Is Your Internet Blinking "12:00 AM?"

Some years back, folks my age all laughed at the "12:00 AM" blinking on our parents VCRs.  Here these folks had a great piece of technology, and they couldn't even set the clock!?!  (Today, even knowing what a VCR is probably dates us.) Well, today it's our turn to be laughed at - because all too often, the corporate internet is a giant blinking 12:00 AM blaring away for all to see.  Only today, it's blaring at our customers and prospects.

It's not like those of us with "brochureware" sites want them to be this way (cough, cough, we're working very hard on ours too right now).  But then again, our parents knew it wasn't 12AM all day long either.  The reason they never bothered to set the clock, wasn't really the complexity or the time. To them the reasons were simple:

1. It was new.
2. They already had a clock that worked just fine and was probably easier to see from the couch anyway.

In short, it was seen as some kind of minor annoyance that didn't add much value. It was something they could wait for the kids to fix when they dropped by next.  The problem with this was that the clock wasn't there to be a clock. It was there to let them record shows and watch them later at their leisure.  By not setting the clock they were missing out on capabilities.

Now, for those of you about to jump up and proudly point to your leading edge Web presence, ask yourself first - who did these features for you?  Remember, if the local neighbor's kid set your parents clock for them, it would only work until the next power outage.  The Web is even worse.  If you are dependent on some crew of young "kids" (e.g. outside experts) you're just waiting for the next shift in Web usage to pass you by.

The solution requires first hand experience.  Because like that VCR clock, some of this stuff probably is ready for prime time anyway (it took the DVR to finally get it right).  You need to know what works and what doesn't.  There are no excuses either.  A 13-year old is NOT "more technical" than you.  Chances are, if you were one of those people setting your parent's VCR clock, you got it wrong a bunch of times until you finally figured out the right way to set it.  The difference is always in having the motivation to see the value in plugging away.

So before you dive in on that Web revitalization project, or harangue someone else over "your" site, do a bit of self examination first.  Have you posted a comment to a Web site lately?  Participated in an online forum?  Created a Blog? Clicked "edit" while visiting a Wiki? Clicked that RSS thingy in the address bar? Set up a Facebook page?   Not your staff, or your Web team, or that kid you hired out of college - but you - the manager, the executive, the decision maker, the one about to authorize that purchase?

Time to get up off that couch and set that blinking clock yourself.  The 13-year-olds are watching.