Manage To Change

Products, Platforms, Content, and Human Behavior

Having attended several conferences throughout the fall, I seemed to get hit with the same two product development points over and over:

• The product is the platform (and sometimes the process)

• The platform allows consumption, production, and sharing

The platform caters to the idea, brilliantly covered by Clay Shirky, that people don’t just want to consume. They want to produce and share as well.

The content business is no longer a one-way street. 

In fact, one-directional products were never in line with how people really act.  They existed because of physical limitations. 

Bi-directional traffic is increasing because the factors that have historically constrained it are being removed. 

Now if you don’t embrace interactivity you’re in trouble.

Social Media and the President-Elect

Options, options, options. 

Should developers of content products take a lesson from the Obama campaign, transition, and, hopefully, the administration?

The lesson: Give people what they want, where they want it.

Options people had to monitor the campaign included:
•    The Obama iPhone application (campaign related)
•    BarackObama.com
•    Twitter
•    Text messages
•    Facebook

 

If you’re interested in the transition, there’s the President-Elect’s website.  

Then there are the weekly updates from the transition team that you can view on the change.gov blog or on YouTube.

Too much you say?

Perhaps for one person it's too much.

But is it too much when we consider everyone that might be interested - and all of their device and media preferences?

Thoughts about Fire Fighting

Show me a fire fighter and I’ll show you an arsonist.

Opinions?