Where Are We Going - SXSW 2011

WHERE ARE GOING?We

I’m @jw + the hashtag is #wrwgoing

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


Firewh!l 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


• 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.

IconBuffet


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.



PIVOT PRESENTto the

Where are we now?


PackRat

• PackRat was created at a scale that assumed most people would playone hour a day.

• We quickly learned our core audience was playing 6-10 hours a day.


PackRat


Then Farmvie 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 shareamazing places?


Landmarks


F"tba Stadiums


Baseba Stadiums


Airports


Walt Disney World


Add Go to a Wallabyand you get a Gowalla. Really.


Stay true to your vision.


FADS THE FUTUREvs.

Where are we going?


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 needno 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 validationis 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 mechanicsare not the special saucethat magically makes everything tasty.

• The industry must becomepeople 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 andPassive Applications

• Community

• Social Good

• Story


Get off your a$!

• People have visited places nearly3 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.


For mobile services to become truly useful,they must not interrupt our daily

lives or social interactions.

Pa$ive A%lications


Gratuitous Hugh Jackman


Social G"d

• Obama’s Presidential Campaign

• Iran Election on Twitter

• Text Ten Dollars toHaitian 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.”

An!l 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

Travel Stories

IAH > ORD > CDG


SXSW @ ACC


Will your system be alrightWhen 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 Kiers


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 meanfor 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 meanfor you and the projects

you’re creating for tomorrow?


Surprise!

• Creating products that providereal 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 @jwBadass Background Illustration by Will Bryant


Technology

Where Are We Going - SXSW 2011