What do you want....from us?

I've been a long time lurker and inconsistent poster. Your archives at the forum are so plentiful and complete that I think most questions that get asked were answered somewhere in there. Sometimes when I get bored I'll just pick a random page and read all the threads. There are some classic like "if you were dropped into a town you'd never been to before, what's the quickest way you could make $500" etc that might be cool to see if anyone has any new ideas.


Recently I had an "aha" moment. I've changed my focus from making money to providing value and helping people like myself. I chose something I'm actually passionate about and I'm thinking long term instead of trying to replace a full time jobs income in the next 2 weeks with some new random idea that I would only stick with for a month.

If I had to pick one topic I'd like to see gone into more depth, it would be the advetorial direct mail advertising or any type of direct mail programs that can be run month after month with the same companies.

To be completely honest tho, your low-cost personal one-on-one guidance and all the information available leave little to be desired. I think personally it was just up to me to quit being hard headed, focus and decide what the Heck I wanted to do. All the resources are already right here waiting.

I think it is interesting that Gordon started this thread with the subject line: "What do you want from us?"

Maybe something like this would be better suited: "What can you do for us?"

I have been a fan/follower/lurker of this board for a long time. A long time, indeed. I have been inspired and motivated to no end ... this board bears no responsibility for my lack of action or success!

As much as I can tell, even though I've been here for many a moon, it is most likely that I miss the true Glory Days of the Sowpub experience.

The names of folks who have posted in this forum ... wow! Hall of Fame of Marketing-style Wow!

In recent years, the board has kind of fizzled out. Died like a camp fire at the end of a long evening.

Every once in a while, Gordon has returned to try to breath life back into this once-great forum. It always seems to work for a while, but quickly it becomes obvious: It's only the same people commenting, and eventually the discussion just burns up all its oxygen.

Gordon is tired. He's given his all to this project for more years than he ever planned (I would suspect).

At this point, the question should be: What can ... what will ... those of us who stop by to read (lurkers?) willing and able to lend to the conversation.

It isn't enough to comment on Gordon's posts (as great as those conversations can be).

Wouldn't it be great if more people took half the effort Gordon has given? Start a conversation once in a while. Post something interesting you've seen or read about in the WSJ, or Entrepreneur, or anywhere!

Mention a business you've seen locally. What's their secret sauce? Do they have a leg up on the market? What is it? And why do you think it works? (Or maybe why do you think it doesn't work?)

I can't say I'm going to "do as I say" here. I'd love to be able to say I'll start three or four threads a week. Unfortunately, I've got no street cred. I got nothin' but questions when it comes to biz. I'm a looker, not a doer.

But I'm going to try to keep an open mind. When I'm chasing shiny objects on the Web, if I see something interesting ... I'll try to come here and rub some sticks together ... see if we can't get a little smolder of a fire going.

Ask not what Sowpub can do for you ...

[Dien Rice]

Hi Robert,

Thanks for your post...

Of course, many things have changed since Sowpub started...

This forum is good for more extended discussion...

A lot of the attention nowadays has been taken by places like Facebook and Twitter.

Twitter is not a place for extended discussion... It even limits you to 140 characters! It's very hard to explain anything in depth there...

It's very well suited for insulting each other, though.

Facebook rewards you for posting pictures and videos. They generally don't like pure text...

I believe attention spans have been shrinking for many decades now. Twitter and Facebook are great for short attention spans...

I play the game there too! (I am on Twitter and Facebook...)

But it also has its limitations...

However, these short "hits" on Facebook and Twitter give you a quick dopamine "buzz" and gets you addicted!

I see it (to put it in historical terms) as being like the difference between watching Jerry Springer, vs. Carl Sagan...

Seeing two women tearing each other's hair out on "The Jerry Springer Show" can be more entertaining (for a quick dopamine hit) than learning about the billions and billions of stars on "Cosmos"...

Best wishes,

Dien

Where's that "like" button?

Oh, dang it! That's Facebook!

Dien, you may be right.

I have never been "fully engaged" in the discussion boards of business, but I had a personal "go to" group of as many as six at one time.

Thinking back, this may be the last one still operating.

Groups are the big thing (well, one of the big things ... FB ads are pretty big, too!) now on FB. Every half-assed guru and special interest group has one, and they are pretty active.

FB provides an instant audience ... potentially, anyway.

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by Robert J.

Dien, you may be right.

I have never been "fully engaged" in the discussion boards of business, but I had a personal "go to" group of as many as six at one time.

Thinking back, this may be the last one still operating.

Groups are the big thing (well, one of the big things ... FB ads are pretty big, too!) now on FB. Every half-assed guru and special interest group has one, and they are pretty active.

FB provides an instant audience ... potentially, anyway.

Hi Robert,

Yes, forums need to modernize!

One of the "problems" as I see it with Facebook is, you don't really "own" anything... Facebook owns it.

For example, do you "own" people who "Like" your Facebook page? Not really...

It used to be that Facebook showed stuff from your page to most people who "Liked" it. That percentage has been decreasing with each year...

So how do you reach more people who "Liked" your page? Easy - pay Facebook money to advertise to reach them!

That proves that it's really about the money... Facebook "owns" everything, your data, everyone else's data, and they also own your ability to reach anyone, including those who "Liked" your page, etc.

The same goes for any Facebook group... You "own" nothing, even if you started the group. Everything is controlled by Facebook... Facebook changes the rules over time. They'll change it to increase their own profit. So, however it works now, is not how it may work in the future...

To put it in other terms, where is the "toll position"? The answer is with Facebook - it is Facebook who owns the toll position for anything on Facebook!

It means they can "screw" you overnight if you are too dependent on them... And they've proven that they'll do it if it means greater and sustained profits for them...

I believe there is an opportunity to "modernize" things like forum software, to utilize more social media tools... (Maybe someone's done it, I don't know.) I don't have time to do it now... Otherwise it could be a good project...

Best wishes,

Dien

Dien:

Facebook can be monetized in the groups by using private group and charging admission...but my biggest problem with Facebook groups is that there is no way to create a knowledge base, and as a result the same questions are asked and have to be answered over and over again as new people join. A knowledge base could be built by the owner of the group (loads of time and effort involved) and then pinned to the top of the group....the problem is that only one item can be pinned to the top and other important items can't be pinned if the knowledge base is pinned....just my biggest complaint and pain in the butt with it.....with forums there is a searchable knowledge base.

Well said, Cornell!

You hit the nail on the head a few times.