Pingwyn's Blog

Rockstart

The illusion of privacy (and what we actually care about)

No, we don't actually have privacy. We traded it long time ago for convenience. What we really dislike is being surprised by how much companies know about us. Perhaps soon we will get used to this too ... Here is more on the subject by Seth Godin:

You probably have very little privacy at all, giving it up a long time ago.

via sethgodin.typepad.com

One Network to Rule Them All

Facebook is undeniably a great success story and ... a very lucky idea. If we look at the urgency with which Mr Zuckerberg is trying to 'improve the user experience' and give us even more reasons to stay with his creation - then we can easily see that he is plain scared. That's right - he doesn't know what made Fb the 'juggernaut' of social networking.

 

The field is crowded with great ideas, great platforms, and yet we all keep coming back to Facebook. What would happen if we all stopped using it for a week? What if we got bored or if the next kid from Harvard came with an idea like Pingwyn for instance and with the speed of 500 million mouse-clicks we all left ...

 

Pignwyn by the way is only a location-based mobile social networking platform just for the iOS ... for now. So Facebook is safe ... for now. Sleep well Mr Zuckerberg.

Original article by Todd Hixon @ Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/toddhixon/2011/10/05/one-network-to-rule-them-all/

No one ever bought anything in an elevator

The purpose of an elevator pitch isn't to close the sale.

The goal isn't even to give a short, accurate, Wikipedia-standard description of you or your project.

And the idea of using vacuous, vague words to craft a bland mission statement is dumb.

No, the purpose of an elevator pitch is to describe a situation or solution so compelling that the person you're with wants to hear more even after the elevator ride is over.

via sethgodin.typepad.com

Happens all too often - people focus on the format so much that they forget the purpose. Thank you for reminding us Seth Godin and for doing it in such an eloquent, elegant and concise way. It's almost like an elevator pitch - I want to read more about it.

When Google comes calling...

What would happen if Google, or Facebook come calling? This is a question that comes up all the time, when we discuss the future of Pingwyn. My answer always is - we have our business goals and they have theirs. Nobody will try to copy us before we prove ourselves successful in the market.

Here is another interesting take on this question by Seth Godin:

In June of 2008, Google launched Knol, a monetizable Wikipedia, or, as some people saw it, a Squidoo killer. Not the same as what we were doing at Squidoo, not focused on individuals and their passions, but close enough for discomfort.

via sethgodin.typepad.com

 

Pingwyn is now live. Dowload from iTunes.

In less than 5 days and with practically no advertising Pingwyn is already makeing waves. Less than a week and we have users in the following countries:

 

US
Canada
UK
Hungary
Switzerland
Romania
Russia
China
Phillipines
Malaysia
Saudi Arabia

 

Download Pingwyn here and let us know what you think:

 

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

I will always have one of your inventions with me ...

 

 

Type your own story

An interesting thing happened this morning on Amazon as I was checking the latest novel by Steven Pressfield – The Profession. A paragraph in the opening pages struck me as inspiring so I decided to type it up from the screen and share it with my Facebook friends. Now I am a fairly good typist at 40+ words/minute. However – typing the text from the screen proved to be remarkably difficult. All of a sudden I couldn’t go faster than 15-20 words a minute. I was doing half my speed at best. But why, I thought?

Then I realized that I usually type faster because I type my own words – my own story. Somehow my fingers know what I am about to say even before I formulate a complete sentence in my head. Sometimes I even let my fingers do all the thinking – I type fast and the sentence appears on the page before it’s final in my head. Is this the same for everything I do? For everything we all do? Could this be the reason some people have a hard time in their work? Because they are not free to speak with their own voice?

It’s no science, but it seems – “Type your own story!”  is a good rule to remember. Here is the section from Steven Pressfield’s book:

 

“I am a warrior. What I narrate in these pages is between me and other warriors. I will say things that only they will credit and only they understand.

A warrior, once he reckons his calling and endures its initiation, seeks three things.

          First, a field of conflict. This sphere must be worthy. It must own honor. It must merit the blood he will donate to it.

          Second, a warrior seeks comrades. Brothers-in-arms, with whom he willingly undergoes the trial of death. Such men he recognizes at once and infallibly, by signs others cannot know.

          Last, a warrior seeks a leader. A leader defines the cause for which the warrior offers sacrifice. Nor is this dumb obedience, as of a beast or a slave, but the knowing heart’s pursuit of vision and significance. The greatest commanders never issue orders. Rather, they compel by their own act and virtue the emulation of those they command.

          The great champions throw leadership back on you. “

Check-in for just a badge! Really?

The biggest potential for Location-based Advertising (LBA) is in its reach, relevance and ability to deliver immediate results. The users get relevant, timely and actionable ads. They can take advantage of these ads immediately - on the spot and at the time they get the ad. The advertisers get better conversion and typically - bigger ROI for the ad dollar ... when it works.

The biggest drawback: perception of SPAM. Millions of Americans carry GPS-enabled smartphones and mobile marketers dream of using their locations to serve them targeted ads. But recent studies show that consumers and advertisers aren’t yet ready for location-based advertising to take over the touchscreen.

So how to win with LBA? The solution is in the details. While still getting acquainted with all the new power offered by Location Based Services, the users will use Foursquare, Gowalla, Shopkick, Loopt, etc. and will check-in for just a badge. But as the experience matures, this will happen less and less frequently. There are numerous ways to connect with your friends and becoming the mayor of the local Laundromat is only hot the first time ... if at all.

The solution will come from a platform that offers its users a continuous location-based benefit that is not commerce-related. The users would get on this platform for its own benefits and the LBA would be just a nice add-on. Pingwyn might just be one such platform ... Subscribe to this blog and we will make sure you get the news when it becomes available. We promise your email is safe with us and we'll never send you spam.