GoodReads.com is taking off as a social reading and recommendation platform.

This seems like a good opportunity to remind the thinkers and Hive Minds at QuizAxeHatRack they might want to check into the novel, Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson (Life isn’t all Snowcrash). Not only will the Hive get exposed to neat topics like Van Eck phreaking but a really neat chapter going on about RIST.

“RIST is a bit-pattern designator is a random series of bits used to uniquely identify a RIST. For example, the organism traditionally designed as Earth (Terra, Gaia)has been assigned the designator 0577. This Web site is maintained by 11A4 which is a hive mind. RIST 11A4 assigns bit-pattern designators with a pseudo-random number generator. This departs from the practice used by that so-disant ”hive mind” known to itself as the East Bay Area Hive Mind Project but designated (in the system of RIST 11A4) as RIST E772. This ”hive mind” resulted from the division of ”Hive Mind One” (designated in the system of RIST 11A4 as RIST 4032) into several smaller ”hive minds” (the East Bay Area Hive Mind Project, the San Francisco Hive Mind, Hive Mind 1A, the Reorganized San Francisco Hive Mind, and the Universal Hive Mind) as the result of irreconcilable contradiction between several different semantic memes that competed for mind-share. One of these semantic memes asserted that bit-pattern designators should be assigned in numerical order, so that (for example) Hive Mind One would be designated RIST 0001 and so on. Another meme asserted that numbers should be organized in order of importance, so that (for example) the RIST conventionally known as the planet Earth would be RIST 0001. Another semantic meme agreed with this one but disagreed as to whether the counting should begin with 0000 or 0001.Within both the 0000 and 0001 camps, there was disagreement about what RIST should be assigned the first number : some asserted that Earth was the first and most important RIST, others that some larger system (the solar system, the Universe, God) was in some sense more inclusive and fundamental.

A hive mind is a social organization of RISTs that are capable of processing semantic memes (”thinking”). These could be either carbon-based or silicon-based. RISTs who enter a hive mind surrender their independent identities (which are mere illusions anyway). For purposes of convenience, the constituents of the hive mind are assigned bit-pattern designators. The genetic part of the memomes share 99% of it’s contents with the data set produced by the Human Genome Project. This should not be construed as endorsing the concept of of speciation (i.e., that the continuum of carbon-based life forms can or should be arbitrarily partitioned into paradigmatic species) in general, or the theory that there is a species called ”homo spaiens” in particular. Also, The semantic part of the memomes are still unavoidably contaminated with many primitive viral memes, but these are being gradually and steadily supplanted by new semantic memes generated ab initiao by rational processes. ”

Good read…

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IT UNFOLDS PART DEUX

In case you missed it Eldritch Errors Part II has commenced and was shot in the mountains of West Virginia. (See Production Crew) My only regret was not being able to make the journey due to health so I have to be content with story line development and watching it unfold. I do regret missing my acting debut, then again, maybe the world is better for it. Oh the lament as this ARG (not sure if that fits or just immersive fiction) was in my home state.

For marketers or story tellers, or SIM builders or anyone wanting to see the style of creation dissected I refer you to http://www.schmeldritch.com.

THERE IS AN ERROR IN MY SOUP
Eldtrich Errors

the story

You are a Sentry, part of a group that discovered something unspeakable in April 2007, something that has pursued you ever since. Together we are Providence, part of a dream prophecy about a city in chaos that fills the nightmares of B.A. Saint-Feline, who does not dream alone. This is your story, this is our story.
Book 2 (09.07): Scream in the Mountains

“Two minutes later, another cat came into the room. It was black as midnight, and as large as the biggest dog. It lay down among the red-hot coals, lazily batting them with enormous paws. Then it walked over to the other cat and said: ‘What shall we do with him?’

“The first cat replied: ‘We should not do anything until Emmet comes’.”

- “Wait Until Emmet Comes,” traditional folktale as retold by S.E. Schlosser

When JJason dared the Conclave to contact him via a maildrop, he didn’t imagine that the shadowy group would take him up on the offer. The letter from Exu hinted at answers, included the strange annontations and symbols he wrote on a map of swan migrations. The more we looked into the map, the more we found stories of telescopes, quiet zones and things hidden in the mountains of the Virginias. Exu implied whatever we had stumbled into was related to these tantalizing bits. That investigation lead us to fragments in a filesharing system from Dr. Elizabeth Riley — a presentation, a poem, a song and yet another map. Together, they suggested our world is full of unexplained noises, including something called the “Scream” in the Virginias responsible for the collapse of a radio telescope. What is Exu trying to tell us, and what have we gotten ourselves into?

OBSERVATION POINTS

From Eldritch http://www.eldritcherrors.com/about.php

protagonist

As an immersive experience, the story is as much about you and your experiences as it is any fictional creation. You will find yourself interacting with others, real and seemingly real, throughout your stay. The discoveries that you make, alone or together, can change your entire experience. The world may have been conceived by us, but the story is yours.

Brian Clark of GMD has always been light years ahead of the pack and I am fortunate to call him a mentor and collaborator on many strange projects. This is where I and others feel “advertising” might head. An experience of immersion where the backdrop is created, but people interact and move the story along. Sound familiar? Think Audi: Art of the Heist, or Sega’s Beta-7.

This one tackles the dangers of computer security in a way that is downright scary and meant to be. Challenging the one immersed to really think about “Pressing OK”. Because you SHOULD think long and hard…

computer security

Oh, the dangers that lie hidden in the bits and bytes swirling around us on a daily basis. The Sentry Outpost is filled with experts on all matters of computer security and, although danger will always be lurking in the shadows, the integrity of both your machine and your mind is of great concern. Don’t fear your lack of technical prowess; there is always somebody close at hand with a deeper understanding of these matters, and you’re always in a position to learn more. The question of “how” may often be asked, but it is no more important than the question of “why” - a question that even the most innocent computer user can answer.

Why computer security with Lovecraft? After years of fighting in the trenches I still do not feel we are getting the message across, and it truly is disheartening. What better way to teach than to immerse? It is no secret Clark plucked me up (used) as a primary character (I can say no more), but you can get his take here on Sentries.

Chris Boyd (a/k/a PaperGhost) and Wayne Porter are Sentries in a very real sense of the word. Capturing a taste of what their experience is like when they track down malware and the people behind it was part of the inspiration for the Sentry Outpost and what horrors might be waiting out there for you to discover. In the right circles, their exploits are legendary — not only for revealing whole new types of threats, but also for the sense of snarky humor with which they document those discoveries.

Snarky humor is more a function of Boyd’s legendary style and he had no idea… Aye- sorry Chris.

I still think the computer security industry could take clues from this model and there must be a push toward education. Paperghost’s VitalSecurity.org is a good start and some of the work at Spywareguide.com Blog hits the ribs. It is in the story telling and not dry reports and numbers that reach people. If we can reach people and entertain while we do it we might reform some of the more wanton and dangerous behaviors. That was my hope at least. The current path is not working and not enough is spent on prevention.

For that matter marketers, teachers, advertisers, even virtual world creators in Second Life or anyone creative or wanting to rise above the din might look at this and wonder if story telling is a more effective way to rise above the clutter of messages that people are barraged with everyday. I think so. However it is not easy and takes a talented crew to pull off a full-blast campaign. The number of cogs and wheels that must turn would astound a Swiss watch maker.

STILL PLAYING

NOW PLAYING: The Scream in the Mountains - CATCH UP & JUMP IN. Dive in or play it safe and watch from the sidelines…

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Down the Second Life Rabbit Hole ala CSI Miami..no CSI NY

It should have been Miami in my opinion…TheGridLive carries some interesting news and trends in this piece on Second Life and CSI NY, CBS, and Second Life hitting mainstream TV. I really don’t think the mainstream is ready, but there you go. From the piece.

He also describes the thought process behind the Down the Rabbit Hole episode, such as having the sim after the show that people can do stuff in and interact with, they are calling it the CSI:NY Virtual sim, where they have recreated the Flat Iron Building, not sure if that is right but it is the one you see in the Spiderman movies and episodes of Friends, they have recreated Times Square, the Chrysler building, the Empire State building, he says they have recreated every inch of New York city, so it really is a virtual representation. It will take you through an orientation process and then right after the show you will be able to do some cool things like a facial reconstruction game, puzzles and memory games, for the intermediate player you will be able to play Murder by Zuiker, a blog written by him in which you have to find one crime scene a month and the one who comes closest to giving the correct explanation of what happened wins a prize.

The last thing is Murder of the Month, where you can fly around virtual New York city, find crimes, solve the crimes, go to the virtual lab, be hands on inside the lab, and go to the Cisco teleconferencing system and deconstruct and solve the crimes every month. The same lab that you see in the show, will be the same in the virtual lab, with an audio/visual department, where you can trace, do fingerprints, do an autopsy, think about that, do an actual autopsy on a body to gather evidence, so you can be the CSI in first life and in Second Life, he says.

Some Points to Note

— CBS makes a strategic investment (correction- NOT an acquisition) in the Electric Sheep Company who are also making the OnRez viewer platform a direct market competitor with SLEX. Long neglected it is good to see it getting some attention although I think both platforms will fill different niches and bridge platforms will rise too.

— CSI NY, which means CBS, is making a foray into Second Life. I am a fan of the show and Second Life, but I am not so sure how they will mix together on network T.V. or will they be able to incubate large scale community. There are obvious uses for simulations in Second Life…we will have to wait and see. I know the Havok4 engine should help and no doubt I have seen demonstrable IMPROVEMENTS in the Second Life GUI and customer service response the last two months. (Thanks Dee Linden). Then again, they had nowhere to go but up….

— Pay Attention: Powerhouse, Cisco Systems, is a prominent sponsor behind all of this…with buys on the CBS tie-in pages pitching “The Human Network”. As a West Virginia native I have to cheer Cisco on through regional nationalism if nothing else. I really think they “get the picture”, or I hope they do and they aren’t planning a “Myspace with clunky social aspects”.

— Think “unified communications + collaboration + social networks + security”. Let us not forget their CEO, John Chambers, is dyslexic- he likes video and micro-chunked information. Maybe they should check out this emerging ARG. See Brian Clark’s schmeldritch.com. I plead the fifth, but I am punking him.

— If we look at their behavior, or not so recent behavior in Internet time- March of 2007- DNA and scalable tech based acquisitions and mindset- this was obvious. Cisco executives are banking on social networking and the general Web 2.0 phenomenon as pipelines to shift around Internet traffic, and thus traffic over their routers and other networking gear. Given the moshpit in the industry I can see why.

Previously, Cisco provided presence on a separate, optional server to what was then called Unified CallManager. Cisco also added the Cisco Unified Mobile Communicator, which puts presence, corporate calling, and unified messaging capabilities as an application on BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Symbian OS and, eventually, Brew handsets. Other additions to the Unified Communications System includes a new Wi-Fi phone; upgraded its MeetingPlace 6.0 Web conferencing with Flash for better PowerPoint viewing; the Cisco voicemail system, Unity 5.0, with handsfree and security functions; Cisco’s contact center with e-mail and chat integration and created special technology bundle for SMEs.

,

TEN MILLION NO SET BACK TO “SOCIAL MEDIA” BUYING BLITZ

Despite losing $10 million to a fraudster Cisco isn’t done with their social media acquisitions either. The company bought select assets of privately held Utah Street Networks, the operator of the social networking site Tribe.net and is on the lookout for more. Ugh. Tribe.net? OK…they wanted the infrastructure- not tribe.net- good.

So Tribe.net will remain independent and since the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, we don’t know what they are paying, but I am sure it is a drop in the bucket.

Speaking of Cisco I recently found out their CEO and Board Chairman of Cisco is a native West Virginian (well born in Cleveland, but moved to Charleston as a tot), as were other key founders. Some WVU alumni, some Marshall. Either way chalk one up for the Appalachian technologists no one knows exists. Didn’t know that did you? Go ‘eers, go Thundering Herd.

Silicon Hillbillies. Love us, hate us…get used to it.

Copious Buckshot Fired Feedback on the CSI:NY CBS Second Life Crossover Show

From this post at Pacificrimx the author also notes that Cisco was a sponsor. No real surprise given their foray, albeit rather bland, into Second Life and their appetite for “social media” DNA as I noted above and months ago. They are in Second Life for a reason. They want to gather the skills to negotiate the slippery turf of a metaverse. Rumor has it they encourage all employees to sign up.

Henry Jenkins interviews some of the people at Electric Sheep about the cross-over.

Dusan Writer comments on the potential for a “tipping point” as 400+ sims were brought online to handle the load. What if…that didn’t work? I was in-world and did not watch the show. Aside from a couple problems with assets not uploading for a brief period, the Grid thrummed on without a hitch while avatars bet on how long before the Grid would tear apart. It didn’t. The Second Life website went down for a bit, but the Grid, incredibly, worked well. Maxing at no more than 40k simultaneous users.

- Second Life Insider gives their preshow take based on the commercial.

- GayGamer.net chimes in with the extended presence of CSI:NY in Second Life.

The list goes on and on and on- just hit the blogosphere or RSS reader of choice. Second Life, hate it or love it…

What was Everyone Anticipating?

Not sure. Knowing major networks I was figuring we might get a much better pixel resolution of say… Tron, with avatars doing all kinds of things they probably can’t. What they pitched…

The episode will see Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) entering Second Life to pursue a killer who has killed a Second Life user in a case of virtual stalking gone too far. CSI:NY fans will be encouraged to join Second Life and investigate the case by following a link on the CBS website. CSI:NY will have three options for CSI-related inworld activities. The first option will allow viewers to walk around virtual New York buildings and visit a CSI lab and play forensic games.

The second option consists of a game called “Murder by Zuiker,” a unique murder plot which can be solved by users finding clues. The 100 people who come closest to solving the murder will win virtual gifts.The big tie-in gives new users the ability to become CSI investigators, complete with field kit and tools, and are given a chance to interview suspects and to solve the murder featured in the actual CSI:NY episode. The episode itself will apparently end in a cliff-hanger with the solution not revealed until February.

Down the Rabbit Hole with Sketchup… Alice

Now for a tangent…

I also noted a local paper in Huntington, WV (a recent “hyper-local” acquisition according to their purchasers) and a local university press releases corroborates that Google Earth is working with Marshall University to prepare a virtual tour of the university in three dimensions using Sketchup and Google Maps. The buildings are created using Google’s free Sketchup software and they are then uploaded to the Google Earth Warehouse. From there they are await review and accuracy checking by Google. After the 3D structures are reviewed, they become part of the Google Earth application. Did I mention they bought Sketchup from In-Q-Tel, and In-Q-Tel is sponsored by the CIA? I probably did, not that it is a big secret or anything.

Do I think Google and Second Life will go in the same direction? No, not at all and this is due to corporate vision and risk versus reward behavior. Although I know some Lindens have defected to Google…(Hi Hunter.)

I am Banking on “Zs” and Heterogeneous yet Linked SIMS

Hollywood glitz aside I am looking forward to the future. I am ready for the change over the next 2-3 years. X, Y, Z- it is all about the “Z” variable- depth. This depth allows us to measure or model those “new metrics” everyone talks about- I think we have killed the page view and replaced it with stickiness- still not good enough.

Think “Curiosity + Engagement + Word of Mouth”. I figured this out in July (O.K. I am slow), and if marketers want to know when developer “Bleys” finishes up with “Project MicroPepper” drop me a line. My observations from early summer below…I stand by the analysis on Facebook (which MSFT just dumped in almost $250,000,000.00 for a 1.6% stake), problems with MySpace, and what Linden Labs really needs to do.

- I feel Facebook’s success is predicated on their wise choice to attack the weird angle of a delicate time- renegotiation of college social networks…and their almost incredible illusion of an extension of privacy. Zero privacy, read the TOS…background etc- not a secret- just cleverly wrapped. (Sam please quit messing with my social AI- hanging out in the desert does not mean we lived together).

- Couple that wise choice with control of mass and the velocity at which this mass moves. It has to be somewhat “safe”. Something that MySpace has failed to do, as Chris Boyd points out time and time again, and why they are trapped in this impression/click world of defectors. Once again let’s philosophically call it the Z variable- it lacks “depth”. Facebook offering up an API lets the community give it all kinds of depth, but they do contain the aesthetic to where you can operate without getting knifed by malware and if you leave the system they are sure to reinforce the fact you are leaving the system! Very astute.

So while everyone chucks bad food at applications like Second Life (primarily due to the ridiculous amounts of perceived freedom, in some ways a low barrier to entry, poor protection for content creators against system gamers, a hideously steep learning curve coupled with complex GUI) the parallels are very similar and valuable. Whether it fails it or not may be largely predicated on LL’s ability to nurture trust, making it secure, reformation of their GUI, and making it more pragmatic and perhaps the rate of adoption of post-humanism among society. I know there are many trans-humanists in Second Life which is even further evolved or devolved depending on your POV.

I will leave it at that, well maybe I won’t. Second Life fever will catch again, after flagging in the press, so I may just blog on the topic until someone throws a mega prim my way…

Some CSI Second Life Videos below.

Sample CSI:NY - CSI:NY in Second Life Videos from virtualworldsvideo.com

CSI NY Video 1

CSI NY Video 2

3D social networking avatar photos CBS CBS and Second Life Cisco crimes csi CSI New York CSI Miami CSI NY electroic sheep company Gaming google google maps in q tel Marshall University Net Lifestyle Second Life Second Life Cisco CISCO Systems sketchup slex The Viral Dance thegridlive.com The Human Network university Video Games virtual autopsy virtual murder web2.0

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Deconstructing only on what I know. Stream that acts recursively to site or dated.

- Ponder Path of Widgets on February 2, 2007 via Steve.

- Go Gonzo and exposed to Twitter via Sam. Post at RN January 21, 2007

- Note Twit to Sam March, 16, 2007

- Twitter Tracking with Fleep date unknown.

- Fleep makes a tweet (short post) about a teacher’s conference on March 14, 2007

- I follow her stream, blog on March 18, 2007.

- Meanwhile, Fleep reads my old post on March 14, 2007

- Her Read based on my blog on Steve’s embeded widget dated March 26, 2007,

- Retrograde Note: Know Steve via Brian Clark’s (circa 1999) and series of posts- summed up August, 28, 2006.

- Fleep tweets about the video. March 18, 2007

- The entire loop prompts me to document the action in a blog entry March 18, 2007

- Injected back into Twitter March 18, 2007

- This inspired by Sam on Twitter adoption story via WSJ March 16, 2007

- Sam’s blog based on Wall Street Journal story March 16, 2007

- Circle completes and I “meet” Fleep July 27th, 2007

- Recap with addendum. August 2, 2007

- August 2, 2007 injected into facebook…perhaps via twitter.

There has to be more. I cannot see it all- maybe Steve can shed light on widget views of the video? It still sits at University of Cincinnati and on blogs. What effect continues to pulse from this “frozen knowledge”

Commonly called “social media”- it is really only media that we socialize around.

Note the players in the pattern- blog, video, widgets, twitter, conversation, inspiration, virtual meeting…and elements unknown.

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I greatly edited a piece I did months ago…and I added some radical changes based on recent thoughts. enjoy this transmission for you who read in the post-modern fashion.

To: Brines Grey
From: Pearl Gray
Research Station: Pearl Monk

Re: Revisions to Organizational Control -
Project: Bolted Vine

Our original plan to inject the veil into the dominant operating system has changed. Analysts have determined this will link our project, now dubbed “Bolted Vine”, into a potential point of critical failure. We are unwilling to accept this risk thus “Abaddon” has been deleted. Armed with public capital, we will vault high a new star, a self-sustaining entity that will gather the information that will feed O/C using an array of self-spreading, cognizant technology bolted into the vine as they are formed. All designed to make existence easier- for comfort is the key. We are borrowing inspiration from the ancient panem et circenses* - bread and circuses. Is it cruel if we come bearing light?

We have based “Bolted Vine” upon this inspiration- The vast majority of consumers are willing to accept an exchange as long as they are able to make this trade-off in a currency they find of lesser value at that particular moment. We are the bringer, yes- of convenience, ease of use, and monetary benefit. It is vendible since it is only privacy.

We have new, albeit reluctant, partnerships that provide scalable, redundant, low-cost maintenance, and self-sustenaining systems. It should be relatively easy to realize our goals of broad spectrum, global penetration. We shall be the bringer, yes the bringer of an epic rage against the old media machine. We will give away all that is needed and further the cause of “The Grid”. Naturally the limitations of this project are substantial, encumbered by creative limits and hardware. The needed multi-terraflop speeds will not arrive until 2010 and we cannot wait. However, the project and dark fiber are here. It is only a matter of time before they are joined.

To achieve critical mass we have identified a strategy to evolve, to move like lichen into the underpinnings of every level of the grid and beyond. We will make use of two primary digital goods- online music and online video. We had planned to use known, popular artists to achieve our end goal and continue to grow our own stable of assets, but have found that the users themselves are enamored with their own reflection. They are willing to create what we need.

These goods are especially desired by a young audience who lack the ability to make careful decisions of their trade-offs, like two-liters of soda for a credit card on a college campus. Not that older generations show much ability to make these decisions either. Analysts at the Pearl Monk predict in no more than ONE generation, resistance will be minimal to non-existent- save for a few zealots that no one will heed or believe.

We are in negotiations with the needed distributors and believe we shall be able to strike amicable deals with the digital rights industry to assist them to better monetize their goods. This is especially true in light of the on-going impact of digital piracy eroding their bottom line. Add the threat of user-generated content they have no choice but to acquiesce or partake.

Also of note there have been several laws in Congress that could impact our forms of monitoring. These initiatives have stymied and Congress has taken no demonstrable action. Nor shall the FTC interfere any further except to punish token rogues. We have also made excellent inroads at putting insiders into key positions. It is evident how we must devote our time, so it is veiled and not bedeviled or vetoed by the ones beloved by the masses.

We can achieve critical mass and we will mine interactions on a meta and micro level and couple this with field intelligence. Most importantly, in unique situations, we can utilize customized routines to activate cams, microphones for ambient sound collection and other built-in surveillance equipment up to and including supplanting the means to apprehend problematic individuals before they harm themselves or The Vine. These tools are built into the machines as de facto tokens. This is not only efficacious, but far cheaper long-term.

End Transmission…
Sending Station: Pearl Monk

*Reference Reading for Readers on Bread and Circuses. Latin Term: panem et circenses.

Bread and circuses is a derogatory phrase which can describe either government policies to pacify the citizenry, or the shallow, decadent desires of that same citizenry. In both cases, it refers to low-cost, low-quality, high-availability food and entertainment, and to the exclusion of things which the speaker considers more important, such as art, public works projects, democracy, or human rights.

It originated as the Latin phrase “panem et circenses” (literally “bread and circuses”), and is thought to have been coined by Juvenal, a Roman satiric poet of the 1st century AD, to describe the practice of Roman Emperors who gave unlimited free wheat to the poor and costly circus games as a means of pacifying the populace with food and entertainment. Juvenal bemoaned that it was a deplorable apathy towards heroism.

In fact, the system of free or heavily subsidized food distribution was limited to a minority of Roman Citizens holding a special token (tessera) entitling them to a monthly supply of grain and olive oil from the reign of Septimus Severus. The rations were probably too small to feed a family and the receivers were not necessarily poor or in need of free food. This does not change the fact that the food supply to a city the size of Rome was of primary concern to the emperors in order to avoid popular unrest.

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PORTER’s POSTULATE: SEO (search engine optimization), provided proper fundamentals are in place, will naturally improve in quality (e.g. inbounds) and quantity (e.g. geometic mean page sat.) if systematic SMO (social media optimization) is embraced and bred into the web team’s DNA and creatively injected into the system and measured. In many ways SMO is a function of a stategist’s creativity. SEM (Search Engine Marketing) should not be confused with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) SEM is really a tool to fill in the gaps- at least in my humble opinion.

Want to fix your SEO problems? I hear that all the time. Focus on your creative social media optimization! It really is that simple-well in theory simple- it is the creative aspects- the mashups, the aggregation, storytelling, the new approaches that can make it difficult for some. One dynamite idea can treble SEO.

SMO, a concept coined, i believe, by Rogit Bhargava, of VP Interactive Marketing with Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, is all about it.

His first five rules make perfect sense to me:

1) Increase your linkability - This is the first and most important priority for websites. Many sites are “static” - meaning they are rarely updated and used simply for a storefront. To optimize a site for social media, we need to increase the linkability of the content. Adding a blog is a great step, however there are many other ways such as creating white papers and thought pieces, or even simply aggregating content that exists elsewhere into a useful format.

2) Make tagging and bookmarking easy - Adding content features like quick buttons to “add to del.icio.us” are one way to make the process of tagging pages easier, but we go beyond this, making sure pages include a list of relevant tags, suggested notes for a link (which come up automatically when you go to tag a site), and making sure to tag our pages first on popular social bookmarking sites (including more than just the homepage).

3) Reward inbound links - Often used as a barometer for success of a blog (as well as a website), inbound links are paramount to rising in search results and overall rankings. To encourage more of them, we need to make it easy and provide clear rewards. From using Permalinks to recreating Similarly, listing recent linking blogs on your site provides the reward of visibility for those who link to you

4) Help your content travel - Unlike much of SEO, SMO is not just about making changes to a site. When you have content that can be portable (such as PDFs, video files and audio files), submitting them to relevant sites will help your content travel further, and ultimately drive links back to your site.

5) Encourage the mashup - In a world of co-creation, it pays to be more open about letting others use your content (within reason). YouTube’s idea of providing code to cut and paste so you can imbed videos from their site has fueled their growth. Syndicating your content through RSS also makes it easy for others to create mashups that can drive traffic or augment your content.

My comments:

1) Brochureware- the bane of the web…I would add that putting in a blog is not always a “great” first step- it is a major step and may require alot of thought. White papers are cool, but I think to think in terms of software- it travels fast using just PAD files.

2) See how he does this on his blog? Attacking both non-hierarchal news sites and social bookmarks.

3) Totally agree- not only is this is good SMO, it is also good signaling. I still am firmly in the camp that blogging is strategic and the coin of value is influence.

4) I agree here and the best way to do this is the Tom Sawyer approach- convince others it is more fun to carry or create your content.

5) I am warming up to mashups, then again that is another story….

Others have contributed to SMO theory. I’ll capture them all here for ease of reference:

Jeremiah Owyang adds at this blog:

6) Be a User Resource, even if it doesn’t help you
Add value to users, including outbound links to areas that could help them with their goals and purposes. Deployed corrected, even if you link to competitiors you stand to gain as the communities first source of information finding. How will this help SMO? Folks will link to your social site and tag is as helpful or the ‘ultimate’ guide in that space. As this adds up, it will become more and more relevent in search engine results.

7) Reward helpful and valuable users
Often helpful or popular users will be influencers and champions within your social site, devise ways to elevate them buy promoting their works on the homepage, or develope a rating system. Sometimes a quick email or note in private telling them you appreciate them can go a long way. Some folks have done that to me, and for communities I run, I do that as well. Only do if sincere. Perhaps this is not truly SMO, but it will help to keep the most valuable members of a community closer to your site.

6) I love strategies where all i can do is agree- it is best that the resource help be at least tangential to your business.

7) UGC and UGH- User Generated Content and User Generated Help- I think Joe’s Whuffie system might be ideal for this. These are uber-fans and in turn plant the seeds of uber-fandom- treat them like gold.

Cameron Olthuis then comes in SMO Rules 8, 9, 10, and 11.

8. Participate - Join the conversation. Social Media is a two way street, lets not forget that. By conversing with the community you are creating awareness and prolonging your buzz. You are keeping it going and this often results in a snowball effect. Participating helps your message spread further and faster.

9. Know how to target your audience - If you don’t even know your target audience you are in trouble. I would love to have everyone using my product too, but you need to be realistic. There is always going to be a certain audience you can appeal to and others that you can’t. So know your appeal and who it is appealing to.

10. Create content - There are certain kinds of content that just naturally spread socially. It does not matter what industry you are in and what boring products you sell, there is always some kind of content that can be created that will work. Whether it is creating widgets, making people laugh, or writing a whitepaper, it can be done. Know what type of content can work for you and create it.

11. Be real - The community does not reward fakers.

Pretty much echoes Doc Searls and the ClueTrain gang, but i agree. The Web is merely a conversation. It doesn’t matter where you have it- as long as have it.

9) Self Explanatory. You can’t assist those you don’t know.

10) Content creation is great, although tough to scale sometimes - I just prefer content to be an ASP or software, or an interactive tool or a game…or what I really like is good storytelling. A good example of that was a piece I did years ago about the Brady Bunch and Adware it resonated, radio stations called it up for readings, computer clubs to print and passout.

11) Not only do they hate fakes, they love true humans- if you make a mistake be honest about it- beat yourself up and they’ll appreciate the fact you take yourself to task.

Loren Baker of Search Engine Journal adds 12, 13.

12. Don’t forget your roots, be humble : Sometimes it can be easy to get carried away being a BlogStar or industry talking head. Remember those who helped you along the way, and that respect will help all involved.

13. Don’t be afraid to try new things, stay fresh : Social Media is changing and morphing by the minute, keep up on new tools, products and challenges in your social sphere.

12) Agreed. We all put our pants on the same way in the morning or at least most of us. People are merely people.

13) I really believe every company should be spend 20-25% of their time in R&D and experimentation.

Lee Odden has added Rules 14, 15 and 16

14. Develop a SMO strategy - define your objectives and set goals. Be fully aware of what your desired outcome is as a result of performing these tactics. Reputation, sales, influence, credibility, charity, traffic/page views, etc.

15. Choose your SMO tactics wisely. Be cognizant of what actions will influence the desired outcome with the most impact.

According to Hans Peter Brondmo of Plum during the SES San Jose session “Marketing with Social Media“, 1% of those involved with social media are creating content, 10% will enrich that content and 90% will consume it. That’s a lot of influence wielded by content creators and those that reblog and mashup. Think about what you can do to enable content creation as well as the repurposing of that content for what might possibly be the most productive outcome.

16. Make SMO part of your process and best practices. As with good SEO, SMO tactics should become part of your organization’s best practices. Find ways to incorporate SMO tactics at the “template” level of document creation and as part of information distribution. Minor things like encouraging social bookmarks and rewarding incoming links as a standard practice across the organization can go a long way.

14) Exactly why I was researching this- many companies are wandering around in marketing 1.0, some 0.05. Canonized strategies aren’t out there so be prepared to really “roll your own”.

15) I make note of this “According to Hans Peter Brondmo of Plum during the SES San Jose session “Marketing with Social Media“, 1% of those involved with social media are creating content, 10% will enrich that content and 90% will consume it.” Interestingly enough this isn’t even close to Pareto distribution, a power law probability distribution found in a large number of real-world situations. A.K.A. the Bradford distribution. One sector defies this- The Grid- virtual worlds like Second Life where over 50% of users create content. yes- the book is coming.

16) I would emphasize SMO over SEO and SEM. SMO encompasses much of Customer relations and effectiveness of the storytelling paradigm.

Of course I can’t resist throwing in my .02 on the sixteen which are great- but where possible measure SMO- clearly a new set of metrics and tools are needed as SMO is often merely shadows of how we communicate reflected into different parts of the datasphere. Then again I have to wonder if tools like this are good bad or neither- depends on if they are used responsibly? Perhaps like PPP.

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A nifty example of shock meme replication and change.

Goatse Guy goes to Flickr as Pastrami Goatse. The comments are precious.

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Link from Jeff M. who spotted this piece of work on YouTube…

How many ways can we slice an onion?

How many layers should we count?

Why did Neo need all of those guns anyway?

Are their viral elements in this piece of work?

Will people restricted to only three channels of television see this differently than others?

/ 50 Random Damage Points Awarded to Jeff

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So my pal PG did a big write-up on the E0n8 thing (a cool experiment to say the least-  just go there to read about it.) and found himself, once again, slashed, Dug and hotlinked and Wikipedia’d into oblivion.

His reaction to hotlinking bandwidth leachers- The Goatse Clock. Of late, as some of my colleagues know, I have been studing Internet memes and memetic propogation…in particular shock memes like tubgirl, goatse guy, meatspin, lemonparty…there is quite a list of others. I even nailed PG on a couple of the lesser known ones as well as other “pals” on my friend’s list. Why? Because I could, and I needed it for a study on meme velocity and tone feedback as it applied to Digg.

Many asked why I would waste time studying shock memes? Well that is, again, my business and I have my Discordian reasons- but I am glad to see that PG found a PRACTICAL APPLICATION for them. Bravo!

(Why not throw in a modified Bus Uncle or, to get ancient, and revive PG Ate My Balls?)

Question is…

Will the Goatse Guy Clock, and other related shock memes, become more fecund as practical applications are found for them beyond mere drive-by link shock treatments or morph and become seperate memes? I am not sure if this would be just a function of meme replication rather than a new meme itself- I guess that would depend on how it is implemented over time, after all it is the “clock” aspect, borrowed and fused from EON8, that is actually novel.

Note if any of these “shock memes” are new to you- do your own reading, I would like to go into them here, but they are too depraved for even my public blog.

 / 10,000 General Damage Points to PG for Smacking Internet Population at Large!

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When Superman and Memes cross- I get cross eyed! Everyone knows memes are my latest study craze as of late, and I am convinced they are the key to universe and a secret way to…. 

a) Get into the Free Masons

b) Gain lower membership status in the Illuminati

c) most are created by Discordians so you get on their good side

d) bend spoons like Uri Geller

e) create more Slack in the Universe.

I digress…while I love memes and memetic engineering- I hate comic books. I don’t know why- most of my friends love them, but give me a real novel anyday. Anway some of my pals love ‘em- they study ‘em, and think they’re like real (like pro wrestling). I forgive them…

Found this gem via Digg:

http://digg.com/movies/Internet_meme_crushes_Superman 

(worth a vote IMHO)

“Interesting look at how a specific element from the Superman Returns trailer became the property of meme creators, only for that element to wind its way onto the official Superman site.”

More on the Requiem for a Meme at PG’s Bat Hangout.

Choice YTMND bits:

Lex Vs Hubbard
Lex Vs Milton
Lex Vs Kaz Hirai
Lex Vs Half naked dude
Lex Vs Connery
Lex Vs….well, you’ll see

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Nifty little flash campaign for a job firm. Injects the canonical domain into flash…

http://www.Wayne.youaremighty.com/

Appears to the vanity in folks and the music is rather catchy. Expect it to go large on the Net.

Of course with any thing dynamic all the miscreants out there can have fun gaming the system.

http://www.DirtMerchant.youaremighty.com/

http://www.AssHat.youaremighty.com/

etc, etc. ad infinitum.

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