JEFF: Sounds admirable, but how does it play out in reality?
MARK: One of the key insights I had at Yoyodyne, which formed my Creative Good thinking, was that consumers find the Internet confusing, frustrating, and just too hard to use. Companies, on the other hand, are desperate to make money online, and nearly every business model online depends on getting and keeping a ton of consumers on the Net. Yet instead of making their services accessible to the very people who will support the business model, most Net-based products and services are getting more and more complex and harder to use.
There is a serious disconnect between companies and consumers on the Net, and very few people are paying attention to the plight of the consumer. I intend to fix it - for the good of the consumer, and, yes, for the good of the industry.
I started writing a column every weekday - five columns a week, each one describing a different problem online and helping "regular" netizens to overcome it. Example: "How to Use AltaVista" points out that AltaVista has some of the poorest help files online, and in half a page I describe most of what anyone needs to know to use AltaVista. I've gotten letters from people who have been online for years, saying the column "finally" explained AltaVista to them. Other popular columns are "What is Java?", "What's a Plug-In?," and "What's a Cookie?"
Seven months later, after getting hundreds of comments and thank-you notes from netizens, it's plain as day to me that the vast, vast majority of consumers are way behind where most Net companies think they are. Consumers are desperate for simplicity and ease-of-use - and the company that capitalizes on that desperation will be very successful.
So, the Web site is just one of the goals of Creative Good. I need to help more companies make their products and services easier to use. I'm accomplishing this in part through the columns on the Web site, which organize readers to send email to featured companies - which raises the companies' awareness about ease-of-use - and Creative Good.
But I still need to contact more companies. I believe in it because it's for the company's good (since they'll make more money with better products), it's for the consumers' good (since they'll get an easier-to-use product), and it's for Creative Good (since I'll get paid consulting fees).
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