People...People helping people

I visit one message board pretty regularly. The topic on this particular board: Anything. (Or maybe in true Seinfeld fashion: It's about nothing). Although it's affiliated with my college alma mater, it's basically an open forum for anything from politics to sports to movies. It's a virtual "water cooler" where you never know where the conversation might go next.

In just the last few weeks, posts have been made regarding Canadian tax law, Cape May bed and breakfast recommendations, and the best way to rid your yard of ground-dwelling bees. You'll see everything: new music recommendations, things to see and do in Cancun, finding a good plumber in DC, the best kinds of mulch. For the most part, it's friendly, funny, and often supportive communication.

As I observe (and sometimes participate in) this community, the takeaway for me is the amazing willingness of strangers to help each other. People who don't know each other are willing to take time out of their day and write a thoughtful, helpful, sometimes encouraging post to someone else in need.

The sense of community is a powerful force. Psychologists McMillan & Chavis define a sense of community as "a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members' needs will be met through their commitment to be together."

The reasons for belonging to and participating in an online community can be seen in psychologist Abraham Maslow's famous Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow hierarchy is often depicted as a pyramid with five levels of needs. With the exception of the basic physical needs on the lowest level (food, water, sleep), each of Maslow's levels is addressed when people are active participants in an online community. For example:

Safety - not physical safety, but for a community to be effective, people need to feel secure that their participation is welcomed and that the environment is supportive.

Love/Belonging - People want to feel like they are part of something larger. People often make friends online. They share their ideas and want to exposed to others.

Esteem - People want to be correct, smart, funny and they want to feel good about themselves. Just like the cliques that develop in high school, finding an online community where you "fit in" is important.

Self-actualization - People need to engage with others to gain recognition and have an activity that gives them a sense of contribution, to feel accepted and self-valued.

As "the social web" continues to become a more important business opportunity, fostering a sense of community with and amongst your customers is a vitally important challenge most organizations are facing.

Friday Fun: Brand New Day

Here's a really clever post from "Jane." Basically she portrays her day visually through her interaction with products and brands.

I'd need a lot of Diet Coke logos for mine.

Photo resources

Here's a nice collection of online services for your digital photos - everything from image search to hosting and sharing to photo editing.

Check out Photo Services on the "new to me" resource WebServicesWiki.org.

Friday fun(s)

Here are a few recent finds for this week's Friday Fun:

Print this randomly-generated Buzzword Bingo card for your next meeting.

Here's a fun and informative site about the visual blind spots we all have and the interesting ways our brains and eyes work.

Castaway - this is what computer games used to be like.

Gadgets and Inventions - I like the wheelbarrow bench.

Interstitial ads: Too much of a bad thing?

Gerry McGovern wrote recently that finding is the new advertising. Not a new concept really - search moguls Google and Yahoo have been making money for years now displaying targeted ads - not the advertising to the masses that gets done in newspapers, radio, and TV.

But what's really new is the level of ad-receptiveness, or lack of it really. Today we are advertising averse. Ad-blind.

My wife thinks watching the previews is one of the best parts of going to the movies. Why? We expect it. We are receptive to it. We want it. It's entertaining and enticing. It's the Free Prize. Most people are not annoyed by the previews - most of the people that I know like them.

Interstitial ads are all the rage online. But they make you wait for what you want. In contrast, no one I know likes watching these ads and usually looks to see if there's a "skip this ad" button.

The web has brought new powers and capabilities to advertisers to reach people in new ways. The web allows marketers to target niche audiences that would have been cost prohibitive to reach in the past. The incredible success of the Google Adwords program is due to two main factors: (1) they can be incredibly granular and targeted allowing for great relevancy; and (2) they are at times very beneficial - providing useful links to the information, product or service the user was searching for.

In the short life of the web, online advertising has already seen several trends come and go. Pop-ups and banner ads, while still somewhat effective, are considered "old school." The interstitial ads, while very popular now, seem too much like television to me. They are the non-targeted, non-relevant, in most cases non-interesting commercial before the show. They are the painful, annoying opposite of a free prize.

One thing is for certain: online advertising is here to stay. New techniques and technologies will undoubtedly bring us new forms of advertising. But it's obvious we have a ways to go before we figure out exactly how content and advertising will live together in online harmony.

What is Web 2.0?

I feel it's not always helpful to use these terms since people have defined them differently. But the folks at Resourceful Idiot do a good job explaining the difference between Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0.

ACME Catalog

Are you out of anvils? Need any iron birdseed? How about some rocket-powered roller skates? Although this parody could be improved with a "e-commerce-style" redesign, you have to give credit to the fantastic idea.

Check out the Original Illustrated Catalog of ACME Products.

There's a book on the subject too.