Why Did Twitter Win the Race?

I’m a fan of Jyri Engström’s theoretical work. And, although Jaiku (as we know it) has lost the race against Twitter, his experience helming a startup at the sharp edge of web development definitely enhances his insights. And I will be comparing his recommendations to Zipiko in my next blog.

I used to say that Jaiku was the best service I never used. However, I have recently rediscovered its joys. One feature that we prefer is the way that Jaiku streams the comments into conversations; whereas you can’t see all Twitter comments in one page. Now that Jaiku is currently closed (now open again, 27/8/2008) - to new users, I feel very lucky to have an account.

The Jaiku-Twitter battle is of great interest to us since Jaiku, like us, had Finnish roots and we must try to avoid the pitfalls that they fell into – but what are those pitfalls? We have been bouncing some ideas around the office and these are currently the most likely contenders: location, mobile app v. web-based/SMS, API and name.

Location: Twitter, being based in San Francisco, was able to generate buzz in the industry that spread out to the public; whereas Jaiku generated interest in Finland – but it kind of stopped here. Twitter was also used extensively at the crucial South by Southwest festival (Austin, Texas) in 2007 – we hope to do something similar.

Finland is an excellent place for doing controlled launches, since there is a small tech savvy population and the language naturally restricts growth. However, once we have ironed out the Zipiko system, we must immediately start doing some old fashioned legwork promoting the service in English speaking counties.

At the end of this month we are doing our first marketing campaigns at some key Helsinki universities, which we will then try to replicate abroad. And we will be looking into the possibility of a San Francisco foothold when we go there for the Mobile 2.0 conference in November.

Web-based/SMS v. Mobile Apps: Twitter put more emphasis on developing a web-based service using SMS to link to mobiles, whereas Jaiku initially put more emphasis on its mobile apps. However, Twitter has suffered recently from having to make some severe cut backs related to its SMS service due to high costs.

We are currently focusing on the web-based/SMS approach and, in regards to SMS, we are fortunate that our system will only generate a fraction of Twitter’s SMS load (one Tweet can generate thousands of SMS). However, we are aiming to put discreet sponsorship messages at the end of our SMS invites, which should appeal to advertisers and users alike since we can match both their needs more closely thanks to our knowledge of user intentions, eg – going shopping, see a great offer. If this proves successful then the more SMS the merrier.

API: Twitter had a more straightforward API from early on.

Name: This one is still being debated, but to my English ear Twitter not only matches the activity perfectly (birds and people twitter) it is more ‘sticky’, whereas people can’t even decide whether to say (Y)jaiku or (G)jaiku.

We thought very hard about the name Zipiko, which so far seems to being doing the trick. To zip somewhere is to go quickly and k looks good with z and ko rhymes with go. But you will decide. However, if Google had been a useless service would it be such a great name? After all:

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet." (William Shakespeare)

We welcome your advice on these issues so please do comment – especially Jyri.

Communication, Collaboration, Coordination

In this entry I wish to build on the hypothesis that the development of the Internet started with communication, then came collaboration, and we are now moving into a third phase related to coordination. I first elaborated on this idea with Peggy Anne Salz a couple of weeks ago.

The first evolution of the Internet was concerned with communication; which primarily took place via email, Usenet groups, Chat rooms. Later, with the introduction of the Web, came hyper-linked websites with limited interaction. As the amount of information grew exponentially, it quickly became apparent that new tools, such as search engines and sophisticated email clients, were required to retrieve and filter the data.

More interactive rich media developments later brought about collaboration possibilities in the form of Web 2.0. This collaboration was primarily concerned with web-based activity related to knowledge sharing, generation and refinement. New opportunities were created for web users to generate even more content; however, interaction also allowed the development of collaborative editing (eg - Wikis) and review systems to help people refine and filter data. User recommendations are now ubiquitous and help us choose which YouTube video to watch, which watch to buy, which book to read or which hotel to book.

Collaboration possibilities and efficiencies naturally started having an effect on real life habits – most notably on consumer activity with the introduction of such services such as Amazon, Ebay and Netflix. Then the explosion in social networking services, such as Facebook, brought web activity right to the edge of our everyday lives.

The concept of everyday life in relation to the web is often overlooked but it is the battlefield in which most web services either live or die. If users do not find a place for a service in their everyday lives it will either stay niche or slowly die away.

The Facebook Events app has shown the potential for the web services to start coordinating real life activity. However, the fact that not everyone is on Facebook quickly blocks the full impact of this potential: Organizing Granny's birthday party is a classic example.

Other web-based coordinating services, such as Google Calendar, Meetup, Evite and Doodle, are making strong inroads into how we manage our lives and give a taste of the next stage in web development – coordination; or to be more precise, the enhancement of our everyday lives through web-based coordination services and tools. However, the full-impact of coordination possibilities is yet to be felt, since these services need to connect to a more readily available and established technology – the mobile phone.

The rapid development of smart phone technology is producing internet-enabled, contextually aware mobile devices. At the most basic level, a mobile integrated service can potentially make use of the following information: who is the user; the country he/she is currently situated; their most important daily contacts. In addition, GPS (Global Position System) technology is now being integrated into mobiles and services are rapidly being developed to eventually take advantage of the geographic information they will provide, eg – real-time maps showing the location of your friends.

However, the provision and adoption of internet enabled mobiles and unlimited Internet data services is not going to happen for some time yet, so it is important that developers tap into one of the most established coordinating technologies – the humble SMS. And it could be argued that the early integration of SMS into Twitter's marco-blogging system helped it gain ground over its arguably more sophisticated competitor Jaiku; which somewhat prematurely relied more on web streams.

Therefore we took the decision to put SMS at the heart of our Zipiko live social coordinating service. We saw that SMS has the potential to be more accessible and immediate than emailing. Of course in years to come free internet-based notification systems will take over, but in the meantime the SMS avoids uptake resistance and is almost ubiquitous – you will probably even reach Granny with it.

As Peggy Anne Salz wrote; “It’s early days, but services like Prompt and Zipiko change the rules. It’s no longer just about connecting people; it’s about connecting features and functionality to create a long tail of services capable of helping us make a better judgment about future events and experiences – if not predict them.”

She also wrote; “Granted, we require services that tell us how things are (weather, news); where things are (maps, directions); and what everyone we know is up to (Twitter, Buddyping and a slew of social networking apps). However, my take from a string of conferences and speaking engagements – industry events that covered topics ranging from social media to location services, and exposed me to super-cool companies just coming out of stealth mode in the process – is that the real revenue may be in providing services that connect the dots in our daily routines to help us manage our lives and express our intentions.”

We are sure she is right but we will make sure the money goes into giving you guys a great experience. But we might have a glass or two of sparkling along the way ; )

Zipipop Do-search

Do-search is research with the emphasis on finding things out by just doing things and then learning from the feedback. They should be fun projects, with just sufficient implementation to test the key ideas; however, there should always be a good feedback system.

Zipipop has made numerous Facebook apps to sketch and test out the potential for more thorough implementation. A good example of this is Going for One? which we used to help develop Zipiko.

Do-search is Zipipop's equivalent to Google's 20% time.

Zipipop & The Pragmatic Web

At a Helsinki Opencoffee Meetup I was talking with Teemu Arina and he introduced me to the concept of the Pragmatic Web (prostelyzed by Stephen Downes); and it was a little revelation for me, as here was a theory that fitted perfectly with Zipipop's activities and our "making everyday easier" mantra.

Here is an extract taken for Stephen Downes's "Reflecting on 10 Future Web Trends":

1. The Pragmatic Web

"Forget about the Semantic Web. Whether or not it ever gets built, you can be sure that we will be complaining about it. Because while the Semantic Web gives us meaning, it doesn’t give us context. It will give us what we can get from an encyclopedia, but not what we can get from phoning up our best buddy.

The pragmatic web, by contrast, is all about context. Your tools know who you are, what you’re doing, who you’ve been talking to, what you know, where you want to go, where you are now, and what the weather is like outside. You don’t query them; they carry on an ongoing conversation with you. The pragmatic web is chock-full of information, but none of it is off-topic and none of it is beyond your understanding (and if you need to know more, it will teach you). The pragmatic web isn’t just a web you access, read to and write to, it’s a web that you use every day."

At Zipipop we are concepting a number of services that will put into practice many of the ideas related to the pragmatic web; however, I will now briefly discuss how Zipipop's own Intention Broadcasting and our current flagship service Zipiko fit into the picture.

Intention Broadcasting is tied into the concept of the pragmatic web in that it provides a system for making existing information more relevant to the everyday life of users. It provides a system of communicating intentions together with a feedback loop that directly affects the intentions.

Zipiko uses Intention Broadcasting to provide a service that takes contextual and personal information into account to facilitate and coordinate social interaction to produce consensus and commitments to meet up at a particular place and time in the 'real' world – in other words, it makes getting together with friends easier.

Once Zipiko is running super smoothly and the multitudes of users are contented, we will then set about implementing some of our other pragmatic web concepts. The common thread being that they all know about and facilitate your everyday life.

Eventually these services will be united in what we are calling the Social Submarine. But until then we will meet up with you in the social sea using Zipiko.

Zipiko – let's go see

Intention Broadcasting

Read published short paper on Intention Broadcasting

How an intention broadcasting system works compared more conventional forms of organizing

Abstract:

Social media innovations, together with rapidly improving data sharing methodologies, are enabling individuals and groups to instantly disseminate, or ‘broadcast’, messages across many diverse networks. This phenomenon, combined with the growing use of social media services for sharing and coordinating intentions, led me to develop the concept of “intention broadcasting”.

(Blog revised: 10 December 2009)

Intention Broadcasting is the process of sharing and coordinating intentions via computer-mediated systems.

It has similarities to status messaging but with the emphasis on the future.

A fully-functioning Intention Broadcasting system should also enable the intended audience to directly respond via a feedback loop that can directly affect the intention. For example, in relation to organizing an event the recipient should be able to indicate their intention to join up.

Intention Broadcasting – A Model for Computer-mediated Intention Sharing and Coordinating

In order to help make the following key phases easier to remember I have decided to run with the “broadcasting” metaphor and use related terms:

Goal: the agent has a need or desire that necessitates a desired outcome.
Options: the agent has various options based on the combined knowledge, skills and the perceivable affordances in the given environment.
Intention: the agent selects an intention towards achieving the goal.
Broadcast: the agent passively broadcasts their intention to a defined target audience (broad or narrow) via computer-mediated networks, e.g. social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter.
Tuning: the targeted audiences are “tuned in” to receive relevant intentions. The tuning is done using any method or technologies that can help filter the intentions: groups, RSS, “constant searches” , API connections, etc.
Rating: if necessary a collaborative rating system can be used to help protect both the broadcaster and audience from bad intentions and potentially unreliable people, e.g. a bad plumber.
Coordination: systems for enabling the parties to overcome contextual problems though interaction and collaboration.
Outcome: Goal accomplished.



In light of the clear interest in this blog post by Jeremiah Owyang about the Intention Web, I thought I should start promoting my short paper on Intention Broadcasting that was published as part of the Proceedings of I-KNOW ’09 and I-SEMANTICS ’09 Conference 2-4 September 2009, Graz, Austria. It is basically a summary of my final MA thesis that I undertook at Media Lab, Helsinki, which is now part of the new Finnish Aalto University.

Read it here in Scribd or Download the PDF

Two Great Nations Divided by the Same Language

An Introduction to The Zipipop Style Guide

Every organization should follow a style guide to promote consistency, efficiency and clarity in the production of written material. I have developed this style guide after many years of copy-editing experience working for European-based NGO organizations (e.g. CMI). Since my clients have been requesting a style guide, I have created The Zipipop Style Guide partly as a gift to them; which explains the emphasis on words commonly used in text concerning development issues.

The development of a language is driven by the need to communicate and its effectiveness is achieved via consensus. However, this consensus must be allowed to be in a state of flux otherwise a language will lose its ability to evolve: hindering its effectiveness and future relevance.

The Internet has become both a powerful tool for speeding up linguistic consensus, while conversely, providing vibrancy and innovation. Therefore, it has become the ultimate editorial resource – particularly with the advent of services like Google, wiktionary.org (the lexical companion to Wikipedia) and Wikipedia's own Manual of Style.

"Britain and America...two great nations divided by the same language." – Winston Churchill

"We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language." – Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost

When choosing to write in English one has to decide whether to follow the British or American traditions. The trends are definitely favouring American English – since any quick 'Google Fight' will result in an American spelling being overwhelmingly victorious (go to googlefight.com and try out color verus colour, or, center versus centre, or, organization versus organisation). However, this is biased towards centres of web content production (namely the USA).

It is not yet, however, a clear cut case of which tradition to go for as many millions around the world are not yet ready to give up using British English. This is largely due to identity and tradition, but there are also some practical considerations. British English and its variants, sometimes referred to as Commonwealth English, are wide spread across the world in influential countries such as Canada, Australia and India, and it is the preferred choice of European organizations, such as the EU and many international bodies such as the UN.

What many people don't realize, however, is that in both traditions there are still surprisingly many options for exercising choice in both spelling and style. Here are some examples in the British tradition that are 'officially' recognized: organize, organise; learnt, learned; co-operation, cooperation; I have a car, I have got a car; and the list goes on.

The American tradition is much stricter but will still 'officially' recognize, for example, both: canceling, cancelling (Wikipedia link to Differences between American and British English). However, by looking for situations where there is opportunity of agreement, I have created a British-based style that allows for increased harmony between the traditions. And I have called it The Zipipop Style Guide.

The Zipipop Style Guide

Narrowing the Divide between British and American English

The Zipipop Style Guide takes Oxford spelling as the starting point since it is more harmonious with American spelling. Oxford spelling is used by most UN, and many international organizations, Oxford University Press and some other highly-regarded UK publishers, such as Dorling Kindersley.

The other main reference point is Wikipedia's Manual of Style, which is clear and to the point with the wiki advantage of being consensus driven.

Online Dictionaries:

The Cambridge Online – Clearly shows the differences between British & American spellings but can be slow to integrate new words.
merriam-webster.com – Cluttered but otherwise good (with audio pronunciations).
wiktionary.org – A very well organized wiki dictionary.

Online Theasaurus:

Thesaurus.com – Clear and thorough.

Dates: (without "-th" ordinal suffixes in line with Wikipedia guidelines and using the international format)

14 February 1990; between 10 and 14 June 2007; on 14 and 15 December

To ise or to ize: Although -ise endings are more common in British-based publishing, it is still correct to use the -ize forms (Oxford spelling), which are more in line with American spelling. Please note that this does not include words ending in -yse, eg – analyse, paralyse and catalyse. However, there are certain words that must always take the -ise in both traditions, however, no need to worry as your spell checker will pick up on those.

To oo or to o-o: Use cooperation and coordination.

Learnt or Learned type words: Use the -ed versions.

Use: peacekeeping, peacebuilding, statebuilding

Programme/Program: In British spelling a program is something your write for your computer. In all other contexts use programme.

British Words: Click here for a list of British words that should be used carefully since they might not be commonly understood by Americans.

Quite: To be used carefully since in American English it retains its original meaning of 'very'. The following transcript from a high-profile interview with Bill Clinton and Sir David Dimbleby on BBC television says it all:

CLINTON:  Well, first of all I support John Kerry. He’s
a good man, he’s a good senator and I believe he’d be
quite a good President.

DIMBLEBY:  Quite?

CLINTON:  Very very good President.  Quite a good
President, you don’t say that?  I think he will, I think
he’d be an excellent President. 

Spelling and grammar checkers have become surprisingly effective, so pay attention to what they suggest (even if they are not right all the time). For everything else consult the web and make your own decisions. Happy writing!

Topic Walls

At Zipipop we are currently in the process of adding Topic Walls inside most of our apps. These walls allow for instant discussions on specific topics within the relevant contextual spaces.

See them in action inside our new release of Going for One (Mennäänkö yhdelle?) app, which makes it easier to get your friends together for a drink. No matter which city you find yourself in, the appropriate City and Bar Wall will appear automatically – allowing for non-stop bar banter.

We have added Eco Confession and Good Deed Walls to our Ecometer app and we will add Baby Topic Walls to our Baby Status Diary.

These walls should greatly enhance the campfire effect of our apps, since they provide on-the-spot communication channels. We will let you know how they work out in practice.

How to Make a Campfire

At the Helsinki Open Coffee with Arctic Startup Meetup a couple of weeks ago, a friend asked me to explain how to make a good 'social media' campfire – so here are some Zipipop suggestions.

CAMPFIRE CONSTRUCTION (implementation):

Wood: Social Object (the thing that people are discussing about, through or around, eg – product, application, cultural phenomenon, etc)

Place: Where best to attract the Target Audience, eg – social network site, standalone website, mobile)

Benches: Communication Channels (facilitate communication, eg – forums, walls, group discussions)

ATTRACTING PEOPLE (marketing):

Tinder/Lighter Fuel: Early Adopters (take them personally to the fire)

Paper: Advertising (guide them to the fire: ads, stickers, flyers, banners, etc.)

Matches: Publicity (blog reviews, news articles, seminars presentations, search engine optimization, etc)

Get the mix right and the flames should be roaring in no time; however, there are many campfires in the big internet forest – so the bigger your fire the more likely it is to attract those happy campers.

Updated: 26/03/08

Zuckerberg Slaves

Are you a Zuckerberg Slave?

We know of someone who has had a top 50 Facebook app for a considerable amount of time and, by all accounts, he is barely getting a sub-atomic sized crumb of that 15 billion dollar pie. Somehow that doesn't seem right.

Of course one needs to have an effective business model on top of a popular app; however, there still appears to be many willing slaves to row the mighty Facebook galley.

We have come to accept that, to some extent, we are indeed Zuckerberg slaves and we worship Master Mark most fervently. However, we are regularly looking out over Facebook's garden walls, keeping a close eye on the other gardens (Orkut, Bebo, etc.), as they proceed to take down their walls. And we are now planning an escapade to taste some of their delicious looking fruit.

Zipipop's ultimate aim is to focus on delivering interactive social media to mobile platforms, and in light of this Facebook has been a good playground for us: the discipline of delivering apps with a clear purpose inside a restricted screen space has prepared us well for small screen challenges. And we have now started developing our first mobile centered service that we hope to make work together with Facebook.

For the time being, however, we will fight courageously in the FB arena and win our place in the hearts of the people and one day gain our freedom to roam wherever the fancy takes us.

Why Campfires are better than Social Objects

The term Social Object—in the context of social media—is gaining popularity; however, the term still causes difficulties for the general public and many social media professionals.

Many of us have a basic understanding that a social object is something that gives a focus to social interaction, but the word object—in its everyday sense—obfuscates* the meaning and can even throw the uninitiated off the path completely.

Few have the time or inclination to delve deeply into the intricate work of John Searle or Bronisław Malinowski. And, even through the likes of Jyri Engström have done a sterling job in communicating the essential aspects, the inherent problems remain.

In order to overcome this we have chosen to use the campfire analogy instead. The concept is not entirely new, but for the purposes of explanation, it is much better. People can immediately grasp how an internet service can act as a campfire: bonding users together and giving a focus for communication and interaction.

So whenever we create a social media application, we are very concerned as to the nature of its campfire: how will the dancing flames attract users, keep them warm and encourage social interaction.

* Obfuscate is a great word that delightfully demonstrates its meaning: "to make something less clear and harder to understand, especially intentionally" (Cambridge Online Dictionary)