Where Are We Going - SXSW 2011

I’m @jw + the hashtag is #wrwgoing

WHERE ARE
We GOING?

Thursday, March 17, 2011

The Preface


In the BEGINNING...


The following is a brief history of how we
accidentally created social travel service,
and why we’re making it up as we go.


Iconfactory circa 1999

Firewhîl Design

Inspired by Iconfactory’s Pixelpalooza,
I got into pixel art, drew hundreds of icons,
and met my ﬁrst two co-workers.


Blinksale


Blinksale
• Frustrated with our billing solution, we
wrote our own and decided to make it fun.
And useful.
• Thank You Notes were an unusual
selling point that resonated with those who
used the service.


IconBuﬀet


IconBuﬀet
• 50,000 people came to collect
icons and trade them with friends.
• Fewer than 15 percent of those
people actually used the icons for a
design project.


Causes

• Causes was envisioned as a standalone
site to encourage social giving.
• Causes was re-imagined as a
Facebook application and
$30 million has been raised.


Where are we now?

PIVOT to the PRESENT


PackRat

• PackRat was created at a scale that
assumed most people would play
one hour a day.
• We quickly learned our core audience
was playing 6-10 hours a day.


PackRat


Then Farmvie Ha ened

What now?


Viva la iPhone

Mobile changed everything.


The Epiphany


The Totem

How do we inspire people to
connect with the real world?


Can we use real world
connections to inspire people
to discover and share
amazing places?


Landmarks


F tba Stadiums


Baseba Stadiums


Airports


Walt Disney World


Add Go to a Wallaby
and you get a Gowalla. Really.


Stay true to your vision.


Where are we going?

FADS vs. THE FUTURE


The Fads

• Checking In
• Game Mechanics
• Badges
• Geo-blah-blah-blah...


Check In Overload
• Checking In is the status update for
the places we go. It has succeeded
where other concepts have failed.
• Now we’re checking into television,
books, video games, states of
consciousness, and more.


Game Mechanics

• A new wave of services are
repurposing ideas from Farmville and
World of Warcraft.
• Games provide simple incentives for
completing ordinary tasks.


Game mechanics are
subservient to the usefulness
of the service.


“Badges? We don’t need
no stinking badges.”


Badges
• Badges are the poster child for the
success of location-based services, but
there’s nothing new under the sun.
• Badges and achievements are driving
activity around the web,
but are they really?


Social validation
is the primary driver
for activity on today’s web.


Social Validation
• We share on Facebook in order to
receive comments and likes.
• We post to Twitter with the hope of
being re-tweeted.
• We upload to Flickr to be favorited.


Epic Mix


Fitbit

Quora

Gratuitous Hugh Jackman

Geo-noise
• Every week a new location-based
service is born with a vision to cash in.
• Location in and of itself is boring.
People don’t care about the technology.
Nor should they.
• Context matters.


Conclusion
• Checking in is a temporary solution.
• Badges and game mechanics
are not the special sauce
that magically makes everything tasty.
• The industry must become
people friendly.


“The Future isn't what it used to be.
I'm not surprised, I'm not surprised.
Most of us live on boats of luxury.
We're so conﬁned. We’re so conﬁned.”

G d Morning by Rogue Wave

The Future
• Mobile, Background Services and
Passive Applications
• Community
• Social Good
• Story


Get oﬀ your a !

• People have visited places nearly
3 million places in every country in
the world with Gowalla.
• Location is the secret ingredient to
amazing mobile experiences.


TrS-80


TrS-80 of the Future

Soak this one in.


Pa ive A lications

For mobile services to become truly useful,
they must not interrupt our daily
lives or social interactions.


Social G d

• Obama’s Presidential Campaign
• Iran Election on Twitter
• Text Ten Dollars to
Haitian Earthquake Relief


What about social good
on the web?


The Case Against Corporate Responsibility

“The idea that companies have a responsibility
to act in the public interest and will proﬁt
from doing so is fundamentally ﬂawed...
Governments are a far more effective
protector of the public good than any
campaign for corporate social responsibility.”

Anîl Karnani, WSJ

And to that we say...


With every pair you purchase,
TOMS will give a new pair of shoes
to a child in need.
ONE for ONE.

TOMS Shoes

“I think many of our problems as a country
would be solved if people had thick passports.
There's just no substitute for
actually going and seeing things.”

Ma Damon

Gamification isn’t cool.
You know what’s cool?
Story is cool.


PDX > PHX > AUS

IAH > ORD > CDG

Travel Stories

SXSW @ ACC


Will your system be alright
When you dream of home tonight?
There is no message we're receiving
Let me know, is your heart still beating?
Are we human or are we dancers?

The Kiers

Co uni
• Flickr and Wikipedia set the example.
• Nearly 3 million places
crowdsourced on Gowalla
(we were naive).
• 10,000 daily photos


What does this mean
for services like Gowalla?


OOO h!!!


Double Rainbow
• Find the extraordinary in the everyday.
• Surprise and delight people when they
check in, tell a story or share a photo.
• Inspire people to discover and share
the world with their friends.


What does this mean
for you and the projects
you’re creating for tomorrow?


Surprise!
• Creating products that provide
real value to real people.
• Build a community... then delight it!
• Connect people with the real world.
• Inspire people to do the extraordinary.


Find me on Twitter @jw
Badass Background Illustration by Will Bryant


Where Are We Going - SXSW 2011

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