The sandbox just got bigger – taking advantage of the network

I ran across a quote (emphasis added) yesterday in  a post on Rowan Simpson’s blog where he was summarizing his time at Webstock.

Tom Cotes, who gave the best explanations I’ve heard to date for why it’s important to think outside of your own little sandbox. Succeeding online means thinking about how to take advantages of the network rather than just simply trying to build the best website.

I love this quote.  In fact I’ve printed it off and put it on my wall.  The Internet has changed and is changing and while it’s always been a network of computers, it’s moving toward a network of interconnected people and websites.

So in building a website or revamping one, the question can’t be “how do we draw everyone here and keep them here” but how do we produce content, or features that fit into the daily lives of Internet users?

Now, there might be some Goliath sites may not have to conform to these new “rules” as immediately because of their sheer magnitude, but take newspapers for example.  Here in Knoxville our local paper is owned by Scripps, and they’ve attempted to bring about a  social-media-esque way of working with the news.  They didn’t do this because this is what they were used to. They do it because they have to do it to compete.

For Abunga this means, where and how can we leverage the power of the network? It involves asking, is this feature networkable?

We’ve got a great site, but how do we plug into that network so it’s easier for you to use us?

What do you think?  Is he off base?  Am I off base?

What a Quote

I’m late to the party, but I just saw this quote about 5 minutes ago.

We don’t need web-based versions of our desktop software. We need web software that takes advantage of being online.

Quote of the day in my book.  We need stuff that is designed with interactivity and connection in mind, not just solo me, on my computer.

Quote from Allstair Croll’s GigaOM post about Google Forms

They call it Open Bar, I call it awesome!

So like many companies, at Abunga.com we use 37signals Basecamp as our online project management tool  – both internally to manage projects, vendors and interns, but also externally with our design firm.

So we were juggling two accounts – and I was thinking, why can’t we combine these somehow, and then those smart people, they went ahead and did it.

So as of earlier this week if you change all your log-in’s for the different Basecamp accounts (or any 37signals product) to OpenID, you’ll see a change in your Basecamp like below, where my three accounts are listed at the top, and you can move between them seemlessly.  They call it Open Bar and I call it awesome!

My three accounts are:

• Abunga.com
• Fabric Extranet
• Slack Management Co.

I like it.  See here for the full post from 37signals
Anyone else try it?  Thoughts? Concerns?