Archive for the ‘Web 2.0’ Category

Journalists have never been ones for press conferences – that’s why this whole “lets hold a press conference in Second Life” thing has been kind of baffling to observe. First, it’s really hard to serve good food and alchohol in Second Life (the only real attraction of a press conference). Second, most journos can’t abide PR people, let alone virtual versions of them. Third, what journalists really want is a combo of utility and speed – “give me the news now – in a really simple way (phone or paper will do) and let me get on with my day”. Bottom line is that if the news is strong enough, it will move itself. No gimmicks needed.

Larry Dignan writes at ZDNet, “It’s all a bit much. Yes, we all know Second Life is interesting. It must be since every PR/ad agency/news-outlet-that-wants-to-look-hip/wannabe-kewl-corporation is setting up shop in Second Life. Second Life has gone from zero to cliche in record time as people sit around admiring their avatars. The dirty little secret: It’s a productivity drain.” He goes on to lash out at Sun:

Memo to Sun: Stop trying to be so damn trendy. Taking Java open source is a big development, but then you muck it up with having a developer Q&A in Second Life. No parallel Webcast. No conference call dial-in. No alternate means to drop in. Ask yourself the following: Would any of your peers (grown-up IT companies) have held an earnings call only in Second Life? How about a merger? New development platform? Didn’t think so.

Ross has the best response:

To further advance the state of the art, the next Socialtext press conference will be held in World of Warcraft.

• Time: December 1st, 5pm server time
• Location: Goldshire, Elwynn Forrest, Eitrigg Server
• Rules of Order:
• No ninjas.
• Questions will only be taken from journalists in PvP mode   
• We have developed means of determining if you are a Chinese Gold Farmer, so do not outsource your participation
• Safe passage will be provided to Horde characters, but your questions may be lost in translation
• Keep your armor on, do not /dance unless you are an orc, use of other emotes are encouraged
• If the spokesperson is not forthcoming, you may duel for information
• Those that survive the experience will gain 1 gold piece and a Socialtext tabard

Classic.

Dell participating in Second Life is one thing – pretty smart actually. But companies continuing to use Second life as a vehicle for self promotion and press conferences is something I’m not so sure about. At least Dell had a reason to be there.

According to CNet…

Reuters Group has taken a stake in Web media-syndication site Pluck and has agreed to distribute blogs worldwide as part of a new media strategy.

Reuters, a news and information company, has invested $7 million in the Austin, Texas-based company in return for an undisclosed ownership stake, Pluck co-founder and Chief Executive Dave Panos said.

Pluck operates a blog syndication network called BlogBurst, which connects newspapers and other media sites to 2,800 selected blogs, helping traditional media supplement their journalism with blogs.

One of the interesting issues this might pose – at least over time – is what if I don’t want my blog distributed or syndicated? What if it is being written for a relatively narrow audience of colleagues, clients, friends or family? While the simple answer might be joining one of the online blog communities and password protecting the site I might not want to bother with either the supplier or the administration. Rather, some might prefer to revel in absolute obscurity. How will they seek permission to repurpose and republish?

Avoid doing a really, really stupid thing and discouraging people from using it as such. Not that you’ll be able to anyway. So really, don’t be stupid. We Kiwi’s call it “pissing into the wind” – something every Kiwi lad learns at a young age to be futile. Today, Google starts “pissing into the wind”, asking all of us to watch how we use their name.

So, to spite you I’m going back to Yahooing everything. Actually, Yahoo could probably make hay while the sun shined on this one… Ben says it pretty well over at his blog… Here are Google’s pearls of wisdom…

“A trademark is a word, name, symbol or device that identifies a particular company’s products or services. Google is a trademark identifying Google Inc. and our search technology and services. While we’re pleased that so many people think of us when they think of searching the web, let’s face it, we do have a brand to protect, so we’d like to make clear that you should please only use “Google” when you’re actually referring to Google Inc. and our services.

Here are some hopefully helpful examples.

Usage: ‘Google’ as noun referring to, well, us.
Example: ‘I just love Google, they’re soooo cute and cuddly and adorable and awesome!’
Our lawyers say: Good. Very, very good. There’s no question here that you’re referring to Google Inc. as a company. Use it widely, and hey, tell a friend.

Usage: ‘Google’ as verb referring to searching for information on, um, Google.
Example: ‘I googled him on the well-known website Google.com and he seems pretty interesting.’
Our lawyers say: Well, we’re happy at least that it’s clear you mean searching on Google.com. As our friends at Merriam-Webster note, to ‘Google’ means ‘to use the Google search engine to find information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web.’

Usage: ‘Google’ as verb referring to searching for information via any conduit other than Google.
Example: ‘I googled him on Yahoo and he seems pretty interesting.’
Our lawyers say: Bad. Very, very bad. You can only ‘Google’ on the Google search engine. If you absolutely must use one of our competitors, please feel free to ‘search’ on Yahoo or any other search engine.”

Intersting idea… The latest blogregator/Google mashup, outside.in takes your zipcode and brings all the location-pertinent blogs and news to the screen. A quick search on Los Gatos reveals our skateboard park is getting a new lease of life. So, idea needs some content to be useful. Will watch it though as the idea has merit.

• CNNMoney on bloggate Walmart.
• Corporate Blogging: What Could Go Wrong? :: CIO Insight
• To Blog or Not to Blog: Report from the Front :: Knowledge@Wharton
• Corporate Blogs Split Cyberspace :: silicon.com
• Movies in a flash.
• New Yahoo bookmarks service… Do we need another… Great screencast though.