Bizness Ideaz

[swestrup]

So, I've just had a couple of ideas for a buisnessy things. One of them is minor, and wouldn't do much by itself, the other is bigger.

The first idea is simple: LJ users need to know who is talking about them. There are two obvious ways to do this. First, when you sign up for the service, it scans your friends list and FOAF lists. It then downloads and scans all of their messages and comments for uses of your LJ handle. It then mails you a summary of its findings. Secondly, is scans the RSS feed for references to you (possibly filtered so that you only hear about things NOT in your friends or FOAF lists).

As a more advanced service, you can have it search for less obvious references to you. You can ask for all public references to Sally or ''SQ" or "That Bint" from your ex boyfriend be mailed to you. I fear there are enough self-absorbed LJers that this service could actually charge a monthly fee (or perhaps a fee per mailing) and still be popular.

The second idea is more complex: Automated Care Packages.  This is an idea based on a FOAF called Smitty. Now, I've never met Smitty. The friend who told me about Smitty hadn't seen him in years when he told me the story, and I now haven't seen my friend who told me the story (Mike Kay) in many years. Anyway, Smitty was a gregarious fellow who travelled the world and often fell out of close contact with his friends. Sometimes though, at random intervals, folks would get a little care package from Smitty, just to let them know he was thinking of them. Often it was no more than a postcard with the words:

Remember

    Someone out there loves you. 

                                 --Smitty

I was touched by the idea and made up my mind then-and-there to try and be more like Smitty. I never really succeeded, but I do make a point of trying to let my friends know that I care about them, and how much they mean to me.

Anyway, it occurred to me today that many folks would love to send little care packages and/or postcards to friends, but the work involved would be prohibitive. So, instead they could sign up with an online 'show you care' service. You would register and then give information on some of your friends, where they are, and what kind of things you would like to do for them. (Send them postcards, send them cheese, send them chocolate, buy something at random from their wish list, etc.). You could opt for complete automation, in which case you give a credit card number, and every so often a random care package would be sent to a random friend and the card would get charged. Or, you could opt for an assisted system, where you would get occasional emails suggesting that one of the following presents be sent to a friend, and a personalized note attached. You would go to the website, choose from the present list, and add a note. I suspect it would be a popular service. What do you think?

Comments

[sps.livejournal.com]

I think your second idea is catastrophic, orders of magnitude more abusive than some of the other dubious ideas that have been discussed here. The effect is that you will be bombarded by emotional SPAM, and it will rapidly become impossible to believe that anyone cares about you, since you know that not only your bills but also now your care packages all come from 'bots.

So, sure, nice if all you want is the stuff, but so long to the emotional support....

[swestrup]

I expected that response from you, and all I can say is that your emotional reaction in that situation would not be typical of most North Americans. Even your response to being handed a random gift is not the same as most in N.A.

I'm actually far more worried about the emotional damage that idea #1 could do.

[azrhey.livejournal.com]

i agree with the stephen there
if you need a program to send care packages you dont really care!
and caring doesn't come with a $ sign

[swestrup]

I'm not sure I would use the service, but its not aimed at people like you and me, but at busy executives.

What do you do if you're one of those folks who works 80-hour weeks and hardly ever sees his family, never mind his friends? You may feel bad about it, but you're afraid your business will fall apart if you slow down.

The service would (of course) not be as good as actually taking the time to see folks, but it might go a certain way towards showing folks you're still thinking about them.

If you're still not convinced, let me put this the other way around. Can you think of a way to provide an online (perhaps concierge-like) service for people who want to do something for a friend to show that they care, but who don't have much time to do research into what to get, or where to get it from, and will never get around to it if they aren't reminded? After all, busy execs are often seen as heartless, but it doesn't mean they are.

Heck, someone may be a busy doctor working long hours to save lives, and can't mentally justify taking the time to do something special for a friend if it would take time away from someone they could be trying to save...

[sps.livejournal.com]

Well, the funny thing about surveillance is that everyone seems to be afraid of it, but is really excited about the prospect of doing it themselves. Maybe just letting them is the best thing to do; the negative consequences are far less than those of, say, physical violence (to name another thing that people are similarly inconsistent about).

[swestrup]

Actually I was more thinking of the fact that the surveillance technology would fuel the paranoia of all those who've always been afraid that people were talking about them behind their backs.

[skjalm.livejournal.com]

It's a tricky one as I can see the sense in your point of view. However, my personal oppinion on this is about the same as _sps_ and azrhey: these kinds of gifts/messages should be personal and not automatically generated.

There is without a doubt a very large market for such things. But somehow I'd say it would be better if the idea was implemented as a sort of reminder system. People working hard will very often forget birthdays, daily contact with friends and family and so on. But if someone is so busy that they can't spare the 5-10 minutes break it takes to either write a postcard and stick a stamp on it (or just giving it to a secretary so he could mail it) or order something online or just send a message... well... then the busy person is quite simply too busy to have other people in his/her life.

Sorry if I seem to be ranting, but it just seems to me that people all over suffer more and more from some kind of dilusion(sp?) that the world stops without them... so to quote one of my favourite bands:

You're only as elegant as your actions let you be
...
The earth rotates and will revolve without you constantly.
...
The world won't stop without you.

- Bad Religion, "The World Won't Stop Without You" (full lyrics)

In a grumpy old-man voice I'll just finish this comment off with a "wouldn't it just be great if people were nicer to each other?" ;-)

[swestrup]

I'm not saying that you and the others commenting here don't have their points, but I think its often harder than you think to do these things.

Here's a simple example: when I was working late hours to meet a deadline a few years ago, my reminder program told me that my Brother's birthday was in two weeks. Now, I didn't have a card, and I didn't have a stamp, and I wasn't even sure of my brother's physical address. Since I was taking busses to and from work, and was working weekends, the only way to get a card and a stamp was to remember to do so on the ride home, by remembering to get off the bus when it got to the mall 2 km from my house, and catch the next bus afterwards.

I never did get him that card. I managed to forget every single time. THAT is what I'm trying to fix.

[arymede.livejournal.com]

Being as I am currently in the middle of what we fondly refer to as either "Hell's Armpit" or "Butt-Fuck Nowhere," I am fully supportive of the automated care package idea. Perhaps I'd get more postcards like that, or nifty little presents.

Otherwise, though, I doubt I'd subscribe to it. If I feel like doing the Smitty thing - I'd prefer to do it on my own, and not because my computer reminds me to.

The LJ reference scanning - a very excellent idea, and I think you'd make tons that way! I'm vain enough to sign up for that!