Show and Tell

My first grade teacher would gather the class and have each of us show and tell the group something we did over the weekend. We were prompted to be very open and expressive and share a piece of our experience with the class.

The generation that grew up with the Internet plays a version of show and tell through their online social networks. They unlock their diaries and broadcast their lives on blogs. They don’t think twice about uploading private photos or twittering their most recent emotional sensation.

Just a few years ago people were paranoid to have their private information exposed on the Internet, terrified that their identity would be abused. A movie called “The Net”, released in 1995, is a great artifact which represents our fears at the time. For those who don’t remember this average movie, see the below movie trailer.

In the last ten years there has been a significant behavioral shift regarding what people are willing to share with their online “friends” and what private information they are willing to expose to Internet sites. Society is redefining the social contract around online privacy. While there are many risks regarding the misuse of our identities the benefits of revealing yourself online are now too great to turn back the clocks.

We will continue to see innovation around the use of personal information to deliver better customized product offerings on the Internet. There will be room for companies that figure out more sophisticated ways to protect our privacy but the real leap will be in figuring out how to make use of shared privacy to better serve our own needs and desires.

Check out the below clip by Mozilla Labs. They do a great job of showing how the future Internet experience might look in the context of sharing our personal preferences.

No Second Best

(Photo: Jerry Lampen / Reuters)

This year I was hypnotized by the Olympics. Normally I don’t enjoy watching sports. Maybe this year I have too much time on my hands. Or maybe I have become so addicted to tennis that I am now fantasizing about competing in the 2012 Olympics. I now have the same tennis racket as Rafael Nadal (now ranked number one in men’s singles), play with sweat bands on my wrists which I once said I would never do, and dream about my net volley at night. I find that my empathy towards world class athletes has peaked. I feel much closer to their emotions when they win/lose points and admire their nerves of steel as they compete.

Even those that were not watching the Olympics closely could not escape the drama around Michael Phelps beating the world record of 8 gold medals in an Olympic event. But the most amazing part of it was that his gold medal victory of the 100-meter butterfly event at 58.58 was won by one one-hundreds of a second. In one week most of us will not remember Milorad Cavic (finished 2nd at 58.59 seconds) who would have won had his finger nails been a little longer. Training for the Olympics is a full time job, seven days a week for four years. To lose by a fraction of a fraction of a second is heart wrenching.

The clip below shows Jerry Seinfeld’s stand-up on winning the Silver medal. Watch the first 2 minutes. It is hysterically funny and sadly true.

I started thinking about the parallels in the competitive world of hi-tech start-ups. In many respects I don’t think it is much different from the Olympics. Hi-tech and especially Internet start-ups compete in a winner takes all environment. Second place companies wither away fairly quickly. You probably cannot list the second place competitors of Amazon, eBay, or YouTube. We are a blockbuster society. And in many cases the difference between first and second place is determined by a fraction of a fraction.

This realization is very difficult if you are just starting to build your start-up that will compete in the next Olympics. First off, work your hardest to come in first place. Don’t compromise on second place and never lower your scope to victory. Second, try to redefine the market place so that you set the rules of the game as opposed to trying to play catch-up in an event that has long started.  Third, figure out how to break the race into mini marathons (or smaller market segments). Smaller victories are needed to build momentum, moral, and provide the longevity needed to become first in your market.  

Information Overload

Sorting through all the information coming our way has become harder not easier. Search technology is a huge improvement in helping us proactively find useful items. But search is not always effective or timely to help us deal with the overwhelming growth of user generated content (photos, blogs, emails, SMSs, Twitters, FriendFeeds, and videos). As we add real time anywhere access via our mobile devises, information overload problems will become amplified.

I think we will start to see a new breed of businesses that will give us a break from the everyday information overload. Here are some directions:

• Coffee shops that block cell phone and wireless access and that don’t allow working on a computer (“no computers or cell phones” will appear next to the “no smoking” sign)
• Vacation destinations will market themselves as secluded resorts without connection to the information world
• Technology services that help us filter and block information overload – that push to us what we need when we need it so that we don’t constantly have to be patrolling our various information sources for updates in fear that we will be left out of the loop

I have this concern that one day my kids will read this post and say “my old man just didn’t get the new information age”. But there is also the possibility that they won’t ever read it since they will be out having fun in the real world assured that anything important that they need to know will find their way to them.