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I do like this idea, since it makes transition easy. But on the other hand there is a simple fact that people appreciate something more when they make an investment of time or money. And I’d hate to take advantage of Symbiostockers by making them work for free, other than forum support (which is sort of crucial for open source).
I’d like to hear more thoughts on it, but mostly I feel people will only appreciate something when a cost is paid. Right now the cost is time or money…but one way or another appreciation is gained that way.
Its sort of like if I take a premium piece of meat and offer it to people freely on the street. They would turn up their noses and wonder what is wrong with it. But if I say I’m charging $30 for it people line up.
Sadly it takes a very intelligent sort of person to understand the value of free when its in the right setting…
Deep subject. Lets hear thoughts!
@shelma1 wrote:
Ok, thanks for all your help. I think we’ve determined four target audiences for now…the two primary being buyers and contributors, and secondary being developers and finance departments. I’ll concentrate on the first two for now, then move on to the others.
Question 1 assuming i’m a buyer:describe Symbiostock to me in one simple sentence.
I posted after you wrote this. Thank you for your effort and just cherry pick my comments where you think they are relevant. Thank you for your help!
@shelma1 wrote:
I’ve volunteered to write a marketing description (actually, I think we need at least three) for Symbiostock, and I’ll be asking the community a series of questions in order to give myself a “creative brief” to work from. Any responses would be appreciated.
Question 1: Who is our target audience?
So far I’ve come up with three:
1. Contributors (photographers, videographers, illustrators)
2. Buyers (designers, bloggers, news outlets, art buyers, art directors)
3. Developers (asking for volunteers to help with Symbiostock development)
Others?
I think 1 and 2 can be answered simply.
Right now Symbiostock needs more developers. Typically a few “child themes” should be created to help with visuals. Also something that would go a long way with Symbiostock are standardized and central agreements which product pages can link to as license referencing. I think the hodge-podge license system we have now is only a placeholder until someone of qualifications can set up Symbiostock standard licenses. Likewise it would be a requirement to use a standard license to be recognized as part of the network.
Right now I’m working on the “Metamorphosis” branch which is in its finished product will be easily extendible, modifiable, and viewable on all devices. But the “Developer” help thats needed are actually for external projects. Symbiostock has a very useful API for aggregating the network – which is what http://www.symbiostock.info runs on, and is responsible for how the sites connect into a vast network of shared results.
While “Symbiostock” is good for working together, it would not hurt (in fact it might help) if a few “hubs” were launched that took the data from sites, merged them, and acted as central search engines and carts.
The most important thing to mention in regard to Symbiostock is that its made to advance, to adapt, and be all things to all people. The thing it needs most at this point are visionaries who have ideas for various markets, and wish to plant the “Symbiostock” seeds in their own fields for their own ends. Contributors have it made in that they get %100 of on-site profits. But I’m sure they would be happy to give up %20 of a sale to a gifted marketer or app developer who serves their interest.
So yes, developers are needed.
As far as I’m concerned, I’m quite tired and will be working on the remaining refinements for the base theme as well as the upgrade. But from here on the right people have to see the potential and work with it.
Here is a quick example of the API – http://www.symbiostock.com/symbiostock-api-for-developers-and-marketing/
And here’s is AJT’s for http://www.symbiostock.info – http://ajotte.com/global-search-api/
I think the network has to offer something that nobody else does. What about direct communication between designers and suppliers as a standard part of the system?
A lot of the systems your using to network are very useful and that will be productive (Twitter, facebook, google communities). At this point designers of all sorts should have a place here not only as customers, but as developers of the system/community and help form it to their needs.
We’ve designed everything from the point of view of what we want (having been recovering from microstock exploits) but now its important that designers (customers) should help develop the system/community they want.
With that considered, its possible we should uproot from a lot of our usual habits and literally plant ourselves where the customers are.
I’d leave it to people’s imaginations to decide where the greener pastures are, but many things come to my mind immediately.
In any case, I’m happy people are making an effort here. This is a hugely good sign that things will continue to progress.
Thats not available yet, but I imagine someone with a little skill could easily make a plugin. Right now we just use a REALLY BIG PREVIEW 😀 to please people and search engines.
Thanks guys. I’m continuing to hack away at everything.
Just dropping in quickly – here’s a package of Symbiostock branding which is available for your use:
https://github.com/orangeman555/symbiostock/tree/master/symbiostock_branding
@christine wrote:
Must remember to not visit often as they can be great time wasters 😀
Thats funny you should say that. I have to push myself to keep up with twitter. I find them more annoying than addictive Yesterday I was looking for a way to have two twitterers on one account some someone could have fun tweeting Symbiostock in place of me.
@chris Kelleher wrote:
Very cool! This will come in very handy for the SymbioStock iOS app I am planning on developing, assuming it is ok with you of course.
I’m excited to see that!
Much of this stuff is optional at this point, so do not worry.
I really like this initiative your taking though. I’m a dreadfully tired person. Without a doubt I can’t take this thing much further. I mean look at it? Is anyone surprised?
I’ve tried to build a system (with the help of quite a few people) which is self-prolific. Twitter, random choice though it might seem, is yet another way to scatter those seeds.
The BEST thing this network could do is keep a small amount of time budgeted to “word of mouth” to both customers and future network members. I’m literally on my last leg here. During the course of this project I’ve hit a level of fatigue where my whole mind and sleep habits have changed.
Its also up to you forum-savvy people to capture a customer audience into this forum. I’m trying to build a catchment system from the network to land customers here, but I don’t want to get parasitic either by taking people off from network sites.
So yes, please get creative and lead this one. It will help everyone.
Sure thing! I’ll put some controls in. Is a way to get customers here 😀
Thats perfectly fine. I sort of assumed to go with the “usual rules” of modern day branding when it comes to open source products, networks, and so forth.
Simply stated using the logo is perfectly cool — its default on any site’s initial launch — but simply avoid changing its colors, proportions, etc.
A little history — the logo was actually given to me by a very generous designer who got inspired on the project. They wanted to donate it to me, but I gave them what I could monetarily for it. Its a great logo isn’t it? 🙂
PHP 5.4 (Single php.ini)
So far I’ve been trying it on my kindle and my wife’s ipad. One of the few problems I noticed on those devices is that some of the icons do not show up properly.
This new version of bootstrap (responsible for the resizing magic) and its set for medium devices mostly. Super-small devices might not always benefit.
I’m going to use a utility to view it on as many devices as possible…just one of those details… :/
