Eventbrite

"Eventbrite brings the world together through live experiences."

I use Eventbrite all the time, for purchasing tickets, as a consumer. The other day I had the chance to use it from a business perspective and check out some of the great features available.

Great Features

• Insightful Analytics
• Real-time updates
• Tracks number of tickets used vs bought
• Charts purchases throughout the day on a bar chart

• User Interface
• Simple:
• Dashboard (analytics)
• Sell (to purchase tickets)
• Check-In (for already purchased tickets)
• 2 options for checking in:
• Search by name
• Scan QR Code 

Features That Need Improvements

• Real-time search functionality: Names found on one device were unavailable on another device.
• Registration fields: I didn't notice an "other" field or some sort of text field. This would have been nice to have since there were options to get in free that were not listed and it would have been quicker as well as a better way of tracking people that way (we ended up improvising and using notepad).
• Error messages: More descriptive error messages would have helped (for example I tried to use the email field to note down that people were using a specific discount but I kept getting a non-descriptive error that said "Contact Eventbrite customer support". This wasn't helpful to determine why there was an error and I basically tested it out to see what could have created the error (including shutting down the device, trying it on another device and eventually putting in an actual email in the email field).

A Few Potential Solutions

• The search functionality needs to be further tested to determine why one device can pull up a name and another cannot pull up the same name (assuming everything should have been synced to the cloud).
• Provide a few custom fields that the business can add to their forms in real-time.
• In order to create accurate error messages use cases should be used and the correct error required should be coded instead of a generic one (this will save time for the user and customer support).

Additional Features

• Keep track of events that are not on Eventbrite (most people probably utilize a calendar but this option would be nice to have)
• Ratings on events that have occurred in the past by the same organizers or type of event. This would help in promoting the event or ranking which event to go to if there are multiple events.
• Popup window asking for location for web browsing (sometimes the location is incorrect due to VPN). 

Eventbrite is a fantastic app and I look forward to using new & upcoming features.

Pinterest Monetization Part I - DIY

I am sure this is something that is on everyone's radar these days and it got me thinking that there is SO much Pinterest can do due to the variation/diversity of pins. It's going to take a lot of data science and API development but what Pinterest can do with what they currently have is incomparable to other apps just based on the user base and the product.

Here is an example of a way to monetize off of DIY (do it yourself projects) posts. Generally when someone pins a DIY post or is looking at a pin they are thinking of ideas or have a need for the item. In this case the pin displays a beautifully designed way to decorate a staircase. 

This is a simple DIY project which basically consists of just going out and buying the items required. If white Moroccan lanterns did not exist it could also consist of buying lanterns and painting the lanterns white. So this seems like a simple example of monetization and there are two possible routes of getting the required data:

1. Extract data from the link the pin came from & add ads to the left with the products required
2. Extract items from the pin/picture & ad ads to the left with the products required

From what I have heard extracting items from a photo is incredibly hard although this would be ideal since this would most likely be the more accurate option. The problem with the first option is the link may have other products/photos which would make it difficult to extract the correct products to display ads for.

Then there are a lot of other things to consider:

• Should ads be this specific or should they just point to a store?
• Should there just be one ad per product or multiple ads?
• Should review stars be included (I personally included stars in the above example because when I see good ratings I have a tendency to click through and potentially buy)
• What's the best place to place the ads?
• On the page
• Through a link that the user would need to click
• As you hover over the item should the ad pop up

...hopefully this got you thinking more about how pins can be monetized upon. More examples to come in Part II.

Highlight

highlight.ht 

"Highlight is a fun, simple way to learn more about the people around you. If someone standing near you also has Highlight, their profile will show up on your phone. You can see their name, photos of them, mutual friends, and anything else they have chosen to share."

Design Improvements:
1. "# updates" doesn't seem to provide any value - could use this space for something else (maybe a check-in location)

Feature Improvements:
1. Location based drop down (so for example if you are at a location you can click into it and see who has been here before or is currently here or plans on being here - also with any "notes" the person has taken e.g. best hummus in town, 1/2 off tacos start @ 6PM,  come before 8 otherwise there is a line out the door)
2. Link to reviews of places close by (maybe API with Yelp)
3. Ability to respond to posts within app
4. Busy vs. Free (will show who is up for meeting in the area vs someone who already has plans)

The map navigation is great, my favorite part of the app!

Let's optimize the use of this space...

Living in SF it's hard not to download all sorts of apps and use them for varying functionalities. This blog is a way to consolidate and document all my thoughts on an application instead of just thinking about it. Hopefully this becomes useful for when you decide to create an app or even for the apps that already exist!