Live Hotmail: Teen Sensation?
|
I heard an earful last night after my daughter's Girl Scouts meeting, as a group of tweens and teens chattered about how much they like Windows Live Hotmail. These young "digital natives" had something important to say about the future of Windows Live and enterprise social networking. |
"It's kinda like Xanga and MySpace together, only better," one girl chirped to another about Windows Live Hotmail.
A second girl cooed about Windows Live Contacts, although she didn't use that name to describe it.
A younger tween giggled about why Live Hotmail is better than Yahoo because she can put emoticons with her photo.
Two general themes emerged from the girls' Live Hotmail chatter: What matters most to them online is communicating with friends, and they don't see any difference between Live Contacts, Hotmail, Messenger or Spaces—it is all one service to them.
As a parent, my descriptor for 11-13 year-old girls is flight. They flitter and fly from one thing to the next. One online fad leads to another—Xanga, MySpace, FaceBook or Windows Live. The girls open accounts as 18-year-olds, hang out for awhile and move on to the next online gathering hole.
But Windows Live has some pull that social networking services like MySpace and Xanga don't—Windows Live Messenger for starters. Among my daughter's friends, more of the girls use Live or Yahoo messengers than AIM or other alternatives. Right now, Hotmail is choice du jour. More of the girls used Yahoo Mail before Microsoft relaunched its Web-based mail service as Live Hotmail.
Who Do You Know?
I'm a Northern Maine boy. Back there, maple sap moves faster in winter than does Microsoft's slow, lumbering Internet services strategy. Perhaps, these Girl Scouts are a sign that Microsoft might yet win the Web services race at a turtle's pace. Three years ago, Microsoft product managers outlined a services strategy built around a single concept: Relationships. But the real-world application has come slowly.
The community approach—making and maintaining relationships—is sensible. Sprawl defines the World Wide Web. There are just too many people or places online. Rather than add to the sprawl, Microsoft's services' approach has long been about connecting people to other people they know.
Blogging is good example of the sprawl problem. In addition to Microsoft Watch, I have a personal blog. Traffic there is a lot lighter than here, for obvious reasons. But mom reads the personal posts, as do other family and some friends; people whom I know.
Microsoft had used Messenger, and now Live Contacts, as a way of connecting people who know each other across different services. The company has slowly—with the emphasis on slowly—extended identity across its services. Cross-integration is stronger, too. Live Hotmail hooks into Contacts, Spaces and OneCare. Spaces hooks into Contacts, Live Folders, OneCare and Live Photo Gallery. Windows Messenger cues people when their buddies post to blogs.
Major Windows Live services now sport a unified toolbar, while a consolidated homesite offers access to all the user's services. Microsoft has taken long enough, but the disparate Live services are looking more unified.
Social networks like Facebook and MySpace solve the sprawl problem by offering platforms in the cloud. This is particularly true of Facebook, which is looking more like a Web-based operating system than social networking service. My 13-year-old daughter simply can't get enough of Facebook. She's gaga over Facebook applications. My daughter uses Facebook the way I worked Windows a decade ago.
Interesting: Services like Facebook are a lot more like Desktop 1.0 than Web 2.0, because of the extent of lock-in. Stuff goes in, but it doesn't easily come out. I'm rather surprised there hasn't been more fuss, particularly from the Microsoft quarter, about the extent of lock-in.
Digital Natives Seize the Day
Circling back: Has Microsoft got a better way, particularly for younger consumers? Surely, one small group of Girl Scouts is no scientific study. But these tweens and teens are the future of computing. Yesterday, Gartner analysts noted the impact digital natives would eventually have on enterprise social networking.
Gartner forecast annual compound growth rate of 41.7 percent through 2011 for enterprise social networking. Digital natives will shape the face of enterprise social networking, says the analyst firm.
There are various definitions of technology adopters using immigration analogies. My adaptation:
- Digital natives, people who grew up with the Internet, cell phones and hard disk/solid state-based devices. My daughter is example of how they see the world. To her, TV has always been about watching on her terms, whether using a DVR to record shows or pause live programming.
- Digital resident aliens, people who already were young adults when the PC era dawned and who were around 30 or a little older when Netscape released its commercial browser. I would put Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates in this category.
- Digital immigrants, people like my 66-year-old mom, who reached late adulthood long before the PC or Internet. My mom has used a computer for about 10 years. While comfortable with a PC and the, ah, InterWeb, she is very limited compared to my daughter. Mom brings along old habits and cultural attitudes that are foreign to digital natives.
Microsoft's social networking solution for enterprises is SharePoint Portal Server, which is a lot more digital resident alien than it is digital native. But if somebody is smart up there in Redmond, Wash., the future of enterprise social networking will come from Windows Live. What should Windows Live be? A canvas—where users can mash up content and relationships, sharing what's important to them with their community.
I know some 11-14 year olds that get it. Say, how about a Windows Live merit badge for the Girl Scouts?
Related Posts:
- Microsoft Seeks Real Live Moms, Microsoft Watch, Sept. 12, 2007
- Is Microsoft's Head Really in the Clouds?, Microsoft Watch, July 26, 2007
- Is Windows Live a Killer?, Microsoft Watch, July 26, 2007
- Channeling Microsoft Hosted Services, Microsoft Watch, July 9, 2007
- Which Comes First, Software or Services?, Microsoft Watch, July 9, 2007
- When Is 'Open' More Open for Microsoft?, Microsoft Watch, May 17, 2007
- Hot or Live, It's No Longer Beta, Microsoft Watch, May 7, 2007
- Who Pays for Software Plus Services, Microsoft Watch, March 15, 2007
- Google Catfight About 30 Years in the Making, Microsoft Watch, March 6, 2007
- What Is Microsoft's Services Platform?, Microsoft Watch, March 1, 2007
- Ray Ozzie Speaks Out, Microsoft Watch, February 27, 2007
- Google and Long Tail Computing, Microsoft Watch, February 22, 2007
- Sorry, but Live Isn't Dead, Microsoft Watch, December 12, 2006
- It's a Shame About Ray, Microsoft Watch, December 6, 2006
Comments (15)
How often do we see this in Joes articles: "one {placeholder} is no scientific study"
In that placeholder position can be found the following: "Trip to Best Buy", "Trip to Walmart", "Trip to Costco", "Girl Scout conversation", "Conversation overheard on the street", "Elderly relatives computer problem", "Drunks ranting at a bar" etc.
Mate, didn't you start out as a darn analyst? Since when does anyone want to hear about your tween daughters girl scout conversation?
Do you think people come to a site looking for anecdotes? Or perhaps they come for useful information.
I know I stopped coming for useful information a long time ago, now I just stop in to see whether anyone's still employed here. This whole site strikes me as the .com equivalent of the suburban piano store. No one ever sees a customer, but the place never closes down!
Posted by Ben | September 20, 2007 11:58 PM
Joe, besides girl scouts , try cheerleaders in your next entry !
Hah.. hah ..
Posted by John | September 21, 2007 12:13 AM
u know what really gets me, everyone calls Windows Live Messenger MSN. y didnt the social name change from MSN to WLM or Windows Live Messenger
Posted by puppet | September 21, 2007 1:18 AM
Joe, I am very "excited" by your comments.
Tell us more of your 13 year-old daughter, your 66 year-old mom and the girl scouts 's comment on Microsoft ..
May be you should open another column called:
" Microsoft Watcn - By Amateurs "
Posted by Ron | September 21, 2007 3:27 AM
I think it's pretty cool for a change to see Microsoft as an underdog/running behind and seeing them finally putting some innovation that they've lacked for quite a number of years.
Posted by Jeffrey Hamilton | September 21, 2007 10:52 AM
good, well written, balanced article.
thanks joe.
Posted by uhura | September 21, 2007 1:48 PM
Finally a "compliment" from Joe! You've been so critical on MSFT that any compliment is refreshing!
Please Joe can you bash the banner ad on hotmail though. It's still the show-stopper. If there's one reason I keep my hotmail dormant (besides its slowness) is the banner ad. It's VERY disruptive.
Posted by Isaac | September 21, 2007 2:43 PM
Joe, how about commenting on the significance of the VCSY/Microsoft lawsuit, or are you bound by a Non-Disclosure-Agreement? It's not fair for Microsoft to keep so many everyone in the dark. imo
mtgmark from the Yahoo/Microsoft board says VCSy has... well, let me allow him to tell you:
"Charles Feeney has NOTHING to do with vcsy. "
heh heh heh
A secretive recluse multi billionaire long before billionaires existed. A man who has been building "internet" companies before most internet workers were born. A man who created the first transcontinental and global financial transactioning company and employed only the best technologists.
VCSy has survived incredible hits and odds since the dotcom crash, secured multiple large-value properties, demonstrates relationships and efforts behind a curtain of secrecy... just like Mr. Feeney's modes of operation.
And mtgmark (who is a mortgage loan office, mind you) says it's IMPOSSIBLE for Mr. Wade (once Duty Free Shopper VP of Financial Systems), Mr. Valdetaro (first individual to create a transactional linkage between mainframes for IBM across continents) and their intellectual properties (key elements in smartcards, distributed transactional processing, internet modernization infrastructure and global affiliation technology) to have ANYTHING to do with what General Atlantic wants to do in financial systems and global commerce.
You do know, don't you, that Feeney prizes loyalty and long-standing relationships more than money. He prizes hard work and never-say-die effort more than fame. He rewards those who stand by him and he ridicules by silent example those who think they can do better.
BWAAAHHH HA HA HAAA
This is too delicious to pass up. I told myself I wasn't going to waste my time on this board any more but you folks make it so entertaining.
OK Reader. Now you know who Chuck Feeney is. You should have at least gone back and searched through Richard Wade's bio. You should also have searched through Luis Valdetero's bio by now. And, for good measure, you should read about their inventors: Aubrey McAuley, Jeff Davison, Aluizio Cruz and the work they have done with Jerome Svigals and others.
Do you know what NOW Solutions emPath is able to do? Think about it, pilgrim. You don't have much time.
Do you know what Feeney wants to do? Can you figure it out? And you STILL don't believe in stealth operations? You still don't believe a company can run-silent for years deferring income in order to slip up behind the giants and slit their throats?
You still don't believe in cornerstone technology development and keystone positions for secret business structures? Who convinced you of that? And how could you be so gullible?
VCSY built the distributed smart card transactioning system for Jerome Svigals latest generation of smartcards and you STILL can't figure it out?
Microsoft will be lucky if they capitulate. If they don't, the world industry is standing ready to take their company and assets apart.
If you're so dense you can't figure this one out, I have one suggestion: STOP INVESTING in technology companies before you lose your butt.
Posted by I-Man | September 21, 2007 3:04 PM
What a lame attempt to promote Live Hotmail. Even MSFT staff are not so thrilled about Live crap. It's a marketing and strategy disaster
Posted by John Minto | September 21, 2007 8:20 PM
What I expect from a mail service is, that at least POP3 is supported (and I will only /use/ it, if IMAP is supported too). I want to have controll over my email. Something Microsoft doesn't offer.
Posted by Demanding user | September 21, 2007 9:39 PM
i am mohanned i am 11 years old i like to now a new friend i am mohanned_1996@hotmail.com
Posted by mohanned | October 2, 2007 9:10 AM
i just want a frinde
Posted by jeffri | October 3, 2007 7:33 PM
i just want a frinde. i am 15 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Posted by jeffri | October 3, 2007 7:34 PM
Did they try out Coolhotmail? They will love it. NOW they have their own unique email id that matches their personality!
Posted by Anu | October 7, 2007 2:53 AM
Don' t get it? O. k. banks are lending out tracker mortgages calculated on the base rate which is currently 4%, and the fixed margin above that is (for instance) 0. 8% giving you a tracker rate of 4. 8%- until such time as rates go up or down and the rate will follow accordingly. But the interbank market was pinched and banks would not lend each- other money because they were afraid of credit risk a bank they would lend to might have due to exposure to the sub- prime market in the USA or they wanted to hoard...
Posted by ClicK Here | March 28, 2008 12:12 PM