I recently took a nice, long and overdue break from online living and it was great - everything I hoped it would be and more.
Too much connectivity is neither healthy nor recommended. I come back with the intention to put technology in its place. It is to serve me. I do not have to serve technology. So I had my first real vacation in years and I can report that it was great- I am going to take more.
On that note I spent some time catching up on the latest news and happenings. Although I have given up on the e-mail backlog. During my time off I had a few frantic friends e-mail, twitter and they finally resorted to the phone. I admit it was lame not to tell anyone I was taking a break, but good to know after a time friends would send out a search party.
FOUR REASONS I STAY
I observed, during my catch-up reading a lot of people grumbling about Twitter down time and wanting to leave. Many complained the service was flaky and patchy. I will admit Twitter has its problems. I stick with Twitter through the good times and the growing pains, (not to mention writing and readingabout the reactions) for four reasons.
Free: It is free. Even though I would gladly pay for the service it continues to remain free.
Works: It serves my needs in experimental media. At this moment it does what I need.
Community: My friends and colleagues use the service. Community is everything and I have developed some great friendships and business using Twitter.
Fandom: Most importantly, and the most important reason- I am a fan and I am loyal. True fandom cannot be bought.
IT IS O.K. TO BE LOYAL
It troubles me how fickle people seem to be these days. They are happy to dump something because it isn’t perfect or a service is experiencing growing pains. Twitter started a really neat way of self reflection and more and more people showed up.
Of course we turned it into a new medium for conversation and communication because that is what people do. I think the laws of systematics are in effect. The more people that are present the more complex the system tends to become.
I admit at times it is a virtual “Tower of Babel”. However, new technology comes along to augment the service so communications can continue. It also continues to change how we interact and use the medium. I think it is exciting to be a part of this change. (Hat Tip to Sam Harrelson for introducing me to the service.)
FOOD FOR THOUGHT- BACK TO BASIC TWITTER
Since I am on the topic of going off-grid and the values of self-reflection let me give readers a useful exercise as a parting shot.
Twitter asks: “What are you doing?”
Four very simple words. I thought about them quite a bit on my vacation. What am I doing with my life, my family, my job, my friends, my career or just what am I doing right now? Am I living in the moment? I know at the end I will wish I had those moments back… Life is so fleeting and so fast that I, and perhaps others, often forget to really live in the moment and enjoy just living.
SIMPLE QUESTION- EASY ANSWERS?
I also played with the inflection of the different words sounding out each word and adding stress as a sort of meditation or personal exercise.
Try it yourself and see how the question is changed.
WHAT are you doing?
What ARE you doing?
What are YOU doing?
What are you DOING?
It is intersting how a question’s intent can be changed by a minor alteration in emphasis. So I stick with Twitter. It asks a question, a very simple and very important question.
I apologize for the late April Fool’s Joke, but I prefer being out of sync, …(Scott Jangro has a funny video on April Fool jokes and includes some of my own history around jokes). You see why I had to publish something after the day of joking around. I also liked Jen Goode’s Penguin page. However Sam Harrelson sort of blew up every possible neuron I had left for lack of a better word. Hat tip to all you pranksters and story tellers. I laugh and I cry.
So on with my story on collissions and the value of generalization in a world of specialists and why being a specialist isn’t always great…I am thinking out loud because I can. (My Isaac Asimov beard is almost ready for video.)
Attention Serves Many Masters
My recent posts on Twitter and collisions received some play as I found it Stumbled, on many social networking pages and in some RSS feeds. Neat. It also got my attention as I ran through some stats and saw an alarming change in SERPs for my own blog (e.g. Right here.). I admit that I do not pay much attention to SEO because resources are better spent elsewhere and this blog often serves as my own sounding board, or “thinking out loud” place for others I know. I run small and large experiments, try creative approaches, and sometimes just keep an eye out for who (or what) shows up. Primarily I like to explore and share observations or give an opinion. I am not a lawyer.
I do not mean one should disregard SEO best practice- Don’t Be Evil is nice but perhaps too vague or too simple for the here and now. I think best practice might be to try to add to the value of the Internet through participation, discussion, and perhaps some basic common sense.
As a marketer if your site does not follow some basic architecture rules for Search Engines you will miss out on some of the “influentials” (potential collisions) that can happen.
If you rely on “search” as your primary attention tool you are probably missing out on a number of emerging technologies that connect people to people and therefore people to information. There are lots of sources of free information, there are plenty of people, but putting it together takes knowledge, experience and time and perhaps even a bit of luck. (Makes a side note to Ev- what might have caught your attention was not Unicode but perhaps the nature of chance e.g. gambling on Twitter or it could have been pure chance, on a quantum level just about anything “could” be responsible.)
Quick Review
I allready knew that my blog was dated and I have started the processes for cleaning up and proofing it for problems. In short a “force unknown” injected some pretty nasty links into a YouTube video post about self learning and another repeat injection another entry. It was injected in such a way as to be cloaked and the content I found extremely “disturbing”. Having researched, as a trade, some of the shadier sides of the Internet economy it really has to be nasty to make me flinch. This was pretty rude.
I am still tracking down how it happened, but it did get my attention as I realize how difficult it is to make everything secure in a period of hyper-change. The charge of being the steward of one’s own blog is a tough task today. However I realize that exploration means a trade-off in security. I value exploration and the liberty to do so and believe it worth the risk. Life is all about taking risks and the outcomes from those risks determine the future. I am a skeptical optomist.
I am not the only one battling it with issues of security, stewardship and liberty as I note various search engines and large media sites have either struggled, are struggling or trying to find their own way in a very chaotic world or at least one that seems chaotic. Reality is broken to the point of being “fake”. Actually I would argue “reality is not even real”, but that is beyond the scope of this post and my understanding. Remember I am merely thinking out loud.
Quick thoughts for my friends to ponder:
- Assume new rules are in play and have been in play for some time.
- Computers are truly acting and growing exponentially in ability.
- We need to start assuming personal responsability for our actions.
- This will take some time as no one wants to be ultimately responsible.
- Technology is pacing faster than our legal system and even our human brains can handle.
- A good place to start practicing stewardship is at your home- and online your home is everywhere.
- Wayne should heed the very advice he gives, but he sometimes gets lost in exploration. (Smack- because he is only human.)
- It is ok to make mistakes and learn, but try not to keep making a mistake over and over.
The Outcome and Dust
Over the next weeks you should expect some dust here as I clean-up some things, update Word Press and the various plug-ins I have tested, and continue working on streamlining my own “work processes” for better vigilance, productivity and fun. I add fun because I know I will be a better steward if I really love what I do and I really enjoy games. Make no mistake, as much as I like Word Press, a quick search on any specialist’s sites about various security vulnerabilities and it gives you an idea of how fragile the concept of security can be.
Think about this- There is much talk in game circles about “gold farming” and World of Warcraft. What does it mean when people start outsourcing their fun?
Spammers Kindle Interests
One cannot spend all the time dwelling on the negative- much of the media will happily do this for you. This is a part of the learning process and step one is a reality check. No amount of money, formal education or mentorship can replace experience. I could spend all day, and probably many nights, talking about the nature of reality, but I won’t bore you with mental gymnastics or semantics. I will add that I firmly believe in getting one’s hands dirty. It is important not to accept everything at face value. It is important to remain as explorers and to try to understand that the very construct we operate in shapes what we do or do not do. Even technology can obscure what we do, how we think, and our intent. We are not even aware of this layer.
So a nasty spam injection on an entry about informal learning forced me to open my eyes up further to how Search Engineers might have to cope with this stuff from a pragmatic standpoint, from an engineering standpoint and from an internal and external competition standpoint. I can cite cases like WorldCup Blogspit technique, Spazbox or the Kmeth worm as prime examples of past research I have worked on and just how difficult this can be to sort out. Search Quality Assurance guards another very important ecosystem- SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). It makes me wonder if the philosophy of “Right Livelihood” can, from a pragmatic view, be maintained and who gets to set the rules?
Quality Really is Relative
I admit years of going after spyware pushers and scummy adware makers may have left me blinded from a more “holistic view”. I go on record that I dislike spam. However, I must see spam for what it is- a key parasite that sends signals about our society and our systems.
“Although parasites are often omitted in depictions of food webs, they usually occupy the top position. Parasites can function like keystone species, reducing the dominance of superior competitors and allowing competing species to co-exist.”
To put it bluntly, as much as I hate it- spam, in certain periods, probably serves a more important function than a WII Mote.
Motivations Behind Spam and Stewardship
I would guess that quick economic gain is the primary motivating force behind a spammer’s actions, however this doesn’t mean economic gain is intrinsically “evil”, it could mean that short-term thinking is not healthy for our species as a whole. This has been rehashed over and over recently in the hot debate around affiliates (note Google’s recent moves with Performics and DoubleClick). From experience I know that affiliates are often “the patsy” for spam, lacking resources they will try and test many systems to survive. However, not all affiliates are spammers, nor are all spammers affiliates. Bad apples do exist, but to lump everyone together is a dangerous road to walk down.
It is important to remember gain can be money, influence, social capital, etc. Where and how it is converted is important. “Right Livelihood” is a philosophical concept you can look up in a basic philosophy primer or probably one of those “guides for idiots”. As I examine my own life and experiences I have come to the conclusion that at the end of the day, what I want to strive for is good stewardship. My father taught me this action by example. He maintained very complex communication equipment over a large region, yet he would never hesitate to do the most basic tasks he would ask of other technicians. When leaving a tower site he always took the time to use a broom to clean the site.
It is odd how small actions I see over and over shape my vision and even other’s perception. I am sure in ways I do not know and cannot know. (e.g. Johari Window Communications Theory)
Power of Collisions…
In my interim posts about “collisions”, and a good and constant reason to be a social collider I happened upon a real-life metaphor on how powerful colliders are being built. I found this via Phillip Lessin’s bookmark on his FriendFeed. (Note my FriendFeed and disclosure of using an Amazon “affiliate link” as a crude form of “attention measurement”. This is like caveman era measurement.)
The world’s physicists have spent 14 years and $8 billion building the Large Hadron Collider, in which the colliding protons will recreate energies and conditions last seen a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. Researchers will sift the debris from these primordial recreations for clues to the nature of mass and new forces and symmetries of nature.
Wow. That is some heavy stuff, yet companies are spending much more on mobile marketing. That is a constant you can bank on for a little while anyway.
Yet, and I cite the New York Times again:
“The possibility that a black hole eats up the Earth is too serious a threat to leave it as a matter of argument among crackpots,” said Michelangelo Mangano, a CERN theorist who said he was part of the group. The others prefer to remain anonymous, Mr. Mangano said, for various reasons. Their report was due in January.”
Double Wow. This is the New York Times and while we are looking at weird mobile advertising figures while some physicists are potentially creating collisions that could make the earth a black hole, in theory. What next? The cure for cancer? Even if we had such a cure I think it would be important for many people to talk about it first because we probably couldn’t handle it. I would suggest printing it on the back of baseball cards in some sort of statistical code so people could find it later. Everything takes time and time is a finite resource for people. Come to think about it, baseball might not be valuable so I might use rocks or stone.
The Meme Code- Spam or Brilliance?
A game from the creator of FriendFeed…
I think it is quite interesting, yet I worry about diversity. Note how the web pages are encoded to “die”.
The meme code generates a page from a visitor who arrives from Google, the page will create a new modified and randomized version of itself via a database back-end, and creates a link to it in a visible place. The new page will continue do the same as the old page. After some time a page is taken offline or “dies” although how it dies is not made clear.
Over time several pages would be able to specialize on search niches in the Web – word combonations people are looking for that are not yet covered online are created. This makes “evolutionary pages” turn up in the top results which people will actually click on. A search phrase entered by a search engine visitor is just like food in our nature’s ecosystem. Primarily our ecosystem is full of corn- I might add as an aside. The dynamic process of the meme game means there will be specialized or niche pages to catch this “food”.
A page’s “meme code” will lead it to become a successful species with a lot of offspring, or if not popular it will die and be forgotten…this is not new as Lessig’s game has been around for sometime….even affiliates have been doing it with web services and/or datafeeds too only I doubt they encoded a “termination gene” into the pages. Limited resources and financial incentives would probably force smaller publishers to ensure all pages live and to not practice disclosure because it selects against their visability.
See Kids Forbidden to Use Google this is good food for thought. The comments are even more illuminating. As I collide along I start to make some neat connections and new ways of seeing and experiencing the world. I share them because I am able to do so. I think therefore I am.
How Can You Collide with People and Have Fun? Here is a simple and short list. Five simple concepts or exercises.
Break your pattern: This is much harder than it seems because patterns are so ingrained.
Talk with others outside of your core discipline from time to time. Exchange information. Be tolerant.
Spend some time in the humanities, music, or philosophy to find common ground or evaluate new and old views.
Understand that collissions can be bumpy, but you will grow your business and you will grow. That is OK.
Help someone out. I don’t want get into the philosphical arguments about the nature of altruism (selfish or not)- just help someone or take the time to thank them. It simply makes the experience here more fun.
Example Exercise. Think about Music and why you listen to what you do? How does it make you feel? Today my son is using the Wii to play songs on Guitar Hero. The songs or genres he finds “main stream” did not even exist when I was his age, and when I was a foolish teenager they were considered “taboo”. I am an adult, I am still foolish yet wise enough to know I am foolish, but at any age I can appreciate music.
Here is some music via a video (Semi-Random- I selected it from someone’s Last.fm feed) and it is not a band I follow: Faith & the Muse - Burning season. Do you like it or not? What do the images conjure in your mind? Who listens to this? What neurotransmitters change in the brain when you watch or listen to music? I don’t know- that is the downside of being a generalist in a specialized world. I am asking the same questions because I think they are good questions to ask and by building bridges I can find some experts.
So excuse me while I randomly select someone from Twitter or maybe somewhere else for my next experiment. I plan to use a new O/S, and a couple of dice rolls, and the room temperature to help with the randomness- there are some things in life I don’t want to outsource e.g. being random.
It was very cool being a part of “Fleep”, Chris Collin’s, “first epiphany” and doubly ironic since she has been such a positive force for me and I dedicated a Second Life Satellite Convention to her and other teachers and people who have had a positive influence on my life.
I have cited a sample below, but there are many, many more at the Twitter Cycle list and I urge you to take the time to read it.
Heather Dowd - heza - Started tweeting (twittering?) in February 2008 after reading about Twitter before going to the IL-TCE conference (ICE - Illinois Computing Educators). I was thinking of giving it up, but maybe I will just stay on this curve. I think I am currently in the “who are all these contacts?” phase.
Fleep Tuque http://twitter.com/fleep - First Tweet: March 11, 2007 First Epiphany: Crossing paths with Wayne Porter First Evangelizing to Educators: Posting on the SLED list Now closing in on 700 followers, have gotten much more selective about what I tweet. What felt like a conversation among friends or friends of friends now feels like a shouted conversation in a really crowded party where I know some of the people but not sure who all might be able to hear me. Still find it incredibly valuable, but not sure what I should be adding to the network.
Joel Zehring - http://twitter.com/joelz - Started April 27, 2007. With very limited time, should I blog it or to twitter it?
Phillip Long - http://twitter.com/RadHertz - First Tweet April 24, 2007. Had to look back to find my first Tweet (424 of them). That’s 50,880 characters of Tweeting (if ea were 140 chrs. long). Wow!
Colleen Carmean- http://twitter.com/carmean - First Tweet May 15, 007. Stopped in now and then. Got sucked in more and more, especially via distant connection to friends at a conference. Got scared cuz I’m a wimp (see Jim Groom’s thread), now sneaking back in slowly to get my dose of tweets. Still murky. Going to use it to connect to my online students next few weeks and see if ‘learn by doing’ will wipe away fuzzy understanding.
Chris’ Basic Adoption Pattern:
- Joins and answers the standard question- What are you doing right now?
- Has an epiphany, among many I am sure, looking at the chain of collisions, when we “cross paths”.
- Begins to evangelize to other educators about the power of Twitter
- Now has over “700″ followers, which is quite a few people, making her an influential educator.
- She notes that it now feels like a crowded conversation.
- She is now much more selective about what she “tweets”.
- Not sure what or who she should be adding to the network…
So-Called Social Media Fatigue
This seems to be a frequent cycle people go through and I think it is a misnomer to call it “social media fatigue”- it is more about going in without strategies and good tools. It is all also dependent on what and how you plan to use Twitter, or any nano-blogging or micro-communication platform. Tactical formation of your network and even how often you use the tool is predicated on your strategic goals.
As an educator Fleep can certainly gain insight by following expert marketers, administrators, analysts, futurists or people OUTSIDE of her core competency. That is one of the most powerful aspects of Twitter. Whether you get it or not, it is an important shift.
Fleep may not use it like Gary Vaynerchuk a master marketer, or a technology futurist and author like Sam Harrelson, a video maven like Steve Rosenbaum, a famous virtual worlds designer and pioneer, an academic administrator and Hebrew scholar like Chris Brady, a reknowned security ace like Chris Boyd, a technologist and publisher like Steven Hodson, a seasoned programmer and developer like Ruud Hein or someone like myself. (I am a bit hard to define.) The great thing about Twitter, or the nano-sized communication format, is the ability to get a little bit closer to some amazing and diverse people!
“Twitter allows you to form bridges into new social networks and the chance to build diverse and rich relationships.”
Wayne’s Top Tactical Twitter Tips
Try to avoid over-use of the @symbol, although it is o.k. for “micro-conversations” to break out- they will happen. You can also use brackets like [@wporter] or send a direct message.
Don’t tweet every single blog post or photo upload, etc. unless you know your audience really well.
Avidly look for interesting people outside of your normal network so you are exposed to new ideas.
It is o.k. to emit some “noise”, after all part of the medium is to be fun, but avoid sending so much noise that people stop following you. You will develop your own “style” as you go along. Be human.
Look at your blog posts and tweets and see if you can correlate jumps in your “follower” growth or a trend in the “types” of followers to other activity in media.
You do not have to follow every single person on your list. You should frequently review new followers and see if you can find interesting people, and even if you don’t follow them, you can certainly stop by their blog or page.
Ensure your Twitter URL points to a site or page where potential people evaluating whether to follow or reciprocate with you. This way they can get more information about you and make a better decision. They are about to make an investment in their time so help them make it.
Occasionally reach out and spend some social capital by helping or simply a “thank you”. For example, thank someone who inspires you with their writing, or someone who helps you out, that you admire, or you find contributing to the commons. Sometimes they will respond in surprising ways.
Find technically advanced users or resources that will teach you how to effectively handle all of these emerging technologies like a pro.
Be genuine, be polite and have fun.
Summary
I hate the term “social media”, but it has stuck so we are forced to use it… I think the final take aways are to get your hands dirty, explore people and thoughts out of your normal haunts, and make contributions when and where you can.
“If you are always in your comfort zone, you are not getting real value out of services like Twitter.”
For Fun
This post’s random Twitter person… I don’t know them and I have never read them, I went to the public timeline and pulled out a name… mayobrains. Patricia Mayo “My Brain is Random Access - New Media Publishing smarty, Social Media Strategist @nowsourcing, Wordpress podcast co-host, Serial Entrepreneur, & workaholic, etc”.
Another cycle begins…
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sometimes i hate blogging. scoble nailed it this morning
thinking about rolling it all up into one crispy paper ball and throwing it into the fire.
whatever it is… i guess i’m referring to the blogging aesthetic. so completely f**ked up and unnecessary.
didn’t we invent this blog s**t to counter the stogedy crap that was flowing from the pro’s?
what happened to punk blogging?
we sold out.
for shame.
fix it?
Let us recall the roots of blogging.. Blogs originated from Zines, Chip Rowe, Book of Zinesmight be our key text…Fix it? Merely return to the roots, return to the muse…perhaps return to the “creative fringe”?
Quality is relative…
Amazon.com on Book of Zines
When asked why 90 percent of science fiction was crap, Theodore Sturgeon replied that 90 percent of everything was crap. With zines that figure probably rises to about 99.9 percent. Luckily, we have editor Chip Rowe to sift through the detritus of the zine world and distill this entertaining volume. Included are selections from such well-known zines as Beer Frame (wherein the author discovers the horrors of canned pork brains in milk gravy)…
Card catalog description
Just below the surface of the mainstream lies the eccentric world of zines - homemade magazines created for fun rather than profit. Distributed largely through word of mouth, zines touch on everything you’d expect from a copier counterculture - sex, music, politics, dating, TV, movies, work, food, drugs. The Book of Zines collects, for the first time, the best writing on pop culture from more than 60 choice zines, including Beer Frame, Ben Is Dead, Bust, Cometbus, Crank, Crap Hound, Farm Pulp, Murder Can Be Fun, Pathetic Life, and Rollerderby.
Once again Sam Harrelson talks me into a late night look at Next-Gen Marketing with a few practical examples over at Revenews. Long one- so good time to change the oil on the car (time shift) and listen…some might find it very relevant- no matter what reality you exist in, or think you do.
Sam says: “The podcast runs about 90 minutes and we discuss Wayne’s conception of Next Gen marketing and possible futures of online and affiliate marketing.”
Wayne says: “As usual, this podcast runs about 90 minutes and we discuss science fiction books, Next-Gen, games, my experience with ARGs, multi-verses, engagement from twitter to Second Life, Sam finds value in an OPML file, engagement metrics, incubation of fan bases, engaging smart people, Twitter, personalities, a bunch of books like: The Book of Zines, The Adventures of the The Stainless Steel Rat, Media Virus, etc. Not that many would care, but for the observant we also plod into Assyriology, cuneiform, ancient civilizations and why that crap is important to us. As usual I interrupt too often (why does he always catch me tired?), but we move along and didn’t even touch Mobile Marketing or iPhone stuff or blending it with RSS. At any rate this is sort of what “industry insiders” talk about…sort of.”
Another good cast, and Pinnacle Best Blog Award Winner- Sam Harrelson, speaks (what are you cloned or what?) at AffiliateFortuneCookies.com giving more clarity as Next-Gen, Virtual, Affiliate, and A Whole Bunch of Stuff Most Can’t Even See are heading for a whacked out, giant ajax-style real-world mashup collision thing. Maybe.
I left a response for Jason Calacanus here on feedback. No, I am not angry at Jason, but I don’t need to thank him for what I, and others have been blasting on about for several years…in the trenches fighting some very, very bad stuff. Search engine spammers and good content taking over ranks? I have a collection of busts that make SERP spam child’s play. Nor do I need to benchmark myself- but feel free. I open sourced myself awhile ago. Painful to do, but I did it.
What I really want to do is to be able to thank Jason, Mike Arrington, Robert S, and all the other technical evangelists in the valley, for getting involved and dialing up the pressure- but doing so in a way that preserves those who act with integrity, and not wiping them out because they are “small”. We can usually spot spam right away, but the idea that people can define the quality of my aesthetic is not where we are going. The leaders need to lead and smaller is fine.
I also see no problem with Mahalo and as noted below, and blogged here somewhere, it passed my annual “malware” around “game cheats” stress test. Admirable. I even offered up Caledon at Revenews as a prototypical community of curators and content makers. Sam Harrelson notes the challenges and I simply say Jason- don’t forget community. Community is content. It might be hard to grok, but you have my digits now- happy to explain what I discovered.
I didn’t make it to the keynote, nor did we get a chance to speak at the dinner, which is a shame…what you said is nothing new to me however. Actually, in many ways it seemed to be naive….e.g. “but also the FTC, which doesn’t take nicely to covert marketing.”
Really? I was on the Spyware Panel with MSFT, AT&T, MIT and Webroot…two or three years later, at Esther Dysan’s summit, I sat in line with Eric Howells and said “WTF? Why are we still playing this game of semantics? Three years later?” No- the government is not going to stop it.
At any rate I am preparing a blog post on what Sam archived, plus some additional rambling stuff…but obviously I just don’t have as much social capital as you and that is ok- my job is to influence the influencer here. You can help by listening because I know the core of the problem far better and if a strong influencer, like you, and others in your sphere would talk with the right people, work with the “affiliates” (btw- merchants are my affiliates- that is how I see it.) and understand the issues on a very granular level- we might win this war. Because as one who started very small and has been all over the major press for years, at panels, summits even speaking at RSA. I feel I have failed…and I am worn out.
This is why I hate the A list label and think it is bad. Basic network theory says elitist groups becomes cliquish and homogeneous and there are no bridges for carriers of new ideas or viewpoints to enter. (Network gets too big- you can’t control it.)
Hopefully I can stay up long enough to finish it at Revenews. Creating Mahalo is nice, and hey it passed my malware test for gaming cheats, but it isn’t enough. I expect more from you and I think you are missing a core component.
If you and other tech. evangelists, etc do not step up TOGETHER and work with others- it will be toast or the reaction is going to be full of collateral damage that really sucks because there is nothing wrong with starting out small and working hard and doing it on your own dime. Every giant company was small once.
This is beyond money, this is Snowcrash, this is a digital society in decay.
Old books show us the pattern and we are at an inflection point- pay attention at the very least, but I am asking for action instead of apathy. It isn’t all about search and content and how timely for Esther Dyson to invest in the social- the same Esther I spoke with years ago. I don’t need to search and click as much if I have a community of trusted peers to ask. Steve Boyd notes “years ago” and we are about to pass over that horizon. The pattern was written long ago:
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (Tor Books): Ender Wiggin battles it out with the Formics in this Hugo-Award-winning novel that is perhaps the quintessential guide for the new blogging metaphor. Pay special attention to Peter and Valentine as they control the nets through alternate personas. Make special note of the protagonist’s psychological development and monitoring by the “Mind Fantasy Game.”
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (Bantam Spectra Book): Snow Crash is a fast-paced romp through cyberspace laced with satire and dark humor. The novel weaves everything from Sumerian mythos to visions of a postmodern civilization ready to fall. Readers should pay close attention to the Sumerian elements and how the culture of Sumer used a primordial language for control. In addition, the novel explores themes of reality, imagination and thought, all in the context of a virtual world experiencing a state of rapid decay. This has useful applications when studying the groups and behavior of citizens in a purely digital world like Second Life.
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson (Putnam Adult): The science of pattern recognition aims to classify data based on previous experience and through statistical mining of patterns. In this contemporary novel, the readers explore the concept of “cool spotting,” which has been in use in marketing for many years, through the eyes of Cayce Pollard. Pollard is an incredibly intuitive market-research consultant. Marketers should get an idea for new metrics and perhaps new ways to measure the efficacy of campaigns as well as the importance of looking ahead for future trends.
And it is…all in the context of a virtual world experiencing a state of rapid decay. Who do you blame?
Sam Harrelson ferrets out the kind of stuff that really interests me with a take on Darmik.
Rather surprising, as I recall the ZeFrank issue too. Google Checkout appears to have opened their doors…and I like it as transactions seem to go as low as 10 cents US. Nothing like pushing pixels…can someone hook me up with the Google Base guys?
Darmik is an incredibly profound and interesting experiment in selling, music sharing, job listings and virtual economy.
Last year, Ze Frank was booted from Google Checkout for attempting to sell virtual duckies on his popular video show because he wasn’t selling a real world product or service. PayPal allowed him to do this, but Google Checkout had a problem with his actions. That was later remedied and now Checkout allows for the selling of such virtual “services.”
Darmik throws that to the wind and opens the doors of virtual commerce and classified listings…
Using Rapleaf for reputation management no less…more on Darmik.
Darmik gives sellers of digital content the ability to credit rights holders as well as rights holding organizations with funds from the sale of digital content
Darmik uses an affiliate and supra distribution model that creates the possibility of an infinite amount of sells and distribution channels.
Any content, digital file or product listing that is entered into Darmik can earn multiple streams of revenue many times over.
Darmik gives content owners and sellers a powerful and easy to use product and listing management commerce platform that allows for the organization, pricing, and distribution of both real world and digital Products.
Darmik product pricing, and distribution administration system allows for the centralized management of the entire sales and distribution process.
Darmik members only need to log in one time to purchase content from any site that is Darmik enabled.
Darmik can be used by companies and organizations that need a fast, easy and flexible way to sell or distribute real world products, digital content, and listings internally or externally.
Sam goes on to say:
However, with the growth of MMORPG’s such as World of Warcraft, Star Wars Galaxies (my favorite… yes, I know it’s a horrible platform but I still enjoy it) and EverQuest along with developing virtual worlds such as Second Life, these sites could continue to grow and expand in popularity.
Perhaps one future of affiliate marketing is selling less of virtually more. Content creation will continue to become democratized and PayPal can’t handle the load in a monopolistic fashion forever.
For the many who scoffed or wondered months ago what or why I cared about virtual worlds- well now you have a clue. Sustainability is the next equation and I am getting close to solving that one- I think.
Virtual or Real…Virtual IS Real. It is all negotiated.
Every year the AffiliateSummit grows, and Summit West 2008 is no exception with approximately 2,700 people in attendance. As it grows, social networks change, and it gets harder and harder for me to meet new people, and sometimes the veterans of the industry…simply finding them…
With that in mind please feel free to be proactive and contact me via Linked In in case we do not get the chance to meet. Some may not like the platform, but it works well for me. Linked In email wporter@gmail.com to expedite the process. Feel free to drop me a line via e-mail and also Twitter.
Either way the Summit is simply too large in some respects feel free to go ahead and link-up. I look forward to meeting either in person or virtually.
Andrew Wee makes an interesting observation about Facebook and how painful it can be to face mountains of invitations for applications, which he likens to Google Adsense blindness.
Being hit by irrelevant application invites, and with Facebook system where multiple people can keep sending you invites to the same app over and over again, and the best part is that you have to deny/ignore each application request one at a time, means you could be spending 15 - 30 minutes each day just getting rid of application requests…
So is this effective social marketing?
Should you still go out and develop a facebook app?
Effective? For the short-term- yes. Long term- no. Should you develop an application? Yes, but Facebook should be more astute and take a lesson from Dunbar…
Andrew notes that I like a certain game and asks for feedback:
Social marketers, I’m keen to hear what you’ve to say, maybe Jim Kukral, Sam Harrelson, Wayne Porter (whom I know is addicted to a particular insidious Facebook game…), Stephanie “Internet Geek Girl” Agresta, Robyn “Sleepyblogger” Tippins, Shawn Collins, or if you the reader might like to weigh in, drop a comment below…
Ironically the same game Andrew mentions I am addicted too is a game he had already mastered. Who knew we shared an interest in a certain insidious Facebook game?
Dunbar’s Number
I get many invites to groups, games and friend requests, and I don’t think I am near Andrew’s friend count of over 300. That is a significant being double that of Dunbar’s number. Dunbar’s number, approximately 150, represents a theorized cognitive limit to the number of individuals that one person can maintain stable social relationships, the kind of relationships that go with knowing who each person is and how each person relates socially to every other person.
Coevolution of neocortical size, group size and language in humans. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16 (4): 681-735 .Dunbar used the correlation observed for non-human primates to predict a social group size for humans. He predicted a human “mean group size” of 148 (casually represented as 150), a result he considered exploratory due to the large error measure (a 95% confidence interval of 100 to 230). Note it is exploratory because of the margin for error and this should serve as a caveat. Christoper Allen does some deep analysis and notes that 150 is probably on the high end if one is looking for group cohesion.
“hovers somewhere between 25-80, but is best around 45-50. Anything more than this and the group has to spend too much time “grooming” to keep group cohesion”
At any rate I simply ignore or delete the requests- unless I find them interesting. There is a handy link at the top of my Facebook sidebar called “Ignore All”. A cheap form of keeping my “Dunbar pressure” in check.
What I do find interesting is “who” sends me “what” as it is very telling and provides insight into an individual’s persona and one’s overall network.
Language and Groups
For the record I think “addicted” is a bit dramatic…ok perhaps not…but I need to get my gold/lumber! I have an incentive. I have found that when I put a personal message in a request I tend to get a higher return on participation. Perhaps, as Dunbar put forth, language is a “cheap” form of social grooming. Tacking on a note is about as cheap as one can get.
For example, with invites to Dark Art of the Ancients I sent out a request and explained how I found the cooperative aspects of the game interesting and more players signed up than when I just selected twenty…I would love to see some metrics, perhaps public, (likened to CJ’s EPC) on request conversion by category, incentive and cap (number of invites).
That might be a better metric than overall installations or percentage of people with number installed…and perhaps Facebook would be wise to place a cap on invitations dynamically. Application developers could do this as well, and some do, but it still falls back to Facebook who must maintain stewardship of the platform long-term.
I do think we are in for a new age of metrics and social networking sites should pay attention to the stress network size can have on individuals as this could lead to “application blindness”. Sure, we have control of our network size, but people really don’t want to reject others, we would rather ignore the message.
Bigger is Not Always Better
It makes me think back to the early days of affiliate marketing were success was placed on the number of affiliates one gained and little attention paid to quality or relationship efficacy. That has changed- at least from an affiliate force size standpoint. I feel there is still too much emphasis placed on “big hitters” and marketers lose by not working with micro-sized players who really can influence people. Then again, the marketer gets all the stress of too many relationships.
Glory and Money
This is illustrated by a form of recruiting new players in a web based battle game my son and I play..they give a linking option that humorously underscores the reckless attitudes that some marketers continue to embrace, yet I cannot help but chuckle when I read it…
To recruit gladiators, who will then fight for you in the arena, you have to place your trap link somewhere in the internet and wait until someone clicks on it:
Tip: you can place this link into your homepage, use it in your forum signature or send it to your friends. Someone will be mugged by you as soon as the link is clicked. You will receive money and glory through this!
“You will receive money and glory through this!” does sounds much like affiliate pitches from a few years ago. “Mugged”…at least they are honest and didn’t try to throw in honor.
We Aren’t Meant to Scale
The real value from social networking platforms are the relationships forged and conversations to be had and Facebook applications or RPGs are great for this, but one should keep Dunbar’s number in mind. This is especially prudent in high immersion environments, like Second Life, where nothing seems to scale.
Social network quality is limited by design and Allen’s adjustments make more sense.
Andrew I will see you at the Summit so I guess we can continue the conversation at some point. If you are bored try Gladiatus- I will get money and glory through this and you can take a break from Facebook before you lose all of your vision.
Having a history analyzing data and metrics for real world charities I was very interested in how virtual worlds, in particular Second Life, have or are using lindens to do the same.
One stellar success sticks out- http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/relay/. Here is an official blog post from avatar, Fayandria Foley on relayforlife.orgin Second Life. As I understand it they raised $140,000 US last year. That is quite an accomplishment and one worthy of note.
I started thinking on how non-virtual entities leverage the web to generate funds, the performance marketing industry in general, and some quick bullet points came to mind as raw ideas. I realize some of these tactics have been probably been used before, like items created by “top content creators” in a vendor, but I feel it could be more efficacious to activate the content creators who tell me- “I would never sell this- it is personal- but I would get involved if it raised funds for a charity I believed in.” I also understand that if you do not have a background in online advertising or marketing that some of this can be confusing. Don’t worry- focus on the larger concepts.
I, and others, noted AM Radio’s success. In a previous post about AM Radio’s The Far Away how many avatars told me they would 50L (lindens- a form of fiat currency) for the identical item priced at 10L if it went to a worthy cause. IDENTICAL. The Second Life group is a giving bunch…so I put together some quick bullets and what might be accomplish by adopting or experimenting with some of these ideas.
Caveat- some of these concepts are based on many years of real world experience, however one or two years is not enough time for me to study what all that has or can be done in a metaverse. Also let it stand that some of it is purely anecdote and not scientific.
1. Pay More - Give More: People will pay for a digital item, and more for it if it is for a charity or cause they believe in. Pay more is really- give more.
2. Release Dark Content: In my talks with some content creators, both “top guns” and “lesser knowns” (that produce quality none-the-less) many tell me never sell their items or intend to. However, if it were to benefit a cause- they would be inclined to do so. This is great because great content or ideas that might never see the light of day enters into the marketplace and raises the bar. It also helps galvanize a diverse world around causes which is important as the world seems to disagree on so many things. Altruism and good will are aspects avatars seem to be in sync with. I call this the release of “dark content”. The content exists, most never see it. This adds value to the world and attracts new people. Sustainable builds means less population attrition as more time is allocated to teaching or indoctrination.
3. Bi-lateral Exchange & WOM (Word of Mouth Advertising) over Time: There is a tangible value exchange beyond altruism in the form of a digital item or “gift”. This does not weaken the altruistic spirit, but serves as a reminder or a viral “totem” to propagate the cause through word of mouth as this item moves into virtual space. After all, much interaction occurs in small group clusters inside of residences or small parties. The item itself could be scripted so that anyone can make a donation at any time. There are other risks, but I am positive they can be solved. At the very least you have a contextually significant virtual item injected into the discussion mix.
4. Old Systems Adapted to New Metrics: To do this you would need robust tracking vendors that can analyze the efficacy of campaigns and goods. Useful metrics can be produced, in a non-invasive manner, that would provide insight into future deployment. This is something I have been working on with Bleys and we are very near completion of two of the last primary components- gifting an item and multiple splits.
5. Sustaining the Sustainer: I raise the issue of multiple splits because some charities may allow or enable content creators to split revenue on their creations- thus solving another problem, or helping solve it. I call it bi-lateral altruism others might call it brand equity transference. The content creator, can help sustain their build, adding longevity to a world in flux and this makes the build or exhibit sustainable. In turn it lowers the churn in a system by imparting a boost from the brand equity of a charity to the creator- a fair exchange. Some merchants, like Amazon, have rejected this on the web, but I don’t see it being a problem in a metaverse on a micro-content scale. Also many large name merchants have no problem with this e.g. Wal-mart. I plan to talk to igive and upromise when I attend Affiliate Summit this month.
6. Metrics with Meaning: We would now have granular metrics with meaning. For example some creators may only wish to donate a portion of an item’s proceeds to a cause. We designed it so it was web based in control (color, shape, reload, kill, title change, FPS delta, etc) and merchants (fund raisers) can run metrics, at least metrics I CAN’T FIND, on efficacy.
For example, The average spend from an avatar of greater than two years age from a single prim vendor in a plot size less than 2000 m2 or the average Earnings Per Teleport (EPT) on a set of thematically created content residing on mainland versus estate. There are so many missing pieces to the puzzle it is difficult to make decisions or plans. This is because Virtual worlds are young, but I am seeing the exact pattern in CPA/CPS (Cost Per Action - Cost Per Sale) driven Performance industry that is now a multi-billion dollar powerhouse.
EPC Calibration Tangent: I realized the value of not only performance metrics but engagement metrics years ago while developing EPC calibration (earnings per click), a technique to select placement of merchant relationships on performance by comparing return to a median eCPC (effective cost per click) in a thematic shopping vertical- for example many flower merchants. (The article is archived at CJ University- perhaps I can talk them into liberating it as it was commissioned). Merchants falling below the “calibrated EPC” could be retained by renegotiating either coupon or commission raise. It set a meaningful bar for negotiation. Some, like Tim Storm, took this to a dynamic level and used it on the fly! It also led to other concepts like network concentration risk or merchant mix concentration risk.
7. Evangelism of a Platform: This process advances many other needed causes in a digital world struggling to prove its worth to the outside. Insiders get it- they are indoctrinated- outsiders do not and it is completely alien. Anyone can get behind goodwill and for avatars the added benefit of what I called earlier “dark content”, more interaction, sense of personal involvement beyond giving lindens and moving on, and the production of thematic and contextual items that are aligned with a particular niche or “land”.
8. Uniting on a Personal Level: Because content creation is not limited to few, but many, and control lies in the hand of the charity, there is far less potential for brand damage or non-alignment, yet the system scales and again a metaverse is more united and on a more personal level. I not only gave- I gave something even more valuable- time, a creation, a piece of one’s DNA- legacy. Giving to a world attaches one to a world.
9. Diversity is Strength: We now have Virtual World involvement on many different levels. Content creators, artists, singers, music creators, essay writers, performers, can choose to participate on a level they desire and they are the subject matter experts. Charities can select brand equity transferral or not. The more diverse the offering, the more robust the market and the more money will change hands- it is bi-lateral.
10. Terrain that Blends: Obviously this sets the stage for a web (HTTP) blend or terrain cross-over. I have seen nothing of this, or very, very little in the virtual world and that is probably because concepts of Signature Tracking, Flex Tracking or SID* usage are all new to them. They speak a language all their own. Some argue not breaking the “magic circle”, I argue the circle is as large as we make it and metaverses are not isolated. Right now we see their trails like comets, the particles are tweets, Flickr photo streams, and forums. (*The tracking systems above are proprietary mechanisms used by major networks to match transactions in charity, cash-back, or point systems.)
11. The Door Opens: These are ideas not only for RFL, but for other charities that are entering the virtul like Kiva and another lady I was speaking before my client crashed (please feel free to contact me).
12. Reset The Market: This is where we can start an important “reset” and possibly alter a model in a way that sustains the sustainer, grows virtual worlds, and enhances our existence or life- no matter what number you give or what you give. I know networks are interested in this as I have talked to their executives about it, yet the virtual terrain is so alien to them they don’t know where to begin. Executives- you will know where to find me in February.
Anyone else is welcome to contact me about these ideas or leave their comments, or educate me. wporter@gmail.com or skype wporter. In world Corwin Chevalier (notecard please) or linkedin.
P.S. Yes Tim Storm- that is what that e-mail was about- and hopefully I will see you at the summit. $140,000 is a powerful proof for an emerging virtual world, but knowing that much more can be done and that charities can enable the very pioneers of a struggling digital space is a compelling value proposition in my eyes. These worlds are educational, they break open new ideas, fuse new relationships and they are on the horizon.
Addendum: I heard colleague Jiminy Roo on the RLFL cast- so Mr. Roo- expect an IM on this buddy and I am glad you are leading the technological team.
Addendum Two: Additional edits made for clarity, and some explanation of acronyms.
The Association of Virtual Worlds believes that virtual worlds represent a major information and technological revolution in how we work, play and live per the site. I think any long-time user agrees, despite setbacks, these pocket universes are major market disrupters. “The Association mission is to serve those companies and individuals who are dedicated to the advancement of this multi-billion dollar global industry and reach out to those who have not yet found virtual worlds.”
I might add I’d like to see more of the “multi” going out to the content creators, where the rubber meets the road. Like it or not scripting will in many ways become commoditized for common applications, and builds will be prefabricated or modular. However, the story tellers, the community facilitators, the people who know WHAT tools and HOW to use them effectively and creatively…are getting left out in the cold and their work, coupled with builders and scripters makes a world. Otherwise we have static code and primitive objects. We need bards, and we must value their work and time. Because the work is virtual does not make it less valuable.
This revolution started with people decades ago and it needs to get back to people. That is the essence of the “virtual world” or “web 2.0″, or any name you want to place on this compressed, immersive and fast paced media consumption and interaction. Think about it- no matter how immersive I am willing to be the majority of time users spend- chatting and talking. The visual element provides “presence”
The Goals of The Association of Virtual Worlds are:
1. To create a forum for the discussion of issues affecting the industry
2. To assist in the development of industry procedures and standards
3. To promote the virtual worlds industry, its interest and developments
4. To educate on the benefits of virtual worlds to enhance work and play
5. To offer business and social networking opportunities
6. To connect the public and consumers with members of the virtual worlds industry
7. To participate in the determination of the collective interests of the industry
8. To further the common interests of the industry
9. To provide leadership for the betterment of the industry
10. To recognize accomplishment within the virtual worlds industry
I had a long discussion about the history of various virtual worlds with Timeless Prototype. He joined and I hope will be committed as any group needs DNA from elder thought shapers. We had some discussion about direction and what compelled me to get involved on a deeper level was the agnostic focus and the need, as Time called it, for a “bridge component”- in short a second wave person of varied skillsets who had NOT been indoctrinated into the old system. I can see wisdom in this. I am second wave, and I do see things differently and I certainly have different ideas.
I am passionate about the future of these spaces, their preserveration and what they can do for humanity. I also realize they are very immature in their development. That is ok- this means we are ahead of the curve and a good thing too- they are not as easy as they look. Get started now.
To address the goals, or my personal thoughts on them.
1. There are many forums. Each has its distinct flavor and place. However, I rarely find people who want to interact using their surname. I would like to see that in a professional forum- accountability.
2. To assist in the development of industry procedures and standards. This is sorely needed. In every aspect from media standards to privacy disclosures and well- to about everything. This is a big deal, and I don’t think it is an easy task. People must be sure they don’t give up their rights and rants and raves are not going to protect them.
3. To promote the virtual worlds industry, its interest and developments. Evangelism. Pure and simple, an emerging industry needs wins and good examples to point out. In business this means measureable ROI or a sound promise of ROI down the road. ROI doesn’t always mean immediate dollars. These worlds are here to stay, I believe that and it requires unlearning some things and learning new ones- the time to get started in earnest is now. Nor does this all fall on Second Life’s shoulders. There are many promising candidates that are up and coming.
4. To educate on the benefits of virtual worlds to enhance work and play. In my opinion this is where lines have really gotten crossed. We have went horribly wrong when our work is no longer enjoyable, when people must work extreme hours in miserable environments to survive or for commendation. We have went astray as humans if we have kicked play out of our work.
Play is that creative spark that causes breakthroughs in our work. I recall doing research on unicode and domain name redirection and wondering if unicode could be injected into twitter. To be honest I was looking for an offensive sign to express disgust in a compressed fashion. I ended up with a pack of playing cards and concept of betting via twitter which Ev, the CEO, seemed to like. I did too. Look at the hand I drew. This was work, but it evolved into play that, if I can get Bleys motivated to finish it up, could provide a means to completely subvert the micro-blogging channel for a completely different purpose- relaxation and entertainment. Healthy work can be play, and play is healthy work.
5. To offer business and social networking opportunities. Oddly enough I find myself often socializing with my closest friends via skype paired with the Second Life client. The same bonding took place for affiliatesummit.com or RSA where I have worked virtually in e-commerce, and security for ten years. Networking opportunities, especially face to face, are important steps in a relationship. Virtual worlds do seem to accelerate these relationships, but they are often cemented face to face. This is how I knew Dave was in earnest from the day he told me liked the concept of “flying” to when I met him in Chicago. Virtual world users know it is a powerful tool, but not a complete replacement.
6. To connect the public and consumers with members of the virtual worlds industry. This is a good thing, because the media likes to beat the drum of the fringe and the negative. The fringe was always there. It was in USENET, it was and still is in IRC and it will be in virtual worlds. That does not devalue the medium.
7. To participate in the determination of the collective interests of the industry. Right now that is a priority, alot is needed and hopefully this won’t get mired down in muck. However, again let’s use Linden Labs (I stress Labs and not Second Life- they are a lab.)- they simply cannot solve all the problems. A concerted effort, and probably compromise will be needed, on behalf of users. The status quo has not pushed it ahead quickly enough. It is our world and our imagination- people must dispense of the idea that Lindens are gods, and that they are people like us and systematically work towards change. It will take time, in the last two industry births I witnessed and took part this meant years. I see the same pattern. People are people. Mistakes are made. We move on, we only fail if we do not learn from them.
8. To further the common interests of the industry. At this point I think recognizing and proving it is really viable, and it needs some turns and twists to get back to that direction. Campers to gather traffic is a poor tactical push. Land you “buy” is a rather shaky concept. Viability means people staying. People staying means there is community. Communities are viable. Big brands who want lift need only sponsor wholesome things and learn by interacting through the builds. That is step one. This is not a fast fused turn around. Go buy CPC and hope a botnet doesn’t tear you apart.
9. To provide leadership for the betterment of the industry. Here one has to be careful that leadership does not become agenda laden. Personally I like the idea of leaders with stewardship. It should should have a diverse mix of age and discipline expertise.
10. To recognize accomplishment within the virtual worlds industry. This is needed too. For example, Second Life is really a “closed community” and if you are not in the circle- it is dizzying. Everyone is eager to point out faults, but let’s look at the strides. Everyday I look back at the evolution of the PC and think “wow- I can’t believe I can do this now”. It annoys me that I am trying to run viability tests in a medium that breaks down frequently, but I know that risk going in. Those who accomplish something realize this and either move on to safer ground or stay at high risk.
I’ll leave you with what Dave posted:
Yes, Wayne, I do love to fly. No question about it. Since our first meeting, though, I’ve dug a bit deeper.
Seems that virtual worlds do a very good job at simulating real life experiences. So, flying inside of a virtual world feels like flying. Meeting up with some avatars in a virtual world feels like a real life, in-person interaction. Recently, I was spending time with an avatar while we watched a third putting up a structure in front of us. Despite the fact that my friend was in Edmonton, I was in Colorado, and the builder was physically at her desk in China, it felt only slightly different than standing with a friend peeking into a construction site. Amazing.
I understand that this feeling of being together is called “presence” or “co-presence” and to my knowledge, other more traditional communications media don’t capture this effect nearly as well as virtual worlds do. As someone who’s worked in long distance situations for years, I believe strongly that the workplace could benefit significantly from this effect – which, by the way, is inexpensively achieved and “green.”
How long before we forego air travel and corporate real estate to work together in virtual worlds? Well, it’s happening to a minor extent today, but it’s bound to increase dramatically and soon. Consider Forrester Research’s recent report “Getting Real Work Done in Virtual Worlds,” which recommends experimentation with virtual worlds now, because they may be as important for work as the web is, in five years time. In any event, the Association is here, in part to get this message out to the public. Exciting stuff. Thanks.
I do find it exciting. I am ready to participate and see where ALL these virtual worlds might lead. Conflict I imagine, but that is the normal course of things. Change always brings conflicts, it is how they are resolved they test our mettle as people- or avatars.
I’m looking for bugs. Insects, spiders, creepy crawlys, little flying things. I figured instead of shopping, though, that I’d open up a little competition for friends and then figured why shouldn’t everyone have a chance to earn some Lindens. The insects will be used on a sim that isn’t yet open. Creators will keep full rights to their work, all I ask is the right to use them on my sim, and promise not to resell.
Dusan- why not pay each bug or creature creator a US Dollar bounty, let them retain full rights, a credit on the work, and make the bugs actively purchasable on the SIM (or in a shop on sim)? This is one blend of commerce I am doing at the “Primula Rasa” experiment…let people purchase parts they like, to help sustain the sim, gauge interest, and also gather information on engagement and sustainability.
Several ways to vend really…
a) Multi-Prim Vendors
b) Single Prim Vendors
c) Standalone Product
d) Standalone with Sign
Standalone works great, especially if you have auto-return turned off. We have vendors for all the situations, even SLX integration, (and you can easily change from web or add sub affiliates), but we need to write scripting for stand alone products. I don’t know if it that “bugs your plans” but rather than contests where only one benefits- many get a stipend and the real contest is on performance- well their bug does in the micro-transaction races. Data is very useful…and this is definitely “interest” data.
BTW- just what size is an insect? I know we have a whole range of horrible things, insects, and what not… Very curious.
Heh. Personally I would probably doodle something that would land me in trouble…they probably figured adults like me shouldn’t be turned loose with crayons. Therefore the kids get a whack at the scholarship.
However, with the Doodle 4 Google competition, we’re making an exception…
Doodle 4 Google gives U.S. students in grades K-12 the opportunity to design a doodle for the Google homepage. Students will be asked to draw a doodle that best represents the theme “What if…?” We ask ourselves this question every day when we build our products, so we thought we would ask the same of the future doodlers.
A panel of expert judges and Googlers will select 40 regional winners, who will be invited to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California, in May. Four national finalists will be announced as the result of a public vote. From there, Dennis will select one lucky student whose doodle will be on the Google homepage for a day in the U.S. This winner will also receive a $10,000 college scholarship and a technology grant for his or her school.
Googleplex…ensure your children have security clearance! Seriously I am going to take my own shot at a doodle and try to sneak it in and save a kid (he or she can have the scholarship)…not like my GUID gives away my age…well I know it does, but I will try it anyway.
And for all of you that tried to draw Tippy the Turtle for years…this is your chance to subvert the system since we are going to stop taking it all so seriously.
Posted in 
Very curious.