THINQon : Game changers

THINQon is a platform for a more intelligent web. It aims to replace the ruling paradigm of the web – that of sharing and gathering information – with a sharing and achieving of understanding. Instead of the Q&A model it offers an experience. A platform for discovery of ideas, people, and yourself. Continue >

Chris Utterman

Game changers

Latest Post: June 19, 2011 at 9:18 AM

28 followers

What do you think are recent game changers?

I'll start. Carfax. I don't know how people bought cars before it.
I'm looking to buy a car and you meet private sellers and car salesmen who simply lie to your face without any shame. For example, I went and met a private seller telling him I'll want to see the Carfax. He says no problem, it's a perfect carfax, but he didn't pay for it. After looking at the car and talking with him for a while I go home only to find out that in fact - IT'S A LEMON! The guy spent quite a while lying to me while knowing that the moment I'll get home I'll know that everything he said was a lie. I consider myself a pretty good judge of character and I yet I hadn't a clue about this guy.

How do the incumbents deal with game changers? How do car dealerships deal with this game changer? What they do, and this is my interpretation, is create a placebo. You want the Carfax, no problem here it is, while what they really give you is a fake one. How can they do that, they create a supposed competitor called AutoCheck (again, this is my interpretation and many might disagree and see autocheck as a real competitor). Autocheck accidentally looks exactly like Carfax, and does part of what carfax does, probably telling you about lemons. And yet it doesn't tell you much about the parts that would bother car dealerships like details about accidents, maintenance, owners, etc. It does some of it but in a very basic way.

If I would write this on a different website I would feel the need to say that I'm not part of Carfax in any way, but it's nice that there is obviously no need to say this here as people know me.

What would you describe as game changers, and why?

Reply to:

Emily Andrews

June 16, 2011 at 8:57 PM

31 followers

Hi Chris,

To perhaps state the obvious, the ability to read large numbers of reviews online has been a game-changer. Sites like tripadvisor which rate hotels, along with the reviews on any self-respecting travel website, allow customers a great deal of leverage. Amazon reviews certainly influence my purchases of things like cell phone headsets, etc -- all those little but important gadgets I don't have time to really form an opinion about on my own. (Book reviews I also read, but these tend less to influence whether I actually buy the book. I use them more as summaries of books I'm not intending to read, to form a general opinion of the author's intent.)

The downside is, of course, that these reviews can be manipulated like anything else. I remember a cover story in a San Francisco-area newspaper about large-scale allegations of "shady dealings" at Yelp about two years ago: things like calling up small business owners and offering to hide or move bad reviews for a fee. People also complained that negative reviews "mysteriously" appeared in otherwise stellar records after the business refused to pay for some of Yelp's premium services.
There was an uproar and... as far as I can tell, nothing happened. I hope they behave better in other cities, but I don't have any real idea.

Reply to: or

Chris Utterman

In response to Emily Andrews

June 19, 2011 at 9:18 AM

28 followers

I'm not sure those are game changers Emily. There were always reviews. Before the internet there were newspapers, or professional magazines. For hotels and restaurants there were also the travel guides (and Zagat). The idea of a review is not a new one. I agree of course that it never existed in such abundance and about anything, so I would put it as a game improver, but I'm not sure it's a game changer. At least in by my viewpoint.

And though the same can be said about William's point below (post) about cellphone cameras, that cameras existed for a long time, I actually agree that cell phone cameras are a game changer. When thinking about why, I don't think the reason is technical, but rather psychological. The way people use cell phone cameras is different from how they would use cameras. It's a different kind of a recording and witnessing of their life and surrounding which they almost require to know that something existed. Cell-phone pictures of sex are much more prevalent than any photography before hand I would guess. For many, not photographing the occasion means it didn't happen, especially as they can't share it with everyone they may or may not know. William's example of witnessing crimes and events operates similarly.