Travel is one of our strongest categories on Mahalo. We really crush machine search and portal approaches with our pages, and folks tell me all the time that they come to Mahalo when they are planning a trip. Now that we've done:CITYNAME HotelsCITYNAME ToursCITYNAME Vacation For the major cities, we're experimenting with two more types of pages: CHEAP HOTELS CITYNAMEandthe actual names of major hotels with pricing details. What do you guys think of these pages:Bellagio Hotel and Caesars PalaceLas Vegas HotelsCheap Hotels New York, Cheap Las Vegas Hotels and Cheap Flights New YorkYou might think it takes a long time to put something like the table below together, but it's about an hour of work. If 10,000 folks a year do this research already putting a human on the task for one hour makes sense. It really demonstrates how to get the best price, and it's a starting point for folks to share their travel tips with other folks (i.e. we figure out how who has the best price and what discounts work best and that inspires other folks to share their tips with us, and we can add those tips to the page). Thoughts?How would you make these pages better?Would you use a page like this?Would you send your mom, brother, kid, etc. (non-tech savvy person) to these pages?How do you find the best travel deals? Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Remember, if we don't have a tag you want please blog/twitter/delicious with @MahaloToDo in your post/tweet and we will get on it for you. We've done a bunch of these for folks and it really is no big deal since we're plowing through 1,000+ pages a week. Of course, don't ask for something uber-obscure because that's what machine search is best for (i.e. long tail results). Human powered search works best for one, two, and then three word searches (i.e. Paris, Paris Hotels, etc. are all something we will have or get to, but not "paris hotel deals in the 8th district that allow dogs"). Oh yeah... follow the Twitter account we setup at http://www.twitter.com/mahalotodo/ Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
We're covering the republican youtube debate at Mahalo tonight at 8PM EST/5pm PST... check this page often!http://www.mahalo.com/Republican_YouTube_Debate_Live_CoveragePermalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
We're running a logo contest over at Sitepoint for a "Mahalo Top 7" award... which one do you like best?Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
If you need a really great dog or puppy trainer in Los Angeles I highly recommend Caryl... she's the best! Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
OK, these are my official pages across the interwebs... Add me on Facebook Add me on Twitter Add me on MySpace Add me on LinkedIn Add me on Delicious Add me on Pownce Jason Calacanis on tumblr Add me on mixx Add me on FlickrPermalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
I'm loving the "fast facts" that the Mahalo Daily team is putting at the bottom of our videos.... very cool.Would make a nice ad unit as well. :-)Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Cuteoverload.com refuses to accept the cuteoverload that is my puppies... it's become a total scam. Cuteoverload overlords are in on the take... they only post pictures of puppies that send them cupcakes and I'm sick of paying bribes.How can this photo not be on CO!?!?!This is yet another "mirror" cuteness photo... and we know that rule number 435 of cute is that two cute babies that mirror each other equals exponential cute. Come on!!! photo by GPermalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
{ pig in mud by Farmfoto }Doc has an important post today that reflects on data and privacy. The post comes back to Marc Canter's "but it's our daaaaaatttttaaaaaa dudeeeeeeeessss riggggggggghhhhttt?!?!?!!!!!!" question that we've been hearing at tech conferences going on three years now. All of this comes up because Facebook has done three things that are at once extremely innovative, extremely rude, extremely helpful, and extremely disconcerting: 1. They are collecting and republishing user data on a level not before seen by users. 2. They are allowing advertisers to use this data to reach these users.3. They are not giving this information--information that has put their value at $15 billion--back to their users. Depending on who you are, or what your goals are at a particular time, you might find extreme pleasure or discomfort in each of these. Let's look at some examples. Marketers vs. CustomersIf you're making a product that would appeal to folks who play the video Guitar Hero and you want to market it then you have a couple of choices today. First, you could buy the keyword "guitar hero" (or related ones) on a search engine like Google. That's very cool, obviously because you know the person's intent at that very moment. Second, you could buy ads on a blog about video games like Joystiq.com. That's cool because you know the demographics of the folks who read that blog are the top 20% of video game users (the meme spreaders). Facebook looks at those two systems and says to the marketer "what if we had a list of folks who opted in to receive information about Guitar Hero? Would you be interested in that?" Well, of course you would! In fact, I did and here is what it looks like:The ads don't perform well on a clickthrough basis because they are one of 100 very compelling clicks that users can pick from on their Facebook page (i.e. your messages, applications, wall, etc). However, Facebook charges on a per-click basis so it's not the marketer's issue.Now, this is not revolutionary as Zuckerberg stated in his fabulous claim that "every 100 years media changes." Yes Zuck, the printing press and then Facebook are the two milestones to date (forget about radio, TV, and the internet, as well as "smaller" innovations like wikipedia, cable, and blogs). However, what Facebook is doing is less revolution and more the evolution of direct marketing which has moved from offline to optin email lists and on to search advertising (i.e. Google AdWords). The only problem with Facebook's opt-in advertising system is that the users who they are selling to marketers didn't really opt-in. What they did do was fill out a profile in which they said they "liked Guitar Hero," not that they "would like to get Guitar Hero" advertising. Subtle difference, but an important one. Somewhere in the fine print I'm sure Facebook is letting people know that they are being sliced and diced, but if you ask 1,000 Facebook users if they opted into this list 1,000 would tell you no. That's the real test: user awareness. Ask yourself: Did you fill out your profile in order to be sold to marketers? In fact, that's why we're having a problem right now: people feel Facebook collected data under false pretense and that makes people feel REALLY betrayed. Did Facebook break the law? I doubt it, but they certainly screwed up the messaging--which is what they did the last time when they did the big data reveal... which brings us to the second issue.The user to user data problem. Users gave their info to Facebook but never thought it would be shared and disseminated so efficiently. Every day we watch folks set their status from married, to dating, to single, and the other assorted states of couple-ness. At the start no one knew this information was broadcast to everyone else's walls and today probably half the people know this happens. There is massive power locked up in data and like a time-bomb it takes a deft hand to deal with it.Facebook stood their ground the last time and made users deal with the issue, and their probably going to do the same this time. The final issue: getting my information back. Which brings us to the final issue: why does Facebook make billions off my data and I can't even have it back? Where is the export feature in Facebook? How do I export ALL MY DATA to an XML feed or CSV file and shut down my Facebook account?If Facebook wanted to solve a lot of their problems they would put an export key on their profile pages that just gave a raw dump of all your data. Your photos, your friendships, your wall posts, and your messages. Just like Ning, Yahoo/GMAIL email, and countless other services provide. Facebook has the best developers in the world building their product. They add features at a pace like no other company *including* Google. They could build an export feature in five days--but they won't.Why?Facebook is pushing themselves into a position of being viewed as ungrateful data hogs: amassing tons of information, selling it under false pretense, and not sharing it with the folks who gave it to them.Not good. You can get away with this kind of behavior for a short period of time, but not for the long run. There are just too many folks out there like Doc, Dave Winer, Marc Canter, Robert Scoble, Steve Gillmor, and Leo Laporte out there today who will call you on it.Again it comes back to bloggers and their influence of the marketplace... I love it. :-)The message from bloggers to Facebook is clear: if you're a hog you'll be slaughtered. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Looks likethe usability folks like our no-results page:When Mahalo doesn't have hand-written results for a query (which happens quite often since the site is still very much under construction) it returns a tabbed user interface that provides access to results from other "search engines" like Google, Delicious, YouTube and Flickr.Try typing in "etre's usability newsletter" (or just click on this link) to see the "no results" page in action.While some people will no doubt slate Mahalo for driving business to its competitors, we think its great. Why? Because by providing alternative lines of enquiry, it prevents users from running into brick walls. It shuns the "walled garden" approach of most websites in favour of actually helping people (shock, horror). It also mimics the equivalen offline scenariot: When I find that a store I'm visiting doesn't have the product I want, the first question I always ask is "Do you know anyone else that might stock it?"Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
The folks in the shopping group are working today updating all of our Black Friday pages. This real-time SERPing (search engine result page building) is a great example of how human-powered search can help people. http://www.mahalo.com/Black_FridayHere's a sample of what they're working on:Black Friday Ads Black Friday 2007 Black Friday Ads 2007 Black Friday Tips Walmart Black Friday Best Buy Black Friday Circuit City Black Friday Target Black Friday Kmart Black Friday Amazon Black Friday Ad 2007 Cyber Monday How to Buy Gifts on a Budget Online Shopping DealsPermalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Have gotten amazing feedback from folks on the Mahalo "no results" page we put up quietly yesterday. I didn't realize how well this would be received. A number of folks told me they can now switch their default search engine to Mahalo because of it. Wow! That's the wonderful thing about doing a startup... you can get these great "wins" from things you never thought of. It's the same rush I get from playing poker and you win with a horrible hand that suddenly becomes great... unexpected wins are the best wins. The tabbed interface started in a discussion about making a mashed up page of various search results. We thought, well if we're going to mash it up why not just give the raw materials. We mocked it, and the designed said "hey let's put the logos in" and I was like... "ohhh.... that looks amazing. Folks are going to freak that we're promoting competing services. This is my favorite quote:"Mahalo has become something of a searcher's power tool."Wow. That's the exact opposite of what we were going for. We were going for a service for the masses, but if this feature brings in the power users, well, rocking!Rustle added: of course this is all about habits. calacanis wants to change yours. someone, somewhere is going to create the page you go to by default. who's it going to be?Yes, I think that's right. The good news is that most folks use 3-4 search engines a month so we don't have to beat Google--we just need to beat one of the other three. :-)Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
There's a "no results" page over at Mahalo today that I think is worth taking a look at. When we don't have a hand-written result (which is often since we're in build mode) we return a tabbed interface of your favorite services like Google, Delicious, YouTube and Flickr. Your search is, of course, canned in each tab so you don't have to retype it. You can also set any of the services as your default, so if you're a fan of Ask over Yahoo and Google you're all set. Here I've searched for "bmw ipod connector" on Mahalo. Now, we have many pages related to BMWs and iPods, but we haven't done one on this long-tail search. In the design below we show you a couple of Mahalo pages you can "also try." These pages like iPod Accessories and BMW 335xi MIGHT have what you're looking for, but if they don't you've got Google right below it. Now, if Google doesn't have what you want you can very easily switch over to another service, like say Delicious, and do the "BMW ipod connector" result there. So, what we're doing with this new tabbed interface is giving the user the BEST possible experience when we don't have a hand-written result. I think it's very unique and I'm finding that the process of getting a human search if possible and a range of everyone else if not is really solid.If you didn't want to make a switch from Ask, Yahoo, MSN, or Google to Mahalo now you really have no excuse! Clearly the human results are better than the machines ones, and if we haven't done your human result we give you not one search engines but all of them. Other services are not too keen on linking to their competitors, but Mahalo is all about helping users so we don't have a problem doing that (also, we're starting from nothing, so we got nothing to lose right?). If Delicious didn't have what you want it turns out that there are actually videos on YouTube. Now, i know this is not some revolutionary advancement, people have being doing tabbed stuff like this forever. However, it is a really nice user experience when combined with human search. In fact, the tabbed interface you see on this long tail search is EXACTLY what our Guides would do when build a single human curated pages. So, in fact this tabbed interface is the precursor to a human result. In other words, the next best thing!Mahalo for taking the time and do let me know what you think!Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
