I guess everyone hates the sound of their own voice...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGAWYR-vCkY
Technorati Tags: how to comotivate demo
Thanks to Erin for taking the time to send us her thoughts on how to improve comotivate. Fantastic effort very much appreciated. I'll be responding soon to these fab ideas...
I really like comotivate so far. For me, it’s a gentle reminder of my goal which is just what I need. I love the idea of having a support system for achieving goals, especially personal ones that may not be the same as your friends. I’m not an expert in reviewing websites and everything that I’m saying is just from my experience as a user.
Video Tutorial
The first thing I’d love to see on comotivate is a video tutorial of someone setting a goal, searching and buddying up with someone, joining a team, and possibly using one of the Progress Tools. I think some of my confusion stems from that I don’t know how to fully utilize comotivate to help me meet my goals. It would give potential users a quick peek about why they should sign up with comotivate and why it’s so awesome!
The Buddy System and Teams
The Buddy System is great, but I’m a little confused about its relation to the being on a Team. I’m not really sure if I can have a buddy and being on a team or if the two are mutually exclusive. If they are mutually exclusive, the following comments may not have any merit since I am currently on a team as well.For the Buddy System you get to look at possibly buddies who are a match for you based the number of criteria you selected. From there you can decide to “buddy up” with that person. It would be helpful to be able to see the status of a buddy request. I have in “My Feed” that I sent a buddy request, but I have no idea what happened to it. Should I send another buddy request, should I find another buddy, or should I want because the buddy I’m trying to buddy with just hasn’t seen it yet? As I said, these points are all moot if you can only have a buddy or be on a team, but not both.If you can have one or the other, I’m slightly confused as to why that is. Some people may want the larger support system of a team, but want to share the more personal triumphs with a single buddy and share their general triumphs with the whole team.I’d also like to know more about buddies in general. Can I have more than one? How do I know if I’m paired with a buddy? Can I see his/her profile?
Deadline
One thing I noticed when I was searching for Teams and Buddies is that is lists the Deadline on the information list. Since it is one of the criteria you can choose to match on, it definitely should be listed. A year should be listed with it as well. I found myself looking at the dates and thinking a user has the same deadline as I do, but then I though perhaps they mean this year instead of next. Some of these goals are long term goals, so a date listed next to Buddies and Teams would be very helpful.
Progress Tools
One feature that I found today by reading through all of the FAQs (one reason a video intro/tutorial may be useful) was the Checklist. This is such a great idea! Making mini-goals always helps a larger goal seem more doable and you can immediately see yourself making progress towards something bigger, which is a great motivator. When I went to My Homepage to look for my Checklist, I couldn’t find it. I went to Amend My Goal and it was checked as an active and showing feature. I looked back at My Homepage and I realized that it is called Tasks on sidebar. This was confusing to me since I was looking specifically for a Checklist, but instead found Tasks. I realize the words mean the essentially same thing, but I think it would be better to choose one name to refer to the feature.Something I would really like to see in the Task/Checklist area is a simply button to add a task. I wouldn’t naturally go to Settings to add a task and the words Settings implies changing options that affects how the tools works or looks, not the content. I would also like to see the first Task in My Homepage. I know one of the goals of comotivate is to cut down on “browsing” and increase “doing.” By not showing the first un-completed task on the homepage, the user must click on Settings (once again, I feel it’s an odd word to use for its function) to find their first task. I think it would be better to incorporate the first task that needs to be completed on the user’s homepage.When choosing Progress Tools, I know you can choose up to two. Unfortunately, it seems that you can choose up to two only if one of them is the Countdown Clock. I’d really love to have the Progress Tools Zero to Hero and Checklist, but right now I have to choose one or the other and the Countdown Clock.
User Homepage
One thing I would like to see relating to the comotivate homepage is a different view if a user is logged in. If a user is logged in and goes to the comotivate homepage, there is no reason why he/she should see the taglines and instructions for signing up, he/she already has!Although it’s great to reduce browsing a site in order increase doing, I think it’d be worthwhile to think about a makeover of the user homepage and the site homepage when a user is logged in. I think it would be possible to combine both pages into one user homepage. I find myself constantly clicking between the two and I would love to have them on just one page. I have an idea in my head for one way it could work out. You seem to have a nice tabs and heading theme and I think you could really take advantage of that in a redesign.Along the lines of layout, I think it would be helpful to change the very top menu. Right now it says “My Homepage Logout.” I think it would be great if you included a link to the Help/FAQ section as well. So it would read “My Homepage Help/FAQ Logout” instead. This way answers to questions are close at hand and not at the bottom of the page in a very small font!
Very Small Things I Noticed
Today I read through all of the FAQs, which were very helpful, but it was a long read. I noticed something extremely small. You use the convention of putting a space after Q. The following questions don’t have a space after them, so they don’t look as uniform. Really, I can’t believe I told you that since it is so small, but it’s just something I noticed. Also, under the question, “What can I do from my homepage?” the response “Access your Team Area” is listed twice, also the bullet point with “Edit your details” has an extra space before it.Q.Why is comotivate so great?Q.What makes comotivate special?Q.What can I do on the site?Q.What can I do from the ‘Team New Buddies’ page?Q.How do I find buddies?Q.Can I have two or more of the same goals live at the same time?Q.How do I report abuse?Q.How can I invite my friends to comotivate?Q.How does the site differentiate users?Q.What is the role of the Team Owner?
I know I’ve written a lot and I’m sure you weren’t expecting this much, so if you even get to this point in the reading, thanks! I really do like the site and I think it’s a great idea! I only see the site getting better and more efficient.
Just to acknowledge and apologise for a few bugs on the site at the moment:
- match insights aren't being displayed
- some buddy-ups are being errorred
- some emails are being sent multiple times
We're attempting fixes as fast as possible. Thank you for your patience.
Please report any frustrations to fixer<at>comotivate.com
Breaking your goal down into mini goals is a good way of getting through the first few weeks until the routines are established. Rewards are a good way of keeping up the incentive, but beware of using food to say 'well done' to yourself.
I think for many people adjusting their diet and lifestyle should also include a change to the way they view food. It might be a good idea to break the association of ‘naughty’ food being the chosen reward. There isn’t much difference between using and abusing (two letters!)
Instead of a food ‘treat’ go for rewards that enforce the fact there’s more to life than food:
a lie-in (this can be super-rewarding if you're a new parent)
cinema/DVD
flowers
massage
A new release of the site went live last week and I'm really excited about it because it allows us to show the most motivated teams. We've created a currency for the site that is based on engagement. One other metric will go live before the end of the year as well. But for now TABs show us a quantifiable measure of how well the team is interacting. The TAB score is made up of several measures taken from the Team Area and the formula isn't exactly rocket science...but it should be a nice motivator for teams.
Also we're now featuring new joiners on the home page...I wish more would upload a photo.
More site upgrades coming soon.
Great article written by Mary Nease reproduced below but first appearing here: http://www.elon.edu/pendulum/Story.aspx?id=1148
National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, takes place over the course of November and presents writers with a challenge. During the month, participants aim to write a novel of at least 50,000 words.It all began with a man named Chris Baty, a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, who decided with 20 friends to write a novel over the course of July in 1999. The next year, they decided to move this event to November, and upon creating a Web site, www.nanowrimo.org, had 140 people noveling.
This year is NaNoWriMo’s 10th anniversary, and the Web site has already registered close to 60,000 authors worldwide. The event is open to people outside the United States, but InNoWriMo, International Novel Writing Month, doesn’t offer the same alliteration.
One might wonder why people would want to give up so much of their time to write so much for nothing.
“It seems like the perfect motivation for me to finally produce something for the sheer pleasure of it, and not for a class or a grade or for anyone else,” junior Paul Mirek said. He will be participating in NaNoWriMo for the first time this year, after learning about it from his roommate.
His reason seems to be why most people participate in NaNoWriMo. Whether writing something for the fun of it or to get something written, motivation is key.
“NaNoWriMo is all about the magical power of deadlines,” Baty said on the Web site. “Give someone a goal and a goal-minded community and miracles are bound to happen. Pies will be eaten at amazing rates. Alfalfa will be harvested like never before. And novels will be written in a month.”
The Web site has a huge forum, filled with authors worldwide helping each other out with everything from story research, plot development or simply a virtual shoulder to cry on when you realize that 50,000 words is a lot more than you thought. Whatever your reason for visiting the NaNoWriMo forums, you’ll find the motivation you need from the huge community of writers out there, all trying to reach the same goal.
To sign up to participate, visit www.nanowrimo.org and click on the sign up button at the top of the screen. Fill out a few blanks, and you’re on your way to writing a novel, frying your brain or both.
Expert advice from Dr. Jenny Susser Hospital for Special Surgery in New York...
A licensed clinical psychologist at the Women’s Sports Medicine Center at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, Dr. Susser offered the following tips to amateur athletes who have suffered a debilitating injury and who are also troubled by fears about returning to sport or risk of re-injury:
• Start with resolving the physical issues of your injury. Get the best doctors, trainers, massage therapists that you can find to handle the physical part. Find people you have confidence in and if you have concerns, seek other help because if you don’t have confidence in your doctor, it can affect your healing.
• Determine what you want as an end result. Some injuries will allow you to return to sport. Some will not. Talk with your doctor and determine what is realistic.
• Find a good sports psychology practitioner. Word of mouth referrals from people you trust are useful and there are also the websites of the American Psychological Association (http://www.psyc.unt.edu/apadiv47/choosing.htm) and the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology (http://www.aaasponline.org), which now has more than 1,300 members.
• Check your insurance. Policies vary but usually if a provider is a licensed clinical psychologist, an insurance policy will cover the cost.
• Stick with the program. A serious injury can sometimes be emotionally devastating and trigger a psychological response identical to the sense of loss comparable to losing a loved one. Recovery takes time and it can vary from two sessions to two months or more depending on variables. Patients are usually the best judge of when they are emotionally prepared to return to sport.
I have been doing a lot of research into various social media and it struck me that one of the main challenges is in trying to categorise web resources within this social media context. I guess it's only industry commentators that might be interested, but I would have thought brand managers and marketing execs would need to get this helicopter view of the space as well.
I've found 10 categories (but this is work in progress)....
1. Dominant utilities: these are the leading social networks through which huge numbers of people experience the web. Their entire online experience is characterised by use of these sites. Examples: MySpace, Facebook, youtube
2. Constituencies: often these are not significantly differentiated but have a user base with established status levels and emotional investment. Examples: Bebo, Hi5, Friendster, Skyrock, Orkut, SecondLife (and many others)
3. Themed: these social networks are founded on ‘horizontal’ niches: business, travel, music, achievement. Examples: LinkedIn, WAYN, Last FM, comotivate (and many others)
4. Verticals: these social networks are founded on ‘vertical’ niches: profession, leisure pursuit, ethnicity, gender. Examples: Damsels in Success, MiGente, Lawyers.net, Sermo, Gamervision (and many others)
5. Optimizers: these are often tools or applications designed to share and organise content. They can accelerate distribution via their linkages. Examples: Qassia.com, StumbleUpon , Digg, Delicious, Ma.gnolia (and many others)
6. Commentators: these self-styled authorities heavily influence opinion via their blog and provoke high numbers of comments from readers. They are ‘human optimizers’. Examples: Seth Godin, Joseph Jaffe, Gary Vaynerchuk (and many others)
7. Platform-centric: these social networks are centred on mobile devices. Examples: MyGamma, Itsmy, Trutap, Flirtomatic, Mig33, Dada (and many others)
8. Facilitators: these sites provide templates for social networks to be created featuring off the shelf tools. Included in this category are also storage sites. Examples: Ning, Weebly, Crowdvine, Social Engine, LiveJournal, TypePad, Wordpress, Blogger, woofiles (and many others)
9. Aggregators: these applications help users manage their multiple profiles across different social networks. Examples: Social Thing, iStalker, Social Stream, Profilactic, Spokeo (and many others)
10. Feeders: these social networks provide limited, personalised access to the status updates of your contacts. Examples: Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku
bit sad really but I like JJ's blog and couldn't resist trying to relate the post to the job I'm trying to do...what can I learn from my own post I wonder?
http://www.jaffejuice.com/2008/10/joe-the-plumber.html?cid=135254551#comment-135254551
http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/comotivate_-_a_test_of_peer_support.html
Got this published and it's helped put pressure on me now to deliver and square the circle...I want to create a coaching resource where users can select to have a coach join their team. This story might get some interest.
more marketing effort today...contacting bloggers and getting listed in directories to increase natural search...
http://www.blogcatalog.com/directory/newmedia
these guys have got it together.
Most of the bloggers are polite in their reluctance to review comotivate and I understand why. I've had several bloggers show an interest though which is nice and I hope to get some exposure through them.
It's tough when you've got to try and explain the offering in a way that relates to each blogger and their agenda...but I guess the effort will pay off.
Alexa is a good tool to use to track these guys down.
I've been targeting SU users in the last few days with some paid for advertising just as a trial and it's generated some great sign-ups. Positive feedback is running at around 80% mark and a lot of the registrations exemplify why comotivate exists. A lot of people have highlighted their 'story' - the thing that holds them back or explains thie unique circumstances. Obviously, as comotivate grows they will begin to realise that there are others out there just like them that make ideal buddies with whom to work together on their goal.
Good luck to everyone who's currently on the site.
I wanted to say a big thanks to Rachel - check out her great blog
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=149141467
She's started a comotivate team after being contacted by me and I think she's going to run her challenge on comotivate.
I hope lots of people sign up for the challenge - it'll be a great test for the site too!
Good luck you guys.
