Tag: seth godin

Squidoo

Post ImageI first learned of Seth Godin’s project called Squidoo a couple months ago, but the service was only in private testing. Now Squidoo has entered public beta so it’s ready for you to kick the tires. A lens is what Squidoo is all about – lensmasters create a lens on a topic they know a lot about, and users search through lenses to find whatever it is they are after. From the FAQ:

A lens is one person’s (lensmaster’s) view on a topic he cares about. More specifically, a lens is a single web page filled with information and links that point to other web pages, to continually updated RSS feeds, or to relevant advertising. It’s a place to start, not finish.

There’s a lot more useful answers in the FAQ, so check it out. So far I have noticed the site has been a little slow, no doubt because it’s probably received a lot of traffic all of a sudden. Aside from that (and the rather plain and unhelpful homepage) I am quite enjoying Squidoo! I have created my own lens, titled MasterMaq on Podcasting. Hopefully I can share some useful information on podcasting.

I’ve got to play with it a little more, but here are some initial thoughts:

  • I hope they make it possible to add your own modules in the future! I think there would be lots of interested developers, myself included.
  • It doesn’t look like there’s anyway for a reader to communicate with the lensmaster, at least not without tracking down their blog and then their contact information. There doesn’t appear to be any comments or anything.
  • For the most part I like the interface. As I mentioned, the homepage is kind of useless, but beyond that it’s pretty well thought out.
  • Why are the Google Adwords styled so much differently? I think the colors should look more like the rest of the site.

I read this somewhere in the last couple days (I forget where, sorry) and it’s quite a good description – Squidoo is like About.com for Web 2.0. That pretty much sums it up! Time will tell how useful it is, and how much I gain from being a lensmaster. In the meantime, I encourage you to go check it out! There’s lots of interesting lenses already, and it’s pretty easy to make your own.

Read: Squidoo

Purple Cow

Post ImageOne of the items we got in our Gnomedex goodie-bags was a book! Yes, a real book. I thought it was a pretty cool idea for swag, to give away books. Anyway, the book was Seth Godin’s “Purple Cow”:

Cows, after you’ve seen one, or two, or ten, are boring. A Purple Cow, though…now that would be something. Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable.

You’re either a Purple Cow or you’re not. You’re either remarkable or invisible. Make your choice.

The above quoted text is taken from the book’s description. Unfortunately, now that you’ve read that little paragraph, you don’t need to read the book, because that’s about all it says. Seth spends 160 pages explaining just what a purple cow is.

Yes, I thought the book was interesting. No, I didn’t find it that useful. I mean, of course marketing is going to be easier when you start with a great product, that’s common sense isn’t it? The fact that Seth wrapped it up into a concept with a funky name doesn’t change that. There are dozens of other books out there that preach the same thing.

The book does have a few positives though. It’s a very quick read, so it won’t take up a lot of your time if you do decide to read it. And Seth has written the book in such a way that the read is stimulating, not boring. Still, I think there are better books to spend your money on.

Read: Seth Godin