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Help Me Sell My New Book – Get Free Stuff!

Posted on November 29, 2012 by jessestay

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Who wants to help me promote Google+ Marketing For Dummies? I need volunteers to share my new book, now available on Amazon (http://stay.am/gplusmarketing) in the best way they are able. This can be through an ad that stays on your blog for a month, a mention to your audience as many times as possible over the next month, a shoutout in your email list – let me know in the comments what you’re willing to do. Here’s what you get if I agree to your offer:

1. I’ll send you a free, signed copy of the book, and an extra book to give to your audience.
2. Some time in the next month (first come, first serve), I’ll do a post on StayNAlive.com featuring a few items I notice with your website or social presence that I think you can improve (let me know what you’d like me to look over with your offer).
3. I’ll give you a free code for 1 week on Pluralsight to access my courses (and others) on Facebook and Google+, and get a screencast-overview of my best tips for marketing on Google+.

Let me know in the comments what you might be able to do to help sell Google+ Marketing For Dummies in the next month, and I’ll contact each of you to arrange the above items as you’re able to help out. I’m also open to other ideas if you have something grand planned!

Moving Forward From My "Mormon Moment"

Posted on November 9, 2012 by jessestay

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As some of you may be aware, I have spent the last, almost 3 years, helping to grow Social Media in what some have perceived as very much a pioneering role for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Consulting for them for years before, I started just over a year after Barack Obama was elected and Mitt Romney had lost the Primaries to John McCain, myself being perhaps the first person at the Church with the word “Social” in their title. My, thanks to the work of many, have we accomplished a lot since then! It is with sadness and a sense of completion and accomplishment that I now move on from that role, to now serve as Director of Social Media for Deseret Digital Media.

When I first met with the Church, back around 2007, the beginning of Twitter and Facebook, social media was new, and foreign. In many ways, in a time that pre-dates Romney’s run for President, the Church was too. I still remember when Venturebeat “scooped” that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was trying to purchase Facebook (which, in case for any reason you were wondering, was completely and as far from the truth as you could come). What was funny was I had been on contract with Facebook shortly before that (writing tech docs for the company), and had been consulting directly with the Church at the time the article was written. I smiled as I saw the news, but mostly kept my mouth shut. These were 2 foreign organizations that people were very curious about!

Since that time, I remember the vision of a technology that could, just as in the Bible, and just as in The Book of Mormon (as Mormons believe complements the Bible), allow a religion’s message to reach “every nation, kindred, and tongue”, without the need for door-knocking, street preaching, or soapboxing. With these new technologies, one could truly reach the people that were actually interested in and seeking a message, rather than finding a needle in a haystack. The “small villages” of scriptural times were back with the advent of social media.

Within that time we were able to go from just a single Twitter account at Twitter.com/LDSNewsroom (now Twitter.com/MormonNewsroom), to now hundreds of Facebook Pages, Twitter accounts, and Google+ Pages, as well as Youtube channels with views in the millions. We worked on growing the strength and understanding of social media within the organization. I remember at the beginning much of my work was just in training people the value of what social media could do. Now that’s no longer a question, but rather a point of “how has it helped us?”

We achieved Facebook “like” buttons on all articles on LDS.org and began to grow shares of our message. We built numerous campaigns. We were able to expand our advertising efforts. We built community. All of this was the work of many, and I appreciated every person I was able to work with and help in these efforts. I also appreciate the amazing trust people put in me as I helped each of those that needed it.

What I appreciated most during this period though were the individuals I was able to touch, both directly, and indirectly. From training individuals at the Church, to working with ecclesiastical leaders and those at the local congregational level. I appreciated the opportunity to reach out to people during the New Zealand and Japan earthquakes, and especially my dear friends in South Asia who so sincerely want to use these tools to spread a beautiful message to the people of India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Hong Kong, some of Social Media’s largest audiences. I hope these relationships will continue as I move onto other professional pursuits. I feel the momentum is finally in place to where I can move on and help in my next pursuit.

What will I be doing next? As I mentioned, I have accepted a position as Director of Social Media for Deseret Digital Media. As some of my friends may know, I previously worked in publishing, and love the publishing industry. Deseret Digital Media, actually still owned by the Church (but keeps itself at a distance to an extent), owns the digital presence of KSL.com, DeseretNews.com, OK.com (a crowd-sourced movie and TV ratings site), and many other digital presences that span from Salt Lake only, to an entire global presence targeting wholesome, family valued content for its viewers and readers. It is a for-profit company of which I’m excited to begin work on finding ways to increase those profits, find new and better ad products for their advertisers, and to grow their presence to an even greater capacity globally and help families around the world connect better. It is a fun and exciting challenge for the next phase in my life, and one where I think I can again, just like I feel I did at the Church, make a dent for the good of the world. I’m excited to learn from, lead and grow with those I’ll work with there.

I debated strongly in this move of going back to an entrepreneurial effort (where I was before the Church). For varying reasons including a family of 8, I felt I could accomplish more in this role, and could still on the side keep the efforts I have with SocialToo, this blog, my books, and my training courses on Pluralsight. I anticipate all those efforts, and perhaps more, to continue to grow and prosper as I push forward in this new role.

I will miss all those I worked with at the Church – from Church Ecclesiastical Leaders, to Managing Directors, to the employees getting things done and helping move the work forward. They were some of the most talented people I’ve ever worked with – former Novell execs, successful entrepreneurs, and Microsoft execs to name a few, to successful scientists, businessmen, and doctors. It has been one of the most amazing, rewarding, and fulfilling jobs I’ve ever had.

Lastly, on a personal note as a member of the Church, which I am still an active part of, my testimony of this Church, after working “in the trenches” and seeing it from the inside, remains stronger than ever. I have seen our Leaders – the President and Prophet himself (Thomas S. Monson), to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, to the members of the Quorum of the 70 that aid those with the keys, truly lead this Church through God. They are certainly not perfect, but what they have to say is important, and their callings and the mantle they hold is divine. They have my full support and love moving forward.

I can’t wait to see where the foundation that has been laid for social media in the Church takes us. The future is bright, and full of opportunity – while “the Mormon Moment” may be over for me at least as an employee, the best of “the Mormon Moment” for the Church I think is yet to come.

The Microsoft Surface’s Beauty is Only "Surface Deep"

Posted on November 2, 2012 by jessestay

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As a long-time Microsoft fan (my first computers were all PCs), and with all my excitement about Windows 8, I was very excited about the Microsoft Surface. In fact, I was so excited that despite Press not getting complimentary Surface tablets (or even trial ones) at Microsoft’s recent Windows Build conference, I went out and bought my own. With all the hype Microsoft was giving it – run all your Windows apps across every Microsoft device, in a beautiful, comfortable environment – I was anxious to try it out! It took a few days, but despite my initial excitement, today I returned my Microsoft Surface RT and will not consider a new one until I’m confident they fix a few things.

The Pros

When I first opened my Surface, it was a beautiful experience. From the Microsoft Store here in Bellevue, Washington (the busiest I’ve ever seen a Microsoft Store), to the packaging of the product, to the shiny, beautiful hardware that Microsoft had created with the Surface RT. Then, you turn it on. It has beautiful fonts. Beautiful colors. A bright, shiny beautiful screen that draws you in. It’s not the Windows you grew up with.

Installation was a little slow, but I anticipate that’s the Windows experience loading all the information it has on you in SkyDrive, as well as any new updates that may have loaded since it first launched (oddly, after 1 week from their launch, even after it first booted up, I still had 4 new updates in Windows Update to apply). All that was okay though because the interface was just beautiful. It is by far Microsoft’s most beautiful device and operating system to date.

My initial impressions were pretty good. In fact, they lasted for a day or two after first opening it. This device really takes several days to really do a good review. The biggest excitement for me was the ability to be able to run Microsoft Office – on a tablet! As a writer, my publisher has specific templates I have to use for my writing, but some times I like to just sit in front of my TV, or maybe even the beach in Hawaii, and write in places that aren’t always convenient for a laptop. Having a fully functional Microsoft Office was very exciting for me!

Then there is the SkyDrive integration. I was able to integrate all my favorite social networks, all built into the operating system, and have SkyDrive remember the authorization for each. Then, under the “People” tile, it would show me the updates from my friends and I could respond right from the OS, no other app to install! The thing is this thing almost doesn’t need a Facebook app (Facebook hasn’t shown interest yet in building a Windows 8 app) – it’s built into the operating system!

In addition, I could pull in my photos from Facebook and Flickr and elsewhere and load those, right inside the OS. When I need a photo for a blog post? Facebook and Flickr now become options on top of the other folders on the drive. It all integrates seamlessly and smoothly into the operating system.

The touch keyboard turned out to be very nice. I was a little worried at first, but as I got used to it I started to realize I can actually type faster on the touch keyboard than I can on my laptop or a traditional spring keyboard (Microsoft sells those as well) because my fingers don’t have to go down as far and I don’t have to press as hard. I don’t know how that works ergonomically, but I could definitely type faster, once I got used to where the keys were.

Here’s why I’m selling it

There were a few other features (Microsoft Music is pretty cool, for instance), but that’s where it ended. The thing is, with the exception of the touch keyboard, all of these are Windows 8 core features anyway – none of them are very unique to the Surface itself. And Windows 8 is still pretty cool! The Surface however, I soon found, would lag as I typed. It was slow. Very slow, and it didn’t take much to achieve that.

I found that something as simple as using Google Reader, as I hit the “j” and “k” keys on my keyboard to go back and forward through items, it would go quickly at first, but then after I went through about 20 or so items on the page (I read hundreds of news feeds a day – follow Twitter.com/Jesse to see my shares from that) it would slow down, considerably, to the point that it wasn’t even usable.

I noticed this on other websites as well. I also noticed it within various apps, such as browsing through photos, or watching videos. Microsoft Office tends to lag. Mail doesn’t respond well.

I really wanted to like it. I really did like it for many reasons on the surface. However, when it comes to what lies beneath – the hardware, I’m afraid Microsoft put this operating system on a piece of hardware that just isn’t powerful enough to power it. Microsoft launched this thing too early – period.

On a $200 or $300 tablet, I would likely forgive these things. For the UI itself, it’s worth keeping at that price. But at the $700 price point for the 64GB version I purchased, Microsoft should do better. They’re trying to compare themselves to Apple at that price point, and have specifically done so in their demonstrations and advertising. If you’re going to compare yourself to Apple, your entire experience needs to work together fluidly, fast, and smoothly. Unfortunately, with Microsoft, it’s not what’s on the Surface that counts – they’ve got to be paying attention to how fast it can run.

Will I buy one later? I want to see if Microsoft fixes these slowness issues. They can do this with both operating system updates and through perhaps the upgrade of the Surface Pro, which should run on a faster processor (scheduled to come out in January). I may give it a try then. Until then, Microsoft has lost my trust with this one – I feel they tricked me. And with that, it’s going to take some effort to gain my trust back again.

Maybe they can try installing some of these to make it go faster?

Photo courtesy Justin Allen.

You can also see I’m not the only one with this experience:

Chris Pirillo’s review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gQhhtvuZwVg
TechCrunch’s review: http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/01/microsoft-surface-rt-the-sad-treadmill-of-overhyped-expectations/

Microsoft is Finally Achieving What it Set Out to Do With Passport – the Key is Consistency

Posted on November 1, 2012 by jessestay

Back in the year 2000, before “the cloud” was even a marketing term, Microsoft launched a product known as “Passport”, a product touted to be the end-all-be-all of identity services that developers could integrate into their products for identity and storage of personal information. I remember because I was a developer at that time and I recall looking into what the company I worked for at the time needed to do to integrate it into our product.

The problem at that time, however is that most people only had Desktop computers and therefore not as much a need to have a consistent identity as they do in today’s mobile-centric, “post-PC” world. The product pretty much failed, and was revived a little later as Live ID. It’s safe to say that Microsoft, like Marty of “Back to the Future” was ahead of his time. With the release of Windows 8 however, it looks like Microsoft is finally back in their own time, and the future looks sweet.

A Consistent Experience

The one word to describe Windows 8 as opposed to the former Windows is consistency. In previous versions you had Pocket PC followed by Windows Mobile followed by Windows Phone for the mobile experience. Then on the Xbox you had an entirely different experience. And on the Desktop it was just “Windows”.

Windows 8 fixes that, however. With Windows 8, now all Microsoft devices will be powered by the same operating system, same underlying architecture, same SDKs for developers to build their apps under, and even a consistent cloud architecture through Azure and SkyDrive (for users) that follows you across each device you use. Microsoft is also building apps for 3rd party devices to continue that experience there as well. The result is a brand that follows you wherever you go.

Good for Developers

Finally, developers can “build once, write everywhere”. When building apps to put in Microsoft’s new Windows Store, it takes only a few tweaks to format those apps to work on the Surface, on Windows Phone 8, as well as even Xbox and any other device that supports the Windows 8 experience.

Expect games like Halo on the Xbox 360 to have versions that work on your phone, your Surface, or your Desktop. Even the Xbox controller and Kinect SDKs are consistent, and simple to integrate for your apps across multiple devices.

A Writer’s Dream

Through Microsoft Office 365, I can now have all my books, posts, and writing sync’d across multiple devices. I get the experience that most people expect, meaning I can use the same interface my publisher wants me to use for the templates they provide for my books. Finally, I can write my books even on my phone or tablet device – that’s pretty powerful!

Passport is Back, With a Vengeance

Microsoft Passport is finally back, in this case the form is as your “Microsoft ID” or “Windows ID”. It’s accompanied by SkyDrive, and now whenever I log in with my ID, all my preferences follow me from computer to computer. This even includes authorizations I’ve given to Facebook and Google and Twitter, and all my friends in those place! My photos follow me. My lock screen will even follow me if I want it to. All my settings can follow me wherever I go.

I’m loving the new Microsoft, because it means that all of the sudden your desktop machine or phone or tablet are all just “Windows devices”. In the new Windows world it shouldn’t matter what type of device you are on – all the apps you love on Windows follow you wherever you go.

Microsoft is finally where it wants to be, and it will only get better from here.

This post was typed entirely on my Microsoft Surface – something I bought with my own money

Selling Developers Was Easy. Windows 8’s Big Challenge Will be Selling Press

Posted on October 30, 2012 by jessestay

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Most of these “surfaces” are running OS X

When it comes to technology, I love going to developer conferences to meet people, see the people building the platforms I’m studying, and overall understand the best ways to integrate technology for the people I work with on a day-to-day basis. I actually normally attend as a developer when I go to these events, because I have full access to what the developers are seeing (I often pay my own way, as well, although as disclosure that is also comp’d at times). For the Windows Build Developer conference this year though, I came as Press because they sold out of developer passes in minutes. It was very clear that developers wanted to come to this conference (I’ll explain why in another post). I noticed some very interesting things this time though, at my very first Microsoft conference. The Press just aren’t converted yet, and despite Microsoft’s new focus on marketing as Steve Ballmer committed to today, they have some work to do.

Let’s start with the Press section at today’s Keynote. I was surrounded by Macs! Myself included. My neighbors all had iPhones. I saw iPads. I could tell this was a different culture to the Press I was surrounded with.

I’ve been at many conferences, and sat in many press rooms and sections, and I can vouch for that – the Press is part of the Mac cult. They love Mac. And if they don’t love Mac, they love their iPhone. And if they don’t love their iPhone, they love their Android device. I’d hate to say it, but Windows comes lowest on the Press totem pole.

What’s odd is that, while perhaps normal for a conference like this, the conference gives out free devices (at this one a Phone, a Surface, and SkyDrive space) to “all attendees” (the developers), but at least at this conference, the Press are excluded. In fact, as I sit in the Press room writing this I don’t see a single Surface. I don’t see a single Windows Phone. I do see a couple Windows laptops, but they’re surrounded by Macs and iPhones and other Apple devices. In fact, I inquired about even borrowing one and was told I’d be put on “a waiting list” to even be able to spend some time with one trying it out. Yet, upstairs they’re handing them out like candy to every developer you can see.

I’m not bitter I don’t qualify for the free devices. I’ll probably just go up and buy a Surface from the company store (assuming they’re even available to me) to play with because I like trying out new stuff. I know others in the Press won’t just buy devices like this to use primarily in replacement of their other devices though. It would seem Microsoft would benefit from focusing more on ensuring every member of the press is engrossed in Windows. If I were Microsoft, each member of the Press would have a Surface, pre-populated with their favorite writing tools (something Microsoft is really good at), and they’d all have their Surfaces open writing their blog posts. I guarantee you’d see a different story in the media when that happens.

In the meantime, I sit here writing this post on my Macbook Air, on a Google product (Blogger), and will likely check for your comments on my iPhone after I hit publish. If Microsoft is going to have a stronger marketing focus, they should really start with the Press.

UPDATE: Turns out you can’t even buy a Microsoft Surface at this conference. Not even the company store will sell members of the Press a Surface.

Switching to Windows 8? Better Not Get a Fitbit.

Posted on October 20, 2012 by jessestay

I’m currently using the Windows 8 Release Preview, and so far I’m impressed! Thus far I’ve had very few issues and really love the new interface (formerly named “Metro”). I’m very excited for the final version to be shipped to me by Microsoft. However, there’s one thing that consistently hasn’t worked for me on Windows 8 – my Fitbit software.

Right now when I try the account set up on my Fitbit software installed on Windows 8, it consistently, after I click “login” with my Fitbit account, redirects to a 404 not found page without logging me into the service. I’ve Googled and Googled, not seeing any solution to the problem. I can’t change the default browser it uses, assuming maybe it’s an IE 10 issue, so I can’t try to see if having it login to Chrome will fix the problem.

So I tried to email their support. Here’s the response they sent me:

“Hello Jesse,

We are sorry you are having problems with our software.

We’re aware that Windows 8 pre-release is available to the public. We do not yet formally support this environment and we do not plan to validate our software and device on Windows 8 until it is commercially released. However, once validated, we will update the product specifications page on our website.

Thanks for getting in touch we hope this helped you, if you have any more questions do not hesitate and reply us back.

Sincerely,
Lis and the Fitbit Team”

That’s it. Not even willing to try to figure it out. If you use Windows 8 or are planning to use Windows 8 (or have pre-ordered like me), your Fitbit won’t work, and they’re not even planning for it. It seems odd to me that something as simple as authentication would even rely on the operating system or browser type to get you logged in, but I guess that’s their choice, and it’s my problem, not theirs.

I was very disappointed with the customer-no-service approach I received from Fitbit. I will very likely be selling my 2 Fitbits and Aria Scale soon, in favor of the Nike+ system. I’ve also been very surprised of all the responses I’ve received on Twitter and elsewhere of the poor customer service they’ve received from Fitbit. Sorry Fitbit, but you’ve very likely lost this customer.

DressCode – the "Suit Guys" That Come to You

Posted on October 10, 2012 by jessestay

I wrote previously of my fitting by DressCode, my new “suit guys“, that made me a custom-tailored suit and put me in tip-top fashion amongst my colleagues. They came to my house (they’ll also come to your office), measured me, and within a couple weeks I was wearing a top-quality suit that in traditional tailors would cost me $1,000 or more. Because they outsource the tailoring and have streamlined the process to focus on in-person service and fashion, a typical suit like mine goes for around $300. My last post covered the fitting. I wanted to do a follow-up post about how much I like my suit from them.

Never before, even with my custom-tailored suit that I got in Hong Kong last year or even my Bangkok, Thailand tailored suit I got years ago when I lived there, have I received comments on how nice my suit looks. I actually stand out in the crowd now. People ask me where I had my suit made. They notice how nicely it looks.

The thing is, the suit DressCode made me fits me like a glove. It doesn’t have baggy parts in certain areas that make it look like it doesn’t fit. Even my Hong Kong-tailored suit has a bit of a “baggy” look to it. Not my DressCode suit.

And the details – the details are amazing. They suggested a custom lining on the inside. But not just a nice silk lining – they suggested a little colored strip that separates the lining from the suit, adding just one more touch of detail. They added extra pockets, so many in fact that I’m not even sure what to use them all for (they could definitely tell me the proper use for the pockets though, if I asked – their service is tremendous). They touched it all off with my name on the inside coat pocket, to personalize the experience.

Add to that the in-person service. I shared the experience of getting fitted before – with a simple click of a button on their website, they come to your home or office and fit you. But they don’t just take your measurements. They give you tips and suggestions for ways the suit could look better on you. If you want to explore outside your boundaries, they will help you embrace new and upcoming fashion trends. They’ll teach you about all the different parts of a suit, and help you decide what will fit your tastes best. They are in many ways the Zappos of suits!

I am very impressed with DressCode. I’m headed to Hong Kong next month, but this time I don’t have any desire to buy a suit from my tailor there. For the same price (almost), I can buy a much better, even better tailored suit from my friends here locally at DressCode who will come straight to my home or office to fit me. Now that’s pretty cool.

Give them a try – they have reps in a couple states already, and I hear they’re doing a “Popup” shop in Los Angeles soon. They can also come do “Popups” at your business or in your area if they have enough interest. Do what you can to get them in your area – it’s very worth the service!

Disclosure: My first suit from them was free in exchange for some promotion – I’m very glad I tried it though! I will be ordering, and paying for more suits from them in the future.

(sorry for the blurriness – my kids took these pictures!)

Android is Finally "Enough", but I Still Miss My iPhone

Posted on October 1, 2012 by jessestay

I’ve written a few times on this blog about my trials with Android and dissatisfaction with devices under Google’s operating system. The fact is, lack of consistent experience because Google doesn’t own the experience, means they will likely never have a leg-up on the experience iOS gives users, considering Apple controls and owns the entire experience in their OS. Google proved me only partly wrong in this though, with their latest release of Jellybean and the Galaxy Nexus, yet I still find myself missing my iPhone. I’ll explain.

At Google’s recent developer conference at Google I/O I was given a Galaxy Nexus to try and play with as my device. I’ve been using this as my primary device since around May, and for the first time ever, I find myself actually enjoying the Android experience. The voice controls are solid. I love the animated background and the new widget layouts. Google Play predicts my travel and tells me how long it takes to get to where I’m going, when I’m going, without me ever needing to ask. Gmail is seamless and provides an experience that I just can’t get on iOS. Google Calendar and other Google products work seamlessly. The battery actually lasts this time.

Yet I still find myself missing my iPhone. The thing is, it doesn’t matter how many cool features and integrated components Google adds to the Android experience. Because Google doesn’t own the phone – even on their stock experiences such as the Galaxy Nexus – they can’t control the full experience of the user. On my Galaxy Nexus, which is supposed to be the stock Google experience, I find the camera to be sub-par. It takes about 5 extra steps just to make a phone call. The phone gets triggered on every time I put it in my pocket, occasionally pocket-dialing people.

Then there are the apps. Google doesn’t monitor their Google Play app store like Apple does with theirs. Google doesn’t provide stock controls like sliders, scroll buttons, etc. to developers like Apple does, so app experiences aren’t consistent. As a result, I’m finding apps to be much more buggy than their Apple counterparts. I find apps crash a lot more in Android than they do iOS. In some cases the apps are available for other Android phones, but not my Galaxy Nexus. On Apple, almost always, apps are always available for every Apple iOS device. Until Google controls both the hardware and app store experiences, they simply won’t be able to compete with the experience Apple provides.

I think that’s okay to Google though. Google will always have the masses, very similar to the approach Microsoft took in the Desktop market (until Microsoft figures out the mobile market and competes with Google). They will always be sub-par to Apple I’m afraid, unless they can solve the problems I mention above.

Do I love Android? I still do! It’s a beautiful OS. It does some things much better than iOS. For an overall experience that will save me the most time though, I’m still looking forward to my iPhone 5 shipping tomorrow, and I will likely use it as my primary phone moving forward. If this ever changes you can bet I’ll be the first to write about it and tell you right here. As a lover of technology, it’s great to see the competition! I just hope Google can take this as feedback.

What do you think?

Originally posted on Google+!

Ancestry.com Buys Top Facebook App We’re Related

Posted on September 18, 2012 by jessestay

In the early days of Facebook’s developer platform (2007, to be exact), as apps were going from 0 to 2 or more million users in just a matter of days, family history apps were among the first to rise to the top. The link between family connections and friend connections seemed like a natural fit for apps that were built to connect one another. It appears that, according to Ancestry Insider, one of the pioneer Facebook apps in this industry, We’re Related, was just acquired by Ancestry.com for an undisclosed amount (both are Utah-based companies where I am located).

We’re Related quickly went to the top of the Facebook app store as number 1 where it sat as the top-used app by users worldwide on the Facebook Platform. The app, founded by Paul Allen (ironically the founder of Ancestry.com), intended to show how Facebook friends were related through their family history. The app allowed users to enter their family information, and would then notify family members that they had been added to one’s family tree, asking them to confirm the addition. This “peer-pressure” amongst family members no-doubt led to the app’s popularity on Facebook.

The app was soon expanded to the site, FamilyLink.com which built a standalone site around connecting families through their social networking connections. Shortly after Facebook started imposing restrictions on how app developers could advertise, the app started losing money and FamilyLink had to pivot to more of a site-based model.

According to Ancestry Insider, FamilyLink was sold recently to MyHeritage.com, but the assets of the We’re Related Facebook app were retained by Paul Allen. It would appear that some time before July, Paul Allen sold the final assets of the We’re Related app to Ancestry.com for somewhere under $11.7 million. According to the SEC Form 10-Q filed by Ancestry.com, “In March 2012, the company completed two acquisitions for a total of approximately $11.7 million in cash consideration. The company acquired the DNA assets of Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, a non-profit organization with a diverse collection of DNA samples and corresponding genealogical information. The company also acquired We’re Related, LLC, which operates the We’re Related Facebook application.” It is unclear how much of that $11.7 million went to We’re Related.

Ancestry Insider also notes that Ancestry.com also has started their own Facebook app, which operates somewhat similar to the We’re Related app on top of Ancestry.com data. It’s unclear as to whether Ancestry.com has used the assets of We’re Related to create their own app.

This acquisition marks the end of a golden era of Facebook app development. This was an era where apps could integrate with every element of the Facebook.com experience, advertise as they wanted, and see incredible results as a result. The playing field has since shifted to a much cleaner approach by Facebook of focusing on the News Feed, while encouraging developers to integrate Facebook Platform outside of the Facebook environment. These apps were truly the pioneers in this era, and deserve all the credit they can get.

Disclosure: We’re Related was one of my first clients when I went out on my own as an entrepreneur. I helped them with some initial wireframes of the app, and later on with some help in publicity for their app. This app is near and dear to my heart.

Can’t get Google Wallet to Work? Have an Expanded Battery Pack? That may be Your Problem.

Posted on August 12, 2012 by jessestay

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I’ve been beating my head around why every place I’ve gone to so far with Paypass (Home Depot, McDonalds, Best Buy, 7-Eleven, you name it) hasn’t worked with my new Galaxy Nexus phone that’s supposed to work with NFC and Google Wallet. I searched all the forums and just couldn’t figure out what was happening. The guys at 7-Eleven said it worked with every other phone they tried it with.

Then I remembered – I had an extended battery pack that I bought off Amazon that was on the phone to extend the battery life. It made the back of the phone a lot bigger, I’m guessing preventing the NFC signal from getting through. I actually found a unique way of testing it: The Nexus Q actually supports NFC. If you hold your phone up to the Nexus Q your phone will open up to the Nexus Q app in the Play Store. So I ran an experiment.

Just as with 7-Eleven and all the other Paypass stores, the Nexus Q didn’t register when I’d hold up my phone to the Nexus Q. When I removed the extended battery pack, sure enough, the phone would buzz, beep, and then open up to the Nexus Q app. That was indeed my problem!

So if you’re experiencing this same issue, try putting back in the original battery. I’m betting this fixes a few issues, and it’s odd that I’m not seeing this warning anywhere in the Galaxy Nexus forums or docs. I’m surely not the only one with a battery pack! And how does it work with thicker cases?

If this helped you, let me know in the comments!

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UPDATE: I’m being told on Google+ that the NFC is actually in the battery on the Galaxy Nexus, so that would explain why this happens. I wonder if there are expanded battery packs that have NFC in them so this doesn’t happen. If you know any let me know in the comments!