A Sticky Widget

Six Minutes.

Now if I told you that someone would spend six minutes on a single page within your web site you might think you were eBay and they were simply watching for the auction to end.

Think about it, six minutes would be a coup for spending time on your entire site, but a single page? What "sticky widget" is holding the audience captive for so long? (and no, it's not Facebook or Twitter)

A map.

That simple, it's that which allowed Columbus to sail through the flatness (yes, that is Columbus' map to the right), that has allowed generals in warfare understand where to place the bait for their enemy to attack, that allows a simple traveler the most basic of insight and context of what they are getting into.

Keep it Simple SideStreet (K.I.S.S. Theory). Simplicity lies in the map. It provides context such as landmarks, distance, relationships, terrain, probably includes major attractions and possibly key services a traveler can use.

So where is the map on your web site? Do a quick audit and find out how many clicks to determine "where" you are. Are you Portland, Maine, Portland, Oregon or Portland, Oklahoma?

No map? Lots of easy to implement, relatively budget-friendly solutions out there. Get one on your site and get any brochure-based maps at least available for download (don't "protect" this resource from consumer use!).

Think about how ubiquitous Google Maps has become as a utility. People like maps, they are visual and "touchy-feely." Just the way we humans like things.

How Facebook Forgot About Web 2.0

If I gave you the acronym "WWF" what would you think it stood for?

If I gave you the acronym "WWW" and you figured it out and the same first two letters were exactly the same as in the first example, what would your guess be then?

Yes, that is right, the World Wide Facebook. All content can be seen by anybody else, but they have to be your friend first, which means they need to find you or you need to find them... And you can create FAN pages and GROUP pages that anyone can become a fan of or join, unless they don't have a Facebook account in which case they need to join Facebook in order to, well, I think you get it...

So step back, let's think about this. We went from a world where static information on the Internet became dynamic information. It became sortable, sharable and down right convenient. The RSS phenomenon meant any content could become ubiquitous - accessible anytime, anywhere, by anyone... No credentials, no creating a profile, no establishment of yet another channel that had to be managed. This was Web 2.0. As you note from this post's title, I think Facebook missed that page in the Internet's history.

Now I am completely sold on the value of Facebook as a tool to manage personal relationships, but where I find Facebook lacking is in its endeavour to become a B2C and B2B channel friendly resource. Again, try "fan"-ing a Fan page in Facebook and while you can read the front page, you are "blocked" from becoming an actual Fan or browsing through additional content.

Now go to YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Wikipedia and see if you have trouble accessing content... No? That is the entire point! Hello, McFly, Hello!!!!

Why is that such a sensitive issue for us here at SideStreet? Well, again, Web 2.0 was a movement all about information access. Facebook has developed barriers. So just create a free profile, log in and there is no barrier you say? Well, in one direction yes, but Web 2.0 was about creating a flow of information that was multi-directional - left, right, up, down, northest, southwest, z-axis, etc.

True social media should be portable. We believe this is a fundamental tenet from the era of Web 2.0, particularly when enabling businesses. So while, yes, I can get in to view Facebook content by joining Facebook, I can't view Facebook content outside of Facebook, and this is where our gripe truly lies.

The posting or "wall" of Facebook is a perfect kernel of information to shoehorn into a business's web site or blog to get an "inside" look at what social dynamic is occuring. We can pull a Twitter feed, a YouTube channel feed, every blog has an RSS feed, even Flickr figured it out by adapting their slideshow technology to any browser window, but Facebook????

So I will end this long-winded whine (yes, I have the "whine" flu) with a plea to Facebook to get with the game. All it will do is shove the Facebook brand and the unique content in front of more eyes which will bring in more users which will bring in more revenue which will, at the end of Web 4.0, most likely displace the WWW with the WWF.

For an example of the argument above, follow this link and click on Kansas or Virginia to see Facebook content (and compare that to the other sources of content):
USAtourism.sidestreet.com

Side-Whatever: A Lexicon of Labor

SideStreet.

Easy enough, nothing fancy, but, then, we developed a function called the SideNote. Y'know, a "Cliff Note" type of function to aggregate and pull summaries of basic info together.

And then there was the SideTrack, which would lead to the SideNote and to the SideLink (hyperlink) and to the SideStop (gateway to nothing). Not to mention the SideBar, our rollover function.

And all of a sudden we saw a trend going and so kept on going. We introduced the SideView, a navigable thumbnail of the map and, most recently, possibly our coup de gras, the SideTweet (see the screenshot), an aggregation of all Twitter feeds associated with a map presented through a ticker-type presentation.

And don't worry, we are sure there will be more to come as we develop new functionality or just find a better term for existing functionality. Feel free to offer any suggestions below, some we've already identified as potential additions to SideStreet's lexicon:

• SideCar
• SideSwipe
• SideDoor
• SideStep

A little bit of fun amongst the grind...

Life In Leavenworth

No, I'm not talking about the federal penitentiary in the heartland of the US. I'm talking about a town that, in 1968, on the cusp of an implosion of the local timber industry, decided to take a different tack and focus on tourism and the creation of a unique destination.

And so we are here again. All told, I think this is my 5th trip to this sleepy town that hosts 17 major festivals a year and whose building code is pure Bavarian, literally. You can not tell from the Starbucks from the local pizza parlor from the McDonalds. Their brand trumps everyone else's and that is in writing.

So imagine my response as I open their brochure to look at their maps and what I see is something that is not unique, not distinguishable from any other destination and just not consistent with the level of thought and effort that they have seemingly put into every other aspect of this town.

Furthermore, take a look at their web site at http://www.leavenworth.org/ and they are a classic example of being a destination but not showing their customers where they are until they go to the "how to get here" page. Geographic context is again completely under-utilized and under-appreciated.

I am hopeful that someday they will get it as they (the people of Leavenworth) deserve it. And I think that SideStreet may play some part for, as I was reminded again today driving through the old downtown of Monroe, yesterday's Main Street is today's Side Street.

Oh my gosh, it's like being immersed in the brochure online!

So this past weekend I had the opportunity to participate in my first non-conference, the WhereCamp PDX event held at Souk (Old Town Chinatown).

It's one of those completely collaborative events (again, never been to one before) where the first hour is spent putting giant post-ups on the wall to brainstorm on topics, ideas and anything else that might be of interest to the group. You can actually visit the schedule (and a map of Souk) here: http://www.sidestreet.com/wherecamppdx/nonconf.html.

During the posting of ideas I volunteered one of my own (note that I am in a crowd of developers, coders, software engineers and that I was not overly comfortable nor confident in whether or not I had anything to add to this conversation). My Map, My Brand.

Simple, straightforward, but meant to not talk about me and SideStreet, but more about what is happening outside of Google Maps or whether or not everyone is relegated to Google Maps becoming the map brand... (all you graphic designers out there may as well start a new life).

So the conversation started off all over the board: discussing whether Google was a brand-neutral service or whether or not it over-shadowed the brand; why anyone would want to push branded content to the web; the cost-benefit analysis of any custom solution (including Google or Flash); the perceived need to require Geo-spatial accuracy and so on. Very educational to see what a simple topic could deliver!

But the point here came when a certain participant (let's call him Seeq) espoused his dependancy on Google Maps and Google Earth and that, at the end of the day, you needed to plug in a KML file to Google Earth to get data through that medium. (I was on a very steep learning curve here). When specifically asked about "branded content," Seeq commented that it held no value to him and that he was more focused on accuracy, immediate access to neighboring towns, destinations, etc.

At that point, another participant asked me to bring up an interactive map NOT of the Google kind: http://www.vashonmap.com/.

Seeq looked at the screen and without hesitating exlaimed: "Oh man, I love this, it's like being immersed in the brochure!"

The silence that settled while we all reflected on Seeq's response was exquisite (for me). His emotions just overrode his functional processes in a millisecond in the recognition that he was going to experience something different (i.e. not Google Maps). Check it out and see the power of branded content and the influence on even the most adamant technologist.

Understanding Your Own Limitations - Compete or Collaborate with 3rd Party Services?

Today I had an interesting exchange with the interactive manager of a large tourism bureau about maps. It was interesting in that they were releasing a new service called GoSeePortland and they wanted to know how they could work that service in collaboration with the SideStreet service.

The GSP service uses Google Mapping technology to, first of all, instantly access a huge standard database (but the last 3 recommendations I've made were new additions to that database. Interesting...). Using this technology, users can create on the fly tours that are instantly mapped out. Pretty cool stuff, and I will be the first to admit it.

However, that is not what SideStreet was designed for. SideStreet's basic assumption is that an organization has a custom map that, short of investing a lot into Flash development, they would like as an interactive part of their web site. By interactive I don't mean a "download" and I don't mean "indexed" (clicking on the map scrolls down to a specific section of the web site). By interactive I mean a dynamic information portal that enables me to discover and to explore and to find more than what I was originally looking for.

This is my first time in Portland so, please, someone, just tell me what the Top 10 can't miss attractions, to-dos, restaurants, etc. are in this fabulous town. I want the experts to guide me and then (this is important), then I want third-party validation from my peers (i.e. GSP).

But I digressed. The basic point was that SideStreet will take the custom map and turn it into the interactive "widget" that webmasters everywhere are looking for. Numbers are coming in from the first round of implementations and I may have to start using the word "uber-sticky" when talking about SideStreet's enabling technology.

And how is this relevant to GSP? We can actually build that content directly into the custom map. Top 10 things to do in Portland? All of which were validated by the tips and opinions of the GSP audience. I feel pretty good about what I'm going to do now (FYI, the Top 10 list involves a number of brewpubs).

This is where it can be really easy to try and take on the Big Kahuna, but, you know what? It ain't worth it. GSP can use Google Maps for all its worth, and you know what, to an extent it just makes sense. But that doesn't mean you can't integrate the content and have a series of social maps interlaced with maps of what the experts recommend. Heck, isn't that what they are being paid to do anyhow?