Reduced friction

Seth Godin often talks about mechanisms that reduce friction in marketing. Often he sights reduced friction as a negative, saying that just because it makes life easier doesn't mean it makes for better marketing.

On the flip side, if you're marketing something to me that reduces friction in my life, that probably is a great thing. Google's iGoogle page, which I first resisted, continues to provide for me everything I need. In a glance, I get blog headlines in the little Reader window, the top headlines on CNN.com (trite and fluffy though they seem to be lately), a map showing DC traffic, Google's horribly inaccurate weather, the most current cat on I Can Has Cheezburger, and today's Dilbert cartoon.

And now - a little screen where I can update my blog. Scrolling through my Reader window, I pondered why I didn't blog more. Oh, right.

Friction.

I had to open a new tab, half the time I had to log in even though I would have supposed I was logged in because of my iGoogle page, then make a few more clicks, then type, then spell check, then post. Occasionally I'd need to reformat some things.

But I like to post. I wish it was easier. Then, I thought, to steal from the iPhone commercials, "I'll bet there's an app for that."

There is. It's a little window that appears on my iGoogle page and lets me type a whole entry in. What I lose in functionality (no ability to do block quotes, no spell check, and my labels don't show up automatically) I gain in access. Now, if I have a thoughts that's more than 140 characters, I can post it here.

Without the friction.