One of the most amusing, frequently used lines from entrepreneurs and start-up companies is, “We’re redesigning our site and it’ll be up next month.” Basically, what this says is, “We don’t like our site, we’re embarrassed about it, we know it needs to be improved or even completely overhauled, and either we don’t care enough about the web, our users, or our customers to have already fixed what we don’t like or we are incapable of fixing it.” Furthermore, the statement is 1) in most cases, a blatant lie 2) even if believed by the person making the statement, a gross underestimate of the time-frame, and 3) a demonstration of flawed thinking about the web.
And while I might expect to hear such comments from start-ups, rarely are such comments made by larger companies, which is why I chuckled when I saw the announcement on NBC’s web site that stated “Social Networking – Coming Soon.” If anyone ever wonders why large traditional media companies are struggling these days, just think about that statement for a bit.