Thoughts on new US FIRST splash page?

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

FIRST doesnt seem to realize that, as a nerd, I care nothing about Will.I.Am, or what he says.

Except that this is totally not the point either...

Its the same mentality that was found in the thread about Snoop Dogg maybe coming to Atlanta..

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...6&postcount=40

Nevermind. I am bad at explaining things.

[Grim Tuesday]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Except that this is totally not the point either...

Its the same mentality that was found in the thread about Snoop Dogg maybe coming to Atlanta..

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...6&postcount=40

Nevermind. I am bad at explaining things.

I get your point, but I think a better way of exciting me would be for Gabe Newell to tell us that everyone on FIRST gets beta keys for Portal 2.

/nerd

FIRST is trying to choose between if it wants to be a niche sport, or become mainstream. I feel that they are attempting to mainstream it, which is nice for the exposure, but I think that they are doing it in completely the wrong way. Make people want to watch the game for the game, not because will.i.am thinks they should (and I have my doubts about how sincere he is)

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by Boydean

I would also add to my previous post that this new page has large amounts of meta data related to the super ball. Meta data being keywords that search engines can relate a website to.

It seems like FIRST is ramping up the website expecting a deluge of hits on Superbowl Sunday. Maybe the rumour about will.i.am promoting FIRST during his performance is true. I've heard of many companies with websites that weren't prepared for the huge spike in traffic because of Super Bowl ads. Considering how terrible FIRST's website has been with traffic spikes in the past, any sort of prep in this direction is a good thing.

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

FIRST doesnt seem to realize that, as a nerd, I care nothing about Will.I.Am, or what he says.

FIRST isn't trying to appeal to you. You're already in the program. They're trying to draw new people in. The question is whether they can do this with will.i.am without alienating their existing customers. This thread is making me think no. However, the ChiefDelphi population is definitely not a random sample of the FIRST population.

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

Interesting, though. Couldn't they have added that to the old page? And isnt it a bit depressing that there are more keywords about will.i.am than about robotics?

I don't see it that way. Looks to me their trying to capture the traffic generated by the Super Bowl exposure, to get people to notice robotics. If will.i.am is really going to be drawing attention to FIRST at the Super Bowl, people will be jumping to Google right away to search for it. Now if you think it's sad on a philosophical level, that's another story.

Originally Posted by computerteen643

I think just paying a few million to get a superbowl ad would be much more effective and have a wider acceptance with FIRST members and volunteers

Absolutely not. When given the choice of millions of dollars worth of free exposure versus paying millions of dollars for exposure, I think the choice is obvious.

As much as I think the new splash page is hideous and looks like a will.i.am commercial, I'm willing to cut FIRST some slack on this one. This could be a once in a lifetime chance in terms of gaining widespread exposure. It's probably worth putting some eggs in this basket. I totally understand the criticisms of this webpage, but the irrational fear of going mainstream puzzles me.

[klmx30302]

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

I get your point, but I think a better way of exciting me would be for Gabe Newell to tell us that everyone on FIRST gets beta keys for Portal 2.

Yes, this would definitely get most (if not all) people in FIRST excited and also cause half (or more) of everyone on steam to sign up for FIRST. But the problem with that is that quite a few of them would leave after the season because they were just interested in the key, but some may actually like it and stay just not a lot of them.

[KC1AJT]

Originally Posted by klmx30302

Yes, this would definitely get most (if not all) people in FIRST excited and also cause half (or more) of everyone on steam to sign up for FIRST. But the problem with that is that quite a few of them would leave after the season because they were just interested in the key, but some may actually like it and stay just not a lot of them.

Steam also doesnt have the most stable servers...they crash a ton could you imagine an overload after all FIRST members register a new game let alone a simple software update

[Joe Schornak]

Clearly FIRST is planning on Will.I.Am mentioning FIRST during his Superbowl performance. The splash page is designed for an uninformed, non-nerd individual who is checking out FIRST based on what they've heard from their favorite artist during a halftime show. Thus, Will.I.Am's high visibility serves to confirm that this particular sort of individual has indeed found the right website, since they'll be thinking Will.I.Am first, non-profit educational organization second.

This page ultimately helps FIRST, simply by helping to get its name into the mainstream. Even if this means that FIRST will be featured in thousands of tweets, statuses, and blog posts titled "OMG WILL.I.AM!!!!11", I can rest assured that a significant number of people now know more about FIRST than I knew about Will.I.Am before Kickoff.

I do not particularly take issue with the overall message of the page. Most of the people visiting will not need an inspiring mission statement with an educational message as the first thing they see upon reaching the site; "FIRST is Cool!" is enough for now. They'll find the real message of FIRST once they start clicking links.

There is no need for the new splash page to hinder the activities of those even marginally involved in FIRST. We all know how to get to the "real" main page. We can make our team pages link to this page, and use its URL in letters and emails to potential sponsors and interested parties. I personally do not plan on returning to the new splash page; there is nothing there for me, as it was not designed for me.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by computerteen643

Steam also doesnt have the most stable servers...they crash a ton could you imagine an overload after all FIRST members register a new game let alone a simple software update

FIRST has a lot of students, but not THAT many students. 2000 teams with 20 students each on average would be only 40,000 people.

[Meredith Novak]

I just went to the usfirst website to review some information for a little FLL tournament we are holding this weekend. I thought someone had hacked the thing. YouTube videos? Some apparently famous guy who doesn't have a real name?

Of course, I was "working" and looking for professional content to assist me in a position of responsibility for a tournament. Obviously I am not the target audience.

I am also in the process of communicating with some very serious people about expanding FIRST in Arkansas. I just hope they all looked at the website link I sent them before this happened.

Hopefully, it is a misguided PR pre-Super Bowl move and will become a bad memory very soon.

Perhaps I should not be so critical, but I work VERY HARD (as does my entire team and organization) to portray FIRST as a professional, serious program.

[rsisk]

I think several of the posters in this thread have divined the real reason for the new splash page.

The hosting group Akamai is there to handle a large spike in traffic, all the keywords in the meta data designed for people who see will.i.am at the super bowl and head straight for Google, and the apparent target audience (i.e., not us).

FIRST must be gearing up for some special attention during the super bowl and all will probably return to normal soon after.

[Libby K]

Originally Posted by rsisk

FIRST must be gearing up for some special attention during the super bowl and all will probably return to normal soon after.

Bill's Blog just posted something similar.

http://frcdirector.blogspot.com/2011...ur-part-2.html

Originally Posted by Bill's Blog

We have a new landing page on the FIRST website celebrating Will.i.am’s visit to Kickoff and anticipating his performance during halftime at the Super Bowl. To access our 'original' homepage, click on the FIRST logo in the lower left corner of the screen. The splash page is not permanent. We will return to the ‘traditional’ homepage sometime next week.

We may not all love it, but it seems like it'll be gone soon enough.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by Boydean

I would also add to my previous post that this new page has large amounts of meta data in the site's source code related to the super ball. Meta data being keywords that search engines can relate a website to.

Meta Data

will.i.am science,
will.i.am Dean Kamen,
will.i.am robot,
will.i.am arm band,
will.i.am armband,
will.i.am logo,
will.i.am superbowl,
will.i.am super bowl,
will.i.am technology,
will.i.am charity,
will.i.am non-profit,
Circle triangle Square,

Of those, only "will.i.am Dean Kamen" gets a google results anywhere close to FIRST. Hopefully FIRST has more plans then just people trying to figure out what was on will.i.am's armband.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

Of those, only "will.i.am Dean Kamen" gets a google results anywhere close to FIRST. Hopefully FIRST has more plans then just people trying to figure out what was on will.i.am's armband.

All I know is that anyone knows that the really cool nerds wear post-it notes attached to their foreheads. Maybe will.i.am could up the coolness factor.

[Taylor]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

All I know is that anyone knows that the really cool nerds wear post-it notes attached to their foreheads.

In will.i.am's case, would the post-it note be off to one side?

I think it would be cool to see him wear a manpurse covered in team buttons. I know a couple girls who could let him borrow one ...

Back to my point at hand, my wife checked out the usfirst.org website the other day, unprompted. She was trying to find out when championship weekend is. She said that she felt her intelligence insulted by the splash page, and it took her four tries before she found her way back to the :real: site.
She's not a rabid FIRST fan - she does see the inspiration that comes from the program, but she also sees a game that takes her husband and son's father away for many evenings throughout the year. A robotics widow - unwilling, but understanding. The splash page did nothing to make FIRST more appealing in her eyes.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Taylor

I think it would be cool to see him wear a manpurse covered in team buttons. I know a couple girls who could let him borrow one ...

If his manpurse were to look anything like this, he will have added a super cool factor.

[TD912]

I'm lazy and didn't read through the entire 7+ pages of this thread, but here's my take on the new splash page.

I think it could be done a bit better, but it gets the job done. I think it has to do something with the Super Bowl possibly? Maybe FIRST is expecting a mass influx of users to their site, as Akamai is known for internet content hosting.

The video is... meh. Random scenes with will.i.am's quotes being repeated over and over on top of cheesy music...

The "See robots in action" could have been linked to something else other than a PDF, though.