June 2010 – extricate.org

Facebook Developer Garage London – Special Edition

I was happy to attend the Facebook Developer Garage London – Special Edition earlier in the week. I have been involved with developing applications for Facebook and other social media systems such as Twitter as part of my role at Jobsite and I was keen to find out the latest.

This event was special due to the attendance of key Facebook executives, including founder Mark Zuckerberg. Fresh from having met the Prime Minister earlier in the day, Mark gave the keynote speech. He pointed out that 50% of the 300,000 social graph plug-ins were on European sites. “Go you guys” was the quote!

Mike Vernal took to the stage to elaborate on what Facebook have been working on.

It was interesting to hear about the psychology behind a lot of Facebook’s design. Specifically, the use of faces. Our eyes are drawn to faces in life and the same applies to web pages. The use of them assists with trust on a site. The Facebook ‘Like’ button is served a billion times a day but has more impact when combined with the faces of your friends who share your opinion.

As a result, the power of the social graph technology becomes evident: Take the ‘Sign in with Facebook’ functionality that a third-party site can use. It will be more effective if alongside it a site can display, “These four friends of yours have already joined”. The numbers certainly stack up to show Facebook as the networking site to use to power this: They announced on the day that the UK has 26 million Facebook accounts and that 50% of these log in daily!

Social gaming is coming on strong and certainly features heavily on Facebook with the likes of Farmville being exceptionally popular. It was shown that there are 200 million gamers on Facebook and on average each one plays four different games. Coming up: Credit payment system and a dashboard for better navigation and game announcements.

Kristian SegerstrÃ¥le of Playfish gave a passionate speech on where he sees this social gaming going. In fact, he sees it becoming merely ‘gaming’, in the same way you don’t use ‘electric television’. The barriers of entry to such gaming are extremely low so attract more gamers, rather than geeks in their underpants in basements. He promises fantastic things in the future and I really look forward to seeing them!

more_engaged — Facebook users more engaged

Riccardo Zacconi of King.com spoke of his experiences. The main take-home point here was that their web site offered games before they performed any Facebook integration. Since integrating, their user engagement has dramatically increased (shown in the graph adjacent).

In the related Q&A, I asked (after thanking Facebook on behalf of my girlfriend for making Farmville possible!) whether the console manufacturers were embracing the Facebook links or not. Microsoft, for example, have their own Xbox Live gaming platform which does a lot of this so would they see Facebook as a threat? The panel seemed happy that the big players were playing nicely. We will see!

Gustav SÃ¶derstrÃ¶m of Spotify was also present. An interesting stat was that the average Spotify user always listens to the same eighty or so tracks: their musical tastes set in stone! However, their recent Facebook integration has thrown this wide open now that users can easily check out their friends’ tastes and share their own. Exciting!

There was a Q&A with the main executives at the end. One area of concern raised regarded response times to support queries in Europe. This is particularly important if a business is totally reliant on Facebook for its revenue. The Facebook development team consists of around thirty people. Zuckerberg: “Our IM network is maybe the second largest and we have like one guy working on it”. I’m not sure the fact that Facebook have limited resources at this time would be much consolation to the businesses in question but at least it was an honest answer.

A complaint was raised about the 5,000 friend limit. Would this be raised? Not a priority. “Most people don’t have 5,000 friends in real life”. Not considered a satisfactory answer to the marketeers who want it raised for their own benefits but I for one find abuse of profile pages for such reasons really annoying.

I got a chance to chat briefly with Mark Zuckenberg at the drinks reception afterwards. He really does come across as a lovely guy who wants to do the best thing, and obviously in his element in the geek/developer circle!

This was a really good conference. Everyone speaking was clearly passionate about what Facebook is doing and it is amazing what they have achieved in just six years. The Social Graph initiative has so much potential and I’m looking forward both to working with it myself and seeing what else is produced which takes advantage of it.

However, Facebook are still quiet on whether they ever intend to charge for use of the API…

Videos of the event (via Ustream).

#FBDG hashtag on Twitter.

London to Brighton 2010: Poor Zoe…

On Fathers’ Day I cycled 54 miles from London to Brighton. This was in aid of the British Heart Foundation. This was fitting: My Father was diagnosed with Angina several years ago and, thankfully, the resulting surgery was successful.

I was part of the Jobsite team and my thanks go to the company for their support (which included paying our entry fees and sorting out the minibus travel). They were just as supportive several years ago when I last did this ride.

I did no training this time around. I rode my bike around the car park a few times to check everything still worked but that was it. In fact, the last time my bike had been used for anything more than a couple of miles was the last London to Brighton that I did! I am active in other ways, mostly running, so was confident that I had the cardiovascular fitness required to do well… but what about my poor thighs?

I got up at 3am in order to meet the rest of the Jobsite team at our offices in Havant. We were then taken up to Clapham Common ready for our 7am start. It was a little cold so I was thankful I had remembered to bring something warm. I munched on an oat bar and enjoyed the entertainment: Various performers were mingling with the crowd, typically of a Victorian bent, although I was particularly impressed by the girl cycling around backwards… including being able to stop motionless for photographs and conversation.

l2b_start — Before the starting gates...

At 7am we were off! It’s fun cycling through the London streets… mainly because they are closed to traffic for this event. The buzz of the event was fantastic and I quickly forgot that about the fact I had to climb out of bed at 3am.

The ride was a little stop/start at times due to accidents on the hill descents. I was probably stopped for about 40 minutes total as a result of these. There was a sadder event though, which occurred after I had finished: A man suffered a heart attack on the final hill climb and died later in hospital. (BBC News link)

I was doing great to begin with, really sparkling as I rode, but hit a wall at around 25 miles. This was where my thighs really began to suffer. It wasn’t helped by the grouped hills at this point. My head was down and I was watching my cycle computer more in slight disarray: My average speed dropping, my distance travelled not increasing as fast as I would like! I had slipped out of the zone.

When out of the zone you concentrate on the negatives. Pain is a good one. Thighs burning. The early stages of cramp catching on. That leads to further negative thoughts: Have I taken in enough fluids? Have I eaten the right things? I’ve not even quite half-way yet!

You don’t get back into the zone by magic. Positive steps were needed. I turned off the cycle computer display as it was no longer encouraging me. I brought my head up. I took on a stronger posture on the bike. I was going to complete this ride in under five hours, arriving in Brighton at mid-day.

I wasn’t in this alone though: So many volunteers make this event a success. I am so thankful to them. There was constant support from them and the spectators along the way. Not to mention the villages that make a real occasion of the ride: Churches are giving out free water and cakes, brass bands are playing, pubs have the BBQ going… I smiled at a sign saying ‘Nearly there! There’s time for a pint!’.

x2_1af7f66 — Terrible photo. Awesome brass band on the green!

To keep myself focused, when I stopped (for a jam tart or a slice of carrot cake as opposed to a pint) I kept it short. Probably five minutes at the most. Cycling 54 miles starts to get a little…uncomfortable in certain areas and I didn’t want that to set in too much as stopping really makes it worse!

There were nearly 30,000 people on this ride. I was riding along when someone comes up alongside me and says, â€œAre you Tristan?â€. Yes, I am. It turns out this is a guy that has been following my updates on Twitter and he recognised the Jobsite-branded cycle top that I was wearing. What are the chances? That provided a pick-up all of its own!

I’ve explained how this event can be a little gruelling. It probably isn’t the best time to be giving declarations of love. Someone tried. A husband trying to win back his wife had put together some very impressive looking banners throughout the course: “Unite us and our family so we may love, laugh and grow together. Why take advantage of us, let’s take advantage of life. I love you Zoe! I always have and always will x.” It was like cycling through a Hallmark card. This last one was on the final hill ascent which the ride is famous for: “Come on Chicken. Flap those wings and shake that tail feather.” At this point, I wanted to divorce him! (Daily Mail coverage)

l2b_smaller — The final straight. SERIOUS MODE.

The final part of the ride is all downhill so it is an amazing feeling. Especially the finishing straight along Brighton’s Madeira Drive. 54 miles in five hours… and ten minutes, I never did hit my five hour target. Ultimately it doesn’t matter. I made it and earned that sponsorship money for the British Heart Foundation.

You can still sponsor me!

Living my life the gentle way

This week I was privileged to give my very first speech (The ‘Icebreaker’) at Farnham Speakers. Not only was it my first Toastmasters speech, it was the first prepared speech for the club due to it being the inaugural evening!

I have already written a blog about the whole evening. As this is my personal site, this one is going to be oriented around my personal experiences in putting this together.

I wrote the core of this speech when I was first introduced to Toastmasters and it was easy to do: Everything in this speech I am passionate about and truly believe. However, it was then ‘parked’ for quite a while: The intention was always for me to do it at the club launch. Also, as I was going to be joining as a founder member, I wasn’t eligible to present it at any other club due to not being signed up.

Shortly before the opening night I got to work on perfecting it. I am incredibly blessed to have Nicky Kriel as my mentor. She really helped to transform my speech from a good one to one that was exceptionally well received on the night.

Here are the sorts of things that Nicky suggested:

SLOW DOWN. I was rattling through with no pauses. By deliberately slowing down, and remembering to breathe, everything improved. My confidence increased. I was engaging more and reading the audience better.
IT’S A SPEECH, NOT A BOOK. By practising it ‘live’ I realised that certain aspects sounded like a lecture rather than a fluid speech. Nicky pointed some of these out and I also ‘felt’ the stifled elements when she made me perform it in front of her.
DON’T SAY TOO MUCH. When the speed was reduced it became really obvious that I was saying too much. The audience would glaze over. Loads of content was actually removed to tighten up the speech. However…
EMPHASISE. My speech has a few key points. These were changed to be reiterated in different ways to ensure the audience totally absorbed them. So, have fewer ‘things to say’… but make sure they are strongly put across with variety.
BE PERSONAL. As an ‘Icebreaker’ speech the idea behind it is to introduce myself. In the original draft the second half had drifted away from it being about me, and just about judo. Nicky suggested tweaking it to have my personal associations present throughout. This was key in keeping it engaging and not just sounding like a lecture about judo.
YOU DON’T NEED NOTES. She took my notes away! I struggled… then realised I knew much more than I thought. This encouraged me to practice (typically in my car!) until I knew the speech perfectly and was confident to just get up and do it. Note that I never memorised the speech word for word… it is a speech, not a recital!

As a result of this fantastic advice, and practising the speech enough so I was confident that I could deliver it without thinking too much, I incredibly enjoyed presenting it to the club. Sure, I was REALLY nervous beforehand but once I was in front of the audience I just relaxed and went with it. Hopefully this shows in the video above!

I do have lots to work on, of course: I was about 20 seconds faster which implies some nerves were present. There is some pointing and hand clasping. I need to work on addressing everyone in the room… not just those in the first few rows. This is why Toastmasters is so helpful!

Now I need to start writing my second speech!

IAB ‘Engage for mobile’ 2010

Matt Brittin, Google's UK and Ireland MD

I was happy to attend the Internet Advertising Bureau’s Engage for Mobile conference on 16th June 2010.

Mobile is big right now. Well, to be precise it has been ‘the next big thing’ for about ten years. WAP was meant to ignite the world but was ultimately a bit of a damp squib. Now, however, there is genuine excitement in the water.

The conference was held at the Millbank Media and Cinema Centre in London. This is a wonderful venue. The organisation of this event was first class, and also featured perhaps the richest cakes to exist in the universe. The general set-up of the auditorium was excellent and, barring some minor microphone hiccups from time to time, provided a fantastic platform for the speakers.

Steve Heald and Spencer McHugh of Orange were present. Orange’s branding is certainly distinctive but quite wearing when used throughout a Powerpoint presentation. Their Orange Wednesdays promotion is exceptionally well known and an interesting fact to emerge was that some films are now released on Wednesdays in order to take advantage! This and some other case studies did highlight how their marketing was successful using purely ‘normal’ mobile features such as messaging and not dedicated applications. Not an iPhone in sight!

Orange also produced an App for Glastonbury. It was given away free. Although this was never strictly an ‘Orange thing’ the results were that 80% of people exposed reacted positively to the brand.

Matt Brittin from Google demonstrated some of their recent technology. Naturally the bulk of this was on an Android device. Speech recognition for search and, even more impressively, language translation was shown. The best was the demonstration of Google Goggles which can show information on everything from landmarks to artwork, searched for as a result of the user taking a photograph with their device. Now, none of this is particularly new for those that follow the company but it highlights how everything with mobile is starting to become more seamless and less fiddly!

Nic Newman from Tigerspike and Maani Safa from Telegraph Media Group talked about a few things, including their World Cup application. This has been an incredible success for them. I particularly loved how it encouraged voting by the users and the results of that voting could be seen on a geographical basis. For example, it could be seen which parts of the world were more likely to support a certain country! Seamless social interaction on mobile which I always love to see.

Mark Freeman of Movement gave an outstanding and engaging presentation. His theme was on the differences between ‘heads up’ and ‘heads down’ mobile. ‘Heads down’ being the likes of just sitting there texting or checking email. ‘Heads up’? Things that are genuinely socially engaging. He ran a quick gameshow as a demo: Text him for the chance to win a Darth Vader Pez dispenser! Plenty of other examples were shown, including Nokia having a ‘textable’ giant sign which would respond and point as commanded and display the messages as well. Lots of video of the public interacting with the brand directly and having lots of fun there.

Mark was successful as he stuck to a few key points and really hammered them home with interesting dynamic examples. The theme of the conference was ‘Engage’ so this is what I wanted to be seeing.

Unfortunately, most of the afternoon presentations did not have this engagement. I’m not going to dissect them now. I will simply say this: Be passionate about what you are presenting. If the idea is to talk about the amazing things that your company has done or can offer, you have to look like you truly mean it and enjoy it. If you are not engaged by your own ideas, why would you expect your audience to be?

Also, less is more. Mountains of spreadsheets and graphs do not make a good presentation. Sometimes there were just not any pauses and I found myself drifting off and just not particularly caring any more. I really can’t remember much of what was said.

One nice fact came out of it though: There is an app, for your iPhone, which locates the nearest payphone for you. And it costs Â£2.99. GENIUS.

Everyone woke up when Roman WeishÃ¤upl of Trend One gave an amazing presentation. He was so energised and enthusiastic. He was speaking about the possibilities of the future, concentrating on augmented reality, but it was clearly he was passionate about it. See, this is the difference: He wasn’t just reading his notes verbatim or over-reliant on overloaded Powerpoint slides. HE MEANT IT. Anyone who can get the audience to hold hands for time travel at the beginning of their speech is doing something very right.

I love the potential of augmented reality. It just feels so much like science fiction at times but the technology to power it already exists in so many areas! Just a case of joining up the dots.

In all, I did pick up some good ideas from this conference but the afternoon flagged. Top up the roster with those who are genuinely excited about what they are doing and know how to get it across. Then this conference will genuinely be able to use the word ‘Engage’ in its title!

Oh, OpenMarket win my award for best ‘goodie bag’ item: Very, very nice drinks bottle which is going to come with me on the London to Brighton cycle ride this year! Please sponsor me!

#IABUK hashtag on Twitter.