A Lesson in Bad Customer Service from DIRECTV

by Tori Kyes on March 11, 2012 in Business, Personal with No comments

I’ve been a long time customer of DirecTV.  My family purchased our first package nearly 20 years ago, and we were most certainly the first people in our area to have satellite TV.  I, personally, have been a customer of DirecTV for 4 years now.  I’ve even bragged about DirecTV to my friends as a genuine recommendation.  So naturally, you can imagine my surprise when I had the WORST customer service I’ve ever received from them today.

Background

When we left the house on Friday, we clicked the “power off” button on the remote.  When we came back from our weekend away, we turned the TV on to find the ominous “searching for satellite” signal (error code 771A). The apparent cause of this issue is a disconnected SWM box, which dictates programming access.  We’ve done our troubleshooting due diligence, but cannot locate this mysterious “swm” box. It’s time to call technical support.

The Experience, Part 1

I attempt to call DirecTV as soon as we get home last night.  The info on the box doesn’t provide the customer service number, so I need to hunt for it on DirecTV’s website.  There is, of course, no direct tech support line, so I need to go through the annoying voice-activated auto-prompts.  I’m still not sure why companies use these, as they’re so inaccurate that it’s more frustrating than anything for the consumer. I guess it saves them man hours in the front-end, but I would think it would heighten the aggressiveness of the consumers once they got to a live person.  Regardless, by the time I spend the 20 minutes going through the auto prompts, it turns out their “system is down for routine maintenance” and that I should “try again in a few hours.”  This means that not only can they not access my account, but they also can’t transfer me to tech support because of if.

So what do I do?  I tweet them, thinking at least maybe this could be of service.  Nothing…as of this morning, I still haven’t gotten a response to my initial tweet.  Oh well, time for bed.

The Ultimate Experience, Part 2

So I wake up in the morning, and give the support number a call.  After another 15 minutes of auto prompts, I get to a real life technician. She was helpful and walked me through all the troubleshooting tips she can, and we still can’t find this elusive “SWM” box. The answer is to send a tech out, which is where we get to the good stuff…my options:

1.  To get a technician to come out, it’s a $49.99 charge.
2.  I could enroll in the automatic $5.00/month protection plan, but would need to wait 30 days for it to be effective, meaning I’d be without TV for 30 days, all while still paying for it.

I didn’t like either of those options, considering I pay over $200 a month for my HD DirecTV, highest-package-available-service, and these are the only options I have?   So naturally, I asked to speak to a supervisor.

I get the supervisor on the phone, and explain to her that I think it’s a little ridiculous to charge one of your most loyal, highest-paying customers $50, or make them wait 30 days for a long-term monthly protection agreement.  She explained that with service calls, this was the only option due to the service agreement, and that I should have opted in for the protection agreement when I signed up for service.  I explained to her that no one went through the agreement or the necessity of such program, otherwise I would have purchased it.

Her response

It’s not my fault that the person that sold you the service in 2009 didn’t explain or offer the service.  If it were me, then you would have had a different experience.  But I didn’t, so I can’t help you.

Okay, so if I had “talked to her,” I wouldn’t be in this situation.  Apparently corporate doesn’t have an overarching policy–it’s only up to the individual seller.  If they don’t, then whoopsy!  YOUR BAD, CUSTOMER!  From that point forward, her rudeness escalated to a level that thus far in my young adult life, has been unparalleled.

I proceeded to explain to her my position. I have been a loyal DirecTV customer with no issues for a long time, and I pay a lot on a monthly basis for programming. As a business owner, I am the perfect consumer — so wouldn’t they go through the effort to at least “see what they could do?” Not a chance.  I then got to the big question:  “Doesn’t DirecTV value customer loyalty?”  

Her response:

It doesn’t matter whether you pay $29.99 for programming and just started with us, or if pay for the highest package and have been with us since our inception.  After 90 day warranties on installations, it’s $49 for a service call, unless you enroll in the $5/month service protection program.

Wow.  This was so baffling and ridiculous to me that I told her it made me want to cancel my service immediately.  She then responded, without hesitation:

Would you like me to connect you to our disconnect department?

Now mind you, I was not angry. I did not curse at her. I wasn’t being a difficult person.  All I wanted was to explain my position and feel valued as a consumer. I have never in my life been spoken to like that.  She treated me as though I was an inconvenience to her day and that my business didn’t matter to them.  She could care less about the fact that my programming wasn’t working, or anything. I was just another person to interrupt her day.  She would have just as soon disconnected my service without stopping me as she would have trying to up-sell me to something else.  Apparently DirecTV isn’t hurting from the economy and has so many customers knocking on their door that they don’t need to worry about keeping the valuable ones.  Oh wait, DirecTV doesn’t make a determination based on which customers are more of value to them.

As of this moment, I’m researching my options, and will probably be making the switch to U-Verse as of tomorrow.

DirecTV, I highly suggest you start valuing your customers.  Friends and/or other folks that read this — kindly repost, and leave a comment with your experience.  It’s time we take a stand and start making large corporations value us. We deserve to be treated with respect and value.

 

Tips on overcoming the online identity crisis.

by Tori Kyes on March 7, 2012 in Branding, Business, Personal with No comments

Do you know who you are?

I don’t.

Well, that’s not entirely true.  I do know who I am.  I’m a lot of things.  I’m not a lot of things, too.  But in the crazy world of the Interwebs, not knowing who you are is a lot like…well, it’s a lot like being that 14-year-old kid in middle school that doesn’t really know what to do with your life.  Your friends seem to know what they’re doing–they’ve got their colleges and their careers picked out already.  But you don’t.  Why?

If you ask “the world,” it’s because you’re a slacker–a step behind.  You’re one of the kids that ends up flipping burgers for the rest of your life and never leaves your podunk town in rural America because you never had the gall to pony up and get your ass in gear.  To be honest, that’s kind of how I’ve been feeling lately, only in a professional sense.  I follow these incredible people that I consider influencers–the Robert Scoble‘s, Michael Arrington‘s, Guy Kawasaki‘s, and Seth Godin‘s of the world.  How can I possibly compare to them? What unique pieces of information do I have to offer the world that isn’t already out there?

Well, I have no effing clue.  That’s probably why I started writing this blog to begin with.

Ironically, since branding is a big part of what I do for a living at Plastick Media, the company I founded by accident nearly four years ago, you would think I’d know a lot more about my brand: who I am, what I want to share, and what I plan to offer the world.  But it took a conversation with a dear friend and colleague a few weeks ago (Thanks Jesse Josefsson) to force some introspection.  This introspection not only led me to the realization that I DO know what my brand is, but also sent me through a process that I’d like to share for those of you that have been facing similar issues.

The reality is, it’s so easy to overthink things like this.  When our branding clients come to us, we go through this in depth questioning process about their desires for their brand.  It’s not uncommon for this process to take months, and for it to be a completely daunting task that makes clients feel flipped inside out and unsure of themselves.  That’s part of why they hire us in the first place (to help them sort it out)–but what happens when it’s for yourself, when you don’t have a neutral party to help you?  No matter how much you know about social media and branding, having to do it for yourself as an individual, to be self-aware and objective, is almost like asking a horse to be a unicorn.

I guess that’s the trap that I fell into.

For the last three years, I’ve spent the majority of my time and efforts building Plastick into the awesome company that it is today.  With that, I haven’t really had time to focus on anything else, let alone my own personal brand.  Unfortunately, the reality is that for you to be a successful entrepreneur, especially in the social space, you have to let a little personality shine.  You have to be the face of your company.   I’ve been avoiding that, mostly because I never saw myself as the face of a company, and I really didn’t know what unique things I had to offer.

Why didn’t I see myself as the face of a company?  Well, when I was started Plastick, I was only 23.  I was also a female in the entertainment industry.  It’s hard starting a company when you’re younger than most people you’re doing business with, and even more difficult if you’re in the music industry where it’s still very much a “good old boy” club.  Not that it’s a hindrance, because I personally don’t believe that gender issues exist unless you let them, but it’s still something that makes you a little more shy than most when you’re first starting out.  And if that wasn’t enough hanging over my head, I started it while I was working at the most horrendous tech startup I’ve ever worked for, which left me feeling jaded and disenfranchised about pretty much everything in life.  But I thankfully pushed on, because if someone was stupid enough to give those people $10 million and control of a company they had no business running, then certainly I could do something for myself and never have to work in that environment again.  So I did.

The thing they don’t tell you, though, is that the world often moves faster than you, particularly as an entrepreneur.  By the time I had built my company up to a level where I could hire employees and feel confident in its successes, everybody and their brother was on the social media bandwagon.  CEOs, tech evangelists, and bloggers were everywhere, and they all seemed smarter, more composed, and more innovative in their messaging than I could ever be online.  This made me feel left beyond and like I shouldn’t even bother.  Up to this point, all of my clients and business were a result of no marketing whatsoever — just pure connections, talent, and a genuine desire to help my clients solve their problems in areas that I was already passionate about, so I felt like I could just conveniently forget about building a brand centered around me. I hadn’t needed it so far.

Wait a second. Rewind. I help clients solve problems in areas that I’m already passionate about.  In my introspection about how I got here, I realized that a simple online presence is something anyone can do, but that it’s the latter that makes you the face of a company and gives you direction.

Well, now what?  I solve problems for people in areas that I’m passionate about.  So what the hell does that mean?

I took a long, hard look at what my primary business was, what I was passionate about, and where my education and experience was focused.  My background is in the music business, but I grew up in the tech world.  I have a Bachelor’s in Music Business from one of the top three schools in the country, and an Associates in Show Production & Touring from the ever-elusive and ever-popular Full Sail University.  I’m working on my Ph.D in Media Psychology.  I’ve always wanted to be in the music business, because music is my passion.  Ironically, what they don’t tell you when you know what you want to do when you’re 14 and never veer from it is that the world changes.  A lot good that music degree did for me. Thanks, Sean Parker.

Luckily for me, I happened to adopt to the changing world around me. I found a niche early in my career that centered around producing video content centered around the entertainment industry, which evolved into coordinating films, producing commercials, tv shows, and eventually my role as producer at the aforementioned horrendous music tech startup. So naturally, Plastick started as a production company and was focused on the entertainment industry.  As time passed us by, our services expanded to more and more things that I was interested in that I could help our clients with–websites, social media, logos, motion graphics, branding.

The more that I thought about my past, present, and future, the more that I realized that my experience and passion was focused on five key areas:  entrepreneurialism, entertainment, social engagement, technology, and branding.  When you narrow that even further, it’s utilizing technology and entertainment to help fellow entrepreneurs build brands on the web.  That’s what I do.  It’s who I am, it’s what I talk about, it’s what I read about, and it’s the goals that I’ve fused within my company.  It’s also the driving factor behind the creation of Branded Social Profiles, our recent product that focuses on money-saving ways to help entrepreneurs and businesses brand their social networking space.

Look, I’m not sure if you’re aware of it, but it’s the people these days that are actually the brands.  In fact, I would say that the biggest “brands” wouldn’t exist without their loyal constituents that tell their friends about THE product that solved their problem.  Those constituents are the real money-movers and lifestyle-livers that can even create a brand in the first place.  And businesses only exist to solve problems.  These problems may be as frivalous as “I need something to kill boredom, so I’m going to play Adventure World on Facebook,” or they could be legitimate “I need to know how to market my business” problems.  Either way, capitalism only works when you offer a solution to a problem that someone has.  If you start a company, that should be your main goal.  And if you’re in business, or even trying to break out of corporate America like I was, you should be focusing on things you’re passionate and educated about.

So what the hell does this all mean?  Who cares about me?  No one.  But I care about YOU.  So if you’ve made it this far, here’s the nut. If you’ve ever struggled at this, here’s some advice that helped me figure my own personal brand out.  Hopefully it helps you, as well. Ask yourself:

  • What are you passionate about?
  • Where is your experience?
  • What solutions can you provide people?  What do you have that they need?
  • When you merge your passion and experience, is it in line with the solutions you provide?
  • If it doesn’t, how can you make a=b?  More education?  More time? Find what’s lacking and then find a way to get it.
  • Be introspective and slightly romantic about what you want to do with your life, and find ways to infuse your passion and experience within that.
  • Don’t be afraid to take risks in finding your identity, even if it doesn’t work out the first time.  You’re a brand, live your life.
And on a last note:
Don’t be afraid to just be you–even if it doesn’t make sense right now.  Sometimes we really just don’t see how things shape up.  If you asked me five or ten years ago if I’d be blogging about technology, branding, or that I’d own my own business, I would have said you were crazy.  As I slowly started Plastick, I never even thought I would touch technology, but I had always been passionate about web development in college.  And the only reason the music industry is even remotely surviving today is because of artists that focus on building a brand.  It only makes sense that I would finally find a way to merge all of them together, but it took time and introspection to create a final picture of what my brand is today.  And who knows how that will evolve ten years from now.  Just enjoy the ride, and be yourself.

Let the Data War begin: What you Should and Shouldn’t Know about the Facebook Like / Connect Features.

by Tori Kyes on August 26, 2011 in Facebook, Social Media with No comments

You’ve seen it on popular websites.  It’s the bigger, more bold blue button that says: “Connect with Facebook to Login.”  As a consumer, it’s an easy way for you to provide information to a website to skip the “registration process.”  As a business, it’s an easy way to supply your marketing list and integrate with your users. Regardless of which category you fall into, it’s imperative that you are aware of both sides of the issue, and how the future will affect your life and your business.  This is especially true with countries like Germany forcing businesses to remove Facebook pages and like buttons because it violates their data privacy laws (which is actually inaccurate, but we’ll get to that later).

Facebook Connect is a wonderful tool.  It allows Businesses to access data to provide more relevant information to their users, and consumers a way to keep in touch with their favorite brands.  We use it here at Plastick Media frequently for our clients and custom Facebook apps, but we have noticed that misconceptions about its use are increasing.  So, I’m going to clear up a bit of the confusion.

With the latest popular iteration being used as an “automatic registration” tool on sites like Mashable, Living Social, and Groupon, many companies have gone overboard on what information they choose to pull from a Facebook profile.  I actually have a client, the lead programmer of a leading luxury nightlife/hospitality brand, that pulled every piece of information possible from people that connected to the apps he built.  Not only did he pull every piece of information possible, but he also pulled information from their friends if they hadn’t changed their privacy settings to not allow him to do so.

Let me put that in a lamens-style hypothetical situation for you.  If my friend Katie went to the Sports Authority Facebook Page, saw that she could get a coupon for 50% off, and did the mandatory process of clicking on the “connect with us” to receive said coupon–she’s now agreed to give Sports Authority application whatever data they decide to ask for.  And there is a LOT they can ask for.  Not only that, but depending on her and her friend’s privacy settings, she could also be giving away MY data, even though I could care less about Sports Authority.

The trickiest part about the whole process, is that most people are unaware of what data each application is asking for.  In fact, if you’ve ever connected with an app, you usually see this window:

The icons to the left outline what data you’re allowing the program to access from your profile.  If there are more than the allowed list limit in this window (usually 6 or 7), it will usually display a count below, stating “and 43 other permissions.”  If you don’t look at what data the app is pulling from you, then you’re potentially allowing businesses to take advantage of you.  If you’re a business that does this, I highly encourage you to look at the reasoning behind WHY you want this data.  While I’m sure it’s a great tool for demographic information, the potential for it to put your consumers in a negative situation far outweighs the potential use of good information (especially with Mobile Threats and Hacktivism on the rise).  Since almost all of us are Facebook users these days, I think it’s imperative for the social good of social networking that entrepreneurs take the stance of only taking what data they need and will find useful in helping to provide better products and services to their customers.  Period.

Now, that kind of spells doom and gloom for us users, doesn’t it?  This is exactly why the German state (linked in the beginning of the post) is fining and banning the like button from websites and asking businesses to delete fan pages.  The reality is, however, that actually “liking” a page does not allow information to pass between the user and the fan page, other than the privacy limits you employ currently.

Confusing?  Let’s look at another example.  If I set my privacy controls so that only my friends can see my data and I like the Sports Authority page, then the administrators of the Sports Authority page will not be able to see or interact with any of my content.  If I leave everything wide open, however, they can.  And since Facebook recently allowed pages a little bit more flexibility in interaction (posting on fan’s walls and commenting on status updates, for example), it’s important for you to start setting your data privacy to a comfortable level for you.  Trust me, brand will be utilizing this more heavily in the future.

But anyway–the misunderstanding between Facebook Connect and the “Like” feature on pages is why the Germany ban is ill-informed and wrong.  Well, at least it’s wrong to a certain degree.  They should be putting stipulations on Developers misusing Facebook Connect, not Fan Pages and Like buttons all together.  They’re not the source of the harm.  It’s companies pulling data they shouldn’t be pulling without user’s knowing it that is the issue.  Let’s not forget that we sign up for Facebook, and we allow the data.  It’s not their fault if you don’t check out what you’re sharing.  Right?

Furthermore, this brings up another point.  Because of the staunch issues with data abuse within Facebook Connect, Facebook had to institute controls that allowed users to go in and remove erroneous app permission requests.  Ironically, most people aren’t aware it exists.  Once you go to your app settings page, you will see something like this:

See the remove button?  I can click that little bad boy so that it can’t access my contact information.  The bad part?  There are certain things I would like to remove that are “required” elements of this particular application.  Facebook isn’t Apple, and doesn’t control what Developers can and can’t require.  Personally, I have no idea why Living Social needs to know about my family and my relationships, but I would love it if I could remove it.  Unfortunately, I can’t–unless I remove the app altogether.  You’ll also see at the bottom, you can limit who can see the data that the app shares.  For instance, if you have a permission set to allow an app to post something on your wall, you can control who can see that post or not.  Personally, I don’t want any app to share anything on my wall without my permission.

This all comes at the recent release of Facebook’s new iteration of Privacy Controls.  They’re attempting to make things easier to understand for people, and it will definitely be a more user-friendly visual system.  With the release, they discussed getting rid of Facebook places, as well as adding more privacy features. Read about the new Features here.  Watch out though, because Facebook plans on adding location-based geo-tagging to every element of your profile.  Imagine the field day app developers will have when they can find out where you are at a moment’s notice, or the places you frequent.  Anyway, here are some tips for you to start maximizing Facebook Connect and stronger privacy controls as both a user, and as a business.

Tips on maximizing your profile data security:

  1. Make sure you’re settings allow for only the people you want to see your profile.
  2. When you connect with an application, check what permissions they’re asking for.
  3. Go to your app settings, and check what information past applications are pulling that you could remove.  If you don’t agree with the information they’re pulling, just delete the entire app all together.
  4. Make sure you control whether or not applications can pull information from your friends or family.
Tips on maximizing your business for ethical data usage:
  1. Utilize the Facebook Connect feature on your website and your Facebook Applications, but only take data that you would normally use in the registration process.
  2. Only require data requests that you know that you actually need on your apps.  If you’re going to ask for something you don’t, allow your users the option to stop sharing that information with you.
  3. Educate your users on your privacy policy, and ensure them that you will not share or sell their data.
  4. Educate your users on what you’re actually using their data for if it’s a seemingly unnecessary use.
  5. Don’t work with businesses that use Facebook data unethically.
  6. Make sure you understand the difference between Facebook Connect and the Like Feature, and educate your colleagues.

Long story short, please be aware of what Facebook Connect is and isn’t.  Be aware of what Facebook Pages are and aren’t.  Be aware of what data you’re sharing, and what data you’re not sharing.  This is the age of the Internet.  Let’s not take advantage of people’s information, and definitely don’t let people take advantage of yours.  Stay informed, friends.  It’s a whacky world we live in.

Being in Business is a Lot like Driving in Los Angeles

by Tori Kyes on August 25, 2011 in Business with No comments

I hate to admit it, but I have a bit of a Starbucks addiction. Although, I ALSO have to admit that my addiction wouldn’t really exist if a drive through location wasn’t within a 5 block radius of the office.  What can I say, there’s just something about convenience that fuels my hunger for Black Iced Tea.  But the drive through, today, taught me an unintended lesson about business, perception, and life.

Well, that’s probably a bit overkill.  But it did spark an epiphany.

You see, this particular drive through is nestled away on an awkward corner of a six way intersection, right near the entrance to not one, but two freeways.  If you’ve ever driven in Los Angeles, you’re probably aware that this equates to madness.  To boot, right behind it (closest to the actual entrance to the drive through), is an alley way and an entrance to a very bustling, popular church (weird, I know–but hey, it’s LA).  Adding a bit more to the confusion, the parking lot is incredibly small, which almost always causes a traffic backup.  So all in all, you have three main entry points, and massive amounts of impatient, selfish Angelenos all trying to get their cup o’ joe on the way to their day jobs.

(See diagram)

I almost always opt for the main street entrance, usually because it’s the safest.  Everyone else, of course, usually opts for the alley, because they’re massive tools.  This particular morning was no different.  I pulled in, rounded the corner, and was happily expecting a safe, smooth trajectory to the drive through speaker.  Unfortunately, one of the aforementioned selfish Angeleno’s decided that his coffee order was more important than mine, pulled in to alley entrance number one, and rounded his car towards the drive through entrance without even looking.  I nearly t-boned him.

(See diagram 2)

For those of you that don’t know me, I’m a New Yorker, and I have pretty bad road rage.  My window was down, and since I hadn’t yet received my cup of joe, the expletives spewed out of my mouth incessantly.  I went on a good solid minute or two rant about how much of a selfish jerk he was, and once I was finally out of frustration and hot air, I threw my hands up in exasperation.  The older gentlemen that cut me off decided to stick his head out the window and ask me “what my problem was,” incredulous as to why I was so angry.  His ability to act seemingly surprised at my anger made me angry again, to which I was forced to reiterate that “he was my problem,” “that he was selfish,” “that he should learn to drive,” and “that he didn’t even look before he cut me off and nearly caused an accident.”

Now many of you will probably think that my reaction was overkill, and I’m certain that it indeed might have been.  I probably did not need to make such a big deal about the situation, but I was angry.  Luckily, this is where my grand epiphany started.

I’ve owned my own business in Los Angeles for the last three years, and as most entrepreneurs can relate–I’ve had moments of brilliance, and moments of lacklusterness.  Particularly in a big metro, it’s easy to become bitter and disenfranchised about the way people treat you–particularly as a young female in an industry full of older shark-like individuals.  So you know how I learned to handle those situations?  I learned to stick up for myself.  And sticking up for myself was what I did today.

Whether right or wrong, I felt this man had done me an injustice–and instead of just sitting back and letting his selfish driving tendencies boil beneath the surface and ruin my day, I voiced my dissatisfaction.  Loudly, and repeatedly.  I’m certain he didn’t like it, or appreciate it–but there was one thing guaranteed about this situation: he knew that I was unhappy.  I made sure of it.

After calming down a little, I finally got through to order.  When I approached the drive through window to pay and receive my deliciously scrumptious breakfast, the teller ready to take my money leaned over and said:

Excuse me, ma’am.  The gentleman ahead of you paid for your order.  He said you guys had a bit of a tiff in the parking lot, and that he felt bad about it.

Wow.  Not only was he aware that I was unhappy, but unlike most people in this day and age, he actually did something about it.  Whether he felt he was right or wrong, he recognized the squeaky wheel and gave it grease.  And to his point, it increased both of our karma levels, if you believe in that kind of thing.  It also made me thankful that not everyone ignores problems, that some people really are “man enough” to take responsibility for their actions.

And this is where the world comes full circle.  No matter who you are in life, sometimes you’re the person that cuts someone else off and ruins their day.  And sometimes, you’re the person that gets cut off.  As a whole, most people fall into one of those categories more than others, even though they may or may not wish to recognize it.  Either way, it’s important as a businesses owner to stick up for yourself when people try to get one over on you, no matter how painful it may be to address the situation.  Equally, it’s imperative as a business owner or a customer, to admit when you’re wrong and try to remedy a situation.  It’s always about healthy boundaries.

So whether it’s a client, an employee, a vendor, a partner, or just a person on the street that’s taking advantage of you, I encourage you today to fight for what you believe in.  Or, if you’re taking advantage of one of those people, and failing to admit it–I encourage you to be a little introspective today finally admit that you’re wrong–and do something to fix it.  You’ll feel much better about it, guaranteed.

And to the man that cut me off at Starbucks–whoever and wherever you are–thank you.  Thank you for not only being an upstanding citizen and putting up with my road rage rant, but for remedying a situation and owning up to your error.  You made my day.

Google+, Facebook, & The Future of Human Interaction

by Tori Kyes on July 10, 2011 in Philosophy, Social Media with No comments
Iced Cranberry Chai

Iced Cranberry Chai from Silverlake Coffee Company

It’s a lazy Sunday here in Los Angeles. Most people are at the beach, wallowing in their margaritas, volleyball games, and sun tans. I, taking post as the effervescent entrepreneur, however, opted for the coffee shop to do work instead. Not surprisingly, the trip has led me to a few curious questions regarding our future as a society in this evolving ‘social networking’ world.

Upon arriving at said coffee shop, I meandered to the counter, surprised by how utterly packed the place was. There wasn’t a seat in the house, at least on the inside, and I was deathly afraid of having to sit outside in the unforgiving heat. While waiting for my delicious Iced Cranberry Chai, I peaked around at the clientele, and I began to notice a thought trend that followed me to my table outside:

It’s eerily quiet here. Almost every single person has a computer or an iPad, and if they are one of the rare folks that do not, they have their nose buried in a book (people still buy those?). There is no talking, no introductions, no smiles, no wandering eyes. It’s almost as if someone literally superglued their eyeballs to the screen (or paper) in front of them.

Are we so engrossed in our digital worlds, that we literally do not want to exist in the physical one around us? I’ve been in many discussions with friends about this, who can’t even make it through a lunch or dinner without picking up their smart phone for a text or email (we’re all guilty, don’t even try to fight it). But what do the growth (and death) of popular social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and the new Google+ show us about human interaction?

In case you don’t know or conveniently forgot, MySpace was the true beginning of social networking. In college, it was the only place for college bands to create a destination for themselves that didn’t cost you $10,000 (remember when a simple website cost that?), and was a great way for young college kids to find friends/dates. And then “The Facebook” came out. I was happily introduced by my geeky friends at Ivy League and Tech schools that were lucky enough to be part of the initial group of colleges allowed to join. Back then, it was something built by college students for college students, and it caught on like wildfire because of it.

(Author Note:  If you’d like to read more about the real evolution of Facebook, I highly suggest you check out David Kirkpatrick’s “The Facebook Effect.” )

The caveat? Not only was it exclusive, unlike MySpace, but it was a way for you to list your classes, find your fellow classmates to study with, or to finally get an excuse to say hi to that cute boy you were to afraid to say hi to in person without the fear of rejection. It was an extension of everything that college stood for: socializing, parties, and education (sometimes). It was a way to extend your interactions with people you already knew, or to get access to the people you wanted to know. And what about MySpace? Well, they failed to innovate because they didn’t understand the human condition. People want to expand their world, and while meeting new people is cool–connecting with old friends or getting to know an acquaintance better is far cooler.

And as social networking has grown, so has the need to monetize it to make the VCs happy. There’s been a lot of debate on the appropriate way to go about this without offending the membership base. The reason Facebook’s advertising platform works is because it’s based on friend’s recommendation engines, on keywords you post about, and can be targeted to a specific demographic. MySpace, on the other hand, whores their advertising out to whoever will pay them more money, which is why they lost so many member numbers in the first place. You can’t alienate your audience, or they’ll leave you. That’s the lesson MySpace taught us.

Now, last week, Justin Timberlake put up some money to own a significant stake of MySpace. Can he turn it around? Perhaps, but perhaps not. I think that if he focuses on making it a destination for music instead of trying to make it compete with Facebook directly, he will be successful. And the reality is, he is an entertainer, he is a musician, and he knows the business of making things cool fairly well. Going back to the beginnings of Facebook, where it was a platform for college kids built by other college kids, the future looks bright for the Timberlake/MySpace creation. Justin Timberlake, however, also likes to sell out (have you seen his website lately? Try going there without an ad popping up in your face every five seconds, and I guarantee you won’t return again unless it’s for a damn good reason).

Regardless, this isn’t a battle between MySpace and Facebook anymore. It’s not even a battle between Google and Facebook. It’s the battle between our interactions, and their future. You want to know the reason why Goole+ has a chance at kicking Facebook’s proverbially ass? It already has users and products that are solutions to every aspect of a person’s life. Google Docs, Calendar, Gmail, Flickr, YouTube, Blogger. You name it, there’s a platform for you to use made by Google that you’ve already been use to for five to ten years. While Google+ certainly hasn’t worked out all of the kinks yet, nor has it even reached or perhaps even realized its own potential, given the right direction it could take over the way we do things entirely.

For instance, a dear friend of mine and I were “hanging out” in the “hang out” of Google+ yesterday. During our chat, I introduced him to one of my co-workers, and he, being a Microsoft employee, was jazzed that only 20 minutes earlier, he was also introduced to several new people through his other friends in various Hangouts. It was like being at a party without the awkwardness or the hangover in the morning. And these introductions were all from people he trusts.

(P.S.  If you don’t know what Google Hangout is, check out this video.  There’s also an interesting article about why Skype should fear Google Hangout, which is even more interesting considering Facebook just announced a partnership with Skype last week.)

So will Google+ kill Facebook? That depends. It depends on if Google is smart enough with the execution of its vision, if people really want the product, and if it makes things faster or easier. If Google were smart, though, they would find a way to integrate with Facebook. It’s funny that Mark Zuckerberg has the most friends on Google+, so maybe they’re already thinking in this direction. Regardless, it’d certainly make the takeover faster, and make the battle irrelevant. What would the world look like if Facebook and Google were partners? Frightening and exciting thought.

Regardless, though, this brings me back to the original musing that got me here in the first place. What do these things say about our future as a society, and about the way that we interact? Will we continue down this path of getting lost in our devices, or will we break free and remember what it feels to actually talk to one another. What about our children? They don’t even know a world where Facebook and cell phones don’t exist. Will they know how to have conversations with one another? We’ve already lost our handwriting, will we also lose our interpersonal skills?

Food for thought, what are yours?

Why I love my HTC Android Thunderbolt // iPhone vs. Droid

by Tori Kyes on June 30, 2011 in Mobile with 5 Comments

For any of you that know me, you are blatantly aware of how much I love my Droid, which is especially true if you’re one of my many friends that has an iPhone shoved insofar where the sun doesn’t shine that you fail to recognize more convenient technology because your Mac elitist behavior won’t let you.  In fact, I’m fairly certain that if you own an iPhone, we’ve probably gotten into a fight about it at some social setting, in which we’ve had to agree to disagree that our relevant phones are better than the other because I get tired of wasting my breath on someone who reasons like a 12 year old that still believes in Santa Claus. Example of this behavior can be found here: http://bit.ly/muxsXM.

Convenient for me, however, was a nice little post that appeared today on my favorite social news outlet, Mashable.  The article talked about the latest news from Google/Droid Chief, Andy Rubin, who boasted how Google now has over 500,000 new activations per day.  If you dig a little deeper, it will not only share that the Android platform has surpassed Apple as the number one mobile platform in the US for quite some time, but that there’s no way (iPod Touch and iPad included) that Apple could ever recover those statistics.

The broader question, however, is why?  Why is Apple losing marketshare for a device that many of my iPhone friends will say to the death is the “best phone ever invented?”  Well, here’s my take:

  1. Shoddy Craftsmanship.
    Yeah, I said it.  It’s not well crafted.  Aside from the typical antenna bumper issues, dropped calls, and everything else my friends always have wrong with their phones but will never admit that it’s an actual issue,  the reality is that dropping a phone is inevitable.  Our friends at iFixyouri did a few drop tests on the iPhone 4 and its glass durability claims, and they shattered, quite literally. After only two drops from 1 meter, the phone failed to respond to commands. Don’t believe me?  Check it out here. 

    Contrast that with my personal experience, where a few weeks ago, I dropped my Droid from the bleachers at a Roller Derby match over 30 feet high.  The screen shattered, but it still works like a charm.  There’s not a single area that didn’t respond to touch, and the casing had absolutely zero cracks, bumps, or bruises in it.  Now this is a well built phone:

  2. The Apple Marketing Machine.
    Apple products, overall, are incredibly innovative.  However, releasing a new product every few months with a new feature that is barely worth a re-issue is nothing more than a marketing ploy to get brainwashed constituents back in the store for the next shiny thing on the shelf.  And let’s not mention the overly expensive coverage and training forced on you by salesman that are starting to model after a used car lot. 

    Don’t get me wrong–it’s genius capitalistic marketing, but a far cry from what Apple used to stand for, which was taking care of the customers.  Now, we’re just another number.  Maybe you like that, but I don’t.

  3. Proprietary Technology.
    We all remember the massive battle between Apple and Adobe.  Apple refused to find a way to use Flash on its devices because it “used too many resources” and bogged the system down.  You can debate the real reasons all day long, but I find their involvement in pushing HTML5 to be skeezily intriguing.  Whether you side with Apple or Adobe, the reality is that they can only piss off developers and constituents for so long before they abandon ship.  You should really read this article on VentureBeat, if you want a deeper look into the strategy behind Apple’s fight with Adobe and how it effects developers and the future state of the industry.

  4. Apple’s Way or the Highway.
    Apple only makes one iPhone.  They release different versions of the phone, but they manufacture it.  You can’t unlock it, and until recently, you could only use it on AT&T (which we all know is terrible).  You can’t use the OS on a different phone platform, and you’re forced to use the phone as they planned you to use it.  And that’s exactly how they want it: their way. 

    This is not the way the Android platform was built, which is why Google, in my humble opinion, did it the right way.  Instead of limiting their OS to one phone manufacturer or one mobile carrier, they worked with multiple.  So no matter what, if I like slide out keyboards or touch phones, I can find one on the network I want (especially important because I will never leave Verizon).   This is the primary reason why the Android OS is up to 500,000 activations per day, while Apple is fizzling in numbers.

  5. In-Efficiency.
    As much as Apple says it’s about ease of use and efficiency, any one who has ever used a Droid and an iPhone will point out rather quickly that the Apple OS is incredibly cumbersome.  Let’s say I’m in my Mail app, and I want to change my signature.  Instead of just being able to select that application’s menu while I’m in it, I have to go back to the home screen, find the settings icon, find the application within the settings menu, change it, and then find my way back to the application I was in.  By the time I’ve changed one stupid setting, I’ve probably forgotten what I was doing in the first place. 

    I don’t need to do that on my droid.  I can change my settings or configure options within each individual app within one or two clicks.  Also, because I can customize my home screens (all six of them) to display the exact content from widgets that I configure, I don’t have to waste time searching or reconfiguring my application icons.  My data is there, where I want it, and when I need it.  This gives the droid the ease of use and simplicity of the Apple OS with the customization of a Windows OS.  Who doesn’t want to have their cake and eat it too?

  6. The Apple Ego.
    Apple has started to believe its own hype.  Like many of the major record labels, film studios, and social networks over the past decade, they’ve begun to think that their “innovation” and “superiority” is unbeatable (*cough* myspace *cough*).  Unfortunately, as MySpace taught us with Facebook, if you don’t bend and merge to your customers and the marketplace, you won’t continue to grow and succeed.  Apple is winning insofar that they’re pushing users to buy in to all of their iProducts, but forcing consumers in a down economy to repurchase every few months for little innovation, forced sales, and no customization, which will ultimately lead to their downfall. But as Google releases more of its technology, and merges it with things people already use for FREE (i.e. Gmail, Google Docs), Apple fandom will start to wane.  Just like it did for MySpace because Facebook had a better offering that gave people what they wanted.  Apple customers just have to realize there’s something better out there, first.  Maybe if Google made things sexy in chrome, perception would change.

Now don’t get me wrong, I still love Apple products, but I refuse to be a part of their machine.  When they truly innovate and create another great product, I will certainly give it a shot.  But pardon me if I exercise a bit more scrutiny in the products and companies I’m willing to put my money into, and so should you.  Apple is not God (nor is Google, or any company).  We live in a world where amazing technological innovations occur every single day.  That means that there are better options and solutions that are more cost-effective and that solve our problems better and faster.  We just have to get over ourselves and go look for them.

Oh, and just so you know–just because I love my Droid, doesn’t mean I won’t be looking for the next great innovation in mobile technology. That’s a piece of advice to my Apple friends.

So–iPhone, Droid? Why do you love your device? Comments welcome!

Humble Beginnings

by Tori Kyes on June 21, 2010 in Personal with No comments

Well, it’s about that time.  I’ve been meaning to get around to blogging for a while now, considering my company is at the three year mark.  Unfortunately, as I’m sure my fellow entrepreneurs know, finding time to do things you ought to do amongst the constant barrage of client, business, employee, and life needs is much more difficult than it looks.

The biggest hurdle when starting any blog is answering the age old question of “who really gives a (insert favorite expletive here)?”  There are a million and one bloggers in the world, of which a small percentage are actually any good, and an even smaller percentage that actually have a consistent reader base.  So what am I going to tell you that others can’t?

Well, I guess you’ll have to read to find out. :)

Just kidding.  In all seriousness, this blog is about the things I’m passionate about:  social good, technology, psychology/sociology, entertainment & media, social media, and marketing.  On a daily basis, I get requests from friends and colleagues to help them with a multitude of items:  from websites to social media, branding to video, or just advice on helping increase their ROI.  As most of my friends and colleagues know, I’ve always been the person that knows a little about a lot of things, and if I don’t happen to know, then I have a pool of great experts and resources that do.

The reality is, I used to be able to do this effortlessly and still fit work and life into my day.  Now, with an influx of requests and a growing business beneath me, I just don’t have the time to be able to answer every question or request.  So, I’m going to offer up my advice, tips, and musings in a blog, and share my answers and insight with the masses.  Hopefully it will provide my ego with a little boost from professional philanthropy while also giving you an interesting take on this social entertainment industry that’s evolving beneath our noses.

That said, if you’ve got some questions, comments, or anything else you’d like to say, go ahead and email me or leave me some comment love.

Catch you on the other side, friends!

<3_tk