Have you noticed toe Facebook latest?
I know moan
about Facebook quite a lot.
I also know that I use it too much anyway.
But they do seem to be forcing unnecessary and inconvenient changes upon people without even researching if it is going to be any use to people.
It has a history of rolling things out with little market research, little business-impact-analysis, or little profit-maximisation suggestion.
So, previously (click 'moan' above) I showed how "most recent" on the mobile apps actually wasn't the most recent.
Now, the "most recent" default on the main website is no sticky. It isn't a default at all. It has to be actively selected.
It's frustrating.
Really frustrating.
"Top stories" - the new default - has never taken off. People haven't gone to the lengths of going through their massive (or in my case, modestly 450) list of friends, to select which of them pops up as a top story. People are actually getting really annoyed at stories 'disappearing' or not even showing up in their news feed, because they have either checked their mobile feed, and gotten not the "most recent" as it claims, but the "most recently liked or commented upon", (if they even have selected that rather than the mobile default of "Top Stories") or because they haven't realised that the 'sort' facility auto-defaults to "Top Stories".
So, where's the business reason for this?
Is a Top Story more likely to feature promoted or sponsored posts? Is that why - because they are more active about you spending money?
If not, then really what is the business case for the change? I am struggling to find one - the reason that a highly underused, confusing, disliked and ultimately off-putting feature should be implemented seems to shriek short-term gain at the expense of a long-term relationship. I know, this is the story of my life.
But, we all know that Facebook market-capitalised. And that means that Facebook needs to business-justify things to the market, otherwise the market becomes dissatisfied loses interest, shares decrease and Facebook devalues. Facebook has to be profitable or it loses investors, interest and value, essentially. Just ask Apple whose shares this week lost over 10% of their value simply on the basis that, although they sold more phones and stuff than they've ever sold, they still didn't sell enough to meet the expectations of their investors. Facebook, though, seems to justify its (substantially diminished since float, but still) exceptionally high market valuation on the basis of a huge, sticky client base (sticky because they come back regularly or stay for a long time). It justifies changes on the basis that they are either 'what people want'; 'what they need' (to make it even more sticky) or 'what they will get used to' for a decision which will rankle the users, but be profitable otherwise. Afterall, ask the users if they want to see adverts and they will say no; but it needs to make money - it isn't an altruistic gesture.
But it over-relies and over-exaggerates this sitting customer base and is seriously at risk of disenfranchising them altogether. Yes, there are some changes that users may not initially like but they get used to - take Timeline. Everyone pretty much loves Timeline now, though they didn't at the start. But the changes that are purely commercial need to be as little intrusive as possible - the more they irritate that user-base, the less sticky those users are.
And it shows. At the recent launch of the "social graph search" - the ability to search Facebook fare more intuitively than recently (Facebook search has, for me, always been poor and a massive weakness for the service) all the talk on Twitter was "who actually uses Facebook anymore anyway?".
Just ask Myspace how secure Facebook's position actually is. Can it impose these changes without fear of reprisal? Maybe it thinks it is just too big to lose it's users. Many a corporation has made that mistake.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Monday, January 14, 2013
Stamp (tax) collecting
Last year was a very expensive year for
stamp collectors.
We all know that the cost of stamps
increased substantially last year, with second class jumping from 36p
to 50p.
But that isn't the only increase that
collectors face.
Once upon a time when I started
collecting stamps there were 9 special issues per year.
Last year there were 12 ignoring the
special issues for the start of the Olympic games, the close of the
Olympic games, the start of the Paralympic games, the close of the
Paralympic games and the Queen's Jubilee.
These would all previously have been
included within the 9 special issues, rather than as additionals
Then there were the special issues for
each gold medalist in the Olympic and Paralymic games - you would
have spent a total of £140 on those.
But it isn't just the quantity of
issues, it's the stamps within them.
There have been two A-Z of Britain
sets, each containing 13 stamps. They sneak in a miniature sheet
where they can - the most recent issue (the London Underground) had
six stamps in the main issue, with a further four in the miniature
sheet. Five of the issues last year had miniature sheets included.
And then the value of the stamps has
increased. Whereas before you had stamps of the lower denominations,
they now spread them out - the most recent issue miniature sheet had
stamps increasing from the first class stamp to the £1.28 stamp. Why
include the 'world' postage stamp instead of the second class?
So it's a quadruple hit - more issues,
containing more stamps of higher denominations on top of the increase
in base-price?
And that's just the standard
commemorative stamps. There are then prestige stamp books, Smilers,
Post and Go and other commemorative sheets.
Oh, and - of course - they have decided
to change the colour of the first class definitive stamp to red,
having issued a special 'diamond' coloured one last year to replace
the gold coloured one previously.
But there are signs that the Royal Mail
is aware that it could be accused of exploiting loyal collectors.
Last year it wrote to all regular collectors acknowledging the
exceptional quantity of issues. The dinosaur issue was postponed, the
2013 schedule reduced down to 12 (from a planned 14) and the
denominations would be “reviewed”.
We wait to see what they deliver...
Sunday, January 06, 2013
Reasons for reversing
New year, new you?
I've already discussed previously that I don't really do New Year Resolutions. Indeed this year I didn't even start a new toothbrush and razor.
But everyone else has probably started out with their resolutions. A lot of my friends on Facebook are already very piously NOT DRINKING, quite a few are carb-cutting or otherwise exercising.
I'm not.
For a number of reasons.
Firstly, it's just a tokenistic change of day. It's no different to any other day. There is no reason why this year is going to be anything different to any other year. Do excuse me if I have just urinated on your self-righteous smugness.
But, aside from natural expiry (I really should change my toothbrush as I've been using it since the clocks went back) there is nothing about the New Year which is good. Christmas is over, massive anti-climax, the worst two months of weather are expected with little to look forward to until the Easter holiday when the weather finally starts improving. Unless, of course, Valentine's day is a remarkably lovely and stress-free occasion for you.
If you are using the tokenistic change-of-day as a real opportunity for self improvement then good for you. If you are using it to change job or improve your health then good on you. But why now? Why not in November when you realised you were doing nothing else with your night times over winter? Why not in September when the college course actually started? Why not three years ago when your wife actually left you for the chap who owns the cornershop just down the road from where she works?
In previous years I have done the whole big new year, new toothbrush, new razor, new tomato ketchup, house cleaned and tidied etc. But I have never attached any particular emphasis to the 'new year' thing, other than it being a specific date to work to. So with toothbrushes, it sits conveniently half-way between the other new-tooth-brush days of Clocks Forward and Clocks Backward. I generally start a new razor at the beginning of the month anyway, simply because it makes it easy to keep track. And I use the opportunity of a few days off work to clean and tidy the house - I like a clean and tidy house anyway, but the extra time means looking at the extra jobs of tidying out certain cupboards, the things at the back of the fridge that I never normally look at. To that extent, these things haven't really become New Year New Me routines, but purely a coincidence that the bank holidays mean time off work to do the things.
But this year I didn't. I didn't make any effort to clean the house. I still have to change the bedsheets, clean the bathroom and only last night (5th January at the time of writing) did I clear the ironing pile that had been there since the end of November. And, as I say, I still have to dig out the new toothbrush and razor from under the bath. I am not giving up drink, nor am I going swimming for a while. I am in absolute reverse of everyone else. I know I don't need resolutions: I am not unhealthy, unfit, or overweight, so it isn't as though I require them for self-improvement.
I have almost reactionned against the New Year New Me philosophy. But there are many reasons behind it.
Firstly, on review, last year was not a terrible year but it was not especially fantastical. I did not get the new job that I wanted, I did not achieve any particular self-fulfillment, get my book published or anything. I got the bathroom and bedroom absolutely finished, but paid for it with a poor performance in the garden. So it is clear that the tidy house and new bottle of ketchup at the start of the year was hardly setting myself up for a year of wonderous amazement. I'm not saying that doing the opposite will, but it is tokenistic. Why do we sit and navel gaze back over a year at the end? Well because it is numerical. But we do it at other times of the year with less pomp, circumstance or introspection. We often get to September and analyze what a rubbish summer we have had, the end of a holiday to review and regret the return to work.
I also didn't have time to do the tidy house new year. I only got home at lunchtime on the 30th December, after spending just over two weeks in London and the Seychelles (more later). This meant that I hadn't had the limbo week between Christmas and new year to sort all my various jobs out - I barely had one day.
I'm not exercising for two reasons. Firstly, the swimming pool will be hell. People will be doing the Brand New Me January. People who haven't been swimming in around 11 months will be back there for the three or maybe four weeks before they give it up again. I can't stand those people, and it makes it very difficult for those of us more committed the rest of the time. But also, I have other intentions.
Despite not having resolutions, I do have 'Aims'. These aren't specific to new year though. One of my Aims, for example, is to try to get the lounge decorated in time for Easter. This is a project which has been ongoing since September or October, and Easter is a perfect time for it to end: I will be able to concentrate my evenings thereafter on gardening; and I will be able to furnish the lounge in the Easter sales hopefully. But - despite the previous comments - Easter really isn't that far away, so I have my work cut out to achieve the target. And that means putting aside swimming or such like until I have time (or the weather improves that I can jog to work again).
And I'm not giving up drinking either. Many people do this in January, so much so that a charity has taken up the cause to get people to achieve something for the charity as well as themselves. Don't just give up drink, raise money for a good cause at the same time. Become a Dryathlete.
I'm not saying I don't applaud this. If you are having a break from booze, good. I did. And if you are raising money for a good cause, all the better. Just don't be pious about it. One of my friends gives up at midnight on the 31st, thereby making the night awkward - he either really goes for it on the 31st and gets ridiculously drunk so he doesn't need to drink after midnight (or can't), or he makes a big thing at midnight about not drinking any more. He might as well just go home. Another of my friends makes very clear to any event invite in January that he is not drinking so it is not worth him going. Either go, don't drink and don't make an occasion of it; or don't go and don't make mention of it. Just don't rub it in my face. Do it to make yourself feel better, not to make everyone else feel worse.
I have my own reasons for not not-drinking.
I will cut-down on booze, purely out of natural reasons - fewer people go out in January, so I won't get invited out so frequently. And I'm trying to do the lounge project, so my money and time will be diverted onto that.
But I'm not making a January gesture of it. I'm cutting back, not cutting out.
In the middle of the month one of my very good friends has her birthday. I feel sorry for her for this. I have a December birthday and I know how rubbish a December birthday is.
December birthdays are bad because people are always poor or busy. My birthday is actually exactly a week before Christmas and the excuses or reasons I get for people not coming to my celebration are:
And so it is that I have my few Aims: the lounge, the job, the lottery. I have no resolutions, and in the meantime I have a temporary suspension of a few of my normal routines. But until then...
Happy New Year!
I've already discussed previously that I don't really do New Year Resolutions. Indeed this year I didn't even start a new toothbrush and razor.
But everyone else has probably started out with their resolutions. A lot of my friends on Facebook are already very piously NOT DRINKING, quite a few are carb-cutting or otherwise exercising.
I'm not.
For a number of reasons.
Firstly, it's just a tokenistic change of day. It's no different to any other day. There is no reason why this year is going to be anything different to any other year. Do excuse me if I have just urinated on your self-righteous smugness.
But, aside from natural expiry (I really should change my toothbrush as I've been using it since the clocks went back) there is nothing about the New Year which is good. Christmas is over, massive anti-climax, the worst two months of weather are expected with little to look forward to until the Easter holiday when the weather finally starts improving. Unless, of course, Valentine's day is a remarkably lovely and stress-free occasion for you.
If you are using the tokenistic change-of-day as a real opportunity for self improvement then good for you. If you are using it to change job or improve your health then good on you. But why now? Why not in November when you realised you were doing nothing else with your night times over winter? Why not in September when the college course actually started? Why not three years ago when your wife actually left you for the chap who owns the cornershop just down the road from where she works?
In previous years I have done the whole big new year, new toothbrush, new razor, new tomato ketchup, house cleaned and tidied etc. But I have never attached any particular emphasis to the 'new year' thing, other than it being a specific date to work to. So with toothbrushes, it sits conveniently half-way between the other new-tooth-brush days of Clocks Forward and Clocks Backward. I generally start a new razor at the beginning of the month anyway, simply because it makes it easy to keep track. And I use the opportunity of a few days off work to clean and tidy the house - I like a clean and tidy house anyway, but the extra time means looking at the extra jobs of tidying out certain cupboards, the things at the back of the fridge that I never normally look at. To that extent, these things haven't really become New Year New Me routines, but purely a coincidence that the bank holidays mean time off work to do the things.
But this year I didn't. I didn't make any effort to clean the house. I still have to change the bedsheets, clean the bathroom and only last night (5th January at the time of writing) did I clear the ironing pile that had been there since the end of November. And, as I say, I still have to dig out the new toothbrush and razor from under the bath. I am not giving up drink, nor am I going swimming for a while. I am in absolute reverse of everyone else. I know I don't need resolutions: I am not unhealthy, unfit, or overweight, so it isn't as though I require them for self-improvement.
I have almost reactionned against the New Year New Me philosophy. But there are many reasons behind it.
Firstly, on review, last year was not a terrible year but it was not especially fantastical. I did not get the new job that I wanted, I did not achieve any particular self-fulfillment, get my book published or anything. I got the bathroom and bedroom absolutely finished, but paid for it with a poor performance in the garden. So it is clear that the tidy house and new bottle of ketchup at the start of the year was hardly setting myself up for a year of wonderous amazement. I'm not saying that doing the opposite will, but it is tokenistic. Why do we sit and navel gaze back over a year at the end? Well because it is numerical. But we do it at other times of the year with less pomp, circumstance or introspection. We often get to September and analyze what a rubbish summer we have had, the end of a holiday to review and regret the return to work.
I also didn't have time to do the tidy house new year. I only got home at lunchtime on the 30th December, after spending just over two weeks in London and the Seychelles (more later). This meant that I hadn't had the limbo week between Christmas and new year to sort all my various jobs out - I barely had one day.
I'm not exercising for two reasons. Firstly, the swimming pool will be hell. People will be doing the Brand New Me January. People who haven't been swimming in around 11 months will be back there for the three or maybe four weeks before they give it up again. I can't stand those people, and it makes it very difficult for those of us more committed the rest of the time. But also, I have other intentions.
Despite not having resolutions, I do have 'Aims'. These aren't specific to new year though. One of my Aims, for example, is to try to get the lounge decorated in time for Easter. This is a project which has been ongoing since September or October, and Easter is a perfect time for it to end: I will be able to concentrate my evenings thereafter on gardening; and I will be able to furnish the lounge in the Easter sales hopefully. But - despite the previous comments - Easter really isn't that far away, so I have my work cut out to achieve the target. And that means putting aside swimming or such like until I have time (or the weather improves that I can jog to work again).
And I'm not giving up drinking either. Many people do this in January, so much so that a charity has taken up the cause to get people to achieve something for the charity as well as themselves. Don't just give up drink, raise money for a good cause at the same time. Become a Dryathlete.
I'm not saying I don't applaud this. If you are having a break from booze, good. I did. And if you are raising money for a good cause, all the better. Just don't be pious about it. One of my friends gives up at midnight on the 31st, thereby making the night awkward - he either really goes for it on the 31st and gets ridiculously drunk so he doesn't need to drink after midnight (or can't), or he makes a big thing at midnight about not drinking any more. He might as well just go home. Another of my friends makes very clear to any event invite in January that he is not drinking so it is not worth him going. Either go, don't drink and don't make an occasion of it; or don't go and don't make mention of it. Just don't rub it in my face. Do it to make yourself feel better, not to make everyone else feel worse.
I have my own reasons for not not-drinking.
I will cut-down on booze, purely out of natural reasons - fewer people go out in January, so I won't get invited out so frequently. And I'm trying to do the lounge project, so my money and time will be diverted onto that.
But I'm not making a January gesture of it. I'm cutting back, not cutting out.
In the middle of the month one of my very good friends has her birthday. I feel sorry for her for this. I have a December birthday and I know how rubbish a December birthday is.
December birthdays are bad because people are always poor or busy. My birthday is actually exactly a week before Christmas and the excuses or reasons I get for people not coming to my celebration are:
- they are doing some sort of family occasion that they can't do at Christmas because of partner/family arrangments
- they have a work/uni/club/other Christmas celebration already arranged for that night
- they have so much going on that they need a night off organising/wrapping/detoxing/saving money.
And so it is that I have my few Aims: the lounge, the job, the lottery. I have no resolutions, and in the meantime I have a temporary suspension of a few of my normal routines. But until then...
Happy New Year!
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