Second Life...Who Knew?

As I stared at my girlfriend create her own avatar for her gamer profile on Xbox 360

the other night, I just couldn't get why she was so amused! I mean, she wasn't playing a game, she was just creating a person who looked like her in order to interact with other users. And the closer she made the avatar look like her, the more fun she had.



This is the trend that is known as Second Life. It is an escape from the real world into the virtual world, but with real world money, and some fake money as well. Complicated? Yeah, well, it gets better. Users can shop, buy real estate, attend concerts, go to lectures at Harvard, all at the genius of this Second Life world. For myself, I have to admit, this world is a bit creepy, but at the same time, it has my attention, and I want to learn more. For example, how does one like Anshe Chung become a millionare through this life?

It seems to me that second life has been around ever since the Nintendo ages. People could plug in a game and fly a spaceship or slay a dragon. But now, people are playing the same types of games, but being themselves in the process. Why do you have to pretend to be someone else in a virtual world when you can be your virtual self? It's a great trend that is taking place and one to watch as not only individuals, but companies start realizing the potential in this market.

Old School 2.0

The internet generation vs. the old school...it is an interesting mix of two generations that are overlapping right at the same time. So which one has the best to offer? Well I believe we can learn a bit from each.

First let's take the new generation of web 2.0. It is a generation which has found itself with a bit easier road than our predecessors. We rarely have to go the library to research information (we have wikipedia for that ;) and we never have to go on physical dates (we have match.com) for that. So the question remains, why do we even get out of our houses? (yeah, groceries can be delivered, too!)

On the other hand, we have the traditional outlets of media.....newspapers, tv reporters, and wait, you guessed it.......books! It is a generation that is trying hard to find use in today's society. After all, we don't use newspapers anymore, right? We have blogs and online editorials for that. Don't need reporters, we have millions of them on youtube. And, oh yeah the books, well....no one wants to read, which probably gets to the root of Doris Lessing's frustration, as she is a nobel peace prize winner.

I guess what I am trying to say through all my ramblings here is that it is understandable if the older generation has some resentment about the new age of technology and web 2.o. We have tools today that make everything easier for us and make us work for little if anything sometimes. But if we could just teach each other the value of one another's generation, we could be better off altogether. I mean, books are still cool younger generation, but older generation, why not supplement that with some nice blogs about the particular book you're reading. It's all advantageous people! Let's learn to live together.

Another Way to Use Linkedin

I have read several ways of using Linkedin and they all seem to be unique an interesting ways of networking.....and I want to add another, with a service called glassdoor.com (vault.com's simpler cousin).



As I finish up my MBA experience, I am doing the job search as so many of our classmates are, and one of the opportunities that I am interviewing for is a position in which I have subject matter experience but no job experience. So one of the things I wanted to know was what kind of career path would a person in this particular position follow? Therefore, I went to Linkedin and searched for this position and found career paths that were very much of interest to me as I was initially hesitant of what one could do later on in their careers with this position, even though it sounded like a great fit. Then to better understand the company from the viewpoint of the employees, I went to glassdoor.com, which I find to have better and more commentary than vault.com. I believe the reason for this is that vault.com is not free and can be quite pricey if you subscribe for a long period of time. Glassdoor.com only requires that you submit a review of a company that you've worked for to gain access, which helps understand the volume of reviews on the site and understand why a lot of people check it for reviews of companies at least.

The Customer Now Matters?

In the old days, companies created marketing campaigns, set up focus groups, etc. without really engaging after the consumer's needs after-purchase, beyond the standard customer service protocols. Now, the world of conversational marketing has changed this setup. Companies have to be responsible for the quality of the product and how it is serviced once sold, or else the world of bloggers will tear the brand name of the product up and chew it for dinner. I see this both as on offensive approach to marketing and a defensive approach.

The defensive approach to marketing is finding certain conversations on the internet that are potentially harmful to a brand and trying to turn that particular person or persons views around so it doesn't spread like wildfire. The offensive approach is basically treating conversationalists on the internet like royalty to help promote the brand before any bad commentary is started.

Take for example the unique world of Yelp that my girlfriend has engaged me in. She started off as blogging about particular restaurants around town and before you knew it she had been invited to places for free vodka tastings, happy hours, club openings, etc. just because she was part of this massive network of reviewers. In an effort to promote a certain place (restaurant, event, etc.), these establishments will go all out to make these bloggers rate the places well enough so that the marketing takes care of itself.

For me personally, I know I will probably go on certain review sites and rate places badly if I do not feel like it was a great experience. But even I know there can be survivorship bias in some of these review sites...meaning that a lot of sites go all out to screen comments/blog posts in an effort to make a certain product look better than it is, causing the fairer comments to survive, and the more critical ones to disappear. (TripAdvisor.com/Hotels.com to name a few). So be aware, just because you feel like one site is being conversated in a great light, be sure to check around to compare.

Facebook

Does facebook and privacy go together? Many people can debate for either side. I used to be very satisfied with facebook's privacy protection when it initially started. However, as the company has expanded its platfrom and let more and more users join, it has not been able to adapt properly, in my opinion. I know there are some people who are just as cautious as many others.

Are These Really Our Strengths?

Companies these days are becoming ever more affluent on the culture of social networking. They see a market that is taking off and want to be a part of it, but they are unsure of how. I believe, however, that this is causing some questionable tactics to take place; the examples of Google, Yahoo, and Nike come to mind. Nike has a great concept in its customization platform it uses, however, it just seems like that type of customization that they now offer in store will soon take away from the Nike brand itself. I mean, if we go into a store, design our own shoe, what do we need the Nike brand for? The strategy will most likely be copied by other shoe makers (less expensive shoe makers more importantly), but have comparable designs. In similar fashion, Google and Yahoo want to create a social network platform from their ever existing email interface, however, you risk some customers from feeling invaded by the uncertainty of their privacy. It is important to have a social networking strategy, but a strategy that does not take away from the core strategy of the company.

Social Capital & Networking

In a response to the brief primer on social capital given by the Saguaro Seminar, it is interesting how social capital can relate to parts of our life that you would not think. Mostly one thinks of social capital as just related to technology and the internet, however the everday interactions that you build with people, such as joining student clubs, going to church activities, and engaging in volunteer events develops a type of social capital that we now see incorporated into internet sites such as facebook and linkedin, where these sites bring together groups of a common interest to build even further social capital.

Also, in Clive Thompson's article, it is great to understand social networking from some kind of empirical study such as the one he conducted. If one can study a company or the 100 MIT students he studied and accurately predict the outcomes of future social interactions with a comparable sample size, there's no limit on how much social networking can yield to societal outcomes. The big issue with these kinds of studies, however, remains the privacy concern. Do we really want people monitoring our social interactions, even if it is at the benefit of others?