Author Archives: Greg C.

About Greg C.

I am passionate about building awesome user experiences, working closely with publishers and watching people "get" technology.

Giving SXSW One More Chance

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It is that time of year again, the annual pilgrimage down to Austin, Texas to SouthBySouthwest (SXSW).  This will be my 9th SXSW out of the last 10 years and it may be the last one I go to.  Many posts have been written about how SXSW has “jumped the shark” and in 2010, I felt that it definitely had.

When I started going to SXSW in 2003 it was a different conference than any others that I had been to.  The conference was much smaller and led by developers and designers.  The panels were voted on by the community and they tended to be led by thought leaders.

As the decade moved along things slowly changed, some for the better.  The conference got bigger, we saw great product launches there like Twitter and FourSquare.  But something else happened, no longer were panels solely chosen by the community, and by 2010, it felt like most of the panels were allowed to speak thanks to their company’s sponsorship.  I saw this first hand with the panel I was on with Naveen Selvadurai and Josh Babetski.  Our panel was not picked until AOL brought it to SXSW’s attention that we were major sponsors that year.  Magically our panel was added to the program.

So why am I going this year?  I wanted to see if anything has changed.  It does not look like it on the surface, but I remain hopeful.  I am excited to see a lot of friends, our publishers and service providers all in one place.  Of course the parties and the city of Austin are another great part of SXSW.  Later this weekend I’ll put together the panels, parties, movies and bands I am looking forward to seeing.

Blake Griffin’s Dunk Shakes the Web

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After watching Blake Griffin’s INSANE dunk over Kendrick Perkins Monday night, I wanted to see what happened across the web immediately following the dunk.  Not surprising, everyone linked to the video of the dunk and it did not take very long for people to start sharing, clicking and searching for the dunk.  Incredibly the number of searches, shares and clicks via AddThis for “Blake Griffin” increased 3500% the following day on January 31st.  Griffin’s dunk will be one of the best this season in the NBA, and it is definitely worth watching it again.

The Power of AddThis Data

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I wrote a blog post today on the AddThis blog about crunching data in preparation for the 2012 South Carolina primary this weekend.  I was curious to see which states showed the most interest in Mitt Romney.  I also was interested in seeing how political television ads were influential in increasing interest in neighboring states.  For example, the map below shows interest in Romney is strong in Massachusetts and Georgia because TV markets in both states overlapped with primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina.  This is just the beginning of the insights we can provide.

Flashing back to 1991…Giants and 49ers, What’s Old is New

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In January 1991 I was in 8th grade, we were about to liberate Kuwait and bomb Iraq, Seinfeld’s 2nd season had just started and we were a two weeks away from Whitney Houston blowing the doors off Tampa Stadium singing the “Star Spangled Banner” for Super Bowl XXV.

One of the top NFL games that season was the NFC Championship game between the New York Giants and the San Francisco 49ers in San Francisco.  The 49ers were the favorites to win, led by Joe Montana, Roger Craig and Jerry Rice.  The Giants had a great defense but a boring ball control offense.  In 1991, defense won championships and it was the Giants defense that gave them the upset victory, by knocking Joe Montana out of the game and causing a fumble as the 49ers were running out the clock.  The Giants won the game a few minutes later with a field goal.  The win in San Francisco propelled the Giants to the Super Bowl where they defeated the Buffalo Bills.

21 years later, we are right back to that NFC championship game.  The players are different but the stakes are the same.  No one will confuse Alex Smith with Joe Montana, but some might think the Giants defense is just as good as the 1991 model, and they are probably right.  For those wanting to take a trip down memory lane, here is a YouTube clip of the game highlights:

My Personal 2011 Infographic

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We had a great idea back in September when we were creating the 5th Birthday Infographic for AddThis, and planning the year end infographic we release in December each year, that wouldn’t it be great if we could give our publishers their own infographic.  The design and development team of Jeff, Foo and Aaron did a great job of getting these graphics out to our publishers this week.  Now publishers who use AddThis can have a nice recap for their 2011 that they can post on their blogs  Here is mine:

United Airlines, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

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After flying between 150,000 and 200,000 miles every year since 2006, this year I barely flew 10% of that.  So it is with great sadness that I say farewell to United, my 1K status, free upgrades, free checked bags and fast lines at the airport.  I am now a free agent in the airline world, willing to fly whomever will get me from point A to point B the fastest, most conveniently and cheapest.

I miss flying around the world even when it meant delayed flights, missed connections and lost luggage.  This week there were two cool videos that were posted to satisfy my flying needs.  The first video is a behind the scenes look at what happens to your luggage from the time you check your bag to the time it is delivered to you.

The second video is a cool behind the scenes look at an average day at Denver International Airport, an airport I flew through way to often in my 5+ years flying United.

[TRIP REPORT] Taking a break in Turks and Caicos

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For years I have wanted to go to the Turks and Caicos.  Located 650 miles southeast of Miami, Florida,  and part of the British Overseas Territories the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCIs) the TCIs have the most amazing color of water and the most pristine beaches I have ever seen.

As of December 2011, there are no non-stop flights from Washington, DC to TCI, so we hopped a prop plane up to Newark, NJ to catch our flight down to paradise.  I caught a great sunrise picture departing National Airport:

After a 3 hour flight from Newark, we arrived in Provo which is the largest city in the TCIs.  One of the most popular places to stay on Provo is an area called Grace Bay and is considered one of the top 10 beaches in the world.

The beaches were completely empty and the color of the water definitely lived up to its reputation.

The downside of the TCIs and Provo is that the cost of food and other goods on the island is in some cases 50% higher than in the US.  In one store I saw a container of Breyer’s Ice Cream selling for $12.50!

The cost of food aside, the privacy, solitude and beauty of the TCIs definitely make the trip worth it.  To see it from above is even more beautiful, here is a video of our departure:

 

AddThis Recaps the Year in Sharing

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2011 was an incredible year for social sharing.  I spent the free time over the past 2 weeks processing incredible amounts of data (we process 70+ terabytes per week!), and Jeff did an awesome job turning my spreadsheets into a great infographic.  I am really excited to share with you the great nuggets we were able to find amongst the 11MM+ publishers and 1.2B+ users who share through AddThis.

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The Syracuse University Scandal Reinforces How We Never Really Know a Person

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Last month when I wrote about Penn State University and morals, I had to re-write that post a few times because my original draft was very angry.  I was angry at so many people, and I wasn’t even sure why I was angry, I did not personally know any of the people involved.  When I stepped back, I realized my reaction was due to shock…I was shocked that Coach Sandusky could do what he is accused of to children and, Coach Paterno and Penn State could turn a blind eye.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving, and now there is a similar scandal erupting at Syracuse, my alma mater, class of 1999.  Again, I was shocked when I heard these allegations.  I spent 4 years working in the athletic department, I got to know Jim Boeheim, his wife Juli, and the coaching staff.  I never saw or heard anything to indicate that Coach Fine was abusing children.

The reaction that I had, and the inactions of Penn State University and definitely the inflammatory remarks from Jim Boeheim come from the same place, shock.  See, we never really know a person.  You may be friends or work colleagues with someone for 30 years, but you cannot possibly know everything about that person.  I first learned this lesson when my rabbi was caught on Dateline NBC to Catch A Predator back in 2005.  I kept asking myself, how could this happen?  I knew this man, I traveled to Israel with him, and was friends with his daughter, but you see, you never really know a person.

I thought Sean Keeley at the Syracuse SB Nation blog, Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician, wrote a terrific piece about how everyone interpreted Jim Boeheim’s comments incorrectly.  Coach Boeheim, Sean Keeley wrote, was scared, and he was scared because the person who he spent 40 years with turned out to be someone he never really knew.

Racing from NYC to DC…Planes, trains and automobiles

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Recently inspired by an old Top Gear episode where the hosts, Clarkson, Hammond, May, and The Stig race across London in various modes of transportation, I faced a similar opportunity going to and from NYC.  For the past 4 years I have had to travel regularly to NYC from DC for work and I go back and forth on how to travel between the two cities.

Last week I decided the time had come, it was time to see which mode of transportation was fastest home from NYC to DC.  While we were not as scientific as the Top Gear crew, we definitely discovered whether flying is faster than the train.

We left midtown at 445PM, I was headed to LaGuardia for a Delta Shuttle flight at 630PM, my competitor left for Penn State trying to make the 5PM Acela train, but knew he would most likely take the 6PM Acela train.

It took me 45 minutes to get to the airport, just missing the 530PM shuttle, but enough time to grab a drink at the bar.  It turned out that my racing companion made the 5PM train which meant that he would be south of Philly before I even left the ground.  I was doubting my choice.

Finally it was time to board, and get under way.  We took off on time and the pilot announced a flight time of 33 minutes.  When we flew over downtown Baltimore 20 minutes later at 650PM, I knew I had taken a lead.  We touched down and were at the gate by 710PM, the train well that was still 40 minutes from DC.

While I had to go through security at LaGuardia, had no Wi-Fi and had to sit in an airport for 45 minutes, I still got to DC 40 minutes faster than the train.  Now the train has benefits, it was slightly cheaper than my plane ticket, I can get work done (a pro tip, sit close to the food car because that is where the wi-fi connection is strongest).

The uncontrollable factors in the race include the cab ride between the city and the airport and weather. I find that the cab ride out to the airport is always easier than into the city, so it may be the case where the train is faster when going to NYC.  When the weather is bad (thunderstorms in the summer, snow in the winter) the train is a better bet than the plane.  In this race, I had little traffic and perfect weather.