PhlooQ: Widget Winner

After weighing in all of the pros and cons, a finalist has been selected. The PhlooQ team and the web community really gravitated towards the open, approachable look and feel of the widget above. Everyone found the "maybe state" a welcomed addition and also emphasized a strong desire for natural looking hands in lieu digital versions. We're happy with the overall direction. Next on the agenda, redesigning the website.

PhlooQ Widgets: Round 1

Our first iteration of the PhlooQ widget is here and we'd love you to comment. In general, we'd attempted to translate the users' commitment to the event into a binary yes or no answer - but we're not clear if that's the right approach - perhaps we need to introduce a 'maybe' state?


View the widgets over at liftagency

Geek And Poke: Location Based Social Networking

Geek And Poke: Location Based Social Networking

This is exactly what does NOT happen with PhlooQ.

PhlooQ: How The Widget Works Part II

From a publisher standpoint, the PhlooQ widget works as illustrated above. The event publisher sends updates through PhlooQ to the attendees who can view it via one of the three PhlooQ widgets: the mobile widget, the web-based widget or through Facebook.






From the widget, the user can update their status, invite and chat with members or their social graph and register their interest in the event. From a PhlooQ system standpoint an update is sent to Facebook with links back to the event publisher's site.






Facebook interaction with PhlooQ happens at three levels; Updates in which PhlooQ updates Facebook with your status or comments, notifications sent through Facebook to your social graph (even to those who aren't PhlooQ users) and as an interface to the PhlooQ system.

PhlooQ: How It Works

It's time for another PhlooQ update, and this time we're focusing on what makes PhlooQ work. We've got three illustrations that capture, at a high level, what the widget is comprised of, how the user interacts with it and what the widget does in response to the user interaction.

At its core PhlooQ is quite simple (from a user interaction standpoint) but there is complexity which comes in what makes it tick and what it does below the surface.

Two more illustrations over at liftagency.com

PhlooQ Identity

Part of PlhooQ's coming out might be a new (or updated) Identity.. Or maybe not.. We've put together two options in addition to the original, and if you've got any ideas, please let us know - this should be a collaborative process.

So here's what we were thinking

We asked a few friends and family what they thought of the existing PhlooQ logo (the gray and orange one) and while no one had anything overly negative to say about it just about everyone thought the company was pronounced "Floo Cue" not "Fluke". We thought de-emphasizing the Q might be the correct approach.

We spoke with David about this and he explained why there was a large "Q" there in the first place; it looks a bit like a magnifying glass - the now universally accepted symbol for 'search' and 'explore' so we played with making the "Q" a more literal magnifying glass.

So What Do you Think?

So, do you think we're heading down a good path here? Even if these new logo concepts aren't perfect, are they an improvement, and what could we do to evolve them even more?

Next Up: The new PhlooQ widget - stay tuned!

FROM TARA HUNT: 2 SETS OF 10 COMMANDMENTS TO BECOME A BEACON IN THE MARKETPLACE (Plus 7 ways to embrace the chaos)

Loved Tara Hunt's talk. Trying to embrace her thinking at PhlooQ and elsewhere. I did not catch all 5 of her larger messages but she did provide lists along the way that supported her talk. I captured a few of these lists here: 2 SETS OF 10 COMMANDMENTS TO BECOME A BEACON IN THE MARKETPLACE (Plus 7 ways to embrace the chaos...)

The ten commandments of listening to a social network conversation:

1. Listen to experts but design for novices...
2. What people want and what they say they want is very different...know the difference.
3. Thou shalt respond to feedback even when you need to say "No thanks."
4. Don't take negative feedback personally.
5. Give credit to people whose ideas you use or integrate.
6. Flag even small changes you make to alert your users...
7. Make small incremental iterative changes rather than hold off for big ones.
8. Realize simplest improvements make biggest improvements: button shape change, color change. A 10 pixel change can make all the difference.
9. Remove the corporate ego--its about them and their needs not you.
10. Avoid consensus. It guarantees mediocrity.

The ten commandments of creating great product experiences:

1. Pay close attention to details
2. Go above and beyond: Zappos looks at Virgin and goes beyond...
3. Appeal to emotion and nostalgia
4. Be a social catalyst: connect your customers to each other
5. Inject fun into your product
6. Experiment and be agile. Try little things all the time.
7. Turn banality into something fashionable: sexy toothpaste!
8. Design for flow! Think of "games" as a framing device.
9. Let people personalize. I am unique just like everyone else!
10. Make happiness your business model.

7 Ways to embrace the chaos:

1. Stop moving and look around until you see everything clearly
2. Transfer the knowledge: transparency produces better ideas from the marketplace
3. Every time you feel anxiety, acknowledge it
4. Define your own measure of success
5. Get outside of your personal circle
6. Realize that everything is out of your control
7. Have patience

Find your purpose: do well by doing good.

Some tips on where to look to find your purpose:
1. Try democratizing something...
2. Open it up...
3. Build bridges...
4. Spread love...
5. Value something bigger than yourself...

When I look ever these lists I can't help but I think PhlooQ can help others "maximize their social capital." Man, to be able to help people "listen," "create great experiences through engagement,"and to help people "build bridges & spread love"...now that would be going from (to twist an old term) "from good to great."

So now what?