Product Beautiful on Alltop
By
April Dunford of Rocket Watcher somehow has a direct line to Mr. Marketing himself, Guy Kawasaki, and got a Product Management page established on Alltop. Alltop is a Yahoo-style blog directory, the idea being that it hosts the “top” sites for each topic, picked by hand. It’s an honor to be included, but I also have to echo the CrankyPM who said:
“Please, someone, tell the Cranky Product Manager what truly is the big deal about Alltop? It kind of reminds the Cranky Product Manager of Yahoo! back in 1997 – a quaint little human-generated listing of websites, classified by categories. The Cranky Product Manager could export her bookmarks and create a similar site in an afternoon.”
D’oh! Although you wonder where Alltop would be today if you took the exact same code and replaced Guy Kawasaki’s name with mine. Name recognition still counts for a lot.
One thing Kawasaki is really, really good at is knowing what makes people tick. Alltop is a perfect site for the narcissistic, ego-driven blog world. Even skeptical people like myself will chortle, all while making a post like this to crow about getting behind the velvet rope. Meanwhile, Guy is paying cash for another pair of Lucchese boots and someone like me is muttering “I could export my bookmarks and make that site!” Yeah, but you didn’t. And neither did I. And if we did no one would come. So we criticise with one paragraph while accepting our award in the next. All while sending more clicks over to Alltop.
The same thing goes for Truemors, which is basically the worst of Twitter, Digg, and TMZ put together. I wish I had thought of that first…
Now that CrankyPM and I have guaranteed our delistings, I look forward to starting AllBottom with her.
“Now that CrankyPM and I have guaranteed our delistings, I look forward to starting AllBottom with her.”
Many have wished that, but few have been so fortunate. Or so I am lead to believe.
ROFL. Anon, the Cranky Product Manager hearts a man/woman who can make her laugh out loud to the point of mortifying everyone around her.
Oh yeah, Paul, congratulations on being listed TWICE on Alltop. And the CPM agrees with your analysis of Alltop 100%. The Cranky Product Manager did not become a bitter individual for no reason – this has to be about the millionth time she’s seen an “obvious” business obtain some success but she had not bothered to attempt it herself. Cuz she’s a slacker.
Hi,
I actually specifically requested that this blog be listed twice because it is twice as cool as the other blogs listed. *joking*
Thanks for the link.
April
I agree. Anyone could build Alltop in an afternoon.
I’m the kind of guy that when I want a cheeseburger, I go to the butcher for the beef, gourmet store for the cheese, baker for the bun, and I make my own ketchup.
And if I want a cup of coffee, I roast and grind my own beans, milk my cow for cream, and grind my own chocolate. I can do this in an afternoon too.
Speaking of Luchese. I make my own boots too. I can make one in an afternoon.
Why would anyone go to In-n-Out, Starbucks, or Zappos when you can make your own stuff with a few hours of work?
Doesn’t everyone have infinite and free time?
FGK
Hey there, notice the RETRIBUTION??? We’ve both been demoted to the very bottom of the Alltop page for our heresy! The CPM used to have the top right-hand corner.
Sigh. So I had a great retort planned, but then I saw that Fake Guy Kawasaki pretty much said what I was going to say. Sure looks like a lot of navel gazing going on here – Alltop provides a service and it will sink or swim based on its own merits.
What’s interesting is that the web is a mess – you know that what you want is there, it’s just not clear where it is and who has the time to go looking / sorting for it?
Sorta makes you wonder if the same thing can be said about your product’s market – your customers need a solution, but how can they find your product? This sorta opens the door to the whole “how does my product play on the web” discussion that no PM really likes to talk about (but we sure do like to talk about our blogs!)
- Dr. Jim Anderson
The Accidental PM Blog