Plugging In

Plugging In to Advocacy and Life

2007-11-19T11:59:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been quite "unplugged" in recent weeks due to a crazy travel and work schedule. Thank goodness I had so many electronic gadgets to keep me focused and organized!

I know I haven't shared lately, but no worries. Here are a couple great pieces for the tech-savvy to enjoy:

I wrote a piece for the American Society of Association Executives (yes, the association of associations) on using social networks in advocacy campaigns. While the five tips outlined are oriented toward government relations and grassroots, they can definitely be useful for anyone hoping to get started in this brave new world.

For anyone who doesn't get Parade Magazine in your Sunday paper (or who doesn't read it), you might want to check out the online version. The lead story this last week was how technology can help you Get Connected! (hmmm, or maybe "Plugged In?). The main point of the piece was that people use technology to be active and involved in politics, meet people across the planet and organize / focus their lives.

Humane Treatment of Animals in a Virtual World

2007-10-30T07:55:00.000-07:00

According to a recent Media Post article, the Humane Society of the United States (one of my favorite organizations) is partnering with There.com to promote membership in HSUS with a new demographic. Users of the site will be able to learn more about HSUS and even purchase memberships for their avatars.

I find this one of the more innovative approaches I've seen an association take to member recuitment and retention (full disclosure, HSUS is one of my clients, although not on this project). It doesn't surprise me that HSUS would be a leader. They already have Facebook and MySpace pages, contirbute regularly to their vlog and podcast and their CEO, Wayne Pacelle, regularly posts interesting and insightful entries into his blog. I do have one small quibble. The blog isn't open, meaning that HSUS reviews comments and posts only samples. While I understand that they are probably a lightening rod for many groups and there are probably a huge range of negative comments, I'm thinking HSUS would be able to get more positive responses and viewers of its blog if they had an open comment policy.

At any rate, while for many of us a couple social networks a podcast and a blog might not sound so "cutting edge," considering the fact that many associations aren't even willing to set up a blog, HSUS seems to have it going on with the new technology.

Now if I could only teach my dog to listen to the podcasts. Then we'd be all set...

How did I miss it?

2007-10-29T14:48:00.001-07:00

Did you know that last Friday October 27th, or today, October 29th, was World Internet Day? Yeah, me neither. Read more about it here, here and here. Interesting, though, that considering how connected we've all become through the Internet, no one really knew about it or celebrated it in any significant way.

Frankly, I'm not even sure who decided it was World Internet Day. And whoever did decide should have at least designed some cards, put together a gift-giving protocol and, of course, outlined an appropriate budget for the event. I have no idea how much I'm supposed to spend on my loved ones for this auspicious occasion. Where's the leadership?

I mean, geez, if we can all start declaring things, I'm going to declare this "World Give Stephanie 10 dollars Day" (or the currency of your choice). Has a nice ring to it.

Go ahead, send in the cash. Be part of the celebration

I'm glad this wasn't around when I was in College

2007-10-22T07:41:00.000-07:00

Partida Tequila is hosting a "Tequila Confessions" site at www.tequilaconfessions.com. Apparently, you can send in your story online and the roving tequila team might, when they're in your home town, come to your house and film your confession.

It's certainly an interesting branding technique -- relating your product to what might be some of the worst experiences of some people's lives. Sure, I love tequila, but there are some things I'm just not going to confess either online or on video. Let's just say that one involved Disneyland and the other involved the Japanese Embassy. That's all I'm going to say.

That said, I'm sure there are braver people out there that will enjoy this unique approach and I say "more power to them." Just don't drag me into it...

The Rich Read People Magazine Too

2007-10-19T10:57:00.000-07:00

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I am a member of the "business elite" and "affluent." I don't really think of it that way, but according to new research I fall in to both these categories and am, as such, to be courted by businesses selling to the "well-off." (Rolex, here I am -- start marketing away).

The two reports, one from a Paris research firm called Iposos and the other from Monroe Mendelsohn Research define the "business elite" as anyone with a "C-level" title or their senior managers (Iposos) and the affluent as anyone in a household making over $85,000 per year (MMR). Well, I own my own business (Advocacy Associates) and I make a decent living, so I guess I qualify!

The more important finding from these reports, though, is that this group of people uses new media to a surprising degree. Those conducting the research expected, frankly, to find that the middle aged, white guys comprising the bulk of the business elite would have no use for blogs and the Internet. Turns out, they were wrong. In fact, nearly 1/3rd of business elite read a blog at least once a month, and almost 25% dowloaded a podcast.

But have no fear that we're getting too big for a britches in the "business elite" and "affluent" crowd. According to the report, our favorite magazines are People, National Geographic and Sports Illustrated. You'd think it would be Fortune or the Economist, but, well, that's just what we tell everyone else.

See you around the country club!

The iPhone Tsunami

2007-10-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

It seems odd to me that Apple's announcement that it will open the iPhone to outside applications isn't on the front page of every online news source in the country. Sure, some publications like the New York Times and AFP have released short stories about Steve Jobs recent announcement. And, of course, Techie publications like Wired have covered it in a little more detail.

For those who missed it, Jobs says "Let me just say it. We want native third party applications on the iPhone." That seemingly innocuous statement will, in my opinion, open up whole new avenues for software developers and iPhone / iPod users alike. It's HUGE -- yeah, I know it doesn't seem huge, but it is.

Why? Because the iPhone and its cousin, the iPod Touch are more than just simple hand held devices. With their WiFi, e-mail, file storage and keyboard capabilities the devices are, in fact, mini-computers, and have the potential to operate as such -- especially if fitted out with some of the third party applications envisioned by developers. Imagine having all the functionality of your current laptop available in your iPod.

In opening up the possibility for developers to work WITH Apple (not against them), Jobs is part of a continuing positive trend in the Web 2.0 world. Larger players, such as MySpace, Facebook and Google recognize that in order to thrive they need to accept and embrace third party applications as opposed to control against them.

Sure, it seems like a new way of doing business. I mean, can you imagine Ford Motor Company unlocking the secrets of its production process so that outsiders could create new, better components for Ford vehicles?

But to me, what Apple and others are doing is building a new component into their brand image. That new component is called "flexibility" and its what successful companies must incorporate into their products and services to have any success in the future.

Well Past the Tip of the Iceberg on the TV/Computer Merger

2007-10-16T14:21:00.001-07:00

So, it occured to me the other day that I have really gotten in to the habit of jumping online whenever and wherever we want. We have a wireless network in our house, so that rather than make the long trek upstairs to our office computer, I can log on to whatever sites I want from the safety of my couch.

Of course, I currently have to keep a laptop on hand downstairs to enjoy that luxury, but as more and more people are watching TV on the Internet (and starting to access the Internet from their television sets), I can see that changing.

I know, I know -- the merger of television and computer has been discussed for years, and I'm not saying we're there yet. But recent reports indicating that online television show viewing has DOUBLED in the last year has got me thinking this merger is coming sooner rather than later. In fact, according to a study by the Conference Board and TNS, close to 16% of American households who use the Internet watch TV online.

At first I thought that was just something those young folks do until I realized that my own husband -- a not very technologically literate boomer (he just learned how to text) -- watches some programming online, especially sporting events that aren't available on one of our 8.000 cable channels. If he does it, then we're past the tip of the iceberg -- we're in the thick of it.

Plugging In to Change

2007-10-11T14:24:00.001-07:00

Thomas Friedman recently presented a very thought-provoking piece in the New York Times, expressing his concern about the lack of outrage he sees with America's youth. The piece, titled "Generation Q" (for Quiet) suggests that college kids these days have a lot to be angry about -- and should be showing it more.

Friedman comments that between massive deficits, the demise of Social Security, the trashing of the environment and other mishaps of the "greediest generation" (that's us, by the way), Generation Y should be out there getting arrested, participating in protests and generally rabble-rousing to gain attention and foment change.

But, see, I'm not so sure they aren't out there burning their bras -- they're just doing it in a different way. Boomers like Friedman (and, to some extent, me, although I'm in that gray Boomer / Gen X area) don't really understand the power of social networking techniques to create change. Generation Y is showing us new ways to be effective advocates, through a combination of online and offline approaches. We see their influence in the Save Darfur efforts, in the work being done on the environment and in how presidential candidates are running their campaigns.

Just because they aren't out there looting and pillaging doesn't mean they don't care. In fact, we have a lot to learn from how Generation "Q" speaks up!

Anyway, I've written a letter to the editor on this -- if it's printed, I'll let you know!

Radio Continues to Thrive Online

2007-10-10T12:39:00.000-07:00

What's the one thing that Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y agree on? Internet radio. According to a recent report, 18% of Internet users visit a radio station online at least monthly. That's 38.6 million visitors per month! I find this somewhat surprising, since I'm used to thinking of radio as an "old" technology.

Turns out, it's not that old -- and radio programmers and distributers are really figuring out how to use the online medium to their advantage. According to a news article on the report:

"The 18% cohort is dominated by frequent radio listeners and Internet junkies, with people most likely to visit a station's Web site when they're at work. According to the Media Audit figures, the top 10 cities where Internet users visit radio Web sites are, in order: Minneapolis, Seattle, Atlanta, San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, and Milwaukee."

Seems to me that many leaders in the industry have figured out that people are willing and able to use their computers as a radio receiver -- especially in the office. Could this be the start of the great "TV/Radio/Computer Melding" we've heard so much about? In fact, once we're at the point where everyone can access video at broadband speeds (including HD video) we may just find that traditional over the air broadcast will go the way of the land line telephone...

Anyway, I don't know why I'm surprised. My baby boomer husband, who just figured out how to send text messages on his phone, spends more time listening to radio on the Internet than I do!

A couple favorite "Plugged In" ways to waste time

2007-10-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

OK, I admit it. I've been sucked in to iwon.com. I don't know how long it will last, but I have to say that their combination of sweepstakes and the search engine Ask.com seems pretty darn brilliant. I mean, most companies have figured out pretty standard ways of gaining revenue for their search engines (Google's AdWords, for example). But the folks at iwon have come up with something totally different.

See, once you register on the site, you need to start gathering sweepstakes entry credits. You can do this through a variety of means, including playing through some of the games on the site until the bitter end (good for wasting away an afternoon) or by conducting searches on the site using Ask.com's highly respectable search engine. Given how many times in a day I search for something, well, that's a lot of sweepstakes entries.

I'll keep you posted on whether I win anything.

Another fun "wasting time" site is www.theonion.com. Lots of funny stories replete with tongue-firmly-in-cheek satire. Some of my recent favorites include "New Heart Device Allows Dick Cheney to Experience Love" and "Third Amendment Rights Group Celebrates Another Successful Year." Quick, can you tell me what the third amendment to the constitution is? Why yes, it's the one protecting American citizens from being forced to house soldiers.

And speaking of satire, please go to Despair.com. This site offers some really humorous riffs on those "Successories" posters (you know with the pictures of people and or fluffy animals working together and some inspiring phrase like "Teamwork: we're all in this together"). Despair's perspective is far more realistic: "Teamwork: A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction." It's really heart warming. You can even create your own.

Why I haven't posted this week

2007-09-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

Well, we have a new addition to the family. Meet Ozzie, a 3 month old Australian cattle dog who we just adopted. Between working with the great folks at the shelter, buying all the accoutrements and just hanging out with this guy it's been quite a whirlwind.

It will be interesting raising a puppy in this "plugged in" age. I've already plugged in to tons of dog-related information on the Internet, kept my iPhone at the ready to take adorable pictures and posted pictures on Flickr to keep the proud dog grandparents apprised of their furry grandchild's progress. Oh, and now I'm blogging about him!

It is good for me to remember, though, that no amount of being plugged in will achieve all my goals for taking care of Ozzie. He still managed to climb over the baby gate that we're using to keep him in the kitchen area -- without any technological devices at all!

Local Business and Online Advertising -- A Missed Connection?

2007-09-17T13:35:00.002-07:00

Quite the hot little subject these days. There's a great discussion about a new report from emarketer on MediaPost's Online spin blog titled "Can You Do the Local Motion."

The main question raised by the blogger and commenters is whether online advertising by local businesses is the next hot thing. Given what was found in the Marchex report I blogged about last week (that only 5% of local business advertising dollars are being used for online advertising), this certainly is an area for growth. I think the question is "how?"

There's seems to be a fundamental difference in how online advertising might work for a local business as for a national business. Local businesses are going to need more word-of-mouth and referral approaches. That's why I think sites like Yelp.com might help pave the way for more investment in online approaches. As local businesses get more used to the idea that people turn to the Internet for information -- even on their local, family-owned, non-fancy business -- they might be more willing to utilize some of these approaches.

At least I hope so, because I think I can help them out :)

Time to get online?

2007-09-14T07:43:00.000-07:00

A recent report from Marchex titled "Unlocking the Potential of the Local Internet" indicates that local businesses aren't doing such a good job of migrating their ad dollars to the Internet. In fact, only about 5% of the $100 billion expected to be spent in local outreach this year will go to online activities. The rest will be focused on traditional venues like yellow pages and local newspapers.

Hey, local small businesses -- snap out of it! No one wants you to ignore your traditional outlets but if you want to be successful (and, more specifically, if you want people to FIND YOU!) you'll need to invest more in online approaches. This means investing in local search outlets (like Citysearch.com) as well as consumer driven sites, like Yelp.com.

Truth is, many people these days turn to the Internet before they'll turn to the Yellow Pages or a local newspaper ad, even for local services. For many of us, it's the best way of finding services -- from plumbers to restaurants to dry cleaners.

So, if you run one of those businesses, take a minute to review the Marchex report and see what you can do to improve your standings. Who knows? Maybe the 20-somethings will start flocking to your doors.

Domain Names and Babies

2007-09-12T17:58:00.000-07:00

You may have spent months picking out the perfect name for your baby -- but did you reserve the domain name? That's the key question behind a recent post at Yahoo's Tech site. Seems that parents these days are holding off on making the choice about a name until they can ascertain that some reasonable version of it is still available on the world wide web.

Another common practice is checking the name your considering for possible confusion with someone of ill-repute. I'm lucky because it seems that most of the Stephanie Vance's in the world are doing good things. I feel sorry for my friend Paula Jones -- just Google the name and you'll see what I mean (for those who don't remember, she was one of the first women to publicly accuse President Clinton of sxual harassment while he was Governor of Arkansas. My friend Paula Jones, on the other hand, hasn't, to my knowledge, ever met Bill Clinton or been to Arkansas.

So, before you decide on that "perfect" name, do a quick Google search. Or you may find you've named your child after a famous porn star -- and then what are you going to do about the domain name?

We Need a Social Network for Introverts

2007-09-11T10:10:00.000-07:00

I'm a little embarassed to admit this, but I am somewhat friendless on Facebook and MySpace. Oh, I have a few (friends and family who took pity on my friendless status) -- and I have a respectable showing on LinkedIn. But I'm pretty low-down on the friend totem pole in the traditional socializing forums.

Now, don't get me wrong. I certainly get my share of requests -- often from the obviously creepy guys and party gals who are just trying to rack up online digital points (or, in some cases, offline hookups). Usually, by the time I've gone online to say "yes" or "no," the person making the request has already been booted off the system. So that makes it easy.

But the thing is, I'm not really into the network sites for the new friends as much as I am for looking up past friends or making new business connections. You see, I have enough friends. I can't even keep track of everyone I already know, much less the gazillions of other people out there. And, I'm of a generation that you don't just "friend" someone if you don't mean it... If I'm going to call someone a friend, I plan to interact with them every once in a while.

I think this is the plight of anyone logging on to a social network who are "of a certain age" (yep, that's me). We're not in the market for new social interaction. We're in the market for better maintenance of our existing interactions. So as soon as the powers that be invent a social networking site for those of us that don't really want to meet random people, I'll sign up. Maybe a "social network for introverts." One option might be Eons.com, but I'm not quite in the over 50 age group Iyet!)

In the meantime, maybe we'll take over the existing networks. In fact, that's what this Business Week article says we're about to do!

Wired "How To" Edition

2007-09-09T10:57:00.000-07:00

The August edition of Wired (OK, I admit it, I just got to it... Sorry, but I was on vacation!) includes a fun and entertaining "How To" section reminiscent of all those books about how to do things with duct tape. It covers how to work, live and play -- pretty much everything! I found "How to Popularize Your Meme" and "How to Fill the Watercooler" of particular use.

I'm trying one now (popularizing the "Plugging In" meme) and was gratified to learn that I'm doing the right things (nothing like a little validation in one's life). I haven't tried the water cooler thing yet but that's on my agenda for next week. Oh, and I'm looking forward to applying the "Win at Scrabble" ideas to the next game with my husband. He never reads my blog, so he'll never know.

iPhone Apologist

2007-09-07T14:27:00.001-07:00

OK, I admit it. I was one of those "chumps" that bought the new iPhone the day it came out at the original price. I waited in line for a few hours on that fateful day and was fortunate to get the very last phone in the store. That's right. The very last. I grabbed my precious box of technology, ran out the door and didn't look back.

Of course, that night I did look on EBay to see what I could sell it for. I wasn't going to, mind you. No way. But if I had wanted to I could have made about $1,000 over what I had paid. Not bad for a few hours in line.

At any rate, by all accounts I should be irrate by the fact that Apple recently cut the price of the iPhone by $200. I should be moping around, taking to the streets and, perhaps, burning all my Apple products in effigy.

You know what, though? I've looked long and hard through the depths of my soul for a little anger and, well, there isn't any. Sorry. Maybe I'm a sucker (actually, no doubt I am). But frankly I'm glad I was part of the initial excitement! It was worth $200 to be able to tell people "yeah, I stood in line and got the VERY LAST PHONE." It was worth $200 to bask in the techno-envy of all my friends for a few months. And now I get $100 to play with at my local Apple store. Really, it's not that bad.

Anyway, if that makes me a "chump" so be it -- at least I didn't buy it on EBay.

More on Niche Social Networks

2007-09-06T12:51:00.000-07:00

The Wall Street Journal Best of Business blog had a great piece recently on niche social networks. In it, the author provides concrete ideas and examples for business related social networks, noting that social networking has, in many ways, "grown up."

True, many of us think of social networks as those online forums that kids use to make new friends and talk to each other in incomprehensible language (R U there? LOL). But many businesses are beginning to understand the value of connecting like-minded people together in cyber-space (and, preferably, on an issue that relates to the product or services of the company). For example, Playboy Enterprises is setting up a social network open to just college students. Hmmm, I wonder what products and services they'll be selling... Or, you can look at the niche (OK, VERY niche) social network for my company, Advocacy Associates.

As the author notes, the point here is that adults don't necessarily just want to "meet people" (hey, I have enough friends). We still turn to the Internet for information and idea exchange on the issues we care about. That's where a niche social network for new mothers, diet coke drinkers, CIA spies (yes, there is one) or Playboy enthusiasts might grab (figuratively, not literally) our attention.

Now, I'd link you to that site but the WSJ does not like to share its information with non-subscribers (I wonder how long they'll be able to keep that up once Rupert Murdoch gets his hot little hands on the site). So, if you want to read the piece for yourself, go to Google News and search for "niche social networks". Once you find it you'll have to scroll down after the title about Cigna -- not that Cigna's not interesting :).

Couldn't Help Myself

2007-09-05T12:28:00.002-07:00

OK, there are times when I'm not officialy "plugged in." Here I am, for example at the bottom of the ocean in Maui. Yes, I know it looks like an aquarium, but believe me, it's the ocean. I didn't e-mail anyone from down here, although I was tempted to find a water-proof case for my iPhone and send some text messages.

Although, now that I think about it, perhaps the best technology to have down there at 40 feet was my scuba tank :)

Blogging: It's Not Just for the "Young"

2007-09-05T12:00:00.001-07:00

Bill Marriott, age 75, recently launched his "Marriott on the Move" blog, introducing it as the new form of "management by walking around." For those not familiar with this business technique, it's basically just what it sounds like: managers take time to walk around their company and talk to everyone -- from the front desk person to the people in the warehouse to their VPs of public relations -- to get a sense of the "real" functionality (or non-functionality) of the company.

Clearly, Marriott (and others) have cozened on to the fact that online interactive tools like blogs and social networks can help immeasurably in their implementation of traditional management techniques, like "management by walking around." Anywhere from 6 to 10 people a day comment on Marriott's entries -- some customers, some employees, some random citizens. And the posts, while polite, aren't all postive.

In fact, here's what's really cool. People are actually allowed to -- GASP -- disagree with the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Publicly! Without repercussions (well, I'm not sure what room they get when they check in to a Marriott). But the point is that this isn't just a corporate fluff piece. Real people with real concerns get to have a say and they're willing to speak up with less rancor and more thoughtfulness than you might expect.

The fact is that people these days, whether they're customers, employees or random web surfers EXPECT you to have a blog. It's a new business standard. So what are you going to do to get on board? One great place to start is my post on blogging. More to come soon.

Happiness defined

2007-08-22T11:01:00.000-07:00

According to Charlie Brown it's a warm puppy, but according to a recent report from MTV and the Associate Press, 50% of Americans 18 to 34 see happiness in the form of the Internet and their cell phones.

But have no fear! Most young people also see spending time with family and friends as a major source of happiness -- the number one source, in fact.
One wonders, though, whether they count time spent with friends online or on their cell phone as "friend time" or "Internet time." Or what about all those semi-friends one has on MySpace? Which category does that fall in to?

Perhaps the good news here is that when one is "plugged in" one can earn double fun points when one connects with friends and family through technology.

At the same time, these folks are stressed out about a few things. You'd think it would be "too much SPAM on the internet" or "not enough texting capacity on my cell phone." In fact, the number one source of stress, now as it always has been, is money (not having enough, that is. Few people reported stress about too much cash).

Overall, though, it seems that the younger set is a jolly lot -- a much different picture than we sometimes get of the "self-centered, morose" millenial generation.

If you're interested in a closer look you can read more about this study here and here

Broadband is here to stay...

2007-08-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

The Pew Internet and the American Life Project just released an interest research memo on broadband adoption in the home, and for anyone arguing that people aren't into having Internet access in their homes, well, you're wrong.

First of all, consider the fact that 71% of all adults use the Internet frequently, and 62% have an Internet connection at home. And those connections aren't all dial-up. In fact, almost 1/2 of Americans (47%) now have a broadband connection at home, reflecting a 5% increase from the previous year. While broadband use continues to be less prevelant in rural areas, growth in rural areas is faster than in other parts of the country.

Perhaps most interesting is the fact that one of the fastest growing demographics for broadband adoption is the African America community, with over 40% of homes boasting a broadband connection. That's nearly triple the number in early 2005. Oh, and according to Pew "...the number of home broadband users in early 2007 is now roughly as large (on a percentage basis) as the entire universe of internet users in the first year of the [Pew] surveys of online use."

Seems that this Internet thing is pretty popular, not just for work and communication but for home entertainment as well. Clearly, people are flocking to faster connection speeds for a reason. Could that reason be the desire to upload their own content (as well as to access new forms of content from other users (like video)?)

Sounds pretty e-scapist to me!

Plugging In to Blogging: Five Key Steps

2007-08-20T11:41:00.000-07:00

Everyone has probably already heard of this site, but just in case: If you want to make sure you get off on the right foot with your blogging efforts, go to www.problogger.net. The guy who runs this site knows a LOT about blogs and provides the information in a really clear, concise, meaningful way (no wading through tons of posts to get to the one you want!)

I discovered the site while putting together a session for First Class on how to make money using your blog.

For purposes of the class, I broke the process down into five basic steps and encouraged participants to ask themselves questions at each point in the process. In the class session, we discussed all the various free tools available on the Internet for blog optimization. I'll post the full class materials on the site in the near future. In the meantime, following is my outline of the class -- enjoy!

Step One: Start the Blog!

What will you write about (hint: to make money on your blog, people have to want to go to it!)
What are you an expert at?
How often can you commit to writing (more often is better; one short post every day to start at a minimum)
What technology will you use?
Are you comfortable with blogging as a medium (it’s different from “regular writing”)

Step Two: Drive people to the blog

Who will want to read your blog (what is your target market?)
Why will your content be so compelling that people will want to read?
What techniques will you use to drive people to your blog? (hint: ads are not enough!)

Step Three: Put revenue makers on the blog

How could you utilize each of these techniques to gain revenue from your blog?

Advertising and the Google Haiku
Potential affiliate partners
Products you could create and sell
Potential for donations?

Step Four: Consider additional revenue making options to advertise through your blog

Although it is possible, over time, to develop a more “passive income” oriented site, one of the best, most lucrative ways to gain money from your blog is to use it as a marketing tool for your expertise. The types of services that are uniquely suited to marketing through a blog include:

What kinds of services could you offer for sale through your blog?
How would you describe those services? How would you price them?
Could you turn your blog entries into additional articles for e-lance providers?
Could you offer webinars or trainings?

Step Five: Monitor your progress

If you really want to have a successful blog (and make money!), you have to be committed to all the critical steps: content development; driving traffic; having revenue generators on your site and following your progress.

How will you:

Utilize tracking tools (like Google Analytics) to monitor your web pages
Identify the strategies that are working and focus on those
Maintain a consistent commitment to writing in the blog
Optimize the blog on an ongoing basis by providing new tools and opportunities to interact?

A whole new meaning to the term "Peer Review"

2007-08-16T05:58:00.000-07:00

Anyone in the academic or scientific community understands the idea of "peer review." See, when you right something really complicated that no one is likely to understand, your publicher will probably ask other really smart people to review the piece just to be sure that you're not crazy (well, you may be, but they really want to be sure you're not just wrong).

Yelp.com takes the idea of peer review to the masses -- but don't worry, you won't have to write something incredibly erudite. I suppose it's not technically "peer review", it's just plain old regular reviews from plain old regular people. On the site you can read useful, detailed reviews of local restaurants. stores, products and experiences by joe and jane public. You can also write your own! Be sure to check it out before heading out for a meal out, or make sure your favorite places have positive comments online.

Frankly, Yelp.com is going to be around for a while. Local businesses that want drive business should double check their reviews -- if there are trends indicating problems, it's time for the restaurant to take action. It's kind of like a free secret shopper service.

I'm heading off to Minneapolis today -- I hope they have information on that city!

Those High Tech Park and Rec Guys...

2007-08-14T13:30:00.000-07:00

I don't usually think of the people affiliated with local, state and national parks as the most high tech people. I don't mean that in a bad way -- I just don't! I mean, they spend all their time doing fun things outdoors. It's hard to imagine them locked in an office in front of a computer all day.

But these folks continue to surprise me with their adoption of technology to imporove the park experience. Take the example of the Illinois Park and Recreation Association and its LocateAPark site which "mashes up" information about their member parks with Google Maps.

And the coolest thing about it is that they just used their database information and two free online geocoding and mapping services, Geocoder and GoogleMaps. Sure, it took some time, but the basic tools are available to everyone with a computer and an Internet connection.

Of course, the mapping service is only as good as the data that goes into it -- Google Maps will map whatever address you give it, even if it's wrong. Nevertheless, these tools have tremendous potential for any association or organization that wants to build a geographic representation of their members, products or services.

For more information about this cool site, check out the Associations Now article highlighting the IPRA's work

People are the Platform

2007-08-13T15:18:00.000-07:00

Video gamers say the most interesting things! I was recently reminded of this by a great opinion piece in Associations Now from Jason Della Rocca, Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association. His piece, titled "People are the Platform" reminds us that the way most Associations (and businesses for that matter) are going to continue to attract people is by allowing members to talk to one another -- and back to the sponsoring organization.

Unfortunately, many of the available "Association management" tools out their are very closed, very proprietary systems that do not allow for a more flexible, modular approach. Jason gives the example of when his members wanted a wiki available on the site -- the best solution they could find for the short term was to download the latest Mediawiki release and patch it in with their membership pages.

As Jason suggests, it's somewhat concerning (some might even say "appalling") that associations are not adopting these new approaches more open-mindedly. In my opinion, it boils down to a concern about control -- control over who gets to say what in the forums they sponsor. While one can empathize with that view, it's an old way of thinking. The people that form the platform are going to find other platforms to say what they want -- but they'll still say it. Wouldn't it be better if they were saying it TO you, not ABOUT you?

Living 24 Hours Without, Gasp, Technology

2007-08-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

I think I'd probably die. But a classroom full of college kids did it as part of a class at American University. A recent Washington Post article titled "The Longest Day" highlighted this, ummm, interesting adventure.

The assignment was to spend a day without "media" -- all media. Cell phones, television, car radios, CDs, video games, the computer I'm typing this blog on -- everything. This, of course, generated a discussion of what constitutes media (i.e., if your cell phone is considered media, why isn't your landline? What if you walk by a store blaring music? Have you violated the terms of the agreement?)

The poor souls who participated in the experiment had varying reactions, as noted in their subsequent papers (typed, one assumes, on a computer AFTER the day of no media). Some felt very isolated, disconnected and "in shock." Others discovered the joy of sleep, newspapers and converations with other people.

Some of the items I found most interesting? One student enjoyed the experiment because it helped them get away from their cell phone, which "always rang at the most inopportune times." Seems they didn't know about the "off" button before the media fast :) I was also interested in ways in which some students defended their media habits. As noted by the author of the article, in many ways it seemed as if they were saying: "We're not frivolous just because we like to IM and go on Facebook."

Perhaps most interesting, spending a day without media seemed, for many of the participants, to really highlight how they use media to focus their time and attention on what matters most to them. Some felt "homeless" with no where to go and no one to talk to.

Maybe taking a media fast is a good way to help one determine what's really important. Hey, it seems barbaric to me, but what do I know?

Breaking the Rules of Engagement

2007-08-05T11:51:00.000-07:00

With 147,000 associations in the world, it's not surprising that "engaging" Association members is a hot topic (especially here in Washington, DC). Most Association leaders want to know how they can get their members interested and active in their activities. This often comes up in the context of "motivating" members (i.e., how can we motivate members to do the things we want them to do?)

Well, my answer is to utilize the powerful online and other tools at our disposal to actually "engage" members -- i.e., to facilitate experiences and exchanges that matter to BOTH parties. Too often we attempt a "top-down" approach, and then wonder why members aren't interested in the action alerts, conferences and activities that we find completely fascinating.

In short, the job of Association leaders and staff is to get their members to actually choose to spend time with them. Easier said than done, that's for sure, but my atricle in Association's Now magazine outlines a few options for getting started. Check it out!

Facebook, Coming to a Workplace Near You

2007-08-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

"Web Networking Boom Blasts Into the Workplace" notes that sites like FaceBook and MySpace are starting to cater to the business community -- and businesses that recognize the significance of social networking are flocking to this new advertising and outreach mechanism.

Unfortunately, some businesses see only threats in social networking sites. I'd hate to live in London, where 2/3rds of businesses have banned access to MySpace or Facebook, arguing that these sites distract from work place activities.

Hmmm. I think what some people need to come to understand is that social and/or work networking ARE work place activities. People often use these sites to get more insights into customers, clients and potential employers. And, certainly, they do socialize -- but what are we banning next, water coolers?

Perhaps most interesting, he fastest growing demographic on Facebook is the over 25 crowd, which can only mean one thing. The under-25 crowd is on to something else. I'll let you know when I figure out what that is.

In the meantime, check out my rather inadequate MySpace page at www.myspace.com/advocacyguru

Will you be my friend?

E-mail is Dead. Long live E-mail

2007-07-19T08:01:00.000-07:00

Interesting article from CNN noting that teenagers use e-mail only to communicate with adults or for "business purposes" (yes, these teenagers have actual businesses!

According to these soon to be mega-moguls, kids prefer to use texting and social networking to communicate with one another and the outside world. One young panelist at a recent conference noted "I use Facebook wherever I go. I only log in to my e-mail once a week."

Clearly, this shift has profound implications for the next generation of mobile devices. It seems to be that the focus should be on delivering the web in it's most usable form, as opposed to newer and faster ways to deliver e-mail. Texting and usable keypads will also continue to be of importance.

For business and association leaders who have just figured out e-mail, watch out. You may be obsolete already!

The New Digital Divide

2007-06-26T11:05:00.000-07:00

OK, so there's still a digital divide between rich and poor. But there's clearly an additional digital divide emerging between old and young. And boy are magazines commenting on it. In the last few weeks there have been articles in both Business Week and Fortune discussing the generation of wired, wireless, iPoding, blogging, vlogging, texting, pixing and multi-tasking workers that will be coming soon to a place of employment near you.

The Fortune article paints a somewhat scary version of Generation Y -- a group of people who are "ambitious, demanding and question everything . . . when it comes to loyalty, the companies they work for are last on their list." As Bruce Tulgan of RainmakerThinking puts it "[t]his is the most high-maintenance workforce in the history of the world."

According to Tuglan, the good news is that it will also be a highly productive workforce -- but only for those entities that can demonstrate why a 20-something with a million options (and a million great ideas) should commit to their organization. And that won't be easy, considering the fact that many of these organizations are led by people that are scared of blogs, have no idea what user generated content is, and have never been on a social network to save their life.

In many ways, the Business Week article paints an even scarier picture -- not of the members of this Generation, but of our inability to interact with them. Marketing and branding campaigns have become "leaps of faith" because the industry lacks the ability to measure what REALLY captures the fickle attention of the young, digital elite. As noted in the article "addressing this vast market of globally dispersed young people will force companies to become new kinds of multinations -- plugged into the digital grid and quick to respond to shifts in demand that begin as tremors halfway around the world."

Is your organization ready to identify new trends that begin as "tremors" halfway around the world? You're not alone. But we all better figure out how to get ready -- and fast!

Won't we run out of monikers soon?

2007-06-18T08:21:00.000-07:00

The UK's Omnicom Group has come up with a new moniker for a group of web users out there -- the "Uploaders." Seems there's a rather influential group of people out there who actively upload videos, blog posts and the like. While they're a small percentage of the overall web population (only 8%), the report notes that if they are "engaged correctly" these uploaders will have a direct impact on brand growth and sales.

Who are these folks? According to the report: "These Uploaders also were 20% more likely to be early adopters, as well as "male, younger, better educated, and better off" than their average counterparts."

Perhaps most important for those trying to build brand and image, the report recommends ". . . targeting Uploaders before an overall marketing plan even gets implemented." Seems they like to be involved in the development of a brand -- and then are more than willing to help promote it!

More information here.

Libraries in Second Life

2007-06-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

Check out this recent article about the American Library Association and its adventures in Second Life, the online virtual world.

According to the article "ALA will have one half of ALA/Arts Island, which will be utilized as a new method for disseminating ALA news and information. It will also be used for reaching out to new audiences, holding events, interacting with members and the public, and exploring the future of library services." The ALA island will be located near Cybrary City in the "Info Archipelago." Maybe if we had a real Cybrary CIty and Info Archipelago there wouldn't be so much global warming...

Anyway, how cool is this? I know many of us think of our local library as a dusty old place with a bunch of books -- ALA's adventures in Second Life prove that the library is moving to a whole new level (or world!). In fact, there are over 400 librarians in second life. If your local librarian can have an avatar in SecondLife, don't you feel a little behind the times if you don't?

I'm just hoping that libraries will be inspired to start charging virtual late fees as well :)

Those Gentle Romans

2007-05-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

Jack Feuer has a really amusing commentary on recent commentary (on recent commentary) about the impact of television on young people. You can access it here.

With all the hue and cry about the impact of television on today's youth, it's refreshing to read a counter-perspective. Television isn't killing people, people are doing that on their own -- and have been for millenia. As he points out (tongue firmly in cheek):

"Without television, life was a golden age where nobody ever hurt anybody and everybody loved flowers, even the boys. I particularly miss the life-affirming Spartans, the gentle Romans, and the forgiving Puritans . . . Then TV came and screwed it all up. Our poor, innocent youth, done in by that malevolent box--without which they would undoubtedly all gather on a mountaintop, hold hands and sing about carbonated sugar water. "

OK, granted -- he's expressing the "anti-TV" position from an extreme point of view. But the underlying point here is sound. It's quite possible that TV (and video games and movies and [fill in the your favorite entertainment device here] actually REFLECT our existing violent tendencies as opposed to merely driving them.

I'm sure the truth lies somewhere in between. That said, it's hard to expect video game manufacturers and the like to eschew violence when there's so much in real to draw from. Contrary to what Oscar Wilde might have said, art does often imitate life.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm not a fan of violence on television. That's why I rarely watch the news. That's worse than anything a television producer or video game manufacturer could come up with.

Ready for 2010

2007-05-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

Alan Cohen of Initiative Innovations and Entertainment has a really interesting, funny and scary column in today's MediaPost. Entitled "The Futurist: Living the Virutal Life" the article (positioned as an the online diary of a 16 year old in 2010) gives us a peak into the connected world.

The article gives little clues throughout as to what businesses and consumers will need to know to get ready. For example"I only have enough time to interact with a couple communities for brands I love." Hmmm, sounds like businesses need to cater to the powerful 1%. "I love viedoing crazy stuff like that and uploading it wirelessly in real time to my site." Hmmm, sounds like even more consumer generated content coming our way. "... I also get "viral" points [toward a new snowboard] that are worth two regular points to spread the word about Burton's snowflake foundation. Charity is cool ..." Hmm, sounds like some charities have figure out how to use this web 2.0 stuff to increase donations.

In reading through this piece, I'm pretty sure I'm not ready for 2010. I'm not even sure what some of the words mean. But I know I have to get ready if I'm going to stay competitive -- what about you?

Penguins worth $400 million?

2007-05-22T12:04:00.001-07:00

Anyone noticed the crush of penguin movies we've had lately? There's been Happy Feet, March of the Penguins, and some other one whose name I can't remember but that appears to be about a surfing penguin and his friend who is a chicken -- really, you can't make this stuff up.

Maybe that's why Sony and News Corps are considering paying up to $400 million for Club Penguin, an online world where the tween set interacts with each other through penguin avatars. Or it could be because these online worlds might just be "next big thing" in ongoing efforts to capture the hearts and minds of consumers.

Online worlds offer some attractive benefits to anyone seeking to market a product or service. First of all, they're pretty niche -- if you want to market something to tech-savvy 8 to 12 year olds (which feels like probably ALL 8 to 12 year olds), Club Penguin is the place to do it. Second, online worlds offer a gaming and interactive environment. In the new "engagist" culture, people don't want to be advertised at -- they want to be part of the brand development experience. Online worlds are uniquely suited to providing that kind of experience.

Other virtual worlds that are drawing attention (according to a recent article in Business Week) include Webkinz.com, RuneScape.com and Neopets.com. What's most of these worlds have in common is the fact that they appeal to 9 to 17 year olds, a coveted up and coming demographic with advertisers.

Come to think of it, if 9 to 17 year olds are so focused on online worlds, I wonder what they'll be like in 5 years when they hit the working world -- perhaps you should wonder about that as well!

Politics and Web 2.0

2007-05-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

In just another demonstration of the connection between politics and engagism on the web, Google CEO Eric Schmidt gave the keynote address at the 2007 Personal Democracy Forum. He commented extensively on how the Internet is (spoiler alert) changing the face of American politics (shocking, I know).

A key component of the discussion was whether the "connected world" is always a good thing, with Thomas Friedman, who joined the conversation with Schmidt, noting that when the MySpace generation starts getting involved in politics, there will be much more information (and pictures) available on them -- not all of it flattering. As Friedman put it ""George Bush never could've been elected president if he'd been at Yale now and there'd been cell phone cameras around."

Schmidt suggested that tomorrow's leaders will likely be more careful in their activities today, knowing that cameras and media attention abound. However to me the more interesting question there is whether the "engagist" generation will have a more forgiving perspective on the exploits of political leaders. As more and more people experience the consequences of less-that stellar online decisions, will they be more forgiving of others that have those same experiences?

It's certainly possible. In fact, perhaps the surfeit of negative information on candidates might lead to an end of negative campaigning. We can only hope.

More information on the keynote address here.

Razoo

2007-05-18T07:26:00.000-07:00

A friend just turned me on to Razoo, a niche social networking site where users can put out information about their cause and encourage others to join in. It's in beta version now, but should be available for prime time soon. Causes on the site range from stopping animal expirmentation to reducing personal energy consumption to getting more people to bike to work.

The leaders of the various causes have posted simple things people can do to promote the cause. The "Moooutloud" cause (encouraging compassion for animals by going vegan), for example, encourages people to watch an online clip called the "meatrix." I'm not telling you to do that. It's a little gross...

There's also, of course, opportunities for members of the community to raise money for their cause and/or contribute to other worthy causes. 'Cause that's what makes the world go around, right?

This is just another great (and encouraging) example of how people are using technology to engage in the issues that matter most to them. Remember that next time someone tells you the Internet is isolating :)

Marketing to Yourself

2007-05-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

You know how irritating it is to be on the receiving end of all those marketing messages? E-mails, television ads, banner ads, print ads, etc. etc.

Well, you may have no one to blame but yourself. The LA Times has an interesting story titled "Advertising's new reality: Consumers now market to themselves," which notes that successful advertising firms have found new and improved ways to get you, yes You, to do their advertising for them.

From Cadillac owners taking pictures of themselves with their cars to the consumer-developed Doritos advertising campaign, we are all taking our favorite brands and promoting them to our friends, neighbors and perfect strangers.

One really interesting example is the "willitblend" site, where consumers are encouraged to provide their own videos of interesting things being blended -- from baseballs to light bulbs to "real" things, like smoothies. Of course, the site makes it clear that no one should really try to blend a baseball by themselves at home -- that's just something that happens in the BlendTec lab. When you click on the site, you're presented with options for things you can try at home and things you really shouldn't try at home.

Yeah right -- how much do you want to bet that the "do not try this at home" link is clicked far more often than the "try this at home" link?

At any rate, the key point here is that savvy advertisers and their clients understand that consumers want to engage in brand development and promotion. Maybe they want to be involved for the wrong reasons (self-promotion for example), but they want to be involved. So let's let them!

Back from Five Days at Jazz Fest...

2007-05-09T07:24:00.000-07:00

See, I do listen to live music. I also downloaded to my iPod some of the acts I particularly enjoyed so I can re-experience jazz fest at the time and place of my choosing.

The Fest really stepped it up this year in terms of integrating the live show with technology. The website featured a running headines leading up to the Fest (headlines during the Fest would have been an interesting idea as well).

There was also a new "live recordings" tent, where one could immediately purchase recordings of particularly compelling shows immediately after they finished. Or, much like at a conference, you could attend one of the 10 or so acts going on at a given time and buy the recording of another. In fact, if you want to purchase the recording of Steely Dan's set (which I highly recommend), you still can at the site.

And I was highly amused (and somewhat alarmed) by the webcam at the Fais Do Do stage (for the uninitiated, that's the stage featuring Cajun / Zydeco / Louisiana style music). Considering some of the shenanigans going on at the Fais Do Do stage, I'm not sure it should have been broadcast.

The point is, you didn't even have to physically be there to enjoy the wonder that is Jazz Fest. And considering the rain and mud on Friday (6 inches in two hours) as well as the hordes of really drunk and sunburned people, there may have been some advantages to not being there.

The only problem is that they still haven't figured out how to deliver virtual Spinach and Artichoke Casserole or Bread Pudding. Once they've figured that out, I will forever experience Jazz Fest from the safety of my couch.

Technology versus Leisure?

2007-05-02T12:16:00.000-07:00

In "Technology Transforming the Leisure World," CNN reporter Taylor Gandossy explores the idea that technology is causing us to "segment" our leisure time more.

Those quoted in the article seem to suggest that technology has limited both the time for leisure as well as its quality, which is almost universally defined as doing things with other people. As evidence, they trot out the tried and true "Bowling Alone" argument that the decrease in face-to-face interaction is one factor behind all the ills of society. The article asks us, for example, to "think about the social impact of having to go to the symphony to hear classical music and interacting with others ... Now with CDs and iPods, you can listen to Bach all the time at home ... but also without the human interaction."

OK, that kind of ticks me off. First of all, when I'm at the Symphony (and yes, I do go), I don't want to be "interacting" with others. I frown on people talking during the concert. If isolation and the downfall of society are the fees I have to pay for listening to my music in peace, then I'm all for it.

But seriously, what I think many people (including Putnam) are missing is the fact that much of the interaction that they believe is missing is actually taking place in a new way. Yes, we may not go to the country club every week to visit with a few dozen of our closest friends any more. But we may visit our MySpace page to interact with hundreds of people all over the world.

Just because we don't necessarily "cook for our families" as much as we used to (yes, that was a real quote from the article) doesn't mean we've had a reduction in leisure time or that we're "engaging" less in the world around us. It could simply be an indication that we don't WANT to cook (or perhaps that's just me.) In fact, many people would see less cooking at home and more dining out as a net increase in leisure and communal interaction. Frankly, I'll see more people in a nice dinner out than I will sitting at home over pasta with my husband.

I think what the article does capture is the idea that people are becoming more choosy in their leisure time -- they want to spend their free time doing what they want to do, when they want to do it. Sometimes that means sitting at home listening in solitary confinement to their iPod, but sometimes it means interacting in a much larger way with the outside world.

What's key to remember is it's their choice -- or, I guess I mean OUR choice. I think I'll turn off the BBerry tonight. Don't try to e-mail me. I'll be listening to Bach.

Tracking Your Comments Online

2007-04-27T10:17:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-26T06:18:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-24T08:22:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-19T10:57:00.000-07:00

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...

2007-04-17T07:16:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-16T06:28:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-12T07:33:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-09T15:02:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-09T08:10:00.001-07:00

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

2007-04-04T16:22:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-04-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

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...

2007-04-02T15:55:00.000-07:00

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?

Online protest and offline realities in Second Life

2007-03-30T14:11:00.001-07:00

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

2007-03-28T12:32:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-27T10:05:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-24T15:01:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-22T10:30:00.000-07:00

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...

2007-03-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-03-20T10:20:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-09T07:09:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-08T17:14:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-07T15:03:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-03T14:37:00.000-08:00

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

I call it Engagism, you call it "Communitainment"

2007-02-27T08:41:00.000-08:00

Let's NOT call the whole thing off.

Piper Jaffray, the enormous investment and banking behemouth, recently came out with a report entitled "The User Revolution." In it, they argue that through the Internet, the activities of community building, communications and entertainment have merged, creating this new area of "communitainment". This trend, according to Piper Jaffray, involves consumers moving communication beyond the exchange of information to the exchange of content, ideas and entertainment in an online social context.

Perhaps most important, they argue that Usites (i.e., sites where users can provide content) are "... the Internet's democratized version of the reality TV trend with users in control of content creation." The point here is that "communitainment" is less about shifting traffic patters and ad buys and more about the way consumers view content and information as a free-flowing part of the communications spectrum in which they can and should be directly involved.

The smart folks at Piper Jaffray (hey, since they agree with me, they're smart), seem to recognize what so many businesses must -- in order to be successful in the next several decades, we must understand that our audience, whether consumers, employees, advocates or policy makers, expect to engage in a meaningful and substantive way in the issues that matter most to them.

And then, it's up to us to help them find ways to do just that.

More information on the Piper Jaffrey report here
Great article on this report here

Engaging the 5% That Matter

2007-02-23T08:11:00.000-08:00

Forum One Communications recently held a fascinating dicussion on web usability, focusing on engaging the 5% of users who will really focus their time and attention on a particular site. Key points from the discussion:

Think Quality, Not Quantity: While, of course, all the people that take time to come to our sites our important, the truth is that only a small percentage will truly "engage" with the information you're providing. Forum One says 5%, I call them the Powerful 1% -- we're probably both making up numbers (at least I know I am). The point is that we can't be all things to all people, and it makes sense to focus our efforts on those users that really, truly want to get something from the interaction.

Know Your Audience: Clearly, in order to understand that 5% (who they are, how they think, etc.), you have to do some research on your audience. In fact, Forum One experts and the panelits all agreed that it makes sense to start with understanding user needs, use that information to create a positive online experience in a way that accomplishes the mission (as opposed to just foisting a bunch of "stuff" related to your mission on a website and hoping the audience uses it.)

Cultivating the 5%: Users will find your site useful if it maximizes the following characteristics -- valuable, useful, desirable, accessible, usable, findable, credible. The key is to understand user expectations -- and to update your understanding of those expectations over time.

How does this relate to engagism? Well, since more and more people expect to engage when they come to a site, one of the ways you will capture their attention is if you provide them with that interactive capability (blogs, surveys, vlogs, virtual assistants, etc. etc.). Perhaps most important, that interactive capability has to be provided through means and on subjects that are meaningful to THE USER, not THE WEBSITE DESIGNER (yes, I did mean to shout at you). So think less about what you, the organization, wants to get across and more about what your users wants to understand. That's the key to success in an engagist culture.

The Kids These Days ARE Politically Active...

2007-02-21T07:30:00.000-08:00

... just not in the same way you used to be. The Washington Post had a great peice recently highlighting the activity on Facebook for presidential candidates. Consider a medium where you can, in one month, gain access to over 278,000 rabid fans... That's the power of Facebook and sites of its ilk (MySpace, Meetup, LinkedIn, etc.). And if you can do that for presidential candidates (even someone as charasmatic as Barak Obama), imagine what you can do for something people really care about. Like video games. Or cars. Wow!

The Techpresident site has taken this idea one step further by keeping a running total of how various candidates are doing in terms of the number of friends they have online. Not to be political here, but the Dems seem to have WAY MORE FRIENDS than the Republicans. Maybe they're just friendlier people :)

Digging through Wired: Meganiches

2007-02-19T09:37:00.000-08:00

I dug through my big pile of back issues of Wired (hey, between the holidays and vacation, it was hard to gt to them all). It was time well-spent as I ran across a number of interesting engagism-related articles. I'll highlight a few in the next few posts.

In the November edition there was a great overview of the "Meganiche" phenomenon. This describes the idea that with a billion people online, even the most targetted sites can grab the attention of a hige number of people (often over a million). The examples in the article point to the increasing desire of users to interact with others and to provide their own content. For example, Gaia Online exists for anime fans that want to get creative -- it's not just about watching anime, it's about what users can create. Or consider YTMND, short for "You're The Man Now Dog," which allows users to combine video, audio and text to make some point -- sometime funny, often odd. The main lesson the article makes is that with so many people online, all with different interests, it is possible to have limitless "niche sites" serving hundreds of thousands if not millions of souls who share the same strange interest.

It seems to me that a side lesson (or from my perspecitve the most important lesson) is that these sites experience success only when they allow users to truly engage in the developing content and sharing with others. In other words, it's not enough to just identify a weird obsession that people have and put up a site about it. In fact, a site serving a meganiche is useful to its visitors only if it allows them to engage fully in whatever it is they're passionate about. In some ways, that's why the meganiche sites that rise organically, i.e., from real people that feel strongly about a certain topic, tend to be among the most successful.

Second Life Metrics and Mockery

2007-02-15T06:53:00.000-08:00

The Second Life blog has some interesting (and some may say scary) information on its users -- a census, if you will, on the population of this new virtual world. Some stats:

As of January 28, 2007 there were 3 million registered accounts in Second Life. That's equivalent to a major US city

In November 2006, users spent a total of 6.4 million hours "in-world."

70% of Linden Labs revenue is coming from the "land sales" in Second World

Perhaps what's most interesting is the growth rate. In 2006, Second World experienced growth rates of 10% to 30% per month for premium users. the number of all registered users more than doubled in four months (between October and January). More interesting Second Life stats can also be found at Wikipedia

All this activity in a virtual world has some people wondering whether we've forgotten about good old Terra Firma, a.k.a. Earth -- you know, that bright sunny thing with the air and dirt that you notice if you go outside? Thanks to a friend from Business 2.0 magazine for making sure I saw www.getafirstlife.com, where, believe it or not, people MOCK the wonder that is Second life. They seem to feel that people should spend more time being a person and less being an avatar. I tried to interact with the site, but the navigation links didn't work :)

Hey, what's not to like about Second Life? Increasing land mass, increasing populations and no global warming. Sounds like it's going to give the first world a run for its money (or Linden dollars, as the case may be).

Engagism and Consumers -- Bridging the Disconnect

2007-02-12T12:21:00.000-08:00

I think one of the most interesting (and perhaps frustrating) things about engagism is the fact that very few people understand the magnitude of what's going on here (and believe me, I'm not saying that I'm one of the few that do). Couple examples:

First of all, I noticed with interest recent finding about the disconnect between what companies are spending their advertising dollars on, and what types of things actually influence consumers. For example, 42.6% of consumers are influenced by word of mouth when making a decision about electronics and home furnishings. Yet advertisers in those arenas spend exactly 0 on that specific area of advertising. Granted, it's difficult to generate positive "word of mouth" buzz, but it can be done. As the researchers associated with the report noted, "... new media options such as online search, blogging, email, texting, video streaming and social networks . . . have expanded the Word Of Mouth universe and made traditional advertising less relevant for many." (more at Big Research)

Speaking of over 40% of consumers, did you know that over 40% of consumers agree that a frustrating online experience would make them less likely to shop at that retailer's physical store. What does that mean? If your web portal isn't very user-friendly, you could be losing brick and mortar customers. It's rare that the link between the online world and the physical universe is so clear -- and so important for any business seeking customers to understand.

Several cool things

2007-02-08T07:28:00.000-08:00

Cool thing #1: If you're interested in ideas on using technology to actually teach people something, check out the Golden Swamp blog from Judy Breck, author and general connectivity guru. She argues, rationally and with a great deal of authority, that we are experiencing a new golden age as the result of the Internet and that, in fact, many Web 2.0 tools can be used to truly engage the younger generation in learning on whole new levels. Technology used to motivate and inspire instead of anesthetize -- who'd have thought?

Cool thing #2: My first car was a Plymouth Duster, and boy was it hideous. Plus it didn't really run very well. But now I wish I had pictures of it because no one would believe I owned it. Plus, there's something nostalgic about your first car -- especially if it was a muscle car that all the boys drooled over. The folks at Pontiac are offering the opportunity for a new generation of car fans to use Web 2.0 tools to express their fanatacism to the world. At the new Pontiac Underground site you can blog or post pictures / videos about your car. Not only is it somewhat interesting for the true fan, but Pontiac is doing a great deal to build fan loyalty (a la the Mini Cooper clan). What's most interesting is that both companies are applying these techniques to a truly "brick and mortar" style product -- the car!

Cool thing #3: Move out of the way television. Recent research shows that Frequent YouTube visitors watch less television. OK, so if you're one of those people who think that any time spent in front of a screen is inherently bad, this may not be good news. You'll think "oh, we're just exchanging one axis of evil for another." But the interesting point here is that people are starting to choose user generated content over network generated content, a trend that will only continue!

How Much is That (fake) Doggy in the (fake) Window

2007-02-07T17:49:00.000-08:00

I hate to admit that I'm old enough to have had a stuffed animal that didn't do anything. It didn't move around with a remote control. It didn't have an embedded voice system. It didn't do flips spontaneously. No, it just sat there, mocking me. If I wanted to, for example, pretend that we were all having a tea party, I had to physically carry the thing over to a chair and then supply all the voices.

Thank goodness today's children don't have to suffer with such passive toys. An article in today's Washington Post ("Teddy Bear, Version 2.0") tells us about Webkinz, a new concept in kid's toys from Ganz toys. Basically, these toys combine old-fashion "brick and mortar" style toys with the Internet. A cuddly webkinz stuffed animal comes both with the standard fluffy fur as well as a whole online persona. Kids use the special code that comes with their animal to logon to the Webkinz site -- and a whole new world. Here, their animals can frolic with others, buy clothes, attend parties -- even participate in chats.

Perhaps what's most interesting about this concept is the audience being targeted. This site and its highly interactive, social networking features are for the 6 year old crowd. While some argue this reliance on techology is starting just a little too young, it is clear that this trend isn't going away. People are starting from a younger and younger age to use technology to engage in whole new ways. We adults need to understand what's going on here -- or get out of their way when they turn 12!

Engage in a Protest From the Safety of Your Couch

2007-02-07T13:28:00.000-08:00

Being in Washington, DC (and being somewhat old), I remember the days before the Internet, when people actually physically drove (or flew or walked or biked) themselves down to the Capitol Mall to take part in a protest. Apparently, this is not the case anymore. While it is true that some large-scale events can garner some warm bodies (such as a recent rally on the mall in opposition to the war in Iraq), it turns out that many people prefer to participate in cyber protests.

In a recent Washington Post article (Where Have All the Protests Gone? Online), writer Jennifer Earl discusses this issue, noting that the Internet has become a powerful organizing tool for protests. Not only does it help provide logisitical support for the old fashioned approach (directions, downloading signs, providing travel information, etc.), but it has, perhaps more important, become a critical new venue for registering discontent.

Advocacy organizations need to consider these new approaches when figuiring out ways for their members to participate in any type of activism. And we're talking more than just sending e-mails here. The world of online activism is filled with all kinds of social networking activities -- online activities that often lead to offline action.

Exercising and Video Games

2007-02-05T09:07:00.000-08:00

Most people think that the ideas of physical exercise and video games are mutually exclusive. But the new input format of the Wii video game controller is actually turning these traditional ideas on their head. For the uninitiated, the Wii controller is very different from the traditional joystick and buttons method of inputting commands to a video game. With the Wii, users undertake the actual movements envisioned by the game, such as swinging a tennis racket, or bowling. Of course, this is all done with the controller in had. No one has yet developed a format where the player uses a real racket -- oh wait, they have, it's called tennis.

Nevertheless, in a weird "couch potato meets exercise guru" way, the Wii is being used by some as a tool for physical activity -- and are actually losing weight and meeting personal goals. A recent Washington Post article "Exercise, It's All Fun and Games" highlights this trend. Take the example of Tom Klimchak, an overweight gaming enthusiast who has lost 16 pounds in the last month by, in part, playing a Wii boxing game which requires his active patricipation in punching and swinging at the set. In fact, there's so much potential here that the website Traineo.com is starting to develop exercise programs for the Wii. Some schools are even including Wii-based programs in their Phys Ed class. Imagine that! Having to by a Wii to do your homework!

This is just the latest in a series of arguments against the accepted tenents that video games make you stupid, lazy and fat. Steven Johnson laid aside the first two arguments in his book "Everything Bad is Good for You." Now we've laid aside the "video games make people fat" argument to rest.

What's next?

Don't Send a Carrier Pigeon: IM Them Instead

2007-02-02T14:31:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned previously in this blog, sending an e-mail to anyone under 25 is like sending a carrier pigeon. They are all about the IM. Click here for an interesting insight from a College freshman about how he uses IM to communicate with his friends. It's formatted as a conversation with his grandmother who, umm, sounds a lot like many of us. A couple interesting insights:

Some Conventions in IM May Seem Rude to Traditionalists: Our young friend notes that not answering someone else's IM when you're busy, or even leaving a message that your not available is standard practice in the IM world. But traditionalists, especially those who think you have to answer the phone whenever it rings, might think it rude. If you're going to IM, it's important to understand the rules.

You Can Express Emotion While IM'ing: The grandmother type in the story seemed very concerned about not recognizing people's facial expressions. She notes that it's hard to tell how people really feel if you can't see their face or hear the tone in their voice. But with IM'ing shortcuts, such as emoticons and abbreviations, some expression is possible. Plus, as the author of the article notes, once you get to know someone's IM'ing style, you can tell their emotional state -- especially if there are changes. For example, a normally gregarious person who suddenly answers in one word answers might be down about something.

You Actually Have More Control Over IM Conversations Than the Telephone: This was an eye-opener for me. Personally, I hate the telephone. It's so insistent (and loud). Even if you don't answer it, your day is interrupted whenever it rings -- you might stop what you're doing to check messages or just check caller ID. With IM you know instantly who is trying to reach you and can make a decision about whether you have the time or inclination to chat with them. It's also not considered rude to put up an away message it you're working on another project or just don't want to chat.

IM'ing Facilitates Focus: Again, a really somewhat counter-intuitive idea, but our young friend notes that in having several conversations (and at least one major project) going on at once, IM'ing helps him make decisions about what to focus on. At one point he might decide to have a somewhat meaningful conversation with one of his friends, but if a main priority -- such as getting a paper done, or watching a favorite program on TV -- suffers, he can always tell them that he's "G2G" (got to go). In a sense, this format makes it easier for him to decide what and who should garner his attention at any given time.

Hmmm, using technology to figure out how to spend one's time and attention. Sounds like engagism to me!

Tags Are the New Bookmarks

2007-02-02T12:56:00.000-08:00

To anyone who has just figured out that you can "bookmark" your favorite pages on the web, I have bad news. Bookmarks are passe. They are so last century. Now it's all about the tags. What are tags? Well, the short answer is that they are user generated keywords that describe things the user has found on the internet that they like. So if you like, for example, a really interesting blog on engagism, you would simply go the site and tag it with words that YOU would likely remember relate to engagism (such as cool, hip, edgy and brilliant -- just some ideas). All you need to do is go to a site like Del.icio.us and download a couple buttons that will let you tag merrily away.

Why is this so important? Well, like all the other UGC stuff out there, tagging is growing. According to a recent report from the Pew Internet and the American Life Project, almost one in three Web users organizes the materials they care about on the Internet with tags. That number is likely to grow in coming years as users take more control in how they access and organize information. And in true Web 2.0 fashion, users can share their tags with others, creating a whole new system for searching the Internet. So, if you tag a really cool picture of "tropical fish" (sorry, my mind is still on my Polynesian vacation), you can search on sites that enable tagging, like Del.icio.us and Flickr, for other "tropical fish" tags.

All this user generated content makes it sound a little like the inmates are taking over the asylum -- and now they're taking over the search tools as well!

Have Video Camera, Go to Super Bowl

2007-02-01T14:38:00.000-08:00

Advertisers have figured out a great way to use this engagism stuff to their advantage, especially when it comes to that premier advertising venue, the Super Bowl. While the cost of airtime from the networks is still astronomical ($2.6 million for 30 seconds), the costs of putting together the ads has come done quite a bit -- from over 1 million dollars to just about $12.79.

In fact, at least one of the ads in this year's Super Bowl will be from a strictly amateur videographer who entered Doritos' "create an ad" contest. A pretty smart move on Dorito's part, who saved tons of money on the ad itself and has generated all kinds of buzz for its brand by the 1,060 people that entered the contest. In providing consumers with an opportunity to substantively engage in the development of the brand, Doritos is applying a key principle of engagism to its marketing practices -- and reaping the benefits. More information in the Washington Post's article on this topic.

Making Your Bed and Web 2.0

2007-01-31T13:59:00.000-08:00

If you can make your bed (I confess I rarely do), you can be part of Web 2.0. IKEA, the scion of low cost, funky, do-it-yourself furniture has a new ad promotion targetted to those "user generated content types." In short, send them a video of you making your bed, and you might win $5,000.

This contest is not for the faint of heart. As the promotion reads "We're looking for bed-making maniacs who aren't worried about what Mom says. If you mix and match sheets, have a special blankie for the Shih-tzu or the craziest of quilts, this contest is for you."

Perhaps most interesting, the promotion is being run by Shycast, a relatively new Web 2.0 social network marketing company that has developed an automated video contest generator -- essentially a "turnkey" solution for companies that want to start a video contest based on their product or service. And in a particularly "UGC" twist, Shycast is asking visitors to its website to let companies know what contest they'd like to see!

Hey, I'd like the Hershey's company to have a "show us how you eat chocolate" campaign. Then I could tell my husband that I'm eating chocolate for a good cause :)

More information at http://www.shycast.com/contest/10/view/.

Engaging Advocates -- Part 2

2007-01-30T14:40:00.000-08:00

As promised, here are the three remaining tools for utilizing engagism in the citizen advocacy arena:

Tool #4: Web 2.0 and You – as somewhat overused as the term is becoming, the idea of “Web 2.0” has useful applications to the advocacy arena. What is web 2.0? It’s a term of art that describes the evolving ways in which people are using the Internet. At first, the Internet was used for information distribution – if you wanted information on a certain topic you went to the Internet and accessed it. In recent years, however, the Internet has evolved into a tool for users to create and post their own content, from books to music to pictures. Think of sites like Flickr, MySpace and YouTube as the leading edge of the “user generated content” idea. As people become more used to and, in fact, expect to generate content of their own, these tools become more integral to the online experience. Why is this important? Recent studies show that 40% of people in online communities participate more in social activism than before they joined the community. This is a ready made group of people just crying out to be involved in social causes! Associations need to harness the power of Web 2.0 for their own policy-related purposes – and some are already doing so. The American Cancer Society, for example, recently raised $40,000 in a “virtual walkathon” in Second Life. No walking – just sitting at the computer. Likewise, any political candidate worth his or her salt has a MySpace page. From ring tones to online music sharing to wikis, finding ways to allow advocates to create their own content related to your policy issue will become increasing essential to any successful advocacy effort.

Tool #5: Recognition – the policy environment is difficult, and advocates need to know that their efforts are appreciated, especially since the legislative process moves as slowly as molasses (if that fast). Fortunately, there are a number of quick and easy tools to help provide for that recognition. In addition to the traditional tchochkie approach (hats, mugs, etc.), associations should consider posting an advocates hall of fame on their website to honor those members that have gone the extra mile, such as by hosting a site visit or sending a personal letter. In addition, associations should consider making mention of the efforts of their members in their ongoing newsletters and other outreach materials, as well as prominent posts on the blog (you have one right?) thanking members for their efforts.

Tool #6: Fun – Advocacy can be as exciting as a video game. In fact, there’s a legislative fantasy congress online at www.fantasycongress.org – it’s like fantasy baseball, but for the U.S. government. If that sounds a little too dorky for you, consider how your association can use existing online environments like Second Life to promote your cause in whole new ways. Likewise look at some of the examples of organizations like PBS (www.pbs.org) who has developed a series of online quizzes and games around its programs – many of them are for kids, but some are for adults as well!

There are so many examples to consider – if you’re interested in more ideas, post a comment and we’ll try to help!

Six Tools for Advocate Engagement (Part 1)

2007-01-29T13:51:00.000-08:00

In the last blog I outlined three key "myths and realities" of engagism and how it relates to citizen advocacy. I mentioned some tools for implementing engagist ideas in the advocacy arena and, true to my word, today I’m offering three of those tools, with the remaining coming in the next blog entry.

And the winners are...

Tool #1: Market Segmentation: In order to gain access to the powerful 1%, you really have to hit them where they live. And that means tailoring your communications to unique subsections of your advocacy group. So, for example, if your advocacy organization is involved in animal welfare issues, you need to have an understanding of which advocates really love dogs versus which prefer cats (or rabbits or ferrets or whatever). That way, you can target your messages to inspire those that will be most likely to take action on a particular issue based on the aspect of the issue that appeals most to them. The dog people might not be inspired by a "save the bunnies" message -- but the bunny people sure will. This is a variation of the approach / phenomenon that Chris Anderson describes in the "The Long Tail," and it is TREMENDOUSLY applicable to advocacy efforts.

Tool #2: Vary Your Outreach: The average American household now has over 25 electronic devices, most of which can be used to either send or receive messages. In short, people receive information in any one of a dozen different forms – email, phone calls – even the old-fashioned letter! And, perhaps most important, different people pay attention to different sources of input. For example younger people tend to focus on texting and IM. In many cases, sending them an e-mail is like sending a carrier pigeon. Effective advocacy efforts will identify the various ways in which their audience communicates and then utilize all those means to get the message out.

Tool #3: Multi-Way Communications: Just as advocacy leaders need to vary how they reach out to advocates, they also need to consider what tools they have in place to allow advocate to advocate and advocate to leadership communication. Using simple techniques such as online advocacy surveys (see a sample here), wikis and chat rooms, advocate leaders can encourage feedback from their leading edge. And remember, any feedback, even the negative stuff, is useful.

Check back from three more tools (including many great Web 2.0 ideas) in the next blog entry!

Engaging Advocates in Advocacy

2007-01-26T07:41:00.000-08:00

I recently gave a presentation at the Public Affairs Council conference on effective tools for “motivating” advocates. Many associations and companies recognize the value of having their employees and members delivering messages to policy makers. That said, the leaders of the effort get frustrated when the advocates respond half-heartedly or not at all to their pleas for letters, phone calls and visits to elected officials on a particular issue. In the advocacy world, this question of “motivating advocates” is a huge one – thousands of organizations struggle with it every day.

What I sought to do in the session was to have participants look at their advocacy networks in a whole new way. Rather then viewing them simply as tools to be turned on and off based on the directions of the national (or state) organization, advocates need to feel engaged in the process from the beginning. Through engagement, organizations can turn advocacy into something for their members’ “want to do” list instead of the “have to do” list.

To achieve this goal, a few common myths need to be overcome:

1) Myth Number One: “We need thousands of advocates to make a difference, and it’s difficult to get thousands of people truly engaged.” Actually, quality works far better than quantity in dealing with policy makers. Given the vast array of bulk e-mail and form letters received every day in legislators’ offices, elected officials and their staff generally give these missives less weight than personal, thoughtful communications from constituents who really care. Currently, associations tend to focus on how they can make it as easy as possible for advocates to simply “point and click” to send a form message. This approach is a good first step to get advocates interested in and excited about the process. Through engagism, organizations can take their efforts to the next level by motivating and activating that powerful 1% that is willing to compose and deliver a personal message – and that powerful 1% might be willing to reach out to other potential advocates, helping the organization expand its network exponentially.

2) Myth Number Two: “Legislative situations are complicated. We can’t trust our advocates to come up with their own messages.” Here’s the catch-22: If the messages that advocates are delivering aren’t personal they aren’t effective. So, if you can’t trust your advocates to come up with their own messages, you probably aren’t going to be as effective as you’d like to be in swaying opinion leaders. Engaging advocates early in the process through ongoing discussions (blogs, list serves, etc.) helps them understand the language and the nuances better – and makes them better prepared to develop personal stories that tie the policy issue back to their own situation. It’s called the “advocacy-conviction connection” – people need to believe in and feel passionate about what they are saying in order to truly sway the opinions of others. Hey, if the Nuclear Energy Institute does it (and you better believe they have some complicated issues), so can you.

3) Myth Number Three: “If we engage our advocates, some of them will say mean things about our policy ideas, and that would be bad.” Actually, negative comments can be good because they demonstrate passion! If your advocates care enough about what you’re saying to respond (even if not very nicely), you’re one step closer to finding that powerful 1%. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to do everything you can to turn that negative energy into positive energy by listening to their concerns and doing what’s reasonable to respond. Intel does this when launching a software application. The first thing they do is send the application to their list of certified naysayers, who do everything they can to break it down. They use this information to identify problems and make fixes before selling it to their customers. Both sides are happy – Intel has a better product, and the naysayers have been listened to.

Tomorrow I’ll share some tips and tools for creating a culture of engagism in an association setting – or maybe that will take up several blogs...

Back from the French Polynesians

2007-01-22T07:16:00.000-08:00

For anyone who has been crushed -- CRUSHED -- to find this blog sadly lacking in the last few weeks, be assured that I am back from a relaxing vacation in the French Polynesians and eager to continue highlighting examples of engagism. OK, I'm as eager as anyone can be who just spent two weeks in a beautiful tropical setting and came back to freezing temperatures and 2 inches of snow...

A couple odds and ends to kick off the "new year" (see, it's still the new year to me)

First of all, after spending two weeks on a cruise ship in the middle of nowhere, I have a newfound respect for the importance of the Internet to the general public. This is not because we didn't have access. In fact, we had a "highspeed" satellite hook-up. However, the speed was frankly less than stellar and I was blown away by the number of people that complained non-stop about what someone called a "deplorable situation." Huh? You're in the middle of the ocean visiting islands with populations in the hundreds, one road and very few businesses -- and you're complaining that your e-mail isn't loading as quickly as it does at home? Cleary, people are starting to feel a bit entitled -- not just to Internet access but to highspeed, I-want-it-when-I want-it access, and they aren't shy about voicing those opinions. Frankly, I was pleased just to be able to check my e-mail every once in a while... But I didn't respond :)

Second, if you're interested in what the "kids these days" are thinking about the Internet, digital devices and all those things they've grown up with (and expect to find in every aspect of their life), check out the new Notes from the Digital Frontier blog. You may think this doesn't apply to you, but it really does -- these are the people that will be making buying decisions, working right next to you or even running businesses. What they think matters and you can get a handle on it at this blog.

Finally, if you want to get a feel for the French Polynesians, check out these Tropical Fish pictures (not mine). I had the opportunity to see many of these up close and personal -- I would send you my own pictures, but the Internet connection on the ship was way to slow :)

TV is Good For You

2007-01-02T10:24:00.000-08:00

Finally! A credible someone is making a credible argument that television is not the devil. In a recent Washington Post article, Dimitri Christakis of the Children’s Hospital in Seattle addresses a number of myths about children and their relationship to television. One of my favorites is his argument that sitting around watching television instead of playing outside does not, in fact, make kids overweight. He states emphatically that being a couch potato is not what causes obesity. “Kids sit around to read, too, but no one suggests that reading causes obesity.” Any causal relationship between obesity and television is more about the temptation to snack while watching TV than it is about the television itself. As a TV snacker myself I can attest to that. I find it especially ironic when I find myself mindlessly eating chips while watching an episode of “The Biggest Loser”

Another favorite? Christakis argues that what children watch and the context in which they watch it is far more important than the sheer number of hours of television viewing in a day. Since the average household has more television than human occupants, kids often wind up watching television alone – and sometimes flip the channel to inappropriate fare without the supervision of parents. Is that a problem caused by television? Or is that more about paying attention to what kids are watching? Numerous technologies exist to help parents block inappropriate content – and promote more positive viewing.

Along those lines, and perhaps most important, Christakis discusses the positive sides of television. Not only is it not a “necessary evil,” but programs like Blue’s clues and Sesame Street can actually help kids make sense of the world around them.

In other words, television, in and of itself, is not an “idiot box.” It can play a positive role in child (and adult) development, but only if we use it wisely. It’s kind of like chocolate – while moderate chocolate consumption can be good for you (hey, I read it on the Internet so I know it’s true), eating three chocolate bars a day isn’t a good idea. Especially in front of the television.

Second Life Activities: First Life Cash

2006-12-26T11:10:00.000-08:00

Today the Washington Post had an interesting article on the many questions surrounding the selling of virtual goods and services on a site like Second Life. Click here for the article. Highlighted was the online lingerie business of Veronica Brown (online alter ego Simone Stern), which sells virtual garments to virtual people in this popular online community. Veronica is one of the lucky (or perhaps enterprising) online entrepreneurs who make a real world living in this somewhat unorthodox manner.

She is also in the midst of a range of copyright, ownership, tax, patent and trademark issues surrounding this unique community. For those who aren’t aware, Second Life rocked the online boat by allowing users to maintain control and ownership of any content they create on the site, opening the flood gates to this kind of business development. Recently, some equally enterprising souls have created an online “copybot” that can be used to quickly and easily reproduce the products of business people like Veronica. In the real world, copying another’s work word for word (or stitch for stitch) might land one in court. At a minimum, knock offs, like the fake Rolex’s and Kate Spade bags being sold by street vendors from DC to LA, can be recognized as off inferior quality – as irritating as it is for the creators, the knock offs might actually drive the desire of those who can afford it to obtain the “real thing.” Imitation is, in fact, the sincerest form of flattery.

But in the virtual world, different questions arise. These items aren’t being “knocked off” in an inferior way: they are being copied or even cloned, if you will. One couldn’t tell the difference between the original and a copy with a magnifying glass. That seems to argue for protection of intellectual property. On the other hand, both the shop owners in Second Life and the copybot creators have basically created a software service, not a real world product. Do the shop owners have more right to their software service than the copybot creators?

The issues in Second Life and similar online venues are complex, which may be why District Court Judge Richard Posner appeared in Second Life talking about the issue of property rights in virtual reality. He foresees the development of a new line of law for the virtual world – along the lines of the special set of rules known as maritime law.

Congress is getting into the act, not surprisingly. And it’s also not surprising that the main focus is on the tax implications of Second Life – expect hearings early in the year on whether people like Veronica should pay taxes on the income generated from their online activities.

The Digital Future is Here

2006-12-22T08:56:00.000-08:00

The University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication released the latest installment in its "Digital Future Project," a comprehensive annual examination of the impact of online technology on America. You can read the highlights as a PDF here.

This report has a wealth of information for anyone seeking to operate in the digital world, from businesses to associations to citizens. To set some context, 43% of Internet users who are members of online communities say that they "feel as strongly" about their virtual community as they do about their real life. Now, this statistic may be scary to some. But to me it highlights the fact that people are connecting to the world around them in whole new ways. As Jeffrey Cole, the director of the project indicated ". . . we are now beginning to. . . discover new directions for the Internet as a comprehensive tool that Americans are using to touch the world."

A fundamental shift has occured -- the Internet is no longer a simple tool for information, entertainment and communication, it's becoming an integral part of how we live our lives -- and not just for the "elite few." According to the report, approximately 77% of Americans now spend some time online and the numbers continue to increase. More than 2/3rd of Americans have access at home. For those who consider the Internet to be the provenance of the elite, the rapid increases can be compared to the market penetration of the television set, which is now in 98% of homes.

What's happening when they go online? While much of it is still looking up information and sending e-mail, the increase in the creation of User Generated Content (UGC) is astonishing. Almost 1/4 of users post photos online. The number of Internet users who have a blog has doubled in three years. Over 12% of Internet users have their own website.

Perhaps more important for those who argue that the Internet is "disconnecting" and "isolating", the report shows that Internet users are finding growing numbers of friends online -- and that this often translates into in-person friends (no, I don't mean stalkers). In fact, indications are that the use of the Internet may increase communications with family and friends and does not significantly reduce the "in-person" time spent with these individuals.

One last point -- the report shows that people in online communities take offline action. "More than 1/5th . . . of online community members took actions offline at least once a a year that were related to their online community." Furthermore, ". . . almost 2/3rds of online community members who participate in social causes through the Internet . . . say they are involved in causes that were new to them when they began participating on the Internet. And more than 40% . . . participate more in social activism since they started partitipating in online communities. "

Associations and businesses are you listening? People will buy a product or take an action based on their participation in an online community. What are you doing to facilitate that?

Television Embracing Audience Choice

2006-12-20T11:24:00.000-08:00

Imagine a world where we weren't subjected to derivative game shows (Show Me the Money? Identity?), bad made-for-TV movies about natural or man-made disasters (anyone remember 10.5?), or tired, poorly paced sit coms (too many to mention). A world where TV executives were able to weed out the awful shows before wasting our valuable viewing time. A world where the Ugly Betty's of the world move to the top of the que.

PBS is trying to bring us that world in January, when it will premiere three science series pilots on New Years Day via streaming video on pbs.org. Stations will run the shows a few days later and viewers will be asked to vote on which should be developed into a full 10 week series.

I know the sceptics will say "yeah, people say they want this kind of choice, but who is really going to do this?" The answer is -- the kinds of people that will actually watch the show. Sure, it probably won't be millions of people. But it may be that critical 1% whose commitment to PBS will be reinforced (or even forged) by this interactive experience. And then they'll tell two people and so on and so on...

Essentially, PBS is building brand loyalty before their offerings even hit the airwaves. And they're doing it without all the expense of a traditional advertising campaign. As an added bonus, their efforts to engage the viewers early and often may well generate increased good will -- along with contrbutions.

Check out PBS' Science Page for more information.

YOU are the person of the year

2006-12-19T07:58:00.000-08:00

The amount of ire and angst being generated in the "web 2.0" world over Time magazine's recent "person of the year" cover story is a little amusing. For those who haven't been paying attention, Time basically named anyone who participated in the act of creating user generated content on the web as the "person of the year." We have seen the enemy and it is us. Read the Time cover story and decide for yourself.

Many have responded in anger and with some snippiness at what they view as Time's patronizing approach (see Nora Ehpron's funny article on this, as well as some general responses.) Much of the criticism has been along the lines of "I don't need a corporate behemoth to tell me I'm cool." In some cases, people feel that Time was a bit smug and disingenuous in celebrating how ordinary people have "[seized] the reins of the global media . . . and beating the pros at their own game." Who would those pros be? Time magazine? And of course, everyone is incensed that Time didn't pick someone involved with the war in Iraq or Iran or Afghanistan or Korea or Somalia or Darfur or...

Frankly, I really think all this hue and cry is a bit much.

First of all, people, calm down -- it's Time magazine. It's not like the Dalai Lama or God or your mother said this. Some editors at the magazine thought "hey, we don't want to pick and choose between all the good and bad people in the world. There's too many. We'll piss someone off whoever we choose - let's make it easy." Maybe it's not the height of journalistic valour, but then again, it's not like they chose Hitler or his modern day equivalent (fill in your most feared dictator here).

Second, the selection of "you" as the Time person of the year certainly has achieved one goal. It's gotten us all talking about who the person of the year should be. Sure, it's lame. But it reminds me of a story someone told me once about their teenager who was outraged at a piece of modern art he saw. He thought it was terrible, anyone could have done it, why did people think that was art, etc. He went on about it for days. Maybe it was terrible art -- who knows? But it started a discussion and a consideration that might not have happened otherwise.

Finally, and perhaps more important, Time is simply recognizing what we've all been talking about for a while. The power of the Internet, combined with the mobility and multi-purpose nature of consumer electronics, has brought heretofore unseen levels of engagement. Whether it's a "new" level of engagement or a "heightened" level of engagement (as the Pew Trust's recent report suggests) the truth is that this level of engagement (or e-scapism if you will) has profoundly impacted how we work, play and live.

By way of analogy, consider the automobile. For years it was "around," something some people enjoyed, but society didn't really organize itself around the car. But then we hit a "tipping point" in Gladwell's terms, and now we can't imagine building a community that couldn't accomodate a car. Society has been profoundly and fundamentally changed by this invention. It didn't happen overnight, but it did happen. We're in the midst of seeing that happen with user engagement...

Newspaper Without the Paper

2006-12-04T17:18:00.000-08:00

The newspaper is dead -- long live the newspaper. If you haven't run into stories written by "mojo's", you will soon. No, mojo's aren't Austin Powers wanna be's. It's short for mobile journalists, and Gannett news, one of the media behemoths of the world, is bringing them on board. Armed with nothing more than a laptop, digital camera and power source (such as their car), these mobile journalists write stories and upload them in the blink of an eye. You may not read these stories in USA Today, but the millions of Americans who get their news online see them daily, or even hourly.

Is there really that much news out there? Well, yes there is, if you focus on covering the most local of events. Previously considered to be the banal chore of newsroom interns, mojos are covering everything that happens in the community -- from the opening of a local grocery store to the neighborhood cat show. Some people may argue that "no one reads those stories." But the point is that the committed few DO read these stories. And, if you have enough of these microstories on your site, you can increase cummulative readership while capturing the hearts and minds of people who feel passionately about the issues and events of their community.

Just ask Gannett, where traffic from August to October on their sites has increased 146% over the previous year.

These mojos and their micro stories strike at the heart of engagism. By posting articles of significance to the community, and even hiring community members to write those articles, Gannett is recognizing that "top down" journalism won't work any more.

You can learn more about this in the article "A Newspaper Chain Sees Its Future..." in the Washington Post.

Finding a New Identity

2006-12-01T06:57:00.000-08:00

My husband, a dear soul, is somewhat of a ludite. He just got a cell phone last year, and only at my insistence. When I traded up on my iPod I gave him my old one, but he still prefers to carry around a CD player. The only reason we have a flat screen TV is because I went out and bought it (of course, he does enjoy watching it).

He has always been a little leery of technology. I remember when ATMs became all the rage (yes, I am that old), he never liked to use them. What if they gave him the wrong amount? What if there was a malfunction? And he wouldn't even consider using them for deposits. Imagine if the deposit got lost in their system. No, he prefered to go directly to real live people.

Well, he's finally adapted to the ATM, his paychecks are electronically deposited and he has a cellphone and iPod, so one might say he's a full-fledged citizen of the digital world.

Clearly, though, he's just on the periphery. And as much as I like to think I'm all down with the technology, it's clear I'm on the periphery as well. You see, I hate to admit this but I don't have a MySpace page (or Facebook or Squidoo or any of those social networking kinds of things). I hate IM'ing (or texting or whatever we're calling it these days). I've never posted a video on YouTube. I've also never played a video game on the web (I do, of course, have a Nintendo DS -- doesn't every 40-year old woman?).

All that's about to change. As I'm writing this book about e-scapism I realize I need to dabble in all those escapist activities -- videos online, social networking and, yes, even chatting. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it.

To get started, I logged on to secondlife.com yesterday and set up an account. Now I'm one of those neophytes entering this Brave New World through what looks like an outdoor park in Northern California. A few initial thoughts:

First of all, when you first enter the game you're surrounded by a lot of other newbies who are floating around, experimenting with chat, and figuring out how to alter their appearance. It feels a little like an incubation room. I had selected a somewhat outlandish avatar (hey, this is supposed to be fantasy, right?) and was surprised to see that most of the other newbies went with the most "human-esque" of the options.

It's weird how you can't ever see your face without turning all the way around using the arrow keys. I kept wanting to see what I look like. But then I realized -- when I'm walking around the real world, I can't see my face. That's a little strange to think about. I think I know what I look like to the rest of the world, but maybe I don't...

Almost immediately upon entering, people started coming up to me and saying "hello." Oddly enough, that made me really uncomfortable. See, I'm actually not a big people person. I realy wanted to spend some time alone trying to figure out how to make myself look a certain way, figure out how to move smoothly, etc. before talking to people. Even in cyberspace the typical woman's body image issues come home to plague her. In general, I was suspicious of the initial hellos. But I realize that I'll need to loosen up a little and really, what's the harm? (she asked, before she fell victim to a cyberstalker).

I'm looking forward to playing around more in this alternative universe, but I don't think I'll get hooked. I'm pretty contented in this Universe. However, I did think it funny that in contemplating my future in Second Life, my initial thoughts were to find a city, get a job and an apartment, get a dog, etc. And then I thought "why do all that? why live an ordinary life?" Secondlife is, after all, a Second Life. I'm thinking I'm going to approach it as a place to live out absolutely crazy hopes and dreams -- who knows? If I try them out online and I'm successful, maybe they'll work in the real world as well!

This and that

2006-11-30T09:06:00.000-08:00

A couple interesting bits of news on Media Post today. Target is launching an absolutely enormous outdoor ad system in Herald Square, NYC. Transit commuters will find themselves walking by large ads projected on the walls of passages and corridors. As they walk by, or touch the projections, their motion will alter the ad. For example, Target logos falling like snowflakes will burst into larger snowflakes when touched. The goal here is to keep users interacting with (engaging with?) the ad in a whole new way. It's a new take on some of the innovative advertising that Times Square has seen in the last few months (i.e., allowing users to use their cell phones to design Nike shoes in real time on large screens).

Look for more companies figuring out how to use technology to directly interact with the consumer in a way that's fun, entertaining, engaging -- and just incidentally boosts brand recognition!

On a somewhat related note, did you know that more than half of adult internet users create their own video? Of course, I'm certain that some of that is, well, shall we say for private consumption. Nevertheless, it points to a continuing expanding market for personalized online video. Currently, the editing process is seen as too cumbersome or "techie" for the casual user. New software that makes editing easier will likely lead to increased uploading of home made videos. Watch out YouTube!

Finally, I want to make note of Cory Treddiletti's really amusing take on "Giving Digital Thanks This Season" Personally, I'm thankful for my iPod, which allows me to walk or drive to work without having to ever talk to or really look at another human being.

Stephanie

Participatory Culture and Engagism

2006-11-28T09:53:00.000-08:00

I read with great interest Henry Jenkins' recent report for the MacArthur Foundation titled "Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century." I also had the opportunity to chat with him recently about how the ideas in the this report and, of course, his book "Convergence Culture," relate to engagism. I urge you to review the report and read the book! You'll be glad you did.

By way of background, Jenkins is the Director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT. In our talk, Jenkins made an interesting distinction between what he terms "participatory culture" (i.e., a culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one's creations and some type of informal mentorship) and the concept of engagism. He noted that he considers "engagement" to be more individually focused -- individuals engage emotionally or psychologically in a particular issue or concept -- whereas participatory culture is more about the social and cultural process that occurs when an individual is engaged. Put simply, when people are engaged, then they participate. He suggested while we've always had some level of a participatory culture, it's more ubiquitous and visible now due to the Internet.

To me, this distinction connects well with the idea that there are different levels of engagement. In other words, engagement exists along a spectrum of somewhat passive (i.e., I choose to watch a DVD at the gym to escape the tedium of exercise) to very active (i.e., I choose to sign up for a fan site and write a song about the television show Lost). At the higher levels of engagement comes active creation / participation where people seek entry into the "participatory culture."

The shift toward a participatory culture is so prevelant that even traditional media technologies, like the television, recognize the need to allow for audience engagement. We see this in terms of audience voting on shows like American Idol as well as the fostering of "fandom" that occurs on shows like Lost. In fact, I would argue, every successful gadget out there, whether old media or new, intuitively recognizes the need to adapt in order to respond to people's desire to engage. Otherwise, it will no longer be successful.

Another interesting point came out in our discussion about how people become engaged or why they might choose to be engaged in one thing over another. Frankly, we both agreed that one of the key components is, well, fun. Most people don't want to be deadly serious all the time. For example, the decrease in playfulness and the carnival-like atmosphere that once permeated American politics might help explain why people are apathetic (more on that topic on my Advocacy Tipsheet). Thank goodness for the Daily Show and the Colbert Report...

This led us to a discussion about the characteristics of an engagist culture (or an individual "engagist"). Jenkins outlined a number of useful points, suggesting that the "engagist" would exhibit intellectual curiousity, emotional investment, social connection, personal empowerment and a creative / imaginative streak.

We also talked about both what critics have to say about the direction of popular culture as well as what might be considered the "dark side" of engagism. On that point, we agreed that there continues to be a negative perception about the "tools" of engagism and participation (video games, iPods, computers, the Internet, etc.), although that is shifting. Nevertheless, society's perception of the value of video games (for example) versus what are deemed more acceptable pursuits (after school sports for example) continues to run far behind reality. Many people still reflexively bemoan the fact that when they walk into a coffee shop, no one is talking to each other -- they're all on their laptops or wired into their iPods. Their first impression is that everyone is isolated, without even understanding or considering the fact that the people on their laptops or iPods may be tuned in to people and ideas from around the world.

This led us to a discussion of the idea that there does seem to be a bias in our society toward social as opposed to individual pursuits (with a few exceptions, such as reading -- although even then people feel more virtuous when they join a book club). I take issue with that bias on two points. First, and most basically, sometimes it simply is better to spend time alone playing a video game than playing outside with your friends. For example, what if your friends are drug addicts? Or just not that scintillating? What if they want you to do stupid and dangerous things? Why assume that the interaction with others is always the best choice? Second, and perhaps more important, most people still fundamentally misunderstand the "participatory" (in Jenkins' terms) nature of many video games and similar "engagist" tools. When we enter into a world online, whether it's a video game, a social networking site or even iTunes, we aren't really by ourselves -- we are connected to and interacting with people around the globe. And that hardly sounds isolating.

Nevertheless, Jenkins did point out that the real "dark side" to engagism (or participatory culture) is the fact that not everyone can participate equally. A true and profound gap exists -- call it this generation's version of the digital divide. People participating on social networking sites and the like tend to be of a certain ilk -- and it's not a very diverse crowd. In addition, for those that are participating, there's the question of economic explotation. Jenkins raised the point that Lonelygirl15 hasn't necessarily gotten a "fair share" of the YouTube bonanza (although I would argue that her new-found fame -- including a recent cover on Wired -- might be compensation enough).

All in all, a fascinating conversation. To read more of Professor Jenkins' perspectives (far more erudite than my own musings), check out his blog at http://www.henryjenkins.org/.

Spore Is Coming

2006-11-26T10:25:00.000-08:00

The November 6th edition of the New Yorker has a fascinating story about Will Wright and the development of his new game, Spore. The article, "Game Master", offers a compelling (and a little scary) portrait of the man behind the best-selling game of all time, "Sim City" and a master mind at Electronic Arts video games. He is known as the god of God games and his upcoming masterpiece is going to be a doozy.

As the article points out "Wright and his backer Electronic Arts are betting that players want to create the environments and stories themselves -- that what players really like about games is exploring what Wright calls "possibility space." Spore, the game game that is evolving out of this philosophy, takes the player from a single celled organism to intergalactic god -- but only if you make clever choices. Your survivial, and the survival of the species you develop depends entirely on the choices you make.

Perhaps most interesting, you can play Spore in a single player vacuum OR you can enable an Internet feature that will pollinate your game with content created by other players. In other words, the Spore servers will analyze how you play the game and pull content from other game players that will offer challenges for your approach. As the article suggests "while you are playing the game, the game is playing you."

Perhaps more than just describing the new game, the real "meat" of the article is in the dicussion of the evolution of video games and particularly our understanding of them. Unfortunately, as games have moved from simple distractions (Pong, for example) to sophisticated simulations to truly creative environments, many critics have failed to adjust their views of the role games can play in educating youth and preparing them for the workforce. Some argue that games have served only to limit players' imagination and creativity because the game provides so much of the context.

It's hard to make that argument with a game like Sim City or Spore, or even, to some degree, "Grand Theft Auto," where the decisions made by the player alter the environment and the outcome of the game. In fact, it clearly takes a great deal of creativity and imagination to figure out how to build a city or a species -- or even an illegal empire -- especially when the rules are not laid out at the outset and the road to the top is unclear.

As Wright notes, the value of most modern video games is that they reward failure -- and, of course, the subsequent learning associated with failure. In the video game environment one can fail (either through the death of an avatar or some other "set back") and keep trying different solutions to learn from that failure. Eventually one solves the problem and moves one. This skill is essential to learning and real world success.

How does this relate to engagism? Well, I believe that the success of games like Sim City, the Sims and Spore can be tied, in part, to a recognition of people's growing desire to actively engage. In allowing players to make choices about how they focus their time and attention -- and demonstrating concrete payoffs from those choices -- these games reflect this fundamental societal shift. Perhaps most important, the young people that grew up on these types of engagist video games are coming into the workforce with a vastly different understanding of how to be effective. They will seek situations where they can probe for solutions, multi-task and creating their own environment -- how many workplaces offer those opportunities? How many are prepared to do so?

Internet Addiction?

2006-11-14T11:29:00.000-08:00

An article in today's Washington Post (Caught in the Web) outlines in some detail the current "hue and cry" over the idea of Internet addiction. In fact, the American Psychiatric Association is considering listing "Internet Addiction" as a actual condition -- something anyone could be diagnosed with.

Give me a break. While I completely agree that some people use the Internet inappropriately, this is like saying that anything we spend too much time doing can be a "disease." How about a "hanging out at Starbucks" addiction? Or maybe a "reading too many books" addiction?

The key problem here is that some people use the Internet excessively at the cost of other things. As Maressa Hecht Orzack at Harvard puts it, excessive Internet use should be considered in the context of losses. In other words, are important things suffering (like your relationship with your spouse, you ability to pay your bills, or even your personal hygiene) because you spend so much time in chat rooms, playing video games or surfing? The article quotes a "sufferer" as saying "I am self-employed and need the Internet for my work, but am failing to accomplish my work, to take care of my home, to give attention to my children..." Her reason was that she spent too much time surfing, shopping and updating her profile on online dating sites.

But what that really sounds like is just regular, plain old poor time management. Sometimes people become so obsessed with the things they choose to engage in that they forget the necessities. To me this is less about the tool that they use to engage (the Internet, books or hanging out at Starbucks) and more about why they can't break away from it to focus on critical aspects of their lives.

The important thing to bear in mind is that using the Internet a great deal is not INHERENTLY bad. Many critics would argue that spending time with a computer as opposed to people is always the wrong choice. In fact, spending time with people through the computer can often be a positive choice, as is using the computer to focus your attention on other things you care about, like interesting content or entertaining games. It's when you make bad choices about what should happen at a given time (i.e., you choose to spend time playing World of Warcraft instead of finishing a paper) that the real problems begin. And believe me, those kinds of bad choices have been made since the beginning of time.

New Amazon Business Model Base don Engagism

2006-11-13T08:59:00.000-08:00

I read with interest the recent article about the Web 2.0 Summit last week that mentioned Amazon.com's decision to sell online storage and computing power. According to the Washington Post, "Bezos detailed a corporate strategy that seeks to transform [Amazon] into a provider of Web-based storage, computing power and other logistical services for business." Just hree months ago, Amazon released a Web service dubbed "Elastic Compute Cloud," which puts the company's servers at the disposal of businesses looking for additional computing power.

How is this related to engagism? Well, the needs of engagist social networking sites like YouTube for storage and computing capacity often fluctuate. Some days, there might be a surge (a particularly popular video, for example), while other days there might be less of a need. Rather than being forced to purchase enought capacity to meet the high demand days (and leaving all that capacity unused on low demand days), businesses can turn to services like Amazon and others to purchase additional capacity. An "on-demand" strategy like this allows engagist sites to get up and running without having to purchase more capacity then they might be able to use early on.

This is just one burgeoning business model that engagism is leading us toward. Figuring out the others is a critical challenge for companies that want to be successful in an engagist culture.

Insights into Trends

2006-11-09T13:23:00.000-08:00

The Online Spin Blog at Mediapost.com had an interesting analysis yesterday from Cory Treffiletti outlining a few key trends he sees for 2007. They were

1) solving the copyright problems surrounding user-generated content (particularly user-generated content on sites like YouTube where creative types "snag" pieces of someone else's stuff for their own purposes). He suggests that a compensation model of some sort will be developed and that Google is going to figure it out.

2) burn to order business models for television -- rather than Tivo'ing "Nick at Night" reruns of Gilligans Island, networks will put their archives online, allowing fans to burn their own DVDs -- for a fee, of course.

3) the long tail and social networks -- rather than broad and generic networks like Myspace and Facebook, he predicts will see more segmented sites focused on specific audiences. Rather than being everything to everyone, sites will cater to people who feel passionately about a particular topic or aspect of their lives. Dogspace anyone?

4) the Internet will become increasingly personalized with more personalized start pages -- he points to the digital dashboard concepts being developed by Google, Yahoo and others. These are gaining more popularity, particulary with a segment of the population that wants what they want when they want it.

The key to all the trends, in my mind, is that they are driven by the increasingly engagist culture. As I've said ad nauseum, people expect to engage and use technology to focus their time and attention on the things that matter most to them. In the context of these trends:

Copyright restrictions aren't going to stop them from creating their own content;

The "clunkiness" of the television isn't going to stop them from watching their favorite shows;

They seek opportunities to connect with the people and issues that matter most to them, and more segmented social networks will be the key;

They want a dashboard that allows them to quickly and easy direct their attention to what THEY CHOOSE to pay attention to.

Here's my own predicition -- 2007 will be the year of the engagist. If yo udon't know what that means, you might be left behind.

What does your iPod say about you?

2006-11-07T14:12:00.000-08:00

Wow -- has it really been that long since I posted a blog entry? Yes, I guess it has. Here's the thing. I've been on the road AND I've been under the weather, a lethal combination. I'm feeling better now, but still can't really hear out of my left ear (a lingering effect of my cold). My husband says that it's really caused by over iPoding.

Anyway, the most terrible thing happened to me on a recent trip. I left my iPod on the airplane. Yep, that's what I did. And believe me, tracking down a brand new 30 gigabyte video iPod after it's gone missing for more than 30 minutes is a lot more difficult than it sounds. I hope whoever has it enjoys it.

At any rate, I've come to believe that when you lose your iPod you actually lose a little part of your soul. OK, maybe a bit over dramatic, but I'm not the only one who feels that way. Numerous iPod lovers have commented that they would "die" if they lost their iPod.

Why is that? I tend to think it's because we invest so much of our own personality into the device. The music, books and videos I've put on my iPod say volumes about who I am, and I'm not sure how I feel about a total stranger having access to my deepest, darkest secrets. How will people judge me based on the fact that I have "self-help" books on my iPod? What about the whole second season of Battlestar Galactica buried somewhere on its hard drive? Or all the mystery novels? And don't get me started on the musical selections -- my husband borrowed it and ripped some of his rather obscure brazillian music onto it. That will get some heads scratching. Fortunately, I had recently downloaded a series of lectures on quantum physics, so whoever has it must think I'm at least somewhat smart (or maybe I'm not because I don't already know about quantum physics).

It's hard to sleep at night knowing that my purloined iPod is out there portraying an incomplete and chaotic picture of me to the outside world. I wish I could have cleaned it up a little before it disappeared. You know, added in some more thoughtful content and removed some of the guilty pleasures. If I had known it would be my ambassador I would have treated it more kindly.

Never mind. My friends bought me a new one for my birthday. And believe me, I'm going to be sure that baby doesn't leave my sight. Just in case, though, I'm going to make sure it represents the Stephanie Vance I want everyone else to see. Hmmm, and maybe by listening to all those edifying books, music and lectures, I'll become the Stephanie Vance I want to become.