Good Humor In Web 2.0 Is Definitely A Turn On.

I recently had the experience of transferring an RSS Feed from one site to another. In doing this, I couldn’t help but notice the awesome hint of humor that FeedBurner has incorporated into it’s corporate image. Some might argue that adding humor to business is “unprofessional”; I would argue the exact opposite. When used sparingly, and in a way that is actually funny, humor ads a realistic and trustworthy front to your company.

My humble, teenage advice to any new web-based or even brick and mortar company is to be funny. Be funny when you have the wiggle room. People respond well to humor.

Take for example the following screen shots I captured from FeedBurner:

(Doesn’t that just make you want to laugh? An instant connection is formed with the user.)

(“Troubleshootize” – easily appeals to the inner geek in all of us. And then “Oh Dear, What kind of trouble?” gives me the impression I’m running to my mommy for help. Again, the emotional bond is created through humor. Yes, I’m being serious.)

(1,000,000 times more interesting than seeing “return to previous page”. I love it!)

And thus it is ladies and gentelemen. Humor is the way to go. FeedBurner uses humor throughout their site, from the home page all the way to the end (wherever the end may be). And heck, FeedBurner was purchased by Google for how many millions of dollars? Oh, that’s right, only 100 million dollars. I guess building a humor based company isn’t the worst idea in the world after all.