As a marketer it is interesting to me how people use the internet for FUN and unknowingly creating viral activities which then smart marketing people scratch their heads and only wish they had thought of it first. Amongst my internet travels it is rare that a to find a well researched post so in finding this GEM it deserves to be shared.
The History of Viral Video – Internet comedy is almost as old as Internet porn; which is to say it dates to the very beginning.
Filed under 3d, advertising, animation, entertainment, executive, experiment, itsreal, marketing, PR, Public Relations, viral
source: 3pointD
As we are about to launch a local SL contest – McKinsey have released theirs, I know ours will be more creative and fun, but here are the details of the Mckinsey Contest… stayed tuned for when we release ours…
Consultants McKinsey & Co. have launched a Virtual Venture Competition in the virtual world of Second Life. [Via Sebastian Kupers, who also provided the image above.] The competition is open to students and young professionals no more than 32 years old, and first prize is US$20,000 in training and career counselling. Teams get 45 days to build a business, but there’s no fixed start or end date, you can apparently jump in at any time. Only a limited number of teams will receive initial funding, however. Speaking of funding, McKinsey is so adamant that no outside funding be used that it will be monitoring account balances during the competition (see the FAQ), so if you want to play, you’ll have to roll a new alt for the purpose. I actually think this sounds like a great project; it should attract young people who aren’t necessarily SL residents already, and it’s a nice vote of confidence that SL is a place with real lessons to be learned. The build looks pretty nice too. Check out McKinsey’s »orientation island« and its »Infocenter«.
Filed under 3d, 3d internet, blogging, collaborate, collaboration, competition, experience, experiment, itsreal, mckinsey, PR, Public Relations, second life, secondlife.com, SL, SL Technology, visual search
Silicon Island announces International Technology Expo 2007
“Honoring Excellence in SL Technology”
The International Technology Expo (ITE) on Silicon Island is dedicated to showcasing over 40 of the finest business related SL products that either improve RL business operations, or improve a RL company’s access to a target market in SL. Products include Telecommunications, Construction Tools, Web-Based Interactive Linking Systems, Content Management Tools, Marketing & Advertising Systems, and 3rd Party Innovations.
“ITE’07 is dedicated to showcasing the most innovative in technology products and services created by its residents for your business and personal needs.”
As well as extensive exhibition halls, to satisfy your Tshirt-grabbing needs, you can expect a full programme of lectures, product launches, demos and discussions. But if you find that thought too earnest and worthy, you might be more interested in the concerts and parties. The programme is not yet finalised but is set to include:
• Friday April 20 noon to 6:00 pm SLT 7:00 PM EXPO CONCERT – John Legend
• Saturday April 21 noon to 6:00 pm SLT 7:00 PM EXPO CONCERT – Black Eyed Peas
Full Agenda Click HERE
Exhibitor List Click HERE
Press Release: ITE 2007
Filed under advertising, avatar, blogging, business, collaboration, concert, consumer tech, education, electric sheep, entertainment, Events, executive, exhibition, experience, experiment, free, gadgets, gossip, ibm, internet, ite, itsreal, life, linden labs, marketing, metaverse, new, new on the web, next generation web, PR, Public Relations, second life, secondlife, secondlife.com, silicon island, singapore, singapore events, SL, SL Technology, social networking, tech, virtual worlds
Cutting edge tech makes the virtual world your oyster
by Stevenson Swanson
Chicago Tribune (MCT)
31 March 2007
From being a flat presence on a computer screen, the Web is rapidly morphing into a three-dimensional virtual world.
Powered by such popular social-networking sites as Second Life and There.com, where users represent themselves with animated figures called avatars, virtual technology is finding a host of new applications that are likely to prove as revolutionary as the rapid rise of the Internet a decade ago.
From holding virtual training meetings with employees to visiting your doctor for a 3-D check-up or spending time in a virtual Elizabethan world to learn about Shakespeare’s plays, the possibilities for virtual technology are unpredictable but almost limitless, according to business executives, tech-savvy designers, and marketing consultants.
“This is going to be one freaky-deaky 21st century,” said Jerry Paffendorf, the “resident futurist” at the Electric Sheep Co., which designs virtual world projects for businesses. “The amount of technological change in the next 10 years is going to equal the entire last century. We’re not going to use that technology to send e-mail faster. We’re going to use it to build virtual worlds.”
As one measure of the recent explosive growth of these online worlds, Second Life has grown to more than 5 million registered users, up from 1.4 million in November. In that virtual adult playground, avatars chat, attend concerts, buy virtual cars and clothes with virtual money called Linden dollars, and even have simulated sex.
But such activities barely scratch the surface of the three-dimensional Web, according to speakers and some of the 600 attendees at the first-of-its-kind Virtual Worlds Conference, held last week at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in lower Manhattan.
Robert Gehorsam, president of Forterra Systems Inc., said that with improvements in technology, virtual worlds could be used to train new employees and allow them to practice job skills. Nurses need several hundred hours of on-the-job training after they graduate from nursing school, but working such trainees into the hectic operations of a hospital can be difficult, he said.
“If you can train nurses on shift-change communication, or the right drug, you’re going to reduce the number of preventable deaths,” said Gehorsam, whose company adapts commercial game technology for the government and medical and corporate clients.
One nonprofit group that has started to tap the potential of virtual worlds is the American Cancer Society, which has held two “Relay for Life” fundraising events “in world,” as denizens of the 3-D Web refer to events in the virtual world. Second Life users made pledges for their avatars, who took part in the runs. At a cost of only $1,200 to rent space on the site, the cancer society raised more than $46,000. It hopes to realize $75,000 at this year’s relay.
Filed under advertising, american cancer society, avatar, blogging, business, charity, collaborate, collaboration, connecting, consumer tech, disney, education, electric sheep, entertainment, Events, executive, experience, experiment, government, itsreal, linden labs, marketing, metaverse, motorati island, multiverse.com, new on the web, next generation web, PR, Public Relations, retail, second life, secondlife, secondlife.com, sibley verbeck, SL, social networking, social networks, tech, there.com, virtual commerce, virtual worlds
TV, the way you want it !!! we shall see. But they launched their new website today, as announced by their email. Once again it is you last chance to go to the website to register your interest to be invited to beta the TV Service.
Filed under advertising, business, executive, experience, experiment, google earth, joost, joost.com, PR, Public Relations
PALO ALTO, California (AP) — As Facebook.com’s mastermind, Mark Zuckerberg is sitting on a potential gold mine that could make him the next Silicon Valley whiz kid to strike it rich.
But the 22-year-old founder of the Internet’s second largest social-networking site also could turn into the next poster boy for missed opportunities if he waits too long to cash in on Facebook Inc., which is expected to generate revenue of more than $100 million this year.
The bright outlook is one reason Zuckerberg felt justified spurning several takeover bids last year, including a $1 billion offer from Yahoo Inc.
“We clearly have a bias toward building than selling,” Zuckerberg said in a recent interview. “We think there is a lot more to unlock here.”
The build-or-sell dilemma facing Zuckerberg is becoming more common among the precocious entrepreneurs immersed in the latest Internet craze, a communal concept of content-sharing that has been dubbed “Web 2.0.”
Besides Facebook, other Web 2.0 startups frequently mentioned as prime takeover targets include online video site Metacafe Inc. and Photobucket Inc., which has emerged as one of the Internet’s busiest destinations by hosting personal videos and photos that are routinely linked to top social-networking sites like MySpace and Facebook.
These sites find themselves at a critical juncture reached several years ago by the Internet’s first big social-networking site, Friendster.com, which chose to stay independent instead of selling. That decision is now regarded as one of Silicon Valley’s biggest blunders.
Web 2.0 startups have emerged as hot commodities because they are drawing more people away from television, newspapers and other media traditionally used for advertising. Online video channels and social networks, a catchall phrase attached to sites that enable people with common interests to connect and deepen their bonds, are particularly hot.
Deep-pocketed companies are now angling for a piece of the Web 2.0 action — a quest that already has yielded a couple big jackpots, helping to propel the sales prices of startups to their highest levels since the dot-com boom.
News Corp. paid $580 million in 2005 to buy MySpace, the largest social-networking site, and Google Inc. snapped up video-sharing pioneer YouTube Inc. for $1.76 billion late last year.
“I’m surprised a lot more companies haven’t already been bought,” said Reid Hoffman, a veteran Silicon Valley executive who has invested in many startups, including Facebook. “My hunch is the deals are only going to get more expensive in 2008 and 2009.”
In 2006, the average price paid for a startup funded by venture capitalists rose 19 percent to $114 million. That was the highest amount since the dot-com frenzy of 2000 when the average price of venture-backed startups peaked at $337 million, according to data from Thomson Financial and the National Venture Capital Association.
If the dealmaking market continues to heat up, Zuckerberg will end up looking smart for rebuffing Yahoo and other suitors that included Microsoft Corp. and Viacom Inc.
Assuming Facebook hits its financial targets, the Palo Alto-based company should be able to command a sales price well above $1 billion or pursue an even more lucrative initial public offering of stock in the tradition of Google, Yahoo Inc., eBay Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. — a group of Internet icons now worth a combined $250 billion.
A Facebook sale or IPO is bound to happen eventually so the startup’s early investors, consisting mostly of venture capitalists, can realize some profits. Facebook has raised about $38.5 million since Zuckerberg started the site in 2004 while he was still a sophomore at Harvard University.
Zuckerberg has some flexibility in deciding when to cash out because Facebook already is profitable.
An IPO or sale will “make sense at some point for the company, but I never think that’s the goal,” said Zuckerberg, who is believed to control nearly one-third of Facebook’s stock. “The goal is to … continue introducing certain revolutionary products that push us to the next level.”
Marc Andreessen, who made a fortune during his 20s as co-founder of Web browser pioneer Netscape Communications, is among those who believe Facebook is going to become even more valuable during the next year or two.
“Facebook is doing the smart thing. If you are in a big market like social networking, you are usually better off waiting (to sell),” said Andreessen, who is now chief technology officer for another social-networking startup, Ning Inc. Had MySpace remained independent, it would probably be worth $5 billion now, Andreessen estimated.
Should Facebook stumble, it may some day be suffering the same pangs of regret tormenting Friendster Inc., which turned down a takeover bid from Google in 2003 when it reigned as Internet’s hottest social-networking site.
Had that offer been accepted, Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams and a small group of early investors reportedly would have received $30 million in Google stock that would have been worth about $1 billion today.
Abrams left Friendster in 2004 after a falling out with the company’s venture capitalists. Now working on its fourth chief executive since Abrams’ departure, Friendster so far hasn’t been able to recapture the buzz that once made it a prized commodity.
In January, Friendster attracted just under 1.3 million U.S. visitors, leaving it far behind MySpace (61.5 million visitors), Facebook (19 million visitors) as well as several relative newcomers to social networking like Bebo.com, MyYearbook.com and Hi5.com, according to data from comScore Media Metrix.
Other tales of woe are bound to emerge after the latest dealmaking cycle winds down, predicted Ken Marlin, a technology investment banker in New York.
“The world is filled with companies that waited too long to sell and missed their window of opportunity,” he said. “We think this land grab (on the Internet) probably will only last another year or two.”
Palo Alto-based Metacafe fielded a takeover offer shortly after Google and YouTube first got together in October before deciding to remain independent, said co-founder Arik Czerniak. “We are 100 percent committed to building the business ourselves,” he said.
Toward that end, Czerniak recently turned over the chief executive reins to Erick Hachenburg, a former executive for video game-maker Electronic Arts Inc. Czerniak remains an executive and major shareholder at Metacafe.
Denver-based Photobucket also prefers to remain independent as it strives to nearly double its registered users to 60 million by the end of this year, said Alex Welch, who has raised about $15 million in venture capital since co-founding the site in 2003. Photobucket’s 35 million members currently upload about 7 million photos and 35,000 videos per day — second only to YouTube and MySpace.
Other trendy Web sites that could elicit takeover interest include: Linden Research Inc., the maker of the virtual world “Second Life”; Digg Inc., which displays news stories based on the recommendations of readers; and Slide Inc., a photo-sharing site launched by Max Levchin, who already struck it rich as a co-founder of PayPal Inc., an online payment service bought by eBay Inc. for $1.5 billion in 2002.
But no startup is stirring more takeover chatter than Facebook, which began as a site exclusively for college students before opening up to high school students in 2005 and finally accepting all comers last fall.
The site now has nearly 17 million registered users, most of whom fall into the under-35 demographic prized by advertisers. And Facebook gives advertisers plenty of marketing opportunities because its users churn through about 1 billion Web pages per day.
Facebook struck its first major financial partnership last summer with Microsoft, which reportedly guaranteed to deliver about $200 million in ad revenue through 2008. Zuckerberg said the advertising contract with Microsoft recently had been extended through 2011. Terms of the extension haven’t been disclosed.
Although he dropped out of Harvard in 2004 to move Facebook to Silicon Valley, Zuckerberg still leads the ascetic lifestyle of a college student even as he runs a business with 200 employees.
Zuckerberg says he keeps little more than a mattress in his apartment, which is located just a few blocks away from Facebook’s office. The proximity allows him to walk to work every day, usually wearing Adidas sandals ideally suited for lounging around a campus dorm.
Being comfortable is important to Zuckerberg because, like so many of the Silicon Valley prodigies before him, he tends to spend long hours at the office plotting strategy.
“For now, I just think it’s very important to have a good sense of direction about where we are going,” he said.
Agency enters Web’s cyberspace universes to attract Internet users, market health messages to new audience.
Source : By Alison Young
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There’s a virtual world where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently helped give flu shots to more than 10,000 virtual children before a virtual flu virus was unleashed, sending the virtually sneezing to virtual clinics for treatment.
In another Internet world for adults, the CDC has a virtual headquarters and a virtual CDC employee holding health fairs.
What is one of the most respected agencies of the federal government doing dabbling in Web-based virtual worlds that are more like video games than a science symposium?
Officials at the Atlanta-based agency say they’re exploring innovative ways to educate Net-savvy people about important health issues.
The CDC has joined corporate powerhouses Toyota, IBM and American Apparel in setting up shop in these virtual worlds. The federal space agency NASA is there. So are a few members of Congress. And most importantly, millions of people are there, part of a growing audience for a new breed of marketing messages.
“We can’t always expect people to come to our Web site or use our tools directly,” Janice Nall, director of the CDC’s Division of e-Health Marketing, said this week. The CDC is one of a handful of government agencies staking a place in Web-based virtual worlds such as Second Life (www.secondlife.com) and Whyville (www.whyville.net).
“People are congregating on different spots on the Internet,” Nall said. “And we need to take our messages out there to see how they’re received.”
Virtual worlds, sometimes called “metaverses,” are sites on the Internet where a growing community of people gather, socialize, play and even participate in a virtual economy of virtual malls, real estate sales and casino gaming. Unlike the Web that you surf in a detached fashion, participants in virtual worlds create a virtual self, a computer-generated 3-D character called an avatar to interact with the world and its residents.
Such Internet worlds and interactive online games have been around for years. But as the number of people participating in some worlds has grown into the millions, businesses and others have started exploring them as a new forum for mass advertising and communication.
“Wells Fargo Bank was one of the first corporations to have its own bank in Second Life,” said Celia Pearce, a professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Literature, Communication and Culture who studies virtual worlds. “MTV has its own island there now where it stages concerts with streaming video or interviews with music stars. IBM has started to develop a Second Life world headquarters, as has Reuters.”
Beyond the static banner ads Web users are accustomed to seeing —- or ignoring —- virtual worlds allow for a form of interactive marketing and advertising, she said. Instead of seeing an ad about a car, in a virtual world car companies allow your avatar to build or use a brand-name car, she said.
The communication potential has also prompted a handful of federal agencies to establish pilot projects in virtual worlds such as Second Life and Whyville.
Second Life, launched in 2003, has more than 3.9 million avatar residents from around the world —- and more than 400,000 logged in within the past week, according to Linden Lab, the San Francisco-based creator of Second Life.
The average age of participants is 33, and they must have a high-speed Internet connection and a powerful computer capable of handling intensive graphics.
Corporations are being joined in the virtual world by nonprofit, government and activist groups. Sweden is building a virtual embassy. A Spanish charity has created a virtual homeless boy in Second Life. The Genocide Intervention Network has created a virtual Camp Darfur.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a whole island where visitors can ride through a hurricane on an airplane, stand on a beach and experience a tsunami.
“Think of it as Disney World meets science education,” said Eric Hackathorn, the lead architect for the Second Life project at NOAA’s Earth System Research Lab. “It provides so much more immersion than traditional Web sites do.”
NOAA spent $1,000 to purchase its island in Second Life, about $15,000 for a computer graphics contractor to develop the experience and about $150 a month in maintenance fees, Hackathorn said. “We’re not spending a lot considering the potential return,” he said. About 1,000 people visited during two weeks in January.
A year ago John Anderton, one of CDC’s associate directors of communication science, saw a video about Second Life and got hooked.
“I thought what a great opportunity for CDC to put some of its health information into a different tool to get it out to people who are participating there,” he said Wednesday.
Last year Anderton created a virtual CDC employee, naming her Hygeia Philo. Hygeia is the Greek goddess of health, whose statue is on the CDC campus. Second Life requires participants to pick from a list of last names, and Anderton chose Philo because it gave the agency’s avatar a name that means “lover of health.”
A striking cyberwoman with long, auburn hair, the CDC’s virtual employee needed more professional attire than the clothing that came with the free, standard-issue avatar.
So Anderton had Hygeia go to a virtual mall in this virtual world and purchase a tailored pinstriped business suit. The cost: about 33 cents of real money, he said. He later spent $72 to buy some virtual land in Second Life.
Anderton said he has spent less than 5 percent of his time on the Second Life project and about $75 of CDC’s money.
The virtual CDC, in place since last fall, is a modest outpost in Second Life. It’s mostly a series of wall displays that links visitors to the CDC’s real-life Web site (www.cdc.gov).
A visit to the virtual CDC on Wednesday by a virtual reporter found the site empty of other visitors.
The virtual CDC averages only about 100 visitors a month, Anderton said. In contrast, the CDC’s real-world Web site receives 8 million visits a month.
In November, Hygeia staffed a virtual CDC booth at a health expo within Second Life that drew more than 250 virtual people.
CDC’s flu-shot campaign in the virtual world of Whyville, however, caught the attention of thousands.
Whyville, launched in 1999, is a popular virtual world targeting 8- to 15-year-olds. It has 1.7 million registered “citizens” who log in to play games, learn about science and other topics, and socialize.
Last fall, CDC worked with Whyville creator Numedeon Inc. to conduct a campaign for kids’ avatars to be vaccinated against the “Why-Flu.” The effort cost CDC $2,000, said Nall, the agency’s e-Health Marketing director.
“It was an opportunity to talk with kids about science and get across the concept of vaccination as a good thing,” she said.
CDC officials said their recent exploration of health education in these virtual worlds is just part of an overall strategy to get information to the public.
While most health information is still communicated through more traditional means —- from brochures to the cdc.gov Web site —- the agency is seeking to use emerging technologies to reach new audiences, Nall said.
The agency is discussing its experiences with these initial projects and how its presence in virtual worlds can be expanded to have a greater impact.
“We have to be mindful of what’s happening in the marketplace so we can be there,” said Nall. “We’re supposed to be leading in public health. Not following.”
GETTING A VIRTUAL LIFE
What do you need?
> To participate in Second Life, you need a high-speed Internet connection and a computer that’s able to handle the world’s rich graphics. The better and faster the computer, the smoother your experience. Go to http://www.secondlife.com for specific system requirements and to download a free program that lets you create a basic avatar and access the virtual world.
> Whyville, which is targeted toward teens and preteens, is more accommodating of lesser computers. Just go to http://www.whyville.net and fill out a registration form. Parental permission is required.
What does it cost?
It’s free for basic access in both sites. But if you want to buy things —- like clothing or a new hairstyle for your avatar or a plot of land in Second Life, you need to deposit real-life cash with a credit card into a virtual world account.
Where can I learn more about federal agencies’ virtual activities?
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a real-world Web site devoted to its island in Second Life. Go to www.esrl.noaa.gov/outreach/sl/ to read more and take a video tour.
Filed under advertising, cdc, collaboration, education, Events, executive, experiment, government, health, life, living, Luguna Beach, marketing, PR, Public Relations, second life, secondlife, secondlife.com, singapore, social networking, social networks, there.com, virtual commerce, virtual worlds, whyville
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