Flickr Moo .... Boo!

Here's my beef with buzzy web 2.0 sites. Despite rave reviews from in-the-know web evangelists, they still shaft the customer (on occasion).

Everyone loves these sites as they are community oriented and pro-consumer, but it does not do the consumer much good when transactions don't go through thus souring the overall customer experience. We have a big disconnect here.

So, to my point ... Flickr's buzzy printing site Moo can't seem to get its act together.

Here is what's wrong:

1. I crop every one of my 82 Flickr photos for printing on moo.com (a process that takes about 25 minutes ... but I will chalk this up to a creative 25 minutes so I am not griping). btw - the printable area drag and drop process is counterintuitive, but I figured it out in the end.

2. Proceed to the checkout screen - create an account, input credit card info, click proceed and it tells me my transaction has gone through (i.e., a bill is available for printing), BUT at the same time an error message appears.

3. I fire an email off to client service asking if my order actually went through (hey, this is web 2.0 - where is the IM option, or perhaps the ability to check my online account history). Anyways, client service responds in 2 days and says the order is no where to be found - it must not have gone through. Argh

4. So I try again. I repeat the cropping process (25 minutes of aggravation now - it's no longer fun and creative when doing it the 2nd time).

5. I proceed to the checkout and input my login and password at which point the screen freezes and I am out of luck. All that work for nothing. I quit.

6. Two attempts, 50 wasted minutes of cropping (why is my work not saved?) and no Moo cards.

The conclusion is that while I am all for web 2.0, community interaction, digital commerce and positive consumer experiences ... what's with all the hype when the site just does not work properly? This is fundamental and basic.

Moo - I know you are the current darling of the internet photo printing business, but wake up and make it a little easier for us wee consumers! I just want my cards!

Even the Enterprise can be fun!

Much has been written about the Enterprise and its inability to embrace the fun and quirkiness of the web 2.0 world. In a nutshell (according to some), the Enterprise = business, boring, grey, soulless cubicles, the "Man", "doesn't get it" etc.

One of the most tireless tiraders (is that a word? Well, you know what I mean) against the enterprise is Tara Hunt - an outspoken marketing rogue (self described) and evangelist for web 2.0 and the power of communities. Tara has some cool things to say and I agree with most of her marketing philosophies (and admire her passion to boot).

Anyways, the enterprise is not all that evil, especially when the office knows how to have a good time making money, returning value to shareholders and other "enterprise-y" things like that. We think we have set an example in this regard.

The quirky people at rightsleeve.com have recently joined the flickr community and hope that other offices across the land will do so as well (a few pioneering companies have already done so before us). Hey "Enterprise", let's lighten up!