Gennaro Cuofano's Blog, page 267

December 10, 2017

The Interface Theory: Why Humans Are Not Wired for Truth

I’ve wanted to write this article for a long time. In fact, since I was a kid I’ve always been interested in the concept of truth. I’ve always felt that reality is something too complicated to say you’re right while others are wrong. Yet nowadays on the web I often see people claiming to have the absolute truth while others don’t. Whether or not you’re the kind of person that tells others not to know the truth about things, there’s something you can’t deny. There is a little man in your head that tells you that all you see is real and you know how to get to the truth of things. However, I’ll show you in this article that humans might not be wired at all to understand reality and so to find the truth. I’d like to tell you about an alternative theory that can widen your perspective about the world.


Enter The Interface Theory

You’re looking at your desktop right now. You’re reading the words on top of this screen, and you’re thinking, of course, this is real stuff! However, although this desktop seems real to you, there is nothing about it that resembles what you see inside your skull. In short, the letters on the screen are not letters but only pixels. The more you zoom in the more you realize that those pixels don’t look anything like the letters you see right now. Let’s zoom in as much as we can with a magnifying glass and see what we get:


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credit: howtogeek.com


Ok, what’s the point? You already knew that what you see on your screen is just the combination of millions of red-blue-green sub-pixels that show you color and images on a two-dimensional interface that looks as you were looking at printed words for real! However, this is only the beginning of the story. In fact, even though we’ve zoomed to see pixels from a closer distance we’re still on our computer’s screen. Therefore, we didn’t go beyond it.


If we dig into your computer’s hard-drive, there’s no place where you’ll find letters or colors (you can try right now if you don’t believe me, just throw your computer on the floor and see if it spills out words). Indeed, your computers work thanks to zeros and ones or on and off electrical signals that are going through your computer to tell it whether or not execute a command or to run a program.


However, you might think, of course, the article I’m reading is not real. There is a backend to it. That is the real thing! Therefore, you get your login credentials, access to your WordPress site and that is what you see:


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I’m sorry to give you bad news, but even though you’re in the backend, you still not seeing what’s on your computer. You may argue, “ok, I’m gonna look at the code,” and that is what you get:


[image error]


That is awesome, isn’t it? We just scratched the surface though! In fact, if you wanted to see what’s going on within your computer you should be looking at a screen flowing with trillions of zeros and ones, like this:


[image error]


Now we got closer! Yet if you look at this stuff how are you supposed to understand the words of this article? There’s no way you can do that!


The Interface Theory argues that even though you see a nice, straightforward interface, that is not real. That is a useful representation to navigate reality. Tha representation although very useful it might be very far from how things really look in reality.


But if we don’t see reality as it is why are we still alive?


Nature Selects for Fitness, not for Truth

Think about how fascinating is the mechanism of natural selection. Through a simple process of variation, selection, and retention it makes possible to beings to evolve so that they will be able to be fit for the environment in which they live.


Our DNA, made of 20,000 up to 25,000 genes encode all the information about us! That information is not fixed, but it changes; it evolves. Many of the changes are random. Those variations then get selected. Indeed, the modifications that are not fit for the environment get wiped out, leaving only those that can survive. The changes that survive also thrive through replication, which make those organisms retain the previous advantages accumulated throughout the centuries, millennials or millions of years. That is how human beings got to be here.


Natural selection tells us one thing. We’re not selected to be intelligent, handsomes or funny unless of course, those bring us a selective advantage over other species. Instead, we get chosen for fitness. If that is the case then, why do we need to see reality as it is? If that were true, we would be doomed to extinction! Reality might be so complex that if we didn’t have a straightforward interface to deal with the world, there’s no way we could have responded quickly and efficiently to daily challenges.    


That also means if we’re here today as a species we may well be among the most deceived species on planet earth. There is even more to that. There may be no earth, no planets, no universe. Reality might be as close to what we see as the gap between your desktop interface and the zeros and ones behind it! Therefore, also when we blindly believe at what modern science is telling us, we often forget that we might be looking at that pixel on the screen rather than at the zeros and ones that govern the processes of our world!


Keep in mind; this is an interesting point of view about reality and truth. However, I love this theory because it makes me take a less strict view of the world. An alternative way that makes you wonder what’s behind what you call reality? It also makes you leave space open for wonder. Today I fear, science rather than becoming a process to wonder it’s becoming a  strict set of new beliefs. However as Sir. Karl Popper showed us, science can’t tell us truths but hypotheses that can be falsified.  



This article got written on the premises of the Interface Theory. For more read:


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or watch this:





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Published on December 10, 2017 13:05

November 22, 2017

Blockchain: Why Distributed Search Engines Can End Google Supremacy

January 10th, 2009, a guy named Satoshi Nakamoto (it was only a pseudonym) sent an email to Hal Finney, a man from Santa Barbara:


“Normally I would keep the symbols in, but they increased the size of the EXE from 6.5MB to 50MB so I just couldn’t justify not stripping them. I guess I made the wrong decision, at least for this early version. I’m kind of surprised there was a crash, I’ve tested heavily and haven’t had an outright exception for a while. Come to think of it, there isn’t even an exception print at the end of debug.log. I’ve been testing on XP SP2, maybe SP3 is something.


I’ve attached bitcoin.exe with symbols. (gcc symbols for gdb, if you’re using MSVC I can send you an MSVC build with symbols)


Thanks for your help!”


Source : online.wsj.com


The subject of the email was Crash in bitcoin 0.1.0. That man, Satoshi Nakamoto was explaining to Hal Finney how to use a Bitcoin.


In fact, Nakamoto was the founding father of what would become the most revolutionary invention of the internet, a digital currency, which today has the potential to revolutionize the financial industry.


Many still fail to recognize that. Why? The story of Bitcoin and how it was born and developed looks more like a movie than a real story. In fact, founded by a person (or group of people) under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto, eventually started to grow thanks to an online drug market called Silk Road, in the meander of the so-called Dark Web.


Finally, Satoshi Nakamoto disappeared with a final statement, on April 23rd, 2011, that left anyone from the Bitcoin community bewildered:


“I’ve moved on to other things. It’s in good hands with Gavin and everyone.” source : bitcoin.stackexchange.com


Satoshi Nakamoto was referring to another early adopter of the digital currency. From that moment on none heard from him.


However today I’m not telling you the Bitcoin story which you can read anywhere on the web. I will talk about an even more revolutionary technology, that although might not sound as intriguing as the story of Bitcoin, it has a higher disruptive potential. In the last two decades, the web has been dominated by Google. That web domination might be close to an end. Indeed, Blockchain has the potential to make the giant from Mountain View become a dwarf.


Blockchain in a nutshell

That is a ledger where a set of transactions get recorded. However, that is not a centralized ledger, where one person files and checks the operations in it. Instead, it is a distributed ledger, handled by a peer-to-peer network, not recorded in a single place, but throughout the entire system.


Each participant in the network acts as a controller to make sure each transaction recorded reconciles with what it is in the ledger. In short, before a deal can be validated it needs to be agreed upon by the network of people/computers part of it.


Imagine two people, Andrew and Frank both entering a transaction. Andrew pays Frank $100, and Frank, in turn, has to send some clothes to Andrew. Once the operation gets made; it gets checked by the computers in the network. Imagine that in the system there are only two computers A and B, in which A is the first to review the transaction. If A agrees on the purchase, Frank can receive the payment from Andrew. On the other hand, what if B realizes that Andrew didn’t have the funds to proceed?


To avoid that issue each pool of transactions is inserted in a block. On each block, a lottery gets run to see which transactions go next in the chain to be approved by the network. At this point, you might think who in the world would join a blockchain and let the whole world looks through his/her wallet? But that is the thing. Those transactions become anonymous even before they enter the system. In fact, each person in the blockchain has a private key that is not reversible because generated by a hash function. That is a function that spits out an output based on an input through complex math equations. However, the function is not reversible. Meaning that none can get your private key address if generated with a hash function.


Therefore, once Andrew sends the money to Frank, he doesn’t share his private key. Instead, he puts it into the software, which through complex math equations spits out a digital signature.  Also, each time a transaction needs to be validated, there’s a contest among the computers part of the network.


To ensure that all the machines are on the same page, those contests get separated into blocks. When a given numbers of computers part of the network approve a block at majority, that gets closed and recorded for good in the ledger. That is how the blockchain unfolds.


This kind of system has made for the first time (so it seems) a distributed system as reliable if not more than a centralized one. That raises a question, would this have the potential to put an end to Google‘s dominance? In fact, today blockchain is finding many applications, the SEO world is no exception


Enter the Googleplex

At 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway in Mountain View, there’s a building with 2,000,000 square feet, the Googleplex. That is the place that controls part of the traffic on the visible web. Imagine 3.5 billion queries each day going through Google‘s search algorithm. Those searches get evaluated by an algorithm put together by a team of engineers. That would be easy to say that a small number of people controls the web. However, Google did a great job in selecting the brightest minds in the world to come up with an algorithm that as of today is unbeaten.


Also, that would be easy to assert how centralized Google is and how it controls the world. But no system is purely central. Instead, each system has to rely in some way on distributed forces. For instance, in Google‘s case, the search algorithm is centralized, proprietary and kept secrete. On the other hand, Google relies on a network of sites that produce content which is the reason for the existence of the Googleplex. Imagine an anarchic revolt by sites owners, all blocking access to Google bots through their robot.txt (a file that allows the crawling of the site). What would happen to Google?


On the other hand, Google is a commercial search engine, which advertising revenues as of 2016 account for 87.94% of the total turnover. Ok, nothing evil about that. The web that we know got into existence also thanks to the economic incentives it had to survive and thrive.


Can we start imagining a new model of the web? A model that complements the logic of commercial search engines, like Google? That isn’t too far from reality.


A distributed search engine

One example of how the web of the future might look like is YaCy, a distributed search engine that relies on a peer-to-peer network of computers to give search results. Far from being a valid alternative to Google as of now, YaCy offers a credible alternative model.


In fact, instead of on relying on a central index and ranking system, YaCy relies on a network of computers, each with its index and ranking. Also, each machine remains private through a distributed hash table. What seems missing to YaCy is the economic incentive to make users help to build the distributed engine.


Another more effective example is Presearch, a distributed search engine that is just launching. Differently, from YaCy, Presearch seems to rely on a Token Ecosystem that has the following features:



Tokens can be purchased during the Presearch Token crowdsale
Tokens will be issued to early adopters to reward usage and promotion of the platform
Token-holders will be able to vote on decisions, suggest / fund dev projects
Devs will receive tokens for contributing to features / projects
Advertisers will be able to purchase targeted, non-intrusive, keyword sponsorships with PREs

Source: presearch.io/#contact


Is it the end of Google?

Many search engines entered the web in the last two decades. None of it managed to become a threat to Google dominance. A few others, like DuckDuckGo, proposed a valid option, by emphasizing on the privacy of search results. Yet even those search engines are based on a centralized model.


Alternatives like YaCy and Presearch are coming ahead with a new model for the web. Commercial search engines managed to be successful thanks to the economic incentives created. Could this be the same for a distributed search engine based on a model that rewards its community of users?


Also, will this put an end to Google dominance over the visible web? Only time will tell.


Suggested Reading:

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Blockchain: Why Distributed Search Engines Can End Google SupremacySource: FeedPublished on 2017-11-22Top Four Communities to Join to Be a Successful Digital MarketerSource: FeedPublished on 2017-11-19Business Mastery: Top Ten Must-Read Business Books in 2018Source: FeedPublished on 2017-11-01Fifteen Smart Ways to Be More Productive with DuckduckgoSource: FeedPublished on 2017-10-30DuckDuckGo: When privacy becomes a trigger for growthSource: FeedPublished on 2017-10-29What The Death of Socrates taught me about challenging the status quoSource: FeedPublished on 2017-10-26What French painter Jacques-Louis David can teach you about marketingSource: FeedPublished on 2017-10-21Why and How I Unsubscribed to 163 Newsletters in 10 MinutesSource: FeedPublished on 2017-10-21Why Duckduckgo Is the Future of SearchSource: FeedPublished on 2017-10-17This Is How I Got My Internet Privacy BackSource: FeedPublished on 2017-10-16

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Published on November 22, 2017 04:31

November 19, 2017

Top Four Communities to Join to Be a Successful Digital Marketer

In 2015 I started to blog. Coming from a different industry (I was a financial analyst for a real estate investment firm) I didn’t know where to start. Only after many trials and errors, I understood a few things. Now, after a few years, I identified five critical issues and hurdles to overcome as a digital marketer.


Content Amplification

When I first started blogging, I thought all I had to do was to write great content and hit the publish button. That is what I did. I focused a hundred percent of my time at writing in-depth content about topics I was interested about and posted it. As time went by I realized how wrong I was. I had put so much time and effort into producing quality content. However, none (not even my friends) was reading it.


You may argue that writing is something you can do for the sake of it. Yet while this is true for aspiring writers, that isn’t true for content marketers. If you write content, you’re trying to build something. Whether that is a personal brand or business, you need an audience. In short, even before to start writing a piece of content, you have already to think about potential avenues to amplify that content. Usually, my rule of thumb is simple, if I’m not able to write something that can get at least a few thousands of views, then I don’t even bother writing that. Therefore, to make sure I reach that target I must have a few channels I can rely on to make my content seen and shared.


Noise Filtering

Today over three million and a half blog posts were written, which amounts to a surprising one and a half (and over) billions of post in a year. How do you keep up with that? The answer is simple; you can’t. In short, you need a sort of filter. A trusted community of experts in your industry that share contents they love. For instance, some of the people I follow that provide quality content, which I usually dive into are people like Nir Eyal, Sam Hurley, Neil Patel, and a few others (at least in the digital marketing space). This community acts as a sort of filter. In short, instead of having over a billion and a half posts to read each year I will have a few hundred. Finding communities of trusted people that help you cut through the noise of your industry is crucial to becoming a better marketer.


Personal Branding

This step is complementary to the previous one. In fact, if you want to build a business or a personal brand, you can’t be an expert in all the specific sub-areas of that industry. That is why sharing articles from other experts is crucial to add additional value to your audience. Thus, relying on the community of people that act as a filter to find great content is the first step. The second is to select content that makes sense to your audience. That is also how you become a trusted source for them.


Network Nurturing

Digital marketers know that the best currency to use to build relationships is awesome content. In my activity as a business developer, for WordLift I find it easy to create new partnerships and business opportunities by adding value with quality content. From webinars to ebooks or in-depth guest posts, none will say no to that.


Growing an Audience

Building an audience is one of the most complex aspects of digital marketing. Not everyone is interested in that because it sounds too committing. However, as Kevin Kelly puts it, all you need is a thousand true fans.


Top Four Communities to Join to Be a Successful Digital Marketer

Ok, time to dive into four great communities you should join today if you want to bring your digital marketing career to the next level.


Zest.is: transform your browser into a powerhouse

Imagine that as soon as you open your Google chrome tab, you could see fantastic content shared by a community of digital marketers. However, those articles or videos are selected and approved by a professional team to ensure quality. Also, imagine that with a click you could share your content with this great community with over 7,500 weekly active members to gain knowledge and get qualified traffic. Well, stop imagining because that is a reality. In fact, you can turn your Google Chrome into a powerhouse, while connecting with an excellent community to amplify your best content. Do that by adding the extension called Zest.is which will turn your tabs into a discovery and amplification tool. Also, they’re launching a content boost page which you can join here.


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Why should you use Zest.is?


For quite a few reasons but I’m going to list three main ones:



find excellent, selected content quickly (in fact only about 1% of submitted posts get approved)
make your content available to a selected, growing community of digital marketers (make sure to submit just your best articles for the reason above)
build relationships within the community. In fact, Zest.is works pretty much with the same logic of a social network. You can follow and be followed by other people

Growthhackers.com: gain the growth mindset

If you are in the digital marketing space, you might have heard of growth hacking. A relatively new discipline, in the broader marketing arena, that combines several skills, from programming to sales, with one objective in mind: growth. Well, growthhackers.com is the website founded by the father of this discipline, Sean Ellis. There you can find the best content around growth hacking but also an active community of like-minded people. Go on and create your profile as I did:


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Take some time to see what other marketers are posting and sharing. Upvote, comment and connect with marketers that share, write and engage.


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Why should you join growthhackers.com?



great content to grow your knowledge
an effort to build an active community of marketers around an exciting and relatively new discipline, like growth hacking
the opportunity to expand your network

Quuu: go viral and grow your social media with hand-picked content

Social media is one of those things you need to master to be a successful digital marketer. However, if you had to spend your whole time become a social media expert, you couldn’t do anything else. Therefore, why not automate it? Although it seems a good idea, automation isn’t easy. Most of the times lead to failure. Indeed, social media like Twitter got cluttered with bots rather than real people. But then why using social media all along if you don’t build relationships? Quuu comes to rescue. In fact, this is a unique tool, more than a community that helps you in two ways. First, you can automate your social media account, by picking the topics that are more interesting to your audience and decide how many times per day to have those posts shared with your community. This kind of automation works because the content you share is hand-picked and selected by the team behind Quuu, which makes it possible for you to automate your social media. Second, you can submit your content to quuupromote.co (you can try it for free for 14 days) so that it will be automatically shared (if it fits Quuu guidelines). In short, you get to automate your social media, while also making your content go viral


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Why should you join Quuu?



automate your social media account while ensuring the content shared is hand-picked by a team of professional individuals
grow your audience quickly and create conversations automatically
make your content prone to go viral

Pocket: master the art of speed listening

Now that we put a filter on the millions of blog posts out there you may still end up with a few hundred to read. While speed reading maybe not the best option speed listening can. See what strategy Nir Eyal uses:



Pocket isn’t only to make sure you avoid FOMO and save the best articles you find for later. It is also a great way to recommend great content. In fact, once you saved an article to Pocket app you can recommend it, thus building your audience there:


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Why should you use Pocket?



avoid distractions online, yet make sure you don’t miss out great articles to read later on
start practicing speed listening. So that you can keep up with the hundreds of articles to read each year
recommend the content you find most valuable to build a community of speed listeners like you

Summary and Conclusions

Throughout this article, we saw what some of the roadblocks that a marketer encounters in his/her way. Some of them are listed below:



make sure people read what you write
cutting through the noise of the over three million and a half articles published each day
build your branding through excellent content
create a trusted network to develop future business opportunities
nurture your audience to make it become a loyal ally for long-term success

How can you do that? I highlighted four communities/tools:



zest.is
growthhackers.com
Quuu.co
getpocket.com

Your turn now. Which tools and communities have you found helpful to your growth as a digital marketer?


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Published on November 19, 2017 12:20

November 1, 2017

Business Mastery: Top Ten Must-Read Business Books in 2018

Our world changes at faster and faster pace.


What was true yesterday, not necessarily is going to be so tomorrow.


Yet, in this scenario, it is essential to be grounded in the real world.


In short, you want to avoid to get lost in the plethora of information, theories, and news that everyday bombards us.


To do that you need an internal compass that can guide you through the business world so that you will never lose your path again.


You can build that internal compass by implementing physical and mental habits that will make you mentally stable.


One way to shape this internal compass is through reading.


For such reason, I am going to suggest ten business books that deepen my understanding of business online and offline. Although this is a list for 2018, do not expect to see the newest books on the market. Often I believe the best books are the ones that survived to the noise.


Also, this is a list, but it is not meant to be read as a ranking. Each of those books has shaped and sharpened my understanding of the entrepreneurial and business world in a way that is not possible to rank it.


Tools of Titans

The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion ― by Timothy Ferriss, Tools of Titans


Many believe that reading is for wimps. Why would you be spending your time reading, when you can act?


Action without reflection is like steering a boat that is about to go adrift.


In other words, it is essential to act, but also to take the time to reflect and study. That is going to make your actions way more efficient.


If you are looking for a tool that can boost your effectiveness in the real world, there is no better book than Tim Ferris’ “Tools of Titans.”


In fact, this is a book about health, wealth, and wisdom (the book comprises three sections).


Tools of Titans is the distilled knowledge of over 200+ guests interviewed in more than two decades at “The Tim Ferris Show,” one of the best podcasts currently available for business and lifestyle.


What makes Tools of Titans unique? 


Most of the content of the book is actionable. Ready for use. In other words, if you are looking to transform your life, that is a fantastic way to start.


Furthermore, Tim Ferris does a great job in locating the best experts in each field. Therefore, whatever interest you have, you can now find a mentor thanks to Ferris’ work.


I suggest you go through this book with a notepad and mark the pages you find more interesting (you will see most parts of the book fascinating).


As soon as you have done reading it; start implementing and testing. 


Homo Deus 

Censorship no longer works by hiding information from you; censorship works by flooding you with immense amounts of misinformation, of irrelevant information, of funny cat videos, until you’re just unable to focus –by Yuval Noah Harari



Homo Deus isn’t designed as a business book. Yet I believe it will benefit you in many ways.


Harari, the author, is a historian but most of all an avid practitioner of Vipassana Meditation. This is a practice taught in India for over 2,500 years, which main aim is to allow to see things as they are.


There is nothing esoteric, mystic or religious about this practice. Instead, this is a way of detaching your mind from your thoughts and stop identifying yourself with your mind.


By practicing Vipassana, Harari also developed a way to see the reality, that will blow your mind.


What makes Homo Deus unique? 


In the complex world in which we live it is impossible to predict what is going to happen tomorrow. Even though Harari’s account in Homo Deus explores the likely scenarios that will shape our world in the next century, this fantastic book does one more incredible thing,


It will give you new eyes that you can use to look at the business world like never before. 


Antifragile 

They think that intelligence is about noticing things are relevant (detecting patterns); in a complex world, intelligence consists in ignoring things that are irrelevant (avoiding false patterns) – by Nicholas Nassim Taleb 


Our minds have not been wired to live in a complex world like that we created in the last century. In short, we evolved in a world where scarcity was paramount.


On the other hand, nowadays the opposite is true. In most western developed countries abundance is the rule. From food to information we have it all.


In short, the world we created clashes with the world in which we evolved. These mismatches make us vulnerable in many ways.


One of the most significant vulnerabilities is about how we interpret reality. Prehistoric humans had to understand each pattern around them to avoid extinction. For instance, when Mr. Hunter-Gatherer saw a moving bush, he knew it was time for him to run as fast as he could.


In fact, behind that bush, a dangerous predator could have been hiding. Even if the wind only moved that bush, it didn’t matter to Mr. Hunter-Gatherer. Indeed, the cost of being wrong was so high (death) that he could not afford it.


While this ability to find patterns allowed us to survive, it also makes us extremely biased toward the modern world.


The former trader, Nicholas Nassim Taleb, in his book, Antifragile, will show you how and why reality is not as we perceive it. Although his focus is about the business and economic world, Taleb immense culture makes him able to space across several disciplines.


What makes Antifragile unique?  


While reading Antifragile, you will suddenly change your perspectives on many things. You will probably stop watching TV, and read newspapers; while you will start reading classics. Yet the most significant change of all will be about a new fresh mindset,


You will become a modern skeptic


Pre-suasion 

In large measure, who we are with respect to any choice is where we are, attentionally, in the moment before the choice ― Robert B. Cialdini, Pre-Suasion


We already spoke about Robert Cialdini in From Influence to Pre-Suasion: A Scientific Breakthrough of How Subtle Clues Powerfully Influence Our Behavior.


What makes Pre-suasion unique? 


This book will show you how “invisible clues” can shape your decision-making ability way more than you think.


For anyone that operates in the business world, the book will also do a crucial thing,


Pre-suasion will give you a toolbox to use right away to boost the reach and success of your business. 


Will it Fly 

The Riches are in the Niches ― Pat Flynn, Will It Fly


The San Diegan Pat Flynn is among the most successful social media marketers, bloggers, podcasters in the business world. With his community The Smart Passive Income, he has helped dozens of thousands of people to build and grow a successful business.


Furthermore, Pat Flynn will not only show you how to create a business but also how to validate it, which will make the risk of failure dismal.


What makes Will it Fly special? 


Pat Flyn’s book, Will It Fly, is a tool that allows you to go from Mission Design to Validation, with a simplicity that only Pat Flynn is capable of.


At the end of the day,


You will find yourself in front of your desired audience without even realizing it! 


Traction

Poor distribution – not product – is the number one cause of failure. 

― Gabriel Weinberg, Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers


In the startup world, often having a good product seems enough to scale a business (I believed that too). Yet as Gabriel Weinberg, CEO and founder of DuckDuckGo explains, often what a startup is lacking to take off and scale is the distribution side. Weinberg previously cofounded Opobox, which got acquired for $10 million.


The co-author of Traction, Justin Mares is the founder of two startups and the former director of revenue at Exceptional, a software company that was acquired by Rackspace. 


The formula to a successful customer acquisition goes through what the authors call Bullseye Framework.


My life in advertising

We must submit all things in advertising, as in everything else, to the court of public opinion by Claude C. Hopkins in My Life in Advertising


We like to give new and fancy names to old things. Whether you want to call it marketing, growth hacking, and business development that is all about sales and scale up a business. Yet, Claude C. Hopkins was one of the great advertising pioneers taught me that independently from the name you give it marketing is about selling.


At the age of 41, he was hired by Albert Lasker owner of Lord & Thomas advertising in 1907 at a salary of $185,000 a year. If you think that is a lot today imagine what it was back then.


Ogilvy on Advertising

“Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.” ― David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising

David Ogilvy was a business executive who founded the advertising, marketing, and PR agency Ogilvy & Mather in 1948. Once again, you can read new books about new marketing disciplines to which we gave then fancy names. However, the foundation of those subjects came from people like Ogilvy.


The Start-Up of You

All humans are entrepreneurs not because they should start companies but because the will to create is encoded in human DNA, and creation is the essence of entrepreneurship. ― Reid Hoffman, The Start-Up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career

Reid Hoffman is one of the most exceptional internet entrepreneurs of our time. Beside co-founding PayPal and LinkedIn (if that is not enough) he also invested in Airbnb, Coupons.com, Edmodo, and many others. 
He teaches us how in today’s world having the mindset of the entrepreneur isn’t for a few but instead encapsulated in our DNA.

Hooked

Companies who form strong user habits enjoy several benefits to their bottom line. ― Nir Eyal, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products


Nir Eyal’s book is one of those business readings that you can’t miss out. In fact, this is a book I advise to anyone either if working for a startup or only a user of many technological products.


In fact, the author of Hooked, Nir Eyal, has been able to put together a framework, the so-called Hooked Model which helps to explain why and how companies can manufacture products and services which are so addictive but also how to build those habit-forming products.





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Published on November 01, 2017 17:00

October 29, 2017

DuckDuckGo: When privacy becomes a trigger for growth

As part of the team at WordLift and on my blog , we undertake several experiments each week to understand how search engines are evolving. Those tests help us develop a deep understanding of the rationale behind the development of those websites. Some of those “tweaks” far from being only technical-driven, are often business-driven. I want to show you how the Hooked Model from Nir Eyal’s book, “Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products” helps explain some of the features of a search engine called DuckDuckGo and how its Hooked Model differs from other search engines.


  

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The beginnings

May 20, 2013: Edward Snowden computer analyst for CIA leaked classified information which revealed several global surveillance programs run by the NSA and the other agencies.



From that moment on, privacy became a significant concern on the web. Not by chance, a search engine, called DuckDuckGo, which focused on privacy started to grow even faster than it did in the previous five years since its foundation.


Before we move forward let me give you some basic notions of Google’s business model, which will help you understand why search engines work the way they do.


Fifteen Smart Ways to Be More Productive with Duckduckgo



Google’s business model in a nutshell

When you search for something on Google, the search terms you input get sent over to the websites where you clicked through. Who does SEO professionally knows how valuable those search terms are.


In fact, those search terms you type, in SEO jargon, are called keywords. A keyword can make or break a business. In fact, keywords are used by companies to market their products or services. That is also how Google makes most of its revenue. For instance, in 2016, 88% of Google’s revenue came from advertisings.


Indeed, Google has an advertising network called AdWords, which allows businesses that want to sponsor their products or services to bid on keywords. Therefore companies pay to be displayed by the search engine when showing results to a user query.


Companies that advertise only pay when a user click on the sponsored link, the so-called cost-per-click (CPC). A click can cost as low as $2. However, some keywords such as “insurance” or long-tail keywords (questions-like queries) such as “auto insurance price quotes” can cost as much as $54.91. AdWords is the place where businesses go to promote their products or services.


However, there is another ad network, called AdSense that allows publishers to monetize their content. In fact, if those sites agree to be part of the AdSense network, they can host banners or ads from the companies part of the AdWords network.


Based on the audience of the site, Google displays targeted ads. Publishers get paid for every thousand impressions. That is called Cost Per Mille (CPM) or Cost Per Thousand (Mille is the Roman numeral for a thousand).


To summarise AdWords and AdSense are two advertising networks where businesses pay to get sponsored, and publishers offer their (web)space to monetize their content.


To use a euphemism, Google has transformed the web into a giant marketplace.





Ad Revenues in bln $
2016
%


Google Properties
63,785
80%


Google Network’ Members Properties
15,598
20%


Total Ad Revenues
79,383
100%



Source: Alphabet 10-K for 2016


A quick glance into Google‘s revenue breakdown shows us that 80% of the revenues come mostly from AdWords; while 20% of its revenues come primarily from AdSense.


Also, Google spent about six billion dollars as of 2016 as traffic acquisition costs for its properties; while it spent almost eleven billions as traffic acquisition costs related to the network’ members properties. Therefore, its margins are about 81% on its properties and 30% on the network’ members properties.


In conclusion, Google‘s margins are way higher on AdWords than AdSense. Yet we’ll see why AdSense plays a critical strategic role.


After understanding Google‘s business model, we can also understand a few things regarding the future developments of the search engine.


Given the business model of Google. Its logic is simple and it follows three strategies:



Make as many people click on those ads
Offer search results quickly and reliably
Guarantee that search results also include non-paid ads, the so-called organic traffic

The first two points directly affect the bottom line of the company. The third is more strategic yet as important as the first two. In fact, for Google to be credible as a brand it has to make sure to offer results which aren’t sponsored.


However, as we saw Google also makes money from ads shown on websites part of the AdSense program. Even though the margins are way lower than AdWords (30% against 81%) the sites, part of AdSense play a key role in Google‘s overall strategy.


In fact, those websites produce content used by Google to answer users’ queries, therefore attract even more habitual users. That same content gets analyzed by the search engine (through Google Analytics)  to see how users experience and engage with it. That makes Google search algorithms’ even better at understanding the difference between good and bad content.


[image error]


After learning how the business model affects the product development, we can see also why for a search engine the Hooked Model is a bit counterintuitive.


DuckDuckGo: The Solopreneur That Is Beating Google at Its Game



A counterintuitive Hooked Model

We barely think of search engines as something that can hook us. They get built like a sort of middle world, which connects the real world to the places on the web where the answer we’re looking for is.



Google today is the most visited website in the world.


[image error]


However, the logic of a search engine is a bit different from other sites. Websites, in general, want you to spend time on them. Google does not. In fact, as we saw the speed of results is one of the crucial aspects in Google success.


We also want it to be reliable so that we know that the information we find through it is authoritative. That is why Google shows content from websites that are not paying it. Finally, even though Google makes most of its money from paid ads, users put up with it because in any case, the quality of results they get is far superior compared to many other search engines.


That is why till recently I thought that the Hook Model for a search engine was a bit counterintuitive. The search engine able to make us spend less time in it won it all. Until I started to use and be hooked by another search engine, called DuckDuckGo.


Throughout the article, we saw how Google base its success on its ability to show targeted ads. Those ads are often based on the user search history. That causes a so-called search leakage. In short, information related to the user (like its HTTP referrer header) gets passed to third parties (governments and marketers, just to mention a few) that can use it to promote their products or services.


DuckDuckGo, instead, doesn’t track its users by avoiding that search leakage.

I want to show you how this search engine is using, in my opinion, the Hook Model to speed up its growth.


Internal Trigger: When privacy propels growth  

Privacy is now a primary concern for everyone. That is how most of the people get acquainted with DuckDuckGo. In a way or another you see a tweet like this one:




[image error]



Therefore, a tweet, post or email is the external trigger, which connects to an intimate worry, an internal trigger, about privacy on the web. That is how you feel compelled to try out DuckDuckGo.


Action: This ain’t Google but wait a minute

The first time you start using DuckDuckGo (DDG) the impression is clear, “this ain’t Google.” However, you realize that Google got us used so much to the way it works, that thinking about an alternative is hard. Not by chance when you’re looking for something through the web, you google it!



That is counterintuitive too. Because we think of a search engine as something that has a minimal UI so that you barely notice it. That is subtle because that minimal UI is designed to make the search engine more appealing.



However, before leaving DDG, you wait for a minute longer. Privacy is something important. When you start submitting queries, you realize that the results you get are pretty good and in many cases as good as the ones you get from Google. In fact, DDG is a hybrid engine. In short, it uses APIs from other search engines mixed with its crawlers (mainly for maintenance purposes) and an additional layer of intelligence to give back quality results.



When you start using it something unexpected happens.


Variable Reward: Let me build my engine

DuckDuckGo has a set of built-in features that work pretty well. From instant answers (the equivalent of Google‘s featured snippet) to bangs (a feature that allows you to access sites without being tracked), those elements make DDG an excellent search engine.  Also, while on Google results are organized in pages. On DDG there is an infinite scrolling that allows you to go from first to last search result like you’re on the same page. Last but not least, DDG enables a level of customisation of the UI, which makes you feel you own it.



[image error]

Once you start using it more often, you almost feel hooked. In fact, you start investing more time to make it yours.


Investment: The open source model

DDG business model is peculiar for a search engine. In fact, while Google keeps most of its projects as secretive as possible. DDG leverages on the community of developers to let them contribute to its growth.



In fact, on GitHub (think of it as a social network for developers) you can give your contribution to fixing bugs, and improve features.




[image error]


Thanks to the community of developers, DDG becomes better and better each day.



That is the Ikea Effect in action (a bias that makes you place disproportionately higher value on product or services you helped to build). In fact, those people become the most enthusiast supporters and ambassadors.  



They also end up to invite more people. That is how the circle of the hook framework gets fuelled.


Connecting the dots

Usually, we think of search engines not in the category of products or services that can hook us. Why? The way they hook us is counterintuitive. In fact, the paradox is that Google hooks you by making its UI minimal. However, that is not what another search engine, called DuckDuckGo does.


In fact, DDG leverages on its community of supporters to spread the message. Usually, this message arrives in the form of a tweet, post, or email. It addresses a critical internal trigger: privacy online.


Once you’re in, you realize that DDG works pretty well. At the same time, you feel rewarded when you find out the level of customisation that its UI allows you to build. You almost feel like it’s yours too. That is how you start investing more time into the community and if you are a developer help to fix bugs and improve its features. You also become the most passionate ambassador. That is the Hook Framework in action.



Are you ready? Duck it!  


I’m crowdfunding my next book DuckDuckGo: How to not to be evil! 


[image error]






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Published on October 29, 2017 15:45

October 28, 2017

Five Business Podcasts You Have to Listen in 2018


In the last years, the Podcast industry has boomed.


From San Diego to Shanghai we saw the rise of hundreds of podcasters.


In the US alone from 2008 to 2016 the podcast consumption grew at a double-digit rate, and it does not seem to stop.


What makes the podcast industry so amazing? Let’s dive into it!


What is a podcast? 

Simply put, a podcast is the on-demand version of the radio. In short, during the 80s you had to rush to listen to your favorite DJ speaking through the radio; nowadays you can listen to your favorite show at any time, anywhere, with a single finger’s tap.


Is it worth your time listening to a podcast? 

The most significant aspect of podcasting is the fact that you can listen to your favorite show while you are doing other things. On the other hand, you have to be careful how you use this fantastic tool. In fact, although I do not recommend you multitask. There are certain situations in which, listening to a podcast while doing something else may enhance your productivity.


In short, specific activities do not get along with podcasting, while others do. The fundamental principle is to avoid those activities that use the same part of the brain than listening to a podcast requires.


In other words, it is essential to prevent those activities that require deep or full attention (such as reading). Therefore, the more an action comes automatic, the better that is suited for listening podcasts.


Some examples?



walking
washing dishes
commuting
cleaning
at the gym (while on the treadmill)

If you need inspiration on when is a good time to listen to a podcast check out what other podcast lovers say on Quora.


On the other hand, I suggest a balance. Even though, those activities are “mindless” it is important to use them to be practice mindfulness. Therefore, the 50/50 rule applies.


Thus, entirely focus on the mindless things you are doing for half the time. Use the other half of your time to listen to your favorite podcasts.


Now that we defined the best way to use this fantastic tool let’s see what the business podcasting world offers to you.


Our Top Five Selection

We are going to recommend five podcast shows that can boost your business acumen. Also, for each show, we are even going to suggest some exciting episodes. By the end of this article, you will have a list of podcasts you can listen thru the whole year.


Freakonomics

Stephen Dubner, the co-author (with economist Steven Levitt) of the most original economics book, Freakonomics, is also the author of the homonym podcast.


The uniqueness of this podcast stands in Dubner’s ability to address a major issue in the most entertaining way possible. Also, in many episodes, Dubner brings the economic theories to test them in the real world.


If you want to develop a real understanding of economics, away from the sterile world of academia, this podcast must be added to your library!


Below some episodes we highly recommend,



How to Be More Productive
How to Make a Bad Decision
How to Become Great at Just About Anything
How to Create Suspense
Should We Behave Like Economists Say We Do?

The Smart Passive Income

In Business Mastery | Five Must-Read Business Books in 2017 Pat Flynn’s book, Will it Fly was recommended as one of the best business books to read in 2017.


In addition to that, Pat Flynn’s podcast, The Smart Passive Income is an endless stream of invaluable resources that can help you boost your business and bring it to the next level!


Below some episodes we highly recommend,



How to Create Your Life Vision Plan
Tips and Tricks for Getting the Most Out of the Conferences You Attend
What I Wish I’d Known Before Starting My Own Business
Money and Legal Considerations for Starting Out
Mentors and Masterminds with Ellory Wells

EOFire

John Lee Dumas, the founder & host of EOFire (Entrepreneur On Fire), is among, the most successful podcasters in the world. Among his most successful enterprises, there is The Freedom Journal, a tool that helps you to set, implement and achieve any goal within 100 days!


With a total gross income of almost $2.5mln for 2016,  you can understand the level of success that John Lee Dumas reached in only a few years. As you can imagine, he attributes part of his success to his ability to set, implement, and track his goals.


Dumas’ podcast is the manna for aspiring businesspeople.


Below some episodes we highly recommend,



How to become a niche marketing and sales systemization powerhouse with Matthew Pollard
Leverage your income and impact by turning your knowledge into an online course with Troy Dean
How to innovate and launch ideas that stand out in a crowded marketplace with Tamara Kleinberg
Escaping the nine to five with Amy Mewborn
Social media tactics to go viral worldwide with Rachel Pedersen

The James Altucher Show

When I first started to write, I needed someone that I could use as the source of inspiration. Although reading the classics helped me a lot, there is one person that I believe has an amazing story-telling ability, and that is James Altucher.


Not only I find his writing skills superb; this man also put together a podcast series, where he interviews many incredible people.What sets James Altucher (pronounced as he specifies “James I’ll touch her” but very fast) apart is the ability to talk about his life’s failures like none in the business world.


Saying that his life has been a mess is a euphemism (he made and lost millions several times), yet he tells it outspokenly, and he is now more successful than ever!


Below some episodes we highly recommend,



Scott Adams – How to Use Mass Persuasion Techniques to Become President of The United States
Seth Godin – Change Your Mind, Choose Your World & More Genius Advice
Chip Conley – How To Find Your Calling (what I learned by accident because of AirBnB)
Robert Cialdini – The 7 Techniques To Influence Anyone Of Anything
Jordan Harbinger: The Mindset We All Want

The Tim Ferris Show

In this blog, the name “Tim Ferris” showed up in many articles (from Solopreneurship 101: Finding Your Muse a La Tim Ferris (How to Find Your Business Muse in Three Easy Steps) to MBA or Start-Up? The three variables to take into account).


Therefore, Ferris does not need any presentation. His show is among the most useful in the world for few reasons.


First, Tim Ferris tests everything he does. In other words, when he gives you the advice; you can expect it to be real.


Second, his podcasts span across several disciplines; from business to dieting, there is a broad range of resources that Tim Ferris makes available to his audience.


Third, there are few people in the world with his ability to deconstruct world-class performers’ routines, and habits and make them available to you! It is a podcast you must have in your library!


Below some episodes we highly recommend,



Becoming the Best Version of You Matt Mullenweg:
Characteristics and Practices of Successful Entrepreneurs
Tony Robbins on Morning Routines, Peak Performance, and Mastering Money
The Tim Ferriss Podcast is Live! Here Are Episodes 1 and 2 (Kevin Rose and Joshua Waitzkin)
Tim Ferriss Interviews Arnold Schwarzenegger on Psychological Warfare (And Much More)

How to Think Like an Entrepreneur



The Interface Theory: Why Humans Are Not Wired for TruthSource: FeedPublished on 2017-12-10Blockchain: Why Distributed Search Engines Can End Google SupremacySource: FeedPublished on 2017-11-22Top Four Communities to Join to Be a Successful Digital MarketerSource: FeedPublished on 2017-11-19Business Mastery: Top Ten Must-Read Business Books in 2018Source: FeedPublished on 2017-11-01Fifteen Smart Ways to Be More Productive with DuckduckgoSource: FeedPublished on 2017-10-30DuckDuckGo: When privacy becomes a trigger for growthSource: FeedPublished on 2017-10-29Five Business Podcasts You Have to Listen in 2018Source: FeedPublished on 2017-10-28What The Death of Socrates taught me about challenging the status quoSource: FeedPublished on 2017-10-26What French painter Jacques-Louis David can teach you about marketingSource: FeedPublished on 2017-10-21Why and How I Unsubscribed to 163 Newsletters in 10 MinutesSource: FeedPublished on 2017-10-21

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Published on October 28, 2017 08:00

October 26, 2017

What The Death of Socrates taught me about challenging the status quo

I often write practical case studies about digital marketing or entrepreneurship. Today I want to focus on a story of a man that I admire. Even If I never read anything written by him (apparently he never wrote), we know quite a few things about this man through his disciples. He was one of the most admired people of his times, even though he didn’t have a dime; he didn’t care, and nonetheless, he was the most respected person by the wealthiest men of the ancient western world. 


Athens 399 BC: It was a dark day in ancient Greece, under the Olympus hill an old chubby man, with his long white beard, intense brown eyes, and a long white tunic, was standing in front of a popular jury.


The chubby man is an Athenian. He had given everything for his people, yet his fellow citizens had indicted him. Nonetheless, the man looked confident, yet in his mannerism, there was neither hubris nor complacency.


He stood there in the middle of the square, facing the popular jury, ready to give his last speech.


Why was he there? What was happening? How could he turn this in his favor?


A fake democracy

Athens was among the most influential city-states of ancient Greece. Since few hundred years the city had experienced an exponential growth in civilization, wealth and culture. Most of Athens’ political influence came from the formation of the Delian League, comprised of most of Greek city-states.


This league was mainly formed to defend Greece against the attacks coming from the Persian Empire. Thus, Athens became the leader of this union. Yet the money that poured into the league was used by Athens to finance its architectural changes and its political supremacy. Athens ruled the Greek world.


Under the government of Pericles, the city lived a golden age. Yet the undisputed dominion of Athens was soon to be over. Other city-states claimed power. The only city-state able to overturn Athens’ leadership was Sparta.


The thirty-tyrants

A military state, which inspired its dominion over sheer force and militarism, challenged the leadership of Athens’ democracy.


In fact, after almost twenty-seven years of war, Sparta eventually succeeded. Sparta subjugated Athens and instituted a government comprised of thirty men, chosen among the Athenian aristocracy, which became known as “The Thirty-Tyrants Government.”


In this political climate, prudence was required. Through the streets of Athens, the citizens of the polis, which for centuries had been used to speak up their concerns, opinions, and ideas were now supposed to voice them up timidly.


In this political climate no man was free but one, which now stood in the middle of the city square, contemptuously looked by his fellow citizens. Three other fellow citizens accused the humble chubby man of three crimes, which were a pretty serious deal in ancient Athens.


It’s not about money

In fact, the chubby man was said to be Atheist as he claimed to listen only to the voice in his head, which guided him in any decision. This led to the second accusation, which meant that the man was trying to introduce a new religion. Which in turn led to the third accusation: youth’s corruption. Indeed, the chubby man used to be the spiritual guide of many young Athenians, belonging to aristocratic families, which freely followed him.


He had never asked for money, neither he made a living through his teachings. While in Athens was the common procedure to get paid for one’s lessons, the chubby man never asked for anything.


Often his wife, Xantippe, enraged by his lack of interest in money and other material things, pressed him. He would swiftly reply, that the word called knowledge or virtue cannot be taught, and even assume that it could be shown how could he, which he knew nothing, sell something that he didn’t have?


Challenging the status quo

Brought in front of the popular jury, the chubby man risked losing his life. Yet everything his fellow Athenians were looking for was an escape goat. All it took for the man was to read the professional speech written by the most famous logographer (speech-writer) of the time, Lysias.


In fact, once a person had been accused he/she had to stand in front of the jury, as there were no professional lawyers in ancient Athens. On the other hand, the indicted could have his defense written by an expert logographer. All he had to do was to read it out loud with some emphasis.


Had the chubby man followed Lysias’ speech, he would have been undoubtedly released from any accusation. In fact, Lysias’ speeches were so powerful that if we have to think of a modern analogy, it was like Jon Favreau (Former Obama’s administration speechwriter) had written a speech for him. In addition, the chubby man was a very powerful orator.


In short, his oratory ability combined with the words on paper written by Lysias would have led to an inevitable victory. Yet the man decided to speak up for himself. Was he insane? Had he lost his mind? Why would he take such a risk?


When death becomes unscary you become fearless

The truth is that the chubby man didn’t care about dying. He was already an old man, in his seventies. He had spent most of his life in total freedom. He didn’t care about customs, religion and what others thought of him. That day he could have decided to play it safe and spend the last years of his life in tranquility, rather than defend the concept of liberty and freedom of speech.


On the other hand, he decided to fight for his ideal even though it meant to pay the price of it through death. In this scenario, he delivered three speeches, which remained for millennia and will remain for millennia to come as the bravest act any man would do for an ideal, such as liberty. Eventually, his citizens sentenced him to drink a poisonous cocktail of hemlock, which practically meant a death penalty.


The old chubby man was ready to execute the death sentence imposed by his fellow citizens. He was surrounded by his disciples and friends, which were in despair. Yet the old man was calm and ready to face death with cheerfulness. He drunk the hemlock and spent his last minutes in a joyful state. When the men around him started to cry the chubby old man readily summoned them,



What are you all doing? I am so surprised at you. I had sent away the women mainly because I did not want them to lose control in this way. You see, I have heard that a man should come to his end in a way that calls for measured speaking. So, you must have composure, and you must endure [1]



That is how Socrates, history’s greatest badass faced death!


Footnotes


[1]  http://classical-inquiries.chs.h…


Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrate...


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Published on October 26, 2017 14:13

October 21, 2017

What French painter Jacques-Louis David can teach you about marketing

In 669 B.C. the fight between Rome and Alba Longa for the conquest of the middle part of the Italian peninsula was getting quite intense. Either they were getting into a bloody battle, or they could solve the dispute in another way. Indeed, the two contenders decided to select a family representing Rome and Alba Longa.


In fact, the three brothers of the Horatii family were going to challenge three Curiati brothers from Alba Longa. The winner of the dispute was going to win the battle.


The French neoclassical painter Jacques-Louis David portrayed this legend from the Latin author, Titus Livius‘ work, Ab Urbe Condita (about the history of Rome), in his famous painting, which in a way inspired the French revolution, called “Oath of the Horatii.”


[image error]


Sourcewikipedia.org


The painting delivers a powerful message. The three Horatii brothers were loyal to their father. However, they willingly sacrificed for the sake of the nation. In other words, it wasn’t anymore family first, but the family had to sacrifice in honor of Rome. That was the new ideal of the ancient hero, which got resurrected in modern times.


The message is powerful. It is about heroism, devotion to the state and a new form of courage. However, I want to show you what Jacques-Louis David can teach you about delivering a powerful message to your audience. I want to show you how the painting looked like just before the final version:


[image error]


Can you notice any difference with the last version?


If you pose your eyes for a few seconds, you will notice many details that are missing in the final version of the painting. There are a few things that jump to eye:


[image error]


You can see how the last artwork has fewer details compared to the draft version. For instance, the background is much darker and in a sort of penumbra. The sculpture where the wives of the Horatii brothers are sitting is missing in the final version. Last but not least also the poses are somewhat different.


Do you think that happened by chance? It did not. Jacques-Louis David had a clear message in mind, and he had to deliver it as efficiently as possible through his painting. There are three key lessons I think any marketer can learn from this artwork:


It’s all about the meaning

I believe Jacques-Louis David teaches us a valuable lesson: have the purpose of your message clear in mind. In short, at times marketers tend to confuse the end for the mean. That is how the message itself becomes the mean. Yet the message you deliver is only a vehicle for what’s the idea behind it. In other words, what is the meaning you want to deliver through the message? Just by answering this question you can draft a message that can be as powerful as possible.


Keep it simple

As you can see from the example above,  Jacques-Louis David could have opted for a more complex painting; more abundant in details. Instead, he simplified it. Why? Because the purpose of the painting was not the answer itself but the message it contained. In short, he focused on the audience, rather than take proud only of the aesthetic.


Jacques-Louis David had that clear in mind. That is why he simplified the message to make sure the audience would focus on the meaning.


Create emphasis on one powerful concept

Also the poses of the main characters where somehow molded to create a compelling scene with one powerful meaning. The swords were sharped. The poses exacerbated. The light got emphasized on the parts of the view that was more congenial to the symbolic importance of the painting. Thus, anyone not even aware of the story behind would be able to grasp the meaning.


Putting it all together

The Oath of the Horatii, by the French painter Jacques-Louis David, is an incredible artwork. But most of all is an excellent work of communication. Its meaning was so powerful that in a way inspired the French revolution.


Even though the artist could have focused merely on the aesthetic part of it, he never forgets why he was crafting that painting. That is why he focused on the meaning, rather than the message. He also kept it simple, while emphasized those parts of the scene congenial to deliver the symbolic meaning behind the painting.


If Jacques-Louis David were alive today, he would have been one of the most excellent marketers of our time.


 




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Published on October 21, 2017 08:50

Why and How I Unsubscribed to 163 Newsletters in 10 Minutes

That is how my inbox looks like any other day:


[image error]


 


 


 


 


 


You may think this is temporary, that is abnormal. Yet this has been going on for a few years now. I’m not able to keep up with my inbox anymore. Today I don’t know why (sometimes things seem to happen all of a sudden but maybe they’ve been growing from the inside since a long time).


I started to clean my inbox and unsubscribe one by one to the newsletter I was subscribed to. However, the process was too time-consuming. I thought “isn’t there a better way to do that?”


That is why I jumped on DuckDuckGo and ducked:


[image error]


Fine, let’s try this out, I thought. I subscribed and as soon as I logged into unroll.me I figured out the staggering truth:


[image error]


I managed in the last few years to adhere to 177 newsletters! No wonder my inbox is always full of stuff that I have to delete on a daily basis. I probably spent the last five years of my life, dedicating at least ten minutes per day deleting those emails.


It was so time-consuming for me to unsubscribe that eventually, I let those subscriptions accumulate.


Unroll.me showed me the entire list of newsletters I had:


[image error]


Also Unroll.me shows you the whole list and with one click you can unsubscribe to the unwanted emails. It took me about ten minutes to unsubscribe to 163 newsletter campaigns:


[image error]


The feeling was amazing. Almost like a fasting after days of feasting, I felt relieved. That is how my inbox looks now:


[image error]


 


Why did I do that?


Why did I unsubscribe from 163 newsletters?

I could be telling you a thousand philosophical reasons for unsubscribing from all the useless newsletters you’ve been accumulating in the last years. However, I will just follow a more straightforward logic.


I realized I spent a lot of time of my life deleting unwanted emails. Think about that for a second. If I only have been spending ten minutes a day deleting those emails in the last five years that amounts to 18,250 minutes, equivalent to 304 hours or twelve days and a half of your life!


In those (almost) two weeks you could have created your first startup. Read the most fantastic book ever written. Write the article that could have made you successful. Of course, I’m emphasizing here.


Yet the cost opportunity is too high for another reason also. Each time you get those distracting emails you are leaving whatever is that you’re doing. To focus back on the task at hand it would probably take you time and effort. Therefore, besides the time and opportunity cost, you’re also disrupting your attention toward things that may be more beneficial to you!


If that is not enough, think about another crucial aspect. Most of the things that are interesting and beneficial to you (saving a few exceptions) are things that you actively look for.


Waiting for exciting stuff to be landing in your inbox makes you a passive receiver of information. Seeking for it improves the chances to find new things that can change your perspective about the world.


 



 



 


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Published on October 21, 2017 05:08

October 17, 2017

Why DuckDuckGo Is the Future of Search

DuckDuckGo is a hybrid engine launched in 2008 as a side project. In fact, it uses a mixture of APIs from other search engines and its crawlers (mainly for maintenance purposes), with an additional layer of intelligence, to create its index.


However, it has a definite mission of not tracking its users. In short, when you surf the web through DuckDuckGo, you avoid the so-called search leakage.


In fact, when searching through other search engines, your data (through the IP and User Agent) are getting tracked and stored. Eventually, they get sold to third parties (comprised governments and marketers) that use your data for their campaigns.


Today almost fifteen million queries each day, on average, go through DuckDuckGo. The search engine that doesn’t track your data stacks up record after record. Only on October 9th, it reached almost twenty million daily queries!


I believe DDG is the future of search for three compelling yet straightforward reasons.


Fifteen Smart Ways to Be More Productive with DuckDuckGo



Privacy will be a major concern

On May 20, 2013: Edward Snowden computer analyst for CIA leaked classified information. It revealed several global surveillance programs run by the NSA. The news opened a Pandora’s box.


From that moment on the web will never be the same. Back then people started to look for an alternative to Google. That is when DuckDuckGo growth accelerated even further.


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Search is a very private endeavor. That is why privacy concerns have not died down. In fact, according to a survey by Pew Research Center in August 2016, says “86% of internet users have taken steps online to remove or mask their digital footprints, but many say they would like to do more or are unaware of tools they could use.”


That means more and more people will look for an easy solution to avoid getting tracked. DuckDuckGo is one of the quickest, most efficient and simple ways to avoid getting tracked on the web.


The Greatest Myth About Web Search Leaked Out



The traditional ad model is broken

When you search through a traditional search engine, not only your information but also your search history is getting stored and eventually sold to the highest bidder, part of Google’s advertising network. Besides the privacy worries, this kind of model based on tracking search history is not useful.


In fact, you end up most of the time to find retargeting advertisements about things you have already purchased or that no longer are interesting to you.


Instead, DuckDuckGo uses a more straightforward yet efficient way to advertise, based on keywords. In short, if you type in “car insurance” you may get an ad for that. In other words, you get an ad based on what you need here and now. Rather than advertising campaigns that follow you throughout the web based on your search history.


That model makes ads less annoying and useful as they represent an actual need of a user. Also, DuckDuckGo uses affiliate marketing. For instance, through Amazon and eBay affiliate programs; when a user buys after getting there through DuckDuckGo the company receives a small commission.


There is another important reason for its success. The community of developers around it.


The open source model is the future

Traditional search engines keep their projects as secretive as possible. You can find DuckDuckGo on GitHub (think of it as a sort of social network for developers) where volunteers can help fix bugs or improve features.


This model leverages the power of those communities to speed up the improvement of the product. At the same time, those communities help DuckDuckGo sustain its growth over time. They also helped build DuckDuckGo in its first years of life.


Connecting the dots

To recap DuckDuckGo is the hybrid engine, which is proliferating since its launch in 2008. Back in 2013, the Snowden case opened a Pandora’s box that made privacy a major global issue, DDG growth accelerated further. There are three simple reasons why DuckDuckGo may be the future of search.


First, privacy is a significant concern. We don’t have any reason to believe that things will change in the next future. As technology will progress and the more it will become easy to track people, the more we will see presumably growing concerns about privacy.


Second, the traditional ad model based on advertisements sold to the highest bidder – that follow the users throughout the web – has become disturbing, if not annoying for most users. DDG is the only major player in the search engine industry that proposes an alternative to that model.


Third, large corporations with secretive projects are not as appealing as companies that allow the community to take part in their growth. That is why DDG has been successful in nurturing an open source culture. We can presume that this culture will make it easier for DDG to sustain its growth in the long run


If you haven’t done yet, duck it!







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Published on October 17, 2017 14:20