The answer is fairly simple: in most cases the company and the consumer are adversaries. Jake and I were in Florida yesterday talking about social networks with a client and I thought a concept he brought up was worthy of a short blog post this morning (before I catch up with the numerous emails and phone calls I need to address).
The oldest form of company-to-consumer communication took the form of a company telling a consumer something through advertising. More recently companies created channels for their consumers to talk back. This two way communication results in conversations that at times can be somewhat adversarial ~ i.e. us vs. them. Imagine a communication channel that wasn’t about ‘us or them’, instead what if you could both talk about something else, something you both inherently cared about ~ i.e. a higher calling?
If you can determine what your company’s higher calling is you can direct your communication with your clients through this new channel. By working with consumers to answer this ‘higher calling’ the communication is no longer adversarial, but cooperative. Building a community around a higher calling can be very effective and fruitful for both the consumer and the company. You are no longer ‘company’ or ‘consumer’ but partners working toward a positive goal you both care about. What do you think? [reposted from my blog]
More than 400,000 people have used the PodServe platform since we launched more than a year ago. Today, around 2,000 power users actively use the service to host their podcasts. The truth is that we have done a lousy job supporting our unpaid users, primarily because the service was free. We have determined that our ‘unpaid’ model is unsustainable and as a result we are moving to a ‘paid’ model starting in May. PodServe has been a great marketing tool for Big in Japan resulting in a handful of lucrative private label projects including projects for Nip/Tuck, Dirt, The Shield and The Riches.
Starting May 1st we are asking that users pay an annual fee of $25 to use PodServe via PayPal. We certainly won’t make any money with this fee (if every active user paid we would generate $50,000 per year, hardly enough to pay someone to provide basic support), but it will help defray the costs of operating the service and allow us to continue to use PodServe as a marketing tool for Big in Japan. We have a plan to make PodServe better:
Our plan: a) add additional dedicated servers and a larger SAN, b) integrate updated code base to PodServe code for increased stability, c) add statistics, and d) provide basic support to users.
Interested? Go ahead and send $25 via PayPal to sales@biggu.com, providing your user name with the payment. Alternatively, you can wait until April and signup on the site. Remember, if you are not going ‘Pro’ you will need to move your podcast before May 1st.
Is this a good deal? If PodServe works for you it is a great deal. If you need additional features like a flash creator, http://www.hipcast.com might be a better fit. They have three plans ranging from $49.97 to $119.40 per year.
Back in December, Big in Japan began a project with LEGO on their recently announced Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG). The project was only revealed to the world a week ago, but has been in discussion, development, and planning for a long time.
LEGO has partnered with NetDevil to create the game, and Big in Japan is helping out with community management. You see, this game takes a different tact to most games. We’re helping LEGO to engage various enthusiast groups in the actual development of the game. It is a LEGO game, after all!
Details are still thin due to confidentiality issues, but if you’re interested in finding out more, or pitching in on the project sign up for updates at:
More and more details are going to be revealed in the coming months, so stay tuned. From what I’ve seen of the early development, this is going to be one fantastic game.
(On a related side note, check out this hilarious fan-created comic)
FX Network premiered their newest television series called The Riches. The program starring Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver airs each Monday at 9PM on FX. We built the engine and the API that makes The Riches FanPodcast go. Here are some screenshots:
ShopSavvy Coverage -
