From the monthly archives:

January 2009

How to Measure Anything (Book Review of the Week-ish)

by Tim on January 30, 2009

How to Measure Anything (Book Review of the Week-ish)

Douglas Hubbard in his meaty, though sometimes weighty, book, “How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of ‘Intangibles’ in Business,” works from two basic principles:

A measurement is any metric that reduces uncertainty and aids the decision process.
If it’s meaningful, there’s a way to measure it (even if you can only measure its downstream effects).

Hubbard couldn’t be more right. Yes, sometimes his math gets a bit dense. It’s OK. You can skim (or skip) those parts altogether and miss little of his meaning.

You can measure anything. But what makes his book stand out is its relentless focus on ensuring what you measure has meaning. Most of what gets measured – sadly – doesn’t. Read this book. And you can be sure you won’t make the same mistake.

Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of the mobile, social, local web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today. Or subscribe via email.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter.

Technorati Tags:
book review, book reviews, books, measurement, analytics, metrics, how to measure anything, how to measure anything review, douglas hubbard, douglas hubbard review

Tagged as: analytics, douglas hubbard, how to measure anything, measurement, metrics

{ 7 comments }

Why the social, mobile web matters right now.

by Tim on January 26, 2009

in Mobile,Social Media

Want to see what the future of the web looks like? Then you need to look to the past. Not the distant past. Actually, you only need to look back about 7 days, to the coverage of Barack Obama’s inauguration. CNN and Facebook’s joint coverage of the inauguration signaled a watershed event in the emergence of the social, mobile web.

To see what I mean, take a look at this. This is what my screen looked like that day:

CNN Facebook election coverage screen grab

Click to see a larger version.

Watching the inauguration while interacting with my social network enriched the experience for me in ways few other media have. And I wasn’t alone. Some of us were more connected than others. Design guru David Armano showed one extreme example:

David Armano watches Facebook Twitter CNN coverage screen grab

But, my screenshot is misleading. Because this isn’t just about the social web. It’s also about the mobile web. You see, I actually participated in CNN and Facebook’s coverage while being driven to the airport:

Screen grab of the mobile, social web in practice

CNN and Facebook’s coverage of the inauguration wasn’t a stunt. Why not? They tapped into the latent desire of their customers to share an experience and used the right tools to make it happen. Early results say that it worked really well. CNN and Facebook generated huge amounts of traffic and participation among viewers. This is what the social web looks like in practice. Not “later.” Not “some day.” Now.

William Gibson said, “The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed.”. And, obviously, the historic nature of the event lent itself to big numbers. But, this isn’t a question of scale. It’s a question of customer intent. Whether using tools like Twitter or Facebook, blogs or reviews, mobile phones or landlines, people interested in any event, experience, issue or outcome are finding lots of ways to meet their needs.

Even if they’re sitting in the back of a car.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter.

Technorati Tags:
marketing, social, social marketing, social media, twitter, CNN, Facebook, CNN Facebook inauguration coverage, mobile

Tagged as: CNN, Facebook, inauguration, Mobile, mobile internet, mobile web, social, social marketing, Social Media, social media marketing, twitter

{ 0 comments }

Moving Feedburner feeds to Google Account

by Tim on January 23, 2009

in Uncategorized

Good morning, all. Google, which has owned Feedburner for some time, is requiring Feedburner publishers (like me) to switch to our Google account for logging in. In theory, you should see no interruption of the thinks feed. But email me if you don’t get any updates for a few days.

Cheers!

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter.