I was reading Dion Hinchcliff’s “50 Essential Strategies for Creating a Successful Web 2.0 Product” (you should go read it when you have more time) and I’ve cherry-picked the points that ring true for me. His points are good and very interesting, but some are real gems of wisdom[1]. And I’ll add some of my own observations to this article. I’ll limit mine to 10 and if you’re ambitious you can read the 50 in his blog. One of the overarching principles is that, as he says, “The Web Community Gets Smarter Every Time It Builds A Product” – which I will exend to add that we marketers and developers are constantly learning, and the more we involve people early in our development processes, and the more closely we listen to them, the faster and better our development cycles will be.
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Archives for February 2009
Your Blog’s MBTI
I have friends who read tarot cards, and I myself have read tarot cards in the past (during the Hippie days, as if I actually had those). But I view them as a projective technique where what you are thinking about and hoping for is reflected in your reading of the cards.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator [MBTI] is a personality inventory which can give you some insight into how you approach the world. The Myers & Briggs Foundation web site contains lots of information on this instrument and you can take the full instrument online or offline many places. Professionals are certified and can give you a full administration and reading of the MBTI instrument. But taking it online is also informative! Just remember that this instrument is licensed, and the freebie versions aren’t the real instrument.
But, here’s some online fun with a slant on the MBTI – the Typealyzer.com web site reads entries from a blog and then gives an assessment of MBTI type based on what it sees there. Don’t ask me how they do it, though I have my theories. There’s always the caveat that what you write may not reflect how you would score in the actual MBTI, but I think it’s pretty interesting. Try this site on your own, or any other, blog. Just give it a URL and you’ll get back a type!
How to Embed Flickr Slideshows in WordPress blogs
The old method for embedding a Flickr slideshow in a WordPress blog no longer works after WP 2.1. Flickr creates really nice Flash-driven slideshows and there’s easy HTML code to embed these shows on regular web pages, but the code doesn’t work on WordPress-driven sites because the (tinyMCE) editor software removes the code. Now there’s a solution. [Read more…]