Autism and Second Life

Since the first wave of Second Life mania has subsided, the virtual world starts to be utilized by various groups for what it really is: A platform to communicate with other people. Above is an incredible story how Second Life helps people with autism. I'm hopeful Facebook will become less of an advertising tool and more of a people tool.

CNN Story

Facebook Fatigue

The backlash is growing: Beacon, Superpokes, etc. We have seen this before. My Space, anyone? For the first time, Facebook is facing headwind. Above video illustrates what many people are feeling when they return to Facebook: Not a lot to do, except being annoyed.

Should they have sold a few months ago or will they adjust? Time will tell.

Hat Tip to George Parker.

Do you know this guy?

His name is Momus, a Scottish artist. Why should you know him?
Because he moved us from Andy Warhol's 15 minutes of fame to famous for 15 people:

“The future will be a lot of musical shrapnel… The old unifying stars like Madonna and Michael Jackson will be seen as the last of their kind, global monoliths, relics of an age of monopoly capitalism which has been smashed to smithereens.”

Putting his own spin on Andy Warhol’s “fifteen minutes of fame” adage, Momus suggested a different dynamic. In the future, he wrote, “Everyone will be famous for fifteen people.”

This idea of microcelebrity is fairly new and Clive Thompson describes it really well in his December column:

"Adapting to microcelebrity means learning to manage our own identity and "message" almost like a self-contained public relations department. "People are using the same techniques employed on Madison Avenue to manage their personal lives," says Theresa Senft, a media studies professor and one of the first to identify the rise of microcelebrity. "Corporations are getting humanized, and humans are getting corporatized.

You could regard this as a sad development — the whole Brand Called You meme brought to its grim apotheosis. But haven't our lives always been a little bit public and stage-managed? Small-town living is a hotbed of bloglike gossip. Every time we get dressed — in power suits, nerdy casual wear, or goth-chick piercings — we're broadcasting a message about ourselves. Microcelebrity simply makes the social engineering we've always done a little more overt — and maybe a little more honest."

In general, I agree with his small town assessment. Growing up in one myself, I remember those little social signals that turned into gossip and categorizing people.

There are good reasons for people to social engineer their social media experience: The mother that doesn't want to show pictures of her neighborhood, fearing possible stalkers. The entrepreneur who's fallen on hard times and doesn't share his problems with his audience because his blog was meant to be inspiring and uplifting. The social media blog that doesn't criticize specific clients because, well, they are clients.
That's social engineering.

But there's a fine line between social engineering and self-censorship. Sure, not everybody can be as open and honest asGeorge Parker (Is there a better word in the English language than Douchenozzle?) but are we censoring ourselves too often? I do. Often for good reasons, often for not so good reasons.

I think it's mostly a maturation of the blogosphere and social media space. We're still learning. And exploring how to interact with each other. And the world.

Only the dead have seen the end of war

Andrew Olmsted, a United States Army major who blogged for The Rocky Mountain News, wrote about his own death in July 2007 and prepared for the possibility of not returning to the US and his loved ones. The 3,000-word piece took on a new meaning when he was killed January 3, 2008 by insurgents in Sadiyah.

Andrew Olmsted wrote:

"I do ask (not that I'm in a position to enforce this) that no one try to use my death to further their political purposes. I went to Iraq and did what I did for my reasons, not yours. My life isn't a chit to be used to bludgeon people to silence on either side. If you think the U.S. should stay in Iraq, don't drag me into it by claiming that somehow my death demands us staying in Iraq. If you think the U.S. ought to get out tomorrow, don't cite my name as an example of someone's life who was wasted by our mission in Iraq. I have my own opinions about what we should do about Iraq, but since I'm not around to expound on them I'd prefer others not try and use me as some kind of moral capital to support a position I probably didn't support. Further, this is tough enough on my family without their having to see my picture being used in some rally or my name being cited for some political purpose. You can fight political battles without hurting my family, and I'd prefer that you did so.

On a similar note, while you're free to think whatever you like about my life and death, if you think I wasted my life, I'll tell you you're wrong. We're all going to die of something. I died doing a job I loved. When your time comes, I hope you are as fortunate as I was."

And the heartbreaking closing words:

"This is the hardest part. While I certainly have no desire to die, at this point I no longer have any worries. That is not true of the woman who made my life something to enjoy rather than something merely to survive. She put up with all of my faults, and they are myriad, she endured separations again and again...I cannot imagine being more fortunate in love than I have been with Amanda. Now she has to go on without me, and while a cynic might observe she's better off, I know that this is a terrible burden I have placed on her, and I would give almost anything if she would not have to bear it. It seems that is not an option. I cannot imagine anything more painful than that, and if there is an afterlife, this is a pain I'll bear forever.

I wasn't the greatest husband. I could have done so much more, a realization that, as it so often does, comes too late to matter. But I cherished every day I was married to Amanda. When everything else in my life seemed dark, she was always there to light the darkness. It is difficult to imagine my life being worth living without her having been in it. I hope and pray that she goes on without me and enjoys her life as much as she deserves. I can think of no one more deserving of happiness than her.

"I will see you again, in the place where no shadows fall."
Ambassador Delenn, Babylon 5

I don't know if there is an afterlife; I tend to doubt it, to be perfectly honest. But if there is any way possible, Amanda, then I will live up to Delenn's words, somehow, some way. I love you."

It's amazing how personal and intimate this whole phenomenon of Social/Participatory Media has become. Especially marketers sometimes forget that social networking is more than just an application. We live such a commercialized life and the Web allows us to believe that only specific connections link us together. But we all have the need and desire to connect across differences. That's what makes us human.

And the one thing we need is more humanity.

RIP, Andrew Olmsted.

Please make sure to read his complete, final post.

Pale Blue Dot

Carl Sagan narrates this video, destined to make us all feel more humble and, in some ways, even more lost. The pale blue dot he is referring to is the image that the Voyager 1 took of earth as it was passing Saturn, ~4 billion miles away.

As Carl Sagan says: "No sign that there's someone out there that will come to save us from ourselves."

I might be an optimist but I believe that the advent of Social Networking in combination with Wikinomics will help to save us from ourselves. Humans tend to look for answers by attaching themselves to religions and institutions. This age is coming to an end because these institutions are not capable of providing answers. Instead, we start to rely on each other and the human spirit. Technology allows us to build the infrastructure that changes the age of institutions to the age of humans.

When thinking about extraterrestrial life, I always believed that the only thing scarier than discovering that we are not alone is realizing that we actually are.
Social Networking might help us understand that we're not as alone as we believe.

I do know how to quit you

Is this your Facebook inbox? Too many friends, too many invitations, too much crapola. Some early adopters are starting to leave Facebook because they don't see the value and ragard the site as a time-suck.

Maybe it's just the pendulum swinging the other way: People are starting to understand that you can't manage hundreds of contacts/friends, especially when you barely know these people. Facebook can have an amazing value if we can start to extend our real-life connections to the internet. Just like your first email address that turned into spam account, Facebook might become just another network that becomes less and less valuable. Just another AOL.

And, in case you're ready to quit - follow these instructions.
I'll stay on for a while. And see where it goes.

And if you invited, poked, gifted me and wait for a response: Stay tuned. There are more important things in my life I have to take care of.

Your self-image

As a kid, whenever there was a lot to carry (supermarket bags, trash, bottles to the recycling bin) I liked to carry all bags at once, instead of running back and forth, and my mother always commented: "Lazy people carry themselves to death, hard workers run themselves to death."

Decades later, whenever I come back from Whole Foods or other stores I still try to carry all bags (even 20) at once. What does this mean? What does it say about my character?

My mother thought I was lazy. (I still don't know if she was serious.) My wife thinks I'm crazy. And for me it's just the most efficient way to deal with certain tasks.
Lazy? No.
Crazy? Sure
Efficient? Oh yeah!

Obviously, image is a double-edged sword: How do you see yourself? And how are you perceived by everybody else? You might think of yourself as a deep thinker while others regard you as a superficial blow-hard. Or in your mind you're team player while others think you are just about individual achievements.

How do social networks change our image? Are you the same person on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, private message boards, etc.? Are you trying to be somebody else or just being the best you can be? Would non-virtual friends perceive you as the same person on social networks? Or would they be astonished about this 'other side' of you?

We've obviously come a long way since the first personals when everybody loved walks on the beach and a perfect evening was a glass of wine and a good book. But how close are we to our self-image and perceived image? Blogs seem to be the closest to reality. You might fool me with a few posts but scanning hundred posts will give me a good idea of the real you. Much, much harder with Facebook.
Facebook still seems to be close to the good old personals. Yes, there's much more detailed information and details about your private life/preferences but it doesn't reflect that much on your image and character. You can still be the guy in the bar flashing fancy business cards and claiming to be the master of the universe, while in reality you're a lonely soul try to connecting with the outside world.

Social Networks are in their infancy. Facebook is bit more grown-up than MySpace but the real you is not showing up at Facebook. Yet. It will take years of social networking for us to grow up on and with these networks. Currently, we build connections. In the future we will build friendships. Will it be on Facebook, niche networks, private networks? Time will tell.

Time is now

The first morning keynote at the Forrester Consumer Forum featured Josh Bernoff, VP at Forrester Research, gave brands an accessible road map to break into the Social Networking space and he reminded them that the time is now to make practical use these social technologies.
Instead of focusing on technologies, brands need to focus on objectives to be successful and get the buy-in from senior executives.

He introduced 5 key objectives:

Listening

Learning from what customers are saying by developing sounding boards for researching decisions (Communispace/Think Passenger, Market Tools)

Monitor buzz to measure ongoing trends and perceptions (Brand monitoring – Nielsen Buzz Metrics, etc.)

Talking:

Two-way conversation, not just shouting
Let fans spread message more easily (Social Networks)
Communicate continually and monitor responses (Blogs)


Helping your customers to recruit others

Energizing with ratings and reviews
Use customer opinions to boost sales - Ratings and reviews (Bazaarvoice, etc.)
Designate lead customers to energize others - Brand ambassador programs


Supporting

Enabling your customers to support each other
Enable customers to solve each others’ problems (Support Forum)
Enable customers to build solutions together (Wikis)


Embracing

Involving customers in your product development
Harvest customer ideas in a public setting - Idea community (Salesforce.com)
Cultivate dedicated idea generating community - Private community

He also recommended to calculate the ROI of Conversational Marketing. This would change the perception of SN initiatives within organizations and allows for bigger budgets

He emphasized that diving into social media initiatives will change your company:

Customer feedback in all your processes
Much faster development cycles
Frequent trial balloons
Faster, smaller failures
Internal boundaries break down

And, as a last carrot for the brand managers in the audience:
If you tap into the power of SN, you will get more powerful within your organization.

Can you see brand managers developing SN initiatives this weekend?
I do.

Trends in Consumer Usage of Social Networking Sites

comScore's Chairman and Co-founder, Gian Fulgoni, presented findings (just focused on Social Networking sites, not blogs or sites with social networking capabilities:

- 1996 two-thirds of the world's online population was in the US. Now, the US accounts for 23% of Worldwide users.
- Social Networking Sites are exploding but multimedia sites are growing faster
- In the Asia Pacific region, SN sites are growing at a rate that is almost three times the category's growth in North America:
- Latin America is the most engaged region, followed by North America
- Globally, Windows Live Spaces is the most visited SN site (only 7% Us)
- Orkut is the most engaged site(550 million hours monthly)
- Total Time Spent on SN sites from US visitors: 223 million hours, Facebook 173 million hours
- Growth of SN sites (US) in the last 12 months: Facebook 128%, MySpace 23%
- The # of exclusive MySpace users has dropped, the number of exclusive Facebook users has increased and users visiting both sites have increased as well. There's a migration from MySpace to Facebook.
- 31% of all MySpace visitors are heavy users, Facebook 38%
- The heavy users account for 85% of minutes spent on these sites: If you deliver ads on SN sites, you will get a high delivery rate of your ads to the heavy users. Marketers have to look closely at frequency caps.
- 6 times more ads are being delivered by MySpace. Per visit you'll see 2.3 times more ads on MySpace.
- Apparently, CPM's on Facebook are much higher than MySpace rates.
- Users receptive to advertising from certain verticals: Music/Movie/Entertainment 68%, Consumer Electronics 54%, Automotive 42%, OTC Medication 26%.

It's pretty clear that certain verticals should stay away from advertising on SN sites unless they stay away from advertising on the site and offer valuable experiences to potential customers.
SN sites and mobile marketing face the same issue: If you just advertise, you will fail. You have to engage in a conversation. That's the only reason why people go to the sites, isn't it?

The future of PR

Richard Edelman at the Forrester's Consumer Forum 2007:

"Move away from master of impression to master of reality."

He quoted Thomas Friedman: "Companies that get their how's wrong won't be able to clean up their mess. ...how to keep your promises, build turst, collaborate, lead."

"Media has to move away from walled garden to sole source to convene and aggregate."

"We have to move away from influence to conversation. From Pyramid of Inlfuence to Sphere of Cross-Information."

-The new role of PR:

1) Convergence around big ideas
- Moving from corporate philantrophy to 'Green is Green'.
- Partnering with Civil Societies
- Addressing social cocerns

2) Listening to new voices
- Consumer Feedback
- Convening Stakeholders
- Empowering employees (Very interesting to see surveys showing that employees of companies are very trusted by people, not the CEO - a discrepancy of more than 30%)
- Engaging local customers

3) Pubic Advocacy
- Creating credible sources of information
- Evolving role of the CEO
- Issues Management

He sees PR as the engine of interactivity: PR should be aspire to be a conversational collaborator.

Edelman had its share of mistakes and mishaps in the social networking area but his perspective was more forward-thinking and innovative than the majority of agency executives.

He ended with the quote: "Know who you are." And you can only know who you are if you listen to people and understand how they see you.

POST

Charlene Li just presented at the Forrester's Consumer Forum 2007. Titled 'Your customers are revolting', Charlene discussed how to better strategize in the social networking environment and ways to better connect with social netwroking participants.

She discussed her upcoming book Groundswell and her definition of the title:

"Groundswell – a spontaneous movement of people connecting, using online tools, taking charge of their own experience, and getting what they need – information, support, ideas, products, and bargaining power – from each other."

If you want to be successful in the era of Groundswell, she and her co-author Josh Bernoff created an actionable framework called POST:

P = profile (what are your customers doing in the groundswell?)
O = objectives (what are you trying to accomplish?)
S = strategy (how are you trying to change your relationship with customers?)
T = technology (what social technologies will you use?)

Most brands skip the first three steps and immediately focus on Technology.

Point well taken. It takes a lot of restraint not to focus on the coolness and newness of innovative communication platforms, instead focusing on the people and how they currently interact with and discuss your brand on social platforms.

To give a better framework for more relevant interactions with people, Charlene introduced the Ladder of Participation - People on social platforms display different degrees of participation:

- Creators (They have something important to share - Bloggers)
- Critics (The Tripadvisors and Amazon reviewers of the world)
- Collectors (People that organize information - The Wikipedia editors)
- Joiners (The people that join MySpace and Facebook because their friends are there)
- Spectators (They don't join the conversation - just come by and visit once in a while)
- Inactives - They might have broadband and are tech optimists but they have no interest. Yet. They can join at any moment.

Warning: This is not a segementation technique because these degrees of participation change from brand to brand, from interest to interest. You might be a critic on Amazon reviewing marketing books but a spectator on Facebook while being a creator on your own blog.

According to Charlene, by understanding how your customers utilize social platforms and embracing their needs and desires, you will turn the current customer revolt into reformation.