Ryze has a new logo and UI.  First impressions - i feel very very uncomfortable.  Too loud.  Too noisy.  Too cluttered.  Too red. 

I looked around to see if others have commented and i find a really witty post ripping into the design from both a designer's, marketer's and user's perspective (that's a neat combination i think, especially with the noise on social networks growing by the minute) - with implications on brand personae, brand identity and brand relationship & loyalty.  

I quote here from Stuart's post :

"Jeez when we talk about branding we talk brand personae and oh high and mighty I see red. I see the red devils work here. Just when I was hoping to get a break from that stinking light blue-grey. You know... White, with spashes of orange and yellow! We were once an innovative community, transforming networks, connecting not red for the hunting."

"There's

no sense of art in a place where artisans play
no sense of personality in a realm of personalities.
no sense of canvas when everyone paints
no sense of action when everyone chatters
no sense of our place just structured space."

"The new stuff? Says RYZE first --- ME second. What was the brief? Oh probably make the community more professional looking. You have any recommendations? Is there a strategy? Is there a business model? Ryze could have had it all."

As i read it through, i also picked up a strong sense of being let down by someone considered to be a friend, by someone you are committed to.  

Can't write as eloquently about it but i do feel the very same.  Ryze for me was really my first entry into this amazing world of social networking, i made friends there who i know are true friends - without ever having met them or even spoken to them (until Skype :):):)), i connected, transformed, innovated and had fun while doing so. 

I belonged. 

I know this is something a lot of others feel too about Ryze - there is this sense of community that we belong to - as was so evident when i attended the Mumbai Mixer.   Its one of the few places that i continue to connect with others, apart from my blog. 

This is not my Ryze.

Adrian, a plea from a committed user - don't let the sun go down on Ryze !  You can have it all.

(As i re-read this post before publishing - i felt it sounds emotional and quite dramatic and almost silly - was tempted to edit some of it - but didn't - i feel my brand is letting me down - and i have this space to vent that feeling - so i just clicked).

(Then there are some that love the changes - sigh)

1:20:19 PM    comment []  trackback []

This is cool.  A ZDNet UK report on a new search search service that scans blogs to keep businesses informed about consumer trends and opinions.  Link via Blogging Alone ...Channel 'social_software' ... Judith Meskill's Knowledge Notes.  :

"A new search service scans tens of thousands of Web logs to keep businesses informed about consumer trends and opinions. Moreover Technologies, which provides aggregated business information for clients such as the UK government and Microsoft, has launched a search tool aimed at allowing corporations to tap into the consumer data generated by the anarchic world of Web logs."

11:53:22 AM    comment []  trackback []