Kodak EasyShare? It Could Be Easier

I just had a friend email me some pictures from a trip we were on together a few weeks ago. She posted the pics to Kodak’s EasyShare gallery. Naturally, I wanted to see the pictures, so I followed the link.

I was stunned: I had to register just to view the photos.

Huh? Register to view photos?

WHY?

My friend wants me to see the photos. She did all the work: she took the photos, she posted them online, she emailed me… There is nothing in the photos that is of a private or sensitive nature, why would she be eager to make me register to see them–unless she was encouraged to as me to register.

I decided to see if that was the case.

Sure enough, it appeared to be a not-so-subltle ploy by Kodak to ask people to get their friends to register.

Kodak: don’t you think your customers are smart enough to see through the artificial barrier you are throwing in their way, barrier that is obviously to your own benefit?”

Kodak has a golden opportunity for viral marketing here and they squandered it by setting up barriers to entry—barriers that are obviously a manipulation that is in Kodak’s own self interest.

But is encouraging people to ask their friends to register really in Kodak’s best interest?

I would assert that Kodak would get FAR MORE BENEFIT from encouraging people to allow their friends immediate access to view photos and then, once they are on the site, Kodak could promote their products and services. Hell, if my friend posted 20, 30, 50 photos, how many opportunities is that to communicate messages and make offers about the products and services that Kodak offers?

Their core business is hardware, accessories and photo printing services–not photo sharing. Open up photo sharing—make it wide open and remove all barriers—go to great lengths to get people to your site—and use that to market your core products. The free users of a photo sharing site ARE EXACTLY THE TARGET MARKET FOR YOUR CORE PRODUCTS!

Why are you encouraging people to create barriers for your potential customers?

If this is the strategy that Kodak uses to market to the Generation Digital, they might as well stick to hawking rolls of film.

ADDENDUM

OK, I broke down and finally registered and took a look at he pictures–it was from a friend after all. The disappointment did not end at the required registration; the site navigation was horrible; a zillion thumbnail images made the page take forever to load and the navigation between images was slower than molasses on a cold winter day. Quite a poor user experience in all.

ADDENDUM 2

And what should I read just days after I posted this? An awesome article called Signup Forms Must Die. Read it–it’s a great article. Too bad the guys at Kodak never read it.

Pownce Needs Better Viral Tools to Succeed

In theory, I like Pownce. It’s like Twitter on steroids–and I love Twitter; so I should go gaga over Pownce. But, like most people, I haven’t gotten past the “OK, this is Pownce. I am here. Is anybody alive?” stage.

I have made three or four attempts at warming up to Pownce and every time I walk away thinking “it should be interesting, but… it’s not.” Today I made one more effort at becoming a fan–but with a more critical eye as to why it was not clicking for me.

No Critical Mass of Friends

The main flaw to enjoying Pownce is that none of my friends are using it. There is nobody to communicate with. No friends using, it, no motive to use it.

Maybe I could start using it and, get my friends to use it. Well I tried that. But the lack of a good client that is fast, easy and simple to install means that I am not checking Pownce messages when they were online. I did not reply, they stopped using it. They did not use it, I stopped checking. Catch 22.

So the problem is that there is no critical mass in my social circle. But that arises from another problem…

Not Enough Options for Pownce Clients

The main reason that there is no easy to use client–and probably won’t be for the foreseeable future.

With Twitter, I didn’t get tweeting until some friends of mine who were tweeters showed me how to use Twitter through Google Talk. I always have Google Talk open, so once their Tweets started to appear on Gtalk and I started replying… I was hooked.

There is no equivalent for Pownce. No GTalk integration as far as I know. (There could be; the Pownce pages, by the way are really weak when it comes to telling you ways to use Pownce easily—an opportunity missed to remove that barrier.)

Sure, there is the Adobe Air client but I use Linux as my desktop (and so do a large percentage of my techie friends), so an Air client would require that I download and install Air for Windows (which, Adobe in their infinite wisdom, tells me I cannot do as there is not client for my platform–no option to download the Windows client on Linux–just a “no client available error message) and figure out how to run it under Wine. It’s too much work for a social service that none of my friends are using.

Catch 22.

I could use the web page, you know, just sit at the Pownce page and hit F5 every minute. But why do that when my friends are no using Pownce?

Catch 22

To make Pownce viral, they need to have a client that either is one you are already using (GTalk) or one that is so fast, easy and simple to set up that you are willing to waste 30 seconds to do so. Nobody is going to jump through hoops to set up a client for an social tool unless there is overwhelming critical mass to lure them; there will be no overwhelming critical mass until there is a fast, easy and simple client setup.

But if there was some action to see, I might jump through a hoop and install a client. But there is not and that’s is because…

Pownce is Not Viral Enough

Twitter lets you follow people. It’s one sided and at times oddly voyeuristic, but “following” different people or services can keep involved long enough to build up a social network on Twitter.

Pownce requires you to add a friend and them to accept you. I have added some friends that have accepted me and tried to add some random people that might be interesting to communicate with–but the have not returned the favor. (Maybe the Pownce–or maybe they got bored and gave up–who knows.)

The Follow and Track features of Twitter are hugely viral. I could have become a Twitter fan without a single friend if somebody had shown me how to Track key words then follow the people that regularly tweet about what interests me. I could have started with interest and made friends.

Pownce lacks this. Or, I should say. Pownce has not shown me how I can do things like this.

Same difference.

So… Pownce continues to be relegated to something I check occasionally to see if it has gotten better social tool, rather than becoming a part of my life.

Oh well, only so many minutes in a day. If you can’t capture my interest for a few, you will so have none.

The Nation (English Language Newspaper in Thailand) Needs to Learn English

Uggh!

I was reading an article in The Nation today and I was mortified by the grammar and style.

Thailand-us ties: 175 years and building

The title of the article “Thailand-us ties: 175 years and building:” what does that title even mean? I only clicked to the article because the title was so cryptic I had to see what they were trying to say.

First off, “Thailand-us” should be “Thailand-US;” proper noun and all that. “Thailand-us” means “Thailand you and I.”

“175 years and building” means what? Most obviously it would mean it’s been 175 years and they are throwing an edifice in for good measure. If they are trying to convey that, after 175 years, the ties are still strong, there are far better words. “175 years and going strong” perhaps.

The punctuation is atrocious. Long, run-on sentences with excessive use of parenthetical elements that are not set off by commas. Or, worse, there is a comma on one side of the phrase and, as if Alzheimer’s has set in, the closing comma is forgotten.

The readability is terrible. It’s laborious to follow. It’s flat and dull. It holds all the flair and style of a 3rd grade “what I did on my summer vacation” essay. OK–the subject matter is not that exciting, but boring becomes painful in the hands of a bad writer with a weak editor.

Maybe circulation is down, maybe they can’t afford qualified writers or editors anymore. Maybe it’s time to throw in the towel and close the doors. (I hope not–the paper is generally pretty good and has noticeably less bias then the competition.)

However, if they are not desperate enough as to close shop, then they should do a little house cleaning and find some more qualified writers and editors.

Barcamp Chiang Mai

Well, people have been asking “what about a Barcamp in Chiang Mai?”

Well, why not?

Some of us folks who organized Barcamp Bangkok have started setting up some infrastructure for Barcamp Chiang Mai in hope that people will jump on board and make it happen.

If you are interested in Barcamp Chiang Mai, here are some contact points:

• Website: http://www.barcampchiangmai.org/
• Facebook Group for Barcamp Chiang Mai (the best place to sign up for notifications at the moment)
• Google Group for Barcamp Chiang Mai communications
• Barcamp Chiang Mai Wiki

I am not living in Chiang Mai so I have no intentions of heading-up this effort, but I am glad to support anybody who does and I will do what I can from Bangkok to get a Barcamp going in Chiang Mai.

If anybody is interested in attending, please sign up on Facebook for now.

If you are seriously committed to seeing Barcamp Chiang Mai happen and want to be a key organizer, please email me at john-at-barcampchiangmai.org.

Until then, I look forward to seeing you in Chiang Mai!

Oh–if you are up around Chiang Mai, I will be in the area between March 9 and 12th–look me up online!