Come Join the Google Plus Party, or Not

I have been participating in Google Plus for several weeks now and find it to be quite compelling in terms of user interface, content and overall experience. I have met a number of interesting new people like Sarah Hill from KOMU TV in Missouri. I've also connected with family, friends and business associates, and even crossed paths with the likes of Michael Dell, Jason Pollock (Director) and Dave Girouard (Google). Yes, Paris Hilton is here too, but I didn't put her in any of my circles.

This new social network site took off reaching 25 million participants in record time. The "invitation only" method of accepting people used in the past with GMail and Google Voice worked once again to create an aura of exclusivity and drove demand, albeit at a controlled pace. The early rush prompted many to forecast Google Plus would reach astronomical proportions in no time and crush all other social networks. Of course, in my view  this pure hyperbole and I expressed a more reasonable and rational view in an earlier column..

Now I am reading a few articles like this one reporting on the poor take-up of  special new invitations all of us early participants were recently granted. Google posted a custom link which entitles all current subscribers  (including me) to offer up to up to 150 of our friends and neighbors an invitation to join. So, I decided to run my own test and see how many people take advantage of my stash. Here is my button:

You Can Join Google Plus by Clicking Here

Let's assume 20% of the 25 million will take the time to extend their 150 invitations to their network. Typically you would see a 2% to 3% response. Based on these assumptions the program would add about 22 million new subscribers. Do the math. Once those invitations are exercised this model suggests the number of subscribers would nearly double.

But I have a theory that suggests there are enough natural connections among the groups of people who were early adopters to make this approach ineffective. This campaign is like handing out free show tickets to the crowd of people who are already in the theater.

New growth will come, of course, when Google Plus allows business participation, promised to be here soon. But to attract more individuals Google will have to more broadly publicize the availability of new invites, or decide the time is right to simply open the floodgates and allow anyone who wants to join to sign up ... using their real name, of course.

Will any of my loyal readers click on the link above? I'll report back on the numbers  in a few weeks.

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

Your Table is Ready

Forgive me if this is old news but I had a terrific first time experience at a local restaurant last Saturday night. After seeing Cowboys and Aliens, a most entertaining movie by the way, we strolled over to a nearby restaurant to have dinner. At the hostess station I requested a table for two. It is a popular place and it was a Saturday night, so no surprise when we were advised there would be a wait. When asked for my name to be added to her queue, I gave her "Joe P" my usual abbreviated moniker. It allows the staff to avoid the embarrassment of trying to spell my last name or pronounce it when they are ready to call out for me.

But this time I was also asked for my cell phone number. If you read my columns, you know I use Google Voice and so I see no risk or danger in releasing my number. Without a thought I rattled it off and the young lady punched it into the terminal at her station.

As we stepped to the side I felt that familiar and all too frequent vibration in my pocket that signals a text, e-mail or phone call coming in. Pulling out my EVO and glancing at the screen I saw a text informing me the restaurant would text me when my table was ready. It came from a service called HostConcepts which I later learned offers a suite of restaurant management applications including this neat customer notification system.

How many times have you stood a few feet away in the lineup of anxious, hungry and impatient people, one of whom is always at the desk asking how much longer will it be? How often have you sat shoulder to shoulder on that long wooden bench, hoping the next name called is yours? Have you ever walked away for five to ten minutes, then returned to wait ten or fifteen more, only to find out they already called your name and you missed it! This was so much better, giving us the freedom to wander around without that fear.

Just a few minutes later my phone was vibrating again with the brief message, "Joe P, your table is ready." It directed me to see the receptionist immediately and suggested I text back in case my plans had changed and I was no longer coming.

This is technology innovation at its best. Who doesn't carry a cell phone today? Who doesn't text? So why not leverage the availability of this nearly universal medium to enhance the customer experience, making it infinitely more convenient for customers waiting for their table. No one is bellowing out your name hoping you are still within ear shot or setting off that electronic gypsy disk that vibrates and blinks like the marquis at the old Bijou theater. Customers are free to use the time they have to wait to do anything they choose, secure in the knowledge they will not miss out.

Moreover, from the restaurants perspective you have a simple system that provides better customer service. There is no longer a need to keep a paper list with names scratched out as people are seated.  The system also provides all the metrics you could ever want like the number of turns, average wait times, cancellations and no shows. As a bonus you now have customer cell phone numbers in your database which can be used in loyalty or other marketing programs.

Today, there are restaurants using iPads for wine list applications and others expanding to the full menu. I imagine some will allow you to place your order. Ultimately you will be paying the check using the tablet or, like my Starbucks experience, another smart phone application.

Smart phones and tablets are changing the complexion of the restaurant business. Beyond the in-store, operational impact, there are a number of social networks like Yelp also changing the rules of the game. But we'll save that discussion for another time.

Waiter, check please.

Captain Joe

 Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

Don't Shoot the Blackberry Messenger

Recent news reports of the riots in London and other major cities in the UK made me angry. While we may not be able to condemn nor condone the actions of the police which resulted in the unfortunate death of an individual, we can surely agree mindless rampages involving property theft and destruction are simply uncivilized and unacceptable behavior. This is not a protest or civil disobedience in response to perceived oppression, but rather a bunch of loosely organized hooligans, using this event to justify their criminal acts. These are bad people who look for any excuse to break the rules and go wild. High unemployment, low income and poor education are possible factors contributing to the behavior of the gangs. But many of these young people know what they are doing is wrong and yet they carry on, misguided by a few false prophets, peer pressure and, apparently Blackberry messenger.

This is the other part of the news reports that angered me a bit. It is hardly earth shattering news that young people are using BBM to coordinate their activities. It may have been in this particular instance some of the gang members were using BBM. My guess is they were using other social networks and conventional means to communicate as well.

The news media, and to some degree the public, always demand we identify a "bad guy"  -- some one or some thing we can blame for all this chaos and destruction. BBM, in this case, became the lightening rod for attention as soon as it was mentioned in early reports. RIM has now suffered the consequences with their blackberry blog site being hacked in retaliation, not to mention the impact on the company's reputation.

Smart mobs, or SMOBS, are a new force to be dealt with by the authorities. We can applaud them when they bring down a military dictator but we must fear what they can do in situations like the riots in London.

People have been organizing since the dawn of history. Social networks are just the latest tool in their arsenal and have been used to achieve both good and bad outcomes. For example, today Twitter is being used to  assemble people in neighborhoods in London to help clean up the mess. Other Tweets are directing people to Catch A Looter, one of several sites where you post photos of people caught in the act or help to identify them. We certainly know the good that ultimately came from the use of Facebook and Twitter in the recent overthrow of some truly oppressive governments in the middle east.

It is not BBM or any specific social network that is at fault but rather individuals and the way in which these tools are being used by them to accelerate the spread of mayhem and destruction. The police and other authorities must acquire the skills and technology necessary to detect and combat these individuals, no matter what mechanism they choose to employ.

Let's figure out how to catch the bad guys and not shoot the messenger.

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

Talk To Me Baby

Over ten years ago I was fascinated by the introduction of a new service called Wildfire. It was a totally automated telephone assistant that understood natural language speech. Your virtual assistant could screen your calls, find you and interact with you, allowing you to decide where and when you wanted to speak to the person calling you. In the demonstration Wildfire would also handle your calendar, reminding you of appointments, moving them or making new ones. You could command Wildfire to place calls for you, too.

No software or hardware was required. Today, we would call it cloud-based. Wildfire was configured, controlled and operated with voice commands. Unlike most other voice activated systems of the day, it required no training. You did not have to teach it how to understand your voice. By the way, it never raised its voice or called in sick on Monday morning.

Voice technology has steadily improved over the years. We are all too familiar with customer service organizations that use interactive voice recognition (IVR) systems. Press 1 for English. Say or speak your 14 digit account number. Your card has been activated; if you need further assistance please say "YES." Computers routinely talk to us by phone and guide us through inquiries, transactions and other activities. While reviewing this column this morning, as if on queue, I received a phone call from the local car dealer confirming my service appointment. "Hello," the pleasant automated voice said, "We are confirming your appointment for twelve o'clock ... if you are still planning on coming, please say yes."

While we haven't quite reached the level of quality of the Enterprise from Star Trek or HAL from 2001 Space Odyssey, the computer has gained the ability to understand and respond in a wide variety of situations. Voice recognition is included in the Windows operating system. Adobe Reader will, in fact, read a document to you. Google Voice will transcribe your voice mail messages and email them to you . Smart phones (iPhone, Android) will execute a spoken search request and offer other applications that readily understand verbal commands. Hands free capabilities in our cars initially allowed us to place phone calls by voice command. Now we control the entertainment system, navigate, book a restaurant and adjust the climate controls as well.

Voice activated systems are all around us. So why hasn't voice activation achieved broader acceptance? One of the last remaining hurdles is the need for a trigger. To get its attention you had to say, "Wildfire" before speaking a command. In your car you typically push a button and, after the tone, speak your command. Voice activation must advance to the point where your commands are heard in context and allow the system to realize when you are speaking to it.

This is no small feat. Imagine if your television was always listening. What should it do if it hears you say, "let's see what's on channel seven?" Does this mean tune to that channel or display the guide? How would it distinguish this from a comment directed at another person in the room. For example, "I don't like this show you are watching, let's see what is on channel seven." Before executing any command, the computer may have to engage in conversation. At a minimum it should confirm your request to eliminate ambiguity. "Did you want me to put on channel seven or show you the guide?" Software usually protects us from ourselves by confirming a file delete or asking if we really want to quit and lose our changes. This would be even more critical in situations where spoken words could have serious unintended consequences.

There is some work being done in this area but until it becomes mainstream I'm afraid we're going to have to continue to somehow get the computer's attention before asking it to do something.

Most wives will understand this since husbands typically operate the same way.

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC

Here's Looking at You, Kid

Facebook has software that allows it to recognize people in photos. This feature introduced last December and currently being rolled out to the entire FB community, was designed to automate and ease the process of "tagging" or associating a name to the people in the photos you upload to the site. Facebook allows you to turn this feature off but it is far from obvious how to do so. You can find the instructions to opt out here.

Major corporations are developing innovative new uses for this technology. For instance, Coca Cola used facial recognition in a new marketing campaign in Israel. Kraft tested kiosks in grocery stores that recognized shoppers characteristics and made dinner recommendations.

Recently the NYPD added a new weapon to their arsenal to help find and arrest criminals. In Canada, this technology is in widespread use by the authorities, casinos and banks.

Airports around the world now employ it to spot would be criminals and terrorists.

This is one of those touchy subjects where the privacy advocates will no doubt come out of the woodwork, or wherever it is they hide, and loudly protest the loss of their beloved anonymity. Many will see this as a privacy issue. Indeed, the government of Germany recently protested on behalf of the EU alleging violations of their privacy laws.

So, have we finally arrived at 1984, or the world as depicted in Minority Report? Or do we finally have technology that can dramatically increase our ability to accurately identify and protect people?

Security specialists will tell you a two factor authentication process is far more secure than a simple ID and password. Three factor, better still. Multiple factor authentication systems involve the use of more than one element proving that you are who you say you are. Today in addition to your account identity, bank or credit card or other form of identification you are typically required to enter a password, security code or a PIN to authenticate yourself. Sometimes a physical token is involved.

Now, imagine if your computer, ATM machines, cash registers or the front door to your house could recognize you. What if your TV was smart enough to engage parental controls when there was no adult in the room? What if your car would only function if you or other designated drivers were behind the wheel? What if your smart phone only unlocked when you looked at it?

This technology can and will be put to good use in so many places. Like all technological advances, it will surely be abused and misused by some. I guess we'll just have to keep a close eye on it.

What are your thoughts? How does it all look to you?

Captain Joe

Follow me on Twitter @JPuglisiLLC