Tis Better to Receive than Give!

Newspapers, Television, Radio, Telephone, Internet, Mobile Phone... Every time a new channel or device enters the market advertisers froth at the mouth imagining how much spam, I mean content, they can throw at the consumer each minute.

Until the internet came to town sending your message and hoping for a response through another medium was the only option. But now with the internet and even more powerful the smartphone a major shift is happening.

The most valuable experiences on the web are the social networks where the user creates the content. So why aren't we thinking the same way about mobile devices? Why aren't we doing more than just pushing social networks onto the mobile device but creating networks where the mobile phone is THE device, the point of interaction and the place where the consumer has their voice?

Now before I continue let me tell you how I define voice. Voice is the expression of an individuals opinion, perception or experience communicated in any manner available including but not limited to text, voice, video and photos.

Back to the post. Foursquare and Twitter have done a half descent job at demonstrating the virality of location-based, real-time, user generated content... the question... is are they missing the mark?

Twitter has become spam. It takes too long to weed through what's important and what's a marketer hashtagging content to get my attention... and Foursquare... Ok... it is cool, but sounds a lot like a way to make Loopt work. I know where you are... I see the value there but they are still missing the real value.

So what's the magic mix? Here are the questions that I am asking when I look at companies. What content can individuals create that businesses won't or can't? What content can individuals create that professional content creators can't afford to collect? What content is interesting enough to post, tag, talk about and search for?

Figure it out... there are many options and the winner is... Well, the winners have yet to be determined but for once I agree with a few of the useless user products out there, "you must have a relentless commitment to the user".

Stop pushing, start listening and see where your users take you.