Ok so Shorty’s really into Formspring (a service that lets you ask someone questions and have that someone reply). I on the other hand have a very neglected Formspring account. Why? Because I find it so hard to find the time to answer questions when I’m distracted with the usual daily stuff. As a result of that, people have asked me questions on Formspring that has gone largely unanswered.
So here’s what I’m going to do. In the next 24 hours, I’m going to answer as many questions as I can on Formspring. So if there’s anything you want to ask me, go ahead and ask. If I think it’s a good question or something interesting to share (and provided I have enough time to do it), I’ll answer it.
So since we all have a bit more time over the weekend, let me share some cool videos that I watched this week.
First off, this is a video that Nuffnang Philippines created to show of their top bloggers there. I thought it was really well made and really cool how they transition from one blogger to another.
The second video is a funny one. You see this week 5 new Nuffies joined the company. So we decided to prank them. We told them that it’s part of our culture to hold hands in a circle and do some kind of chant… Avatar style. When they laughed, the Nuffie leading it would scold them and say “Do you think this is funny?”.
Some 6 months after our wedding, Crazy Monkey Studios managed to work through their workload and come up with our Actual Day Wedding Video. It is the 3rd and last installment of all the videos they were going to do for us. The first was our proposal.
The second was our Registration of Marriage Ceremony (Meme proposal sequel).
And the third video here shows snapshots of our wedding weekend.
From the Registration of Marriage on the Friday to the Tea Ceremony on Saturday morning and the final wedding dinner on Saturday night. SK from Crazy Monkey Studios said that of the 3, the Actual Day wedding video was his least favourite because it’s long and he doesn’t like long videos. Nevertheless Shorty and I loved that it was long and wishes it was even longer actually… so we could relive more of our wedding day through it.
Thank you Crazy Monkey Studios for making 3 of the most wonderful videos that a newly married couple can ever ask for. Thank you for helping us keep and relive our memories.
I was having a chat with Shorty today about blogging and our career as bloggers after we read an article in the Star Rage about it last week. Pick it up if you have the time, great article! It talked a bit about NuffnangX too. Anyway what started off as a little chat eventually went into a full-length discussion until Shorty said “You know what… maybe you should blog about this”. And so I’ve decided to.
As a disclaimer though. For many of you who don’t know, I’m one of the Co-Founders of Nuffnang which is the Largest Blog Ad Network in Asia with over 1 million bloggers. Nuffnang and its group of companies (Netccentric) was started 5 years ago and is still a growing company with 160 employees throughout the region today. The Netccentric group’s revenue comes from various sources on the internet including blogs.
How has Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and more social media innovations changed blogs?
1) Less people blog.
This is true especially in countries like Malaysia when 2007, almost 50% of all our friends had blogs. That’s no longer the case. Why? Because in the past, blogs gave us an avenue to express ourselves in both long and short form. It could be a long post about how you feel after a breakup with a boyfriend or even short blurbs about how your boss is an asshole. Today Twitter and Facebook provide that avenue for these short blurbs. So the crowd that used it for these short blurbs have taken it to these platforms. On the other hand, long form blogs still continue to be used for long entries.
2) Blogging has become very competitive
Think about it. In 2007 we had Facebook (though it wasn’t big in Asia yet), Twitter (didn’t really take off till 2009), Friendster and blogs. Look at what we have today in the social media space. We have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Path, Pinterest, Foursquare, Wechat, Line, Flickr and yes blogs (WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger and the rest).
The problem though is that we internet users only have 24 hours a day to spend. We have to spend a good amount of that time eating, crapping, sleeping and getting some exercise. So the rest of what we have left is much less than 24 hours. On the other hand, there are so many social media options competing for our attention. So much that people are saying now that they spend so much time on Instagram they cut back on their Twitter usage.
3) Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms help drive traffic
Before if you were a good blogger, it was really hard to get famous unless you had someone like Kennysia link you once. Today I’ve seen blogs that grew on their own faster than I’ve ever seen before. Why? Because every time they blog they post it on Twitter or Facebook so first degree friends click on it and check it out. When a really good blog entry is written, people have more means than ever to share and viralize it so blogs grow a following even faster.
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So what is the macro effect of the three things above?
1) There is a high demand from brands/advertisers for bloggers with good traffic but limited supply.
Which explains why over the years, the cost of a sponsored post on a top blog has gone up. The good thing for clients is that the size of these top bloggers have also gone up significantly.
2) Bloggers today make the more money or have more opportunities than they ever did.
In terms of the avenue to push your traffic or the interest from brands is concerned. There has never been a better time to be a blogger
3) People who used to read say 20 blogs a day now are forced to be selective and read 10.
What happens is consolidation just like how all the many social networks in the past consolidated and we realized we just needed Facebook. So what does it mean for blogs?
– Bloggers are forced to produce much better content to keep users engaged. So the bloggers that you read today tend to have much better quality content.
– It gets a lot harder to be a top blogger.
4) The top bloggers get more traffic than they ever have before.
When Kennysia used to be an active blogger, in his peak he would easily pull an average of 15,000 visits a day. The top blogger in Nuffnang Malaysia today however pulls ten times that figure. Similarly to get into the Nuffnang Top 100 today you need 10 times more traffic than you needed 5 years ago. It’s because of the average growth of traffic each blog has today that Nuffnang’s network keeps growing year on year. Which is why we constantly find ourselves having to add new servers. (If Kennysia still blogged actively today I would imagine his traffic to be far more than the 15,000 visits a day that he used to get).
The nett effect of this is that we might just go the way of the US when it comes to blogs. Where blogs don’t just remain as personal mouthpieces, they become opinion leaders in different industries. Like Techcrunch or Gizmodo for tech or other blogs in fashion, travel or others.
What are the challenges for bloggers then?
From our Nuffnang network stats what we found was that of the people who read blogs, only 1% of them do so from a mobile phone (compared with 50% for Facebook and Twitter). With people spending less time on their computers and more on the mobile phone, the growth of bloggers influence slows. That’s why we came up with NuffnangX to try to solve this problem. I believe that in future, whether it’s NuffnangX or some other app, an app will have to come along that will make it easier for people to read blogs on their mobile phones.
We invested in NuffnangX because we believe in blogs and its influence. Sure less people blog now than before just like less people Tweet now because of Instagram but look at the power blogs wield today. Techcrunch is the most powerful news site in the Venture Capital and Angel community in Silicon Valley. Who would’ve seen it coming that a blog would wield so much power?
A parting thought:
When Shorty and I got married in July 2012, we were constantly tweeting about the event and uploading pictures on Instagram and Facebook. Still after the entire wedding, we had many people tweeting/messaging us to ask when we would blog about it. And that’s when it hit me… as much as I love Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and all… (and even though one of our companies ChurpChurp makes money from these platforms) nothing tells a story better than a good blog entry with pictures and words. That’s why today… even with the best TVs, iPads and all… books still remain a very important part of our lives. The only thing that will change is the way it’s consumed.
Shorty and I spent the New Year’s eve with some friends in Bangkok. It was loads of fun. We watched Fireworks at the river between Shangri-la Hotel and the Peninsula
and after that headed off to this happening club called Falabella or something.
Shorty’s New Year resolution is to learn how to cook (HAH!) and to make Foruchizu a success.
My New Year Resolution is to work much harder than I ever did in 2012. 2012 was a really tough year for me… and I’m glad it’s over. I hope 2013 will be a better one 🙂
Every year, the biggest Christmas feeling I get is always from my colleagues. Every year we would have a Christmas party where everyone would be Secret Santa for someone else and give that person a gift at the Christmas party itself.
The whole point of this Secret Santa exchange is that everyone’s Secret Santa is randomly selected so it gives everyone an opportunity to get to know someone else in the office so that you know what that person wants for Christmas.
Credit is given not to how much a gift costs, but how thoughtful that gift is for that person.
The thing we did different this year too was that we had a little Christmas decoration contest too between departments. Everyone was given just RM100 to buy decorations and were not allowed to go beyond that amount. This is how workstations were decorated.
The Admin department even had one of our guys Min dress up as a Santa.
The bottom two departments though had to do a penalty which was to hold a riff-off of Christmas carols at the Christmas party.
This is what happened.
Christmas is always loads of fun with the Nuffies.
By the end of the party all 55 of us in the KL office were singing Christmas Carols together. That was the most awesome Christmas feeling.
Merry Christmas everyone! It’s my favourite time of the year.
Ok let me tell you what I’ve been up to lately apart from meeting loads of investors for NuffnangX.
1) Shorty and I went to play mini-golf over our long weekend.I’ve always wanted to try mini-golf because it looked so fun and fun it was. This is how a mini-golf course looks like. Nice right??
We played 18 holes and I got two hole-in-ones but ended up STILL losing to Shorty. Why? Because there was one spot where the hole was on top of a volcano and I ended up taking 16 strokes in order to get the damn ball in. I knew the game was over by the 10th stroke. Shorty finished it in 6.
Shorty does have a talent for putting in my opinion.
My golf coach has yet to teach me how to putt but now after I learn that I’m coming back here again.
Then again maybe not. Somehow the frustration of missing a hole brings out the curse words in me. And mini-golf courses here tend to be filled with kids. So if I do decide to come back I better get some anger management lessons of my own first. Haha.
2) I love ice-cream. That’s no secret. And my favourite ice-cream place here in San Francisco is Bi-Rite Creamery. Our friend Jesrina happened to be here in SF too so we brought her out for what I told her was the best ice-cream ever.
At first she was doubtful that it was the best… but after she tried it… HAH. She was impressed.
The salted caramel here in Bi-Rite is the best I’ve ever had!
I told Jesrina about how I wanna start an ice-cream store in KL and she said it probably won’t make much money. So I guess I’ll have to keep my day job 🙂
3) Ok this is a weird experience for me but when I’m back at our apartment, Shorty spends most of her time watching the home improvement channel. She loves watching renovations or new homes or stuff like that. Kinda reminds me of my mum. Ah how we have aged.
Anyway we were watching this program about a house in Koh Samui, Thailand where the owner had this HUGE water slide in his house.
Now I know what I want in my house if I’m loaded some day!
Alright time for another quick update. Just because Shorty’s updating her blog too right now. Here’s a really quick update.
1) Been spending quite a bit of time with the NuffnangX team here in Sunnyvale.
Notice how we have Malaysian and Singaporean flags in our little office space.
Just to remind everyone of our roots 🙂
2) Shorty has been following me to work too and sporting very different hats every day.
Our receptionist saw Shorty on Friday and said out loud “I LOVE ALL YOUR HATS”.
3) The 3rd thing we did today was that we finally decided to buy a Microsoft Surface.
We did lots of research and read all the reviews on it. The reviews were pretty mixed but we decided to get one because it’s the one tablet that allows you to use Microsoft Office just like you would on a laptop and has a USB drive. Would be pretty handy to travel with.
So far we’ve been setting it up and it seems pretty cool. It looks almost like a laptop with its keyboard on. The only thing about the keyboard though was that I thought it’s really expensive for $130.
In any case, we’ll blog about it later on once we’ve used it for a while. Ok 1.30AM here so time to go to bed. Good night guys!
Lack of updates because I’ve been really busy here in Silicon Valley. Even on the nights when Shorty gets to sit down and blog, I find myself making phone calls, replying emails or doing other sorts of work. But here’s one update for you guys of some pictures I took during my busy week.
Here’s Shorty following me to work with her funny blue hat.
Yes I know, California is amazingly sunny. The weather here is the best I’ve ever seen anywhere else.
I was at this place called Rocket Space which is like a place a lot of startups work out of and I happened to come across this sign.
And the one play thing that Shorty and I managed to do in this busy week is go cycling in the park one day after work. We had finished a long day of work and meetings and we thought it would be fun given the beautiful weather. It was my first time riding a tandem (two-seater) bike.
It was certainly more fun for Shorty than for me. I felt like I was cycling for the both of us but she denied it all the way. Said she was cycling too though I doubt it… all she was doing was riding!
Heh okay I gotta go back to work now. See ya guys!
So today Shorty and I woke up at 4.30AM. Compliments of jet lag. We struggled to go back to sleep and by 5.30AM Shorty fell asleep again but I had given up. I went out for a jog instead in my quiet Sunnyvale, California neighbourhood. It’s only when I ran outside with my shorts did I realize it was 11 degrees celcius out there. Freeezing my ass off.
Fast forward a couple of hours later and Shorty and I had just finished breakfast. We didn’t know how to spend our Saturday. We could go outlet shopping but we already went shopping the last trip and we’re all spent out of shopping money. We thought of driving into San Francisco but considering that I would probably be spending most of my next few work days there I hesitated.
Finally I remembered the one thing I wanted to do last trip but didn’t get to. I wanted to go to Fenton’s.
It’s this ice-cream store in Oakland that was known for great ice-cream and it inspired the ending ice-cream scene in UP.
I had two scoops.
Yes… that is how two scoops look like. It was huge.
So I knew I was going to be down in Oakland and I started looking for things to do in that direction. I googled Top 10 Things to do in Oakland and I found it. My favourite attraction that I’ve been to in all of the Bay Area so far and to think I found it by accident. A chance to visit the now decommissioned USS Hornet Aircraft Carrier.
The USS Hornet is an aircraft carrier that was built by the US in 1943 and served till 1970s. It played key roles in World War 2, the Vietnam War and even the Apollo Program where it retrieved astronauts that had returned from the moon.
Now let me explain to you why I loved this attraction by telling you two things that I love:
1) I LOVE military-stuff.
2) I LOVE modern history.
This is both.
Plus I had never ever been on an aircraft carrier before so this was just… amazing.
This is a picture I took of it just before entering.
Once immediately in the aircraft carrier there was this HUGE open space called the hangar deck. It was this huge indoor space where they used to keep their planes to repair, refuel or arm them.
There were some exhibits of some planes that the USS Hornet used to launch. This particular plane caught my attention because the sign told a story of how one pilot of this plane once shot himself down.
How? He was shooting his guns in a dive but he was going so fast that he managed to hit himself with the very same bullets he shot out. The plane suffered heavy damage and he had to crash land his plane. I’m sure he never heard the end of it from his fellow air force pilots… you know being the guy who managed to shoot himself down.
The aircraft carrier had 8 levels. So much of the lower levels were rooms and riddled with corridors that looked like this.
Connected by ladders that looked like this.
It’s definitely not for the claustrophobic. When I was walking through these corridors I couldn’t help but imagine scenes that we’ve seen in the movies where the ship takes a torpedo and water starts filling up and you gotta get out of there or be dragged down into the ocean with this huge steel ship.
What was also cool was the engine room. We followed a tour led by a veteran who used to serve on board this ship. He told us how everything worked and how life on the ship was.
What’s cool was that there was another veteran on our tour who served on another ship and they shared the things they had in common.
One thing this veteran said was that this ship will never be able to go into action again because nobody else but them knows how to run it. And they’re all old and retired now unless we have something like what happened in the movie Battleship.
The coolest part of the aircraft carrier of course was the flight deck. The top of the aircraft carrier where they launched jets and planes. It’s huge! Like one massive football field.
On the flight deck were some of the other planes this aircraft carrier used to launch. In its early days it used to launch the propeller planes we watch in the World War 2 movies. Then in its later days when jets came into action it launched jets using its catapult system. A technology that I understand only the US has. All the other countries that have aircraft carriers launch their jets in other ways.
Throughout the ship there were little stories about what role the USS Hornet played in history and all but there are too many for me to talk about each and every one of them here. Perhaps its best to read up a bit on Wikipedia or something if you’re keen.
This was probably the most fun I’ve had in the San Francisco. Shorty though looked terribly bored the whole time and said she didn’t understand anything. Well if I had known that it was possible for tourists to visit a US aircraft carrier I would’ve so put that on my bucket list.
Fortunately I didn’t need to put that in and it came really as a surprise to me.
If you love these kind of things like me, be sure to visit the USS Hornet in Alameda.
PS: When I was Googling USS Hornet a “USS Hornet Ghost” came up. I was like whaaat? Apparently the USS Hornet is haunted.
No wonder Shorty kept saying she didn’t like the place and that it felt creepy.
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space