I posted not long ago on Blogging Brum about a potential new business directory for Birmingham I heard about. It’s now gone live and I hate to say it but I was rather underwhelmed by the online launch.

I’ve had a few comment exchanges with Jamie Morden who is Digital Media Manager for MyBrumTV and he asked for my opinion on the site. Well as I’m always bleating on about the social media phenomenon and I believe the MyBrumTV launch is very closely linked to this I thought why not write a blog critique of the site and allow Jamie a right to reply.

There are two aspects to the critique as I see it. Firstly the actual site, what it achieves and how it achieves it and secondly with regard to the online launch and methods used here.

The website itself it a pleasant design and is pretty simple to navigate. However the filmstrip style menu is going to be outgrown very quickly if this directory takes off – I can’t see people scrolling along 100’s of companies or categories. I’d love to see some kind of AJAX style navigation here to allow you traverse the directories quickly and easily (obviously with some non-AJAX fallback to ensure accessibility isn’t compromised). I feel it just needs some more excitement about it that draws you into the site. The introduction movie on the homepage I really don’t feel is going to be watched by people – if they are coming to a business directory they are just going to search. It’s the same thing for most homepage text people are looking for something specific and therefore don’t read what they just see as promotional blurb.

This brings me onto a search feature which is currently not available. As there aren’t a huge amount of companies online now I can perhaps understand why they haven’t rolled this out as yet but it will be essential in the future.

The company listings rely nearly entirely on the videos produced and although this is MyBrumTV’s selling point I don’t agree that videos should replace other textual content rather it should complement it.

Certainly the video can be used to sell a service but it you can’t impart all the important information about a product or service through a 5 minute video – I believe it’s more of a glossy finish – the final hard sell.

A contact form for each company listing is provided which is good however I’d group contact us (address and telephone) and more information (the actual online contact form) under the same tab “Contact us” as really the form is another way of contacting the company. I was expecting a text description or FAQs under the “More information” tab. I’m not sure how the comments tab is going to work as currently there is no way of posting comments yourself – obviously a function to follow.

Video quality I’ve found to be very good (although this certainly isn’t my speciality) and I’ve had no problem with streaming issues etc. From a brochure perspective I believe they do their job.
Code quality on the MyBrumTV isn’t bad although there are still areas to tighten up with the site currently failing a XHTML validator.

My main issue with the website is the lack of content. I’m talking here about text content which is of the upmost importance to the visitor and essential for accessibility. I don’t think you can assume visitors are going to play every video for every company listing in a category. Therefore the copy should work alongside to give the visitor a taster and entice them to watch the video. As the website is a business directory and therefore going to rely heavily on the World’s most important blind user - Google - this really is a trick they are missing. To this end, in addition to accompanying text copy, I believe the alternative content for the video is essential – each movie has a script so why not provide this in the alternative description for the flash?

Search engine optimisation is virtually nonexistent on the website save some hidden keyword spamming at the bottom of the page – tut tut. I really think a review is needed here as this is only going to get you penalised by Google! The most important element on the page (the page title) is consistently “MyBrumTV” throughout the website not describing the page content at all. The lack of content on the site is going to cause the search engines to see virtually blank pages everywhere.

I understand completely that the work on this website is ongoing and it’s not the finished article. Jamie himself said the site is launching in phases with the main launch in September so please don’t take this as a hatchet job on the website just some suggestions how I feel it could improve.

I’d also like to just mention the launch of the site as I believe this can be vital to building an initial visitor base.

I certainly can’t comment with regard to offline promotion of the MyBrumTV website other than the free newspaper that dropped through my door that alerted me to its existence (I don’t read much traditional press at all). However as this is an online project I was surprised to find that there is virtually nothing happening online at all.

Perhaps this initial launch of MyBrumTV is a beta version to be tested and built on? In which case I could perhaps understand the muted buzz online. However it’s not promoted as such and in any case I really think even websites in beta should try to promote themselves in some way to attract visitors to beta test or start laying the groundwork.

A good example of this Odadeo which is currently in private beta (ask for an invitation) – an excellent idea of a social media site for Dads! Even though in private beta the wheels are already moving with regard to making people aware of the site.

The MyBrumTV website certainly has many sources open to promote itself and improve its offer. Being a local website means it can lean on local community to promote it – it’s the only reason I posted about it in the first place. Having this local community means it makes it easier to promote to this restricted location. Also it’s going to take time to get the site visible online in the meantime why not lean on existing applications available such as YouTube?

Directories are ten a penny online so they need to distinguish themselves online be it with functions not available elsewhere (not sure videos are enough alone) or by attracting a website community.

I’m sure there are other things in the pipeline – Jamie mentions social networking in a way that suggests the site will feature social features in some way. However if this is the case why launch with a site that doesn’t have any of the more flashy features? Web users are fickle so if they don’t find anything on a site that excites them getting them to come back is more difficult than getting them in the first place.

Maybe I’m wrong and the slow burn is the effect they are after but I would try to create as much of a bang for the launch for a site like this…it’s been more of a pop. It feels premature if I’m honest.

Don’t get me wrong I really think if done well a local community business directory could work well (I’m not aware of any that do this well) especially with Google’s move to more and more local results.

At the end of the day there has to be a big carrot to get people to navigate away from their Google homepage to an alternative way of searching for businesses.

Perhaps another sign of a disjointed online and offline approach here is that there is no mention of how to get a business into the directory on the website. Obviously all approaches to businesses has been offline so far.

It’s an online project so why not embrace the many varied online tools to make your life easier and you website more popular? In addition online promotion is so much cheaper than offline – it’s a no brainer really.

I like the idea of flash mobs they appeal to my sense of humour especially the randomness of them. There have been a few locally to me in Birmingham but generally speaking they are events for people with too much time on their hands.

At work we’ve toyed with the idea of using flash mobs to promote a company or product but as of yet no clients have gone for it.

However at last there is a real use for flash mobs! A youth project called Ctrl.Alt.Shift(as in “Take control of your World”, “Alter the way it works” and “Shift its future”) intends to develop a group of ‘outspoken agitators’ among 18 - 25 year olds. This is done by using various new technologies such as social media to apply pressure about injustices in the World.

So flash mobs can now have a important purpose - protests that spring from nowhere! I can imagine the effect of hundreds of protesters turning up en-mass at a specified time is very noticeable.

Technology is one area where fierce supporters of applications and services seem to be very common. Some companies employ people as evangelists to promote products or some cases people are so passionate about a product or service they will evangelise just for their love of it.

I’ve no problem with people being passionate about things but I really believe that some people are actually damaging the very things they love so much.

It’s all very well following a technology and being enthusiastic about it but there are still lines that shouldn’t be crossed. Without a solid argument about why you are so pleased with the said item just isn’t going to cut it with the people who aren’t as appreciative as yourself. Saying it’s cool just isn’t enough for most people.

Also even with the enthusiasm you have you must not be blinkered but instead be balanced with your arguments. Again saying it’s just better in every way than the competition just doesn’t sound convincing unless you have plenty to back it up. If you actually give credit where it’s due to the competition you can actually make your own argument stronger.

And finally personal attacks are just right out - they just make you look stupid.

This is not to say that all followers don’t follow these rules, on the whole they do, but there seems to be a small minded percentage of evangelists (or is that zealots?) who really give a bad impression.

There are two groups that are particularly vocal and also seem to have a hardcore of extremely vocal, and in my eyes, damaging fans. I’m of course talking about supporters of Open Source software and Apple products.

I’ve personally had a few run-ins with Apple fanboys in the past not least on a previous blog post (although I must admit I did bait them to see the reaction). You expect the odd idiot (there are enough online anyway) but the regularity that they appear when anything even slightly negative about Apple is published has clouded my judgement when it comes to anything Apple (The comments approved on the blog post show some of the better fans). I know damn well that some will comment stating I’m a fool and Apple don’t need my business anyway but I know I’m not the only one that has this reaction. Surely if you love the product so much you want to talk everyone around to your way of thinking? If the product is so good you should be able to argue the merits?

In the end this extreme reaction is actually damaging to Apple, the Apple brand and community and sometimes I wonder if these people just want to keep Apple as an exclusive club or maybe just don’t have the skills to have a discussion. I’d be interested to hear from any Apple fans on their opinion of the fanboys. Is there any split in the community or is it just ignored?

The Open Source movement also has some strong proponents and again some blinkered ones (although generally I’ve found most to be just interested in furthering the cause). If you take a look at Slashdot and wait for anything related to propeiety software (in particular Microsoft) you’ll see a load of people slagging it off without any real reason - just see the insults fly! I’m subscribed to the Slashdot feed but I never even look at the comments anymore as I don’t enjoy adolescent slagging matches.

I use Open Source software where I believe there is an advantage but I don’t believe all companies or individuals should have to tie their colours to one mast. People should respect everyone’s choice even if their views differ. Generally speaking there is an Open Source version of an application but not all are superior to their proprietary counterparts.

The only solution I can see is the communities to these loose cannons claim to be part of push them out themselves. Surely it must get on your nerves too? It makes people tar you with the same brush?

I’ve posted a few times about ISPs kicking up a fuss about the amount of bandwidth new applications are using some even suggesting if the content providers don’t help out with costs they’ll be put into the Internet bus lane!

ISPs breaking net neutrality is a really dangerous course to take, effectively allowing companies to disadvantage their competitors over the web. Where does it stop? Only allowing customer access to one website with exclusive access rights for that sector? It’s as bad as standing outside a competitor’s shop and refusing to let customers go in.

Customers pay for bandwidth and expect to have free and unrestricted access to whatever they want on the web - bandwidth throttling goes against this and I think most customers if they were aware of this practices would complain to their ISP or even jump ship.

Now there is a report that Google is working on tools to detect if ISPs are bandwidth throttling - in my opinion this can only be good. If people are aware of the situation they can take action. In the long term this could mean ISPs would have to abandon this approach altogether for fear of losing customers.