Instantly Usable

Posted on November 9th, 2006 in Shopping, Tools, Web, Websites by Jay

My news reader this morning notified me of a few articles in relation to like.com.

This is a new search engine specifically designed for finding things that look ‘like’ something. It was instantly useful and intuitive.

This is what I tried… I click on a watch on the front page, it then asked what sort of watch, so I said a men’s watch. From this point on I was able to move some sliders at the top of the page that then updated the search results on the page based on whether I liked the colour, the shape or pattern of the items I had selected.

Once I had narrowed this down I was then able to literally draw a box around the parts of the watch I had found that I liked (I liked the band) and then the search results updated again to show me watches with similar bands. It was a great experience. I never went to the point of buying, but would definetly use this as a research tool. Here’s hoping if will go beyond watches, jewelry, handbags and shoes soon.

A Place for Blogs in Business

Posted on November 8th, 2006 in Blogging by Jay

Have been racking my brain to think of ways to bring a blog into the business world, and more than just another way to promote brand awareness or push your latest product.

I recently saw a ‘one-liner’ on a wiki that was put together for an unconference happenning next month in the USA. The line read “Change to engage pissed off customers”.

What I great idea!

In my experience there are normally more happy customers than unhappy, and in the case where you have a grumpy customer who has a forum to vent you may just find that your champions are ready and armed to defend you and your product/service.

This I believe is one of the few places I believe a business blog is appropriate.