Online protest and offline realities in Second Life

Today's Washington Post ran a great article highlighting the new world of the politicial protest. The piece, "French Politics in 3D on Fantasy Website" told the story of a "slash and burn" protest at the headquarters of the extremist French presidential candidate, Jean Marie Le Pen. The slashing and burning, though, all took place in Second Life, the online virtual world where people from around the world live out their idealized lives.

For the uninitiated, Second Life has become increasingly like our plain, old regular life. Many "real world" major corporations have offices in this online environment -- and if you're a candidate for office? You can forget having any success if you don't have a Second Life avatar.

In the French political protest, the really angry fake people opposed to Le Pen took on Le Pen's really angry fake supporters using pig grenades -- yes, that's right, fake exploding pigs. Just wait until the fake Second Life ASPCA gets ahold of that one (seriously, why couldn't it be exploding baguettes?). The supporters fired back with with push guns and avatars where flying everywhere. In the end, though, the pig pushers won and Le Pen's headquarters were decimated.

Thousands of pixels died in this unprecedented attack.

Although this is an extreme example, the exploding pigs do make a point. A new front has opened in political campaigns, and candidates will ignore these virtual realities at their peril. I'm just waiting for the day when an Avatar-American in elected president.

Assignment Zero

Want to be a reporter (or just play one on TV?) Check out Assignment Zero, a collaboration between Wired magazine and New Assignment.net, an journalism site established by Jay Rosen.

In a way, the concept merges wikipedia with journalism (wikijournalism? journalpedia?). Story topics will be selected on an ongoing basis. Interestingly, the current story is "crowdsourcing" -- i.e., the very phenomenon that this site is smack dab in the middle of. For the uninitiated, crowdsourcing is the term some are using to describe using the wisdom and input of a crowd to shed light on a particular topic. So wikipedia is a "crowdsourced" (some might say "angry mob-sourced") product.

At the Assignment Zero site, anyone can set up an account on the site, request an assignment and become a reporter. These citizen journalists will have deadlines, go through the copy editing process and may even see their immortal words posted on the web (or in Wired magazine).

Needless to say, some in the journalism industry are nervous about this approach. They argue that creating good copy is a difficult skill that requires practice and expertise. This "come one come all" approach, to some, represents the downfall of quality reporting as we know it.

But in my opinion, this is just engagism at work, and the cream of these articles will rise to the top. The truly interested, passionate and talented will focus their time and attention on this project. If creating a cogent story truly requires skill and expertise, those who lack the chops, as it were, won't create stories worth of further consideration. And who knows? We just might find the next Woodward and Bernstein in the process.

America's Cup on the Web

My friend Jeff Davis has an interesting article in his blog about how the America's Cup, once the province of the sailing elite (you know, those upper-crust Northeasterner's with names like "Buffy" and "Milton"), is going all high-tech with its coverage of the race.

For the uninitiated, the America's Cup is a REALLY LONG yacht race, in which people with way too much time on their hands compete for a trophy (and, prestige and all the other good stuff that comes with winning anything). Apparently, the U.S. had the cup for a long time and then other countries like New Zealand and Australia started hogging it. Whoever has the cup doesn't get to keep it long. Anyone can challenge the current holder of the cup, who must defend it. This time around, the challenge is from Switzerland which, last time I checked, is a land-locked country (although I will grant you there are a number of lakes).

To me, online coverage of the cup represents the ultimate in how people use technology to engage in what they truly care about. Interested parties aren't actually sailing. No are they actually physically watching the race. They're not even watching a traditional broadcast image of the race. No, they're watching a 3D/virtual representation of the race based on the images that are coming from the yachts involved. Plus, the technology provides the user with "courselines, markers and laylines" (whatever those are) that are viewable from every angle.

America's Cup coverage BETTER THAN REAL LIFE! And you don't have to leave the safety of your couch. It doesn't get more engagist than that. Now quick -- use the word regatta in a sentence

Buying "Property" in California

My husband and I have an ongoing debate about when (not if) we'll move back to California. We were both raised there and I, frankly, miss it. He, on the other hand, keeps going on about our jobs and our friends here and blah, blah, blah. But I showed him. I bought Atascadero, CA.

OK, I didn't really buy Atascadero. I bought the online version of Atascadero at Weblo.com. Yep, that's right. I'm the mayor, the big cheese, the head honcho for this small central coast city that few people have ever heard of. You may address me as "your honor."

I'll admit it. I wanted a bigger city. Something like San Francisco or even Atascadero's northern neighbor, Paso Robles. But they were taken. And frankly, I'm not going to get into a bidding war over an imaginary space on the Internet. Instead, I'm going to turn Atascadero into the best darn fake city on the Internet -- stop by by clicking here.

Oh, and many thanks to the very smart people at Business 2.0 for writing about WebLo -- why couldn't you give me the heads up before the article came out so I could get a good city? No offense, my fellow Atascaderans.

Political Campaigns, Engagism and YouTube

Do you remember the last campaign cycle when animated shorts sent by e-mail were all the rage? Jib Jab's "This Land Is Your Land", which was considered cutting edge in 2004, is now listed as a "classic" on their website.

Clearly, the engagist idea of pulling people into websites, as opposed to pushing communications through e-mail has hit political campaigns. Rather than sending out the latest presidential campaign related video (OK, some say it's an attack ad), the person who created it posted in on YouTube, where it's been viewed almost 2 million times. Yes, I'm talking about the now somewhat infamous "Vote Different" video, a piece suggesting that a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote for a big brother-esque, 1984-style society.

Of course, it was posted by someone whose firm is working for the Obama campaign. So maybe they're a little biased.

Games, games, everywhere...

I'll bet you knew that video games are popular. But did you know that over 50% of teenage girls used a console at some point in last few months? And that over 75% of boys aged 12-17 used an in-home video game during the same period?

That's a lot of kids playing video games. But it's not just the kids: adults are jumping on board as well. Almost half of men aged 18 to 34 and over a third of women in the same age group play video games. Perhaps most interesting, video game usage seems to occur in a similar pattern to television -- peaking and ebbing at similar times. So it seems that there might be a fair amount of "unduplicated" reach, i.e., people who are playing video games instead of watching television.

Seems that might have some implications for how marketers reach those folks, yes?

Seems that employers might also want to be prepared for a whole slew of employees who grew up playing video games, not watching television. This has serious implications for how we train, motivate and interact with the gaming generation.

Click here to download Nielsen Media's report "The State of the Console"

Social Networks really ARE becoming Niche!

Just ran across this interesting article in Business Week about the "nichification" (is that a word?) of social networks. With sites like LinkedIn (for those seeking to boost their careers) NurseLinkup (for healthcare professionals) and Fuzzster (a site for pet lovers), it is clear that sites targeted to a smaller portion of the population are really taking off. This trend is catering to those who prefer to connect with a smaller group of people who share similar interests and passions. They are capturing that "powerful 1%" of people that truly care about a particular interest.

In other words, the technology of niche social network sites help people focus their time and attention on what they are most interested in. Now imagine if you were an association or business needing to reach out to pet lovers, nurses or even the shopaholics at yub.com -- isn't nice that they're all gathered in one place for you?

The Weather Channel in Second Life

So, I was a little surprised to see that the Weather Channel is launching a virtual headquarters in Second Life. I can hear the newscast now: "In the northern hemishpere we have, well, no weather. There doesn't seem to be any in the southern hemisphere either. Stan, back to you in the studio." I mean, it is ONLINE. Unless you count spam or a slow dial-up connection as weather, there really isn't much happening atmospherically speaking.

But not to worry -- the Weather Channel isn't going to actually be reporting on the non-existent weather. Rather, they are creating an extreme sports park, where Second Lifers can experience what extreme athletes go through when they take on challenging conditions, such as skiing Mount "Eipc" and mountian-biking the Moab Desert. All of these activities will take place on "Weather Island" and are connected to the channel's new series, "Epic Conditions."

I'm just hoping a can go to Weather Island and experience a little surf, sun, sand and big fruity tropical drinks. Or is that alcoholics island?

Click here to read more about the weather channel effort

Mashup meets social netowrking meets Survivor

Hyundai unveiled an interesting "Mash and Seek" ad campaign recently. Registered users can post their pictures on the site. 16 pictures will be chosen at random and used to create a mashup collage of four pictures each (go to www.mashandseek.com to see what I mean). The people in the winning pictures then must find each other, and the four that find each other first each win new Hyundai Elantra's. Othe "mash and seek" puzzles will be available throughout the contest (presumambly mashups of celebrities and the like).

Seems like a rather odd way of selling cars which, we must remember, is what Hyundai is supposed to be doing. Nevertheless, it seems clear they're thinking about how to engage the consumer upfront and are developing a "hip" image in the process (believe me, I know how "unhip" I am to be using a word like "hip")

C-Span and video

Policy wonks everywhere should breathe a sigh of relief. C-Span has come to its senses and adopted a liberalized copyright policy for its videos of government in action (or inaction, as the case may be)... You can read the press release here.

Noncommercial entities can now copy, share and post video from C-Span's archives, as well as any future video. This policy is limited to its coverage of Congressional and federal agency actions, such as House and Senate floor action and federal agency talkfests. In addition, C-SPan has announced that it will be expanding its www.capitolhearings.org site in order to bring even more boring hearings about government oversight to the general public. Yippee!

The approach being adopted by C-Span has long been championed by entities like Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization which allows creators to mark their products with the type of copyright restrictions they want to apply. So, if you have a video for which you want to reserve some rights, while at the same time allowing other uses, like posting on blogs and YouTube, you can create a customized copyright policy.

The really cool thing about these limited rights customized copyrights (and the creators that are adopting them) is that it allows the "audience" to utilize the materials in ways that suit them best. And, as we know, more engagement equals a more loyal audience. Good for consumers, good for creators!

No word yet on whether C-span will allow mash-ups of its video materials -- and, really, who wants to see that?

MySpace and Corporations

Are corporations finally understanding MySpace and the power of social networking? OK, sure, it's scary to hear that Reuters wants to become the "MySpace for the financial services community" (yeah, like I really want to have my accountant on my friend's list). And USA Today is adding Web 2.0 features to its site in an attempt to better engage readers. But the real evidence can be found in a recent New York Times article noting that Cisco Systems is developing a new social networking service for corporations. The new technological service will help corporations develop social networks to bring their customers together online.

Some view this as the "evolution" of social networking -- giving people more tools to create their own networks outside the bounds of sites like MySpace and Facebook. Sites like Ning.com are positioning themselves as social networking without rules or straight jackets, and corporations and special interests alike are hopping on board. It's even hitting the presidential campaign through the recently launched my.barackobama.com (I know many women who like the sound of that).

Social networks are breaking out of the world of teenagers and technology dorks -- are you ready?

Engagism and Home Brew

So, Sam Adams is building customer loyalty by engaging its customers in the time honored practice of brewing their own beer. Sure, homebrew isn't anything new, but does it strike anyone else as a little odd that a major beer company would actually give its customers the tools to create their own product? Perhaps to even create a better product than the company itself? It's a little like Palmolive selling its customers the ingredients to make their own dish soap.

And yet, in light of all the recent research on engaging customers, it makes perfect sense. Not only is Sam Adams building brand recognition, it's also building a rabid fan base -- people who will spend hours studying the chemistry of beer-making and who wil, in the end, become more knowledgeable consumers.

And, of course, with the home grown videos accompanying homebrew entries, Sam Adams will also find themselves with an enormous amount of free footage for its advertising campaigns. Developing knowledgeable, loyal customers and reducing advertising costs -- where's the downside?

Check it out at http://www.samueladams.com/promotions.aspx