The importance of proper catigorization.

I have been working on a project lately where I have been dealing with filtering and categorizing large amounts of data, specifically retail products. What surprises me is that companies who are in the business of helping people find a product, don't take the time to lay the proper ground work to make it easy for people to find what they are looking for.

Let take for example, Amazon.com, one of the largest internet retailers. Its their business to help people find products. But Women's T-shirts, with 25,000 items is very hard to navigate because it doesn't really have any subcategories. Off the top of my head, I would think you could create sub categories like, V-neck, Round Neck, Cotton, Cotton Poly Blend, Novelty, Casual, Retro and more.

It does us no good to give people all of the products/data in the world if there is no way to easily navigate that data. If you are in the business of helping people find something, take the time to do it right and make sure everything is properly categorized.

Long Tail Surfing

The Long Tail is so BIG, you can't possibly navigate it by yourself. Even with great filters, its just too big a job on your own.

It must be a collective effort. With each person surfing individually and sharing with the group. This sharing from person to group will introduce people in the group to new things that they will then share with new groups(if its worth sharing). This cycle from individual to group and back to individual is the future of the Long Tail Surfing.

Enabling this cycle is the future of internet retailing.

Blogging for an A

It has been a long time since I have blogged. I have been consumed with another project that has consumed all of my free time. Should be launching it soon.

The time off has made me think about how I blog. And I have decided to change my blogging habits. Before, I only blogged when I felt like I had something really intelligent to say. I took a long time to think about a post because I wanted get it just right. And sometimes it took a long time to write those posts as if I were writing a small Thesis for some Masters Degree I will never get. I feel like this way of blogging has limited me and my ability to get my thoughts out. A lot of great thoughts have fallen by the wayside.

But that's all going to change starting now. From now on, blog post will be:

• Shorter
• More frequent
  
• A way for me just to get my thoughts out on a given topic
  
• Written in the moment
• To the point
• More of a brainstorm
• How I think the digital world IS changing
• How I think the digital world SHOULD change
• An exploration of my thoughts

I am not saying I won't take the time to write good blog posts. I am just going to let my blogging and thoughts flow a little more freely than before.