Amazon Associates (oh, we didn't mean your associates!)
Doh! Well, after hooking up an Amazon Associates account (partially just to try out, but also to wrangle some discounts/referral moolah) I was hopefully awaiting to be paid for some orders placed through my aStore. Alas! Getting my girlfriend to place orders apparently does not qualify for referral payouts. Indeed, Amazon has some kind of proprietary algorithm to determine if your buyers are associated with you some way or another, and disqualifies those orders.
Here’s some of the email response I got after inquiring about the lack of compensation for my orders clearly shown in my report:
We operate a referral program, rather than a discount program. Our goal is to have our members refer new customers to us, and we then pay you for this effort, rather than simply offer discounts for shopping at Amazon.com
Here’s how our Operating Agreement explains it: “You may not purchase products during sessions initiated through the links on your site for your own use, for resale or commercial use of any kind. This includes orders for customers or on behalf of customers or orders for products to be used by you or your friends, relatives, or associates in any manner. Such purchases may result (in our sole discretion) in the withholding of referral fees and/or the termination of this Agreement.”
Given the relatively slim retail margins on our products and our strong discount pricing, the referral fees we offer to our Associates can only be sustained by meeting new customers through our Associates. These customers may return to us in the future for items unrelated to the topics served by the Associate web site, and this future business helps to offset the referral fees we pay. If an Associate orders for their own use, even if they plan to sell the items to customers who cannot order online, it can’t lead to this kind of future business. This is why we can’t afford to offer referral fees on such orders, as we want to keep the program viable for the long term.
Due to the proprietary nature of the process, we will not share with you the criteria by which we detect personal orders placed by an Associate. Please know that we are able to determine when an order has been placed by an Associate via their Associates links.
Ah well, it was worth a shot. Have you found any ways to take advantage of Amazon’s services?
Eddie Izzard <3 Mr. and Mrs. Wikipedia
I caught Eddie Izzard at the Kodak theater last night. I confess I’ve seen every Izzard video and every episode of The Riches, so I’m pre-wired to like this guy (why does the British accent make everything funnier?!). He didn’t disappoint and was as delightfully irreverent as ever and a couple of his “scenes”, as he calls them, hit close to home. Notably, a bit about sopranos (see my girlfriend’s site at http://kateconklin.com) getting hit by shoes and a great description of opera that went something like, “rich people watching big people shaken by little people!”
Izzard was unabashedly advocating for Mac products (I would send this transvestite a MacBook Air if I were in PR at Apple!) and trashing PCs and Blackberrys (picture Izzard turning a crank to start the things up). At one point Izzard whipped out his iPhone to show the audience the pinball app. I have to admit I thought he was going to turn it into a joke about how the iPhone renders many a user socially inept by investing every spare moment of attention playing with our beloved toy and thus foregoing any meaningful HUMAN interaction, but, alas, he was just indulging his “inner child” and illustrating how far we’ve come in technology.
Throughout all his anti-creationist, pro-Obama, God parody ranting (all of which I enjoyed thoroughly!), his overall message about human potential was positive and motivating. And on the tech front, he got me thinking about how in the future we probably will look back on typing on a keyboard as crude and primitive. “You mean you actually had to physically type in every single letter one by one?!” our children (or children’s children) will say.
Eddie was sans-cross-dress last evening…what does it mean if I missed the heels and shiny dress?
Meditation Challenge!
How cool is this guy?! My girlfriend hipped me to this yoga teacher she likes, and I believe this is the coolest yoga marketing I’ve come across. Are you up to the challenge?
Visit http://www.kamalalove.com to check out PJ.
Breaking Down Context
After checking out “User Generated Context,” the first research note by Havas Media Lab, I’ve been thinking about context and how it relates to perceived value. Here’s what I’ve come up with thus far:
Elements of Context:
1. Creator
- Time
- Place
- Format
- References (sources, external links, etc)
2. Recipient (intended and unintended)
- Time
- Place
- Format
- Neighboring Data
3. Relationship Between Creator and Recipient
- Friends or Strangers, Long-time Friends or New Friends…
- Dynamics Relating to Knowledge of Other Participants
It’s very interesting, for example, how much the relationship between the time information is created and the time at which a recipient receives it effects the value of the information. These elements of context, which can be different for the creator and recipient, can render information useless or valuable (imagine the message, “Let’s go to the movie playing at 5pm,” received at 4pm vs. 8pm!).
So where does value come in?
People are excited by iPhone apps because they add value to information by decreasing the gap between creation time and the time it is received as well as automating the creator’s and recipient’s places via GPS. When you are in a specific place at a specific time, relevant information can be powerful (“I’m in Santa Monica - what’s happening tonight?”…”There’s a great party here, come on over!”).
FriendFeed is powerful because of the amount of information with accompanying contextual metadata it can aggregate in a fun and easy way. #3 above is a non-static element that FriendFeed excels at shaping, adding value to the vast amounts of information pouring in on the platform.
This post is getting long and I’m more interested in hearing your ideas! Thoughts? Am I missing any elements of context? Any interesting examples of adding value to information in relation to this framework?
The Sparrow Quartet @ Nettwerk
My friends in the Sparrow Quartet swooped in to LA to perform a quick showcase at the Nettwerk facilities in Hollywood. I’m proud to say that this exceptional group of artists has improved and evolved since I last saw them. The musicianship is outstanding, but beyond that their emotive arrangements have grown to exploit all the dynamics capable of this combination of instruments. And, yeah, I’m totally biased because they are individually and collectively some of the greatest people I’ve had the pleasure to meet - smart, compassionate, and fun.
Social Media Club LA
Attended the SMCLA event tonight at the excellent Rubicon compound. Pizza, soda, and schmoozing, oh yeah. Some heated banter broke out regarding why social media is valuable to non-tech elite, which quickly subsided. Overall the event was postive. LA has a lot to contribute to the evolution of social media as a major international hub for the entertainment industry (oh, and porn as it was pointed out tonight!).
