Have they hugged you today?

We had a meeting today with a big wig at AOL. It was mainly about his vision for the future of AIM. I mostly agree with what his vision is, but one thing in particular caught my attention.

Other companies like Google and Yahoo "hug" you for visiting them. When you visit their page, they're like "Hey! You're here! Great! Look at all the things you can do!" Whereas AOL has become complacent. "Oh hey. There you are. Here use these things we made."

This one of the things we need to change at AOL. We need to make our users feels that they are appreciated for using AOL software and not inconvenience them for trying to use AOL services along with services of our competitors. The "walled garden" that AOL made its business out of is going away. Let's hope AOL doesn't decide to create a "greenhouse" instead, just replacing its concrete walls with glass ones.

Have you been hugged today?