院回診嗎？應該不會。可惜，根據我心中的七顆龍珠指示，這種假社群，真賣銀…喔不好意思手滑，是「假社群，真賣data銀彈」的網站會越開越多家 (以後招牌上可能還會寫：社群網站BI服務) 。沒辦法，你想買我就賣嘛，行銷一族強大的 demand 正排山倒海而來。
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All quotes are paraphrased:
Charlie Rose asked: “what’s the original business model of Google?”
Eric Schmidt: “Larry and Sergey tried to sell the search technology just invented to all of the then powerful Internet companies, but everyone turned them down. They said we don’t know how to work with you, you’re too young, that sort of things.”
When talking about percentage of advertising revenues to total revenues, Eric Schmidt said “98%. We’re an advertising company.” “Today, our strategy is search, ads, and apps.”
On acquisition, “We’re not going to buy anything in the short term (including Twitter). Partly because I think the prices are still too high.” (my thought: the (perceived) valuations of U.S. hot startups shrinked quite a bit recently. Is the “too high” simply indicates that Eric Schmidt is not confident enough about the economy outlook?)
Joke time: “The vast majority of the photographs people taken with their phones are kept in the phones because they can’t get them out of them.” “We’re going to solve that problem.”
Eric Schmidt: “One of the things I like to see in the future is that Google (& YouTube) as the “politicians BS detector.”
“95% of ads served on Google are text ads”
“Contextual ads are not the only way for user-generated content monetization, think about micropayment. Say you have millions of audiences, 2 cents, 5 cents per view will be quite lucrative. We’ re seeing related technologies and tools being developed in the industry, and I think they are likely to be successful.”
Charlie Rose asked about what’s on the edge? Eric Schmidt: “If you’re willing to give Google more information about you, i.e. interest, background, etc., Google will do more for you. Say, you’re on a street with your GPS-enabled phone, and Google should search for and tell you what you may be interested in nearby, automatically.” “Imagine that the people, the phone, and the constant search create a narrative stream.”
“We work in a technology where prices are improving.”
More philosophical talks on the latter part: “Press the ‘off-button’ — just because I have access to all (crisis) information doesn’t mean I have to worry about all of them.”
Also a very interesting question in the end asked by Charlie Rose: “Are people in technology different?” Eric Schmidt: “Technologists as a group tend to be more analytical, data-driven, more personally liberal, more willingly to tolerate the difference among people, more global in their focus…People in technology believe that they can create a whole new business…believe they can change the world from technology.”
And there you go: the full interview video
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Posted in Bill Gates, Google, Thought on Mar 12th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
昨天和今天看到兩則新聞，讓我有種改變遲早會出現，但似乎都比想像中早實現的感覺。
第一則是Google Official Blog 在這禮拜三終於掙脫privacy concern的枷鎖，宣佈進軍Behavioral Targeting Ads市場，並同時開放新服務Ad Preferences Manager Beta測試。透過Ad Preference Manager，你可以先挑選自己有興趣的領域、主題，日後Google遞送的廣告就會依你的嗜好過濾，讓廣告對你的干擾度降到最低，你也比較有興趣點廣告，更重要的是，Agency因此賺更多錢，Publisher因此賺更多錢，Google因此賺更多錢，當然，Advertiser的conversion rate也能提高，一切皆大歡喜。
那我怎麼會特別想提這則消息呢？兩年前，我有陣子天天braistorming新idea，也把這些想法順手紀錄在ideaisqueen部落格中，其中開發「讓使用者自行選擇興趣、嗜好的廣告比對服務」就是其中之一。當時很迷StarWars，巴不得所有AdSense送出來的廣告都跟週邊商品相關，自然而然覺得世界上一定還有許多人同我有類似的需求，總覺得Google早該想到這點，讓使用者手動設定廣告遞送的條件。
第二則新聞則是剛出爐的2009年富比士世界富豪排行榜，這回比爾蓋茲重回首富寶座，而我也正好於約莫一年半前，寫過比爾蓋茲13年來首度丟掉首富地位的紀念文一篇。當時榜首被原本第三名的墨西哥電信大亨Carlos Slim取代。然而我相信以股票市值計價的資產，遲早會因市場波動而有所改變，但想不到改變會來得這麼快，想不到我們會在兩年後壟罩於金融風暴當中，也想不到文章寫完半年內，先是巴菲特擠掉墨西哥電信大亨成為2008年首富接棒人，又同時於12個月之間 (道瓊一萬四千點到七千點之間)，將首富接力棒又交還給比爾蓋茲。
把莫非定律改寫一下，我們生活的世界，不就是環繞在下面這句spell當中？
Anything that can change will change eventually.
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Posted in Marketing Thought on Mar 11th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
The idea executed by the one who came up with the idea.
執行的人無法體會點子有多好，想出點子的人無法體會執行起來有多難。想出點子的人，往往在跟點子談戀愛；執行點子的人，往往在跟點子當夫妻。
策略的發想人，也同時是執行者，那這計畫就躺著先贏一半了。可惜喜歡動腦的懶惰人，和喜歡動手的勤快人，生活在兩個截然不同的世界。
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Posted in Marketing Thought on Mar 10th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
2天前 (20093/8) 才寫一篇說2009/2/26註冊的 ”Google” 官方 Twitter 帳號進場掃台，當時有80,635個 Follower，短短兩天，又多了2萬人，現在已經集滿100,905名朝聖者…
印象中歐巴馬的帳號在青春期也沒發育得這麼快…
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Posted in English Posts, Marketing Thought, Quote on Mar 10th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
Since the measure of a technology’s success is how invisible it becomes, the best long-term strategy is to develop products and services that can be ignored. (source)
Visibility – short term success – marketing
Invisibility – long term success – core value
The strategy you’re pursuing is visibility or invisibility?
If you’re a manger or founder, would you rather make yourself more invisible than visible within an organization?
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Posted in English Posts, Marketing Thought on Mar 9th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
(source)
Don’t waste your time. Most of us are floating at the center of the chart, and tend to drive to the upper left side when thinking about innovation. Stupidity and innovation is a double sided blade.
For marketing guys, they have little, if not none, control of product development, their efforts always lie on the horizon of pricing war. Remember the 4P’s and The Lord of the Rings? After all, you’re reluctant to admit it’s One P to rules them all. And that’s Price.
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Posted in Marketing Thought on Mar 8th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
Google在 2009/2/26 宣佈官方品牌帳號進駐 Twitter: http://twitter.com/google，直至今天為止 (2009/3/8) 已經有80,635個follower。而這個帳號目前只有36次 update。(Google 帳號本身的新聞性，外加第一篇只由0與1組成的哈囉文，造就了不少 PR 版面。)
把第一篇0&1二進位文解譯後，對應的英文字元為：”FEELING LUCKY”
Microsoft 也有不少官方或非官方 (員工) 的 Twitter 帳號，相較於 Google 這門大砲，MSFT比較像是散兵作戰，不過所有帳號的 follower 加起來應該遠超過8萬人。
直接拿品牌來註冊固然能快速匯集人氣，但這樣的一個帳號本身也有許多風險和限制。不知道帳號背後是由哪個部門的員工經營呢？工程部門？產品部門？行銷部門？公關部門？還是 Eric Schmidt？此帳號發表的內容是否要對公司品牌與形象負責呢？她 or 他 or 它能「說」些什麼？界線在哪裡？
當然 Twitter 上除了 @Google 總指揮官外，也有 @YouTube、@Blogger、@Google Reader、@Google Apps、@App Engine 等官方作戰聯隊。
OK，讓我們把鏡頭拉回來，來場 Microsoft 官方 Twitter 帳號大校閱 (來源大部分取自於微軟員工 Adam Kinney 蒐集的資訊，少部份是我之前不知不覺follow到的，為避免這篇被搜尋引擎判斷為link stuffing，所以連結都先拿掉了)：
@zunemarketplace、@XNACommunity、@wmdev、@wlmessenger、@WindowsLive、@MSWindows’、@AskTechNetUK、@MVPAwardProgram、@MSDN、@MIX09、@mixonline、@MicrosoftUP、@microsofttag、@MicrosoftStore、@SharePoint、@MSOfficeResKit、@officelabs、@MSExpression、@bizspark、@adCenterBlog、@Live_Search、@livemesh、@liveframework、@codeplex、@ch10、@ch9、@ch8、@MicrsftTech4All 、@SiteNamedDesire 、@ContinuumShow 、@projectrosetta、@SilverlightNews 、@XAMLEvents、@codeplex’、@Microsoft_TAM、@MSLearning、@MicrosoftPress、@zuneinsider、@Microsoft_Green、@MSAccess、@MSAddvertising、@IE、@PDC09、@TechEd09、@MSFTissues、@microsoft_tr、@msblueprints、@MSinDOD、@Microsoft_IT、@microsoftisrael、@MicrosoftStore、@RoMicrosoft、@MicrosoftCES、@MicrosoftEDU、@OfficeLiveGirl、@msoffice_us、@SharePointMVPs…等等等，還有許多帳號尚未浮出水面，族繁不及備載。
壓軸當然就是 @msdn_taiwan，Twitter 國際戰線都開打了，台灣當然不能缺席。 : D
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Long ago, Ben Graham taught me that “Price is what you pay; value is what you get.” Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.
Here Buffett mentioned his old mentor again. 我們在評估一件事時，常常只看到付出的代價 (比較近)，卻往往忽略背後的價值 (比較遠)。但不用責怪自己，這是大腦發出風險規避命令，強迫心中那台2進位計算機 (只會判斷好或不好、要或不要) 運算出來的結果。誰知道未來會變成時麼樣子？當下預期的價值，放到不確定的未來，天知道會不會打個三折五折？
Benjamin Graham 會說：孩子， 其實價值在你決定要付出多少成本的那一刻，就決定了。
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1. Increase the quality of life.
2. Right a wrong.
3. Prevent the end of something good.
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1. What won’t change?
2. Accept failure if you want to be innovative.
3. A customer-alignment strategy (doing expensive, customer centric but “shareholder-unfriendly” things in the short term, a shareholder-alignment (combined with customer-alignment) strategy in the long term.
4. Charlie Rose asked, “choose one word that most contributed to your success and achievement.” Jeff Bezos answered, “willingness to be long-term oriented, willingness to be misunderstood, and willingness to fail.”
5. The goal of the design of Kindle is to make the device disappeared when you read books. You’re totally into the author’s world.
The last point also applies to the design of any platform, either the next social networks or next operating systems or next iTunes or next mobile apps stores. What people want is the seamless experience of interaction with content. The less they can feel the platform, the better.
Let’s make WINDOWS frictionless like oxygen, shall we?
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最近Facebook因為user data ownership和和data portability問題吵到主流媒體上:
Mark Zuckerberg正襟危坐，看起來有點緊張，最後主持人還調侃他的領帶，說他2007年上節目時穿得一派輕鬆，現在可有“serious CEO”的樣子了 XD。
傳統印象中，老外比東方人重視隱私，但在Facebook裡頭又會發現人人樂於詳填profile資訊，也樂於把news feed完全分享出來。矛盾的是，老外又同時對資訊的自由使用權利與掌控權力相當有意見，這真是在台灣很難看到的現象。台灣人概熱衷於把部落格文章或是相簿設密碼，但卻很少關心這些資料是否真的安全，也很少注意服務商是否曾把使用者貢獻的內容拿去做商業用途等議題 (反過來說，Facebook甚至有好幾個group主題是反站內利用user generated content產生behavior targeting的social ads — 同樣是隱私權問題)。在台灣幾個比較大的BSP廣告幾乎是無孔不入，甚至大方置入廣告商精心設計的佈景主題，引誘使用者當免費的宣傳媒介，這些資訊都沒有清楚揭漏，但也不太有人在意，台灣人一連上網路，是不是自主意識就變得比較薄弱，我也搞不清楚了。
再回到Facebook因修改使用條款造成的爭議，最後Mark決定回到舊條款，但同時進行改寫(寫成一般人比較容易看懂的內容)，且宣布凡是Facebook泱泱大國的人民 (聽說把user數換算成人口，即能登上全球第6大國家) 都可以參與新版條款的修正。不虧是民主國家的產物。人類真的會把維繫社會運作的那一套帶到網路世界。
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Posted in Marketing Thought on Feb 25th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
SMO (社群媒體最佳化？) 的練功心法有6招，聽Wikipeida大神講，SMO是由Rohit Bhargava這個人率先提出：
雖然有幾項講得實在太模糊了，但整體來說也算是給新手一個實踐方向。其中第3招 – reword inbound links 效果應該最快速顯著。畢竟會在social media做最佳化的多是行銷活動，只要把預算撥一部分送送虛擬或實體giveaway，鼓勵大家多串連不會太難。
另外要記得，像Facebook、MySpace這類型網站，傾向於不開放讓搜尋引擎爬站內的任何內容，畢竟有隱私權考量。那天網友搜尋某知名夜店時，發現你喝醉和同性友人玩親嘴大冒險的照片，那可就不太妙了。所以不同於一般SEO，SMO設計inbound link building strategy時，考量重心應純粹放在如何增加連結直接點選率，暫時忘記搜尋引擎能加分的部份。
既然社群網站有設立「搜尋壁壘」的傾向，那倒不如把整個社群網站當成一個平台，專門研究如何做”on-site search optimization”。我相信類似的domain knowledge正在累積當中，說不定2010年前後，我們就會看到一堆書在講：如何針對Facebook的站內搜尋做最佳化。(我們先衷心期待FB壟斷美國人和歐洲人的網路生活吧！)
有趣的是，當SMO最初5大心法被拿出來討論之後，又有一堆熱血Bloggers補充第7到第16條SMO守則：
7. Reward helpful and valuable users
8. Participate
9. Know how to target your audience
10. Create content
11. Be real
12. Don’t forget your roots, be humble
13. Don’t be afraid to try new things, stay fresh
14. Develop a SMO strategy
15. Choose your SMO tactics wisely
16. Make SMO part of your process and best practices
這種東西真是各說各話，甚至後面幾條建議有灌水的嫌疑…第13, 14, 15, 16點，也未免太common sense了…
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和朋友吃了一頓飯，聊到台灣VC現況，她告訴我看了這麼多案例後，深深覺得entrepreneur投入任何venture前，應該花費更多時間在”validate the idea”。一個打從一開始就不work的idea，一旦做下去，浪費的不只是你的時間、VC的時間、也連累了這間公司的員工(和家庭)。
這讓我想起Wall Street流傳的一句話：” Any bad ideas start out as good ideas. ”
夢想不一定要以enterprise的方式實現；夢想不一定非賺錢不可；夢想需要你在清醒時，多想想值不值得在現實生活中讓它成真。
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前些日子看完2008年12月才上市的中文版Second Lives: A Journey Through Virtual World (中譯：第二人生) (英文版2008年2月上市)，不禁讓我懷疑目前Second Life的熱門程度到底還剩下多少？根據以下的走勢圖來看，我猜測原作者Tim Guest開始動筆寫書時，正逢報章媒體爭相報導SL的高峰期，當然也就是泡破破掉的前夕(徵兆?)，等到本書付梓時，Second Life的website reach rate/seach volume都已經不到當時的一半。
ps. User是透過client login到SL的世界，所以以下數據不一定代表絕對的new registers或active users數量增減。但已足以反應趨勢。
我來回憶一下2006, 2007年最夯的幾個 Enterprise + Second Life 相關議題：
1. 企業到 Second Life 推廣品牌 (含一般廣告置入、虛擬品牌產品)
2. 企業到 Second Life 招開虛擬公司會議、虛擬記者會
3. 企業到 Second Life 設立分公司(含辦公大樓建築、客服中心、接待處、銷售門市等等)
大家在 First Life 變窮，相對於 Second Life 好像也變得比較興致缺缺。如果下一個網路世代真的是Virtual World，那現在勇於切入經營 (或說是勇於認識?) 虛擬國度的企業，將會是下一波景氣回復時的贏家。
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在做一些關於Google PageRank的study時，發現這一段：
PageRank was developed at Stanford University by Larry Page (hence the name Page-Rank[3]) and later Sergey Brin as part of a research project about a new kind of search engine.
- source: Wikipedia on PageRank
所以PageRank中文我們不能叫做網頁排名法，要叫做佩吉排名法。(?!)
也趁精神好時，看一下一般人應該不會有興趣的簡化版PageRank演算法公式 (alert，這只是簡化版，較完整的版本還要加上調整係數，和random surfer的概念…)
PR(X)代表網站X的PageRank值，L(X)代表網站X的對外連結數量。由簡化公式可得，一個網站的PageRank值，來自於每個連結到此站的網頁PageRank值除以此網頁的對外連結數加總。
或請出西格馬大叔來進一步簡化公式：
用人類語言來說，就是先假設全宇宙只有A、B、C、、D四個網頁，其中網頁B、C、D各有一個對外連結連到網頁A。依照最原先PageRank的定義，網頁A的PageRank值，來自於網頁B、C、D個別的PageRank值加總。但網頁B、C、D貢獻的PageRank值還會被其他同樣在B、C、D網頁內的對外連結削弱，也就是說，假如網頁B除了有一個對外連結，連到網頁A，還有另外2個對外連結分別連到C與D，此時，網頁B貢獻給網頁A的PageRank值就要除以對外連結的總數，也就是除以3 (網頁B共有連到網頁A、網頁C、網頁D等3個對外連結)。
所以這個故事告訴我們：
1. 在一個網頁中，放很多out-going links，對自己站的SEO不會有太大影響 (incomming links仍大大影響網頁的authority分數)，但對於網站貢獻出去的PageRank值則有影響。
2. Google核心競爭力，建立在無人能攻破的演算法之上，想透過網路獲利或創業，你可也先想想是否也同樣有三兩三，再來考慮是否上梁山。
ps. PageRank只是Google評估一個網站搜尋結果排名的因素之一(畢竟PR值只有0到10，一堆同樣集中在2或3的網頁仍需要其他參數來分結果先後，但PR仍是一個決定性的因素)，其他推估影響網站搜尋引擎排名的因素，可以參考這個SEO影響因素一覽表。
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Posted in Marketing Thought on Feb 20th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
Imagine this: the evolution of a guy (undead?!) who sell products and services throughout a couple of centuries: from a seller to a marketer to a influencer to a evangelist to a tastemaker.
Did you eat Apple by the way?
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Posted in Marketing Thought on Feb 19th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
幹行銷這行很難有批判的能力，因為成功的經驗告訴我們，總是要在一種趨勢逐漸紅起來時，抓住，搭上順風車，如此就能順水推舟，輕鬆把想傳遞的訊息打中大眾一窩蜂的羊群心理。
這就造成了我們總在尋找best practices的習慣 - 總是要等別人做過了，成功了，我們才跟著上轎。
這也難怪，因為打仗時，衝第一個的往往成為砲灰。marketing expense也像投資，禁不起投入未知、未成熟領域的風險。
但任何趨勢、潮流、總會有個帶頭的吧？所以我可以這樣說嗎？95%的marketer都是me-too marketer，只有5%的marketer是reckless marketer？
如果只是看書上課，我們永遠都是在學習5% reckless marketer的 best practices，永遠都在當95%的me-too marketer。98%的報酬都被前者拿光了，2%報酬分給書商和老師，剩下的100%風險，留給95%剛跟上熱潮的你、我、他。
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Posted in Management Thought, Thought on Feb 18th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
身為領導者，需要有一個謙遜的靈魂，外加一顆僕人的心。
領導者並不是問題的解決者，而是問題的給予者。
看完第二次QBQ - 問題背後的問題一書，印象最深刻的就是上面這兩句話 (似乎跟QBQ核心精神沒有太大關係，我的本日佳句filter好像只過濾我有興趣的議題…)。
這本書其餘部份都繞著”personal accountability” 演繹，用個新鮮的詞兒(QBQ: The Question Behind The Question)包裝一個老生長談，但對職場新鮮人來說，重要的觀念。
像QBQ這類書籍，或是MBA課程，目的都是為了訓練出好員工 (而不是革命家、夢想家、創業家) - 也就是，訓練出行為更有可預期性、同質性、兼容性的好員工。因為，當員工都具備商業勵志書籍倡導的特質時，組織才有辦法盡可能排除「人類本性」的因素，成為有效率的機器。
無論如何，最後的受益者，當然是幫這部機器加油打蠟的投資人。下回被套牢時，檢討可以多一項：早知道就拿這些賠掉的錢買個幾千本QBQ送給某某某公司的全體員工看了…
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Posted in Marketing Thought on Feb 17th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
He’s clicking on the “follow” button while I was listening to a lecture mentioned how Twitter is changing the way of marketing today…Should I not be thrilled?
Guy Kawasaki’s blog is one of the few I’m still following after several “great purges” in previous years.
So, who is Guy?
1. The Most influential (most-retweeted) Twitter-er by Forbes
2. Former Apple Evangelist, responsible for marketing Macintosh 1.0
3. Said to be the first that came up with the idea of “product-evangelism”
He may well need good luck to see my tweets out of his 70K+ following profiles. And I was lucky enough to be seen by him out of his ?????? daily following tweets. Interesting. : D
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I am all for trying to protect the small inventor, but solo inventor who does not commercialize his/her technology does not bring nearly as much economic value (and jobs) to our society as the entrepreneur who actually takes the risk, starts the company, hires people, commercializes the technology, raises the necessary capital, and builds lasting sustainable value. (source)
商.業.化.三個字對一些人來說就像是會玷污人類[原始][高貴][情操]的…醬油，噢，別沾了，換個口味想想吧：商業化能快速把發明、創新的經濟價值回饋到社會。商業化讓價值的原持有人(賣方)有了動力把價值轉手讓出，商業化也讓價值的追尋者(買方)珍惜付出成本後所獲得的結果。一來一往， 前者是促進資源消費，後者是減少資源浪費。
支持開放原始碼暨想讓世界變更好的熱血才俊們可加減參考以上解盤，看就好，喜歡再下單。
Though this blog is powered by WordPress…
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Posted in Marketing Thought on Feb 11th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
雖然你沒時間傾聽，但還是要裝作一副有在聽的樣子。
不論是經營品牌帳號、產品帳號、或是個人帳號，我想follow everyone who follows you是一種「傾聽」態度的表現。縱使經營者根本就沒興趣去看(或回應)大家的碎碎念。換個角度想想：如果你今天一起床開電腦，發現最喜愛的品牌正在follow你，thrilled, aren’t you?
西拉蕊的幕僚(或西拉蕊本人)可能比較不喜歡吵鬧。
(source: Hubspot’s Twitter 101 Webcast)
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Posted in Marketing Thought, Quote on Feb 10th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
A company blog - even one that talks about customers in the traditional case study’ way - will still be greeted with skepticism - because of the motives behind it. We all judge the speaker by what they have to gain by our listening to them. – by Commenter, Dana Theus (source)
值得深思。因為blog reader不是笨蛋，笨蛋比較容易上置入性廣告的當，但你的流量如果都來自笨蛋 — 那也幫不了你什麼 — 除非歷史告訴我們：笨蛋都很有錢。(不好意思以上用詞直接了點 XD )
根據Forrest Research 2008 Q2調查，超過80%美國受訪者不信任企業部落格。
話說回來，這年頭，「不信任」不等於「不看」或「不留意」。台灣人都說不信任政治人物，但是政論節目加減看的還是不少。我也不太信任整天拍成功人士(&賺錢企業)馬屁的財經雜誌，更不信任雜誌上粉飾門面的廣編稿，但我閒來無事還是加減看。
That’s why you should continue your endeavor on corporate blogs. Don’t give up. Bored people plus their skepticism generate your valuable readership.
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Posted in Marketing Thought on Feb 9th, 2009 繼續閱讀 »
創新的行銷手法不一定要發生在網路上。在舊市場喊水會結凍的influencer影響不了新市場。想擄獲新市場的心，就得先找出新市場的影響力核心。想打入女性鄰居市場，先討好婆婆媽媽們就對了。
On a recent Saturday, about 1,000 women across the country moonlighted as marketers for Microsoft’s newest Xbox services.
House cleaners, hairdressers, guidance counselors and IT technicians got a $150 pack of Xbox freebies for opening their homes to at least 10 friends or relatives…
They got an Xbox party pack of freebies that included microwaveable popcorn, Xbox trivia game "Scene It? Box Office Smash," an Xbox universal media remote control, a three-month subscription to Xbox Live, and 1,600 Xbox Live points (used for game, movie and TV show purchases).
"We’ve sold 20 million consoles to date globally since we launched three years ago," says Heather Snavely, Microsoft’s director of interactive entertainment business global platforms. "In order to get to the next 20 million, we need to get a new audience of women and teens. We’re going after them in ways that are different than ways we’ve done before." (source)
然而這樣的創意恐怕只能在美國 - 一個擁有有多元化服務的國家才有機會落實。畢竟這個想法也是透過一家叫做House Party的公司，來專門執行”Home Party Marketing”類型的案子。
Xbox found women including Maldonado and Chicago-area resident Danielle Jamil through a service called House Party, which sets up home parties for marketers. House Party has a database of 100,000 names of people who have provided a profile of personal information and who want to be "brand advocates." The advocates host a preplanned party to show off the marketer’s brand to their friends
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Posting tweet...
