API providers and platform providers often work with multiple audiences, including software companies and service providers. While their needs are different, they are also complementary. Communicating effectively with these different audiences requires bipolar messaging, where the messaging and language used must shift depending on the target audience in order to enable their cooperation and innovation. This can be uncomfortable but is necessary to serve the different needs of multiple audiences.

1. Bipolar Messaging:Communicating with Multiple Audiences tylerhannan @tylerhannan http://tylerhannan.com platform evangelist, ip commerce wednesday, 1 june2011

2. let’s start

3. at the very beginning

4. which is,

5. in fact,

6. a very good place

7. to start.

9. API providers

10. or

11. platform providers

12. are,

13. often,

14. called upon to

15. work with multiple

16. audiences.

17. this,

18. arguably,

19. is a

20. popular definition

21. of a platform…

22. serving

23. a multi-sided market.

24. in the case of

26. these audiences

27. are

28. software companies

29. and

30. service providers.

31. within

32. these audiences,

33. there is

34. finer granularity.

35. Service Providers payment service providers acquirers & processors value-added services

36. Software Companies point of service eCommerce unattended / kiosk mobile etc.

37. their needs

38. are different.

39. and yet,

40. their needs,

41. are complementary.

42. in the 2nd century,

43. Arataeus of Cappadocia

45. worked as a

46. physician

47. and wrote a

48. treatise on disease.

49. in which

50. he described,

51. in frightening detail,

52. symptoms of various

53. illnesses.

54. it was his work,

55. his diagnosis,

56. that in 1650

57. was used by

58. Richard Burton

59. to create

60. a study of

61. depression,

63. “The Anatomy of Melancholia”.

64. Richard Burton

65. is, now,

66. known as

67. “the father of

68. depression as a

69. mental illness.”

70. later,

71. in 1854,

72. the condition of

73. moments of depression

74. followed by

75. heightened mood

76. became known as

77. “circular insanity”.

78. bipolar disorder

79. what does this have to do with enterprise APIs?

80. when messaging

81. when discussing

82. when telling the story

83. of your

84. API

85. some days you will be

87. others

89. or,

90. as a modern

91. “enterprise”

92. reference

94. or

96. and,

97. unlike mental illness,

98. this is

99. acceptable.

100. this is

101. uncomfortable.

102. this is

103. necessary.

104. this is

105. desired.

106. an example:

107. IP Commerce,

108. spent the last

109. 2+ years

110. with the tagline

111. “cloud computing for commerce”.

112. to a

113. payment service provider,

114. this is ideal,

115. this is compelling.

116. to a

117. software company,

118. this is

120. so, now,

121. with “critical mass”

122. of

123. service availability

124. and

125. API diversity,

126. we can

127. discuss

128. Platform-as-a-Service

129. or

130. “operating system” for commerce.

131. an analogy

132. wherein all the

133. mess

134. associated with

135. payment acceptance,

136. risk & fraud, email receipting, product search, offer redemption,

137. data services,

138. and other related services,

139. (from multiple providers)

140. is obfuscated by

141. a platform and its APIs…

142. just as an

143. operating system

144. obfuscates

145. device level interaction…

146. to enable innovation.

147. the analogy

148. “makes sense”

149. to “us”

150. but,

151. to a service provider,

152. is a bit of foreign language.

153. another example:

154. a company

155. i respect

156. greatly,

157. but which will remain unnamed,

158. had a recent

159. product release

160. reviewed.

161. the software journal

162. spent a

163. relatively substantial

164. amount of time

165. decrying

166. “flowery language”

167. in their press releases.

168. was the journal wrong?

169. Yes,

170. absolutely.

171. and

172. No, not at all.

173. this same

174. “flowery”

175. language

176. speaks to the other audiences served.

177. the challenge,

178. perhaps

179. the joy,

180. in the nature

181. of the

182. platform.

183. in the nature

184. of the

185. API provider.

186. there are multiple audiences

187. who speak

188. different languages,

189. and have

190. different purposes,

191. the platform the api provider

192. is what

193. enables their cooperation.

194. so…

195. embrace the neurosis

196. and recognize that

197. by bearing the pain of communication

198. you are

199. enabling innovation.

200. with that said,

201. consider when to

202. focus.

203. IP Commerce

204. has a new

205. focus

206. on communicating with

207. the software company…

208. the most

209. underserved

210. participant in payments

211. …at present…

212. this may shift

213. in the future

214. if / when

215. this shift occurs

216. it will be

217. painful

218. and require

219. site updates

220. new copy

221. documentation work.

222. during this current shift

223. it is painful

224. but

225. it is also

226. necessary.

227. if it was easy

228. everyone would do it.

229. see the little man

230. running

231. across the screen?

232. he is not balanced

233. one leg is up

234. now, the other

235. his imbalance

236. his instability

237. indicates

238. forward motion.

239. embrace the pain.

240. own your value.

241. own your message.

242. know your audience.

243. have discussions.

244. delight

245. in

246. bipolar messaging.

247. slide #247

248. With thanks, and apologies,to: Lawrence Lessig Rolf Skyberg Written while listening to: Explosions In The Sky, Take Care Take Care Take Care

249. .::more resources::. http://commercelab.ipcommerce.com http://www.tylerhannan.com