C76 Blog Home

Got back from a great time in Austin Texas last week. I felt extremely lucky to be asked to go and I feel like I learned a lot. But the biggest takeaway wasn’t some Flash Processing trick or CSS div workaround. What was hammered home over and over across the sessions and simply walking the halls:

The internet is a community.

I know, I know. HUGE insight. Thanks a lot, Jeff, you really taught me something today. But what seems obvious when stated so simply is actually what’s hardest to achieve.

Everyone with a product and a budget has this utopian dream that if they just puke their brochure’s bullet points onto a site, the zombie consumers will trip over their mouse cords to buy buy buy. Others they think they can control the experience from all angles, containing weaknesses and eliminating negative reaction. Worst of all, some sites use misdirection and preying on their visitors’ trust to hawk their wares.

These attitudes will lead to failure or a crap website. Most times both. In fact, entire sessions were dedicated to dissecting and/or lampooning the concepts and companies that clearly don’t understand the medium. But a greater portion of sessions hoped to impart upon the attendees that almost every project could end this way. The trick is in finding better ways to approach a problem, smarter ways to interact with customers, and keeping our sights focused on the big picture without becoming overwhelmed by the day-to-day details and tactics that sidetrack us all.

In many ways, those lessons weren’t learned in consumer-based sessions (barring the jaw-dropping keynote by Chicago boy Jason Fried of 37 Signals – to be discussed later). The biggest exclamation points came from a Hawaiian codenamed Cheezeburger, a dad who knows everyone’s secrets, and a business blogger who really could have used a better chair and an iPhone.

The first site, I Can Has Cheezeburger?, proved that a weird, goofball and simple idea can be wildly successful (in the form of 1.5 million unique hits a day). The more they tinkered and moved away from what made them successful, the more they pissed off their fans: When they focused on what made them successful and found simple ways to deliver, they found massive success. Plus, a little goodwill goes a long way: Cheezeburger and Turkeyburger (his site partner) ordered a table full of free cheeseburgers during the presentation for everyone in attendance.

The second site, Post Secret, reminded us that finding emotional connections is always going to resonate. As site owner Frank detailed how he’s made it safe for people to find catharsis and peace for the things they can’t admit (using a few choice examples), the entire audience became caught up in the moment. When the session ended with a pre-planned wedding proposal and spontaneous revelation about cancer, the waterworks in the audience went off the charts. It was like A Very Special Web Geek Oprah (without the pretense or peddling wares to housewives).

Lastly, a huge lesson was learned in the form of social uprising via Web 2.0 and the Facebook keynote. The topic has been covered extensively already (these two articles do a good job of fairly dissecting the situation). The most interesting aspect to me was to be present at a revolution of sorts happening without the dictator realizing: Interviewer Sarah Lacy’s overthrow was planned by the keynote audience without her knowledge on Twitter. The near-instantaneous mob-rule judgment proved beyond a doubt how quickly conventional wisdom spreads on the internet and that only the most tech-savvy and transparent will find success in this media.

So I guess I learned a lot in a few days. But follow me on Twitter to see if I change my mind.