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Mother Of Invention

So you are sitting around trying to come up with a name for your new collaborative photo sharing site. It comes to you that you should probably get a Facebook app ready. Didn’t iLike get 6 trillion users in one week or something? While you’re at it, you decide, why not put in some voting? You’re not sure what exactly you will be voting on but you’re pretty sure that you need to.

Somewhere between picking out the the perfect shade of maroon and rounding the corners on your tabs you realize that you have completely lost the point. Lets see if we can get you back on track.


The Mother Of Invention

There are only a few real reasons to make products — the same reasons that innovators have fallen back on since the dawn of time. This is no different in Web 2.0. If your product is to have a chance in this increasingly competitive environment, it would be in your best interest to understand the basic forces that make inventions successful.


Does It Solve A Problem?

No, I am not asking whether you can create a problem that your product solves. Not understanding the difference is how social networks for pets get funded. All successful ideas solve real, practical problems. The nice thing about this is that it makes the process of selecting amongst a set of potentially “good” ideas easy. The question should always be whether anyone but yourself really needs this product.

Cars work because an enormous number of people need a means of traveling long distances; Email works because people need a means of quickly communicating ideas; social networks for pets don’t work because despite what you think Fido really doesn’t care what type of Kibble Fifi had for breakfast. Before you start your next project, see if you can come up with a question that this service provides an answer to. Be critical.


Does It Simplify Life?

The sandwich was a great invention. Before this gem of an idea was put together, getting your daily dose of carbs and protein could be an ordeal. The sandwich made it all easier — putting meat, cheese and bread all in one neat package. Inventions should be like sandwiches.

When you look at your idea, decide whether it removes steps from a pre-existing process. The Postal Service was a lot easier than hopping onto the back of a horse and riding out to the next town every time you had a message to deliver. YouTube is a lot easier than renting your own server space to store home movies. If instead of smoothing out a process, your idea just adds a layer of complexity, then it is a bad one. Even after your initial idea passes this test, remember to keep it in mind when adding features. In almost all cases you are better off limiting complexity to its bare minimum.


Does It Have A Manageable Learning Curve?

Many millennia ago when people still owned VCRs, no one ever set the timers on them. Why? It was a pain and the value that you got from doing it wasn’t worth the hassle. This can be generalized like this: if people can’t quickly figure out how your product works, it be overwhelmingly valuable or they will just move on.

I hate to tell you this, but most Web 2.0 products don’t fit into the category of “overwhelmingly valuable”. The point? Your product must be as easy to use as it possibly can be. When testing, make sure to pull real people into the process — especially if you want to eventually scale your user base beyond a small niche. The fact that your tech geek friends can get around does not mean that your next-door neighbor can and for long term growth it’s your next-door neighbor that counts.


Web 2.0 Roundup

Is that it? Of course not. There are always intangibles like timing, positioning and dumb luck but most of these you have little to no real control over. If there is anything that you should take away from this it is that anyone can come up with a decent idea. Success has never been about the idea, it is never even really been about the technology. It all boils down to understanding and being able to communicate to your users “why” your idea is valuable.

The best way to do that is if you can figure it out yourself.

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