In the past 10 years, I’ve been involved in countless discussions about new and innovative ways to do journalism online. Staff meetings, editors retreats, conference panel discussions, workshops and on and on. Not once did I hear anyone set the goal as high as building an “insanely great web service,” as this excellent piece from ReadWriteWeb’s Bernard Lunn suggests.
I can’t remember a time when I (or anyone else) lobbied for placing such a laser-like focus on the user. That’s just not how journalists think. (And it certainly isn’t what they like to talk about.)
This helps explain why news web sites are still making digital dimes instead of dollars. Instead of thinking about what you have (local news, AP, etc.) or what you do (reporting, writing, photography), what if we start to think more about what the user wants? Seems essential in order to build innovative products in the digital age.
Here is Lunn’s scorecard, which he calls “Six Milestones from 30 Seconds to 3 Years,” for what an insanely great web product looks like to the average user:
30 seconds: “I get it.”
3 minutes: “I’ve used it and still get it, and it has not annoyed me yet.”
3 days: “I find this really useful or fun.”
3 weeks: “I am raving about this to other people.”
3 months: “I couldn’t imagine not having this, and I’m boring my friends telling them about it.”
3 years: “How weird to see this on Oprah.”
Read the entire post for his elaboration on each point. And the next time you’re invited to a strategy or planning meeting, use the scorecard as a checklist for the goals of your mission. After all, if your service is not useful and people are not raving about it to others, is it worth spending 40-60 hours a week working on? (Appearance on Oprah optional.)