A Business Case for ‘Yo’: Cutting Through the Noise (by Titus Kimbowa)
With the risk of adding to the ‘Yo’ noise bubble, I will attempt to look at the business application of Yo. There are plenty of consumer applications.
Human communication has many forms with a unique purpose across every signal. We've used technology to cut the time in which we communicate; no matter the distance. Tools like email, phone calls, and SMS text have drastically changed how we communicate. One thing these tools share is a notification system that alerts users when someone wants to communicate with them. That’s a communication tool in itself.
In the case for Yo, the notification is the message. It’s like technology learned the subtle communication that goes on outside the realms of a conversation. It’s like a wink, a secret code, a secret handshake. And yes, it’s stupid.
Stupid simple.
Communication on a battlefield requires fast and timely communication. Words are replaced with hand signals and sometimes they are replaced with words that have little meaning to anyone outside the loop. A famous example of this is depicted in Henry W. Longfellow’s poem in which he mentions a secret signal by Paul Revere saying: “One, if by land, and two, if by sea.” Had Revere used Yo, one Yo would signal the land route, while two Yo’s would signal the dispatch by the water. Information is powerful and can be devastating to a business if it ends up in the wrong hands. Once at fruition, I believe Yo will have the capacity to give business sales teams and executives a way to quickly communicate and act on a given strategy/play without hesitation or worry of information leaks.
It’s a long-shot but certainly doable.
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is a young entrepreneur living in Seattle, WA. He was born in Kampala, Uganda & moved to the States when he was 12. He’s currently a senior at the University of Washington and serves as vice-president of the UW American Marketing Association, and he's interning as the product marketing analyst for stealthy start-up Webtuner. He’s got past experience as part of the Zagat team at Google, Crown Social, TEDxYouth Seattle, and starting up an enterprise travel company. In his spare time (which he rarely gets) he likes to play basketball, read, and hang out around Seattle.