Dear Facebook, please stop trying to tell me which stories are important to me. You will never know, because there is no way to create an accurate algorithm for it and there never will be. So take your “highlighted stories” and put them in your fail file. That is all.

This created a surprising amount of interaction with my FB friends.  I figured that I wasn’t alone in my distaste for Facebook’s recently implemented “highlighted stories” function, which is an updated (?) version of the old “top stories” function.  But I was taken aback by the amount of “dittos” I got.

I know, I know.  Facebook is free, and still quite useful, so why complain about it?  For one thing, it’s just my nature to want things to work well, and to comment on what i see.  Especially when they seem misguided, like this one.  It’s great that algorithms can steer music fans to new artists that display similarities to their favorites, or match web searches with relevant websites.  Not that either of those things is anywhere close to perfect.

It’s another thing altogether to create an algorithm that tries to anticipate which Facebook Friends I want to interact with the most, even if it’s based on what I’ve done previously.  A good example as to why this may not work–I might comment on someone’s post even if I don’t know them well, because that particular post was intriguing.  That doesn’t mean that person’s status updates should be highlighted forevermore.  Another one–I might comment on a post because another friend commented on it, and I may be responding more to the commenter than the original post.  I don’t see how the algorithm can detect the difference, and based on what shows up in my highlighted stream, it certainly does not appear to be a good predictor of anything.  I could even live with this more easily if users could set their preferences to hide the highlighted stories stream on an ongoing basis.  You can flip it to “recent stories” temporarily but it always seems to change back the next day.

Not to belabor this whole point.  Facebook does what they do, and we can either like it, make peace with it, or leave.  However, it brings up a larger point.  Is this the kind of attitude we take with our customers, without realizing it?  Do you put your prospects in a “love it or leave it” quandary?  Do we dictate the terms of our relationships without considering whether they benefit our customers?

In writing the title of this post, I felt like Bart Simpson, getting ready to write this on the blackboard over and over, until it fully sinks in.

I’ll be pondering this over the holidays.  But we’ll do more than ponder.  We’ll try to get our customers to tell us how we can avoid this mistake.  As should we all.

Image via Wikipedia

According to a new study released by Aptiquant, Internet Explorer users scored lower than average on an online IQ test, while Chrome, Firefox and Safari users tended to be slightly above average.  The highest scoring users were those who used the Camino, Opera, and IE with Chrome Frame browsers.

This got us to thinking.  Generally your customers will never know, or care, what browser you use, so if the above is true, it does not really put you in a bad light except possibly in your own office or household.  But there is a related thing that could do that.

Awhile back there was an article on CNN about email addresses. Seems that people’s opinion of you  depends on what email address you use.

The worst one:  AOL.com.  Not far behind are Yahoo, Hotmail and some others.  Gmail was tops in the public email provider category, topped only by what do you think?

Right.  You @your domain.com.

That is absolutely, positively the only email address you should use for business.  Use any of the public email addresses, including Gmail, and the web savvy population will tend to take you less seriously as a business person.  The worst part:  you’ll never know what it costs you, because nobody will tell you that they’re avoiding doing business with you because of your email address.

There is an easy fix for this.  Some business people have a domain/web site and just have not set up their domain-based email address.  In some cases, you may have to pay an extra hosting fee, but most of the time, all you have to do is the setup.

If you don’t have a domain or web site, the solution is almost as easy.  While the very best solution is to spring for a new website with emails, it’s not in everyone’s budget (and yes, you also lose business when prospects cannot find your website).

The good news: you can register a domain for about $10/year and Keywerx will set up and host your email for just $69/year.

Interested?  Let us know how we can help.

Image via CrunchBase

Google Plus is up and running.  As of last week, there were over 20 million users worldwide, despite the fact that Google is (sort of) rationing invitations.

Our take:  Google Plus is a brand new social network.  Most of the people on it are early adopters who are trying to figure out its capabilities.  Business accounts are not yet available.  Google Plus may turn out to be important, but it will have little impact until a lot of people start ditching Facebook.  That hasn’t happened yet and probably won’t for months if not years.  Some think the ultimate purpose for Google is to have access to a large part of the social networking stream for search purposes—since Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can protect its content from Google if they want to.

Impact on your business:  None yet, but you might want to get an account and check it out for yourself.  Contact us for an invitation.

Spotify is a streaming music service that is popular outside of the US but just launched in this country.  It is growing quickly but like Google Plus, is managing invitations for its free version.  Paid subscriptions at $4.99 or $9.99/month are available with premium features and no advertising.

Our take:  Perhaps the simplest and best way to listen to a song of your choosing online, when you want to hear it.  Search the vast library and you will be surprised if you cannot find what you’re looking for.  No downloading, but think about it:  if you can listen to a song any time you want, you might not need to download it.

Impact on your business:  Improves your online listening experience, which might well improve your day.  Also, signing up allows Spotify to grab your computer’s music library for distribution to others, so don’t be shocked if you find your most obscure favorites on Spotify.  They might have come from you!  Contact us for an invitation.

LinkedIn has just launched a one-button “apply for a job” feature.  The “Apply with LinkedIn” button functions somewhat like the Facebook Like button and can be embedded into a company’s website.  Essentially the user can submit their LinkedIn profile to a job application, no cover letter included.  Once the application is submitted, the user can ask for referrals from individuals they are connected to via LinkedIn.

Our take:  Intriguing feature that will make application simpler and perhaps more modern than the traditional resume.

Impact on your business:  Easy to implement on your website and something to consider next time you have job openings.

Image via Wikipedia

In my previous post, Disadvantages of an Access Database (Part 1), I described issues with Microsoft Access and the vulnerabilities and limitations of Access. This post details the scalability and the non-trained database designer flaw.

Scalability

Access has issues with scalability. The more activity, the slower Access becomes.  Ninety-five percent of the systems I’ve written have been to replace an Access-based system.  One hundred percent of the time, the system isn’t performing with good response times, crashing, and can’t be used by more than 5-10 people at a time.

Recently I saw a YouTube video from a business owner who created a system with an Access back-end and he was apologizing about the slow response times to his customers.  He talked that the growth of his system and the amount of growth and activity was causing the system to respond slowly.  In order to fix the problem, they were looking to add more web servers, just like the “big boys” have (Google, Yahoo, etc.).  With roughly 3500 users and each client account having its own Access database, the true problem is with the 1990′s coding architecture and the back-end database.  He took the easy route and just threw hardware at the problem.

Let me compare that with Indiana’s MyBMV, which has roughly 1.5 million users, and it runs using only two, yes two, web servers.  Just shows you that it’s all in the database selection.  Sidebar here, the coding plays a big role in the overall system architecture.

Hobby or the “need something now” Database

I see Access used by people interested in learning a “database”.  Needless to say, it has a hobby type feel to it.  In most cases, someone picks up Access due to the short learning curve.  This is where the problem starts.  The hobby turns to selling your boss or a company a “database” written in Access.  With Access, you can still follow standard database design principles.  With the untrained database “developer”, you never see things like, no referential integrity, no relational design, and/or no indexes, just to name a few.  Majority of the time, you see huge table layouts that look more like Excel spreadsheets than database tables, orphan records, slow retrieval due to no indexing or foreign-key references, and/or data corruption.

I guess you have to start somewhere.

It’s not that Access is the evil of all evils.  I would rather use a database that has a built security model that protects sensitive data, promotes concurrent users, etc.  Access is one of the most popular “mom and pop” databases and since it’s bundled with the Office product line, it has a very simple security interface that can be easily hacked.

Some of the disadvantages of using Access are:

Internet Limitations

Access Jet database is used by Microsoft Access and is a file based system and does not contain server features that are available in SQL Server, Oracle or other ODBC compliant databases.  Access databases are more suited for web based solutions when the number of users is small.  Response times within systems designed using Access start to slow as more users access the system or when the databases start to grow (see size limitations below).

Sensitive Data

If you have sensitive data needs like SSN, health/medical, or financial information, for example, you will require more extensive database security that Access can offer.  This is where SQL Server or Oracle comes into play.  These databases run as a service and can be protected by firewalls and other protocols that Access can not provide.

Size Limitations

Depending on the version of Access, there is a physical limit to how “big” the database can be.  Along with the physical limit, as Access databases grow, the response of the database slows.

In Part 2, I will continue discussing the disadvantages of using Access database.

Is this your database?

Our biggest news of 2011 is the “soft” release of our proprietary Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) and Email Manager, Contactwerx.

In development for more than two years, Contactwerx has been built with state of the art software tools and techniques. It’s a great answer to the question “what the heck do I do with all these business cards?”  If you’re like many of us, you’ve got a shoe box or drawer full of business cards and you do not have a system to segment your contacts and communicate with them on a regular basis.  Heck, you might not follow up with past contacts at all.

With Contactwerx, you have a great tool to solve this problem.  Research has shown that you have to have five, six, sometimes eight or ten touches with a prospect before they become a customer.  Contactwerx gives you everything you need to make this kind of prospecting second nature.

Not sure?  Try us for free–no credit card required.  Then decide if you want to use Contactwerx to help build your sales and get more business from your current customers.

Image via Wikipedia

As I continue to get emails from companies stating my information may have been compromised, I think to myself, “Are people really comprehending the magnitude of the data breaches in today’s world?” Sure, it was “just emails” (they think), but the point is that my information–and maybe yours–was released without permission.

What’s the risk?  Well, more SPAM of course.  Being the technology field, I am very cautious about what I open and don’t, but there are a lot of people out there that do fall for these scams (Nigeria…., make $5,000 just to…, etc.).  My mother-in-law was one of those people.  She lost $3,000 to a scam.  A life lesson, I hope, she learned the hard way.  If she would have only asked me, I would have saved her a lot of heartburn.

As a software architect, it’s my job to ensure that every possible measure is in place to prevent data from being compromised.  Sure, there’s not a 100% hacker proof system (and if someone tells you that, they are lying), but you can put up many doors and locks to frustrate them, making them move on.

The Epsilon attack appears to be done from an outsider and those attacks are the ones most IT professionals (developers and network engineers) seem to focus on.  The other side to this is an attack from within the company (someone who works for you).  The rules for known or internal users seem to be less stringent.  I consult development and network teams to understand that internal and external threats have the same magnitude.

So, what should you do about it?

• Don’t open email from someone you don’t know.
• Don’t open attachments you were not expecting, this includes from people you do know
• Companies will never ask you to give sensitive information, such as usernames, password, social security number, date of birth, etc.) over the phone or email.  If you do get a request and are not sure, just call the company directly using the contact information from the company’s website.
• Don’t click on any links within an email.  Tip: You can also hover over the link and a tool-tip will appear with the details of the link.  If you don’t recognize the URL or in doubt, don’t click it.
• Don’t download the pictures within the email until you verify it is from a trusted source
• Look at the email address the email was sent from (this isn’t 100% accurate, but something to check)

Be careful out there!

Last week, as we were working on setting up the framework for a new client’s website, we discovered something kind of unexpected in 2011:  a local cybersquatter.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, it’s defined by www.cybersquatting.com, a legal resource on the subject, as “the bad faith registration of a domain name containing another person’s brand or trademark in a domain name.”  Often, the domain is made available for sale to the brand owner at an inflated price, or the squatter puts up a bare bones site full of advertising which attempts to profit off of misdirected traffic.

Back in the “day”, the domain registration game was a a wild west land grab.  Smart people made a lot of money buying and selling domains, even sometimes inadvertently.  A close friend of mine profited handsomely when his personal last-name domain that he purchased in the mid 1990′s was highly coveted by a Canadian company that shared his name.

This was all before search gained the foothold it has today.  While a domain name is still important–even critical, sometimes–to a businesses success, there are usually alternatives.  More significant is that a vital and relevant website be placed at the domain of choice.  From there, the search engines usually do a pretty good job.

So what happened here?  Our client has been in business for a year or so and his business features a branded truck that is seen all over town.  As is often the case with new businesses, he has waited a bit to launch a website.  Now that he’s ready, the most logical domain name was registered back in November 2010 by a local entity which currently owns 938 other domains.  A visit to the site of the domain name in question finds the domain name ‘available for sale’.  Nice.

Is this legal?  Like so many questions of law, it depends.  If a brand is not trademarked, a cybersquatter has a lot more running room than if a trademark exists.  However, most start-ups do not make the effort to trademark their names, and many times such initiatives are unsuccessful anyway, due to existing conflicts.

The injured party can appeal to ICANN, the not-for-profit entity that manages the domain registration process.  They can also send cease and desist letters.  But those are after-the-fact remedies and may or may not work.

What surprised us was that someone here in Indianapolis was picking off relatively long domain names with very specific utility.  In other words, if our client ain’t buying, probably no one would.

Our client did select a different domain name and he’s fine with that for now.  We’ll see if we can shake the other one loose.

Meantime, advice for business owners:  look up your desired domain name as soon as you name your business.  In fact we recommend using domain availibility as part of  determining your company name.  Then, once the business name has been finalized, purchase the one or two domains that you want, even if you don’t plan to put up a website for awhile.  Most domains run less than $10 per year, and  you’ll be ready with the right name when the time comes.

Need help with this?  Just let us know.

In 2010, it should not be happening, but it is.  Over and over.

Everywhere we go, we talk to small business owners who have purchased websites for their small business but have  no access to update them.  And they are frustrated, understandably so.  They feel trapped  after having paid significant $ for a site that isn’t as nimble or dynamic as their business.  They don’t want to pay the developer $100 to make a small change, or a lot more $ to make major updates.

In our view, this is marketing malpractice unless all parties are clear on the consequences from the outset.  Ten years ago, or even five, web development was a much more difficult process, as developers had to build sites from scratch or license expensive platforms.  Either way, it was expensive for everyone.

Today, much of the heavy lifting is already done.  There is WordPress.  Joomla.  Drupal. Dot Net Nuke. Each is free, or nearly so, freeing the developer from the time consuming platform building process and thereby allowing the focus to be on design, functionality and search engine friendliness.  Each of these platforms also offer an administrative back end so that the site owner can do their own thing–add or change text, photos, even add and delete pages.  In industry parlance, it’s known as a Content Management System, or “CMS”.

There are also proprietary or  licensed platforms that–while they typically are more expensive and often require pricey hosting plans–at least provide the site owner to update some text and other content.  The downside, in addition to the budgetary impact, is that they are not usually portable–the site owner is pretty much tied to the developer for major updates, redesign, and reworking.  Plus the sites can’t easily be moved from one hosting company to another, should the client decide to part company with the developer.

At Keywerx, we develop in WordPress and to a lesser extent, Dot Net Nuke (DNN).  They aren’t the only solutions, but they are the ones we know and like.  It depends on your needs as to which we recommend.  We also provide training on how to work the administrative area so that you don’t waste a lot of time trying to figure out what to do.

If you are a small business owner planning to hire a web developer, and you are offered a site without a CMS–even if you have no plans to regularly update your site right now–run the other way.  Fast.

Wonder what was going through General Motors execs’ brains when they issued the memo directing employees to stop using “Chevy” as a nickname for Chevrolet?

Perhaps their branding advisors were trying to focus attention on the intended moniker, Chevrolet.  Good so far.  It’s difficult to manage two brands that mean essentially the same thing, so any company should attempt to use just one.  Branding 101 tells us this.

Problem is when the two terms are deeply embedded in the American psyche, there’s not much a company can do even when they want to.  You’d have to be coming up on your 100th birthday to say you were born before the introduction of the Chevrolet automobile in 1911.  Wikipedia states in its entry on Chevrolet that “”Chevrolet” or “Chevy” are at times synonymous with GM”.

Synonymous.  As in “synonym”.  Again according to Wikipedia:

“Some lexicographers claim that no synonyms have exactly the same meaning (in all contexts or social levels of language) because etymology, orthography, phonic qualities, ambiguous meanings, usage, etc. make them unique. Different words that are similar in meaning usually differ for a reason: feline is more formal than cat; long and extended are only synonyms in one usage and not in others (for example, a long arm is not the same as an extended arm). “

In this case, “Chevy” is seen as the working class nickname for Chevrolet. This is essentially an extension of Chevrolet equity into a second name.  Not a bad thing.  A good thing, and not something to “fix”, because the working class is a significant part of GM’s customer base.

GM has already backtracked on this memo, issuing a press release that attempted to explain the memo as “a rough draft” or something intended for the non-US market.  They have re-embraced the term “Chevy” by saying “We love it when people call us Chevy”.

And they’d better.  As the world watches to see if the reconstituted GM can lift out of bankruptcy and become a major automotive force again, the last thing they should want is for their user base to be told they can’t use the nickname everyone knows and seems to love.

Straighten out the pointy-headed strategist behind this memo. Branding 101 sometimes needs to be thrown out the window, and this is one of those cases.