The newly minted CEO of AOL, Tim Armstrong, asked for my advice as he stepped into the new job. I know Tim from the industry and from our days working together on the AOL/Google partnership.
He then asked me to come back to campus and give a quick talk to employees at the All Hands meeting today. I thought that was very gracious of him and since I am loyal to AOL and to its employees, customers and partners, I took Tim up on his offer. I am retired from AOL. I have no agenda and no ax to grind. I only wish good tidings for the company.
My speech was short and sweet. It centered on the day and date of Tim’s entry into AOL - St. Patrick’s Day - and how St. Patrick was an evangelist and a missionary. He was called “lucky” because he had been sentenced to death three times and each time luck or fate or guile intervened and he dodged his death sentence. He also introduced the three leaf clover as his sign for luck but also as a sign for the Holy Trinity as he was a Christian Missionary.
I tied St. Patrick’s Day into Tim’s first day on campus and how he needs to be a missionary and sell his message far and wide. He needs some luck and he needs to have the Holy Trinity today for AOL be the following:
- Products
- Customers
- People
If the company gets back to basics and manages for Main Street – not Wall Street - it will be able to leverage its massive reach, strong tech platform and intellectual capital to continue to be a major player on the Internet.
Tim is a very capable and charismatic leader - just what the doctor ordered in these tough times. He will be focused on products, services and technology and THEN how to monetize the audience. He will listen to employees, partners and advertisers. He will be transparent and he will be an activist. I am available to help when needed but it is Tim’s company now. Go Tim!
I also wish to thank Tim for inviting Steve Case, the co-founder of AOL, to campus today and to speak. The employees lit up when they saw him. It felt like a very sweet moment for all involved.
It is exciting to see the return of the sanity after some 5 very frustrating years of AOL trying to imitate Yahoo and other Web Cos.
Turning to the Main Street is indeed the key. AOL did something right in the past if it managed to sign up close to 30M paying customers. Even today AOL Client software is “used by more than 28.6 million people on broadband and dial-up connections every day” (http://desktopblog.aol.com/2009/02/12/aol-has-launched-aol-9-5/) in lieu of a stand alone browser.
Over these years, every time an AOL content area would switch from AOL Classic interface to Web, you could read tons of unhappy posts by frustrated paying(!) AOL customers on the AOL message boards. People would exchange the links to the old content areas and would leave no stone unturned to continue the AOL experience they were used to and liked.
Shoving Web down AOL users throats was a mistake. AOL could have established a strong Web presence by developing any of the Web brands other than AOL Flagship Service. AOL owned Netscape, AIM, ICQ, Winamp. Any or all of those could have been used to compete in the Web space. While AOL should have remained a premium service for the people who were willing to pay for it. Compuserve had Web based content already, why that brand was not used to go the Web route? But instead, the decision was made to destroy AOL brand by switching it to garden variety Web.
Today the AOL Web sites are getting rid of any AOL branding because it became toxic. AOL management did not spare efforts to make AOL a synonym for dial up.
Current economic situation makes every revenue dollar count. So, why not offer to the users, who showed time an again that they value AOL Classic experience, a choice between free Web and AOL Classic experience for a modest fee? From the AOL client usage figures, it appears that the people will be willing to pay $5 a month to enjoy the fast and nimble FDO rendering of the content in AOL Client, old style. Make it ads free and you have quite a product offer.
I am sure that will make a lot of Web zealots angry but people need to accept that their job is about the customers, preferably paying customers, and not just a playground where they can do “cool things” they could share with their buddies from small Web shops. Technically, it is not too hard to do, no matter what the people who know nothing but Web technology suite will claim. The key is in separation of content from presentation. The data, e.g a news article, should be made presentation neutral. And the particular presentations (e.g Web pages that are differently skinned, mobile, AOL Client FDO, a kitchen toaster) should be generated by applying specific templates that fit the particular presentation devices. The servers to render the content in AOL Client FDO have not yet been dismantled. You can still see the old AOL pages, if you have them bookmarked in Favorite Places.
I am sure if this approach is taken, quite a few ex-AOLers with 10+ years of AOL experience, who quit their AOL jobs to pursue other projects and careers, would be willing to help if necessary. I know I would. Bringing back to life what once made AOL great and what has been almost completely destroyed is a worthy cause.
Hey Ted,
While the “AOL isn’t a dinosaur” speech seems like a lifetime ago, what can I say, you’re still the man!! Read your blog all the time. Hope all is well with you, and if/when you’re in LA, would love to grab a cup of coffee.
Best Always, Stu Wetstein
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Historic day. Great “take” & thanks for being there.
“He will be focused on products, services and technology and THEN how to monetize the audience. He will listen to employees, partners and advertisers. He will be transparent and he will be an activist.”
Wow, this sounds like the absolute right change that AOL needs. If Tim makes good on these changes, AOL would once again be a place that great technologists would want to go work for. I know I would, again.
However, be careful — in your Holy Trinity, are Customers not People?
was great to see you and steve there today. the momentum shift is already in swing, and everyone is excited again. i was not there in “the good old days” so this is the first real morale shift i’ve experienced. thank you, and hope to see you on campus more!