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What matters is what works
Google today announced that it was pulling one its services, Google Answers a paid-for service, where experts answered your queries. It’s an interesting announcement, particularly in light of the growth of Yahoo’s own very different Answers proposition, which we’ve written about previously here.
What really strikes me about this though, is that this is exactly the spirit in which we should all be approaching so-called web 2.0. Some times things won’t work as we expected. The minor feature added at the last minute becomes the runaway success. The sure fire hit isn’t and doesn’t quite make it. Flickr is a fantastic example of this. An online gaming community ends up as the world’s best photo-sharing website. Who knew?
What matters is what works is a common political mantra - and it is applicable here. What is key here is not being afraid to dump what doesn’t work and to focus on what does. It’s only through the experience real world visitors give and share with us that we truly discover the stuff that matters. The technology at our disposal is giving us more freedom than ever to experiment and to play. Let’s use it.
I totally agree with you Andy. I also believe that we in the digital communications industry (agencies and clients) should be prepared to experiment more learning from mistakes and building on successes as it’s from this that real competitive advantage can grow.