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March 13, 2008

The Role of the Brand in Social Media Marketing

(* 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.

 

Posted by brian tiong at 01:08 PM | | Comments (0)

November 14, 2007

Bebo Open Media: Bebo Makes Its Platform Move


(* Source : Mashable *)

Kristen Nicole says : 

bebo logo

Today’s big announcement from Bebo is Open Media, a new platform that gives Bebo users the ability to include premium music and video content in their profiles. On the other side of the equation are media companies which are able to use their own branded video players without being charged for access to the Open Media platform. This means that partners can tap into Bebo’s 40 million users, give them content, carry their own advertising and retain all the ad revenue for themselves. Bebo has also had a redesign, as you can see from the screenshot below.

    bebo

In practice, this means that users will now have a Personal Video Profile, where they will be able to store their favorite videos and share them with friends.

Let’s hear that in marketingese (TM): Open Media offers users access to a lineup of high quality programs from professional broadcasters, independent producers and other rights owners, enhancing Bebo’s already-rich archive of user-generated content. Greg Clayman, Executive Vice President of Digital Distribution for MTV Networks says: “Bebo’s new Open Media platform allows us to distribute our content and our marketing partners’ messages in an environment where consumers can quickly and easily share it with others and forge even deeper communities around the programming they love.”

There’s an “intelligent content discovery mechanism” there, too, which will match users who have similar taste in music and videos. Users will also be able to receive online and mobile alerts when new content appears on the media channels they choose.

One of the most important aspects of Open Media is the fact that partners will be able to set up their pages and control how their content is distributed all by themselves. This will be done through “Channel Profiles”, which are new types of profiles designed to be used by media companies. Channel profiles include user comments, reviews, forums, blogs, promo materials, and cross-promotion from other media companies.

How does all this compare to Facebook’s recently announced Pages? You guessed it: it’s a very similar thing. We’ll see if advertisers prefer one over the other soon enough, but with Bebo’s slant towards videos, music and entertainment it seems that their intention is to carve a smaller, more focused niche for themselves.

Bebo’s Open Media partners currently include:

BBC
BSkyB
CBS
Channel 4
Crackle
Endemol
ESPN
FabChannel
ITN
JibJab
Kontraband
Last.fm
Ministry of Sound
MTV Networks
Music Nation
Next New Networks
Premium TV
SumoTV
Turner Broadcasting Systems
Ustream
VBS
Yahoo!

Some more screenshots below:

    Bebo exploreBebo music

Posted by brian tiong at 03:18 PM | | Comments (0)

BoomShuffle: Snocap’s Comeback Album?


(* Source : Mashable *)

Kristen Nicole says :
boomshuffle-l.png

Mixtapes are all the rage, and Snocap - which ran aground and fired most of its employees in October - isn’t missing a beat. It’s launching a new service called BoomShuffle, which is a mixtape service powered by Snocap’s Digital Registry. What you can do with this new feature is create online mixes from Snocap’s catalog of tracks, and then invite friends to collaborate on a mix by adding songs as well. Now you have a group effort that’s gone into creating the ultimate digital mixtape.

It’s drop-dead simple to create a mixtape. Give it a title and a description, choose a background, and search for songs. If you have anything less than 15 songs, then your mixtape will only play 30-second clips once it’s shared with friends or placed on the web. Otherwise Searching for music to add is pretty easy as well.

There are popular artists and albums for you to choose from immediately, search options for artist, album or song name, and genre searches as well. For a minute there, I thought that some of the default artists that displayed had been selected based on my mixtape’s title and description–wouldn’t that be cool? I could automatically get Michael Bolton search results if I title my mixtape “Corny Wedding Reception circa 1992.” Good thing there’s also a handy “commentary” section which will let you indicate your justification behind each song choice, which will all display on the widget as your songs play.

From there, you can invite friends via email or other Snocap users. Now they can add their choices to the mixtape. On the mixtape widget, there is a pretty comprehensive menu for artist and song info, purchase links, and even an option for site visitors to copy the mixtape for their own use. Other recent mixtape services include Fuzz and Mixaloo.

    boomshuffle-s.png

Editor’s note: apologies to Snocap for jumping the embargo on this: it’s already out on another site

Posted by brian tiong at 02:37 PM | | Comments (0)

November 09, 2007

New York Boy Creates Website to Track Down Missed Connection


(* Source : Wired *)

Jenna Wortham says :

Nygirlofmydreams

You: Blue gym shorts over dark blue tights, rosy cheeks and large flower pinned in hair.
Me: Tall, skinny, listening to my iPod. Did we share a moment?

If you’re anything like me and obsessively scan the missed connections section of the Craigslist personal ads, you know there are plenty of lonely hearts on mass transit (read: crazies). But Brooklynite Patrick Moberg took his personal ad one step further and created an entire site on Nov. 4, devoted to tracking down his mystery girl in hopes of a chance to know her name, and possibly a date. As luck would have it, the blogosphere worked in his favor, with the help of ample coverage and a follow-up video on video-sharing site Vimeo to further appeal to his missed connection (and demonstrate his sanity, no doubt).

According to a recent update to his site, a friend of the mysterious woman heard about the quest and connected the dots to reconnect Moberg with his dream date. The only potential caveat? Apparently Moberg is an employee of Vimeo. Provided this isn’t an elaborate ruse to drum up Vimeo site traffic using guerrilla advertising tactics, it’s enough to warm the heart of any geek looking for love in the technical age.

 

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

November 06, 2007

Starbucks, PepsiCo Bring 'Subopera' to Shanghai


(* 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.

[Subway]
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 

 

Posted by brian tiong at 04:56 PM | | Comments (0)

Kylie Konnects with Fans on the Handset


(* Source : NextGreatThing *)

Allison says :

kylie.jpg

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.

 

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

October 31, 2007

Who's Who in Mobile Worlds: 10 Plays to Watch


(* Source : Virtual World News *)

Obviously mobile tie ins for virtual worlds are a big deal. From a marketer's perspective, the best things about virtual worlds--their immersive, tight communities--suddenly become all pervasive. From a user's stand point, well, it's pretty much the same.  While the Yankee Group's recent study has had its math called into question, its argument that Anywhere Consumers will drive the future is still a compelling one. "Companies that provide remote access—through mobile devices or other means—to their web experience will have a greater impact than pc-centric companies," said Senior Analyst Christopher Collins. With companies from Sony and Microsoft to third-party hackers in Second Life looking at ways to give users another screen to head into the world on, it looks like consumers will have plenty of options. We present a round up of the major plays being made.

1. Sony's Playstation3 Home: Although it's been delayed until Spring 2008, this console-based virtual world has  a lot of people--both hardcore gamers and worldophiles--excited. Sony is working on tie ins to its games, portable devices, and marketing partners for business, but it wants to take all of those connections mobile. Executive Vice President Phil Harrison said ,"We have the Home client now running on a mobile phone. The touchpoints and community experience of home are expanding to the mobile environment." At the very least, users should be able to upload and download content like pictures from their phone to their Home.

2. Microsoft: No one knows what Microsoft's virtual world play will be, but at  the Virtual Worlds Fall Conference and Expo, Daniel Schiappa, Microsot's General Manager for the Strategy Entertainment and Devices Division, set out some plans for the future: "If a year from now we don’t have anything, then we probably won’t have anything." While Microsoft already has outlets in the Xbox 360 and PC, Schiappa said the company's goals would be to include all of its devices, including mobile.

3. Second Life: Linden Lab isn't doing anything official for a mobile client--at least that they've announced--but there's a flurry of activity out there for third parties to fill the gap. The ngi group's 3Di.jp released its Web-based application, Movable Life, earlier this month, which is also accessible through mobile applications. Comverse Technologies, though, was working on its mobile client back in February, and there's plenty more out there.

4. Habbo Hotel: Earlier this month, we reported that Sulake had 110,000 users on its experimental mobile client. At Virtual Worlds Fall, CEO Timo Soininen told us that the world had 120,000 users, and  Sulake had plans: "It's just been a research project up until now. We wanted to have a proof of concept to show it could be done. We're currently using the Nokia Symbian platform, so you need a Nokia phone. But it is exciting. We're discussing with various parties how to take it to a new height. Because it's clearly proven that there's demand. For Habbo we've had the basic technology for almost two and a half years, but the operating costs for data has been preventitively expensive up until now, especially with the young demo. And the technology reach for the young demo has been low, up until about a year ago. So it might go for a slightly older audience."

5. Disney: Disney's had its fingers in virtual worlds for a while, but it made a gigantic leap in August with its acquisition of Club Penguin. Tucked away in the press release for the sale was this tidbit: "Strategically, Disney plans to develop a Disney-branded connected entertainment network that allows users to access Disney-branded content, including virtual worlds and Disney.com games and videos, any time and anywhere, as well as communicate with each other across platforms, through a Web-based hub connected with PCs and mobile devices such as cell phones and game platforms." Disney  already has firm plans to create a sort of metaverse network for its Nintendo DS games with DGamer, which will allow users to "chat, create personal avatars and trade game-themed items, across the room or anywhere in the world with the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection."

6. Cyworld: In June the Cyworld US offices explained that they had plans to go mobile for the US market in the first quarter of 2008. Cyworld's parent company SK Telecom has a relationship with Sprint (via Helio) and T-Mobile USA’s parent company in Germany, so the corporate infrastructure shouldn't be too hard to put into place. In Korea, the mobile application has brought Cyworld 2.5 million users, so it's an understandable desire. “We’ve been dragging our feet on this, because we want to get it right," Cyworld USA Vice President of Marketing and Sales Michael Streefland told GigaOM . "We commissioned a research report to figure out what Cyworld Mobile would be in the U.S., and we’re still figuring that out.”

7. There.com: There doesn't seem to be any rush to go mobile, but when we spoke with CEO Michael Wilson in July he remarked that "We believe in extending the platform to as many devices as possible and to more light-weight devices. We’ll be making an announcement next month about lighter weight devices. The problem is that the just doesn’t have a good network. If we were in Asia it would be easier." We haven't heard that announcement yet, though, and There.com says there's nothing to report at this time.

8. Trion: When Trion received $30M in funding in July, CEO Lars Buttler said that the company is pursuing a technology that "essentially build games that are more real time and dynamic, so we can deliver storylines on a daily basis." The game will feature multiple channel-like components across multiple platforms, allowing users to access their information from PCs and mobile devices."

9. Moshi Monsters: These upcoming toys from MindCandy, I don't think, engage directly through a cell phone interface, but they do work with your ring tone. The Guardian reports, in Aleks Krotoski's take on mobile worlds, that the release asks users to "Clip your moshi monster to your bag or jacket, then relax and do whatever you want to do! When your mobile rings your MoPod magically springs to life!"

10. Everybody Else: Because no day is complete without a little rumor mongering, let's not forget that Google is supposedly  working on a virtual world, and it's set to make an announcement about its (separate?) mobile platform within a matter of weeks.

More seriously, mobile is booming as its own separate channel for entertainment, marketing, and engagement. In June Forrester reported  that 3 of the 15 largest interactive agencies in the U.S. see virtual worlds as having one of the greatest impacts on their design practices. But 12 of 15 see the mobile channel as significant. If virtual worlds want to go mainstream,  there's not a much simpler direction than mobile. And as more virtual worlds place a premium on casual elements, it seems like a sure thing.

Did we forget someone? Maybe. Do you know of more happening in mobile virtual worlds? Hopefully. Let us know.

Posted by brian tiong at 04:55 PM | | Comments (0)

October 30, 2007

CNN Goes Virtual

(* Source : Mike Shields *)

cnn-l.gif


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.

More here 

Posted by brian tiong at 11:51 AM | | Comments (0)

October 24, 2007

WSJ: Advertisers Should Look to Other Virtual Worlds


(* 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]

[Many Lives]

Posted by brian tiong at 10:32 AM | | Comments (0)

October 23, 2007

Glam vs. Geek?


(* 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).

More here 

Posted by brian tiong at 03:15 PM | | Comments (0)

October 22, 2007

New App Merges Facebook and Second Life

(* Source : Sean P. Aune *)

Second Life logo

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.

    Second Life Link

Posted by brian tiong at 11:50 AM | | Comments (0)

Over 6 million song plays on Ckrush through September


(* Source : Minic Rivera *)

ckrush.png

Ckrush Digital Network announced that it has recorded over 6 million individual song plays year to date through September 2007. The millions of song plays are happening at the Ckrush online music communities AudioStreet.net and MixStreet.net. AudioStreet.net is home to over 50,000 independent bands and music artists and MixStreet.net is home to over 20,000 DJs. As music-based social networks, AudioStreet and MixStreet are in one of the hottest sectors on the web and continue to establish themselves as important music communities.

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.

Posted by brian tiong at 11:29 AM | | Comments (0)

October 17, 2007

Napster relaunches with Web-enabled platform


(* Source : Reuters *)

Yinka Agedoke says :

Photo


 

 

 

 

 
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.

The move is intended to open up the service and attract more paying subscribers by making the Napster platform more flexible and compatible with any Internet-enabled device.

Before now most Napster subscribers could only listen to their music after downloading the Napster software application on to their personal computers. This is similar to a model currently used by Apple Inc's iTunes Music Store, which is the market leader with more than 70 percent of all digital music sales.

"With this new platform Napster can easily be integrated into consumer electronics devices or integrated into other Web sites such as social networking sites," said Christopher Allen, chief operating officer at Napster.

Napster sells a subscription service for $10 to $15 a month where users can stream or download an unlimited number of songs from its 5 million-strong library. But Napster's and other music subscription services have so far lagged behind larger rival iTunes, which uses a more traditional buy-to-own model. Itunes sells songs as permanent downloads at 99 cents each.

 

Posted by brian tiong at 11:28 AM | | Comments (0)

MySpace, Skype announce partnership

(* Source : Rachel Konrad *)


myspaceskype

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.

More here

 

Posted by brian tiong at 11:10 AM | | Comments (0)

MySpace in ad-supported music deal with Sony BMG


(* Source : Reuters *)

 Yinka Adegoke says :

Photo

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.

MySpace, the world's most popular social networking site, said on Tuesday it will share advertising revenue with Sony BMG, which will make its music videos and select audio material available on artists' profile pages to MySpace's U.S. users.

The site has acted as a promotional platform for artists, particularly new and upcoming bands. But to date, MySpace has played a minor role as a revenue source for major music companies.

Instead, MySpace, which says it has more than 200 million users globally including 70 million active users in the United States, has been accused of allowing its users to upload music without authorization.

Last year, Universal Music Group, the world's largest music company owned by Vivendi, sued MySpace for copyright infringement by enabling users to reformat videos to be played back or sent to others.

Sony BMG is the world's second-largest music company and a joint venture between Sony Corp and Bertelsmann AG. Like its peers, it is seeking new ways to make money amid a rapid downturn in CD sales. Sales of digital music have so far failed to make up the shortfall.

Sharing advertising revenue with Web sites that air its videos for free to consumers has been one of the new business models that music companies are exploring.

"This new effort is a great way to build new audiences for our artists, bring value to fans, and offer exciting new opportunities to advertisers," Thomas Hesse, president of global digital business at Sony BMG, said in a statement.

Last month, Warner Music Group and Lala.com said they were experimenting with selling music from top-selling artist James Blunt through his MySpace page.

Posted by brian tiong at 11:03 AM | | Comments (0)

October 16, 2007

The New Advertising Outlet: Your Life


(* 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.

STEVE SAENZ used to run a 10K race in 36 minutes. But last spring — 20 years, 2 children and 50 pounds later — he found himself seriously out of shape. A new Web site from Nike, he says, has brought him back on track.

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.”

More here 

 

Posted by brian tiong at 05:02 PM | | Comments (0)

fix8 Lands $3M for Webcam Avatars


(* 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.

Posted by brian tiong at 10:41 AM | | Comments (0)

China plans virtual world for commerce


(* 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."

More here 

 

Posted by brian tiong at 10:35 AM | | Comments (0)

October 12, 2007

Virtual Worlds Conference: Demographics And Numbers


(* Source : Worldsinmotion.com *)

Posted by Leigh Alexander :

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A panel at the 2007 Virtual Worlds Conference titled, 'Demographics and Numbers: Where Things Are and Where They're Headed' brought together Michael Cai, director of Broadband and Gaming at Parks Associates, Mary Ellen Gordon, owner of Market Truths Limited, and K Zero managing director Nic Mitham to parse out the demographics in the virtual worlds space.

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.

Chris Woodard contributed to this report.

More here 

Posted by brian tiong at 02:24 PM | | Comments (0)

Virtual Worlds Conference: Ironstar's Joakim Achren Talks Mobile Virtual Worlds

(* Source : Worldsinmotion *)

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It seems that mobile connectivity to virtual worlds is right on the horizon. But what about a virtual world actually self-contained in a mobile phone? At the 2007 Virtual Worlds Conference, Ironstar Helsinki CEO Joakim Achren demonstrated and discussed MoiPal, his company's mobile virtual world that works on basic Java handsets.

"The idea was like, your friend in the phone," Achren said. "It’s an avatar that lives in your cellphone." The mobile pal is controlled like a Sim, or a Tamagotchi. Achren explained that he got the idea from thinking of how adults have facebook and kids and 'tweens have Club Penguin -- but what about teens?

"They are usually not at home, but they always have a mobile phone with them," Achren noted. "And they usually have the best phones. It is a means of self-expression, like ringtones. But self expression should be more than just ringtones."

Achren did say that, as it happens only during idle time, gaming and social networking on a mobile platform still have to integrate with a website, especially since mobile phones have such restrictive memory. "Concentrate on using the mobile to do something simple and realistic," he advised. "You can’t just take Second Life and put it on a mobile -- except for Japan, maybe,” he joked.

“It has to be a personality extension... and it has to be free,” Achren continued, noting it's not generally a good idea to aim a subscription-based service to kids, since they probably won't even try it. Incentivizing free content is a much better method, he said.

Moreover, there are a lot of possibilities for the mobile platform. Achren highlights simple 2 or 3-dimensional content items that can be created on a phone without challenging the memory restrictions. There's also social networking. "You’ve seen Facebook on a mobile. It works pretty well," Achren said.

More here 

 

Posted by brian tiong at 02:18 PM | | Comments (0)

Gigya Offers Widget-Tracking Network


(* 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.

 

Posted by brian tiong at 12:29 PM | | Comments (0)

Music Gifts Facebook App Sends the Real Thing


(* Source : Kristen Nicole *)

music-gifts-l.png

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.

Posted by brian tiong at 11:19 AM | | Comments (0)

October 10, 2007

Second Life and IBM in open borders for virtual worlds


(* Source : Scott Hillis *)

Photo

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.

Currently, people who create a character, or avatar, in one virtual world cannot take that identity into another service.

Designing a detailed avatar can take well over an hour, so a closed system discourages customers from abandoning that investment. But it is also a barrier to growth since few people bother to start the process anew in multiple virtual worlds.

An open system would let people create one avatar that would keep the same basic appearance and customer data no matter where it was in cyberspace.

"It is going to happen anyway," said Colin Parris, IBM vice president of digital convergence. "If you think you are walled and secure, somebody will create something that's open and then people will drain themselves away as fast as possible."

Linden Labs, whose Second Life is one of the market leaders with about half a million active users, is betting that an open system will reward interesting worlds with more customers and punishes dull ones with an exodus of users.

But such a virtual passport system may be years away, if it doesn't first fall prey to the kind of conflicting interests that occasionally bog down efforts to draw up standards in the fast-changing technology industry.

More here 

Posted by brian tiong at 02:58 PM | | Comments (0)

Virtual Worlds News Interview: GoPets' Erik Bethke and Erin Hoffman


(* Source : Virtual World News *)

Last week we spoke to Areae President Raph Koster about his plans for Metaplace, the difference (or lack thereof) between virtual worlds and MMOGs, and his take on microtransactions. After watching him on a panel with GoPets CEO Erik Bethke, both fervently arguing for non-subscription-based revenue streams, we thought it'd be nice to follow up with Bethke. We're lucky this time to present a twofer, an informal email Q&A with both Bethke and Erin Hoffman, who, according to Bethke,  "works on blurred areas between game design and online marketing and points in between at GoPets." Both share their take on virtual worlds growth, community, and casual online worlds. "We're a hybrid between a social networking service, an online games portal, and a virtual pet game," said Bethke. "We have all the features that a Facebook or a Myspace might have, but on top of that we're really the best virtual pet simulation on the market, because our pets are actually alive, responsive, mobile, and full of their own initiatives."

irtual Worlds News: I'd like to talk about the Avatar Bill of Rights and why  you've decided to move in that direction.

Erik Bethke: As I said in my talk at Casual Connect, I really think that the  virtual world space is currently limited by its attitude toward user  rights. And I'm not alone in reaching that conclusion -- there's actually a virtual worlds bill of rights that predates my separate  theory. A lot of what we're doing with GoPets is looking forward into  the future of technology and how people interact online, and this is  another big step in that direction, really just being realistic about  what's happened in the past and what people naturally do when they become invested in a space, whether that's virtual or physical. If we can be aware of those desires and user motivations, we can do better business and make people happier at the same time.

VWN: You've been an outspoken proponent of real-money transactions. Based on your conversation from the AGDC, could you explain why?

Erin Hoffman: This year at GDC I talked to a roundtable of developers about item-based transactions and specifically real-money transactions. The item-based economy roundtables are always full to overflowing, but almost all the casual games groups were opposed to the idea of being realistic about currency with players. But I think in terms of a virtual world, and with women especially, being up front about real-life currency actually establishes trust with the player. Daniel James brought up a great point that iTunes is an item-based economy and deals in real-money transactions, yet is hugely popular, and you're still basically just getting ones and zeroes.

VWN: On a different note, could you talk about partnering with Windows Live Messenger. That's a really interesting way to look at distributing the virtual world, and I'd love to hear more about how users are taking to it.

EB: The users are really supportive and excited about this new  opportunity we have to reach a much wider audience. One of the best things about GoPets is the welcoming, friendly community that's grown up around the service, something that's been able to grow during our years of quiet development, and they're excited about making that community even bigger and more wide-reaching. Because we're a social network as well as a virtual pet service, the MSN partnership is a great fit, since users now chatting online via Messenger can get the visual reward of their own little piece of the virtual world, and their pet, which connects to the person they're chatting with.

Continue reading "Virtual Worlds News Interview: GoPets' Erik Bethke and Erin Hoffman" »

Posted by brian tiong at 01:27 PM | | Comments (0)

Google tools to power virtual worlds


(* Source : Daniel Terdiman *)

Google tools to power virtual worlds

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.

Virtual world images

"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 techn