The Wisdom of One: Guy Kawasaki On Alltop.com - Page 2

I had nothing to do with the iMac and iPod. Those happened after my time and without me. This is too bad as I would love to take credit for them. These successes have many fathers, but I wasn’t one of them.

One way to describe Alltop.com is "It's PopURLs.com standing on its head." Rather than offering up tons of headlines first, you go the opposite route and categorize the content first. To some, this is mildly impenetrable, as readers sort of have to narrow their focus prior to reading anything, whereas a site like PopURLs can be skimmed alongside one's morning coffee to get all the latest at a glance. Do you think this reverse hierarchy of information will eventually bring in the skimming masses, or instead develop a smaller but more rabid fanbase of its own for different sections?

Without PopURLS, there would be no Alltop because it inspired us. However, Alltop is no more “mildly inpenetrable” than a magazine rack in a bookstore which has a car section, celebrities section, food section, and sports section. People seem to be able to handle them.

Should bloggers be generalists and write about all topics — that’s a catchy phrase — because people don’t want to narrow their focus? The reason blogs are successful is that they focus. I see that [Blogcritics' content] is divided into topics like music, politics, sports, etc., too.

Here’s another way of looking at it: It will be a long time before an article about adoption appears anywhere on Digg, Techmeme, or Popurls, but there’s great information for adoptive parents on Adoption.Alltop every day.

Regarding your "Golden Touch," does this stem from something instinctual and unique (the way Gretzky and Lemieux just had a "sense" about them that made them superior players), or rather a general level of enthusiasm for one's work and a perspective or skill set that other people could develop themselves? [Ed: As I read through Guy's bio, it seemed like every company he worked for or started seemed to do really well, regardless of their situation going in, and took his alternate phrasing as "whatever is gold, Guy touches" to be more geared toward a more humble reinterpretation.]

First, you have completely misinterpreted Guy’s Golden Touch. It’s not that “whatever Guy touches turns to gold.” It’s “Whatever is gold, Guy touches.” The “gifted theory”—that some people have special skills which explain their success—is over rated. My theory is success comes to people who are lucky, work hard, or both. Thus, this means that anyone can develop themselves and succeed.

As a social networking fanatic and someone who sees great potential in it as a medium and means of communication and collaboration, how do you feel when you see it used for…evil, if you will? Take the following somewhat crude comic from Penny Arcade regarding one use of Twitter as an example:

Article Author: Mark Buckingham

Mark Buckingham is not only BC's Sci/Tech Editor-In-Geek, but also an avid freelance writer, gamer, techhead, reader, movie watcher, pianist, and hockey player.

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