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Category: Technology

Twitter and Facebook Both Quietly Kill RSS, Completely

Posted on by jessestay
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Last year I shared how Twitter was moving more and more towards a closed, less-standards oriented model of sharing content as they upgraded their design to bring more people to the Twitter.com website. At that time, they removed the prominent RSS icons and made it only possible to access an RSS feed for an individual by logging completely out of Twitter, and visiting that individual’s profile page. After reading my post, Isaac Hepworth, a developer for Twitter, tried to comfort me in a response to my post on Buzz, saying:

“I’ve been talking to people internally to work out what happened here so that I could untangle it properly.
Here’s the scoop: the RSS itself is still there (as Jesse’s roundabout method for finding it shows). Two things were removed in #NewTwitter:
1. The hyperlink to the RSS on the profile page; and
2. The link to the RSS in the profile page metadata (ie. the element in the ).
(2) was wholly accidental, and we’ll fix that. In the meantime, Jesse’s way of finding the RSS is as good as any, and you can still subscribe to user timelines in products like Google Reader by just adding a subscription to the profile URL, eg. http://twitter.com/isaach.
(1) on the other hand was deliberate, in line with the “keep Twitter simple” principle which we used to approach the product as a whole. Identifying RSS for a page and exposing it to users per their preferences is a job which most browsers now do well on their own based on s.
Hope that helps!”

Unfortunately, it seems #2 was not accidental, as it was never fixed. Now #1 is also removed as far as I can see (and looking at the HTML source I see no evidence of any RSS feed). It seems Twitter has completely removed the ability to consume their feeds via the open standard of RSS in favor of their more proprietary API formats.

At the same time, Facebook seems to have done the same. Facebook has gone back and forth on this though so it is no surprise on their part. They started with an RSS link you could subscribe to on profiles (this for awhile was how you added your feed to FriendFeed), but didn’t seem to have similar for Pages. Later, in a Profile redesign they completely removed the RSS link for profiles. Then, in a recent Page redesign, they added the ability to subscribe to Pages via RSS. I know because I had several Pages added to Google Reader, and I remember fishing through the HTML source and seeing the RSS link in the code. It would seem that Facebook has again removed the ability to subscribe via RSS on Pages, completely removing any ability to subscribe via RSS on the site (also in favor of their proprietary Graph API).

People have been speculating, “RSS is dead” for some time now. I’ve written that RSS isn’t dead, but the concept of “subscribing” is. However, as more and more sites move away from RSS, quite literally, in favor of these proprietary APIs I fear RSS could in fact be dying, not only as a subscription interface, but as a protocol in general.

My hope is that both of these sites overlooked keeping RSS subscription in place as they upgraded their interfaces. But seeing as I’m the only one who noticed, I have a feeling they have little reason to re-add the open protocol back into their interface. Personally, I think it’s a shame, as it makes it so only developers like myself can code anything to extract that data – the average user has no way of pulling that data out of Twitter or Facebook.

It seems in 2011 and the era of Facebook and Twitter we’ve completely lost any care for open standards. Maybe it’s not just RSS that is dying – it’s the entire premise of open standards that is dying, and I think that’s really sad, and really bad for not just developers, but users in general.

Am I missing something here? Where can I subscribe, via RSS, to Facebook or Twitter?

UPDATE: Dave Stevens shared a hack around this in the comments that you can use with the Twitter API. It’s not readily available to users, and based on Twitter’s current trend, could go away, but it works for now:

“Can can access RSS through the twitter API, if you read the documentation you are able to choose rss/atom for the feed options in some of the cases; for example: https://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.rss?screen_name=daveisanidiot
is my home timeline in rss format. So although they may have removed links from the pages there is still a method to get at it. (http://dev.twitter.com/doc)“

UPDATE 2: In case you were wondering about Twitter’s attitude towards RSS, read this Help article in their Help section titled, “How to Find Your RSS Feed“:

“Twitter recently stopped supporting basic authentication over RSS in favor of OAuth, an authentication method that lets you use applications without giving them your password. You can read more about the change here: http://blog.twitter.com/2010/08/twitter-applications-and-oauth.html 

Because of this change, we no longer directly support RSS feeds on Twitter. 

  • If you would like to continue using RSS feeds from Twitter accounts, we recommend using a 3rd-party service.
  • Or, if you are comfortable with coding, use our developer resources to retrieve statuses.

The New Frontier of Capitalism

Posted on by jessestay
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I keep getting asked, “what’s the point of Empire Avenue?” Or told, “Empire Avenue is just a stupid game.” My friend Robert Scoble thinks Empire Avenue makes a good News Reader, and that’s about it. The thing is it is not just a game. It’s definitely not a news reader (I’m sorry, but as forewarning, Robert will be sorely disappointed, just like he was with Quora, if that is his interpretation of the service). I already covered this a bit already calling it a “catalyst for a new economy“. The thing is it’s much more than that – it’s a new era of social websites, one where capital can trump influence, and those with capital can become influential. It’s a network of Capitalism vs. Socialism.

It’s All a Game

A year or two ago, I participated in a panel at BlogWorld in Las Vegas where we talked about “the Twitter game.” As founder of a site that helps people improve the relationships they build on social networks like Twitter (as, at least I hope, opposed to gaming them), I’m all too familiar with this game. You follow someone in hopes that they follow back. If they unfollow you, you unfollow them. All this increases your numbers and you’re perceived as influential as a result. The really successful turn this number into more than just a number and actually show substance to the following they’ve built. This is why if you follow a lot of people, you’ll naturally build your following, especially if you provide some sort of value on top of that.

The game goes farther than Twitter though. In the blogging world it’s simple. There are several strategies to this “game”. You blog a lot, provide value in the content you post, and link to a lot of people to get them reacting and responding and linking back to your post. Or, you focus on the SEO side so you appear in Google. As you do these things and provide value as you do it, people will naturally follow, and the traffic will come. Your readers increase.

On Facebook it’s really easy – almost everyone you send a friend request to will accept it. Just send out a ton of friend requests to influential people and you’ll max out your 5,000 friends really quick. Or, if you have a Facebook Page, take the blogging approach I mentioned above, throw in some Facebook advertising, and then measure like crazy to determine your proper ratio. You’ll have thousands to hundreds of thousands of fans in no time.

Of course, some times you just get lucky. In that case, just gamble – try different things until something sticks.

You see, in every case above, there’s some sort of “silly game” involved. True, you have to provide substance to gain the most benefit and to maintain your trajectory, but building numbers on any social network is just a game. Even the relationship building process (which I am much more about than the methods above) is part of that game.

On Empire Avenue the “silly game” is different though. Those that play it the way they do on Twitter and Facebook and in blogging will see some success, but they won’t be the leaders in the network. I think it’s a matter of socialism vs. capitalism.

Social vs. Capital Networks

In a “social” network, the focus is on gaming social relationships – how can you pique someone’s interest so that they form a relationship with you? What are the psychological lures to get them into your network? What services can you share with one another to build that network? How can you complement each other?  How can I better learn from my close friends and family? How can I get the latest and most relevant news from (and about) those I trust? Most importantly, how can you find influencers that can further boost your potential? For the “right” way to do this, I recommend Guy Kawasaki’s book, “enchantment“.

In a “capital” network, the focus is different. The “capital” network is focused on gaming capital, and finding people with capital that can further boost your potential. How do you get that capital? You participate on the site and interact with people and promote other people that are doing well. In a way, Guy Kawasaki’s book will help you with that as well. Except in a capital network you’re rewarded for doing so. On a social network the reward is not so evident. It’s important to note that a Capital Network is not a news sharing service. It’s a relationship sharing service. You don’t “subscribe” to anyone or anything on a Capital network – it’s a 2-way relationship if you’re going to have any sort of success.

In a capital network it’s not about finding people that are already popular. It’s about finding the little guy that will make you wealthy, and in the long-term, that will make you popular. In a “capital” network, like any investment-oriented society, you want the little guy that will go big (like Facebook a couple years ago). You don’t want the guy that’s already big (like Google or Apple are now). At the same time you don’t care if they’re popular or not – you do care that they are returning dividends for you because in the long run that produces dividends for your investors, making you a more lucrative investment. You want the guys that are participating most on the network and providing real value to their peers, in not just monetary form (because remember money on a capital network is based on activity and participation and trying to help each other out). In a way, each good “follow” or investment is in a sense another startup you’re putting your money and words and influence behind, only you know the founders of that startup have held their weight and provide real, social value back to you.

Typical influencers aren’t going to understand the “capital” network. It’s an entirely new frontier. It’s a place where the little guy can make a name for themselves and get on the radar of other influencers. At the same time it’s an opportunity for influencers to maintain their influence and grow even further. Watch what my friend Chris Pirillo is doing – he really gets this, and in just 2 weeks has become one of the fastest growing investments on the network as a result.

New Frontiers

From a network standpoint, Facebook was a new frontier at one point. The influencers weren’t allowed on it. It was just your college buddies and their friends. It was meant for the “little guy” to be someone. It was meant for them to make a name for themselves, and many people embraced the opportunity.

The web was another new frontier. That’s where the Scobles and the Pirillos and the Winers and the Arringtons and others made a name for themselves. They were the influencers of that era, formerly “nobodies” (no offense intended, as they are certainly not such today) who took advantage of an era and made a name for themselves. They’ve maintained that reputation throughout the Facebook and Social era. That era was all focused on a subscription and news-oriented model.

We’re in a new land grab on Empire Avenue, and I’m pretty sure there will be other competitors in the future. It’s a capital-driven frontier, one where they require you to put your money where your mouth is, but also maintain your own value as you do so, so others can gain a return on you just as you gain a return in them. It’s one where I truly believe there will be a real conversion rate that equates to real dollars, and people will offer goods and services based on that conversion rate.

The New Economy and True Conversion Rates

What do you gain from the Capital Network? Yes, you gain relationships as you find new people producing real dividends, but on this network there’s actual money in it for you. Trust me on this one. There will be a real exchange, worth real money at some point as reward for those that truly focus on relationships, and those that ignore this will be running to play catch up. At the same time, those that really invested, those that really focused on real returns (aka dividends and people really involved on the network), not just influencers and people whose stock value grows (and focus on people that do the same) will be a close-knit community of people that know each other, that know each others’ names, and that work with each other for even further influence.

Capital Networks Are More Than a Game – They’re About True Relationships!

With Empire Avenue people are forced to truly put effort into building relationships. They’re force to truly get to know others. They’re forced to truly promote their friends, and build up their friends. And they’re rewarded for such. To me, this is a much better network, one where I can know people truly care about me and my success, not their own “me” economy.

Ironically, it will be capitalism that will make us social.

If you want more information on how to use Empire Avenue effectively, I highly recommend, and agree with, Chris Pirillo’s tips that he posted today (I am an investor, but proud to invest in him because he truly participates on the network, and produces dividends because he focuses on relationships as he does so). Be sure to read over Chris’s tips, as they share further my vision for the service.  At some point I’ll share my own as well.

In the meantime, you can follow me at STAY on Empire Avenue here (Click the last link if you haven’t joined. Click this link if you’re already a member.). Let me know if you’re getting ready to join and I’ll provide you with tips as well – I’d also like to invest in people truly willing to participate and focus on those that care about relationships (aka dividends).

Needle Threads Customers Into Personal Interactions in New, Social Chat Service

Posted on by jessestay
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As we see stores like Borders going bankrupt, and chains like CompUSA and Circuit City going all online, it’s pretty evident that the need for online solutions to real-life interactions in commerce is needed. Having worked for BackCountry.com in a past life, where we were giving chains like REI a run for their money with an online-only option, I’m all too familiar with this. The fact is, when you get rid of the store, margins are simply much higher than having a bunch of stores to manage.

The problem is there are still major benefits to having physical stores your customers can go to. You get to meet your customers personally. They have someone they can go to when they have a problem, and there’s nothing like a good ‘ol, in-person upsell. I think even that’s about to change though – in fact, if a new online Chat service for E-commerce has its way, turning your customer interactions into personal interactions will be much, much easier. That service gave me a demo a couple weeks ago – it’s called Needle, and I love it!

No ordinary Customer Service Chat

When I was at BackCountry.com we would use 3rd party chat services on our sites to engage customers and allow our customer service representatives to offer help on our websites where needed. It was a nice feature, and ahead of its time in that it detected when customers were on the site after a given amount of time.

Needle goes above and beyond just the traditional, detect-if-the-user-is-idle chat approach and instead uses social media to improve the experience. Each customer has the ability to associate a social networking account, and in doing so they get special benefits. Even more important, you, the business get to know your customers, know who they are, and know exactly who it is you are chatting with. This reduces spammers, and allows you to integrate with the viral nature of social networking sites like Facebook.

Needle takes full advantage of these social networking features, too. For instance, customer service reps can offer a special code, in real time, to the customer allowing them to share the code with their friends on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Their friends can also take advantage of the code. This social feature gives each chat session an average reach of 80 people for each person that chats in the system, expanding the potential of who can see what your customers are purchasing, and encouraging them to share those purchases with their friends.

Focus on true conversions


When Needle demoed me their product, they showed off, in real time, a session of a real customer service experience. In the experience, the customer was looking for a product, and the customer service agent was able to see this, in real time. The customer service agent could see what pages they were surfing, and where they were stalling. The software even goes to the extent of allowing the customer service agent to see each letter the customer is typing, as they are typing it! This enables the agent to see more of what the customer is thinking, and if the agent needs to change their sales pitch.

Even more importantly, each agent can pass on links to the customer. The agent will get notified the minute the customer clicks on the link, so the agent can know if the customer is actually following their advice or not.  The system then tracks the purchase and links the purchase of each item back to the agent.

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Crowdsourced Sales using Pincushion


We’ve all got products we’re passionate about – Apple, Microsoft, Google, Twitter, Facebook, you name it. Companies can set up their own “Pincushion” channels through Needle. By doing so their customers can sign up to help sell their products using the Needle chat platform.

Here’s a theoretical example. I am a passionate Apple fanatic and I know a lot about Apple products. I could probably attribute thousands of dollars of Apple product sales due to recommendations I’ve made to friends. Using Needle and Pincushion I could theoretically guide my friends through the sales process,  and get a commission (or points in pincushion’s case) from the sale along the way.

Another example is when I took my brother-in-law and sister to Best Buy to get a new TV. They wanted my help in the purchase process because I knew a lot about big screen TVs and had purchased one recently. We spent a lot of time at the store, when, in theory, I could have been doing it all remotely online and taking a commission (or points) from the sale in the process. I ended up being the reason for the sale – not a Best Buy employee.

Here’s a more realistic example: employee rewards. Using pincushion as a community just for your employees you can encourage all your employees, or just your sales people to focus on conversions, and reward them for their success based on factors your brand has set. If the reward is based on sales, then the rewards come from sales. If the reward is based on click throughs, then the rewards come from click throughs. Then, you can offer rewards, such as free products and other merchandise as your employees show success selling your product. Employees then earn points  based on incentives such as sales, satisfaction score, or other factors.

I’ve only mentioned the tip of the iceberg of Needle’s capabilities. If you’re an e-commerce or sales-focused website considering chat solutions you should really look at Needle. They are the first of their type in social, personalized, chat experiences for the customer.

Check out Needle at http://needle.com and register to get a demo.

With Lack of True Stats Twitter is Losing Trust of Its Users

Posted on by jessestay
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I’m reading the MarketingPilgrim article, “As Twitter Slips, Potential Competitors Close in” – there seems to be an increasing negativity towards Twitter lately, and I only fear it will get worse. I’ve warned of this before. Twitter has been consistently reporting numbers in the hundreds of millions of users when stats of the several million member cache of users on my own servers are showing that only a fraction of that number are actually active. In fact, MarketingPilgrim agrees with me. They are claiming that “90% of the Tweets come from 25% of the people” on Twitter. The worst part is they are making it look like these numbers are comparable to Facebook’s. Intentional or not it’s going to backfire on them if they don’t start getting honest with their numbers.

In my own cache I have consistently shown 30% of users that have more than 20 Tweets in their timeline – of course, my cache is only a segment of the entire Twitter user base but I’m hearing similar from other Twitter developers that keep even larger caches than I have. The fact is Twitter is reporting correct stats. They’re just not reporting the same stats as their competitors, and that’s a huge illusion, creating confusion as it was intended to.

Here’s the problem. I’m sure Twitter is purposely reporting the higher number – the total of their stats – in order to sound like they are bigger than they are. I don’t blame them for this.

What I worry however is that users will catch on, and as a result, users will never be able to trust the numbers that Twitter releases. When Twitter releases a big number in the future, there will always be a question in the back of users’ minds on whether the number Twitter is releasing is the same number being counted by any one of Twitter’s competitors. Let’s face it – I heard a rumor from a former Facebook employee that if Facebook were to count its entire user base like Twitter is doing they would easily be in the billions of users. Does Twitter really want to play this game?

Let’s go ahead and compare this further with Facebook. Since almost the beginning, I have been able to go to Facebook’s Press page and get open, honest stats about the service. Facebook shared these numbers since they were under 100 million. I know because I shared it in my first book, way back in 2007. Not only that, but they have always been clear that the number being shared is active users – not total users, and that 1/2 of those active users log in to the site at least once daily. Sure, we could argue on Facebook’s definition of active, but we do know that at least half of the  number Facebook is reporting is indeed active users. Twitter can’t even vouch, or isn’t even vouching for that.

That’s a stark contrast to the 25% of the people being reported by Marketing Pilgrim. Perhaps Marketing Pilgrim is wrong. Perhaps my stats are wrong. We’d never know though because Twitter isn’t being honest from the start.

If your competitors are sharing active user counts and bloggers are reporting active user counts of that competitor, you too should be honest and share the same. That would be the right thing to do, and I’d then be able to trust Twitter when they share their numbers.

Twitter, regardless of numbers, is a force to be reckoned with. As a social strategist, I know, even though Twitter has smaller numbers and not as significant an engagement rate as Facebook, it still has huge value to me and the brand I represent in terms of how public the network is and the ease it is to learn about what others are saying about me and my brand. The sheer size of Twitter isn’t what makes Twitter valuable to me. It’s the openness of the network. That’s why I don’t understand why Twitter can’t take the brave move to gain its users trust and let us know the real numbers.

I would really like Twitter to step out and share their real numbers. What is their active user count? How many log in through any Twitter client daily? Let’s start there, and when they get to 100 million of those, then we can start comparing them to Facebook and the others. Until then let’s accept Twitter’s value for what it is. Let’s also accept that Twitter’s not Facebook, nor is Facebook Twitter. They are 2 different sites, and I really want to trust both of them when they share their numbers.

Torbit Allows Anybody to Speed Up Their Website in Minutes

Posted on by jessestay
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For those unaware, I recently switched this blog from a self-hosted WordPress instance to Blogger.com. The reason: Blogger’s 100% uptime reputation and near instantaneous response. More on that in another post. That’s why I was also very excited when my friend Josh Fraser, founder of Eventvue, came to me with his next new project asking if I’d try it. It is called Torbit, and its purpose is to make your site faster.

Matt Cutts himself has said that site speed is a factor of site ranking. In addition, research by Akamai shows that 40% of users leave websites if they take more than 2 seconds to load. That can mean serious money and loss in sales if not taken under control.

There are many strategies for increasing site speed. On WordPress, there are many cache plugins that can be installed. You can make many configurations on the server to cache images, compress files, and speed up compile time on scripts. You can remove plugins from 3rd party sites that take too long to load. You can use smaller graphics, or just write faster, more optimized code.

All of these can significantly speed up a site, but they can also take significant time to worry about. Torbit takes care of the worry and makes caching of website content simple, saving you time and making you money.

With a simple configuration of your DNS, you point your site’s DNS servers to Torbit’s. Torbit then handles the requests, and breaks apart the slow components of your site, caching the more static elements and 3rd party calls, compressing the files that need to be compressed, and significantly speeding up your site with practically the click of a button. All that data is then sent back to the user in a cached, very fast, format.

Looking at the site speed on webpagetest.org, it takes 12.621 seconds to load this site’s home page and all of the graphics and files that load on it on first load before it gets cached by Torbit. Then, upon second load after it has received the cache from Torbit it takes 3.3 seconds to load. That’s 1/4 the time! That also makes this site now 50% faster than all sites on the web, according to SEOMoz.

Torbit has a limited Beta at the moment that you can sign up for by filling out the form on their site. I am told there is a charge for the service, but for a business trying to make money, especially which doesn’t have many resources to worry about the site optimization themselves, this should be well worth the cost. I’m very impressed with Torbit, and you can see by the sheer speed this site loads in your browser.

Empire Avenue is a Catalyst for the New Economy

Posted on by jessestay
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If you haven’t tried it yet, Empire Avenue is a new “game” that allows people to accrue virtual wealth by investing in people. In addition, brands can enter the service and invest in other brands and people as well. There are 2 ways to do well on the platform: already be influential (influence == money to invest in more people on Empire Avenue), or invest in the right people that are. As people that you invest in gain more money and influence, you or your brand gain more money (and arguably influence) as well. It’s actually more so a influence network or competitor with sites like Klout than it is an actual game, and if you’re not currently paying attention you probably should. Here’s why:

Virtual money in the future will equate to real money, influence, and sales. Empire Avenue is a catalyst for this type of economy to occur.

Think about it. What happens when Empire Avenue takes the 200,000+ “Eaves” I currently own (the currency of Empire AVenue) and turns it into a platform?

Right now I can currently buy virtual “luxury items” such as virtual pictures of Yachts, Homes, and other things with the money I make through my investments in people. I believe those also accrue money based on value of the items, which I can sell later for more money.

However, what happens when I, as a developer, can start allowing my customers to pay for my real-life services with Eaves, in exchange for very influential people showing off my service prominently on their Empire Avenue profile? Or, what if I allow them to purchase services from me at a discount if they use their Eaves to pay my brand on Empire Avenue, giving my brand on Empire Avenue more influence and money on the service (which we can in turn use to buy more services and products using Eaves from other brands on the service)? With a big enough Economy and brands willing to exchange services in return for a currency such as Eaves that will give them more equity and service, I can very well see this being the future of trade throughout the world, and it won’t matter what country you’re in to make those trades happen.

Empire Avenue is much more than just a game. It’s an economy of “Whuffies“. It’s a way to say, “I’ll give you something in exchange for a little more influence for my brand on the service.” Or, “I’ll give you something in exchange for some advertising for my brand on your profile.” It’s a way to say, “I believe in this person or brand and I’m willing to put my money where my mouth is.”

Call me crazy, but Empire Avenue is an advertising platform, and even more such it’s a new economy. If you, or your brand are not currently paying attention, you should start. These types of services are the new frontier and the first to secure their land grab will be the pioneers of the future world economy.

Of course, I appreciate any investment – I still feel I have a lot to grow on the service. You can find me at http://empireavenue.com/stay

Here are 10 Utah Entrepreneurs You Need to Know

Posted on by jessestay
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Every year vSpring Capital releases the Utah v|100 list, a list of 100 aspiring entrepreneurs and tech professionals who are likely to have success in the next 5 years within the technology industry. I’ve been on the list twice as a winner, and I’ve been nominated again this year. While this is a very humbling experience, I want to be sure others have the opportunity to also be on the list. I decided this year I want to come up with and vote for 10 people that have never been on the list before.

The task of finding others who have not previously been on the list has proven to be a much harder task than I thought. However, I think I found 10 that I can really stand behind – my hope is that, if you’ve been nominated, you can consider these (I won’t be offended if you do not choose me this year), and if you haven’t, hopefully this will give you a list of a few new sites, services, and people to look out for in the coming years, whether you’re in Utah or out. Despite never having been on the list before, these are some of Utah’s finest tech professionals and entrepreneurs (in no particular order) – chances are most of these never even asked to be on this list (and some have never even met me):

  1. Allan Carroll, CTO, Piick.com – Allan is former CTO of FamilyLink and helped them get to one of the top positions in the Facebook Application directory. He’s one of the top Facebook application developers I know, and he even helped do the technical editing for my new book, Facebook Application Development For Dummies.

    Allan is now in his own startup, I believe as co-founder, this time starting a new, up-and-coming social commerce company called Piick. I’ve seen a preview and I admit it’s pretty cool. In or out of Piick, I expect to see big things for Allan in the future. I’m a sucker for entrepreneur developers and Allan’s one of the best.

    He is @allanca on Twitter.

  2. Joel Dehlin, CIO, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – I don’t just say this because Joel’s my boss. Joel’s a long-time friend for several years before I started working for the LDS Church. I’ve been following his efforts for years now and was quite surprised he had not yet been nominated for the v|100 list.

    Not to discredit the hard work of many others before him and that have worked with him, but Joel has practically revolutionized much of the technology and web efforts of the Church in his time there. Some results of his leadership include the new LDS.org design, the new Mormon.org, and he is the reason for me working for the Church and some of the Church’s turn towards social (not to discredit others that have also been involved in that effort, of course).

    Joel has also been a strong leader in a huge new volunteer effort within the IT talent of the Church at tech.lds.org, resulting in a yearly conference of hundreds of volunteers that collaborate to work on the Church’s IT projects. As a result of that, the majority of the Church’s mobile apps have been developed by volunteers, and many other technologies have also resulted from this volunteer effort. Oh, did I mention he was on both the PocketPC and Surface teams at Microsoft?

    Joel is @joeldehlin on Twitter.

  3. Tyler Bye, Owner, Protoven – I became familiar with Protoven with some of their mobile work that they’ve done at a few places I’ve worked. I admit I don’t know Tyler personally, but I certainly know his company. If any of you have ever downloaded the ABC app for iPad or iPhone, you have downloaded their work. They make beautiful iOS and mobile apps, and Tyler deserves a lot of credit for what his company has done in this area. This company deserves much more attention.

    Follow Tyler at @tbye on Twitter.

  4. Ed Orcutt, Principal, Los Lobos LLC – I’ve been extremely impressed with Ed Orcutt’s talent and creativity in developing browser extensions that complement your experience viewing the web. I know Ed most from the amazing browser extensions he’s created on the Kynetx platform.

    Many of you know I’m a sucker for Kynetx and my vision for “The Web With No Log In Button“. Ed is making a lot of this possible with what he’s created.  Some example extensions of his include HoverMe, which enables a HoverCard that appears over all your social network profiles and friends’ profiles and shows the other networks they belong to. He also wrote LikePlus, an extension that shows like buttons next to Tweets and companies on LinkedIn. The same extension also shows Facebook Like buttons next to Google search results, along with the list of people that shared those items amongst your friends on Facebook (even better than Google’s +1!).  He wrote TwiKlout, an extension that shows a person’s Klout score next to their profile on Twitter.com. Ed’s got creative juices flowing through his veins, and he really gets the future of the web.

    Ed can be found at @edorcutt on Twitter.

  5. Brad Hintze, VP, Kynetx, Inc. – Brad’s an old friend of mine, and that friendship goes all the way back to the 2 years I served in Thailand as a missionary. However, we met again recently, previously when he was working for Bungee Labs, one of the very first Platform as a Service companies (even before Google App Engine). Most recently though, Brad has started with the developer community outreach at Kynetx, and he’s doing an amazing job there.

    Brad’s not just a marketer or typical community guy though. I’ve actually caught him coding a few times. Brad gets down and works in the trenches with the best of them. Brad will continue to work with successful companies in the future and he will play a big part in the reason those companies are successful.

    Brad is @bradhintze on Twitter.

  6. Melanie Day, www.Sugardoodle.net – Melanie doesn’t know me, but I certainly know her site. Melanie’s site is a wealth of downloadable content (clipart, music, and other useful items) for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Melanie’s site is known by members of the LDS Church worldwide and she deserves some credit for that.
  7. Rob McMillen, VP of Sales, Rhomobile – Among the mobile frameworks out there, Rhomobile is one of the best. Their mobile platform allows developers to write in simple Ruby code and generate native iOS and Android SDK apps under just one code base.

    I don’t know Rob well, but I do know their company. If the caliber and reach of what their company has been able to provide is any reflection on their VP of Sales, Rob McMillen should be a safe vote for the v|100.

    Rob is @rhobmobile on Twitter.

  8. Brad Cahoon, Kalood.com – I admit I know little about Kalood, but curiosity got the best of me. Their site calls themselves “The Social Deal Platform”. It requires a Facebook login. It’s in private beta so I can’t try it out though. Based on their about page they look to be similar to Groupon.com or LivingSocial, but my guess is they have a bit more social twist on how you are delivered your daily deals. Having been one of the main developers on SteepAndCheap.com, also a Utah site, I’m very familiar with these types of sites, and a more social focus could be an interesting twist to what has already been shown to be a successful business model. I’ll be watching this one.

    Brad is @kalooding on Twitter.

  9. Ryan Elkins, iActionable.com – I first saw iActionable and Ryan at a Utah Launchup event. iActionable is building a service model around gameification. Gameification is the process for apps and websites to keep customers and users engaged by casually rewarding them and encouraging them along the way. iActionable provides Foursquare-like reward badges and other items that you can integrate into your own platforms to engage and entice users to stick around. Gameification is a budding new industry that I think has a lot of future, and I think it’s great that Utah has a company that is thinking about how to monetize this industry.

    Follow Ryan at @ryane on Twitter.

  10. Robert Nay, Nay Games (Creator of Bubble Ball) – I’ve never met Robert (although I have met his older brother) – this is one entrepreneur I really, really want to meet some time. If I could teach my kids to be anything like him I would consider myself a successful father.

    Robert is the 14 year old creator of Bubble Ball, which was once the number one application in the iTunes app store. Yes, he was the man, er, kid, who took out Angry Birds. He’s not finished though. He has his own Game company, and plans to build more apps for the iPhone and other mobile devices. This is one smart kid, and I admit I’m a bit jealous of him in that I didn’t have mobile devices and app stores to write for when I was his age. I’m very impressed by this young man – can’t wait to see what he’s done in 5 years.

    Robert can be found at @naygamesllc on Twitter.

Of course, there are many more Utah entrepreneurs and techies I wish I could add that weren’t even nominated. Unfortunately I missed the nomination email for some reason or I would have been able to nominate a few more of my favorites. Maybe I’ll save that for another post.  I hope you’ll check out these guys and the companies and organizations they work for and have started. Most of all, I hope you follow each of them into what they do in the future.

Authenticity vs. Anonymity: Would We Exist if the Constitutional Convention Met Publicly?

Posted on by jessestay

In a recent conversation surrounding my involvement with Utah’s FOIA equivalent legislation (called GRAMA) I brought up the point that this nation was built upon people willing to stand up for who they were and risk, quite literally, their lives for that decision. The point was brought up however, that the very premise of what founded the United States constitution was done so in a secret meeting, the Constitutional Convention. At the same time, secret societies such as the Boston Tea Party and other secret gatherings also led to the very public battle which led to this nation’s freedom from Tyranny at the time. So it got me really thinking – are there times when meeting in secret and more anonymous environments really can help and really do benefit society? I found myself rephrasing the question however, instead wondering, “Would we exist if the Constitutional Convention that lead to this great nation’s Constitution being framed did not meet in secret, but rather met in public, for all to participate and vote?”

I’m brought back to the discussion awhile back where the anonymous site 4Chan’s founder, Chris Poole suggested that “anonymity is authenticity, it allows you to share in an unvarnished, unfiltered, raw and real way. We believe in content over creator.” In a sense, that’s what the Constitution’s creators were doing. They were allowing themselves to participate in an anonymous (“Committee of the Whole” – taken from the Articles of Confederation which allowed groups to meet together in private if they participated as a committee) environment, free from scrutiny or criticism of those in their supporting states that were against forming new laws for the new nation. As a result, they, supposedly, were able to be more creative.

I’d like to paint that in a different light though. What would have happened if the Constitutional Convention instead met in public, allowing the public instead to have full participation in the activities? Would we have come up with the same document? That’s hard to tell.

Instead, in a meeting where the intended outcome was to just ratify what was in the then current Articles of Confederation, they instead ended up creating an entirely new document. In fact, when they finished there was quite awhile where several participating States were not in agreement with what happened and were angry such a major decision happened in private. In the end though, even those States agreed and we have what is now our Constitution, fully supported by every State in the Union. In the end everyone did end up agreeing. Even after grievances were aired, people still ended up at the same conclusion.

So I wonder – would there have been as many grievances after the fact if the Constitution weren’t written in secret? Would we have written a document that everyone could agree on faster, and have more people on board from the start if it was done in a public environment? Or would it have taken even longer and had much more argument from the public as a result of it being written in a public setting?

Now take that further. Let’s put this idea in a modern, 21st century environment. What would have happened if the Constitution were written, in Public, using tools that we have available today? What if everyone could collaborate and participate using their own name on social networks such as Facebook to communicate opinions and ideas en masse to their Legislators? What if we had collaboration tools for writing documents like Google Docs and Microsoft Word’s new collaboration features? Could we write such a document in public? Could the public come up with such a lasting document as what the original Founding Fathers of the United States came up with?

The truth is I don’t know the answer, but the Social Technologist in me wants to think that this is more possible than ever before today.

I’m a huge fan of authenticity. I hate anonymity. I don’t like things happening in secret. Chris Poole said, “To fail in an environment where you’re contributing with your real name is costly.” I think to fail in an environment where you’re contributing with your real name is brave, and where heroes are born. To me, those that do things in secret are cowards, and nations aren’t built on cowards. Our legislature, as well as the constituents that communicate with that legislature, should be doing their dealings in public in as many ways as possible, under their real names in an authentic manner. However, I’m still torn on whether there still might be times we need at least a little anonymity.

These are the things I’m dealing with right now as we contemplate the future of Open Records in the Utah Legislature. I’d like to make this a model for all to follow. How would you approach the issue?

Image courtesy http://www.showmepolicypulse.org/news/2009/03/advocates-push-for-changes-to-missouri-open-records-law/

Google is Not Facebook (and Vice Versa)

Posted on by jessestay
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Google seems to be trying of late to do everything they can to be like Facebook. They’ve restructured their executive management to do it. They’ve structured their company bonuses to get there. They’ve released an equivalent to Facebook’s “like” button. They seem to really want to be on top of social search, but I can help but think, “why?” Let’s “face” it – Google is not social. They don’t have to be.

As I’ve been playing with Google’s “+1” buttons I’m really trying to think what the benefit is. When I want something my close friends and family to see, I go to Facebook, or I send them an email. Google’s “+1” button does neither of that, and if it were to send an email that would just annoy them. I absolutely love that they’re trying, but I don’t get what benefit “+1” gives me.

It’s time for Google to realize that Facebook owns your social graph. Twitter owns some of that too. Yet, despite the new management structure and bonus incentives, I don’t see Larry and Sergey using Facebook more or Twitter more. I don’t see them checking into already social places like Foursquare or Facebook Places. Instead I see flurries of Google employees canceling their Facebook accounts and running away from what’s already social. I’d like to see them spend some time learning from those tools, starting from upper levels of management.

Google seems to really want to be Facebook or Twitter, but the thing is – they don’t have to. Their crown jewels are search. Their crown jewels are email. Their crown jewels are providing simple places to integrate advertising. Okay, Facebook has some of that, but when I truly want to search, I still go to Google. In the end, my Facebook notifications and messages go to my Gmail inbox.  I can’t help but wonder if Google would stop trying to pretend it’s a competitor with Facebook, Facebook would start letting them use their APIs and integrate where my social graph actually exists.

Here’s what I’d do if I were Google – stop trying to reproduce what Facebook is doing. They’re not Facebook! Instead, embrace Facebook as a partner. Integrate Facebook “like” buttons into Google search. Integrate my Facebook friend lists into my email experience. Integrate my Facebook friends into my Google Docs, or even my Google Buzz experience. Bring Facebook over to Google.

Then, see what happens. What will happen is people will naturally bring their friends and family from Facebook over to Google. They’ll naturally bring their interactions over to Google.  Google never even has to try to reproduce the experience. They know how this can be a success because Youtube is already doing it.

I realize all this is dependent on Facebook cooperating, but I really think if Google would stop trying to be Facebook, Facebook would stop pushing back. I wish Google would try this – it’s what I ask my clients and those I work with to do. I would ask nothing else from any other brand I like. The fact is when someone sees you as a friend, they’ll stop treating you like an enemy. It’s simple, “How to Win Friends and Influence People” (also see Guy Kawasaki’s “Enchantment“).

Let’s re-approach this if we know Facebook, regardless of Google trying to cooperate, won’t work together. I’m still not sure Google’s tried hard enough in this area.

The iPhone is my All-in-One Device. Why do I Need an iPad?

Posted on by jessestay
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Last year I mentioned I was torn on the need for the iPad, but that it could very well be a “context-aware monitor that I can take anywhere.” I’m rethinking that now though. I go to work, I have a 27″ Cinema Display. I come home, I have TV screens in every room, and a computer monitor we attach our laptops to. When I present there is always a Projector available. I’m starting to wonder – why do I need another monitor?

So I find myself debating again, “Why do I need an iPad 2?” In fact, the most interesting part of today’s iPad 2 announcement wasn’t the iPad itself. It was the HDMI attachment cable and iOS 4.3 that allows you to connect that cable to almost any device from an iOS-compatible device. To me, that’s the powerful part of today’s announcement. Apple just made my iPhone an even more all-in-one device.

I have a couple questions to think about though:

  • When will my bluetooth keyboard work with my iPhone or iPod Touch?
  • Will the Magic Mouse work with my iPhone or iPod Touch?
  • Where is the laptop-style (ie Macbook Air) dock for my iPhone or iPod Touch?
  • When will Apple start selling touch-screen cinema displays?

When I bought my iPhone, I was excited, because finally, it was reducing the number of devices I had to carry around. I no longer had to carry around a cell phone, a PDA, and an MP3 device. I had them all in one, and I only had to carry around one device. In fact I even got rid of my watch because of this.

So why should I get excited when Apple adds even one more device for me to carry around? The future is in ubiquity. Your phone will be your CPU. The monitors and displays around you will be their output. It’s evident, so why isn’t Apple focusing on this?

The first cell phone manufacturer to get this concept will win, if you ask me (assuming there really is a competition). The future isn’t in bigger and more powerful devices. The future is in more portable, simplistic devices that interoperate with everything around you. It’s in the living room experience. It’s in being able to take the same device that powers your living room experience to work with you. That’s the future of mobile computing. I really hope that’s where Apple is going with this, because if they don’t, I’ll switch to the first device that can reduce my need for both an iPad, a Laptop, and a mobile device. That is the next disruptor – will Apple do it?

In the meantime, I’ve got do decide: smaller laptop (Macbook Air?), bigger cell phone (Galaxy Tab?) – how can I take current technologies and reduce the weight I carry around in my backpack?