Job Seekers: Q&A with Gary Bivings, Owner of The Bivings Group

Mark Story of the Intersection of Online and Offline interviews our very own Gary Bivings about what we look for in potential employees.

Last week, I wrote a post about Georgetown University’s process for redesigning its website.  As I drafted the piece, I developed a working thesis that university websites are sort of like government sites, in that they have to do so much and serve so many audiences that the designs end up being utilitarian and bland.  This lead me to spend a few hours going through the websites of the 100 best universities in the country, as ranked by U.S. News and World Reports, in an effort to prove my theory. 

Turns out I was wrong.  It turns out that despite all that they have to accomplish, lots and lots of universities have produced websites that are both beautiful, and immensely usable. 

Following is a list of the 11 best best designed websites from the U.S. News World Reports list, as judged by me with input from some of my co-workers here at The Bivings Group.  Please note that I only looked at the top 100 on the list – I’m sure there are websites from schools outside the top 100 that are equally impressive.

Take a look, and let me know what you think in your comments.

(11) Virginia Tech

I like the look and feel here a lot, as well as the use of photography.  It isn’t higher on the list because it is just a little too busy for my tastes.

(10) University of Denver

Great use of photography, and the site does a  good job of routing visitors to where they need to go based on their user profile. 

(9) Duke University

The Duke site is clean and classy, but is just a tad bland for my tastes.  Others had this one higher.

(8) Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Points to MIT for coming up with a design that is completely unique, and for a really clear and usable navigation structure.  I like this one better than others here.

(7) Wake Forest University

Another elegant design.  I particularly like the way they’ve judiciously used the potentially overwhelming school colors (black and gold) to evoke the school, without sacrificing aesthetics or usability (hello Brown University). 

(6) Boston University

Just a confident and classic design.  Love it.

(5) University of Chicago

The details throughout this site are outstanding. 

(4) Rutgers University

The homepage Flash element is really well done, and if you surf a bit you’ll see a real attention to the details throughout.  Great site.

(3) University of Rochester

This is similar in structure/approach to the University of Denver, except the execution of the homepage here is a bit better.  Interior of the site isn’t as strong as the homepage.

(2) University of Nebraska

This is the most “Web 2.0” looking of the sites, which isn’t a bad thing given the level of execution.  Also has shades of the Obama site in the use of background imagery and icons.

(1) John Hopkins University

The job of a designer is infinitely easier when they have great photography to work.  Johns Hopkins has great photos, and does a wonderful job of using them to brand the school.  Entire site is excellent.

Today Techmeme launched a new vertical called Mediagazer, which will aggregate news about the media industry.  This is the company’s fifth aggregation site, joining Memeorandum (politics), WeSmirch (gossip), Ballbug (baseball) and the original, Techmeme (technology).  You can read the post announcing Mediagazer here.  I’m sure this will quickly become a must read for those interested in the changing media landscape.

As most of you may know, this Sunday is the 82nd Academy Awards.  While I’m not happy with some of the retro changes (let’s be honest and say that the ten Best Pic nominees could’ve been whittled down to four films, including one that was completely overlooked, The Informant) we’ll see in this weekend’s ceremony, I thought it was worth pointing out some new social media promotion tactics the Academy is trying out this year.

For the first time, the Oscars will broadcast red carpet coverage online, thanks to their partnership with Facebook, and will give users like you a chance to ask your favorite actor a question.  According to their page:

“We know you’re used to seeing stars at the Academy Awards®, but now for the very first time you can get involved! Oscar.com has partnered with Facebook to bring you Oscar.com Live from the Red Carpet, a very special online pre-show that allows you to watch the stars walk the Red Carpet and answer questions from fans like you. Yes, you read that right!

Join hosts Lisa Guerrero and Brett Chukerman as they cover all the action unfolding outside the Kodak Theater. Using your Facebook account, you can send a message to them on the Red Carpet, and they’ll pass along the best questions and comments in real time to the stars that sashay by. But that’s not all! Rico Rodriguez (Manny from the ABC hit comedy Modern Family) will also be on hand to meet and interview fans in attendance, as they experience all the glitz and glamour right from the Red Carpet.”

For viewers who like options and have either Facebook or Twitter log-ins, they can go to APLive and see streaming coverage there as well.   APLive is also making this available on their Facebook page, but users will have to become a fan in order to see the coverage, so it’ll be interesting to see if the 1,373 fans of the page jumps to a significantly higher number over the weekend** (See update).   This streaming event is the first of many for the year-long partnership between APLive and Livestream.

If you really feel like you need more connection to this year’s awards, there are a few iPhone Apps available for download for this (again, let’s be honest) very crowded awards year.   One thing I probably will be checking out this weekend is Adam Shankman’s Twitter feed, one of the two being promoted on Oscar.com.

I don’t want to sound pessimistic or snobby.  There were some great films this year and I’ll take a moment to throw out my top picks for Best Picture:

1. Up (Pixar just knows how to pull at the heartstrings)
2. Inglorious Basterds
3. The Informant (what movie? Netflix it when it comes out later this month)
4. An Education (probably my pick of the year)
5. Honorable Mention: Drag Me to Hell (I’m not being cute here. It really is a great film.)

Update:  We all know the winner’s from last night’s ceremony.  Another Update**: AP Live’s Facebook page now has 7,672 fans.

The Bivings Group has been hard at work developing a new website and online communications strategy for Critical Exposure, the winner of our TBGives philanthropic campaign, which awarded $10,000 of internet consulting to the D.C.-based youth charity.

This week, we were honored with the announcement our efforts have won the Communitas Award for Excellence in Community Service.

We are thrilled to be recognized in the category of Pro Bono work excited to look for ways to expand upon the TBGives campaign in 2010.

Living in DC, I have a lot of friends that went to Georgetown University, and have been a fan of the basketball team since the Patrick Ewing days.  Given my loose ties to the school, I’ve been watching with interest as Georgetown staff blog publicly as they redesign their website, which apparently hasn’t been touched since 2002 (wow).

I really like this stuff, as being in the web development business myself I learn a lot by reading about how other firms approach things like user research, card sorting, wire frames and defining information architecture.   I also think the transparency of sharing updates on progress is refreshing and healthy.

However, I think things went off the rails a bit when Georgetown started posting the actual comps showing what the new site will look like.  Naturally, after posting the draft designs lots of people weighed in.  And while it seemed like the majority of people preferred one of the options called Clarity (pictured below), the comments were sort of all over the place.  As a result of the disjointed feedback, Georgetown produced a new design in an attempt to respond to some of the criticism that the designs weren’t cutting edge enough.  And this has lead to more opinions.

After reading through the comments, it struck me that asking users for design feedback was probably a mistake, for a few reasons.

• People don’t understand the complexity of the overall site.  There is a reason Georgetown hasn’t changed its site since 2002 – doing so is a massive undertaking.  University sites have to appeal to a number of very diverse audiences (prospective students, students, alumni, faculty, parents, etc.) and have to have sections that adequately represent the university’s various departments and schools.  The information architecture is extremely complicated, and it is nearly impossible for someone not involved in the process to know whether the designs achieve the goals laid out in the discovery process.
• Since most people can’t comment on the site in a substantive way, they focus exclusively on look and feel (colors and typography).  And look and feel is completely subjective.  I personally am a minimalist when it comes to web design, and prefer sites that have a primarily white palette, and which use colors and images judiciously.  That style is not everyone’s cup of tea.  If you ask ten people to comment on a websites look and feel, you’ll probably get ten different opinions.
• People hate change.  While this may not be true of the Georgetown website specifically given its age, every time you redesign a site that is popular and successful there is a backlash.  On the web, design is usability and anytime you disrupt users they will complain, and then forget about it in a few weeks after they adjust.  This concept is demonstrated by every single change every made to sites like Digg and Facebook.

Ultimately, the process of designing a website should not be a democracy.  It is important to understand your users and how they interact with the site, but I’m not sure it is important to hear their opinions on typography and colors.  Some decisions need to be made by a small group of folks behind closed doors.

In all probability, Georgetown is taking all the comments it is getting on the designs with a large grain of salt, and treating the reactions they receive as anecdotes.  And maybe there is some value in that.  However, I suspect posting the actual site designs for public review hasn’t accomplished much at all, beyond perhaps raising the blood pressure of the design team.

We’re looking for a social media expert to join us in our Washington, DC office.  You can view the details and apply for the position here.

Very cool video from the folks at Jess3, featuring tons of great stats on Internet usage around the world.

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.

I’m not an early adopter of the latest tool. I’ll happily  sit back and wait for the dust to settle before I consider using any new application.

It has been my experience that this is a good practice. Most of what hits the social web usually putters and falls into obscurity.

So when Google Buzz was announced, I didn’t give it much thought.

With any tool that I use, my main objective is:

1. To determine if it provides me value when it comes to sharing and communicating on the social web.
2. To determine if it’s just another way to broadcast my voice. If that’s the case, I probably won’t use it.
3. To be sure it provides value to the people who like what I share and listen to what I have to say. (most important to me)

Recently I’ve been trying to think of a way to share just the articles and resources I come across. I know some people set up a separate Twitter profile for this, but I was curious if there was another way to do this. So I thought about using Buzz. That way my friends who are already connected to me via Gmail can easily grab the information useful to them without having to dig through all my bookmarks or tweets.

I found a Firefox add-on called Buzz it! that works and is useful. It allows you to update your Buzz timeline through your Gmail. The update will include the title and the URL of the page you’re sharing. It also provides the option to edit the update and utilize Bit.ly to shorten your URLs, which I like.

I’ve just started playing with Buzz, so it remains to be seen if this will work.  Like all tools, it’s going to take some investment of time to determine if I’ll want to continue using it. I wrote off Twitter when I first  used it only to find its value the second time around.

Regardless, it’s probably not a good idea to constrain all my engagement to only one tool. Twitter has provided me tons of value and opportunities, but if it disappeared… well, then I’d better be sure I could find an adequate substitute.

Have you found any value using Google Buzz?

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Charity: Water is a great organization, and as an online communicator I’m constantly impressed with the innovative ways they have built a movement in support of clean drinking water for everyone.

In particular, non-profits and charities should pay close attention to their web videos, which are the gold standard in my opinion.  After you watch the video above, it is hard not to be left with an overwhelming desire to walk through a wall for Charity:Water.  Lots of people make great videos, but what makes this one so special is that it almost compels you to take action.

Chat Roulette is a fascinating and bizarre new website that enables visitors to randomly chat with strangers around the world via webcam.  The concept for the site is dead simple – you visit the homepage, click Play, and all of sudden you are dumped into a one on one conversation with a random stranger.  If you are horrified by or bored with your chat partner, you simply click Stop and move on to the next person.

Recently, Chat Roulette has hit the big time, with usage skyrocketing and mainstream media outlets like the Washington Post devoting ink to the site, which launched in November.  I’ve used Chat Roulette a few times now myself, mostly as an experiment, and like everyone else I’m equal parts fascinated and horrified.  While Chat Roulette supposedly bans pornography, you will undoubtedly come across some nudity if you use the site long enough.  You’ll also run into some fringe societal elements, and have great conversations with some interesting people you would never come across otherwise.

The power here is in the randomness of it, and in the connections you can make.  Every time you switch to a new chat partner it is like opening a present.  It may be a horrible present, but it’s still fun to open and see what is there.  In a world where sites like Facebook and LinkedIn force us to build networks and define our relationships, there is a real power in a site like Chat Roulette that allows you to experience life outside your sphere.

I also think it is inevitable that the chat roulette concept will be appropriated.  Why not start a Chat Roulette that connects people around common interests instead of being entirely random?  Maybe cat lovers?   Why not build functionality into your website that allows visitors to enter into random chats with other people visiting the same site at the same time?  There seem to be lots of possibilities to me, and it seems like the concept, if not the Chat Roulette site itself, could be one of the Internet’s next big things.

I could be wrong.  Chat Roulette could be a one hit wonder that fades away after the novelty wears off.  But to me it looks like the creators have happened on a very powerful and useful way for people to connect with each other, which is ultimately what the Internet is all about.

While the Vancouver Olympic games have the attention of TV audiences across the globe, the Twitter-verse’s attention seems to have followed.

As these athletes compete for Olympic gold, competition is also on for sponsorship deals and marketability, and the number of followers for each athlete’s Twitter account is a strong indicator of the athlete’s public popularity. Here are Twitter’s top 10 followed athletes competing for team USA this Olympic season.

1. Shaun White, Snowboarding
    Twitter stream: http://twitter.com/Shaun_White
    Followers: 101,521

    I almost hesitate to include Shaun White, since his latest tweet was in September, but the man has quite a following.

2. Apolo Ohno,  Short Track Speed Skating
    Twitter stream: http://twitter.com/ApoloOhno
    Followers: 79, 618

    Best update: “Next up? 1000m. Imagine the 1500m but more intense, more aggresive tactics, faster speeds, and dare I say it? Crazier? I can't wait. ”

3. Lindsey Vonn, Alpine Skiing
    Twitter stream:  http://twitter.com/lindseyvonn
    Followers:  45,439

    Best update: “I just found out about the Georgian luger who died today my heart goes out to his family and friends. http://bit.ly/9v7ljh”

4. Angela Ruggiero, Ice Hockey
    Twitter stream: http://twitter.com/AngelaRuggiero
    Followers: 37,013

    Best update: ”Just finished practice at UBC arena. Great to have a light skate the day before Russia. Back to the village for some chow.”

5. Steve Mesler, Bobsled
    Twitter stream: http://twitter.com/SteveMesler
    Followers: 27,582

    Best update: “Some free time at the sport peformance center outside the Athletes Village in Whistler yields praise of good http://tweetphoto.com/11407443”

6. Louie Vito, Snowboarding
    Twitter stream: http://twitter.com/louievito
    Followers: 16,749

    Best update: “This is Ridic!!! RT @TelegraphNews Winter Olympics 2010: Japanese snowboarder punished for wearing low-slung trousers http://bit.ly/ciNDFq”

7. Johnny Weir, Figure Skating
    Twitter stream: http://twitter.com/JohnnyGWeir
    Followers: 10,717

    The bio really says it all:  “Figure Skater Fashionista Movie Star”

8. Gretchen Bleiler, Snowboarding
    Twitter stream: http://twitter.com/GretchenBleiler
    Followers: 6,870

    Best update: “Let the Games Begin! Last night's opening ceremonies were amazing! Thanks for all the support tweeps!!“

9. Tanith Belbin, Pairs Figure Skating
    Twitter stream: http://twitter.com/TanithJLB
    Followers: 5,006

    Best update: “Just thought of a plan B to get to B.C. in time!Now, does anyone know where they keep Falkor the dragon from Neverending Story?”

10. Evan Lysacek, Figure Skating
    Twitter stream: http://twitter.com/EvanLysacek
    Followers: 4,680

    Best update: “All of our thoughts and prayers are with Team Georgia and the family of Nodar Kumaritashvili tonight. He'll be marching in spirit.”

Click here for a full list of U.S. athletes on Twitter.

When we last talked about Social Action Networks,  we identified the specific characteristics that define a SAN and what how they differ from an online community.  Today we are going to share the steps you should take before you even start planning what you SAN will look like and what it will do.

So grab a note pad, roll up your sleeves, and get ready to work:

• Think up of a name – This may seem an obvious choice, but take some time to consider the options. Do you want your SAN to have the same name as your main website? Do you want it to stand out on it’s own?
• Grab a few domain names – You might have the best name for your SAN only to find out that domain name has been taken.
• Write up a mission statement – Probably one of the most important elements to your SAN. This should be quick, concise, and sum up what your mission and SAN is about in one or  two sentences.
• Start drafting your SAN guidelines – What about the rules? How will you deal with abusive members? What will you allow and not allow on your community?
• Research – The first step in any social media endeavor is listening, and this holds true with SANs. Take the time to see what people are already talking about. Where are they talking? What are they sharing? What portals are they using? Are they more active on Facebook than anywhere else?
• Engage with active communities – The social web is vast and it should come as no surprise that people are already going to be talking about the very subjects you plan to include in your SAN.  That’s fine. Become part and build relationships with these communities. Taking the time to do this will help when it comes to inviting people to join your SAN.
• Start outlining what your Moderator’s responsibilities will be – if you think you can launch a SAN without some sort of moderation, you’re fooling yourself. It will be imperative to write out the Moderator’s responsibilities and their needs. These can always change, but don’t launch your SAN without doing this vital leg work.
• What promotional plans do you have in the pipeline? – It will be bad to launch you SAN and then start thinking promotion. Do you already have a newsletter? If not start one now, and update readers on the status of your SAN. You might want to consider having just a splash page announcing your SAN with a projected date. Maybe even offer email newsletter sign up to anyone who wants to be invited to a private beta launch.

Come at your Social Action Network from a member’s perspective.

If you were a potential member of your SAN, what would you want to have on it? What content would you like to see? More importantly what would you need to keep you coming back?

It’s great if you SAN has over 500,000 members but if only one third of them are returning, then that isn’t really successful. You need to provide them the opportunity to express their opinions, and be part of the building process. 

Remember, the ultimate goal is to transform your member’s passions into obtainable action.

If you are not in a hurry to launch, then by all means, take your time. If you are up against a deadline , I would suggest do as much homework as you can before launch. It could make all the difference between a SAN that is successful, and one that fails.

In the next post we’ll talk about what solutions are available you can use to actually build your Social Action Network. Stay tuned.

Good article from Mashable that mentions two TBG clients, the Pickens Plan and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, as examples of organizations that are building online communities the right way.

Google’s Tuesday release of Buzz, a new social networking component to its ever-growing suite of web tools, has kept the internet busy with debate over how Buzz will compete with major social network players Twitter and Facebook for users’ correspondence with friends and contacts.

While central discussion surrounds speculation over whether Buzz’s privacy flaws will scare away users or the new product  will cut Facebook’s revenue in half, businesses have also been caught up in the conversation in trying to decide how to make Buzz work for them.

Hours after the tool’s launch, electronic giant Samsung had its Buzz account up and running, promoting trends like “#BUZZwednesday” and pouring out postings of product images. The company quickly reached out to “favorite BUZZers” to try and increase their follower list.

While the corporate world was slow to capitalize on Facebook and Twitter, more recent products such as Foursquare have been quicker to catch corporate attention. Thanks to its functional similarity to existing social networks, Techcrunch anticipates businesses will jump at the chance to build a following on Buzz.

Google’s main advantage – reaching people where they already are – does create a problem for companies, however. First, company’s must create public-facing Google accounts. Second, while anyone can access a company’s public Buzz account, they must have a also Google account to follow your feed, and there is still a significant faction of the U.S. public holding out against creating one.

Another setback is Buzz’s mobile exclusivity – the great location-based mobile platform Buzz has developed is only available on Google’s Adroid smartphone, which isn’t in wide use.

On the positive side, Buzz could have major plusses for general marketing and business to business communications, one critical benefit being Google’s built-in Costumer/Constituent Relations Management (CRM) capabilities.

“Because Google Buzz is a part of Gmail and Google profiles it helps to fill out an individual’s online social graph, including who they communicate on online and what they post,” Social Media B2B reports. “As social graph get more complete it will be easier to integrate data from the social web into CRM systems to provide a new level of relevancy and context for sales teams.”

As for internal use of Google Buzz, the company is reportedly developing a paid-for corporate version of  making use of “higher-end email services,” according to the New York Times. Google is reportedly testing this service in its own corporate structure.

“As an executive, I am able to peer down and see conversations that I could never see before,” said Vic Gundotra, a vice president of engineering at Google, the Times reported. “You find engineers who are sometimes reluctant to copying senior people on e-mails talking in a more relaxed manner.”

If this use of Google Buzz is successful, it could compete with Outlook and Basecamp for internal corporate communication.

Hannah Del Porto from our ImpactWatch team provides a great introduction for those looking to set up their own monitoring/measurement programs.

Video demonstration of Google’s latest product, Google Buzz, which the company describes as a "new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting." You can read the Google product announcement here and a good overview of the service over on Techcrunch here.

Peter Warden has a great post up on his blog that looks at how Facebook users in different states are connected to each.  He finds that the U.S. can be divided into roughly seven regions, which are visualized above.  Be sure to read the full post.

I’m not a big fan of the majority of available widgets, apps, and games that bombard Facebook.  Most are garbage in my opinion, and do nothing other than clutter your profile or page.

The problem is many of these widgets were built with the old school marketing mentality of “if we build it, they will come.’”

The truth is, Facebook widgets fail for the following reasons: 

• They provide zero value, and do nothing but act as bulletin boards for a product or brand.
• There is no level of engagement  that relates to the user.
• They rely on a flashy gimmicky presence to create a viral whirlwind.
• The existing culture and loyalty of the brand was never taken into consideration.

So when I came across The Who’s Facebook game, Name That Riff, I was skeptical. Being a big Who fan, my concern was their game would fall into the above reasons of Facebook widget purgatory. That wouldn’t be the case.

Name That Riff works.

The game provides loyal fans an opportunity to show off their knowledge of The Who.  The design is strong and fits in the visual identity the band has built since the 60’s. Most importantly the game is simple and doesn’t take much time.

• You are given 17 music clips to listen to.
• You must choose from 3 answers and have 30 seconds per clip.
• Like the bar quiz games, the quicker you answer, the more points you rack up.
• You are allowed three chances to improve your score.

This game picks songs from the entire Who archive.  Also songs start at random places to throw you off.  I fancy myself as a knowledgeable Who fan, but I tripped up at some of their selections.  Once done you can publish your score on your profile and in your news feed.  You can also compare your score with your friends on Facebook or globally.

The word of mouth aspect is very clever.

Players are urged to challenge their friends. Doing so opens up bonus rounds that you can play to improve your score. And unlike other apps that rely on you spamming random friends, you’ll want to share it with other Who fans.

The Creative Corporation, who built this game, did their homework, and it shows. They took into account, what fans of The Who love, their music. By providing a simple but entertaining widget that people will want to use and share, they are successful.  It appears that Name That Riff was just released on TheWho.com, so it will be interesting to see how well it does.

Incidentally, if I happen to win the customized American Standard Stratocaster, I’ll let you know!

In response to the devastating aftermath of the twin earthquakes (on January 12 and then on January 20) in Haiti, Crisis Commons has come to serve as a key forum for the coordination of professional volunteers in the development of rapid solutions to the diverse array of information-based challenges facing the aid effort.

Crisis Commons volunteers are drawn from experts in the fields of geospatial mapping, software development, graphic design,  language translation, NGO and government work, and general logistics.

Teams collaborate most intensively and perhaps productively at live meetings called “Crisis Camps”, which have met and will be meeting in cities across North and South America, from New York to Los Angeles, and from Bogota to Ottawa.

Projects resulting from Crisis Camps include a Creole-to-English mobile app, and a platform enabling the sharing of resources between relief organizations called the We Have, We Need Exchange.

Many other projects have been conceived and are in development.  View the full project list here.

In order to learn more about becoming a collaborator on a Crisis Camp Haiti project, click here.