(* Source: Erick Schonfeld *)
Erick says..
Founded by Tekin Tatar and Kemal Ozisikcilar, BeFunky offers two services: The Cartoonizer and Uvatar. The Cartoonizer lets you upload photos and give them a cartoon effect. Uvatar lets you create a more realistic avatar based on a photo. The startup is releasing a newly designed Website today, and upgrading its Uvatar service to make it more automated.
(* Source: b-side *)
I've been watch this social networking meets music space for some time (nearly 2 years now) and been on the side experimenting with blogs (blogger), various social networks (myspace, facebook) and now have launched our very own RightClicka widget.
Have a listen and drop us a few comments... enjoy the music.
(* Source: Gavin O'Malley *)
IN THE WORLD OF SOCIAL media, so-called "influencers" might have less clout than some marketers think.
According to a new study from Canadian research firm Pollara, self-described social media users put far more trust in friends and family online than in popular bloggers, or strangers with 10,000 MySpace "friends."
Of more than 1,100 adults polled in December, nearly 80% said they were very or somewhat more likely to consider buying products recommended by real-world friends and family, while only 23% reported being very or somewhat likely to consider a product pushed by "well-known bloggers."
"This shows that popularity doesn't always equate to credibility," said Robert Hutton, executive vice president and general manager at Pollara. "Marketers might have to reconsider who the real influencers are out there."
While resisting any cookie-cutter definition of "influencers," some experts on Wednesday did defend the basic connection between a blogger's popularity--measured by Web traffic and the frequency at which their site is linked to by other sites--and their credibility among consumers.
"There's some validation in the number of links and traffic someone gets," said Pete Blackshaw, executive vice president at the Nielsen Online Strategic Services division of the Nielsen Company.
Yet, added Blackshaw, "understanding real influence, you have to look at a number of factors from the type of audience someone attracts, where their expertise lies, and the context in which other sites are linking to them."
Another key finding by Pollara is the sheer number of consumers sharing their opinions online. In a similar study of some 1,800 adults, Pollara found that the majority considered social media channels--whether blogs, social networks, or community forums--important for sharing their thoughts on products, services, organizations, and brands.
Pollara found that 57% of those 18-to-34 deemed social media tools very or somewhat important for sharing such opinions online.
What's more, 59% of respondents considered social media very or somewhat important in learning about products, services, organizations, and brands.
Overall, social media remains chiefly a mode of communication and personal expression, rather than a source of credible information. A full 68% of users employ social media tools to connect with friends, while 44% use them to be heard.
Notably, more users believe online forums are a reliable source of information than those who do not--44% to 15%--demonstrating the unique market position held by popular voter-based recommendation sites likes Digg.com and Yelp.com.
(* Source: PSFK *)
Christine Huang say...
Last week, outspoken network-theory scientist Duncan Watts brought to life his argument against Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point at the offices of Fast Company. Watts, who’s currently working with Yahoo in lieu of his regular gig at Columbia, argues that the “influencers” whom Gladwell claims, in essence, make our world go ’round, are no more influential than ordinary, non-node individuals. Anthropologist (and PSFK Conference speaker) Grant McCracken was at the talk and offers some interesting commentary in response to the case presented by Watts, whose anti-tipping point theory was featured in Fast Company’s February issue. McCracken’s thoughts:
[Watts] argues that news travels as readily through ordinary people as influential ones. This means that our world is not “hub and spoke”… No, as Thompson put it, networks are democratic. We are just as likely to “get the news” from a friend as we are from a networking paragon.
Even in this narrow form, the Watts-Thompson argument has revolutionary implications for the world of marketing. If their argument is true, it feels like we are looking at a turning point, not a tipping one. Many marketers thought that Gladwell’s model gave them a way to “game” the diffusion effect. All we had to do was influence the influencers and entire markets will fall before our approach…
If marketing learned anything in the 20th century, it is that consumers are smarter than this, that there are no tricks in any case, that the world is not about process, it is stubbornly about content. If the marketer wants influence, the solution remains what it has always been. The answer is to build great products, brands and messages. It is these, and not “memes” or “viruses,” that capture attention and prompt choice.
(* Source : NextGreatThing *)
Allison says :
Artists and labels have been exploring different ways to market and monetize their music beyond MySpace. We just heard The next frontier is the handset. Mozes 
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.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.
(* 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.
(* Source : NYTimes *)
Louise Story says :
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.”
More here
(* Source : Jordan Chark *)
Avatar creator Meez is back in the news this week, but there are dozens more avatar creation tools gunning for this market. Today we attempt an overview of that market: please add more suggestions in the comment section.
Weblin- Create an avatar and use it as your virtual self within web pages in real-time, interacting with other Weblin users who share the same interests.
Meez.com- Create a 3D animated avatar for export directly to most web profiles, blogs, etc.
Second Life- Use this extremely popular virtual world to do just about anything, but first, you have to create your avatar. Here, avatars can be customized almost entirely, with plenty of room to create a most accurate likeness of yourself.
Mypictr- Use any image and resize, crop, customize, and export it to many other web 2.0 social networking sites and profiles, like Facebook, and Digg.
Gizmoz- Create, animate, and share photorealistic, great looking avatars, and even video clips featuring them. The animation and overall look of the avatar is sourced from a real picture, actually ending up almost like a personal CGI generator.
Mii Editor- Create your own “Mii”, the avatars characteristic of the Nintendo Wii.
Simpsons Avatar Maker- “Simpsonize yourself” by creating an avatar in the classic style of the Simpsons.
Gickr- Instantaneously create an animate gif file by either uploading your own pictures, or sourcing from Flickr.
Gravatar- Create an 80×80 pixel avatar by uploading an image which is then associated with your email address, appearing on Gravatar enabled websites and blogs without additional effort.
IMVU- Create and dress up your personal avatar which can then be used in their virtual chat-rooms or with their visual messenger client.
fix8- Create, animate, and dress up your avatar primarily through interfacing with your webcam in order to capture real movement and look.
Zwinky- Customize your personal cartoon avatar and share it across the web.
Digibody’s Caricature Maker- Use the components of a caricature to create your unique caricature avatar.
Faketown- A pixel-art, avatar based, MMORPG, similar to second life, but much less realistically.
DoppelMe- Simply assemble an apparently “hand drawn” avatar image for use anywhere.
SitePal- A pay-based 3D, animated avatar creation service aimed towards business looking to create a personal presence on their website.
Gaia- Another avatar-based MMORPG, this one, anime-styled.
imbee- The social network for young people includes an avatar creator featuring images of animals from the National Geographic Kids library.
Myrl- A social network based on avatars in the “metaverse”, supposedly using avatars to connect with the web by virtue of collaboration. Close to it’s beta launch, this definitely looks like something to keep an eye out for.
Kaneva- Yet another avatar-based virtual world, Kaneva looks like a valid Second Life alternative.
Blogscoped- Chat with others in this virtual, visual, chatroom, which makes efficient use of user avatars. While it may not appear to be that “web 2.0″ it uses PHP, MySQL, Ajax, and the Google API, which effectively categorize it as so.
MojiKan- A somewhat odd MMORPG for customizable 3D pet avatars.
Frenzoo- Customize and use one of their well-designed avatars in chats as well as a variety of other environments.
Clickbeurs (Dutch)- Create an avatar and apply for a job through virtually chatting with potential employers, a somewhat odd idea.
Mr. Picassohead- Create stunning, Picasso-like paintings which are easily transformed into avatars.
Whyrobbierocks- Create a “stereotypical” avatar for use on various social networking sites, IMs, etc.
Weeworld- Interact with some quite uniquely designed avatars in a virtual world primarily based on chats and mini-games.
Voki- Create an avatar, record your voice, and share. A possible alternative to something like Sitepal, but geared more towards a less-business-oriented audience.
While all of the sites (except for a couple, added for their significantly customizable avatars and creation engines) above are primarily based upon the principle of avatar creation and customization, I’d like to quickly mention the importance of your “avatar”, or probably more aptly named character in many popular MMORPGs. The likes of which are probably most easily recognized in games like World of Warcraft.
(* 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
(* Source : Worldsinmotion.com *)
Posted by Leigh Alexander :
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
(* Source : Worldsinmotion *)
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
(* 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.
(* Source : Marketing Vox.com *)
Tween marketing has undergone a bit of a golden age online in 2007, thanks to sites like Club Penguin and Webkinz which rely heavily on interactivity to keep kids coming back.
According to Advertising Age, interactive tween sites are now taking a page out of the Webkinz handbook, whereby kids purchase an offline item to either join or enhance the online experience.
To proliferate its virtual world, Webkinz relied on word-of-mouth to get youngsters buying stuffed animals that came with codes that "activated" a virtual pet online.
Mattel's Barbie Girls site will soon offer 5.5 million users the option of buying an MP3-player/flash drive that unlocks additional features on the site, where girls spend an average of 30 minutes a session.
Meanwhile, MGA Entertainment introduced Be-Bratz, a line of dolls "sold with a pet pink mouse and flash drive" that hooks users up to a virtual world online.
MyePets.com, another MGA project, has a business model slightly closer in type to Webkinz, where kids "rescue" homeless pets from the store (a la Pound Puppies, a series of despondent stuffed animals from the '80s) in exchange for access to the site.
Though it may seem the market for tween-focused virtual worlds is getting overcrowded, interactive sites now largely come stock alongside major toy launches.
(* Source : Stefanie Olsen *)
SAN JOSE, Calif.--Venture capitalists have sweetened on 3D playgrounds for kids online since Disney bought the virtual world Club Penguin for $350 million earlier this year.
Just ask Jim Bower, CEO of Numedeon, which runs an 8-year-old virtual world for the 8-to-14-year-old set called Whyville.net. Here at the Virtual World conference, Bower, who's also a professor of computational neuroscience at Caltech, said his life has changed a bit since that acquisition.
"We certainly get a lot of calls from VCs now," Bower said, adding that he has turned down at least one buyout offer from an investor.
It's no wonder VCs are salivating. Recent research points to vast expected growth in the market. Within four years, more than half of kids online--age 3 to 17--are expected to belong to a virtual world, doubling the membership in 2007, according to a study from eMarketer.
Anecdotally, adult-oriented virtual worlds also tout a rising population of tweens and teens. An executive from There.com, for example, said at the conference that the site's fastest-growing age group is 13-year-olds and up.
Bower said his business has grown by 300 percent this year, thanks to more children joining the world and more marketers spending money to reach this demographic. Whyville.net has an educational bent, so the company only accepts marketing that will teach the kids something about the world, according to Bowers.
For example, Whyville recently opened a bank sponsored by Bankinter, the fifth largest bank in Spain, so that kids can deposit and earn interest on their "clams." Since it's been opened, one in four clams circulating in the virtual world has been deposited in the bank, Bowers said.
No doubt, that's the kind of return on investment VCs like.
Proving their interest, a group of venture capitalists will be speaking here on a panel late Wednesday. Executives from Charles River Ventures, Redpoint Ventures and Scale Venture Partners will be talking about trends and business opportunities in virtual worlds.
(* Source : Kristen Nicole *)
There.com has partnered with CosmoGIRL to bring its brand into the virtual world. This will be a “physical” virtual location where users can come to a dance party, fashion shows, spa makeovers, play in photo booths, shop for clothing and accessories, and visit live events held by CosmoGIRL. The extension of branding in this way is a good format for the publication to use, considering the growing popularity of web-based virtual worlds and the niche audience of teen girls that are found on There.com.
This could prove to be a better alternative for branding than Second Life, which has a broader user base. It could also prove to be a good distribution channel for other brands looking to market to teen girls in a virtual manner, as they can offer digital goods to be doled out via CosmoGIRL without the necessity of launching a full-fledged virtual marketing effort on their own. It will be interesting to see if a virtual venue of this nature could do better than an online network like Flip, which hasn’t met company expectations for growth. CosmoGIRL’s virtual playland opens up at There.com on November 20, 2007.
In other virtual world news, SceneCaster has recently signed on Turbo Squid for the provision of 3D objects to be used in its graphic creations, and Multiverse has signed a similar deal with Google 3D Warehouse.
(* Source : Kristen Nicole *)
Bands Jamiroquai and Oasis may be following Radiohead’s lead to let fans download new music from the band’s latest album for free, if they visit the site for the radio station XFM. With no contracts to labels, Jamiroquai and Oasis could be considering this move, which often gains a good amount of traction from the fans and spurs the viral growth of their content.
The success of Radiohead’s promotion is cited as the cause for people to pre-order the band’s box set, which costs about $80 and includes vinyl records, a CD and artwork. The hope is to make money on the peripherals, which still come at a premium. That means Radiohead is looking to make money from concert ticket sales, and other merchandise. We’ve already seen Throwdown’s opinion on the matter. And while the concept of giving away something for free isn’t new, it does look to be gaining steam.
[via the telegraph]
(* 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.
Do these figures astonish you? Well… so they did to me! But they are real.
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:
Please not that these fields overlap themselves:
You can find on this map various groups which are related to specific usage:
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).
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.
(* Businessweek *)
Olga Kharif says :
Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI) is entering yet another arena. The Web conglomerate, owner of businesses such as Ticketmaster.com and the dating site Match.com, announced Sept. 18 that it has acquired a majority interest in GarageGames.com, a game publisher and provider of programming tools for indie game developers.
The acquisition, which will lay the foundation of a new division focused on Web-based gaming, marks the latest and biggest move in IAC's bid to become a major player in that market. In the past few months, IAC has snared several video gaming executives from rivals, including Nicholas Lehman from Viacom (VIA). "We think this is an untapped $2 billion market today growing to $5 billion in three years," says Shana Fisher, IAC's senior vice-president of strategy and mergers and acquisitions. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime market opportunity, we think. And we are investing appropriately."
While the acquisition's terms were not disclosed, BernsteinResearch (AB) estimates it will cost IAC between $80 million and $100 million. InterActive also says it hopes to announce a collaboration with a major gaming studio in the next week.
At first glance, IAC is arriving rather late to Web gaming, which is already the third most popular online activity after e-mail and chat, according to the Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society. In May, the number of unique visitors to gaming sites reached almost 217 million worldwide, a jump of 17% from a year earlier, according to traffic data tracked by comScore (SCOR). The sector attracted 28% of the total worldwide online population in May and recorded an average of nine visits per visitor.
As such, a wide array of media and Internet titans have already been staking out the positions to claim a piece of a market that, according to DFC Intelligence, is expected to swell from revenue of $3.4 billion in 2005 to more than $13 billion in 2011. Viacom's MTV Networks alone expects to dump $500 million into gaming in the next two years. Meanwhile, portals led by Yahoo! (YHOO) and Microsoft's (MSFT) MSN have built up their offers to lure online players. Microsoft also offers owners of its Xbox gaming console an online portal called Xbox LIVE Arcade where they can play games, including GarageGames' own Marble Blast Ultima, where players navigate marbles through moving platforms. Similarly, the Cartoon Network (VIA) has been working to adapt its games for online play with Sony's (SNE) PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's (NTDOY) Wii consoles.
More here
( Press Release via Virtual World News *)
TORONTO , ON – October 7, 2007 – SceneCaster today announced the release of the first immersive 3D Web application for Facebook - where anyone can create, transform and explore interactive 3D scenes and share them with their friends – all within Facebook. The application is available at: http://apps.facebook.com/scenecaster.
SceneCaster extends the rich visual experience of 3D on the Web to all Facebook users including consumers, creative professionals, and social media enthusiasts. Bridging the gap between the virtual and real worlds, SceneCaster also connects the Facebook 3D experience to eCommerce sites such as eBay and Amazon, product catalogs from leading manufacturers and retailers and to other rich media social networks such as Flickr.
SceneCaster is breaking new ground in 3D Web applications as the first 3D immersive experience that is built to leverage the "social graph" of Facebook. The Facebook economy is growing every day that could see it achieve 200 million users next year up from over 40 million today. SceneCaster delivers new conversation opportunities to all Facebook users while also providing an innovative revenue model simultaneously with each Facebook profile.
"Facebook facilitates better communication and an easier way to share & discover meaningful content," said Rodney Rumford, Editor of FaceReviews.com, a leading Facebook application review, rating and consulting service based in Solana Beach, CA. "SceneCaster in Facebook makes communications with my real world friends much richer and efficient. SceneCaster's great 3D immersive experience is revolutionary in concept and execution to sharing and discovering the 3D Web." Rodney's review of the SceneCaster Facebook app can be found at http://facereviews.com/2007/10 /04/facebook-3d-rooms-with-scenecaster
SceneCaster was first beta launched on September 25 th at DEMOfall '07, the technology industry's leading conference for innovative and disruptive technologies. Industry media and pundits have praised SceneCaster's debut with over 250,000 pages of reviews and comments residing on the Web today.
"SceneCaster's mission is to mainstream the 3D Web by lowering the barriers to adoption for the largest possible audience," said Mark Zohar, SceneCaster founder. "We've built it from the ground up by combining the very best the Web has to offer today – search, eCommerce and Facebook – with a rich, immersive 3D experience that is accessible within a standard Web browser."
About SceneCaster
SceneCaster is a 3D Web community where anyone can visualize their ideas, share them, and make them real. SceneCaster bridges the gap between the virtual and real worlds by connecting the 3D Web experience to online storefronts, product catalogs from leading brands and retailers, social networks, and consumers' dreams. SceneCaster is a brand initiative of View22 Technology Inc., a leading provider of 3D Web commerce and media solutions used by Global 2000 companies. For more information please visit www.scenecaster.com.
(* Source : Jason Fry *)
New Efforts Try to Make It Easy
To Buy and Share Music WirelesslyLast 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
(* Source : Virtual World News *)
CVSherman says :
The bar for online gaming has been raised, with community becoming as important as gameplay. Virtual worlds and Web 2.0 habits are driving users to worlds that support socializing instead of questing and user-created content instead of magic. World of Warcraft may have nine million subscribers, but Habbo Hotel has 7.5 million users per month, and it's growing. BarbieGirls.com grew at over 40,000 new members per day to reach four million registered users after only three months of its public beta. Gartner Research predicts that 80 percent of the online population will be involved in non-gaming virtual worlds by 2011.
"The game industry may have created the idea of online entertainment, but the days of orcs and elves ruling the online space is drawing to a close," said Christopher Sherman, Executive director of the upcoming Virtual Worlds Fall Conference and Expo taking place October 10-11 at the San Jose Convention Center. The show is attracting big wigs from across the entertainment industry.
"There will always be a place for platforms that just want to allow users to play a game together, but now interaction is key. Community is key," said Sherman who jumped from the game industry to the virtual worlds industry late last year. "The content revolves around and facilitates the community. Treating the online environment like less of a game and more of community or virtual world is key. Major media companies are now looking at anything they do as online entertainment - with a virtual world tied to it."
Case in point: Raph Koster, the former Chief Creative Officer of Sony Online Entertainment, recently took the wraps off of his stealth startup Areae with the announcement of Metaplace. Metaplace is designed to provide an easy-to-use interface allowing users to create virtual worlds that can run anywhere and do anything.
Said Sherman of the announcement, "Whether or not Metaplace is successful, the wake-up call for the game industry has been issued."
Virtual worlds like Kaneva strive to provide activities for their users, including games. Developers like Trilogy Studios, who created a Virtual MTV environment, have a background in next-generation console games like Medal of Honor and The Chronicles of Riddick. It shows in their products. MTV's Virtual Pimp My Ride lets users build experience points while socializing.
More here
