2nd Life is not for me

Last week in class I argued on the side for people who believe the "internet will make us dumber." This was before I really understood what second life was. I think I was right. 

I have to admit, I really didn't know what second life was. But in anticipation of our last class, where we will be using second life, I figure I should read up and see what this is all about. 

Am I understanding this correctly? People will go into some site and create a profile that looks like them and will interact virtually with others? Apparently you can hang out with new people, shop, play games all at your fingertips. Man, this is so wrong. Don't you think this is going a little too far? I mean talk about killing interpersonal skills. Not to mention that this can be outright creepy. Take what I'm saying with a grain of salt, as I've never used second life. Who knows, I may like it. I doubt it though. I'm more of a face to face guy;)

Amateur Hour

Blogging in this world has become an extremely popular medium of communicating personal ideas. However, the fear that I have is that people are now using blogs as their means of getting news or using blogs as real sources of information. Yes, we're now a lot more virtual and now more and more people can express opinions on any different topic, but is this really a good thing?

I think "professional" blogging persay is a dangerous thing. How is it that someone who has certain opinions becomes the source or basis for forming debate. But for some reason, bloggers are getting as much creditability as people who have studied or are considered professional journalist. I think we, as a society, need to become a bit smarter on who we get our news and information from. 

Sorry for the short blog, but I just became a father and right now I'm holding my daughter:) Will write more later.......

Zaid Sultan, is a registered trademark of Zaid Sultan

I hate the term "branding yourself." Is there anything more fake then that? Making yourself into a product that is to be sold on some market. I hate it. And I hear it all the time. At work, at school, in some off the wall networking class that I'm forced to take now that I have a management position. What happened to, being yourself? I know we have an underlying corporate culture in this country, but this too corporate.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised though. After all, we have terms like "what have you done for me lately," or "it's not what you know, it's who you know." So its fitting that one needs to now make themselves into a product and get packaged up real nice like a product off the shelf.

I know I haven't been in Corporate America too long, but has it always been like this? Did they actually teach "How to Network at an Event" in the 80's? To me, this stuff seems to be intuitive or at least taught to me by my father. Like, "When you go to a conference and meet someone new, it is a good idea to clearly articulate your name and shake the person's hand." Really? Is that what you do? Thanks, I had no idea. Here's a good one, I had to take the "Networking" course at work and the instructor told us ways of getting out of a conversation that will not help you in your networking efforts, like "oh, I need to get a refill of my drink will yo please excuse me." Or, and this was my favorite, "I'm sorry, but I planned on meeting 15 new people tonight and if I keep talking to you, I'm afraid I won't achieve my goal." I'm serious, they had it on a slide and everything.

I'm all about keeping it real;) Joking aside though, I really think that being yourself and not treating yourself as some brand is much better and more honest. And the real relationships you will form are the ones that will be more beneficial and fruitful in the end.

Zaid Sultan just became a fan of ????? Online Social Networks and Advertisers

So this is it. The real reason behind the phenomenon of Online Social Networking. Building a website brand that will allow people to provide all this information about themselves to, not just socialize with long lost friends, but to ultimately allow advertisers to market their products to core demographics. I guess it's the logical next step in the era of E-Business. 

http://216.35.68.239/research/articlesbysubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=526352&story_id=10102992

This interesting article from The Economists writes about the new phase of marketing brands to social networking sites. Where the social networking sites like Facebook will allow marketers to review specific information about a person and tailor an ad to suit that persons taste. We can see it already on Facebook with the right hand column popping up ads that may interest us. 

With this new marketing strategy comes the ever so popular "is it ethical" argument. During any debate on the subject, the argument on whether this become an invasion on a person's personal site comes up. Does a marketer have the right to monitor my activity on the web and then send me ads related to my searches? Then there is the other side of the debate. Why did it take them so long to do this? Or, how was Facebook going to make money anyways? 

Both sides have legit points, but I feel that once you establish an online presence, then get ready for all the bells and whistles that come with it. This is the an amazing way for advertisers to target customers and a relatively inexpensive way as well. For instance, Facebook has a feature that states that you can become a fan of something and let your friends list know that you are a fan. Like, I am a fan of U2. This fan page allows me to connect with other U2 fans on Facebook and discuss what we love about the new album (which is amazing) and what we don't (Get on your boots is about the worst U2 song I've heard). Inevitably people on my list who are fans of U2 but have not joined this group will be inclined to do so. If I was the brand manager of U2, I'd be very interested to see the dialogue going back and forth on cyber space about how the fans feel about the new direction of the band. 

Similarly, there are a thousands of Fan websites about products, music, movies, books out there that will only help brand managers understand what exactly the public is thinking. 

What are you thoughts?

Trying out something new

We're in class right now learning about tagging and including other blog posts in our post. What fun! Here is my friend Sarah's blog. I highly recommend it!

http://sarahminigh.blogspot.com

Power to the People! 2.0 Style

Wow, I almost fell asleep just now without doing my weekly post. Shame on me! Well, I don't think you can blame a guy who's working full-time, taking four classes and has a pregnant wife at home (sympathy violins anyone?). Oh, and not to mention that I'm utterly heartbroken this weekend, as I watched my beloved Pitt Panthers (my Alma mater) lose to Villanova in a nail-biter.  

Well enough about me and on to my post of the week.  So, there was a very interesting article I read this week as part of our assignment regarding Nike and their latest innovation quest, seeking designs from YOU! 

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/next/archives/2007/10/nikes_new_publi.html

And that's why I'm calling it Power to the People 2.0! I think this is amazing! I mean, a giant company like Nike, who, supposedly has a crack  sales and marketing division, athletic sponsorship out the "wazoo" and well over a billion dollar in revenues, is asking YOU to design their shoes! Well not really, they're asking you to design your own shoe, and if they like it, they may sell it on a limited basis. But still, how amazing is that! And, in my humble opinion, directly relate it to the huge reach of the Internet and the ability of people to readily voice opinions and share their own ideas at a touch of a button.  Its now wonder that Nike's website called NikeID.com has tripled its membership since 2004. This is the website that allows you to begin customizing your products.  We can see this in other industries as well. Look at Apple and its iPhone applications. Its also customer driven. Many of the Apps on the iTunes store are created by non-Apple employees. 

These innovation ideas, where the company reaches out to their customers for ideas, is brilliant and only pushes the company to produce top-notch products! Keep on innovating Nike! Just do it!

On a side note, did anyone else fall of their chair laughing at Sayyid's drugged up confession on Lost??? ;)

Virtual vs Reality

It's a fact that today's world is getting more and more virtual. We all seem to have some sort of presence on the web. I think its fair to say that every person I've ever met in the last 15 years has some sort of an email address, much to the shagrin of the U.S. Postal Service, but we now have our virtual presence on sites like Facebook or LinkedIn. These sites are allowing us to build a profile and let the world know who we are, what we like, and who we want to be friends with.  Its becoming so popular, that companies now are having internal sites to increase the networking capacity of its own employees.  But does all this virtual activity replace the traditional networking methods of going to an event and meeting a person face to face? 

In a way, yes it does. In fact, I'd argue that its more efficient and more real than actual meeting people at networking events.  Here's my reason. The speed at which people can meet others online is considerably faster than any networking event I've been too.  I could network with someone in Middle East with a click of a profile and a quick note if I needed to get in touch with someone in that region. Sites like Facebook and LinkedIn have made that possible. I'd also argue that with the checks and balances in place in these websites, have allowed a more honest profile to exist therefore making networking a bit more real.

I feel going to networking events, whether work related or some school event leads to a rather "fake" interaction. Would love to hear your thoughts on the subject?