Buzzword Swat Team Target: Daylo 25 Mar 2005
15 comments Latest by ilker
Alright Daylo marketers…step away from that thesaurus. Keep your hands where I can see them! Now slowly, and I mean slowly, put down that copy of Fast Company. Easy, easy. Just do what I say and no one will get hurt. Now pick up the phone and call a copywriter that refuses to use “empowered,” “immediacy,” “real-time architecture,” or any other unnecessary buzzword.
See, Daylo is like Craigslist without the redundant listings and with feedback ratings so you know who’s trustworthy. There, that wasn’t so hard was it? But take a look at this explanation given by the site (emphasis is mine):
Daylo combines the immediacy of a real-time architecture with the accountability of a comprehensive Feedback system. The result is an innovative new way for buyers and sellers of services to find and communicate with one another. Daylo empowers buyers of services by providing a place for them to fulfill their most immediate and ultra-specific service needs. Daylo empowers sellers of services - individuals and small businesses alike - by providing a vehicle through which they can market their services for free. But what makes Daylo special is that it’s not just a medium for establishing contact and obtaining information. It is a utility containing the tools you need to initiate and facilitate virtually every kind of service exchange.
What a turnoff to see all this Business 2.0-speak. Gothamist profiled the site the other day and offered a much clearer explanation (after the jump).
[Daylo] allows you to create a profile and offer services on a recurring basis. They’ve combined this with a feedback system, so you know which buyers and sellers are good, and which ones are not. You can browse profiles (if you are looking for services) or requests (if you are a service provider), and everything is organized by zip-code, so it’s pretty easy to find people close to where you live or work.
15 comments so far (Jump to latest)
Dan Boland 25 Mar 05
Ugh, I have to read shit like that on a daily basis. Whenever I see management-speak like that, I always think of what a complete lack of creativity and intelligence it took to create it. The problem is that marketers (and their bosses) always want to play it safe, like the kid who clings to the side of the pool because he can’t swim very well (but enough about my childhood). But “playing it safe” with copy usually ends up sounding like “generated by a robot.”
pb 25 Mar 05
The funny thing is that Craigslist works specifically because it is so rough. Are multiple entries that big a problem? Not really. And it’s a simple mechanism for aged listings to drop off while new listings and aggressive listers stay on. And while Craigslist doesn’t formerly support “tagging”, it happens anyway (example “w4m” in Casual Encounters). Was anyone really able to figure out what to do at Daylo on first visit?
Tony 25 Mar 05
I’m not sure what is worse there. The fact that they have used that kind of corporate-speak you normally see reserved for the “investors” page, or the fact that the excerpt you referenced actually starts with the fourth sentence of an FAQ answer in which only the first sentence is really necessary.
All they really need is:
Walker Hamilton 26 Mar 05
I believe that Daylo does have a chance. I went to the main page and was able to get started immediately. I also didn’t notice that they used “Business 2.0-speak” in their about because, well, like most users, I just didn’t read about it.
I reall like the profile interface, and it was a pleasure to get a profile set up on the system. The only things I noticed that bothered me was the text on all the buttons around the site.
They safari, camino, and firefox buttons (OS X) all looked so bad that I wish they had just put text links down instead of browser rendered buttons.
So far, I like daylo. Now, let’s see if I can get some business off of it.
Chris Larsen 26 Mar 05
Why are some people pitting Daylo against Craigslist?
Craigslist is really great for many things and will continue to be. It is a great list and lists are really useful. Daylo is about establishing a reputation for what you do in a way that is not anonymous. Daylo is not a list. Daylo is not Craigslist. The comparison to Craigslist is only useful in an elevator pitch. Obviously anyone who has read this far is looking for something beyond that.
Jeff Hoffman 28 Mar 05
I think Daylo is a really cool site. I have posted a profile on their site and right away i recieved a response. That is the power of the internet fellas. Go daylo.com
Anonymous Coward 28 Mar 05
anon
Salil Gupta 28 Mar 05
I Like the fact that the guys at daylo know their business. From a consumers point of view it is good to know these guys are not a bunch of geeks sitting in their parents garage. They got a legit business op and they are professional. My only problem is with the name. What the F@#$ does daylo mean?
Chris 28 Mar 05
I’m gonna bet a couple of these responses are from the folks at Daylo.
tlack 31 Mar 05
yup, some of them smell pretty rotten.
it’s unfortunate that daylo is actually getting traffic out of this..
Laura Holder 31 Mar 05
… um, wait a minute, wait a minute… wait…
wow, what an undermining, suspicious bunch some of y’all are.
Actually, to address “Chris”, and ‘tlack’ : no, we haven’t commented here beyond the self-identified chris larsen, above.
I have stayed away until now, as this forum’s editors seem to have fostered what seems like a stone-throwing slamfest —a few genuinely helpful comments aside— instead of an environment for constructive-criticism where knowledgeable people might come to exchange, I don’t know, productive ideas.
Here’s what a web-makers forum *could* be: Web builders of all kinds realize they are actually on the same side! They aren’t too threatened to share ideas and be helpful to one another, and so they benefit from it, mutually.
Otherwise, why bother? Does it make you feel better to open up a can of misinformed whoopass? Some of you do seem a bit misconstrued about who we are or why we created Daylo. No doubt our own writing contributes to that misunderstanding.
So, genuinely, thanks Matt.
We do not disagree. Both you and Jake magaged to write a more succinct summary than our team of 6 were able to write while we were also building and designing the application of daylo.com. One day we will hire a professional marketing team and kill the buzz-words.
Meanwhile, speaking of buzz-kill….
ilker 06 Aug 06
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