I presented this at An Event Apart on May 4, 2009.

1. design whuffie
building stuff into your design to produce
mad, passionate, fervent love
by: tara ‘missrogue’ hunt

2. wtf

3. is

4. whuffie?

5. http://www.flickr.com/photos/eschipul/437288525/

6. boingboing

7. cory

8. crazy

9. about

10. http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/459418289/

11. he wrote

13. instead of $$

14. =

15. social capital

16. =

17. reputation

18. connections
(both strong and weak)

19. influence

20. access to resources/access
to more connections

21. favors added up
(reciprocity)

22. public accomplishments

23. levels of trust

24. etc.

25. in cory’s future

26. when you

27. http://www.flickr.com/photos/notic/86343146/

28. whuffie

29. score

30. high score

31. =

32. good reputation

33. trust them

34. listen to their advice

35. it also buys you stuff

36. http://www.flickr.com/photos/brraveheart/2072543750/

39. but this should sound

40. familiar

41. this ain’t the future

42. & it ain’t fiction

43. it’s real

44. right now

45. how

46. relate

47. online communities

49. 2,600+ Facebook Friends

50. 26,000+ twitter followers

51. 1,400

52. I have strong or weak
connections to

53. I’m not telling you this to
show off

54. i’m not that unique

55. Blogs = >115Million+ (+China’s 75M)
MySpace = >110Million users
Facebook = >80Million users
Orkut = >75Million users
Twitter = >15 Million

56. people join these online
communities

57. to make

59. connections
+time
= trust
the basis of
=
whuffie

60. authenticity matters

61. if you want to become

62. whuffie rich

63. =

64. have people fall in love
with your product/service

65. build long term customer
loyalty

66. spread awesome word of
mouth

67. you need to build...

69. trust

70. it’s really as simple as that

71. but there is a catch

73. didn’t happen overnight

74. it required a different
perspective

75. a lot of time and attention

76. involves

77. 5 principles for raising
whuffie

78. #1. turn the bullhorn
around

79. b2c communication b4 the
internet

81. then came the competition

83. got louder

84. and louder

85. and led to

88. main characteristic

90. impersonal

91. http://www.flickr.com/photos/b-tal/179390300/

92. http://www.flickr.com/photos/tin-g/90143310/

93. which is why people listen
to

95. if you are still

97. you’re totally missing out
on

98. http://www.flickr.com/photos/striatic/133146861/

99. if you really want to

102. http://www.flickr.com/photos/klapow/39693385/

103. sounds easy, but it isn’t

104. focus on individuals

105. understanding the needs
of the entire community

106. that’s totally challenging

107. 8 tips for being a beacon
for constant feedback:

108. 1. get advice from experts, but design for the
needs of the novice
2. respond to ALL feedback, even when you
have to say ‘no thanks’
3. don’t take negative feedback personally
4. give credit to those whose ideas you
implement

109. some ways to give credit
• mention contributions in • send a gift certificate or
blog posts, tweets and special coupon code
videos
• schwag and schtuff
• name a product or
• upgrade their account
feature after the
contributor (or let them
name it)
• give the contributor
more responsibility
• send journalists their
way

110. 5. point out and explain changes as you make
them
6. make small, continuous improvements
7. go out to find your feedback
8. ignore the haters

111. to really become

112. http://www.flickr.com/photos/klapow/39693385/

113. #2. become part of the
community you serve

114. for the ultimate in being
able to gr0k ur customers

115. what they want

116. anticipate their needs

117. tune in and turn them on

118. you need to

120. http://www.flickr.com/photos/vaxzine/172651123/

121. collaborate and share with
other designers

122. fall in love with what your
customers love

123. use competitor’s tools
until you love them, too

124. search thru ‘screenshot’
and ‘design patterns’
galleries on flickr

125. read A List Apart

126. go to conferences

127. barcamps

128. codejams

129. meetups

130. and everywhere you can
possibly meet creative, tuned
in people

131. and you’ll figure out what
makes the difference
between

134. and then you can...

135. #3. create amazing
customer experiences

136. and when I say amazing

137. I mean experiences that
lead to

139. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lugolounge/6780004/

140. http://www.flickr.com/photos/teointarifa/490408075/

141. http://www.flickr.com/photos/60852569@N00/242746787/

142. creating these
experiences will

144. a couple of ways to do this

145. automagicness

146. automagic:
a user experience so
seamless that it feels like
magic

147. lilgrams.com

149. automagic sign ins

150. automagic posting to the
sites of your choice

151. automagic matching of
milestones with xif data from photos

152. automagic lilgram sender
to pre-defined recipients

153. automagic posting from twitter
from the road

154. quicken for iphone

155. automagic demo

156. automagic automagic automagic
bank machine spending balance
finder update updater

157. tripit.com

158. 1. I book my flight/hotel

159. 2. I forward the confirmation email
to plans@tripit.com

160. 3. it’s automagically converted into
an itinerary for me

161. an automagic neat and tidy
awesome itinerary for me

162. and an iPhone application
for more magicness!

163. throwing sheep

164. throwing sheep:
ancillary fun, lightweight
activities that encourage
user participation

165. throwing sheep examples
• Facebook poking • Dopplr’s velocity metric
• Facebook ‘I Like This’ • Favoriting/starring
• Twitter nudging • Virtual gift giving
• Most tweets in general • Virtual walls
• Ma.gnolia’s give thanks • Pop Sugar’s karma
points
• Maya’s Mom’s kudos

166. lighten up!

167. lightening up:
the ability to inject fun
into the most serious &
professional interactions

168. virginamerica.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyygn8HFTCo

169. flickr.com
http://flickr.com/photos/joshb/1408947023/

170. some 404 error pages

171. apartmenthomeliving.com

172. d20srd.org

173. tinsanity.net
http://tinsanity.net/404

174. horsepigcow.com

175. the email responder is the
new 404

177. #4.
embrace the chaos

178. controlling the message?

179. heh

180. http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiseacre/153532248/

181. I know...it’s hard to
embrace the chaos...

182. long history

183. of fear

184. the fear mongers
• corporate espionage
• competition
• security
• litigation
• bad-mouthers
• mistrust

185. it’s on their shoulders
• Legal
• Public Relations/Corporate Communications
• IT

186. understand the need
for security

187. but balance it with the
need for openness

188. there are many benefits
to openness and
transparency

189. benefits of embracing the
chaos
• you’ll be better prepared for the unexpected
• you’ll join in the conversation that is already
happening and be welcomed for this move
• it will bring in the opportunity for collaboration
• it will make your ideas stronger
• it will create supporters you didn’t know you
had

190. in the old days, you had
one chance to get
everything just right...

191. today, you have multiple
conversations and iterations to
build with your customers and
audience.

192. Funny how we create our own rat traps
in our success. Once we're 'there' we
can no longer do the stuff that made us
successful in the 1st place.

193. ...or can we?

194. we’re just one more step away
from

196. here is some food for thought

197. while money is part of the

198. market economy

199. whuffie is part of the

201. it acts kind of opposite

202. the more you give away, the
more whuffie you gain

203. whuffie is only valuable
when it circulates

204. and as it circulates, it

206. but we still need to make $$
to pay the rent

207. so the question is...

208. what can you give away that
won’t leave you broke?

209. #5.
find your higher purpose.

211. born out of passion?

212. serving a need?

213. fighting the good fight?

214. maybe that stuff doesn’t
interest you

215. maybe you just want to

217. does it mean that you will be
whuffie poor?

218. nah.

219. you just have to find a way
to give back to the
community

220. the more you give, the more
that comes back

221. 5 gifts to give that won’t
leave you broke

222. “nerd values”
do well by doing good

223. “...compared check-writing and
volunteering to cutting the leaves and
branches off a tree, where the heart of
the business and its ability to impact the
world positively is the tree itself.”
Gary Hirshberg, CEO, Stonyfield Farms

224. think customer-centrically

225. not customer-centric
• •
You do everything you can to You have a long list of customer
keep your customers on your relations policies. Any
website. exception to those policies has
to go up the chain of command
for approval.
• You measure number of visitors
and time spent on your website
•
as whether you are successful. You need to create multiple
instructional videos so that
your customers will understand
• When budgets get tightened, how to use your product.
you make cutbacks in areas like
customer service, marketing,
•
support staff and design. You demand social media
strategies that win over the
‘influencers’ to blog or tweet
• You are bothered by a customer about your product.
describing your product in their
own words that doesn’t match
your brand.

226. customer-centric
• •
You send customers to other Your customers are doing
websites. things with your product you
never dreamed and are posting
videos.
• You measure how many people
refer their friends to you as
•
success. Influencers are adding you as
friends on social networks.
• You let people feed in their
•
content from other sites easily. You work with your competitors
towards better customer
experiences for all.
• When budgets get tightened,
you tighten operational costs.
• You know you compete for your
customers’ attention with
• Your only customer service everyone.
policy is to do right by the
customer.

227. help others go further

231. spread love

232. akoha.com

237. value something bigger

238. •do well by doing good
•think customer-centrically
•help others go further
•spread love
•value something bigger

239. whuffie

240. will grow over time

241. so combine all of the

242. •turn the bullhorn around
•become part of the community you
serve
•create amazing experiences
•embrace the chaos
•find your higher purpose

243. you will raise whuffie

244. whuffie rich

245. =

246. better word of mouth

247. repeat sales

248. customer loyalty

249. =

250. big, fat increase to your
bottom line

251. which will help you buy stuff

252. http://www.flickr.com/photos/brraveheart/2072543750/

255. which is why whuffie is
the wiser way.

256. end.

257. Order
Whuffie
today!
http://thewhuffiefactor.com

258. licensing:
http://www.slideshare.net/missrogue

259. about those rockin’ images:
• Many are from iStockphoto.com (totally cool
site)
• except as marked on the photo...
• a screenshot of my friendwheel: http://
apps.facebook.com/friendwheel
• and the logos & screengrabs I stole from all of
the respective sites...

260. some references
• Lilgrams http://www.lilgrams.com
• TripIt http://www.tripit.com
• Akoha.com http://www.akoha.com
• Facebook http://www.facebook.com
• Twitter http://www.twitter.com
• Creative Commons: http://www.creativecommons.org
• Quicken: http://quicken.intuit.com/
• Maya’s Mom: http://www.mayasmom.com
• Dopplr: http://www.dopplr.com
• Friend Wheel: http://apps.facebook.com/friendwheel
• Great internet stats: http://pewinternet.org
• Whuffie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whuffie
• 404 Research Lab: http://plinko.net/404/
• More awesome 404: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/
2009/01/29/404-error-pages-one-more-time

261. Tara missrogue
Hunt
marketing lead, Intuit Partner Platform
horsepigcow@gmail.com
415.694.1951
twitter: missrogue
skype: tarahunt747
www.horsepigcow.com