Tracksuit CEO

by Tracksuit CEO

Last month I wrote about Technorati’s acquisition of Twingly. I went on to speculate that the next Google acquisition would be Diigo. Well that may still happen, but instead they went and bought Jaiku. Adam Ostrow of Mashable writes:

This is somewhat surprising news considering the perceived dominance of
Twitter in the so-called “lifestreaming” space. Additionally, Twitter
is co-founded by Evan Williams, who was the creator of Blogger, which
was previously acquired by Google. In a world where price is no object
for Google, it’s interesting that they would opt for Jaiku and not
Twitter.

I agree that this is a surprising move. I could go on and on and compare the two services (Twitter and Jaiku) talking about what Jaiku has and doesn’t have, but what I really want to write about is the name – ‘Jaiku’. I know a little about the origins of the name, all having to do with the brief nature of the microblog posts (similar to the Japanese Haiku) combined with the Java-based scripting of the site. But there’s more there that I’d like to explore. I see a pattern in the naming of these Web 2.0 services and it’s similar to a pattern that I’ve seen in my own home.

I’ll explain what I mean but first you’ll have to meet the 2 youngest members of the Tracksuit Family. Camilla (4) and Violet (1) My youngest daughter is just learning to talk so the words she comes up with are fascinating, if usually indecipherable. My 4 year old, on the other hand, does some very interesting things with words and especially the names she comes up with for her dolls and stuffed animals. Sometimes the names stick but other times the same toy can have 4 or 5 different names in a single day. These are not names she’s ever heard before either, these are originals. Some of them are words that she has designated as names, like the dog named Recipe or the cat named Creative. But most of them are variations on names or words she’s learned in her 4 short years on this planet. And this is where I made the connection.

I don’t know if I’ve ever heard her name any of her toys Jaiku but I know she named one of them Joomla. This was long before I had heard of the Open Source Content Management System, Camilla certainly had never heard of it. Was this just a coincidence?

What about Hahlo? The way she pronounced it, emphasizing the ‘h’ sound in the middle of the word, H-a-h-l-o would have been the only possible spelling.

Or what about Maseesha? Well, that one hasn’t shown up yet, but I’m sure it will and when it does I definitely expect Camilla to get some credit.

Her knack for this is so uncanny that I’ve actually thought about setting her up with a Web 2-0 name consultancy. Here I’m going to list some of the other candidates and what type of service they might be used for.

Masheesa – like the aforementioned Ma-see-sha only slightly altered. Hey, it worked for Thumblicio.us.

How about Seema? This could be a Social Network based around people who love to sew (like Seemer pronounced with a NY accent). It could be the US answer to Switzerland’s Netgranny!

And if you still aren’t convinced of her skills then check this out. These names were all conceived in a single play session:

• Hambers (pronounced like hammer with a ‘b’)
• Dambers
  and
• Chambers

Of course we would have to alter these slightly. If I take a few liberties with the spelling and subdomains I submit to you:

• Hambrz
• Dambero.us
  and
• Chammb.rs

They were all part of a rhyme so the 3rd word is pronounced like (chāmbers), I threw in an extra ‘m’ for clarity.

I don’t know what type of services these names might work with but does it really matter? These are all solid gold.

For the ultimate resource of unfortunate Web 2.0 names you should definitely have a look at David Lloyd’s How Are You Spelling That? The Top 25 Stupidly Named Web 2.0 Sites Of 2006. It is a scathing rundown of almost 200 Web 2.0 sites. Lloyd introduces a rating system based on Contrived and Difficult Pronunciation, Absurdity and Subdomains from Hell, among many other factors.

If you can’t afford Camilla’s steep hourly consulting rate (you probably can’t), then my best advice for anyone looking to name a mashup, widget or Social Network is this — let your toddler have a crack at it. You might even run your revenue model by them as well. This sure would have saved the Flooz and DrKoop.com investors a lot of money back in the day.

In the notes: What are your least favorite website names? Are there any that you use but cringe when you have to pronounce them?

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