DOUG SCHUMACHER

experience designer + writer

foursquare

Creativing :: Stunning infographics, the future of Web content, and NASA explores Flickr

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What’s going on in new media marketing, pulled from social bookmarking site Creativing.com:

50 most stunning examples of data visualization and infographics | Richworks

Fantastic selection of work. This is a must see for anyone in marketing. (Thx to John Durham for the link.)

The Rise of the Anti-Facebooks

I don’t see any of these as having a real chance of unseating Facebook, but it’s a good read comparing their strategic approachs. Diaspora is the most interesting, as it’s open source. So many other platforms are moving towards open source, and as Facebook’s big strategy is to be a platform and not a destination, they could be vulnerable to an open source movement. Especially given the increasing amount of data they have on people (e.g., Places).

“The Social Network” Movie Launches a Facebook-Themed Website

I really like the simplicity of this site. I don’t get how they’re comparing this site to a social network site, but it’s well-done none-the-less.

Flickr: NASA on The Commons’ Photostream

Like the Library of Congress putting a lot of the National Archives photos on Flickr before. While the pics have been available on the NASA site, it’s nice to see them moving to a common online photo site. As a Flickr user, I’m glad to be able to see these pics up in my rotation of photos by contacts.

Facebook Awarded A Social Search Patent

The patent is for “ranking search results based on the frequency of clicks on the search results by members of a social network who are within a predetermined degree of separation”. Interesting that the patent was filed in 2004. They were focused on that very early on, and the vision is still holding strong.

Apple – iTunes – Ping: Social Network for Music

I’m pretty underwhelmed. Of course, social media and open anything aren’t really Apple’s things. But really, there just isn’t any depth of content or relationship to the conversation or the connections.

Chatroulette’s Relaunch Is A Bust | paidContent

Even if the ChatRoulette URL proves to be dead, the idea of randomly connecting with strangers via video will surely surface somewhere else, probably more closely aligned with a specific interest group.

The Future of Web Content – HTML5, Flash & Mobile Apps

Uncovered this article from earlier this year. If you’re not familiar with Jeremy Allaire, he’s had a great career charting technology trends and making products that address the changing needs. His take is that of a seasoned technologist who’s seen a lot of things come and go. Bottom line is, there’s still a lot of tumult in the industry (witness the h.264 pending usage royalties in 2014) and a clear vision of the future online content platform probably won’t emerge for at least a couple of years.

Checkmate iPhone App Uses Background Location for Automatic Checkins on Foursquare

Given this works wtihin 50 meters of a business, that means a lot of potential checkins when people are just walking past. I can’t imagine how that’s good for Foursquare.

8 Crucial AdWords Reports For Measuring Success

A good set of campaign metrics to follow that provide a well-rounded view of performance. This is a good read for people outside SEM who aren’t overly family with campaign analytics

Creativing :: Facebook goes location location location, Hysterical ChatRoulette spoof, and stock footage you haven’t seen (and would want to)

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What’s going on in new media marketing, pulled from social bookmarking site Creativing.com:

“The Last Exorcism” Viral Campaign Spooks Chatroulette

This is really well-done. I presume the prank is real, i.e., the people on the other end of ChatRoulette aren’t staged. For the record, this was done a few months ago, but this production is much better: Here’s the original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMG8FT1TKkw

CriticalPast.com: Stock video site with great archival footage.

Just about anyone can use a stock photo site with fresh content. (Where else can you find footage of Richard Nixon playing piano at the opening of the Grand Ol’ Opry in 1974.)

How Coca-Cola Could Bring Pop Appeal Back to MySpace – Advertising Age

The headline is certainly a grabber. And music does seem to be MySpace’s only bullet left. But I think it’s because Facebook hasn’t spent real effort in the area. And they might not until MySpace or someone else demonstrates real opportunity. Then they’ll move in and do the same “Netscaping” that they’re taking to the location-based industry. Facebook has the user data — even their data on personal musical preferences surpasses MySpace. My guess is that if they rolled out a monetization model for music-related apps, they could sprint past MySpace in music pretty easily.

Facebook Places: What It Is, What It Isn’t, And Why It May Change The World | Forrester Blogs

A good detail on the Facebook Places launch. Facebook is wisely taking the platform approach, vs product, emphasizing a partnership relationship with the current field of location-based services. The also provide a lucid example of what these location checkins can mean emotionally. Their example: Imagine your children visit a beach in 20 years, and find out that’s where you and your wife exchanged your first kiss. That should have brands like Hallmark licking their chops. This idea of driving routes and hiking trails becoming flush with new reference points and notations holds a lot of promise for brands to make rich contributions to people’s lives, if done correctly.

Mashable Poll Results: Will You Use Facebook Places? [POLL]

This is my screen grab after taking the poll (my answer was YES, given I’d already used it). I’m a little surprised it’s not higher, but am guessing there’s some blow-back from current fans and early adopters of other location-based services. And for people who say they see no value in it, I’d just give it time.

Foursquare Experiences Record Signups After Launch of Facebook Places

Interesting headline in the wake of the Facebook Places launch. However, the article pinpoints what has to be the real story here. That Foursquare is drafting a lot of the buzz the Places launch has generated, as it’s hard to find an article about Places that doesn’t also mention Foursquare. It certainly indicates the value of press, even if it hasn’t been favorable to Foursquare regarding the launch. As the saying goes, write whatever you want, just spell my name right.

Facebook Mobile: 100 Million and Growing

Just a perspective on the launch of Facebook Places relative to the current crop of location-based services. Keep in mind that, as I reported last week, less than 1% of people use location based services more than once per week. Foursquare, the media darling of location-based services, has 3 million users. Facebook has 100m as of last Feb. Probably way more now, given the growth trajectory stated here. So for those asking how will Places impact the existing LBS companies? For future users who will be joining the LBS fun, Facebook offers a more familiar interface, an app they’ve probably already installed, and a place where most of their friends already are. Simplicity, familiarity, and mass penetration. I’d hate to be competing against that.

Shopkick Teams With Best Buy To End Fake Retail Check-Ins

This challenge for brands using Foursquare is very real. The checkins can be easily gamed. And while that’s fine when friends are fighting over the mayorship of the local dive bar, when brands start to spend big money on coupon-driven campaigns, millions of dollars can be at stake. Shopkick is offering a tighter grip on the situation. The technology behind this is quite clever. The Shopkick app picks up an inaudible sound emitted from their in-store device which tells them the user is actually in the store.

The CMO’s Real Conundrum « iMediaConnection Blog

If advertising is about understanding your customer, then every agency person should spend a lot of time studying CMOs. This is a good overview of the recent Accenture report on the challenges facing CMOs in the digital age. It also reflects the findings from the May 2010 article in BusinessWeek on what CEOs really want from their ranks: http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/may2010/id20100517_190221.htm

Creativing :: Twitter the movie?, Mafia Wars goes guerrilla, and the future of the Internet is ‘things’

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What’s going on in new media marketing, pulled from social bookmarking site Creativing.com:

Zynga Runs Guerrilla Mafia Wars Campaign In Hermosa Beach, CA

I like the use of QR codes in this game. I scanned it off the blog image using I-nigma on my iPhone and it had no trouble reading and taking me straight to the site. QR codes have made a lot of progress in the past couple of years.

Advertisers flocking to Facebook: eMarketer – Yahoo! News

Facebook’s taking a page from Google’s playbook. There’s a lot of money in automating the ad process, even if it’s small amounts from a lot of advertisers. Or perhaps especially if that’s the case.

Twitter Movie Trailer:  Rated Awesome

Very well-done parody of the trailer for the Facebook movie, which is here if you haven’t seen it. http://www.thesocialnetwork-movie.com/

Where Else in the World Will Kids Think to Put the Web? [VIDEO]

Interesting that when kids 6-12 were asked about what they want from technology, it’s to better connect them with the physical world. And they’re the ones who should be most comfortable with technology. Refreshing.

China Moves to Dominate the Next Stage of the Web

Interesting that while a recent survey of kids pointed to a future demand for bridging the technical world with the future world, and here China is setting themselves up to the the future of the Internet of Things. Pretty telling. A great stat at the end of this article, too. Earlier this week it happened for the first time that there are now more objects connected to wireless data plans than human subscribers.

Facebook Pages Become Customer Support Centers

There’s been recent buzz online about Facebook’s — and social media in general — ability to function as a customer support resource. Scalability is often at the core of the discussion, but then, customer support has never been any more scalable outside of social media. The objective for customer support technology is always to provide helpful information as fast as possible. Ideally faster than calling and talking to a CS rep. Facebook’s big advantage is familiarity. Even within an app, people may feel more comfortable using it to gather information versus a site visit. So speed and relevance will be the litmus test for this new CS tech, Parature.

Behind the Scenes of MTV’s Twitter Jockey Competition [VIDEO]

Twitter seems more like a content channel than a media platform. While arguably still outside the mainstream compared to most media vehicles, it has a large user base that wouldn’t be considered early adopters of new technology, while at the same time many traditional early adopters find little use for the service. In that sense, it’s a source for the truly influential to get those first bits of information across a range of subjects that most new techs never scratch the surface of.

Whrrl: Living In Foursquare’s Shadow

As my use of Foursquare continues to flatten, I’m interested in what’s next for location based services. Whrrl is the one I’m checking out lately. It’s more complicated than Foursquare, but offers extended value in the form of community. I guess those badges are wearing off, and if I wanted deals, I’d go to Groupon. Right now, my network isn’t to a point where I’m really getting the value, but as Whrrl is adding 2-3,000 users per day and I live in a fairly early adopter area, hopefully the value will emerge.

Gowalla CEO: Sorry Mobile Web: Users Prefer Apps

Start with this quote from the CEO: “Many people perceive the web as source for content rather than a source of services. An app puts the illusion of packaging around a web-delivered service so people feel like they are buying functionality, not merely visiting a site to perform a function or access content. This subtle perception not only explains why apps are popular, but it might also be a clue as to why folks can charge for apps while still unable to monetize their web-based services.”

While marketers are typically focused on building website experiences — for reasons ranging from cost to seo — there are distinct advantages to building apps. For one, once an app is installed, you have ongoing awareness every time the user scrolls through their apps. We all know how easily bookmarks get lost in normal web browsing. That has to increase 10x for a mobile experience. But well beyond that, there’s the perceived value of an app that the CEO is talking about. It’s packaged.

Fact: Most People Have Never Heard of Location-Based Apps

The harsh reality of leading edge technology is that it’s often very difficult to reach a mass audience. This study shows that less than only 1% of those surveyed use location-based services (LBS) more than 1x per week. Not the rate at which you can build a market. This leaves brands with two options at the moment. 1. Determine if you have a key influencer group using LBS and if so, plan for a ripple effect. 2. Do something to generate word of mouth buzz that extends well outside the LBS user group. Unfortunately, neither option is a high-odds play.

Creativing :: Conan O’Brien’s tweet, Social media pushes the ‘cuddle’ button, and Web 3.0?

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What’s going on in new media marketing, pulled from social bookmarking site Creativing.com:

Tweet of the Week – Conan O’Brien

11 years between “Toy Story’s” and 7 months between “Twilight’s.” By that measure, the “Jonah Hex” sequel should be out in 3 days.

Virgin Gives Free Tickets to ‘Influencial’ Tweeters – MarketingVOX

If you’re into the numbers side of campaigns, this is a good read. Also a good back and forth on the value of social media as a demand creation tool. Nothing overly conclusive, but the varying points are worth reading. The end line really summarizes it well. No single tactic can do everything. It has to be a group effort.

Kynetx Introduces the Programmable Internet – the Language of the Building Block Web | Stay N’ Alive

Those wondering when “Web 2.0” would run it’s course, this could be the next direction. The trajectory of tech developments continues to be sharable, with rapid development times enabling products to get to market fast. There are several good examples of how this tech can play out.

Social Media Increases “Cuddle” Chemical Production in the Brain [STUDY]

So social media pushes the ‘cuddle’ button. That means it’s either jumped the shark or is so irreversibly embedded in our psyche’s that we’re never going back. Despite all the hype and it’s growth curve, I’d have to vote it’s the latter.

While at first glance this sounds a bit cooky, the three bullet points at the bottom reiterate things we’ve known about communication and writing for a long time. Write with verbs and not adjectives, sex sells, and use simple language for broader appeal. Signs that social media is a not-so-distant relative to traditional media.

Who Will Fall to Facebook Questions? – MarketingVOX

I recently covered Formspring as an example of answer sites that are producing remarkable traffic numbers. Granted, Formspring has a big sensationalistic slant to it. But the underlying growth is real, as this investment by Facebook clearly demonstrates. So bottom line is, despite all the content and site experiences already out there, people still have a lot of questions. Seems like an opportunity for a lot of brands.

Twitter Annotations Are Coming — What Do They Mean For Twitter and the Web?

A discussion on Twitter’s forthcoming Annotations, which get’s pretty technical fast. However, the first couple of paragraphs delve into what the real potential, and potential problems, of annotations is all about. And you can watch the video at the end of the article, if you don’t get shaky camera sickness.

Augmented Reality: Thinking Beyond Branded Hype | MobileBehavior

While this is probably one of the most robust AR mobile apps yet developed, the best part of this article is the expanded thinking on what really makes a great mobile app or AR experience, and what direction that technology is going.

9 Universal Principles of Viral Media Sites

If you’re in the content development space, you’re likely in the meme development space to some degree. This article lists points that, while obvious, are also good reminders. Bottom line is, memes are a fickle business, and need as much surrounding support as possible.

Secrets to Revenue and Innovation in New Product Development | Nielsen Wire

A summary of some remarkable findings relative to product development. Keep upper management out of the early ideation stages. And off-site teams tend to produce better ideas than those on site. Bottom line is, companies need a fresh perspective, and driving innovation from within the status quo is apparently not getting the job done as effectively.

Social Media as Digital Plastic Surgery – Eric Wegerbauer

With social media continuing it’s surge to overtake seemingly every other site category out there, a lot of contrarians are beginning to predict it’s pending doom. Many take the boredom approach, but I don’t buy that. It will reinvent itself, much like gaming. Others speak to the loss of privacy. Like that’s stopped anyone or anything on the Net so far. But Eric’s point is interesting to me. That the use of social media monitoring of customers by brands like healthcare providers and insurance companies will force many people to craft their online persona’s, killing off a lot of the authenticity. A good point, and something that hits directly on social media’s strongest appeal.

Creativing :: Tweet of the Week, Craigslist TV?, and Foursquare links to print ads

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What’s going on in new media marketing, pulled from social bookmarking site Creativing.com:

Tweet of the Week

RT @hodgman “Just out here retweeting.”

Craigslist TV: Just as Awkwardly Entertaining as You Would Imagine [VIDEO]

Craigslist never ceases to amaze me. For one, it’s ongoing popularity, despite a horrible user interface. But even moreso, the way it frequently extends directly into popular culture. The personals are read for entertainment, artists do visualizations of the “Missed Connections” sections, and now this. There’s a fairly personal nature to much of Craigslist content, from personal ads to what people are selling out of their garages, that helps people identify with the content.

Facebook to Simplify Privacy Controls – NYTimes.com

Facebook responds to the privacy blowup. Given the speed of change Facebook’s been going through, and the Apple-esque disregard for outside opinion (some that’s both asset and liability for both), this whole scenario isn’t surprising.

More than anything, this really points to the role user experience plays in app and site development. Ignore it at your own risk.

Earthjustice Uses Foursquare to Make Print Ads Actionable | MobileBehavior

With Foursquare all over the news, the big question is, What are the different ways brands will be using technologies like this in their campaigns? This example links print work to mobile, with mass transit posters prompting riders to ‘checkin’ on a give subject to support an environmental cause. One great feature is that they’ve taken a print piece and given it a highly-trackable action.

Mobile creation – the Japanese way – Popwuping

The Japanese have long been ahead of us in mobile usage, and this is a good topline of their user behavior and why it’s different from the computer-based Internet.

YouTube Launches Platform for Crowdsourcing Suggestions

I’m seeing a lot of activity around the crowdsourcing/answers site format lately. Here, YouTube demonstrates again their value to Google in the way that Google can so quickly integrate many of their broad span of features into the largest video site in the world. In this case, I’m not sure video adds that much to answers, although given the power of video, it’s certainly worth Google trying. Bottom line is, there’s a lot of potential in answer sites, and that’s what Google’s trying to tap.

5 Ways To Turn Your Traffic Into Valuable User Data

Clearly your site visitors are a valuable source of insights and information about what interests them and others like them. The question is, How do you gather that information? This is a list of 5 tools that can help you ask them questions, process the information, and even compare it to competitor sites for relative value.

Google Rolls Out More Tweet-Based Ads

Using a Twitter feed to create the content for a Google AdSense ad is a great idea not only because it’s new and innovative, which generally tends to do well for online marketing, but because it does two things at once. It provides the advertiser with an extremely simple content management system for piping fresh messaging into their ad, and it also prominently promotes their Twitter account, which is a strong conversion action for many marketers.

Flash Enthusiast Sends a Hidden Message To Steve Jobs

This is quite clever. A creative at McCann built his website in Flash, and for the image that loads incase you don’t have the Flash plugin, he’s inserted a photo of Steve Jobs giving you the finger. He’s offering the image to anyone who will install it, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find this image popping up across the Web.

Yahoo Announces Deep Integration Partnership With Social Gaming Start-Up Zynga | AllThingsD

Social gaming is red hot. And it seems such a natural for brands to get involved. An existing, highly-active audience. Relatively low production costs. And of course, it all ties in to their social media networks for sharing.

Here’s What Google TV Looks Like (PHOTOS)

I’ve posted several things recently on Google TV, which is probably the most interesting happening around TV technology. Here are some early screen snaps from the experience. This is classic Google. Throw something out there early, it looks kind of ugly, but the upside potential is clear and massive.

Creativing :: Tweet of the Week, Facebook’s privacy blowup, and Google’s version of TVs future

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What’s going on in new media marketing, pulled from social bookmarking site Creativing.com:

Tweet of the Week

From writer Kathy Hepinstall: “what happens in the gulf of mexico does not stay in the gulf of mexico.”

Here’s What Google TV Looks Like (PHOTOS)

I’ve posted several things recently on Google TV, which is probably the most interesting happening around TV technology. Here are some early screen snaps from the experience. This is classic Google. Throw something out there early, it looks kind of ugly, but the upside potential is clear and massive.

Can One Man Communicate Solely Through Social Media for a Month?

A remarkable story for anyone interested in cause-related marketing through social media. It really underlines the fact that successful social media campaigns are about big ideas. The ‘social media’ tools are just the distribution channels.

ESPN to Launch Social Games for Sports Fans

If you consider the popularity of sports, sports-related gaming, and social viewing (which is really best for live events, like sports), this seems like enormous territory. Actually surprised I haven’t heard about this before.

NBC Turns Television into a Social Media Game

Several interesting things about this. 1. Foursquare is featured along with the heavyweights of social media (and note there’s not a single Google property), 2. The Facebook rules and regulations say you can’t pay people to “Like” something, but they’re offering rewards for liking things, and those rewards have value. Maybe they’ve found a loophole with “Rewards”, but it seems like a thin line. 3. The article speaks of “Liking” doing a makeover on the Nielsen ratings system. That’s a big indicator of the power of the “Like” button.

Facebook Knows That Your Relationship Will End In A Week

A lot of people wonder what the value is of all the behavioral data Facebook can track. This example of Facebook’s supposed ability to project the end or beginning of a relationship is all they should need. Imagine just from this info, the number of related businesses that could want to target messages to either party, going into or coming out of a relationship. Then extend that across all behaviors in your life, and there quite a lot of potential for marketers. All of this potential isn’t available to companies yet, but if Facebook’s recent trends about selling your info play out, then it likely will be.

Mayors of Starbucks Now Get Discounts Nationwide with Foursquare

More interesting events on the mobile front. While Foursquare only has about 1 million users, they’re certainly the type of people Starbucks wants. Early adopters, socially active, and willing to broadcast much of their brand loyalties throughout social media.

Booyah Hits 2 Million, Stealing Foursquare’s Thunder

Booyah’s MyTown. The biggest mobile game you’ve never heard of. Already about 2x as many users as Foursquare. It’s interesting to contrast/compare with Foursquare, which is sort of a game, but not really taking the social gaming concept head-on, which MyTown is definitely doing.

The Big Game, Zuckerberg and Overplaying your Hand « The Jason Calacanis Weblog

A very well written lambasting of Facebook from a number of angles. Of course, right after this, Facebook inked a long-term deal with Zynga, the Facebook whipping boy in this article. Beyond the vitriol, Jason makes a far-reaching point about the very essence of the Web’s progress being about openness and existing outside any single company’s motives, that single company being Facebook.

Well, These New Zuckerberg IMs Won’t Help Facebook’s Privacy Problems

Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t seem very concerned about privacy. At least not yours. However, it’s interesting to see people digging up all sorts of things from his past, like these 5 yr old IMs where he literally calls people ‘dumb fucks’ for trusting him with their information on Facebook. If he’s not responding to reporters questions about this, does it mean they’ve uncovered something he’s not comfortable with? i.e., Information he thinks should be private? Privacy advocates could start targeting him in much the same way they exposed Justice Scalia’s personal information after he opposed privacy laws.

Facebook Enters into Five-Year ‘Strategic Relationship’ with Zynga – IndustryGamers

At times, Facebook seems like a company moving so fast they’re going to meltdown, but then they pull moves like this and show how far ahead they’re thinking relative to the other majors, including Google and Apple. Social gaming isn’t even close to being tapped out, IMO. That’s why I’m impressed by Facebook putting together such an unprecedented (for them) long-term deal with a social gaming company.

Creativing :: Twitter trend #songprequels, It’s Foursquare day, and how marketers are using Twitter’s new ad platform

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Tweet of the Week

It’s Tweets of the week this week, picking up a trending hashtag #songprequels. Some funny stuff.

YouTube – Alice for the iPad

If you have any doubts about iPad or any other slate’s ability to transform the publishing, and specifically the book industry, this 45 second video for the iPad ebook version of “Alice in Wonderland” is a must see. While it may seem like it plays the same trick over and over, keep in mind this is the first attempt and within the first couple of weeks of the iPad’s release.

It’s 4SQ Day, But Foursquare Has (Almost) Nothing To Do With It

It’s 4/16 today. 4 squared. Get it? So in cities around the country, Foursquare users are getting together to celebrate post-tax day. About 150 businesses are giving Foursquare users special deals. There’s even a badge for it. McDonalds is getting involved.

What’s remarkable is that Foursquare the company had nothing to do with it, other than just making the badge. Probably took them an hour.

Most companies would die for this level of momentum.

Foursquare Cracks Down on Cheaters

As Foursquare starts to go more legit with companies actually paying to play along, this type of enforcement was just a matter of time.

History Channel Launches Foursquare Campaign and a New Badge

At the moment, I’m interested in anything happening on Foursquare. You can’t get much farther out on the edge than a location-based social gaming platform. Pairing the History Channel and the latest technology is interesting in it’s own way, but I do like the functional, or at least educational, aspect of this. It definitely adds a needed dimension to ‘checking in’, which is getting a little old and I think has people starting to ask “OK, What’s next?”.

Twitter Promoted Tweets Are Live

Just in case you haven’t seen a screen grab of Twitter’s new ad platform, Promoted Tweets, here you go. Note the tie-in between the hashtag and the content of the Promoted Tweet. Curious how many brands will be able to find that much context in the stream of Twitter conversations.

How Virgin America Uses Promoted Tweets

A good overview of how Virgin America is using the new Twitter Promoted Tweets ad platform. And VA appears to be doing a great job with this opportunity to participate in the launch of an ad platform. My question is, How mass-scalable is this (I can’t imagine Twitter is thinking this won’t be a mass advertising model). My questions are more around the average advertiser’s ability to use this ad model as judiciously as VA is. I don’t see most advertisers being anywhere near as creative, and certainly not as restrained. So I still have a lot of questions about how this opens up to a much larger base of advertisers who aren’t so much concerned with reputation as they are with reach. Of course, I’m sure Twitter gave that a thought or two before launching, so I’m curiously watching.

The Twitter Platform’s Inflection Point

Where’s Twitter headed? Or where’s the business or creative opportunity around Twitter? As Fred Wilson says, It won’t be in the same sandbox everyone’s already been playing in.

Advertising – Marketers Placing More Products Into Plots – NYTimes.com

Very interesting idea here of customizing products for a given TV show. Sure, there’s a certain cringe factor, but it’s a great way to get on a TV show in a more organic way and also tap the world’s insatiable desire for anything celebrity.

GetJar Facebook App Downloads Exceed 50M

Talk about nudging your way into a niche. This is a smartphone app that’s been downloaded 50 million times, and it’s nothing more than a link directly to Facebook’s mobile site (not the Facebook app). Also, jargon alert: MSS = Mobile Site Shortcut. I didn’t realize we needed an acronym for that, but WTF.