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Nic Brisbourne’s view from London on venture capital and exploiting change in technology and media
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The power of small changes

Started by brisbourne · 6 months ago

As reported on ReadWriteWeb yesterday Google plans to replace the words ‘Subcribe to this blog’ with ‘Follow this blog’ in the sidebar of every blog on Blogger.com around the web.
I’m constantly hearing stories of how small changes like t ... Continue reading »

4 comments

  • nic mitham

    10 months ago

    i agree, little changes like this have big impacts. a great example of this approach pushed even further is feedburner,albeit slightly too americanised for their global customer base.
    reply
  • Danvers

    10 months ago

    Isn't this just another example of the trendy "nudge" theory of economics/human behaviour - which is currently being seized on by the Conservative Party (who incidentially are seen in the UK as being close to Google).
    reply
  • PaulSweeney

    10 months ago

    By changing error messages from "failed delivery" to much more specific messages telling the user what kind of failure it was, and why it probably happened, we actually surfaced areas of benefit that we didn't previously know about. By being specific, and using specific language, we were able to position ourselves even further ahead of competing offers. I like the follow language, because it is "collegial".
    reply
  • Mark Brooks

    10 months ago

    The meaning of subscribe has indeed changed over the last couple of years. It has more negative connotations than positive. Its a commitment. Twitter has helped bring a new word/lexicon into existence that is generally comprehended and far more palatable among mainstream social networking users. 'Follow.' No commitments, not credit card required, no misunderstanding. This is very wise on Googles part and should help drive more activity to their blogger.com property.

    Mark Brooks, 212-444-1636, http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com
    reply

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