Twofer

~ 25 September 2006 ~

Today’s post includes a 2-for-1 deal. Hot diggity dog.

Oddica Magazine

The chaps at Oddica have published the inaugural issue of Oddica Magazine, replete with fantastic illustrations from their league of talented artists. Go grab yourself a copy.

The Impending Failure of Squidoo

I’ve long subscribed to Seth Godin’s marketing think. So it’s with great regret that I join the nay-sayers who anticipate Squidoo’s failure to be imminent at this point. TechCrunch was one of the first to make note of this in Michael Arrington’s article, “Squidoo: Seth Godin’s Purple Albatross?”, and now Wired has taken sides in “Web 2.0 Winners and Losers”:

The Lensmasters, as they are known, point curious users to resources on the web about their topic of expertise, giving topical search a more human touch. The Lensmasters earn royalties in the process through Squidoo’s revenue sharing program. Sounds pretty revolutionary, except that the Lensmasters don’t point you to anything that you can’t find on Google. Some of the Lensmasters do a good job, but a number of the lenses are just glorified ads and many are bogged down by opinionated writing.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still continue to read Seth’s stuff, regardless of the final outcome of Squidoo. I’ll still continue to believe in the principles he champions. But the takeaway for me personally (and the reason I mention it) is that the timing of this realization — that anyone can potentially fail, regardless of previous victories — couldn’t be worse, as I’m about to make not one but two big announcements in the coming weeks.

Troy’s response to the aforementioned TechCrunch article is particularly encouraging:

In Purple Cow, Seth actively encourages outrageous and remarkable product development, and failure, as a part of the process of finding or creating that elusive Purple Cow. In which case, his association with Squidoo should not damage his reputation. If anything he is being true to his ideals and if Squidoo and his next 9 projects fail he will have “…learned 10 ways that aren’t going to work” and one step closer to one that will.

Here’s to successful failure.