i d e a g r o u p

MySpace/MyKids

This week is going to be full of plate spinning as we move offices (see pics of new place here), reshoot the MySpace/MyKids online course (splash page here), and continue to press ahead on key components of the viewzi prototype.

I thought I would tell you a little about the MySpace/MyKids project since I haven't written about it yet.

The project arose out of a conversation Steve Reinemund (Chairman of PepsiCo) and I had at a prayer breakfast about how many parents are clueless about MySpace and that there may be an opportunity to help teach them. Further, Steve wanted to help make this happen and wanted to meet again to figure out how. I had built an online learning platform for Pure Online but knew only enough to be dangerous when it came to social networking and the dangers of MySpace.

But, the very next day, I get an email from this guy Jason Ilian who's telling me about this new book he has coming out called MySpace/MyKids--a book for parents of teens that helps them understand and deal with MySpace. Wow....now we have a project.

So, a few weeks later Jason and I presented Steve with a plan of attack and a budget. He funded it that following week and we began production that next day.

This week, we go back into the studio to shoot Jason, Liz Casteel (a counselor that works with teens), and Chris Witt (director of Sky Ranch--and has worked with teens and their parents for over a decade). We are rapidly approaching our deadline so our post production guys will be in the studio while we are shooting so that once chapter one is shot, we can begin editing it while we shoot chapter two. Rapid application development at its best.

The project will launch on February 10th and has already gotten great support from the execs at MySpace. Lets hope that parents are ready to invest a little time to be better equipped to deal with this new medium their kids have so fully embraced.

//bc

 

Webapp overload?

There are two lists that recently have given me brainfreeze: Seth Godin's Web 2.0 ranking and Chris Mayaud's All Things Web 2.0 site.  Each provides a look into the world of new application-driven sites that in many cases do just one thing, albiet they usually do that one thing well. Seth's list has 937 sites. Chris' site has 2,211 listings (many are also on Seth's list).

One of the great qualities of the net is that it makes things easier.

Communication is easier. Translation is easier. Geolocation is easier. Finding lost friends is easier. Creating and distributing porn is easier. Creating an application, attracting users, and building a revenue-positive business is easier (don't confuse easier with easy).

Before, back when things were hard, it took dozens of developers, software architects, QA teams, user and interface designers to create an application that would be beta-tested to death--only to be tossed back and forth between sales guys saying SHIP IT and QA guys saying DON'T. Then, once that arguement is settled, the final product is documented, packaged and sent through the channel (distribution and retail) only to sit on shelves until some amount of marketing is done (the "pull") to make it move off shelves into our hands.

It is much easier now. Two guys in a dorm room can create a compelling web-based application using rapid developent tools like Ruby on Rails (among others), talk up that application on various blogs (like the ones I listed above), and start selling it.

Usually the Web 2.0 business model includes some mix of a free version and then a few levels of paid ones allowing the user to get value first, then pay later. This is of course in direct opposite to the models of old where you pay first and get value later (thanks to Guy Hoffman for reminding me of this simple but important shift).

Basecamp is a good example. It is a nice and simple project management tool that has a free version that lets you manage one project for free or unlimited projects for $149.00 a month. The application is very nice and was created by a small team at smart guys at 37 Signals (my understanding is that under ten people built and deployed the initial apps).

Which brings me to my point: if it is this easy to build and roll-out all these web-based apps, it stands to reason that we will quickly have a surplus of them.

So, what do we do about it? I don't know. Maybe you can suggest some ideas.

We can't go back. Maybe more is needed in the areas of webapp integration and implementation--helping companies use the apps they have more effecitvely. Maybe there are opportunities to help larger companies unravel closed internal systems and replace them with cheap and flexible open web ones.

Let me know what you think.

Oh, I am sooo web-two-point-oh

Yesterday Web 2.0 cheerleader Blake Burris led a discussion at StarTech about Web 2.0 and some of the key elements that make it interesting. It was pretty well attended and I think that most of the guys there learned something from the session.

I had heard much of it before in past firehose settings with Blake, but yesterday a new spark was ignited around helping to reduce some of the friction in the young, start-up community here in Dallas.

So, pursuant with Web 2.0 values, I immediately went out to PB Wiki and setup my first Wiki about this still nascent idea.  I feel sooo web-two-point-oh.  I was impressed with the simplicity of setting up a basic page, but not with the design and UI of what the end product looks like. A Wiki is a simple, content management-driven page creation tool that allows you to very, very simply, create an OPEN set of web pages that can be easily updated by the author or (if set to "public") others.

It was a good experience overall, and I am sure it will prove to be a good place to hash out the plan for 50kFridays......stay tuned.