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An alternative way to look at it: When you use technology to do things in ways your content producers don't understand, they respect technology less. Eventuall
by rprasad 14y ago
An alternative way to look at it: When you use technology to do things in ways your content producers don't understand, they respect technology less. Eventually, they fight back, even if the technology does improve their situation.
Lesson? Make sure you explain how your technology works to the people who are providing your content. They are the ones you need to convince, because if you can bag them, they will become your biggest supporters and users.
- sp332 14y agoThere was a FAQ that explained in detail how the site worked. According to the site owner, most of the people who read it were no longer angry. Apparently almost none of the people sending hate mail to his web host even bothered to visit the site, they were just going by stuff they read on facebook.
- jlgreco 14y agoExactly. A rational defence works in courtrooms but is largely useless against angry mobs. If people are angry at you before they even meet you, there is not a terrible lot you can really be expected to do. Not without an advertising budget anyway.
- waterlesscloud 14y agoCommunication is not limited to simply laying out facts in FAQs. There are more effective ways to communicate quickly and cleanly what you do, calm folks down, then explain the details.
- jlgreco 14y agoWhat would you suggest in this case?
- ktizo 14y agoGet some people to point at the sky and shout a lot while some others nip round the back and hide all the pitchforks.
- waterlesscloud 14y agoDistill what you do into one paragraph or less, including specifically how it benefits the content creators. Find an author who you have benefited and get them to give a testimonial. Basic stuff, really. Then, and only then, lead them off to a faq with details.
- rprasad 14y agoAn FAQ is great for technically-minded people. But most authors are not technically minded people. Lendink needed to have a dedicated page or section, for authors, telling them what they were doing (in layman's terms, not exact terms) and how the authors would benefit, and how the authors could opt out (i.e., link to Amazon's page on opting-out of lending, if such is possible for self-published books). The greatest weakness of 99% of website/SAAS startups is that they don't realize that their target market may not have the technical skills to do much more than turn on the computer and navigate to gmail/hotmail.
- sp332 14y agoThe point of a FAQ is to explain things in simple terms! OK since the page is no longer live I'll paste the fulltext from the Google cache. http://pastebin.com/egg9vcmi http://pastebin.com/egg9vcmi
- JoshTriplett 14y agoWhen technology inventors have to explain themselves to content producers in order to not have their product killed, something has gone horribly wrong with the world. I certainly agree with your second statement, that getting content producers on your side can give you strong supporters and users, but that should only represent a marketing/growth issue, not an existential threat.
- franzus 14y ago> When technology inventors have to explain themselves to content producers in order to not have their product killed, something has gone horribly wrong with the world. Not if those technology "inventors" want to make money from said content.
- Foy 14y agoThis technology "inventor" made no money. He merely ran an unprofitable service that helped lenders lend their books in exchange for being lent a book. Also, he got lynched for it. I almost cannot imagine the amount of stress this must be causing him.