How the Yellow Pages Could Be More Relevant

Within the past month I've picked up two or three new phone books that were plopped down by my front door... books from RR Donnelly, Verizon, etc. Talk about hundreds and hundreds of pages of wasted paper. I kept one book and immediately discarded the others in the appropriate bin. Why? Well, the Internet has virtually all of the answers I need, making these behemoth books a thing of the past.

Like most people, I find that the yellow pages are just not that useful anymore. I might flip through a book once or twice a year to find something, but otherwise, I'm heading online to dig up the information I need.

But there is one way that the yellow pages could become more useful. My theory is that if the yellow pages were organized in another way, it could probably serve people better. Yes, alphabetical listing is helpful if you know who you're looking for, but otherwise, it's a game of naming rights and also who has the biggest ad to get your attention.

If I wanted to find a good plumber, for example, how do I know if AAAA Plumbing is better than AA Plumbers? Clearly there are companies out there that play the name placement game, hoping to get customers by virtue of being listed first in the phone book. Alternatively, it will come down to companies that buy the biggest, most colorful ads. That's not going to cut it anymore folks.

If the phone book was organized by, say, the best customer ratings for excellence in performance, it would be a lot more useful to Joe and Sally Homeowner. This way I could find the company that is most likely to do the BEST job on my plumbing repairs, rather than just picking the name I see first, or the one that spends the most marketing dollars to get my attention.

Otherwise, the yellow pages will continue to lose market share to Internet searches. By changing to a format that offers genuine information, rather than listings, it would be a more highly regarded source of help and probably wouldn't get tossed by people like me.

On the other hand, it does make for some good kindling...

The Art of Finding Unusual Gifts

I recently discovered this site featuring unusual gifts on a random search that I was doing for garden stuff. It amazes me how the internet truly has everything, somewhere.

I mean, where else can you see an otherwise attractive woman blowing snot out of her nose with a genie lantern?

Or a "spooky" ghost towel...

It's a shame that, with the influx of large chain stores, we lose the edgy and innovative products that can be found at quirky mom-and-pop-shops that are falling by the wayside. But fortunately the internet has found a place for every last oddball item, like a warbowl?

The Power of Creativity

A blurb by James Gleick from the New York Times Magazine:

The Internet has taken shape with startlingly
little planning... The most universal and independent network on the
planet somehow burgeoned without so much as a board of directors, never
mind a mergers-and-acquisitions department. There is a paradoxical
lesson here for strategists. In economic terms, the great corporations
are acting like socialist planners, while old-fashioned free-market
capitalism blossoms at their feet.

Congrats, fellow average Joe and Jane Web-sters
out there. Sometimes the best things are the result of a lack of hard-core planning. The meeting of the minds clearly does not have to occur in a lush, wood-paneled boardroom anymore. It can occur on a remote island, on the top of a mountain, or in a drafty barn. The Internet is open to all... bring your creativity with you.