Clark's Spot

Earlier this morning, our cat cornered a mouse beneath a shelf of movies, caught it, and brought it – hanging from its mouth – to my wife and me. I grabbed a dustpan, got the cat to drop the mouse, and tried to smash the mouse. I missed. The mouse ran, and the cat caught the mouse in its mouth again. We repeated this series two more times before the mouse escaped beneath the TV stand.

Our creations sometimes aren't the easiest solutions.

Background: The cat successfully caught and killed a mouse early Friday morning. (This is the first year we’ve had any mice issues… cat only has back claws.) So my wife had me get mouse traps the next day – to set out this weekend to catch any other mice who come inside the house. We have a couple traps – but none set out when this morning’s events happen.

So I make a quick decision. We put the cat in room upstairs with the litter box and food, and my wife and I set the mousetraps downstairs. We run out to shovel snow and run a few errands. We return home. No mouse caught, and the cat seems pretty content in the comfy chair in the upstairs room.

This got me thinking: Can I and all of the gadgets I love do better than the cat? Can I build a better mousetrap? This reminded me of an essay I read in The Cluetrain Manifesto.

How Lego Caught the Cluetrain (links to a video presentation that covers the same topic as his essay) by Jake McKee tells the story of how the Lego Company entered the world of social networking as part of its communication outreach. Lego had been aware of AFOLs (adult fan of Legos) but only marketed to children. The company slowly began to embrace AFOLs who had built websites, message boards, forums, e-mail groups, photo sites, and virtual stores to buy and sell pieces. Lego joined the conversation on the existing websites and developed new programs that made it easier for AFOLs to create their own designs and purchase the needed blocks to build those creations.

One paragraph in particular stood out. It highlights something that Jake says Lego did not do – something Lego did well.

“The mistake many companies make when they first engage a community is to rush in and try to replace unofficial efforts with official efforts. Even if such a move is well intentioned, it’s as if the company is saying, ‘Your efforts are sub par. Let us professionals step in and show you how it’s done.’ Not a very good way to start off the relationship.”

Lego included and built off the work that the fan community had already established. Lego joined the community. Its customers welcomed it, and they didn’t try to replace the work that was already done. The lesson is important for any company that connects with customers online – whether through a simple website or on a series of online communities. Don’t work to create an “official” and “artificial” community; go to where the customers are. You can add a legitimate voice to the conversation, but don’t hijack what’s already been built. Look for ways to complement what your customers, users, and constituents are doing.

Sometimes you can’t build a better network, and you waste resources and annoy everyone involved. That’s what my cat taught me about mousetraps today.

Thanks for picture: Picture is Creative Commons licensed from Joming Lau through Flickr.

Mr. Peanut and I in healthier times

I’ve been off work for the past few days taking care of a sick cat. Great that I have a week of vacation for this. The cat recently had surgery to repair/reconfigure the surgical procedure he had done in August. The cat is leading the family in surgical procedures in the past year…

So from my spot on the kitchen floor, I’ve spent a lot of time working on the spring newsletter for the Lackawanna Historical Society and getting some grad school work done.

I’ve also been working on a series of posts about social networking – something that I get to do at work each day. I’ve used my time off work thinking about a few social network questions that I posed to myself about a month ago:

• what’s hype and what’s real?
• what’s here to stay and what’s a fad?
• where should we put our online efforts?
• what’s talked up just so people can waste their time on it?

Of course, I’ve found some time to spend on the popular networks as well. One of the best things about Facebook and Twitter is all of the favorite quotes everyone will post. Best one I’ve seen this week?

“Everyone wants to change the world. No one thinks of changing themselves.”
-Henri Nouen

Mr. Peanut had an adventure earlier this month while my wife and I were on vacation. We had returned to Ohio, and he was in the kennel for five days when we got a call – vomiting and other problems. We told them to take him to his vet, and then to the animal emergency clinic, and then to do whatever procedures were needed.

He came home a week later after surgery and several other procedures. He had had a couple scary moments in the clinic but was on the mend finally.

I’ll spare the fun stories about forcefeeding him and watching him climb and jump out of containment. Instead, let’s share a picture of Conehead – to make sure he doesn’t ruin his stitches. (At least the cone comes off on Monday. Don’t know whether he, I, or Franchise is more excited about that.)