Tracking Your Comments Online

OK, so I spend a fair amount of time commenting on other people's blogs (not hours a day or anything. I don't have a problem. I could quit any time I want). One thing that's kind of annoying, though, is tracking all those comments -- especially to see if someone wants to tell me I'm full of it (or, on the positive side, that my comment is the most brilliant thing they've ever read).

Enter cocomment, a tracking tool for those of us who have things to say. All you have to do is register and then remember to hit the cocomment link in your tracking tool bar before you submit your comment. It will track that conversation on a personal page that puts all the conversations you're tracking in one place.

Now, not only can I engage in the blogosphere, I can track my engagement. Way cool.

MySpacing Your Way to a College Education

For many, MySpace and Facebook are the things students do when they're not in class. Of course, with the advent of the wireless connectivity in the classroom, some students still spend time on MySpace when they should be listening to their chemistry professor.

I know this shocks you.

It apparently shocks some school administrators who have banned social networks because they waste precious classroom time. This month's Wired magazine, however, tells a different story of schools that are embracing socnets as tools for facilitating the learning process. Hey, if the kids are going to be spending all their time in MySpace anyway, why not integrate a little learning in there?

In these tech-savvy classes, student, tutors and researchers each get a profile page, blog, photosharing and friends lists through which they create online discussion communities. These constructs offer what some are calling "personal learning environments" where students, teachers and assistants work collaboratively to both learn and communicate across disciplines. Universities have found that students become far more engaged (there's that word again) in the learning process.

Think of it as a new-fashioned version of the old-fashioned study group. Just be careful that you don't get the guy in your group who freeloads off you and never does anything --

engagism

The Internet: The Playground of the Rich and Famous

A recent Online Spin commentary from Seane Mulcahy makes note of the fact that high-end brands do a very poor job online. That may or may not be true (frankly, I don't spend a lot of time at the websites of the luxury goods manufacturers.) What I found most interesting about the piece were the facts on affluent online users. (hey, if you have to ask who the affluent are, you're not them).

Did you know...

Affluent shoppers are much more likely to turn to the Internet.

Affluent households continuously upgrade the computer equipment and engage in a range of "interactive" online activities, such as downloading music and video games.

Affluent households spend more money on entertainment than most other households combined.

OK, that might seem obvious -- after all, they're the ones with the money, right? Of course they're spending it :) The point here though is that the affluent tend toward more engagist activities, whether it's online interactions in shopping or leisure activities.

Perhaps most important, one of the key components of promoting a high end brand with affluent consumers is creating a customer culture or community. Successful high-end brands tend to focus on a customer-centric approach. While most of this customer focus has occured offline in the past, it's clear that these brands need to start moving these activities online to be successful. After all, that's where their customers are!

Surprise! Politicians Like to talk AT You, not WITH You

Reuters has an interesting article on Presidential candidates and their use of Web 2.0 techniques ("Politicians Falls Behind in Online Race.") In it, they make a couple interesting points about how politicians are using the Internet.

First of all, while some campaigns are using Facebook, MySpace and other social networking tools to get their messages out, they aren't using these tools to engage in a meaningful dialogue. In some cases, it seems as though they see this as just another form of mass communication. As the article notes ". . . there is a sense it is mostly one-way traffice -- from "them" to "us" and analysts say politicians need to expand their online ambitions towards interactivity and user-generated content."

Along these lines, it seems that once the campaign is over, all efforts at interactivity and creativity go out the window once the candidate becomes an actual elected official. Blogs, video-sharing, networks and other conversation starters online simply aren't used by many electeds. When they are, as is the case with Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has posted a "petition gathering" tool on his site, it is seen as inelegant pandering to a powerful portion of the electorate.

The good news is that some people still see hope -- especially for those politicians who understand that these tools should be used to engage citizens rather than merely talk at them. Citizens expect to be able to interact, and if government doesn't provide that opportunity, someone else will.

But it's hard enough just living my regular life...

Business Week has a really interesting report entitled "The Coming Virtual Web," which outlines what the next iteration of the world wide web might look like.

Turns out it might look a lot like some of the virtual worlds online, such as Second Life and There. Business Week and the smart people interviewed for the article see the Internet as an inherently social and interactive medium, as opposed to a isolating and disconnecting medium. One might say it's an "engagist" medium as opposed to an "escapist" medium. Or at least I might.

Now, I'm sure you're thinking -- yeah, right, "World of Warcraft" is "engagist," to which I would say, yes it is! Gamers may not be engaging in the kinds of activities everyone finds appropriate and meaningful, but the point is that it's meaningful to them and they are interacting with other gamers all over the planet.

But perhaps you'd be more impressed by some of the other applications of virtual worlds. The Business Week article makes note of an english composition class at Ball State University that is held partly in Second Life. Over 300 people applied for the 18 slots. Or consider the business applications -- as startup company "Seriousity" CEO Ken Ross notes in the article "When you look at how addicted people get to these games, you realize there's a psychology that you can apply to real-life business situations."

So, how are YOU applying these lessons to your work? Because those 300 freshman at Ball State University are going to be in your workforce soon -- how will you engage their interest?

(Hot) Air Congress

Believe it or not, members of Congress are actually trying new ways to reach out to citizens in their district. They are using "engagist" techniques to solicit views and comments from the people they represent. You can learn more at Air Congress, which highlights speeches, podcast and other oral ruminations of members of Congress. There's also an overview of the various blogs that cover Washington, DC as well as a couple notes about upcoming events.

If you're curious which members of Congress are actually doing podcasts, the site includes a great list. Some of them may surprise you -- it's not just the new "young turks." I was surprised and pleased to see that Chairman Dingell, the longest serving member of the House is posting a weekly podcast. How cool is that?

Next time you want to get an elected official to listen to your concerns, check to see if they have a blog or podcast. It just may be your avenue into the "inner workings" of the legislative process (but you might want to soon findyour way out!)

Internet Radio: A Quickly Growing Trend

I have to say I was surprised by a recent American Media Services study on Internet radio, in which 67% of repondents indicated they've listened to a radio station online. This is up from the 36% who listened just one year ago.

And then I thought, "why am I surprised?" In fact, internet radio seems to be one of those services that even the technology wary have embraced. Take, for example, my husband, who just got a cell phone in the last year (and only at my insistence). He really isn't a fan of most technology: he couldn't IM to save his life, he's never played a video game, and, when I asked him if he ever reads this blog he said "why would I read your blog for your opinions when I can just talk to you?" Ha! We'll see if he's reading now.

Yet despite all this he LOVES internet radio. See, there's this station in the town where he went to school, all the way across the country -- he obviously can't listen to it over the air here. He doesn't want to subscribe to a satellite service just for this one station. So, he listens online.

That's right -- the guy that thinks this "engagism" stuff is a bunch of hooey is using the internet to purposefully engage in the activities that mean the most to him. He's an engagist and he doesn't even know it!

Just wait until he figures out how to load music on to his iPod (my hand-me-down, of course). Then we'll all be in trouble.

Dog bites man -- Internet important to Presidential Campaigns

Burst Media recently surveyed 2100 Internet users identified as "likely to vote" regarding how they intend to use the Internet to make decisions in the 2008 election. One fourth cited the internet as the best place to research positions and general election issues -- more than TV, newspapers, radios, magazines or direct mail.

Perhaps most interesting, those age groups that are traditionally seen as not "internet-friendly" were generally just as likely to get their information from an online source as from a newspaper. There were only a few tenths of a percent difference between the internet and newspapers as the prefered source for the 45-54 agre group and the 55+ age group.

In addition, over 50% indicated that they would watch a video clip on a candidate's website regarding his or her position on the issues. 25% of voters (mostly the younger crowd) would also be willing to download a podcast. And for you Association-types out there, know that about 30-percent of those surveyed have visited issue advocacy sites!

Check Burst Media's site for more information on the report.

The New Fangled Widgets

For anyone "of a certain age" (generally seen these days as over 30), you may think of "widget" as a generic term for something concrete that is manufactured. Business scenarios often describe the mythical manufacturing plant somewhere that makes "widgets."

Well, it's time to rejoice, because now you, too, can make widgets with little or no manufacturing experience. Today's Washington Post ran an article on the front page of the Business section on just this topic "Wave of Widgets Spreads on the Web," noting that (and I swear I didn't pay these guys to say this) "Advertisers are no longer wanting people to click on a link to buy something," said Haroon Mokhtarzada, Freewebs' 27-year-old founder and chief executive. "Now they're wanting people to engage in a neat product while they build brand equity."

OK, so I did highlight the word "engage." Clearly, widgets are the latest example of a clever approach to engaging consumers in the process of creating (and selling) products. Oh, and if you hear the term "blidget", that's a widget based on a blog. Pretty clever, huh?

If you want to play around with widgets, check out some of the sites where you can create your own, such as widgetbox. I'll be testing some out on the engagism site (in the middle of a revamp, by the way), so stop by!

Just when you thought it was safe to enter the casino

I thought this story "Virtual Feds Visit Second Life Casinos" was a late April Fool's joke. Not so much. Turns out there's some interest in the Linden dollars being gambled away by unlucky avatars down on their luck.

Reminds me of the tax questions that arose earlier this year about income earned in Second Life. I'm all for paying fake taxes, as long as it's with fake money to the fake IRS...

BuzzFeed Highlights Post on MySpace Primary

Check it out at BuzzFeed. If you can't find it, we're highlighted as one of the nine best links -- number 4, right above the Huffington Post!

Rules of Engagement

There's an interesting article at Media Post from Jay Suhr on the "Rules of Engagement" for what's referred to as Invitation Marketing. He outlines some specifics for reaching out to the consumer in this brave new world, including avoiding the "mushy middle" (which he defines as work that plays to the common denominator and, hence diffuses the message) and striving for relevance. Establishing relevance means putting some effort into figuring out what the audience really wants, why a product or service might be meaningful to them, and then getting them involved in the development and decision making process.

The author's points are right in line with so much of what others are talking about in consumer engagement -- cultivating the powerful 1%, market segmentation, etc. It will be interesting to see how all these concepts come together in a meaningful and universal set of guidelines (part of which I'm trying to provide in my book!)

Oh, and on a totally unrelated note: a few weeks ago I blogged on Webkinz, which is now getting some attention in the brand development world. By way of reminder, Webkinz is the online world for real live kids and their cuddly "plushy" pets. It combines an offline product (stuffed animals) with an online world, where the formerly inanimate objects can frolic and take on entire personalities. Check out the recent commentary on this topic.

Engaging Advocates the New Fashioned Way

Full Disclosure: This blog entry was sponsored by the Advocacy Guru, the official April 3rd sponor of The E-scapism blog.

Whew, with full disclosure out of the way, it's time to point out some of the great resources for engaging advocates available at www.advocacyguru.com. This site offers a number of great and FREE resources to help those committed to a cause. They include free articles on effective communication, setting up a meeting and developing grassroots campaigns in the Article Vault-- all you have to do is send an e-mail to the link and the article will be automatically sent to you.

You can also access back editions of the Advocacy Tipsheet, a wealth of essays on such topics as how to set up lobby day meetings. The online Advocacy Classroom is accessible from the site as well, where advocates can sign up and take the Effective Communication 101 class for FREE using the cupon code "advocate." Finally, for streaming video snipets of the guru's message, check out the "See the Guru Live!" section of the site.

If politics and the political arena are your venue for engaging, check out the resources available on the site...

Our first virtual president?

Forget New Hampshire or Iowa, Presidential candidates should be spending their next several months in MySpace, where an online presidential primary vote will be held January 1st and 2nd. Sure, you won't get any votes for the electoral college, but the winner will get a whole lot of bragging rights.

And why not? If MySpace were a country, based on population it would be the 11th largest in the world. That's a pretty influential group of people. Now, some are arguing that the MySpace vote could be easily manipulated: people could vote multiple times or people to young to vote "offline" might actually participate.

Nevertheless, I think campaigns should take this seriously, but not because the MySpace vote will tell them much about the sentiments of the population at large. They should think of it as a giant focus group for campaigns on their position with the social networking crowd, arguably one of the most influential blocs of voters.

Sure, it can be gamed in a varity of ways, and, again, no one should imagine that the outcome will accurately reflect all of America. But it might somewhat accuratelly reflect who understands Web 2.0, and that's a pretty important criteria for the Presidency, in my opinion.

My Dream Is To...

If you can fill in the rest of that sentence, you NEED to go to MyDream.tv Sponsored, oddly enough, by Lincoln (the automaker, not the 16th president) the site brings together people with shared visions to motivate and help each other. I clicked on the "retire by 50" link and was heartened to find that, gee, I'm not the only one!

Oh, and, incidentally, you can buy books related to your dream through Amazon.com, just by clicking on the nearby link. Or, you can learn more about the Lincoln Navigator (just in case your dream is to own that car).

Not only is this site clearly in the engagism mold, it's downright nefarious (in a good way). The developers have figured out the ultimate means of pulling people in based on what's important to them -- and then letting them dream.

I have to go fill up my dream queue now -- I wonder what will come up next?