(* Source: Mike Johansson *)

Posted by brian tiong at 09:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: Paul Isakson *)

Resonance from Continuum on Vimeo.

"As important as understanding what to do next is having the confidence in being right to make it real."

As I was catching up on Design Sojourn the other day, I came across this great video on Continuum's approach to and beliefs about design strategy. It's a very worth-while watch - providing a lot of good things to think about.

When you step back, it's really about putting people at the center of the approach, rather than profit or your own desires as a company. Not only is this relevant to design, but it is also paramount to creating great advertising.

One of the things that could easily get lost in this, but I think is important to call out, is our role as creative thinkers and strategists - to find ways to surprise and delight people. When you think about what makes a great product or a great ad great, it's often that there is something, or multiple things, about it that surprise and delight people.

That's why having a smart insight is one thing, but bringing an idea to life that addresses it in an interesting and relevant way is much harder, often takes more time, and really is something that not everyone can do.

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 (* Source: Brian Solis *)

Mark Zuckerberg

Brian says...

Not to be outdone by the news of Twitter's astronomical growth, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg announced that the popular social network has hit a noteworthy milestone, the welcoming of their 200 millionth user.

To celebrate the moment, Zuckerberg commented, "When we built Facebook in 2004, our goal was to create a richer, faster way for people to share information about what was happening around them. We thought that giving people better tools to communicate would help them better understand the world, which would then give them even greater power to change the world."

Indeed, Facebook and other social mediums are empowering those who possess the ability to emerge and shepherd as true leaders at any level. Social Networks represent the larger impact beyond mere communication efficiency, they serve as a catalyst for organized connectivity, inspiration, and action, ultimately shifting our culture for how we consume and share information and potentially engender positive change.

To celebrate "change," Facebook is also creating a space in the network where people can share their stories about how Facebook has helped them make an give back. Facebook is also collaborating with 16 charitable and advocacy groups to create gifts that are available now in the gift shop.

General Statistics:

It took 20,000 years for the world population to reach 200 million people

It would take 46.5 years for 200 million babies to be born in the U.S.

200 million would be the world's 5th most populous country, bigger than Brazil, Japan, and Russia

Facebook Statistics:

General Growth
* More than 200 million active users
* More than 100 million users log on to Facebook at least once each day
* More than two-thirds of Facebook users are outside of college
* The fastest growing demographic is those 35 years old and older

User Engagement
* Average user has 120 friends on the site
* More than 3.5 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide)
* More than 20 million users update their statuses at least once each day
* More than 4 million users become fans of Pages each day

Applications
* More than 850 million photos uploaded to the site each month
* More than 8 million videos uploaded each month
* More than 1 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) shared each week
* More than 2.5 million events created each month
* More than 25 million active user groups exist on the site

International Growth
* More than 40 translations available on the site, with more than 50 in development
* About 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States

Platform
* More than 660,000 developers and entrepreneurs from more than 180 countries
* Every month, more than 70% of Facebook users engage with Platform applications
* More than 52,000 applications currently available in the Facebook Application Directory
* More than 5,000 applications have 10,000 or more monthly active users
* More than 8,000 websites have implemented Facebook Connect since its general availability in December 2008

Mobile
* More than 660,000 developers and entrepreneurs from more than 180 countries
* Every month, more than 70% of Facebook users engage with Platform applications
* More than 52,000 applications currently available in the Facebook Application Directory
* More than 5,000 applications have 10,000 or more monthly active users
* More than 8,000 websites have implemented Facebook Connect since its general availability in December 2008

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(* Source: History repeats Digitally *)

David says...

This year will bring some rather exciting changes to the digital media landscape. In truth, all years have something new as the boundaries of technologies are being pushed, and as the result of the changing-behavior among users who are continue to embrace new services and what they have to offer. 2009 however, will be different in that consumption and the Internet usage is shifting as the result of the economic situation (at least here in North America).

This presentation hopes to shed light on some of what has happened in 2008, and what we can expect more of over the next 11 1/2 months.

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(* Source: Valeria Maltoni *)

Valeria says...

I have long believed that dialogue is the art of thinking together - talk changes our lives, it allows us to learn by listening. Customers and communities are changing the nature of marketing and communications through talk, but also through actions. If you're like me, you think that social media = tools and marketing = business.

Since we are in our own right working on changing not just the tactics for the channels but the nature itself of marketing (as currently done), I asked twelve great marketers from my network to share their thoughts on what we'll be working on in 2009.

More than predictions, which is hard to do, we focused on direction. This eBook is the result of our collective energy and execution experience. For a bite-size preview, here's what they say:

• "Basic metrics you can initially use to match up before, during and after sales deltas are frequency, reach, and yield" - Olivier Blanchard, The Brand Builder, @thebrandbuilder

• "There are three imperatives for execution programs in 2009 - start with measurement, create content for the open Web and for mobility" - Matt Dickman, Techno||Marketer, @MattDickman

• "The foundation and core of what social media is, consists of the five C's. Conversation, community, commenting, collaboration and contribution" - Mike Fruchter, My Thoughts on Social Media, @Fruchter
  

• "With social media as a platform for participation, people can behave the way they were hardwired to behave in the first place - humanly, tribally" - Francois Gossieaux, Emergence Marketing, @fgossieaux

• "Social media enhances marketing efforts as an additional indirect communication channel" - Beth Harte, The Harte of Marketing, @BethHarte

• "Companies with greater social intelligence have stronger bonds with employees and customers, and that translates into revenue" - Lois Kelly, Beeline Labs, @LoisKelly

• "Change ensures our own livelihoods - new opportunities and trends to capitalize upon, unique products and profit centers that merit development, robust innovation to leverage"- Christina Kerley, CK Epiphany, @ckepiphany

• "Social media interaction allows us to have… well, interaction with our customers. It lets us see them as people instead of statistics and it lets us hear their voices" - Jennifer Laycock, Search Engine Guide, @JenniferLaycock

• "Goals absolutely must be built on business objectives" - Amber Naslund, Altitude Branding, @AmberCadabra

• "A proper social media education is more than just learning new tools. The most important lesson we can impart is the necessity to think 'humans'"- Connie Reece, Every Dot Connects, @ConnieReece

• "Social media isn't causing problems, but it is revealing them. And the problems aren't new; they've been around for a while" - Mike Wagner, Own Your Brand!, @bigwags

• "The secret of success in social media is a product or a service that people actually like and use" - Alan Wolk, The Toad Stool, @awolk

I pulled together their ideas in this PDF - Marketing in 2009. We'd love to hear your reactions and examples.

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(* Source: Slideshare *)

Social media has matured beyond early adopters to earn a place in mainstream marketing. Cymfony sponsored this Aberdeen Group study to learn how “best in class” companies are using social media monitoring and analysis to improve their business results.

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(* Source: Jeff Zabin *)

Jeff says...

By now, most companies recognize that blogs, discussion forums and other Web 2.0 social media can provide a highly effective platform for any consumer who wishes to share their recommendations, experiences or opinions about any given brand. Their voices can wield an enormous amount of influence in shaping other consumers' opinions -- and, ultimately, their purchase decisions.

Pay Attention to Web 2.0

Lately, I've been thinking about the concept of trust in the context of consumer marketing and the fact that control over a brand's marketing messages -- and indeed it's very image -- is continuing to shift from traditional media to online communities. Of course, what underlies this shift is the fact that consumers place far more trust on the opinions of other consumers than they do on a company's traditional marketing messages.

By now, most companies recognize that blogs, discussion forums and other Web 2.0 social media can provide a highly effective platform for any consumer who wishes to share their recommendations, experiences or opinions about any given brand. Their voices can wield an enormous amount of influence in shaping other consumers' opinions -- and, ultimately, their purchase decisions.

While it may be true that companies can't control consumer dialog, they can certainly pay close attention to it. Moreover, if appropriate, they can modify their own messages and/or strategies accordingly. 

Monitoring Brand Loyalty

With the advent of a new breed of solutions designed to monitor, analyze and measure the impact of consumer-generated media, companies are becoming increasing adept at keeping a proverbial ear to the ground -- but how adept? That's what I intend to find out through my current market research efforts.

In particular, my upcoming benchmark report will seek to understand the extent to which brand monitoring tools are already being deployed and what percentage of companies plan to adopt the tools over the next 12 months.

It will also seek to identify what metrics are being used to measure success as well as what lies ahead as companies strive to keep even closer tabs on consumer perception as part of their product marketing, brand intelligence and consumer insight activities.

In the context of product recommendations, trust is indeed the common glue. Consumers trust the opinions of other consumers, plain and simple, and what marketers have to say about their own brands is becoming increasingly less important than the chatter of consumers participating in online social media. However, that's not to say marketers can't use brand monitoring solutions to listen in on the conversations.

More here

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(* Source: Fred Guillet *)

A new subset of affluent women dubbed “Marketing Multipliers” spends twice as much as other affluent women on consumer electronics and fashion, and uses dramatically more online and offline word-of-mouth to drive increased purchases, according to a study from The New York Times.

Based on qualitative interviews and a survey of more than 3,000 women with household incomes of at least $100K, the research identifies a combination of extensive social networks, past recommending behavior and personality traits that differentiate influential Marketing Multipliers from other affluent women.

The findings show that while Marketing Multipliers have the same demographic characteristics of other affluent women, they differ in a number of important ways:

• Marketing Multipliers have different media behavior, especially online, and are active contributors to the virtual world, not just passive readers. They are twice as likely to post to blogs or to publish their own Web pages, compared to other women.

• Marketing Multipliers are discriminating in vetting their online sources: 71% of Marketing Multipliers say it is important for an ad to be “on a Web site that I consider trustworthy.”
• Helping other people, learning new things and knowing people from different walks of life are much more important to Marketing Multipliers than to other affluent women.

• Marketing Multipliers are more than three times more likely to say being an authority – on what is in and what is out – is important to them.

• Marketing Multipliers are more likely to seek out in-depth information on products. In the investment category, for example, 45% follow up on new investment products they see advertised, and 53% of Marketing Multipliers in the Automotive category “follow information related to new safety features.”

The research also examined how Marketing Multiplier behavior related to five major industries: finance, fashion, consumer electronics, automotive and travel. It found:

• Marketing Multipliers in the consumer electronics category have almost five times as many conversations about these products than other affluent women; they spend more than twice as much; and more than half (52%) say they accompany family members on shopping trips to advise them on consumer electronics and other tech items.

• Marketing Multipliers in the fashion category spend more than twice as much as other affluent women on clothes and accessories. They serve as walking, talking ads for their favorite brands: 76% are asked by others where they bought the clothes they are wearing (compared to only 24% of other affluent women).

• In the travel category, Marketing Multipliers take twice as many trips, and talk more than four times as often about travel brands - including hotels, airlines and car rentals - than other affluent women.

“In a time of tight marketing budgets and an increased focus on return, this study provides advertisers a much better understanding of consumers who are powerful catalysts for purchase behavior and brand influence,” said Denise Warren, SVP and chief advertising officer, The New York Times Media Group. “The Marketing Multipliers research will help advertisers effectively reach and communicate with this key group of customers.”

About the survey: The research was conducted in conjunction with TSC (The Segmentation Company), a division of Yankelovich, which surveyed more than 3,000 affluent women across the country via an online survey. In addition, the research company Just Ask a Woman conducted a series of in-depth, ethnographic interviews in New York and Los Angeles regarding the five topic areas.

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(* Source: Tony Hung *)

Tony says...

At the most recent BlogExpo Twitter was a huge topic, and with good reason. Although it started more than a year ago with fairly geeky roots, it continues to grow at a breakneck pace. Has it crossed over to the mainstream, yet? I think we're on the cusp. I certainly think that when anchors on CNN start using Twitter to monitor conversations on live television -- it's probably time.

Like a few others, I happen to be quite bullish on the topic of Twitter, not just as a singular web application, but as a medium, and microblogging service. As Mike Arrington of TechCrunch believes, services like Twitter are becoming more and more like a utility, much like the telephone service.

But what about its application in branding? Specifically, its role in brand management?

1. Understanding twitter (AKA microblogging) in the ecosystem of conversation

Whether you Twitter, Plurk, Pownce, or Friendfeed (or all of them), the role of such services for the purposes of brand management is primarily to listen. When Twitter launched, there was some angst about how crushingly banal some of the conversations were. However, like blogging, Twitter had some maturing to do -- and we're maturing still. People still Twitter about what they ate for breakfast, what bus stop they're at and where they plan to have dinner, but its also used for communications of other sorts.

Questions about particular services. Opinions about particular brands. Blog alerts on postings. By average folks. By opinion leaders.

The wonderful thing is that, for the most part, these conversations are public, searchable, and trackable. With this emerging ecosystem of live conversation and thought, anyone with any particular interest can follow ideas, topics, names and places as they happen.

The role of Twitter in brand management first is to listen. Find people who are talking about products, services, and experiences with your brand. Then find their friends. Then find who is driving those conversations and who those opinion leaders are.

The best way to do this is probably starting with Twitter's own search function which was acquired via Summize a few months ago. Search for names of products, services, brand names, competitors and people. Then select the feed icon for that search and follow it actively throughout the day in your favorite feed reeder. Done.

2. Engaging in microconversations

Once you've found your conversations of interest, take a deep breath. Because these are live, unfilitered and unmetered opinion, some of it may also contain a lot of raw emotion. After all, when you only have 140 characters to express yourself, it doesn't lend itself to appropriate self-censoring all the time.

Then, reach out.

I presume you already know about your brand, what it stands for, and what your brand "ideal" experience ought to be. You're probably intimately familiar with tag lines, logos, and all of the literal and visual elements of the brand. Now, with all that in mind, it's time to try and sculpt the experiences of others ... but not in a cynical or sinister way.

I firmly believe that there is a lot of banal conversation on Twitter, but there is a lot of important stuff as well. People talk and reach out when emotions are at their peak, whether it be happy, sad, or frustrated. For many folks, they Twitter during these times not only let themselves be known, but to share in the emotion, to get a response, and for some, a hope for answers as well.

The great thing about reaching out on Twitter, much like the blogosphere in some ways through comments, is that the expectation is close to nil that brand representatives of any fashion are present. Furthermore, the expectation that anyone will actually listen, or even do anything supportive or rectifying is also, for many, close to nil.

If you're able to answer questions, respond to opinion, and engage in a real human way (such as the admission that you don't know the answer), you'll shock and pleasantly surprise most Twitterers.

If they've got issues, and you've been empowered to use Twitter in this way, take ownership of the problem. Point them in the direction of someone who can solve it, or work with it until you can.

Because the bar on Twitter is so low, the mere act of appearing on Twitter can be a powerful first step that gets people noticing. Listening is better. Fixing and solving is, of course, best, and can generate word of mouth traffic and notice that is difficult to put a number sign to.

3. Dealing with "thought leaders"

Of course you should try and engage each Twitterer you meet equally. It's critical to keep in mind, that someone who has 5 followers should, in all seriousness, be treated with an equal amount of respect. Every conversation is searchable, and for folks who looking for particular problems, they'll find the exchange just as easily as you could.

However, like in any democracy, there are some Twitters who are, in some ways, more equal than others. And the relative "importance" of these individuals is sometimes, but not always, easy to recognize in the number of followers they have. I say "not-always" because sometimes a person's relative worth or importance may not always be measured by such metrics. They might be well known off line, or be followed by a few popular Twitterers, for example.

For Twitterers who have followers in the hundreds or thousands, engagements *will* be noticed by their followers, and so be prepared to engage in a way that's relative to the audience. However, if you've gotten this far in the article, congratulations, because you've probably identified this as a great opportunity.

It's hard to get any opinion leader to talk about your product, service, or brand (ask any start up about TechCrunch, for example). True, it's never ideal when it's mentioned in a less than flattering light, however, Twitter provides a great way of turning this into a fantastic opportunity. Unlike blogs, where the author may or may not respond, and the author may or may not append their original blog post, on Twitter, especially if you respond in real time, you can literally change people's opinion on the spot.

A great example was with Mike Arrington himself, when he was bitterly complaining about the service he was getting with Comcast. Turns out Comcast was listening, and worked on things in an expeditious fashion. Problem was solved, and Arrington went on to blog about it.

It would be tough to measure how much that good publicity would have cost.

At the end of the day, every conversation about your name, service, products, or brand, should be treated as an opportunity to engage people -- in real time -- with their experiences, and no matter how good it is, try and make it better, in the way that the ideal brand experience ought to be.

Using Twitter this way is not for the lazy, uninterested, or the disempowered. It necessitates a melding of great customer service and the knowledge of what the brand is, how it ought to be, and the integrity to realize that there are always going to be shortcomings. As trite as it sounds, when you engage people in Twitter, you are live and you are searchable. And in many cases, you may not get a second chance if you flub the first.

But in a time when expectations are so low, it represents, in many cases, not just an opportunity, but an easy opportunity to engage in a way that's human, real, and in a way that proves that your brand is listening and willing to help.

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(* Source: Calley Nye *)

Calley says... 

Google has partnered with Radiohead to promote the band’s music video for the song “House of Cards” from the album In Rainbows.

It’s definitely not your average video considering that there were no cameras or lights used: it’s all data. The video uses real time 3D recording, utilizing structured light and laser-enhanced scanners. Google is hosting the interactive video application at code.google.com and providing an iGoogle gadget for the video and application.

RADIOHEAD_HOUSE OF CARDS
	Gadgets powered by Google

The video was created by music video director James Frost, and the technology was handled by Aaron Koblin, who has done several other visualizations including the well-known flight pattern visualization.

To capture the 3D images, they used a structured light scanner from Geometric Informatics for the close proximity shots of the singers and a Velodyne LIDAR scanner for the landscapes. The LIDAR scanner uses 64 lasers to scan an environment and create an XYZ point cloud of data, which is then rendered and read by 3D software.

Radiohead got a lot of attention when it released its album In Rainbows for free online. This led to a lot of speculation about the future of the music industry and the way people will purchase music.

Since Radiohead identifies itself with the open-source ethos, it’s releasing the video’s data so that developers can remix it and make their own variations of the music video. You can download the viewers and data from the Google Code project page.

That page also has an in-browser data viewer for viewing and interacting with the video. The player is Flash-based, so you can zoom with the mouse wheel, or click-and-drag to move it around. The page also has links to the YouTube video, the YouTube group (for user-remixed videos) and the behind-the-scenes video.

This project may have interested Google because the LIDAR technology used in the landscape and large environment shots is similar to the system Google uses for their Google Maps Street View project. It’s just a very different application of the same technology.

Also see Aniboom’s contest where cartoonists are encouraged to create music videos for Radiohead songs.

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(* Source: Mike Jones *) 

Mike says...

People online are seeking new ways to connect and be social. To meet that growing need, a new wave of social media sites have germinated explicitly to provide tools and platforms that facilitate sharing in all its facets and forms. The recent popularity of online social networks gives testimony to our most primitive desire to belong, as we congregate around the things we are most passionate about.

Savvy marketers are beginning to see this evolution of Internet users, from passive consumers into brand influencers and ambassadors who are not to be underestimated.

Many brands are wary of exposing themselves on social media sites, but as anyone who's been involved in social media for more than five minutes knows, they're too late. Their brands are already exposed, and the community is talking about them, whether they choose to get involved or not. Rather than trying to avoid the conversation, brand marketers need to create a strategy to engage online influencers and social media users who have the power to make or break their brand.

Here are seven social marketing tactics to help your brand "get social" and join the conversation:

1. Boost the Fun Factor – Find out what social sites your customers and influencers frequent, and help them accomplish something new there. This does not mean inserting your brand as a social media billboard. It may mean offering an application that entertains or informs, or starting and growing a community based around your customers' areas of interest. Caveat: Start it, facilitate it, but don't try to control it.

2. See the Forest and the Trees – Pay attention to the smaller, niche social network sites, where people are gathering around their areas of interest and hobbies. Brand opportunities around these newer micro-social sites will increase as they begin competing and winning attention from the large, noisy social sites.

3. Widgets are Welcome – Incorporate a widget into your next online marketing program. Widgets are portable applets that appear on blogs, Web sites, and social networking sites. These self-contained applications allow page owners to personalize their sites quickly and easily. At the same time, widgets allow you to engage your audience with compelling content while also strategically and subtly branding your company or product.

4. Conversation is King – If you develop an application for use in social networks, or if you build a custom network, enable seamless conversations using the tools that users are familiar with. Promoting text conversation among participants is one thing, but also facilitating conversations using video and audio can help boost interactivity and brand resonance. Also give them a way to connect back to you by subscribing to a custom feed and giving them direct access to someone internally.

5. Engage – Find something that appeals to customers at an experiential level. Once upon a time, you built it and they came. Nowadays, they won't show up unless you effectively engage them. Show your customers that you thought about them at a human level and not as simply "users." This will impact every approach you take and will force the personalization for target demographics regardless of the tools you use to reach them.

6. Research and Listen – What is appealing to the people you want to reach? The only way to learn about their preferences and what they will or won't embrace is to monitor their activity, as well as the culture of the community you wish to reach and create. By observing, you'll uncover not only the ideas to build or deploy relevant tools, services or campaigns, but also the methods and strategies for creating genuine excitement and participation.

7. Don't Go It Alone – Making the wrong move in the social media space can do more damage than not participating at all. Look to technology, marketing, and strategic business partners to create an effective and appropriate presence on the social web.

Remember that your brand influencers are online to connect with people who care about the things they care about. They are there to make meaning, not to be broadcast to. They are there to participate and create, not to be advertised to. The more your brand can assist people in connecting with others online to create or share something new, the more favorably you will be received in these new and influential social circles.

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(* Source : Wired *)

Jenna Wortham says :

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(* Source : Walstreet Journal *)

A feel-good film about a girl from the Chinese countryside who moves to the big city to discover love, blogging and Starbucks will premier this month in an unusual venue: Shanghai's subway.

"A Sunny Day," is scheduled to play exclusively on thousands of high-tech flat screen monitors on Shanghai's subway cars and station platforms.

Girl meets boy and Starbucks in 'A Sunny Day,' to be shown in installments

Tailored for an audience of 2.2 million who cram onto China's biggest underground railway each day, the full-length feature film will be shown in daily segments of a few minutes each over 40 weekdays, soap-opera style. Subtitles in Chinese will help commuters follow the dialogue over the subway noise, and multiple daily rebroadcasts and tie-ins on the Internet are designed to ensure no one misses any of the cliffhangers.

Instead of an ordinary film, the so-called "subopera" is a blend of drama and advertising. A venture between Starbucks Coffee Co. and PepsiCo Inc. financed and helped produce the drama as part of a campaign that kicks off today in Shanghai to introduce bottled frappuccino drinks to the Chinese market.

"It's quite unique and demonstrates a departure from conventional marketing," says Howard Schultz, Starbucks chairman. The coffee company hasn't traditionally advertised, Mr. Schultz says, adding that a soap opera can be effective since it creates "real entertainment for our customers and along the way there is a complementary message." PepsiCo, which will bottle and distribute the Starbucks-branded drinks, referred questions to Starbucks

The film has a clear commercial bent. In some shots, the mermaid from the Starbucks logo gets as much face-time as the movie's big turnstile draw, Huang Xiao Ming, a 29-year-old pop star who is so well known he is sometimes called China's Justin Timberlake.

Still, "A Sunny Day" is no infomercial. Mr. Huang's character "CC" is a struggling musician who strums his guitar for coins in the subway, and falls for big-hearted Sunny, who is trying to get over the death of a boyfriend and fit into a new job.

During the shooting on a recent Sunday, as a gaggle of teenage women sneaked onto the set, Mr. Huang described the subway a "fashionable, very modern" venue that will appeal to a trendy audience.

Subways around the world have long featured visual distractions. A century ago, platforms were showcases for art, like the swank metro stations in Paris. In the 1970s, spray paint enlivened the dank and dangerous New York subway, and in the 1980s, the late Keith Haring helped make graffiti a respected art form with projects like "Studio in the Subway."

This year, the Berlin subway's 1.5 million daily passengers were the judges in a weeklong festival of 90-second, silent films called "Going Underground."

Advertisers are also pressing beneath the streets. Sidetrack Technologies Inc. of Winnipeg and New York-based Submedia LLC place light-board advertising in subway tunnels in several cities around the world, giving riders the motion-picture like effect of seeing a flipbook.

China's $20 billion advertising industry is increasingly adopting the global trend toward marketing disguised as entertainment. In addition to Hollywood-style product placements in TV shows and movies, a rapidly expanding segment is directed at an emerging middle class during the workday hours with slickly crafted TV-style ads in taxis, airplanes and even elevators.

More here 

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(* Source : NextGreatThing *)

Allison says :

Artists and labels have been exploring different ways to market and monetize their music beyond MySpace. We just heard that Sony BMG is going to be selling J Lo’s latest album, Brave, on a fancy wooden flash drive (for $70!!) Meanwhile, artists are dropping their labels like bad habits. AmieStreet, MOG, Pure Volume, Indistr, Sellaband, Navio, Roadsound, iFanz, RCRDLBL, iMeem, Popfolio… These are just a few sites out of hundreds they can use to do promotion, distribution, and sales. In addition to the bands we mentioned last week, even the Oldies are going new media; the Eagles, Joni Mitchell and now Aretha Franklin have all dropped their labels to try the digital model.

The next frontier is the handset. Mozes has taken a step there by enabling bands to text fans updates and messages. The real application, though, will be mobile social networking sites, like the newly launched KylieKonnect for Australian singer Kylie Minogue. The dot mobi site (www.kyliekonnect.com redirects to ourtribe.mobi) lets fans blog, communicate with other users and upload images and video all via mobile phone. There is a Kylie’s own blog, a newsfeed and place to buy Monogued-up wallpapers and ringtones. The site, set up by New Visions Mobile, will allow Kylie’s fans to establish a closer connection with her (or the illusion of one), and she will likely profit off it through site sales. Unfortunately for fans, Mashable reports that you seem to need a European-based mobile number to register, just going to show that this sort of technology not as widely embraced (and developed) in the U.S. as it is in Europe, Australia, and Asia.

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(* Source : Virtual World News *)

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(* Source : Mike Shields *)

As news organizations slash budgets and scale back bureaus, CNN is expanding—except not in real life.

In the week of Nov. 5, the news giant is set to open a news-gathering outpost in Second Life. And unlike news service Reuters, which embedded a real reporter in the online virtual world last year, CNN will rely on Second Life "residents" to do all the legwork.

In the space, the network will create a variation of its i-Reports, the real-world vehicle through which average citizens contribute eyewitness reports. CNN will equip Second Life denizens with kits enabling them to transmit copy and photos. Visitors to Second Life will be able to get the latest news via kiosks scattered throughout the virtual community.

And the network will act as a sort of journalism school, offering guidance to avatar citizen journalists via weekly "news meetings" directed by CNN.com staffers. And top CNN personalities including Larry King will conduct virtual training sessions for budding cyber journalists.

Given that Second Life users tend to be highly passionate about the virtual space, CNN execs believe the community will embrace user-generated journalism—more than they would embrace simply repurposed content.

"We looked at what are people doing [in Second Life] that is meaningful to what we do," said Susan Grant, executive vp of CNN News Services. "I love that we don't have to take things from the real world and force them in."

As for whether the world of Second Life will generate news events worthy of reporting, i-Report producer Lila King is not concerned. After all, visitors to the online world include news-making personalities like Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House who most recently had the public guessing whether he'd jump into the presidential race (he hasn't).

CNN's association with Second Life comes at a time when the digital phenomenon is awash in media hype but still far from cracking the mainstream. Its unique user base has hovered between 400,000 and 700,000 per month over the last year, according to Nielsen Online, and has twice fallen below the research firm's minimum reporting threshold.

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(* Source : Virtual World News *)

"People have been ignoring the fact that there are 12 other virtual worlds out there that have hundreds of thousands of visitors," says Jonathan Nelson, special adviser to Omnicom CEO John Wren. "My bet is this stuff is here to stay." Omnicom recently took a significant stake in Millions of Us, and the Wall Street Journal story gives a fair amount of time to Millions of Us projects. The main point, and one that  developers like Millions of Us have been touting for a while now, is that virtual worlds are prime for advertising, but Second Life isn't the only or even the best option out there. Based on Comscore figures for the month of September, Second Life ranked at the bottom of 12 worlds in numbers of unique visitors. And, yes, the number (235,000 for last month) is drawn from users accessing the software for the world, not just visiting the website. Even the rapidly declining Millsberry.com--down 17% from last year, but still at #5--saw 2.5 million unique users.  Webkinz led the pack with 6 million unique users. [via WSJ.com]

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(* Source : Newsweek *)

Brian Braiker says :

Photo illustration: Newsweek.com; photos: istockphoto.com

 

Fighting for members, MySpace tries to outcool Facebook

Do you Facebook or MySpace? Increasingly, membership in one social network does not necessarily rule out the appeal of belonging to the other. Of course, each company wants you visit their site more often than the other (if not exclusively)—all the more reason to differentiate. To that end, MySpace, the 800-pound News Corp.—owned gorilla, made three major announcements this week—two of which served to underscore a deepening fundamental difference in philosophy from its closest rival, Facebook. "MySpace is Hollywood and Facebook is Silicon Valley," says David Card, a senior analyst for Jupiter Research. Or you could put it this way: MySpace is glam; Facebook is geek. Not that there's anything wrong with either.

MySpace announced Tuesday that it has forged a splashy licensing agreement with Sony BMG—the world's second largest label—for access to streaming videos, music and other content. The partnership calls for the social-networking giant and the music studio to share advertising revenue. And in a bid to conquer the social-networking world beyond U.S. borders, MySpace will soon be offering its 110 million active monthly users free voice chats via a new partnership with Skype (220 million strong, mostly outside of the States). In a new service called MySpace IM with Skype, the Internet phone company will enhance the MySpace instant messaging service with new free VoIP capabilities starting November. (The companies will split the revenue, but specifics of the arrangement were not disclosed.)

These moves stand in direct contrast to Facebook, which instead of teaming with major media players to build services for its network of 47 million active users, allows third-party developers to build applications. A staggering 6,000 applications have been built for Facebook just this year. "We are not a media company," Mark Zuckerberg, the wunderkind brains behind Facebook, announced at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco this week. Analysts are inclined to agree. "I think there's a core philosophical difference, but [it's] the same revenue engine at the end," says Jupiter's Card. That engine, of course, is advertising. But with its Skype and Sony BMG announcements, original programming and hosting concert tours, MySpace seems to be morphing into an entertainment portal where everyone is in your extended network (and a potential audience member).

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(* Source : Sean P. Aune *)

A new application for Facebook is merging the social network with that other king of time killing, Second Life.

Called Second Life Link, the new app allows you to display your avatar on your profile, and also indicate when you’re on and off line in the virtual world. If your friends also have the app installed, you’ll be able to see each other’s avatars. The new application also allows you to share your favorite locations in the popular virtual world. This will allow them to teleport to your location easily when you’re online, or allow them to see your home, even when you’re not there.

With the popular CBS show, CSI:New York, having an episode revolve around a murder in Second Life this week, and encouraging viewers to check out the virtual murder, there are sure to be lots of new players this week. Seems like a perfect time for a Facebook app to me with so many new people getting introduced to the online world through mainstream media.

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(* Source : Minic Rivera *)

AudioStreet.net recorded approximately 300,000 song plays for the month of September and approximately 3,000,000 song plays year to date. MixStreet.net recorded approximately 230,000 song plays for the month of September and approximately 3,600,000 year to date. A song play occurs when a user of either AudioStreet or MixStreet listens to one of the thousands of songs artists have placed on the sites.

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(* Source : Reuters *)

Yinka Agedoke says :

 
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Napster Inc, the digital music service, said on Tuesday it plans to attract more customers by moving to a Web-based platform allowing users to play their music from any computer without having to download any additional software.

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(* Source : Rachel Konrad *)

SAN FRANCISCO - News Corp.'s MySpace will offer members of its popular social network free Internet phone calls with a new feature based on eBay Inc.'s Skype service, the companies announced Tuesday.

Users with a Skype account will be able to click a single button in their MySpace profile to call the computer or telephone of another member, so they could reach people in their network even when they're not online. The service will be available in 20 countries starting in November.

MySpace, the largest social-networking site with 110 million members, will share revenue from the deal with Skype, which allows customers to place long-distance calls using their computers. Skype, the Luxembourg-based division of eBay, has 220 million registered users.

Standard PC-to-PC phone calls will be free, but users must pay for "premium" options such as their own personal phone number, voice mail, call forwarding, and the ability to make calls from a computer to land lines or cell phones.

Executives would not disclose other financial terms of the deal, which comes as both companies strive to expand membership amid growing competition.

One of MySpace's biggest rivals is fast-growing Facebook.com, which has more than 47 million active users — including at least 200,000 new registrations per day since January.

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(* Source : Reuters *)

 Yinka Adegoke says :

NEW YORK (Reuters) - News Corp's MySpace has reached a licensing deal with Sony BMG Music Entertainment to stream music videos from its artists, who include Britney Spears, Beyonce Knowles and Bruce Springsteen.

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(* Source : NYTimes *)

Louise Story says :

Rob Bennett for The New York Times

Joggers in the Nike Running Club in Manhattan last month. Nike is spending more of its advertising dollars on services for consumers like workout advice, online communities and races.

Since April, Mr. Saenz, 53, has been running with a Nike+, a small sensor in his running shoes that tracks his progress on an Apple iPod he carries. After each run near his home in Louisville, Ky., he docks the iPod into his computer and posts details of his run on the Nike+ Web site. There, he has made friends with other runners around the world who post running routes, meet up in the real world and encourage one another on the site.

Nike’s famous swoosh is there all along. For Nike, this is advertising.

“It’s a very different way to connect with consumers,” says Trevor Edwards, Nike’s corporate vice president for global brand and category management. “People are coming into it on average three times a week. So we’re not having to go to them.”

The success of Nike+ is bad news for the traditional media companies that have long made money from Nike’s television commercials and glossy magazine ads.

Last year, Nike spent just 33 percent of its $678 million United States advertising budget on ads with television networks and other traditional media companies. That’s down from 55 percent 10 years ago, according to the trade publication Advertising Age.

“We’re not in the business of keeping the media companies alive,” Mr. Edwards says he tells many media executives. “We’re in the business of connecting with consumers.”

Mr. Edwards may be more blunt than most. But many large marketers are taking huge chunks of money out of their budgets for traditional media and using the funds to develop new, more direct interactions with consumers — not only on the Internet, but also through in-person events.

Adventurous companies like Nike have been experimenting with these alternatives since the 1990s. But now, even the most conventional marketers are making these alternatives a permanent — and ever bigger — part of their advertising budgets.

Last year, Johnson & Johnson decided to boycott the so-called upfronts, an annual event when advertisers get together with television executives to negotiate for commercial time. In August, General Motors said that 2008 would be the last year for its longtime sponsorship of the Olympics. In May, A. G. Lafley, the chief executive of Procter & Gamble, told financial analysts that the company would spend less on traditional media and more on its Web site, in-store advertising and promotional events.

“If you step back and look at our mix across most of the major brands,” Mr. Lafley said, “it is clearly shifting.”

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(* Source : Kristen Nicole *)

Webcam avatar community fix8 has raised $3 million in a series a round of funding from Vickers Venture Group, which is a Singapore-based private equity firm. We first covered fix8 here.

You may remember that fix8 lets you create animated avatars with your webcam by reading your expressions and gestures. There are loads of tools that you can play around with, including fix8’s wide selection of avatars, and other accessories like voice manipulation, graphics and editing tools. These clips can then be embedded in your website or social networking profile, or use it for your instant messaging client like AOL, MSN, Skype or Yahoo Messenger.

fix8 has recently teamed up with Pringo for distribution purposes, Stickam , also Shanghai Media Group to create AuditionsTV, which makes interactive tv audiences able to participate during live or taped programs. Coming up, fix8 will be offering a mobile solution, which will surely extend the ways in which its avatar creation tool can be used for communicative purposes. See here for more avatar creation sites.

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(* Source : Rachel Konrad *)

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Your favorite pants are fraying? You may soon be able to order replacements directly from the factory where they were made, according to the chief scientist of an ambitious Chinese Internet project.

China's government is building a vast virtual world dubbed Beijing Cyber Recreation District, which founders say will help the manufacturing superpower evolve into an e-commerce juggernaut.

Some supply-chain experts say the project is impossibly grandiose in its goal to provide direct links between tens of thousands of Chinese manufacturers and millions of individual customers around the world. But every "Made in China" label eventually could include a Web site where customers could order more — and Chinese factories would produce custom-made goods and send them directly to consumers' homes, mused Chi Tau Robert Lai, chief scientist of the virtual world.

The 3D world is supposed to be the online counterpart to the China Recreation District, a theme park, mall and playground being built in a former steel plant in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

Some Chinese-language Web sites of the CRD are already up, but most of it — including the first direct links to manufacturers — won't come until the second half of next year at the earliest, Lai said.

In addition to connecting factories with people outside China, the project will allow businesses outside China to tap the nation's burgeoning middle class, he said.

"This makes you have to think of China in a different way," Lai said Thursday evening at the Virtual Worlds Conference & Expo in San Jose. "We are stepping back and trying to blend the human and the computer to touch everything associated with people's lives."

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(* Source : Worldsinmotion.com *)

Posted by Leigh Alexander :

Looking at market penetration, Mitham opined, "I think it’s pretty fair to say that virtual growth to date has been heavily based on word of mouth and viral marketing.” Moreover, Mitham expects the trend to continue, calling on the example of companies like BMW opening Second Life islands to widespread media coverage as a driver of Second Life population growth.

Finding New Markets, Developing Existing Ones

One can't rely purely on PR for advertising, Mitham added, stating that he hopes to see traditional marketing to start happening. "We’re seeing children actively adopting Club Penguin, Whyville, Habbo... as they eventually grow out of it, they will be looking for new worlds to grow into. There’s a huge market already there, waiting to happen."

The market is developing globally, too, Mitham said, noting that European countries are also actively embracing virtual worlds. Though typically Russia and South America are slower to adapt, Mitham noted, these are large growth areas that will begin adopting virtual worlds more in the future.

"We don't see much for 'silver surfers,'" Mitham added, noting that older users are also a prime growth area. Similarly, he expects corporate adoption to broaden, as companies like IBM encourage their employees to move into virtual worlds for corporate uses, and educational institutes are using virtual worlds in the classroom for the set aged 8 to 15.

Engaging New Users

It's a matter of product development, he said -- developing new products for marketplaces that already exist. Mitham also noted that better user interfaces and new user orientation will assist in driving more widespread adoption, as will other avenues of access like web-based remote viewers.

Diversification is the other key avenue, Mitham noted -- bringing new products into untapped markets, as with category-centric "vertical worlds". One example Mitham raised is Football Superstars, a virtual world currently in development for people who play football and soccer. Half the world is for playing football, the other half is for living the life of a footballer.

Beyond this, there are platform-centric virtual worlds, such as Sony's upcoming PlayStation Home, which will be used as a convergence tool for gamers. "The reason for going in isn’t the new technology; people are going in for a specific reason,," Mitham said.

Additionally, Mitham said that avatars that can cross worlds -- the interoperability work IBM is currently involved in -- will be "a really good driving factor for getting more people engaged in virtual worlds."

Mitham offered some projections on growth in virtual worlds he believes will take place between the fourth quarter of 2007 to the fourth quarter of 2008. He anticipates growth of registered accounts in Second Life to increase from 10 million to 20 million, 1 million to 7 million for There, .6 to 3 million for Kaneva, from zero to 10 million for the Chinese virtual world HiPiHi, an increase from 3 million to 10 million for Whyville, and from 15 million to 30 million for Club Penguin.

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(* Source : Worldsinmotion *)

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(* Source : Mashable *)

Kristen Nicole says :

Gigya is creating an updated version of its online widget tracking service that will allow developers and web publishers to define and track any type of activity within widgets. Used in conjunction with Gigya’s Wildfire, developers can track widget performance in a more extensive manner, from its initial installation on a user’s page, to the clicking of a link within a widget and the viewing of a widget’s video.

This will, of course, enable you to better lay out your widget strategy, see how widgets are being used across platforms and social networks, and more easily respond to the market. In setting all of this up for your Gigya widgets, you can even choose your own name for various actions, so you’re tracking widgets in a way that makes the most sense for you and your distribution purposes.

Gigya’s Wildfire tool was launched in recent weeks to let developers create applications for use on Facebook. With MySpace and other networks getting ready to open their platforms as well, tracking tools for widgets and applications will become more important, especially as metrics move to become more inclusive of widget distribution, which is when advertising potential comes into play as well.

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(* Source : Kristen Nicole *)

Music Gifts is a pretty cool Facebook app launched by MediaMouth. It lets you find music, listen to it, create custom lists and mixes and share all of this with Facebook friends.

But it also is a gifting application, too. And not a fluff gift that’s really just a graphic that sits on your profile. While those are cool (and very addictive), Music Gifts takes gifting a step further and lets you purchase music for your friends. They can get the music in digital or physical format, which will be sent to their home address.

MediaMouth has distribution and retail deals with EMI, Universal, and several indie labels as well, and digital copies of music are sold DRM-free. As with all other music applications currently residing on Facebook, many are wondering if the social network’s rumored mp3 store will have any affect on their existience or success.

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(* Source : Scott Hillis *)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - IBM (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Linden Labs, the operator of the Second Life virtual world, said on Tuesday they will work on ways to eventually let people use the a single online persona in different online services.

Interoperability is emerging as a key goal of the nascent virtual world industry, which attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in investment on the hopes that video-game graphics and rich 3-D environments will supplant flat Web pages.

(* Source : Virtual World News *)

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(* Source : Daniel Terdiman *)

Get ready for online games set in your favorite Google Earth locations.

Virtual-worlds platform developer Multiverse Network is set to announce a partnership Tuesday that will allow anyone to create a new online interactive 3D environment with just about any model from Google's online repository of 3D models, its 3D Warehouse, as well as terrain from Google Earth.

The idea is simple: Multiverse's technology--which gives game developers tools to design custom virtual worlds--will let those designers pick and choose from most of the millions of 3D models created using Google's 3D software tool SketchUp, and to import pieces of terrain, as defined by entering specific longitude and latitude data, from Google Earth.

If you want to build a virtual world centered on, say, downtown San Francisco, you could use the new technology to create the area itself and populate it with the digital versions of real-world buildings that have been created and uploaded to the 3D Warehouse.

"The goal is to grab things from the 3D Warehouse when looking at things in Google Earth and then make an instant multiverse world," said Multiverse co-founder Corey Bridges. "What we've done is provide a more streamlined interface for using (Google's technology) as a virtual-world production tool."

Until now, incorporating this kind of information from Google has mostly been the province of fantasy. For some time, Multiverse has made it possible to upload some SketchUp models into a virtual world created using its platform. But the technology the company plans to announce Tuesday, informally called "Architectural Wonders," brings the concept to much more well-rounded fruition, and answers what some people have been crying out for as obvious and necessary technology integration.

"Google's mission statement is to make all the world's information universally available and useful," said Jerry Paffendorf, co-author of the Metaverse Roadmap and co-founder of a stealth start-up called Wello Horld. "So I would say this (is about) making all the world universally available and useful, and that's why this is so fascinating."

For Paffendorf, one of the most vocal proponents of a 3D massively multiplayer environment based on Google Earth and SketchUp information, Multiverse's innovation is nothing short of groundbreaking.

He said he's particularly excited and hopeful that the Architectural Wonders project will allow virtual-world designers to incorporate not just models and terrain from Google Earth, but also much of the metadata that makes it so powerful: the personal notations and photographs that millions of users have added to it.

Of course, Multiverse's project is not the only one that has sprung up to make use of this data. Google is rumored to be working on a prototype virtual world, a beta test of which may or may not be under way at Arizona State University.

Another project is SceneCaster, a new technology unveiled at last week's Demo conference that allows anyone to make 3D "scenes" incorporating models from the 3D Warehouse that can then be attached to blogs or Facebook pages or even to Flickr.

Both SceneCaster and Multiverse's Architectural Wonders projects will be shown at the Virtual Worlds conference, which starts Wednesday in San Jose, Calif.

But because not much is known about Google's stealth project and since SceneCaster does not appear to be a massively multiplayer experience, Multiverse's Architectural Wonders efforts may well prove to be the first publicly available attempt to bring vast amounts of data and models Google is making freely accessible into a working virtual world.

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(* Source : Fred Cavazza *)

Virtual universes are hype, that’s a sure bet. With very strong media coverage for universes like Second Life or World of Warcraft, announcers and users are discovering new spaces for playing, communicating, entertaining and even working which are in complete rupture with 2D spaces they already know.

Complete rupture? No, not exactly since most of these universes are evolution from existing services (chats, social networks, maps…). All these virtual universes bring some oxygen to sometimes unappealing concepts by providing new possibilities. But with new opportunities comes a lot of covetousness and build a very competitive environment inside which the most media covered are not the most interesting.

Did you know it?

• There are more than 150 millions of Neopets‘ users which have already created more than 217 millions of accounts (you can count again, that’s more than MySpace)
• KartRider and QQ are social platforms which generated nearly $100M in quarterly earnings (it’s quarterly earnings, not annual turnover)
• There was $1 Billion Invested in Virtual Worlds in the Last Year (again, it’s $1 billion, not $1 million)

Do these figures astonish you? Well… so they did to me! But they are real.

Four main fields

Comparing all these universes won’t make any sense. First of all because they are very different and then because they target very different audience. But if you REALLY need a comparison, then you can have a look at these two (partial) comparison charts: Virtual Worlds Comparison Chart, Casual Immersive Worlds and Virtual Worlds Platforms and User Numbers.

Let me introduce you to these universes by using a map where I positioned most of them. All of these are not vast virtual world like Second Life, but they all share common characteristics: avatars, virtual currency and virtual places where avatars can meet, chat, play and interact.

This map is divided in 4 main fields:

• Social, with universe revolving around community building
• Games, with universes relying on online games
• Entertainment, where music, videos and films related content
• Business, where selling or exchanging goods is the main motivator for users and with enterprise applications (virtual training, serious games…)

Please not that these fields overlap themselves:

A wide typology of uages

You can find on this map various groups which are related to specific usage:

• 2.5 & 3D Chats, which are an evolution to instant messaging services but with a much stronger immersion (IMVU, Taatu, Citypixel, Faketown…)
• Avatar-centric, where avatars are at the center of interactions and functionalities (Neopets, Club Penguin, Stardoll, Virtual MTV…)
• Social Platforms, universes which inherits from social networks and sharing platforms while adding some avatar management and online games (Habbo, Cyworld, QQ, Gaia, Playdo…)
• Branded Universes, which propose a total immersion inside the brand’s graphical universe and products range (Barbie Girls, Pepsi Town, MyCoke, ToonTown, T-Works, Home…)
• Virtual Worlds, where users experience nearly total freedom of action (Second Life, HiPiHi, There, Entropia Universe…)
• MOG, online gaming platforms relying on casual games for developing sociabilization (KartRider, PuzzlePirates, MapleStory…)
• MMORPG, Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games which requires a stronger social involvement (World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, Dofus, RuneScape, Lineage II…)
• Online Sport Games, based on collective or individual sports (Football Superstars, Online Soccer Manager, Fishing Champ, Ultimate Baseball Online…)
• Adult Games, money games targeted at adults (PKR, Cameo Casino…)
• Virtual Sex, 3D dating spaces (Red Light Center, Virtual Ibiza, Naughty America…)
• Virtual City Guides, which are natural evolutions of local and mapping services (Google Earth, UpNext…)
• Serious Games, which are deploy inside enterprise to build 3D collaborative spaces, virtual training classes and augmented meeting rooms (Innov8, MPK20, Quaq…)
• World Generators, which allows 3D world creation (Active Worlds, Multiverse, Metaplace…)

Obviously, all these universes are not at the same maturity level: some are approaching the final stage of their life cycle (like Everquest), some others are crossing a turbulence area (Yankee Group Says Hype of Second Life Far Outweighs Its Ability to Impact Mainstream Interactivity), others are growing very fast (Gaia Online) and some are repositioning themselves (like IMVU which is morphing into a social network and Entropia Universe which will try to compete with video games).

A nearly saturated market?

With more than 150 active or soon-to-be-launched virtual universes, accept some numerous take over and disappearances. In this profusion, which universe is the right one? Its’ a hard guess since only two audience niches are sharply targeted: teen and adults (Virtual Worlds Are Trendy Spot for Kids and Teens).

It took 10 years to structure the internet media landscape and provide announcers with reliable communication tools (adwords, adsens…) and measure tools. How long will it takes with the virtual universes media landscape? Who will master advertising inside these new territories / markets? Is co-creation a reality? So many questions… which will find answers in the next months. Stay tuned.

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(* Source : Olga Kharif *)

Seizing on Orkut's momentum in Asia and Latin America, Google moves to revamp its social networking site and take aim at Facebook and MySpace

If it's not about MySpace and Facebook, then the breathless buzz that surrounds online social networking often gravitates to names such as Bebo and CyWorld. Then there's Orkut. Though early to market, the Google-owned social network hasn't seemed to gain traction anywhere but Brazil. But that laggard status may be fading, thanks to a traffic surge in Asia. And now Google (GOOG) appears determined to eliminate its weakness in social networking, an Achilles' heel that detracts from its dominance in Web search and online ads.

Though MySpace still gets four times as much traffic globally, Orkut recently pushed past the News Corp. (NWS) subsidiary in the Asia Pacific region. Orkut's following in that market, which includes China and Japan, has nearly tripled, to roughly 11 million visitors a month, over the past year, according to the consultancy comScore (SCOR). MySpace, by contrast, has been drawing between 9 million and 10 million visitors in recent months.

Meanwhile, Orkut's usage in Latin America has continued to climb: In August, it received 12.4 million unique visitors from that region, double the Latin American traffic of MySpace and Facebook combined. "Now everybody's got Orkut, even people who don't have their own computer," says 15-year-old Ian Quinonez Gaspar, who lives in São Paulo, Brazil, and has more than 700 friends links.

Web Site Makeover

But that's where the high-fives end for Orkut. Beyond Asia and Latin America, which account for nearly all of Orkut's 24.6 million monthly users, the site's traffic remains simply anemic—totaling just 600,000 in North America and about 1.2 million in Europe, and not growing very fast.

Still, while it's unclear whether its overseas momentum is the inspiration, Google is starting to throw more resources behind social networking. The company recently gave Orkut's site a makeover so it looks more Google-like. It's also launched the site in more languages, including Hindi and Bengali (Orkut is particularly popular in India and Bangladesh). At the same time, Google has been incorporating more social networking features into Gmail and its online Calendar service. "The property has long been neglected. But now Google has recognized the social networking phenomenon is very profound and powerful," says Greg Sterling, the founding principal at consultancy Sterling Market Intelligence.

The next big step, expected in November, will be to open Orkut's software code to outside programmers, a plan first disclosed by Michael Arrington on his TechCrunch blog. BusinessWeek.com has learned that third-party developers based in India have been told that the code, known to developers as an Application Programming Interface (API), would be made available around Nov. 5. While Google declined to confirm or deny these reports, the company did confirm earlier this year it was considering opening up Orkut's code (BusinessWeek, 2/13/07).

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(* Source : Jason Fry *)

New Efforts Try to Make It Easy

Last week Starbucks began testing a new service letting those with iTunes on their laptop, or carrying an iPhone, identify and download songs playing in the ubiquitous coffee bars.

In recent weeks we've heard Apple tout its new iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. We've seen Microsoft show off improvements to its Zune music player, talk up the player's ability to share music, and unveil Zune Social, a new community site. Cellular-service providers such as Sprint Nextel, Verizon Wireless (a Verizon/Vodafone joint venture) and AT&T continue to sell songs over the air and experiment with various music-related offerings. And what about services that recommend and stream music, from Pandora to Rhapsody?

There's a flurry of activity around a common theme: making digital music truly mobile, instead of contained in music players that get topped up at desktop PCs. But what will be the effect of this newfound musical mobility? Could it mark a substantive change in the digital-music experience? Or will wireless buying and sharing remain mere offshoots of the familiar PC/MP3 player ecosystem?

Currently, both buying and sharing are largely restricted to the PC. Music players with wireless capabilities – such as Sandisk's Sansa Connect -- are fairly new. Meanwhile, the cellular-service providers' efforts have largely been stillborn -- because until fairly recently they wanted to charge as much as $2.50 for a download, despite the fact that iTunes had made $1 a de facto standard. Why the high prices? A number of reasons, from the record industry's desperation for an alternative to the iTunes model to infrastructure costs that cut into already razor-thin margins on downloads. Wireless carriers were stuck with a bad choice between a low-margin business or a low-volume one.

The carriers have accepted 99-cent downloads and tried to escape the low-margin trap by expanding their musical offerings to include access to streaming music, ringtones and ringbacks, music videos, the ability to "sideload" digital music from PCs to phones and even services that "listen" to snippets of music and identify the song.

More here 

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(* Source : Rafat Ali *)

Facebook is working on an artist platform to be launched later this year, which in essence is supposed to be better than what MySpace allows with its platform, according to multiple sources I have spoken to since this morning after a slightly off-the-mark rumor came out earlier. The platform will allows bands and labels to create artists pages, and allow various widgets to be embedded for music promotion, organizing events, etc. Among those widgets would be iLike, the most popular app inside Facebook, but will also include iTunes widgets for sampling (to being with), and eventually buying music through Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - News). The service will still have the utilitarian sensibilities of the Facebook platform, the sources stress, rather than the more chaotic and flashy platform that MySpace has.

For now, this squarely takes on MySpace, not iTunes as the rumors said this morning. Facebook will have an actual deal with Apple, though it is conceivable down the line it could start selling music through the artists' platform.

Whether users will gravitate towards Facebook from an already thriving and deep music community on MySpace is what remains to be seen.

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(* Source : Businessweek *)

Olga Kharif and Nandini Lakshman say : 

The social networking majors are aggressively pursuing the region's growing online audience, as earlier arrivals Friendster and Orkut defend their turf

A year ago, Shruti Narayan, a 13-year-old who lives in India, began using Google's (GOOG) social networking site, Orkut, to keep tabs on schoolmates. But a few months ago, Narayan made the jump to Facebook because "it has more features and interaction like quizzes and TV shows," she says.

Narayan's network-hopping reflects the colossal scrum among the world's biggest social networks for the hearts and mouse clicks of millions of people in India, China, and elsewhere in Asia. The landgrab has taken on added urgency lately, as leading social networks MySpace and Facebook converge on the region to battle established homegrown networks and foreign sites, especially Orkut and Friendster.

'Financially Intriguing' Market

Until recently, countries such as China and India held scant interest for the U.S.'s social networking heavyweights thanks to low rates of Internet usage and a dearth of advertiser dollars. Facebook and News Corp.'s (NWS) MySpace instead concentrated on the U.S., which according to eMarketer accounts for 73% of social networking's worldwide revenue of $1.23 billion. They left Asia to U.S. laggards Friendster and Orkut, and to local sites such as CyWorld. Of Orkut's 25.2 million active users, about 43% are in the Asia Pacific region, according to Web traffic tracker comScore (SCOR). Friendster has become the largest social network in the region, according to comScore, with 35 million Asia Pacific users, out of 50 million worldwide.

That dominance is now under threat, just as the Asia Pacific market starts to bloom. In China, 230 million people are using the Internet, more than in the U.S., according to consultancy IDC. "Imagine that all these markets, over the next five years, double their penetration," says Karsten Weide, an analyst with IDC. "Then, for the future, the most important market is Asia Pacific. Once it develops more, it's going to become financially more intriguing than the U.S."

Especially when it comes to advertisers. A recent Synovate AsiaBUS study, commissioned by Microsoft (MSFT), found that social networks in Asia Pacific attract the coveted 15- to 34-year-old demographic and that about 15% of the region's users are top managers and business owners. "Each and every month, more and more advertisers are coming to us and paying us more money," says David Jones, Friendster's vice-president of marketing. Like other social networking sites, Friendster doesn't disclose revenue figures.

More here 

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(* Source : PSFK *)

Alisson  Mooney says :

Kids are consumers (virtually)! That was the message on the “New School” panel at the YPulse Tween Mashup on Friday. Speakers from Stardoll, WhyVille, and Cartoon Doll Emporium all recounted that young users of their virtual worlds wanted brands brought into their online environments.

Mattias Mikshe, CEO of Stardoll, said that users were begging for real world brands (“everything from Gap to Gucci.”) This is what led them to create “StarPlaza,” an in-world mall stocked with virtual brands (they now have 9). LVMH-owned Sephora and DKNY just became the first real world brand to set up shop there (featuring the same items as the stores). Cartoon Doll Emporium, a similar “paper doll” site, is also working with offline brands.

The virtual world meets social network WhyVille has 3,000 different lines of clothing—by 3,000 different girls. CEO Jim Bower says they want to have a Whyville store with the designs from 12 year olds. But kids in WhyVille aren’t immune to brand fever: one group of kids actually created M&Ms costumes for their avatars. Over in WeeWorld, users “consistently asking for brands to better express themselves,” says Marketing and Editorial Director, Maura Welch. “By choosing to wear the assets,” she says “the users are endorsing the brands to their friends.” According to the site’s latest food and drink survey, users’ WeeMees (avatars) were jonesing for some Sprite, Gatorade and Cheerios. As it is, they can already pimp themselves out in Armani sunglasses while they pop Skittles.

According to Mikshe, the kids can “distinguish between being marketed to and adding value.” Or maybe the marketing has just done its job. The demand is there for the brand names, creating a pull rather than a push scenario. And now that these brands can provide utility online, they are becoming more and more integrated into the lives of young consumers.

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(* Source : MediaPost.com *)

Laurie Petersen says :

TURNER BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC.'S NEW Products Group has signed a one-year deal with Kaneva to build and test virtual world extensions of its entertainment properties.

Each Turner Web community and corresponding virtual space inside Kaneva will contain video players for video streaming of select Turner network content.

"Our exploration with Kaneva of virtual worlds is yet another example of Turner staying at the forefront of consumer technology trends," said Blake Lewin, vice president for TBS Inc.'s New Products Group. "Through this opportunity, we hope to leverage the Kaneva platform to explore how users interact with our brands in a virtual world."

The agreement will grant Turner access to Kaneva's technology and tools to create and use Web communities and Virtual Spaces on the Kaneva Web site and in the virtual world of Kaneva.

"Turner is an ideal flagship media partner for Kaneva," said Christopher Klaus, founder and CEO of Kaneva. "Turner's high-quality programming and credibility is synergistic with our unique focus on delivering entertainment to the masses inside a virtual world. As a result of this partnership, we will provide entirely new ways for audiences to watch, participate and interact around their favorite TV programming."

Kaneva, which is Latin for "canvas," is a virtual entertainment world that unifies the 2D Web with a 3D experience. It integrates social networking, shared media and collaborative online communities into a modern-day, immersive 3D virtual world. Kaneva enables its members to hang out with their friends online and in 3D, share entertainment, express creativity and passions, and establish meaningful connections with others.

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(* Source : New York Times *)

David Itzkoff says :

Visitors to the Sundance Channel area of the Web site Second Life can watch full-length feature films in a virtual screening room

IF you can find him, Vincent Tibbett is precisely the sort of well-connected cultural liaison any emerging filmmaker should want to know. An employee of the Sundance Channel, he is as easily recognizable for his shaggy haircut and assertively casual attire as he is for the crowds of aspiring artists who follow him around, hoping to chat him up about cinematic trends, get him to evaluate their movies or simply score his e-mail address.

But if Mr. Tibbett seems a bit harder to pin down for a lunch date than the average in-demand tastemaker, that’s because he doesn’t exist on our plane of reality. He is an electronic avatar found only in Second Life, the popular online virtual community.

Just six months old, Mr. Tibbett is one experiment in the Sundance Channel’s larger exploration of Internet-based virtual reality, a sort of canary down the mine shaft of a new technology that may or may not take hold among mainstream audiences.

And he is not alone. In the last year broadcast networks, cable channels and television content providers have all set up camp in virtual communities, where they hope that viewers who have forsaken television for computer screens might rediscover their programming online. Some outlets, like Showtime and Sundance, are establishing themselves in existing worlds; others, like MTV, are creating their own. Either way, if the wildest dreams of some very excited technology developers come true, virtual reality might finally be the medium that unites the passive experience of watching television with the interactive potential of the Web.

If that happens, the television industry — which has not been particularly speedy in adapting to the Internet revolution — sees an opportunity not only to recover lost ground from online competitors but also to take a lead, and in so doing create an entirely new environment in which to influence and sell to its audience.

“You want to be in this because you know, as a content provider, that this is where the future is going,” said Quincy Smith, the president of CBS Interactive. “I don’t look at it as science fiction. I look at it as the future of communication.”

For decades ambitious programmers and designers have sought to establish virtual worlds like the one put forth in Neal Stephenson’s influential 1992 novel, “Snow Crash,” which imagines computer users interacting in a simulated three-dimensional world called the Metaverse. But only in recent years, as graphics-accelerator cards and broadband Internet connections have grown more affordable and ubiquitous, has it become possible even to approximate such an experience.

IN Second Life (secondlife.com), visitors to the Sundance Channel area can watch full-length feature films in a three-dimensional screening room or take part in an environmental forum; fans of Showtime’s drama “The L Word” can meet the avatars of the show’s stars and design their own floats for a virtual gay pride parade. In MTV’s Virtual Laguna Beach (at vmtv.com) inhabitants can shop at digital versions of Emporio Optic and Laguna Surf and Sport or, at the click of a mouse, arrive in a virtual version of “The Hills,” where they can then join the party at an electronic replica of the Los Angeles nightclub Area.

More here 

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(* Source : AP *)

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Orderly, pornography-free and safe for children, "meet-me," an online interactive virtual Tokyo, is Japan's answer to "Second Life." Or so its creators hope.

Japanese are so well-behaved and conformist, he says, they would prefer a more predictable and secure virtual environment over the free-spirited anything-goes of "Second Life," created by San Francisco-based Linden Lab.

In "meet-me," players' avatars, or computer-generated alter-egos, are rounder and softer, more like the cuddly characters of "Pokemon" than the angular and relatively realistic avatars of "Second Life."

The sun rises and sets in "meet-me" on Tokyo time. And avatars must ride trains or other vehicles or walk or run to get around a city whose streets and buildings look much like real Tokyo's; they can't jump from place to place as they can in "Second Life."

More here 

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(* Source : Virtual World News.com *)

CVSherman says :

Xivio, a Flash-based virtual world with a Web-based social network,  announced that it had introduced a content rating system based on user votes on the TV-MA rating system. When photos, music, videos and journals are uploaded, they are immediately rated TV-MA until the staff or community votes them into a lower rating. "We've tested it out in house, and it works very well," said President/CEO David Wisotzky. "After hearing a lot of the stuff going on with Myspace, you know protecting the kids and how other programs don't allow kids to upload content, we figured that it's the digital age and someone should make that safe to do. It seemed like nobody had been stepping up."

Posted by brian tiong at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source : David Fishman *)

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(* Source : Caleb Booker *)

We started off in Skype voice chat, but then he met me in Second Life at the same time. Using tools his company haven't even named yet, he was able to broadcast video of our avatars meeting through Skype. (Click the picture for full-size.) They still consider it technology in the pre-alpha stage, and won't feel like it's ready for consumers until they have it running in much higher detail. Even at the low resolution, being "in" Second Life through Skype and, in addition, seeing myself through multiple camera angles at once was a pretty impressive experience.

This was, of course, just the beginning. He switched from Second Life to a custom environment they had built with the Unreal 2 engine and again, streamed it right through Skype. The great part about using an engine like this one was that they were able to import high-detail AutoCAD files and make them look extremely realistic. Soon I was watching a high-quality alien avatar from Mars Attacks! exploring the environment in real-time. Below is a video of the world he had walked me through that they apparently built over the course of a few days.

Recently Rigby showcased the technology at the Copper/Cobre Conference. All of the other presenters went up and showed PowerPoint presentations. Rather than show a series of AutoCAD sketches, he plugged his laptop into the projector and walked the crowd through a 3D rendering. A copper smelter in the U.S. retained him to create a "virtual furnace" that not only showed the schematics in high resolution, but had walls lined with photographs of how everything is supposed to look as you assemble the machine. Not only that, but you can actually enter the furnace itself and (through color coding) see how everything is supposed to fit together.

Even though his company has already been retained by a few engineering firms for more work, Rigby sees more applications for high-resolution custom worlds. He's currently in touch with several galleries in London to create scale models of the buildings with high resolution art renderings inside. People could download them for a token fee (maybe five dollars) and collect them over time as the gallery updates itself with new exhibits. Also, since "Unreal 2" is a server-based platform, you could walk around these little worlds with your friends.

MellaniuM has only been experimenting with the possibilities since September of last year and has already shown some great innovations. If they keep up this pace they'll be the ones to watch in the future.

 See Video

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(* Source : Adam Headstrow *)

Imeem, the service that offers a widget for sharing your music playlist, has reached a deal with Sony BMG to legally offer their music to users. In exchange for allowing Imeem users stream Sony BMG music in their widgets, the record label will get a cut of the advertising revenue. Imeem previously signed a similar deal with Warner Music, after the record company first tried to sue them.

Additionally, the company is reportedly in talks with Universal Music Group and EMI Group about similar content deals.

[via Forbes]

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(* Source : Techcrunch*)

Roi Carthy says :

Zlango

For those of you unfamiliar with Zlango, the company created a new language based on slightly over 200 icons in categories such as People, Actions, Places and Feelings. The Zlango offering was originally aimed at injecting life and excitement into the ever popular but boring SMS, however, the company’s jump into the Web space indicates an understanding that engaging users requires Zlango to extend itself beyond a pure mobile play.

Today’s launch kicks off Zlango’s roll out of a number of social-oriented features. Two of the most notable features available today are:

• Zlango Composer – A Flash driven composer featuring an on-the-fly “Text to Zlango” translator (see screenshot), making it a snap to create fun messages. Messages can be shared, emailed or embedded across a number of social sites (thanks to integration with Gigya).
• zMess – Zlango’s version of a micro-blog. This is an area for users to view public messages, or private ones with groups of friends. Unfortunately, support for threaded comments is not included.

On the business front, the most notable achievement of the year is a partnership with Nokia to preload the Zlango into handsets. Zlango is now also deployed at all three Israeli operators, and has inked deals with operators in the Philippines, Ukraine, Malaysia, Finland, and Indonesia.

Posted by brian tiong at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source : IMediaconnections.com *)

Britanny Lawson says :

Get the lowdown on the five most popular Facebook widgets and what this trend means for brands and marketers.

Facebook has upped the ante in its latest effort to gain supremacy over the social network scene. The website's creators opened up the applications setting on May 25, 2007 for users and companies alike to upload widgets that can be embedded in any user's profile. Currently there are over 3,400 applications available to users, ranging from slideshows to horoscopes to personal aquariums.

The widgets are designed to engage users for longer periods of time on the Facebook website by creating activities for people with similar interests. Essentially, Facebook's profiles have changed from a place where you just read about someone to a place where people can engage in activities. This change is effective in generating traffic for Facebook, as well as for the companies creating user apps, and has been termed the Facebook Effect.  

The Facebook Effect is seen in the dramatic increase in web traffic to the top five company applications:

1.) Slide, Inc. has capitalized on the cornerstone of the social network sites -- picture sharing. With over 2.7 million active users daily, the company's Top Friends slideshow application is Facebook's most popular. Their widget, which is exceedingly simple, is available on every social network site, and reaches over 65 percent of all widget-users. Facebook is by far their largest patron and since the end of May has seen an increase of over 265 percent in daily unique visitors, according to Quantcast.

2.) Video by Facebook is the second most active application on the network. This tool comes on the heels of the success of YouTube and allows users to upload their own video content. Video has just below one million active users daily. Facebook's creators have seen the success of social media sites that employ user-generated video and harnessed this technology to generate more user activity on their site.

3.+4.) FunWall! and My Questions? are also in the top five, with a quarter of a million users daily. At a glance, they appear to be created by independent Facebook users. However, this application is funded by Slide, Inc.. The FunWall is a take on the basic wall feature in which users could post comments on each others' pages. It has replaced the basic wall because users can write graffiti and post movies or pictures, which has been a theme throughout social network sites. My Questions? allows users to ask all of their friends a generic question and see the responses on their page. Slide, Inc. has established that it is a heavyweight in the widget marketing platform by creating three out of the top five widgets.  

5.) iLike, Inc. allows users to upload their favorite music and has seen its traffic double since the end of May. This reveals another possibility for the widget platform -- the diversification of the point of sale for companies. Record labels such as SNOCAP have made it possible to sell music anywhere that HTML can be embedded into a web page. This could spell success for artists and music companies. 

The question, then, is how Facebook and companies such as Slide, Inc, and iLike plan to turn this popularity into financial success. As sites such as Nielsen have changed the way in which they rate websites by placing more emphasis on time spent on a website than on clicks, this could translate into ad success for Facebook. These applications keep users active on creators' respective pages as they take quizzes about their friends or play video games that are out of distribution. This will increase Facebook's rating on the Nielsen sale, and in turn increase the appeal for click advertisers. 

At the end of April 2007 Facebook had 20 million users; since then they have increased their user base by more than 50 percent to over 31 million in less than six months. Their daily uniques have doubled as well. This is in stark contrast to MySpace, which still has the lead over Facebook, but has remained relatively stable in the amount of unique clicks it receives each day. Is Facebook's rapid growth a result of its application platform? Perhaps. Regardless, Facebook's growth is putting the pressure on MySpace.

More here 

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(* Source: Larry Gentille *)

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(* Source : BBC News *)

Jonathan Fieldes says :

The tool could be embedded in blogs as well as used in gaming Metaplace demo

Users of Metaplace, as it is known, can build 3D online worlds for PCs or even a mobile phone without any knowledge of complex computer languages.

The web-based program is the brainchild of Raph Koster, one of the developers of massively multiplayer online games such as Ultima Online.

Users make the virtual spaces from simple building blocks.

The results, which could be used for gaming, socialising or e-commerce, can be embedded in a webpage, facebook profile or blog.

"We are out to democratise virtual worlds and bring them to absolutely anybody," said Mr Koster, founder of Areae, the company behind Metaplace.

"You can come to the site, press a button and have a functioning virtual world that supports multiple users in about 30 seconds."

Web puzzle

Second Life is one of the most popular virtual worlds

There are already a number of popular virtual worlds such as Second Life, There and Entropia Universe. In addition there are games worlds such as World of Warcraft (WOW).

Most of these require a person to download specialist software or buy a game and there are no links between the different universes.

"They're all walled gardens," said Mr Koster.

In contrast, Metaplace is entirely web based and connections can be made between all of the different worlds.

"We modelled this on the web," said Mr Koster. "You can think about each world being a webpage and every object within in it is a link."

Users can create the worlds using different methods.

People with no programming background can use the graphical interface and choose worlds from a number of templates, such as a shop or a puzzle game.

They can also clone worlds developed by other Metaplace users.

More competent visitors to the site can build a world from scratch using the tool's own programming language known as metamarkup.

The language is "platform agnostic", according to Mr Koster, which means that it can be used to create worlds which can run on anything from a powerful PC to a mobile handset.

User control

We want to see 10,000 virtual worlds so that lots of wild and crazy stuff gets made because that is the only way it will advance as a medium Raph Koster, founder, Areae

"Others may want to make a book club that is integrated with Amazon where people can get together and chat every Thursday night about a book but they can actually see the pictures of the books on the wall, click on them and buy them," said Mr Koster.

"The applications are pretty open."

When complete, each world is given its own page on the Metaplace website.

 More here

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(* Source: Mashable *)

ReverbNation has launched another new widget for bands and artists to promote themselves. Named TuneWidget, his widget nearly acts as a mini website in itself, offering all the necessary information for the band, including upcoming shows, song and video previews, and marked locations on a Yahoo map. The widget also displays band and information, like the band’s genre, location, label, and how many times the widget’s been played.

One unique and helpful feature the ReverbNation widget has is a “recommended band” display at the bottom of the widget. This lets artists cross-promote each other. Visitors can sign up for the mailing list from the widget, an grab the embed code to place it on their blogs or social networking profiles. Choose your network from the grab-it options the widget has for sites including Xanga, MySpace, and many more.

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(* Source : Adam Ostrow *)

MTV is launching a new social networking site later today, Think MTV. While most notable for being the first major initiative launched by Viacom using Flux (the platform technology the company acquired from TagWorld), the network itself will feature tools for users to rally behind major causes, such as improving education and AIDS research.

Currently, the MTV Think site features a variety of content for different causes such as top ten ways to help and public service announcement videos from celebrities. MTV has partnered with high-profile non-profits like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Case Foundation, and will be enlisting the help of charitable celebrities like Bono and Leonardo DiCaprio to help promote the network.

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(*Source : Kristen Nicole *)

Mixaloo is a site that lets you create a digital “mix tape.” Currently in private beta, I got to try it out for myself.

With this tool, you not only create mix tapes, but promote and sell them via widgets, earning you extra cash. With a library of about 3 million songs to choose from, Mixaloo is starting out with a hefty amount of music. And it’s not all indie. You’ll find most of your favorite artists, and depending on the record label, it looks like more artists have more songs available for resale through your widget.

Once you find an artist you’re looking for, you can then select the album, and then the songs. Searching for artists is easy enough: once you type in the first few letters of an artist’s name, Mixaloo will show a list of artists that match your query as you type. You’ll need at least 10 songs in order to create a mix for resale, and 15 will max out your mix tape. For each song you come across, you can listen to a sample of songs, see the album cover art, and see the runtime for each song. You can also name your mix tape, add cover art, choose from one of three widget designs, and edit things like text font, color and size for your cover art, and the widget color.

The widget itself is rather interactive, giving options to hear sample tracks, buy the entire mix, send it to a friend, or gift it to a friend. In order to buy or gift the mix tape, the buyer will need to create a Mixaloo account. Mixaloo keeps track of all the mixes you’ve created to sell, and those you’ve purchased. For promotional purposes, others can also grab the widget to place on their blogs or social networking profiles. As it’s powered by ClearSpring, there are easy, one-click options for the widget to be added to the various networks including LiveJournal, Blogger, MySpace, Facebook and more.

In some senses, Mixaloo can be used as a way to discover new music, especially as an artist you can submit your content to be sold through Mixaloo. In other ways, it’s limited, as you don’t really interact with songs on an individual basis, and there’s no social networking involved for deeper sharing options.

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(* Source: Techcrunch *)

Michael Arrington says:

We’ve been tracking emerging mobile-only social networks such as ZYB and Mocospace and Mig33. All have unique selling points (Mocospace is dead simple to use, ZYB has a rich set of potential users from their address book backup service, and Mig33 has a VOIP tool that has attracted over seven million users), but there’s one solid gold feature that none yet have: physical presence detection and information exchange with other users.

This is the Holy Grail of mobile social networking, and one of the main reasons for taking the networks off the desktop/laptop environment in the first place. Imagine walking into a meeting, classroom, party, bar, subway station, airplane, etc. and seeing profile information about other people in the area, depending on privacy settings. Picture, name, dating status, resume information, etc. The information that is available would be relevant to the setting - quick LinkedIn type information for a business meeting v. Facebook dating status for a bar.

Knowing when your friends are around, and having the ability to meet new people who share your interests (even if it’s just that you are both single), will drive massive usage of networks. But, as with many new services, a chicken and egg problem looms. Until everyone is using this, there is no real reason for anyone to use it. Meetro, an instant messaging service that finds friends based on location, has struggled to gain users over the last couple of years for this reason.

Technical barriers aren’t an issue - cell phone tower triangulation and bluetooth solve a lot of the problems of locating users and transmitting information between phones. What’s harder is just plain getting a critical mass of users.

The Failures

There is a trail of failed attempts at getting this right. Nokia released Nokia Sensor nearly three years ago. It broadcasts information about yourself to others via bluetooth. Never heard of it? Neither has anyone else, although it is still available for download. Google’s Dodgeball is another example that’s fallen flat - it tells friends (and friends of friends) who are within 10 blocks of you where you are and what you are doing.

The New Experiments

A bunch of new startups are giving this a shot, too. In a post yesterday TechCrunch UK mentions Germany’s Aka-Aki, Paris-based Mobiluck and MeetMoi (the lone U.S. startup). Another startup is Copenhagen-based Imity. It’s not surprising that most of the innovation is occurring in Europe. The current approach is to get java-based software on the phone - very few U.S. carriers and handsets allow user-based installs of java apps.

More here 

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(* Source: IMediaconnection.com *)

Krisserin Canary says:

Coca-Cola has embraced social networking, expanding its online strategy with a new Cherry Coke MySpace campaign. Shane Steele, Coca-Cola's director of emerging media and online advertising, discusses the company's new approach to Web 2.0.

Shane Steele is Coca-Cola's director of emerging media and online advertising.

Krisserin Canary: The new Cherry Coke campaign  is indicative of a move towards more interactive and involved MySpace campaigns. How did you approach creating this campaign? What were your priorities?

Shane Steele: Our main priority was to generate awareness and excitement with the relaunch of Cherry Coke and launch of Cherry Coke Zero amongst today's multicultural youth. Social networks offer an amazing opportunity to engage our target audience and communicate with them on their own terms. We needed to break-through the clutter and contemporize the brand by speaking to our consumers in a relevant and meaningful way. We understood the influence of the MySpace community and we wanted to give one lucky teen the chance to own it. We wanted to empower self-expression, inspire creativity and enable teens to showcase their passion for the Cherry Coke brand.

More here

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(* Source : The Guardian *)

28 Weeks Later

Richard Wray says:

Next week's DVD release of the zombie-flick 28 Weeks Later will bring a revolutionary marketing widget, widely used in Japan, to the UK for the first time.

The film poster contains a square box full of black and white dots known as a QR - quick response - code. It contains information that can be decoded by the camera on a mobile phone with the right software installed. A huge poster showing nothing but a QR code has already gone up in London's Shoreditch to advertise the DVD.

These "bar codes" are widely used in Japan to store everything from web addresses and phone numbers to product details. Rather than laboriously typing in a person's phone number or an internet address into a phone, these codes give one-touch access to a wealth of information that can then be stored on a phone.

Japan's immigration service even stamps passports with codes detailing passenger's names and visa status. The 28 Weeks Later codes include details of the DVD's release and links to other material on the internet.

While many top-of-the-range phones such as the Nokia N93 already contain readers, anyone with a camera phone can install software that reads QR codes from companies such as i-nigma and Kaywa. They can even create their own codes.

For the mobile industry QR codes are both a way of making it easier for customers to get to their favourite websites using their mobile and a possible way of generating mobile advertising revenues.

Industry experts believe the time is right for QR codes in the UK. Over half the UK's mobile users have one while 95% of new phones sold include a camera. The first generation of QR codes in this country, however, are likely to be significantly larger than the 1cm x 1cm found in Japan, because most British camera phones have a lower resolution than in Asia.

Philip Makinson, consultant at industry experts Greenwich Consulting, said QR codes are likely to be little more than a bit of fun in the short term but could attract consumers to do more than just make calls and send texts.

"QR codes could help drive not only the take-up of high-end camera phones but make more people aware of the mobile internet and more conscious of the potential their phone has to store information about products and services," he said.

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(* Source:News.com *)

Harrison Hoffman says :

Yahoo Kickstart connects college students with alumni at the companies that they are interested in. As you can see in the screenshot above, this student's "in" at Nike is an alumni named Dave Bottoms. Dave has expressed an interest in helping out students and connecting with alumni. He also knows one of your friends, went to your school, and shares a common interest with you. That's a really powerful networking tool. Presenting specific connections like this really adds a whole new value to this job network.

Aside from showing your "in," company pages also provide some useful information about the company as a whole, broken down into key points such as industry, size, location, contact, and description. Anyone who is connected in any way with that company is also displayed.

As you might also expect, everyone who signs up on Yahoo Kickstart gets their own profile page where they can build a mini resume and add a quotation to give the profile a more personal feel. Everything here is pretty standard for a social network, but there is a definite professional focus, much like LinkedIn. The personal profile isn't anything revolutionary, but it certainly gets the job done in this situation.

The third and final main component to Kickstart is the university page. This is very similar to what Facebook does with their "network" pages. It displays some basic information about the school and provides space for discussions, bulletins, and events.

Yahoo Kickstart is currently a concept and is being researched, so the things that you see in these screenshots may or may not make it into the final product. When I asked Yahoo for a comment on the service, they responded by saying,

"...We're continually checking the pulse on customer response to potential concepts on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes our research leads to the development of new product offerings, but not all concepts we research are formally developed and rolled out to our larger audience.

I personally think that Kickstart is a really solid concept and that it's a possible game changer in the professional networking space. Hopefully we'll see Yahoo kickstarting some careers in the near future.

Posted by brian tiong at 04:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: BusinessWeek *)

Neal Sandler says:

The startup proposes video sharing on mobile handsets—already, Universal Music Group is on board

The idea for his new startup came to Jon Medved two years ago at London's Heathrow Airport when he was trying to reach the Hertz (HTZ) call center. While waiting on hold, the Israeli venture capitalist was forced to listen to audio ads from Hertz about the various cars available. It suddenly struck Medved that it would be far more effective for Hertz to serve up images or even videos of cars.

Thus was born the idea behind Vringo, a startup launched last year by Medved and David Goldfarb, a leading Israeli mobile software expert. The idea is to capitalize on the popularity of social networks and digital video, marrying them with the phenomenon of downloadable audio ringtones—a business that already racks up $6 billion in annual revenues for mobile operators and content owners worldwide. Medved describes Vringo as a "sort of ICQ [instant messaging] combined with a personalized YouTube (GOOG) on your cell phone."

With conventional audio ringtones, customers download a short music clip—say, the theme to Hawaii Five-O—onto their own phones. Whenever somebody calls, the song plays instead of a regular ring. Aside from some possibly annoyed people in the vicinity, the only person who enjoys it is the owner of the phone.

Vringo Defined

Vringo's video ringtones turn that model on its ear. To use the service, customers join the Vringo community for free and install a small piece of software onto their phones. Then, when one Vringo member calls another, instead of a ringtone, the recipient of the call is treated to a video clip chosen (and paid for) by the sender. Every call thus becomes an opportunity to share content and to establish identity—the wireless equivalent of the "hey, dude, check out this YouTube video" culture of the Internet.

If it catches on, Vringo has the potential to be about far more than just sharing clips, though. Advertisers are intrigued by the idea of using mobile phones to pitch their products; Vringo offers the possibility of adding viral marketing to the mix—essentially, having enthusiastic consumers spread the word for you. What's in it for Vringo users? Instead of paying for a clip, a caller might get five minutes of free talk time for sending his buddies copies of a new ad.

More here 

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(* Source: Mashable *)

Kristen Nicole says :

You no longer have to pimp your own profile to get new friends. Friendster’s offering a way to do it for you with its new Fan Profiles option.

With Friendster Fan Profiles, it’s taken the best tools of MySpace and Facebook and combined it to let you leverage a few new features in order to finally become popular. With your new Fan Profile, you can have an unlimited number of fan “friends” which will all be leveraged to get you new friends. So when someone joins your network of fans, all of their friends are then notified. Email alerts will go out to all of your fan “friends” every time you update your blog, or profile, add new photos or widgets.

There’s also a way to automatically accept fans into your network, and send out bulk invites to everyone in your various email accounts. Friendster has even sweetened the deal by offering some on-site and newsletter promotion and web search optimization. The biggest distinction between your regular profile and a Fan Profile is the fact that your fans and your real friends will be kept separate, so you’ll essentially have a profile for personal purposes, and another for promotional purposes, similar in concept to what CollectiveX has recently done with its site update.

What Freindster has done in actuality is add in all the features you should already get with a social network, and wrapped it up in a pretty box with a “Fan Profiles” label on the side. So far there are several branded Fan Profiles from bands, models, etc. including Mandy Moore, Korn, and even Ask Ninja. And be warned: once you convert your profile into a Fan Profile, it cannot be reverted back to its regular state. You’ll be destined for popularity till the end of all time!

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 (* Source: Tameka Kee *)

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(* Source: 901am.com *)

Cristina Ledesma says:  

Shockwave, one of MTVN Kids and Family Group’s leading sites for casual gamers, announced an agreement with Nokia to deliver Shockwave’s portfolio of Flash Lite mini games to consumers through the Nokia Content Discoverer client, embedded in millions of Nokia devices available in markets around the globe.

The agreement, which represents the first instance of a branded Flash-based games catalog on Nokia handsets, will offer Nokia consumers across multiple countries in Europe and Asia a quick and fun casual gaming experience on their mobile device. Initially, Shockwave will make available more than 20 games from the Shockwave Minis catalog, including Downhill Train and newly created games such as Happy Hours. Games based on popular MTV Networks properties will launch in the future.

“Nokia is pleased to offer the Shockwave Minis line-up of Flash Lite games to our customers,” said Damien D’Souza, head of branded content, Forum Nokia - EMEA. “Shockwave Minis make it easy for mobile handset owners to jump in and experience a fun, casual game playing experience, at a great value.”

Posted by brian tiong at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: Chrysi Philalithes *)

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 (* Source: Michael Estrin *)

Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH) is betting that apparel will be a good fit for the emerging social networking space. The company has created a social network around Arrow, one of its oldest and best known brands for men's shirts.

In a $20 million print, TV and internet campaign, Arrow will encourage users to go to weareellisisland.org to share their own stories of how their family immigrated to the U.S.

Arrow, which has been in business for more than 150 years, prides itself on the tagline "Authentic American Style."

Michael Kelly, PVH executive vice president of marketing, told The Wall Street Journal the site would succeed only if it had good content, but pointed out that Arrow is committed to encouraging users to talk about values that matter to them, not the clothes specifically.

In recent months, more than a few big brands have used social networks to boost their image. In June, Coca-Cola launched Sprite Yard, a mobile social networking community. Earlier this year, Proctor and Gamble worked with Yahoo! to create a social networking area for women to talk about pregnancy and weight loss.

Posted by brian tiong at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

 (* Source : Bayarsaykan Volodya *)

Instant messaging is said to be one of the most popular forms of Internet communication for teens today, beating out email thanks to the lack of spam and instant feedback. With SweetIM adding support for AIM today, we thought we’d take a look at how the IM market is shaping up.

And for those who think 90+ IM clients are too many for anyone to handle, we wholly agree: that’s why a good number of these are actually tools to aggregate all your IM buddies in one place.

Popular IM Clients

Google Talk - use GTalk for your voice calls, voice messages, file transfer and Gmail notifications

Skype - high quality calls to anyone, anywhere in the world

Yahoo! Messenger - an official messenger for Yahoo! users, free to use but advertising-supported

AOL Instant Messenger - communicate with AOL registered users via text, voice, and video

Windows Live Messenger - connect and share instantly on the world’s most popular IM network

ICQ - the world’s first instant messaging program

mICQ - a free text-based ICQ client that runs on a wide variety of platforms

Licq - a free clone of the ICQ client for Linux other Unix systems

aMSN - a free and open source MSN Messenger clone for Linux users

JMSN - a pure Java MSN Messenger clone, with many interesting features that MSN doesn’t have

CSpace - secure and peer-to-peer communication to chat or transfer files

Coccinella - a free Jabber/XMPP client with a built-in white board for improved collaboration with other people

Emesene - a MSN Messenger client with a simpler GUI and a nice look

Gajim - a full-featured and easy to use XMPP client for gnome users

GOIM - allows users to chat within DirectX games

mcabber - a small console-based Jabber client that runs on Linux and Mac OS X

Gadu-Gadu - the most popular IM in Poland

Exodus - a Jabber client which is small, fast, easy to use, and looks good

Retroshare - communicate and download files from friends of friends

naim - a console based multi-protocol client with features like peer to peer encryption and module support

Gossip - an instant messaging client for Gnome users, with chat history search

MessageMate - commercial IM platform that provides end-to-end security; interoperable with AIM, ICQ, Yahoo and MSN

Papla Instant - use it on your PC and mobile phone

Mercury Messenger - a full featured Windows Live Messenger client, offers several extra features which are not implemented in MSN

Psi - small, fast Jabber client

Spark - free and open source IM with built-in support for group chat, telephony integration and strong security

Jabbin - free Jabber client that enables free calls using VoIP

YSM - full-featured console-based ICQ client

MySpaceIM - the official instant messaging client for MySpace

OneTeam - IM client is XUL based, so requires Firefox 2

Microsoft Messenger for Mac - the official Mac client for MSN Messenger, but the feature list is limited

Xfire - chat with contacts inside the game, without the need to minimize the game windows

Pandion - Jabber client which supports plugins to extend its features

BitWise IM - a secure, cross-platform client that encrypts all data sent between users

Multi-network IM Clients

Pidgin - most popular, free, multi-platform IM client that supports most of the IM protocols

Miranda IM - lightweight, resource efficient and easy to use client with powerful plugin support

Ayttm - in case of a service failure, this will automatically fall back to other service protocols of the same person you are chatting to.

Trillian - a Windows application that can connect to multiple IM services, with nice features like Metacontact, Instant lookup, and Emotiblips

meetro - find and chat with people nearby, i.e. location-aware client

IMVU - 3D chat which enables you chat in 3D scenes with your own avatars

Kopete - KDE application, provides users with a single, easy-to-use way to access all of their instant messaging systems

MECA - connect to all of your friends on AIM, MSN, Yahoo! and ICQ from just one list

Centericq - text based multi protocols IM client

Proteus - popular client for Mac OS X that supports multiple protocols

Instan-t - Windows client that allows users to communicate with MSN, AIM, Y!Messenger, ICQ and its IM networks

iChat - IM Client from Apple for Mac OSX

Universal Messenger Plus - a single convenient interface that allows you to easily communicate over different protocols.

Qnext - share your music, photos, and files with anyone, instantly while talking via IM

Aduim - free client for Mac users that can connect to most of the popular messaging services

BitlBee - IRC clients with support of IM protocols

Web based IM

meebo - the most popular third party web based instant messaging service

eBuddy - chat with your buddies using web and mobile versions

KoolIM - web-based IM that allows you to connect to your email inbox as well as popular IM networks

ILoveIM - another web based IM service with advertisements

IMhaha - supports Yahoo, MSN and AIM but not Google Talk

Goowy - more than just an IM client; offers e-mail, calendar, news, RSS, file storage and more

IMunitive - an alternative to meebo, but doesn’t support Jabber i.e. Google Talk

RadiusIM - web-based IM service with Google Maps integration, which means you can see where your friends are

MessengerFX - unofficial web based IM client for MSN Messenger

ICQ2Go! - web-based installation-free version of ICQ

SNIMMER - chat on MSN, Yahoo, AOL, ICQ and GTalk and make new friends by creating a profile with pictures

IMO - allows you to log in to all chat networks at the same time

Communicationtube - separate login for ICQ, MSN Messenger, IRC and Google Talk contacts

Express Instan-t - simple IM which works with ICQ, MSN and Yahoo

easymessenger - free instant messenger service with built-in RSS support that works with MSN, ICQ, AIM, Yahoo! and Jabber.

mabber - use it on your phone or put it on your website

MSN2Go - Java applet that enables you connect to MSN messenger service

Yafumato Web Messenger - free and open source web-based IM client that allows you to connect to AIM, GTalk, MSN, and Yahoo

MSN Web Messenger - the web-based version of MSN Messenger, without file sharing or video calls

Yahoo! Web Messenger - access to your Yahoo! messenger, chat with your friends and get notified when new email is received.

AIM Express - official web-based instant messenger for AIM

Google Talk via Gmail - chat with your GTalk contacts from Google mail

Mobile IM

Agile Messenger - user friendly all-in-one application for your mobile phone

Eqo - save up to 95% on calls, 70% on text messaging, integrates all of MSN, Yahoo!, GTalk, AIM, ICQ, and Jabber.

fring - use it as an IM client, but also for free calls over Wi-Fi, GPRS or EDGE

IM+ - All-in-One Mobile Messenger that works on any mobile device

OctroTalk - keeps you connected with your buddies, and works seamlessly over GPRS/EDGE/CDMA/Wifi/Bluetooth data connections

QuickIM - connect to public MSN networks using your cell phone with one time license fee

JiveTalk - connect simultaneously to AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, Google Talk, ICQ, and Jabber

Causerie - an easily configurable chat tool with simple-to-use user interface that work on Palm, Blackberry, Pocket PC, Symbian and J2ME enabled phones.

TipicME - J2ME-based Jabber client that is really well done and absolutely free

iSkoot - mobile application that allows you to connect by GPRS, 3G or Wifi and to speak or chat with all your contacts on Skype

MovaMessenger - a free mobile IM client, works with MSN, Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, and GTalk

Turbo MSN - a mobile MSN client for Nokia and Panasonic

Nimbuzz - call your IM buddies on their mobile or on their PC, chat with your IM buddies for free and send text messages for free.

Heysan - web based mobile messenger, compatible with most of the mobile phones including iPhone.

YehBA Mobile IM - allows you chat with your friends anywhere in the world, meet new friends across the globe through chat rooms, and have access to an unlimited number of fun services.

Palringo Vocal IM - transforms your mobile device into a walkie-talkie: communicate with a contact or a group at the touch of a button

MT Messenger - exchange messages using the most popular IM applications from MSN, Yahoo! and AOL

EpyxMobile - call all over the world from your mobile phone for SkypeOut tariffs

GoTalkMobile - Java application for J2ME enabled phones, allows you connect to Google Talk and Jabber

MSN Mobile - take MSN with you

Mundu - conference with your contacts across IM services in a single chat session

Posted by brian tiong at 04:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: Trendhunter.com *)

Surfing the web can be a lot of fun, but it’s even more entertaining when you can share the cool stuff you find with a friend. Problem is, there isn’t always someone with you. Physically, that is. You can check out pages with virtual friends online – every site you visit is a potential social encounter and chance to meet a like-minded person. All you have to do is download the software at Weblin.com and then, with each page you visit that is being viewed by another Weblin user, your customized avatar pops up at the bottom of your screen. Your little buddy will hang out there if you leave him alone, or you can interact with other visitors. “Weblin makes you and others on the Web visible as small avatars. There are others on the same page you are on right now. Weblin opens a new and exciting world on every website.”

More related articles

Posted by brian tiong at 03:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: 901am.com *)

As a major enhancement to the recently announced beta of the all-new Plaxo, the company today unveiled its next-generation social network, Pulse. Pulse pulls in “people feeds” from a large and rapidly growing list of sites, and enables conversations about the resulting content stream – within your family, around your circle of friends or across your business network. It dubs itself as a “true social network, that brings your address book to life with what the people you actually know and care about are creating, discovering, and saying online.”

Pulse is pioneering the concept of “people feeds,” which is the notion of being subscribed to the people in your address book, and then automatically receiving the content they choose to share with you from any of the various sites they use. The list of sites from which Pulse is aggregating such people feeds now includes: Amazon.com, AOL Pictures, Del.icio.us, Digg, Flickr, Jaiku, Last.fm, LiveJournal, MySpace, Picasa, Pownce, Smugmug, Tumblr, Twitter, Webshots, Windows Live Spaces, Xanga, Yahoo! 360, Yelp, and YouTube. Many more are on the way, thanks to user-centric sharing policies and open standards for exchange of data, including RSS, OpenID and microformats.

“Pulse represents the natural evolution of Plaxo,” said Todd Masonis, Founder and VP of Products. “It’s all about keeping you more richly connected to the people you actually know, by transforming your address book into a true social network for your real personal and professional relationships.”

Posted by brian tiong at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: Kristen Nicole *)

Multiverse, the company that lets you “network” your MMOGs, has released the Multiverse Platform, version 1.0. The service was previously available only in beta, in which 11,000 development teams participated from around the world.

This software solution will enable developers to essentially build their own virtual worlds. There are no upfront fees, and the software provides a common set of tools for developers to create their own massive games, lowering the technical barriers as well. This leaves us with a more affordable approach for game creation. Along with this release, Multiverse is launching its “Worlds in Progress” project, which is early prototype games and worlds that have been built on the Multiverse Platform. Players can access these prototype games and worlds, along with all the other games in the company’s network. Multiverse recently received $4 million in funding.

Posted by brian tiong at 01:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source : Kristen Nicole *)

Me.dium, the browser add-on tool that’s aiming for more social web browsing, has added its service to be available for Internet Explorer users. Previously only able to be used by Firefox and Flock users, Me.dium can now reach a much broader audience.

That’s not all that Me.dium has going on today. It’s also created a widget for users to display their live web in relation to themselves and their website. The widget is in javascript, and can be placed on your blog, or your personal website. It reflects your circle of Me.dium activity as a sort of “behind-the-scenes” look at what’s going on. See who’s visited your site, and enable you and your site visitors to check out the sites that other Me.dium users are visiting.

It makes sense that Me.dium has created a widget for its users, and it makes more sense for Me.dium users to interact with it, and less so for site visitors, as most of the connections found on the widget are not directly correlated with content found on the initial site. The majority of Me.dium’s service could eventually be incorporated in this widget, which would make it more interactive and that much more appealing. Me.dium received $15 million in funding earlier this year, and has thus far used the funding to begin competing with other social browsing tools, such as The Coop and Clutzr.

Posted by brian tiong at 01:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: Kristen Nicole *)

Oddcast, the developer of SitePal, is officially launching the Voki Platform, its free avatar builder. Read our initial review of Voki here.

The platform is for online communities to offer Voki avatars to their users, which can be placed on social networking profiles like MySpace, or sent via email and mobile devices. One benefit for the companies that implement Voki’s platform is the option of creating a branded playground for the avatars. Use the playgrounds for contests, discussion boards, and games as a social network for avatars within the existing community.

You’ll remember that Voki avatars are a bit more feature rich than Meez or WeeMee, in that you can add voice messages so that your avatar can speak. This is more similar to Gizmoz. Leave a voice message from your phone or microphone in order to make your avatar speak. In other avatar community news, SimpsonizeMe and Windows Live GoPets are both similar community offerings.

Posted by brian tiong at 01:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: Mediabuyerplanner.com *)

McDonald's is hoping to harness word-of-mouth with a new campaign in support of the launch of its new Chipotle BBQ Snack Wrap.

The campaign, which includes TV, radio, and print, in addition to its online elements, encourages consumers to send emails featuring Oddcast's talking avatars, writes MediaPost.

In the viral component of the campaign, a visitor to MySnackTime.com answers a series of questions and creates an avatar who then can be sent to friends. All the possible scenarios focus on the theme of inviting friends to join in a Micky D's snack time.

McDonald's also sent Snack Teams to hand out cards good for a free wrap to pedestrians on the streets of New York, L.A., San Francisco, Chicago and Miami.

Posted by brian tiong at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: Drew Neisser *)

Since social networking hit its tipping point, mainstream websites are cannibalizing eachother and fighting for members. The future leaders of the pack have gotten smart and developed niche sites that slice the pie into tiny, yet dedicated, slivers. What follows -- in alphabetical order -- are some of the most promising examples of, dare we say, social networking 2.0, as selected by the marketers at Renegade.
These rankings were principally subjective, based on our intuitive understanding of the social networking universe coupled with extensive industry research. Our information sources include syndicated research data and extensive conversations with media reps and several trade publications.

We've included Nielsen//NetRatings unique visitor estimates when available.

Now let's take a look.

aSmallWorld
Membership with the most exclusive social networking site on the web has its privileges. aSmallWorld is an invite-only space for wealthy jet setters and bold-faced names. You'll need to know someone on the inside -- like for instance Tiger Woods, Ivanka Trump, Paul Allen or Naomi Campbell -- in order to cadge an invite. The philosophy is that most people in the world are separated by no more than six degrees, but to get into aSmallWorld, you need to be within three degrees of the elite. Once on the inside, members gain access to private villa parties in Capri, masked balls in Hamburg and polo matches in Buenos Aries.

The founder, a Swedish count, wanted to aggregate the world's most interesting people sharing the world's most interesting information. He figured that in a safe, exclusive environment, the hoi poloi will be more willing to open up and share info with each other, like where to find the best sushi in Tokyo, the best nannies in Manhattan or an Aston Martin for sale. Unlike most social networking sites, membership skews older; 90 percent of users are older than 24.

For marketers, aSmallWorld is like shooting goldfish in a barrel. High-end, luxury brands like Diane von Furstenberg and Moet & Chandon can speak directly to the elite by buying ad space on the site. The psychological drive for exclusivity and status that fuels the popularity of the site also fuels demand for the luxury goods that advertise there.

Buzznet
Estimated unique monthly visitors: 627,000

Buzznet is a site for passionate fans who want to spread the gospel of their taste. Everything is oriented around voting, rating and ranking pop culture by assigning "+Buzz" points to things you find relevant (e.g., "5 songs that changed my life;" "this week's top bands;" "celebrity playlists"). Each week, the members, photos, celebrities, songs, videos and tags that garner the most "+Buzz" points are prominently featured.

Buzznet is an outlet for the heady, breathless enthusiasm typical of a kind of hyperactive sophomore girl who can be heard shrieking about how amazing this or that band is in every high school cafeteria across the land. Sites like Buzznet underscore the radical shift underway in how people form opinions about and attachments to brands. Finding and rewarding a cadre of highly vocal brand cheerleaders to indirectly promote your brand is now a cottage industry within marketing.

Gaia Online
Gaia Online is Second Life for comic book and anime fans, complete with pastel lighting, big-eyed avatars, Hobbit huts, fairy wings and magical wolves. Fantasy role-play is par for the course.

With nearly 2 million unique visitors logging onto the community every month, Gaia bills itself as the world’s most active online community. Sites like Gaia that attract and cater to a very specific interest group demonstrate that no matter how niche a product is, there will always be an online community of potential users.

Posted by brian tiong at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: Roy Carthy *)

Tel-Aviv based MeeMix launches its beta program today. Like Pandora, MeeMix is a community music/Internet radio service for the 15-35 demographic. The idea being that any user can create a highly personalized, taste-based music channel with minimum fuss. The major differentiation between MeeMix and Pandora or Last.fm is the way it goes about forecasting personal taste.

Typically, there are two ways to perform such predictions:

1. “Nature” (Pandora) – Decision making is based upon on the compatibility between one song and another—personal taste not being part of the equation.
   
2. “Nurture” (Last.fm) – Decision making is based upon a environmental factors—song compatibility not being part of the equation

Steve Krause wrote a great post about Nature vs. Nurture in the music space.

Like Pandora, MeeMix breaks down each song, artist and user down to an elemental level. Then its recommendation engine analyzes the combination of a user’s profile, music selection and behavior to create a customized radio station. In my personal tests, MeeMix’s music selection was near perfect.

MeeMix has a rich social networking feature set, including reviews, thoughts (public user postings), secrets (private user postings), etc. The most important of these features in my opinion is being able to listen to the same song as other channel subscribers in real time. And for the egomaniacs in our audience, you can even print off a t-shirt with your channel name and number of subscribers (courtesy of the Zazzle API).

MeeMix was founded in mid-2006 by CEO Gilad Shlang, formerly the User Experience Manager at 888.com, and Dr. Ricardo Tarrasch (Chief Scientist), also formerly of 888.com with a doctorate degree in Biopsychology. The two possess in-depth experience in creating and leveraging user experience and communities based upon algorithmic forecasting. The company is funded by angels and currently employs a team of 9, including the former lead developer of ICQ, musicologists, and a community/SEO specialist.

The business model is currently based on album sales and will expand to songs, ringtones, and ads. Seeing as there’s so much algorithmic magic under the hood, I won’t be surprised if in a year or two licensing its engine will become MeeMix’s core business.

Posted by brian tiong at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source:Kristen Nicole *

Goombah, the social music discovery site, now lets you vote for and download tracks from the 3rd annual Starbucks Music Makers Competition. The 49 semi-finalists have been announced today.

The online contest portion of the contest is powered by Goombah, and is extending voting rights to users. Listen to the music of the semi-finalists and vote for who you like best. Download the tracks that you like as well. Included in this promo is a Starbucks radio player, which has been created by Goombah. Email the player out to friends or put it on your MySpace, hi5 or Piczo profile.

The competition will take place at 7 different Starbucks locations in August and September as well, and the finalists will be chosen from both the online voting and the decision from the judges. The final performance will take place on October 11, 2007 at Hard Rock Cafe in Boston. The musicians that are participating will be able to extend their reach and hopefully jump start their career as well, given the distribution network of Starbucks and its dedication to indie artists.

YouTube is also holding a music contest, allowing submissions from users, and Babelgum has been partnering with several film festivals in a similar manner to how Goombah has teamed up with Starbucks.

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(* Source: Kristen Nicole *)

Wikia is teaming up with Playxpert, the provider of in-game community management tools, to launch the Playxpert Wikia widget.

What Playxpert does is offer an in-game tool that appears as a semi-transparent overlay that displays as you play your game. It is widely used with the MMOG market, and enables players to communicate with each other via forums and chat, as well as manage their music or monitoring system diagnostics. It’s a customizable tool that lets users pick and choose what feature to include for a particular game. This widget, now combined with Wikia, will offer wikis for group collaboration efforts as well. Users can share stories and game information, track history, and leverage the larger community without leaving the game. The new widget will be available for download later this afternoon.

In other MMOG news, Curse and Guildcafe have both raised funding for their gaming networks, and further, Curse has added several social networking tools on its site, also partnering with Wikia.

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(* Source: Kristen Nicole *)

comScore has released the results of a study regarding the global reach of major social networks, indicating that these networks have had substantial growth in the past year.

MySpace tops the charts with over 114 million global visitors age 15+ in June, 2007. This is a 72% increase from last year. Facebook had more growth than MySpace, with a 270% increase, going up to 52.2 million visitors. Bebo is up 172% reaching 18.2 million while Tagged has seen the highest growth factor, up 774%, gaining 13.2 million visitors. comScore notes that this global growth means that online social networking is not a fad, but a larger expression of global Internet culture that’s becoming more integrated every year.

The report also highlights a trend we’ve already been alerted to–Bebo dominating in Europe while MySpace and Facebook hold the top spots in North America. Also noted in this report is the trend that major social networks appeal to certain groups, allowing them to become popular in different regions. This shows, on a geographical scale, the correlation between physical communities and online networks.

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(* Source: eMarketer *)

Some MySpacers never log off.

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 (* Source: Robert Levine *)

EMusic, the nation’s second-largest online music seller after Apple’s iTunes, plans to announce a deal with AT&T today that will allow people to buy songs from independent labels through their cellphones, without the need to go through a personal computer.

Several services, including those run by Sprint and Verizon, let people buy songs directly over the air. But they focus on songs by mainstream performers like Prince, who has a deal with Verizon. EMusic sells music only from independent labels, a category that these days includes the new album from Paul McCartney as well as obscure punk bands. The arrangement with AT&T Mobile Music will make those songs available just as easily as the more conventional ones.

Nearly all of the 2.7 million tracks eMusic has the rights to sell will be available through the service, which will work on several handsets by Samsung and Nokia.

“We know that we have a lot of customers in the segment that eMusic is trying to reach,” said Mark Collins, vice president of consumer data services for AT&T’s wireless unit.

Record labels have long believed that selling songs in mobile phone-based music stores will encourage impulse purchases. EMusic will encourage consumers to browse, reading about bands and hearing snippets of songs to discover music they might like.

Tracks will cost more than they do over the Internet — $7.49 for five songs, as opposed to $9.99 for 30 at the online site — because of the expense of sending them over a mobile network to a user’s phone. For that price, however, users can also get another copy of the song, which they can download from the Internet as an MP3.

EMusic, which is owned by Dimensional Associates, the private equity arm of JDS Capital, currently has a marketing deal with AT&T to encourage consumers to “sideload” their phones with MP3s from its existing Internet store — meaning that they can plug their phones into their computers to transfer the music. But this will be its first time selling music on a mobile network.

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Music mogul Sean Combs is looking for an assistant, but don't send a resume. The star is accepting only video applications uploaded onto YouTube.

Combs, known as Diddy, videotaped a help-wanted ad on the popular video Web site hoping to find a helper to replace his former assistant, who did everything from holding his umbrella in the rain to playing chaperone to his hip-hop group Da Band.

While Combs declined to comment on why he chose YouTube instead of a job-recruiting site like Monster.com, he offered some explanation in the video.

"It's a new age, new time, new era," he said in his first posting, a minute-and-a-half clip of him yelling behind his desk. "Forget coming into the office and having a meeting with me and being all nervous."

Hopefuls must audition by posting a video that is less than three minutes long explaining why they deserve the job. Initially, Combs opened it to anybody with a camera or a little creativity, but in a second posting, narrowed the applicant pool to only college graduates.

Combs's two short video clips did not provide a job description or list of qualifications. But if his previous actions are any indication of what the new assistant can expect, the job could be very demanding.

Combs once made members of Da Band walk from Manhattan to Brooklyn to fetch him a slice of cheesecake. And his last assistant, whom he named Fonzworth Bentley, became famous as the umbrella-toting manservant often seen fluffing Combs's bow ties on the red carpet. Bentley, whose parents named him Derek Watkins, has turned his job as Combs's assistant into endorsement deals, a record contract--and a line of umbrellas.

"What better job than that to have me scream at you, go crazy, keep you up at late hours, have you sleep-deprived?" Combs asked.

More than 600 people have submitted videos.

John Challenger, chief of the recruiting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said Combs's online video search is more than a ploy to get attention. More applicants are adding video clips to their applications. "It helps put a face to all the faceless resumes," he said.

Viewers will pick the finalists on YouTube, but Combs will pick the winner.

"It's an interesting way to engage his fan base, and it's a creative way to do it," Challenger said. "It's like 'American Idol,' and you can only choose one."

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 (* Source: Ypulse *)

According to the teen panel at YPulse, yes.

Social networks are the new hubs and operating systems. Facebook and MySpace messages are the new email. Teens check these sites several times a day as opposed to that many times a week. “Even then, my emails are all from Facebook,” said one girl on the panel. Some even call it “email.” “I use it to communicate with adults, but hardly ever with friends” said Ashley Qualls (right), and that was the consensus.

This anecdotal evidence is backed up by the latest report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. According to their overview, 91% of all social networking teens say they use SNS like Facebook, MySpace and MyYearbook to stay in touch with friends they see frequently, while 82% use these sites to stay in touch with friends they rarely see in person. 72% of all social networking teens use these sites to make plans with friends.

Call for an SNS Client
As Social networks threaten AOL and Microsoft, the question is raised of compatibility. Just as IM clients like Jabber, Adium and Pidgin amass all your IM addresses into one central server, social networks need a similar aggregator. With the proliferation of niche SNS, teens are signing up for them like clubs on the first day of school. Join as many as you can and see what sticks. As such, they are also impermanent, unlike phone numbers or addresses for adults. This causes the digital drop-off effect (to coin a phrase). A friend can leave a social network and be impossible to find again. Until all social networks open their APIs like Facebook, though, this may be long way off….

IM Texting U
Alternatively, teens use IM for friend-to-friend messaging. A friend’s little brother actually asked his prom date out over AIM (where’s the romance?) But Aseem Badshah from Scriptovia (left) boldly declared that even “IM is dead”–that texting has taken its place. Aseem sleeps with his phone under his pillow and even takes it into the bathroom while he showers. Catherine Cook admits to sending over 1,000 texts a months, often typing away at the dinner table. Indeed,  more than 158 billion text messages were sent in the U.S. in 2006. We’re guessing a good portion where over pot roast.

The Hard Cell
The mobile panel later in the day spoke about SNS opportunities via mobile—definitely an emerging space (check out VelvetPuffin). 73% of teens ages 13-17 are sending text messages from their cell phones. 40% of teens have downloaded apps to their phones, such as Facebook. But right now, only 20% of teens have e-mail on the handset. For this to truly evolve, data plans need to come down in rates (ad-based models? Check out Mobile Campus), and mobile phones need to be more, well, mobile.

 More here

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(* Source: Nextgreatthing *)

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(* Nextgreatthing.com *)

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(* Source: Kristen Nicole *)

Constant Comedy is a new site that’s launched as a niche project for Crea8tivity, the content-sharing site.

The main differentiating factor of Constant Comedy is its live comedy show, where you can view ongoing videos and give your vote. This is an interactive tool, so other users and site visitors participating in the live comedy show will be able to view and vote along as well. There’s a live chat option included in this, though you’ll need to register to vote and chat. After a clip has played for 20 seconds, viewers will be allowed to vote. If the overall rating falls below 30%, the clip will be voted completely off the show, and the next clip will play. A “crowd” bar displays below the currently playing video so you can see how well each clip is doing.

The other aspects of Constant Comedy make for a good social network that revolves around niche content–view video clips from other users, vote and comment, bookmark your favorites and become a fan to the comedians you like best. Make friends, submit your own content, and see who tops the leaderboards. Stay updated with the programming guides, too. Jellyfish and SoLow are sites that incorporate live activities for more interaction amongst users.

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(* Source: Kristen Nicole *)

Boo-box, the contextual marketing company, has raised $300,000 in a round of seed funding, led by Monashees Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm.

The funds will be used for product development and expansion of the Brazil-based company. The boo-box service lets you create contextually based content throughout your site, and when visitors click on the links, they will receive recommended items that are relevant to your site. These recommendations appear in a new box, and visitors can scroll through the items as they please. Publishers are rewarded when a visitor completes a purchase. Boo-box has global ambitions, and has launched its service here in the US as well. Similar services include Media River and Open ads.

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(* Source: Kristen Nicole *)

Buzzwire has launched its beta service for streaming mobile media. The service lets you create your own programming lineup and view it on your mobile phone. Buzzwire has received an undisclosed amount of funding by Matrix Partners and Spark Capital.

This service offers acess to a music and video library, which includes live Internet radio streams. The content provided through buzzwire comes from feeds found across the Internet. From international news to sports and entertainment, buzzwire is looking to provide content for all preferances. Content can be added to Buzzwire by users as well, via feeds. Search and collect the music and videos you like, and create your own streaming playlist of sorts. These playlists can be shared with friends as well.

The service will be offered through certain mobile networks, but will be available directly to consumers during the beta test phase. So far, Buzzwire works on most 3G phones, including the Motorola Razr, Samsung Sync and recent versions of the Palm Treo, and for a limited time is available directly to consumers. Buzzwire is scheduled to launch its service later on this fall, when access will be provided through select mobile providers.

While partnering with certain mobile networks can ensure face time with a large number of mobile consumers, limiting service to select carriers could hinder its growth potential in the end, and in some cases may compete with mobile networks’ own streaming content offerings, such as Verizon’s VCast Mobile.

Similar services include MeeVee and MyWaves.

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( * Source: Dan Tynan *)

First Facebook opened the dorms to the world; now it has turned them into a mini-mall.

Over the last nine months the social network has gone from being the online equivalent of a college kegger to the hottest new development platform on the web. When Facebook opened up its platform to independent developers in May, it became a hotbed for hungry startups eying the network's rapidly expanding base of 31 million members.

Instead of being a mere social network, Facebook's aim is to create a social operating system where e-commerce can thrive.

But can you run a business entirely on Facebook? According to a company spokesperson, some are doing it already, such as Lending Club, which facilitated $100,000 in personal loans via its Facebook application within a month of launching the app.

The commission on $100,000 worth of community loans isn't what's generating the buzz coming out of Facebook's Palo Alto headquarters, however. It's the ease with which Facebook apps can be developed, the speed at which they're being adopted and the attention they're getting. At press time more than 1,800 apps had been built in less than two months; nearly 30 of those apps have signed up more than a million users apiece.

"Facebook has to be the undisputed king of rapid distribution," says Max Levchin, CEO of Slide.com, whose Top Friends is Facebook's most popular third-party application. Roughly 9.5 million Facebook users have installed the app, which lets you give special billing to up to 32 friends on your profile.

Like many new Facebook apps, Top Friends is simple, free and aggressively viral. After you install it, you're prompted to invite all of your friends to do the same. As you add new names, it prompts them to install the app as well.

But as with human viruses, the ones that spread fastest often die off first, warns David Hornik, general partner for venture firm August Capital. Though bullish about the Facebook platform's potential, Hornik says it's far too early to tell which applications will have legs.

For the short term, Facebook will be more of a marketing medium than an e-commerce engine. MediaMaster CEO Neil Day sees Facebook apps as a way to acquire customers for his company's free music service, in the hopes of selling them a subscription down the road.

Consumers can upload their DRM-free music to MediaMaster's site and play them on virtually any connected device. Its Facebook app allows subscribers to put a MediaMaster "radio station" on their homepages and share it with others.

"The big attraction of Facebook is its demographically appropriate audience and its built-in viral distribution," Day says. "We look at it as a two-way street: We provide a compelling application for them, they help us build our initial user base. But I don't see any indication that users are coming to Facebook with their wallets open."

More here 

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(* Source: Kris Graft *)

Microsoft-owned in-game ad firm Massive Inc. has inked a deal with Electronic Arts that will bring dynamic ads to five high-profile titles.

Madden NFL 08 (Xbox 360, PC), NASCAR 08 (Xbox 360), NHL 08 (Xbox 360), Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (Xbox 360, PC) and Skate (Xbox 360) will all go live in the Massive Network this year.

Massive CEO Cory Van Arsdale added, “The addition of EA’s leading titles to our network represents a tremendous opportunity for brands targeting the youth demographic and sends a clear message that in-game advertising has arrived as a compelling medium for marketers.”

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(* Source: Kristen Nicole *)

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(* Kristen Nicole *)

Curse-Gaming, the game social network for MMOGs, has launched V4 of its site, and donned a new name.

Now called Curse, the latest version of this site has more social tools and is looking more to be a destination site for gamers. Some new features include MyCurse, highlighting social networking tools such as blogs, the ability to make friends, share files, and upload multimedia user-generated content. There’s also streaming video posting, and social bookmarking to track news within forums and blogs.

The Curse Client is a downloadable application that syncs with various games including Vanguard and World of Warcraft so users can grab screenshots, etc. The new Mini-Portals offer additional resources and add-ons for games, and the MMO Wikis, in partnership with Wikia, lets users better collaborate with each other.

In related news, GuildCafe has raised an undisclosed amount of funding for its MMG tools.

Posted by brian tiong at 01:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: Dennis Bouchand *)

MyLifeBrand, a social platform which allows users to aggregate and manage their favorite social networks, communities, services and friends on one site, announced today a new multimedia video platform, MyLifeTV.

The customizable multimedia platform enables any community on the social platform to create a fully community focused, immersive line up of video broadband channels for their specific community members. Additionally, community creators will have the opportunity to syndicate their channels into thousands of other target communities on MyLifeBrand, as well as more broadly across the Internet. This video platform will also provide some default channel content ranging from comedy to sports and lifestyle programming.

MyLifeTV provides users a unique experience specifically tied to whatever community they are a member of on the MyLifeBrand platform, and enables them to not only view, but organize, save, share and soon upload user inspired video content around a range of interests. MyLifeBrand has partnered with Brightcove and Revver, leaders in the internet video space to deliver the highly interactive MyLifeTV video platform.

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(* Source: 901am *)

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