Posts made in November, 2009

Posted by Alex on 28 Nov, 2009 in My Stream | 0 comments

http://www.bitcurrent.com/a-better-design-for-twitter-retweets/

My Bitcurrent blog post on how Twitter should have designed the retweet function.

In the Internet limelight for a brief moment

Posted by Alex on 26 Nov, 2009 in My Stream | 0 comments

So I wrote this post about how Twitter’s new retweet design is broken and offering a different suggestion of how they should have redesigned their retweet interface. Dave Winer (inventor of RSS and prominent blogger) wrote about the subject on scripting.com, and recommended people read my post! Wow. Now, I’ve just checked Google, and when you search on “twitter retweet design” my post comes up first, above the post by Evan Williams, founder of Twitter about why they designed it the way they did.

If that’s not an endorsement of what I wrote I don’t know what is! Now, at the risk of stroking my ego too much, I will stop. But it’s nice to enjoy a moment of Internet “fame”.

Technology isn’t the answer to every problem

Posted by Alex on 20 Nov, 2009 in My Stream | 0 comments

Posted by Alex on 18 Nov, 2009 in My Stream | 0 comments

http://www.mobilitypass.com/global_voice_sim_card_rates.html

I haven’t used this yet but it looks rather good. If you have tried it add your comments here.

How not to get me to endorse your product…

Posted by Alex on 16 Nov, 2009 in My Stream | 0 comments

I recently received the attached email (names blurred out to protect those concerned)

In it, I am told I can get a free licence for a product if I add a link to my blog.

While it’s nice that somebody thinks my blog has a value, this is definitely not the way to get me to endorse a product.
I know nothing about this product and I’m certainly not going to endorse something without having found it useful myself.
I use a rather excellent piece of Screen Capture Software called LittleSnapper, which makes it easy to grab and organise images, blur out text, etc. I used it making the image for this post.

If you want me to endorse your product, here’s the steps I would recommend.

1. Convince me why I would find the product useful.
2. Give me access/the ability to try it out.
3. Wait a while, and ask me if I found it useful.
4. If I did, ask me if I would consider writing about it.

If I find something of value, I may well choose to share that.

And you may be able to increase the likelihood of me writing about it with some reward – if we’re already at step 4 – ie I’ve decided I like it and am open to sharing my experience.

But the reward has to be of value. A license for something I’ve not used is not a reward. And this email gives me no incentive to care about the product.