Play Money

{ April 21, 2009 @ 9:48 pm } · { Assignments, Observations, Readings }
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playmoneycoverMy ‘happy-little-real-world bubble has never consisted of the acronym MMORPGs, Massively Multi Online Role-Player Games, until this week when I read “Play Money” by Julian Dibbell. When I heard about gamers making money, I thought it was by developing games not playing games, but Dibbell shows us that you make money actually playing online games. 

I could see if I were introduced to gaming when I was younger or did not feel so guilty spending time I do not have in a reality world, I probably would consider playing, but honestly when I think of gaming I think of a friend I have who is unemployed, living at home, never finished college, playing online games all day. I guess I’ve never asked if he makes money, maybe he does.

The most appealing element to fantasy gaming, I assumed to be the escape from real-world responsibilities or just realities of life. But Dibell explains the politics behind the gaming industry and that contradicts my assumptions. I guess I assumed that people must really enjoy gaming if they spent so much time doing it, and I assumed that the enjoyment factor was fun. However, it seems that accomplishment is a bigger driving force. 

This I can relate to. We all strive for accomplishment, it is why most of us get up in the morning, finish High School, graduate college and work up the ranks in a job. “Play Money” really made me reassess what certain individuals may consider accomplishments. This idea has been in my head for a couple of days now and I think I realized that even though I joy in the receiving of diplomas, my true sense of accomplishment is not in moving up the ranks in a job, but rather what my job is. I am getting a dual masters degree so I am able to do what I truly want to do in life – strategic planning for non-profits. My accomplishments will be in how much I am able to help each organization achieve their goals. Additionally, I have always planned on becoming an entrepreneur, the idea of starting something from the ground up and calling it my own would give me the greatest accomplishment to date.

So gamers are looking to accomplish certain goals too, they just happen to be in a virtual world. My mother told me that I should discover what it is I like in life and figure out a way to make money doing it. That is what Dibbell did, that is what I plan to do. They might be two very different ideas of success, but we get a feeling of accomplishment and purpose doing them.

80-20: The Long Tail

{ April 14, 2009 @ 5:57 pm } · { Assignments, Readings }
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41msg8in5el_bo2204203200_pisitb-sticker-arrow-clicktopright35-76_aa240_sh20_ou01_I’ve heard of the 80-20 rule as a running joke in relationships that the woman makes 80% of all decisions, but the man will “put his foot down” for the 20% that really matter to him. I grew up watching this in my family, but never considered how else the 80-20 or Pareto Principle applies until I read “The Long Tail.”

The Long Tail is a concept created by Chris Anderson that shows how you can make money by tapping into niche markets. The easiest example is movies. Blockbusters typically produce large revenue streams with 80% of the population watching only these 20% of large blockbuster hits. The long tail accounts for the 20% watching the other 80% of movies that were not blockbusters.

This concept flourished because of the internet.  Prior to the internet, people had to read whatever books they could find in a bookstore. Now you can go to Amazon.com and find almost any book. Many of the books are not even printed until someone from a niche market requests it. This allows consumers to get what they want without a huge expenditure to a normal bookstore.

The long tail has proven profitable in a variety of industries – Music, shoes, special diets, unique travel etc. While looking at Chris Anderson’s blog I found an interesting YouTube video called “I am the Long Tail.” It is a short movie interviewing people who make their living off the long tail of consumers.

My favorite example from this clip is the guy who created AsktheBuilder.com. Brilliant! While home over Christmas break I was asking my dad about things I needed to fix in my apartment. He was explaining and I was taking notes as he piled tools in my lap to take back with me. I always tell him, “I don’t know what I would do without you!” I’ve told him that he needs to leave a memoir about household repairs. I told my dad about AsktheBuilder and I think he was a bit let down that he doesn’t get to be my hero all the time now, but I promised only to use the website in emergencies!

While reading I thought about an example used in Groundswell. The authors explained about the adult Lego industry and the types of consumers and participators online. I think this example ties in well with the concept of the long tail. The authors explained that this is a very unique niche population that accounts for a large percent of their sales. Most of us assume Legos are for children, but the average child only consumes a few packages of Legos where the adult enthusiasts will consume a lot.

Another key idea is that a lot of the creators of these websites, products, and knowledge offer it for free. Most of the long tail is made profitable to the provider because of advertising revenue. Not unlike most things online, but still crucial to note. Advertising is what turns a lot of these ideas from hobbies to professions.

Some providers do make money on the products themselves such as movies, books or very large shoes. One idea that my boyfriend and his dad joke about is a large head website that offers head attire for people with large heads. They both struggle finding hats, especially specialty hats with sports logos. I now understand how this idea could become profitable and plan on urging them to stop joking and make it happen!

Twitter Facts and Stories

{ March 31, 2009 @ 9:51 pm } · { Assignments, Observations }
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Since starting my research friends have helped point me towards some useful information. On Twitter, a classmate shared a link to a Pew Internet & American Life Study, Twitter and Status Updating. It is not terribly earth shattering finding, but necessary and very good starting point. The study found that 11% of American are using Twitter or like services that posts short updates, 19% of 19-24 year olds, 20% of 25-34 year olds, 10% of 35-44 year olds, 5% of 45-54 year olds, 4% of 55-64 year olds, and 2% of 65 years and older. 

I was slightly surprised to see the 25-34 year olds were the leaders when it comes to Twitter. Most technology stats start with higher percentages with the younger adults and tapper off from there. My best guess as to why this is the case would be that more 25-34 years are sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day. 19-24 year olds are often in undergrad, or if they skipped undergrad chances are they are doing a job that does not require them to use a computer.

On the SearchEngine.com blog, Frank Watson recently posted “Does Twitter Reflect a Change in How we Search?” Watson explains how searching on twitter is different than searching on google. Google is about site ranking where Twitter ranks who most recently mentioned the topic. Currently on Tweetdeck you can follow a search topic to see what people are saying 24/7. This is extremely crucial for businesses to understand and use. What a great way to keep in touch with your customer base. 

I watched a video the other day in response to the questions, “How will Twitter Make Money?” I thought it was entertaining. The video blogger pretty much says…”Duh, search!”

My final find for the day was a news article, “Twitch Hicker Relies on Twitters for Travel.”  One of the questions I have been researching is if Twitter can be a fundraising tool. Smith proves that it an be. He is a blogger attempting to travel around the world purely on donations from Twitter. Risky, but with 4,500 followers he has a good base. This article was posted late February 2009. A related post only a month later explains that Smith arrived in New Zealand with 5,000 euros left over to donate to charity! 

Tweeting Locally

{ March 30, 2009 @ 9:39 pm } · { Assignments, Readings, Uncategorized }
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The Obama campaign set the standard for using social media for campaigning. Obama showed how tools like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter can organize and mobilize for a cause, in this case, changing the direction of America. My professor recently wrote a white paper entitled “The Social Pulpit: Barack Obama’s Social Media Toolkit.” One set of stats he presents is how much more Obama used social media than McCain:

2X Website Traffic
4X YouTube Traffic
5X Facebook Friends
10X Online Staff

coverClearly this played a role in Obama’s victory. Obama worked the “Groundswell.” Groundswell is a phenomena that authors Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff of various online activity – be it reading materials, commenting, or submitting content – that leads to a swell of people seeing your information. Social networking sites allows users to share information quickly. This is both good and bad for your company, but if you listen to the groundswell of information you can more easily engage your customers, both listen to them and giving your side of the story. Obama created probably the largest groundswell ever seen online. 

The more people, the easier it is to create the groundswell. When you are dealing with a nationwide event, Obama was able to target the entire nation. Though he and his staffers didn’t hap-hazzardly throw information online, but instead selected sites like YouTube, post a video and share it with supporters on Facebook and MySpace. These supporters could then share it with their networks and the cycle continues. But what if Obama was running for re-election in Illinois instead of nationwide. Would he still have used the same online approach? What would have been different? How would he focus his online networks? 

This is the situation I am currently researching. Twitter is a great tool to get information out quickly to your network of ‘friends.’ But unlike Facebook, Your friends on Twitter may be loser friends, meaning people you’ve never met, but you enjoy their content so you follow them. Twitter is worldwide and it is easy to retweet information to expand across many Twitter networks. But how is Twitter being used to focus on specific geographic networks?

How can a local campaign engage it’s constituents? Can Twitter be used to raise funds locally or advertise an event? Are non-chain restaurants promoting their single location on Twitter? Can local news easily reach the masses of one area on Twitter? Is it ok for local information to cross into national information? Do followers get upset when they see too much local content?

One example of a local Twitter event is the flood happening in Fargo. Since my last post Twitter activity has increased drastically. However, a lot of the content is created by a handful of Tweeters and RT throughout their networks. It is hard to tell whether information pertaining to safe location for flood evacuees is getting to the right people or not. In my case, just in case someone in my network was following me that needed that information I retweeted it. 

twitter_logo

 

 

 

 

Another example is Adriel Hampton announcing his campaign for the 10th District in CA. I am not sure how he did this. I imagine he built up a network on Twitter of Californians who live in the 10th and posted his 140 character message. But what did the consumers of this information do? I imagine the majority have a number of followers not in the 10h. Would this prevent them from retweeting? Would it seem unnecessary? 

My biggest concern is the amount of information on Twitter. It is hard enough to have your comments stand out throughout the feed. Will posting too much local information turn off followers who follow you because of your good tweets about other issues? 

I welcome your input! Poll

Fargo Flood & Social Media

{ March 26, 2009 @ 9:34 pm } · { News, Observations, Uncategorized }
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vpr5lmsrsljcz6by5dizmdolo1_400My friends in Fargo tell me the outlook is not good. The Fargo Forum reports that this could be the worst flood the Fargo-Moorhead area has seen, originally predicting the crest of the Red River to rise to 40 feet was changed to 41 feet. Hundreds of people are sandbagging and securing dikes, helicopters are rescuing people from farms surrounded by waters, and thousands are on alert prepared to evacuate. 

But unlike the last ‘great flood’ of the midwest, this time the Fargo/Moorhead area is tapping into social media to spread the word. The first item I noticed was on Facebook. A Facebooker named Robert created a group solely for Fargo-Moorhead Flood Information. Since Fargo-Moorhead is home to 4 colleges (all which have not had class for the past week), Facebook is a great way to spread information. 

Additionally, a 23 year-old started a video diary that CNN.com picked up. Here is her post from Tuesday shows her driving around Fargo looking at the dikes:

Here post from yesterday explains how the situation has worsened and that their is a special task force arresting ‘gawkers’ who are not helping to sand bag. 

The Fargo Flood Watch is a website designed to share information quickly posting contingency plans, video footage, photo sharing and a notes section that acts as a one way Twitter feed to spread the word. 

Twitter chatter is still pretty low. A Twitter search provided mostly news sources such as the WeatherEvents post below. There are not many actually in the Fargo-Moorhead area Tweeting, probably because they are all out sandbagging. This seems to be one area of social media that fails in the time of a crisis because people are not at the computers as much.

Stationaryfront_normal
WeatherEvents: Live stream of Fargo, ND flood http://newsweathery.tumblr.com
6 minutes ago from Tumblr · Reply · View Tweet

The mainstream media is also utilizing social media to report on the flood. Kare 11 out of Minneapolis, MN has footage that can be ranked and commented on. This video shows individuals getting airlifted to safety. 

I imagine we will see an increase in activity post-crisis of people reliving the events once they can safely return to their computers.

Please keep these people in your prayers!

A Different Blogosphere: Waiter Rant

{ March 23, 2009 @ 5:16 pm } · { Observations, Uncategorized }
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While on Facebook I discovered a group called “You know you’re a server when...”. Having served to make my way through undergrad I clicked on it and found a lot of what the author Shauna Crowe said to be true. Ask any server to tell you a story and the list I am sure you will hear one based on a topic on Shauna’s list. When I scrolled to the bottom of the page to look at the comments. This very first one was:

Janet Aronica (St. John Fisher) wrote
at 12:06pm
read my bitchy waitress blog http://www.fisherjanet.wordpress.com. hope it will resonate with some of you. ♥ you all!

I instantly thought of Naked Converstaions by Robet Scoble and Shel Isreal. Scoble and Isreal emphasize that blogging is a great way for businesses to communicate with their audience. The authors focus on blogging for business, and include instances where bloggers blog about personal life with a little professional mixed in such as Ernie the Attorney’s blog. However, they do not discuss how the blogosphere includes a wide array of blog topics beyond companies. Such as, hobby blogs including cuisine, arts, book, and music blogs. But can blogging about all your horrible experiences as a waitress be a hobby? I would categorize these more as “entertainment” blogs; not in the Hollywood sense, but rather the entertaining to read sense. Maybe there is a more official category for these types of blogs, but I would categorize Angry Server Blogs including Gratuity: It’s my Blog and I’ll Bitch if I want to and Waiter Rant: Do you want Pomme Frites with that? to be very entertaining to read especially as a past server.  

But what real purpose do these types of blogs serve? Many people who are deeply passionate about Social Media might say that entertainment blogs are a waste because it is an opportunity lost because these blogs really do not encourage interaction and therefore is more of an online diary. I believe that both of the server blogs are somewhat educational because at some point discuss gratuity and some helpful tips. If anything I think they present an overall message to the blogosphere that serving is a lot harder than it looks. A major negative about these types of blogs is the reproductions a restaurant may have is a blog reader connects which restaurant the blogger works for. In this case, should restaurants be worried about their servers complaining about their tough lives? Could these blogs be doing more?

 

 

 

Live Tweeting

{ March 20, 2009 @ 1:50 am } · { Observations }
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My first experience with live tweeting was following the Grammys on Twitter, but I was watching the feed while watching it live. It was interesting to see what the tweeter tweeted about in comparison to what was happening live on television. Even though the information was obviously delayed, the tweeter posted links to relevant material showing online chatter about upcoming awards and the reaction to award receivers. 

Tonight is my first experience with only live tweeting and I have to say I am a bit disappointed. I am following a search feed on my Tweet Deck for Gopher hockey. The Gophers (University of Minnesota-Twin Cities) play the Bulldogs (University of Minnesota-Duluth) in the WCHA opener and I am unable to watch it live because the east coast networks do not really care about the Western Hockey Conference, unfortunately. I am thankful that there are a handful of people tweeting the game, but so far only when UMD has scored and at the end of the first half.

I realize that the Grammys is a nationwide event about music which means a much larger audience that gets to view and who cares. The gopher hockey game is a very localized event, with a niche of hockey fans, but I was hoping there would be one really passionate gopher tweeter! The largest population of viewers is probably at the game, and I am pretty sure there has to be one person there with an iPhone sober enough to type on a keypad. 

I would like to thank @CaptainsChair for at least the bare minimum.

Twitter vs. Facebook

{ March 16, 2009 @ 2:14 pm } · { Observations }
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Over the weekend Facebook changed its homepage look more like Twitter. Why does Facebook want to compete with Twitter? Personally, they are two very different social networking sites.

On Facebook I follow my friends and acquaintances, I enjoy looking at the pictures most, and acquaintances current info second. I maybe once a week change my status. A status explains what I am doing right now, but Facebook changed it to ask “What’s on your mind?’ A good move by Facebook to try to break the mold of the old status bar, but unfortunately sounds  bit creepy. 

I view Twitter as a place to get news. I follow people that discuss topics of interest, the majority I do not know personally. Twitter allows you to pass on information to your network and if someone takes the time to re-tweet a comment then I know it is probably worth looking at. 

As social networking sites the two differ in three ways. 

1. Twitter search 
Twitter search allows Tweeters to find people who are tweeting about a specific topic. This function allows Tweeters to discover new people to follow and to see the prevalence of the topic in the Tweetosphere. Facebook includes a search function, but it does not yet search the status of everyone. If I search for Obama, Facebook brings up groups, people, and events relating to Obama, but does not show who mentioned Obama.

2. Image vs. Information
Whenever I log into Facebook and see the statuses of people whom I haven’t spoken to since high school, it always makes me curious of the motivation for setting their status. From the friends I have spoken to about it, people set their status to portray an image. Maybe they are trying show friends that they are “sooooo busy!” or that they “had the best day ever!” promoting people to ask why, causing the rest of to get caught up in a conversation we  probably didn’t want to “hear.” I do follow people on Twitter who just say what they are doing right now, but most do not prompt for a reply. However, the majority tweet about information. Twitter passes information through networks of people.

3. Communication
I touched on this a bit in the previous. Facebook is a conversation you might hear at a party; some intellectual thoughts mixed in with mostly catching up and surface chatter. Twitter is a conversation you might have at a coffee shop with someone well connected to the world; someone who reads multiple sources of news that can keep you abreast on the last current events plus a little surface chatter.

I think Facebook has a ways to go before competing directly with Twitter. People are on twitter for reasons different than those on Facebook. I think both should recognize the differences and build on their strengths.

“Google It”

{ March 11, 2009 @ 2:16 am } · { Assignments, Readings, Uncategorized }
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4173gncnv3l_sl160_pisitb-sticker-arrow-dptopright12-18_sh30_ou01_aa115_When I first picked up “The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture,” by John Battelle I thought of the common phrase “Google It” which translates into “search for it.” That fact that my friends don’t say the latter shows that Google has created a sense of trust, why search when you can Google?

In previous posts I discuss the concept of trust. Before getting thrown into the deep end of the Web 2.0 I rarely thought about trust as it relates to the Web, but ultimately trust is the driving force behind social media, blogs, and search. I use Google to search for an item because I trust Google to deliver the best, most trustworthy results.

I remember first searching with Excite and Lycos. I used to search in both because they each delivered different results. I found patterns helping to know which to use depending on the type of search I was doing. I don’t remember the first time I Googled something, I am guessing I was in late high school, probably on a computer in the lab and typed something into the search space already on the toolbar. Throughout college I used search more and more and built a sense of trust in Google without even realizing. logo

Thus, when I needed a non-university email I chose Gmail, directions to a job interview: Google Maps, a calendar at my first job: Google Calendar, and pictures to use for the newsletter I designed at my first job: Google Images. Google became an integral part of my life without me even knowing it. What would I do without Google? In “The Search,” Battelle delves into the basics of how search works, the first search engines, the first search companies, the history of Google, how search makes money, and the future of search. I would like expand on a topic Battelle seemed to stumble upon – culture.

Sergey Brin and Larry Page are the culture of Google. Battelle makes it pretty clear throughout “The Search” that he finds Brin and Page arrogant making Google seem like an arrogant company. I think Battelle respects their accomplishments, but he takes many opportunities to criticize Google as a company. I personally found this a weakness of the book. I wanted to know why search is such a breakthrough idea, how it has changed the way we use the web, and how search will evolve. I did not need chapters of explaining Google as a company.

“Google doesn’t blog,” said Shel Israel and Robert Scoble in “Naked Conversations.” To blog, a company needs to have an open environment and Google does not. Google did finally start blogging in 2005, but their blog even today does not fully represent all a blog can be. Most days they post one article that inspires very little discussion, but acts more like a newsletter….Just letting you know that… Google does not interact with its customers, which to some including Battelle shows its arrogance. Battelle notes users posting on message boards and Google responding vaguely when instead they could have joined the conversation. Isreal and Scoble highly recommend an open culture if a business is to be successful online. It has been four years since Battelle wrote “The Search” and it does not appear Google has suffered. Will they? Or has Google become such an important Internet tool that they do not need to join the conversation? Just look at these numbers:

As of 2004, Google has the highest brand loyalty for a search company. As of 2009 Google still holds the title surprisingly AOL is second, followed by MSN, Netscape, ASK, then Yahoo. However, when looking at the current market share Google has 82%, Yahoo has 10%, MSN has 3%, and AOL and Microsoft Live Search around 2%, with ASK just under 1%. In four years Google jumped 31 percentage points. The amazing part is with no advertising on their part. Coke and Pepsi will spend millions just to switch 1% of the market. These numbers show Google has had remarkable success in its short existent. appstore_hero20081217

“The Search” is quickly becoming out of date. Four years is a long time in the technology field. The semantic Web Battelle spoke of, is now known as tagging on Facebook, Twitter and bookmarking on Delicious. Find your luggage not through chips, but barcodes and use your iPhone to compare wine prices while at Whole Foods. I look forward to an updated version of “The Search” to analyze where Google is today, what other technologies are to come, and if they need to join the online conversation.

#socialpulpit

Naked Conversations – Conversational Marketing

{ February 23, 2009 @ 7:46 pm } · { Assignments }
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In “Naked Conversations,” Robert Scoble and Shel Israel explain how blogs facilitate a new style for businesses to communicate with their customers. Scoble and Israel praise companies that embrace a blogging culture because blogs are interactive. A blogging culture needs to be open and honest. In a previous post I explained the importance of analyzing a company’s culture before making the decision to blog. Part two of “Naked Conversations” discusses dos and don’ts of blogging, crisis and the future of the digital age. A couple key ideas I’d like to highlight – authenticity, collaboration and efficiency.

Scoble and Israel explain that authenticity is a core value of blogging resulting in credibility as a huge benefit. In the past organizations tried to only reveal information they felt was pertinent to their customers. This concept made blogs seem absolutely absurd. Why would any company want to share everything with its customers? Because it builds trust resulting in a consumer viewing a company as credible.

Looking back a couple weeks ago Dan Gillmor, author of “We the Media,” described the rise of citizen journalism, where anybody can help shape the news. Scoble and Israel extrapolate on that idea, but on the business side – any customer can help shape a product or a company’s image. Authors of both books touch on the idea of “come as you are conversations.” You don’t have to be an expert, but you can still share your thoughts. Both business bloggers and customers leaving comments should be authentic to allow for both to build a sense of trust. Which leads into collaboration.

Blogs help businesses both inside and outside to collaborate. Inside, employees can more easily share ideas and build on them. Outside, customers can give feedback helping the company provide better service/products. Some examples of online collaboration include change.org’s “ideas” campaign on their blog. Anyone could submit and idea advising Obama to help fix social issue policy. But the campaign didn’t stop there. Then, blog visitors were asked to vote on which ideas they liked best. Change.org acted as a collaboration tool to change policy in the United States.

A second, more recent example was Marshall Kirkpatrick’s post, “What Should Obama’s CTO do with Public Data?” When in the last five years would anyone have guessed the public could have a say in any governmental decisions?

Most companies cannot predict a crisis, but most have strategies to deal with them. Scoble and Israel believe that blogs are an efficient way to communicate to the public in a time of crisis. Word travels fast online and in the blogosphere making it crucial for companies to participate in the conversation immediately. Facebook’s change in privacy settings is a good example. Bloggers, media, and tweets were all swamped with outrage at Facebook’s decision. Less than 24 hours after the first article, Facebook changed the policy back! Plus asked for user’s input on writing a new Terms of Service Agreement.

There is still chatter about the aftermath of Facebook’s mistake, Web Strategy by Jermiah posted “Did you Delete your Facebook?” which sparked a conversation of people who did delete their page and why and those that decided to keep them.

All business look to provide customer support through a credible image that is efficient and cheap. Businesses want to show their passion for their products/services. Therefore, Scoble and Israel say blog!  #socialpulpit

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