Episode 12 - Virtual Friends and Enemies, Building Products that look out for us with Marissa Chacko

Aren’t you getting tired of using an internet that’s built to waste YOUR time - I know I am!

Product Manager Marissa Chacko (website, twitter) and I discuss the promise and perils of these bots and push notifications. We worked on Foursquare's bot Marsbot together, and produced it to help the user first. What are some ways we can focus on building apps that help users, and what are some of the bad habits that have gotten us apps which aren't looking out for our interests?

Apps and Services Mentioned:
Hotel Tonight
Zynga
Running with Friends
Marsbot also mentioned on Episode 7 and Episode 8
Eat this Not That (Former Foursquare Connected App)
Headspace meditation app.
Airbnb, Foursquare City Guide, Foursquare Swarm

The book mentioned was Deep Work by Cal Newport.

I also mentioned the game dots although these days I'm really hooked on Two Dots and Dots and Co. Patrick Moberg is the creator I once heard speak. I was exaggerating a little bit when I said I couldn't pay attention after 5 minutes because I got hooked on dots, but I did start playing in the middle! I really like the game as opposed to some others, so I hope I didn't sound too critical - we need to have more discussions about walking the line between fun, good entertainment and over-addictiveness, but I think that dots at least attempts to find that line even if it's not solved yet.

I also mentioned 2048 and Candy Crush which I've had to give up outright. I called 2048 "bad" which is not true - it's actually brilliant in it's simplicity and addictiveness. But it was causing me too much lost time.

Articles
Foursquare's blog post on Push Notifications.
Facebook study on use leading to unhappiness.