Archive for July, 2007
Posted July 30th, 2007 by Char Lyn
Tell me your problems and I’ll tell you mine—at least that is what a new social network called PrayAbout.com feels like. The site bills itself as a “prayer service ministry that welcomes people of all faiths,” and gives them an online medium for requesting the prayers of others. The site is carefully constructed to be inviting and reassuring, providing people with a sense of doing good, but the requests for prayers are, as one would expect, stories fraught with medical woes, depression, family troubles, and unemployment. To make it a community, PrayAbout employees lighting candles the way digg.com uses member voting to “illuminate” prayer requests supposedly deserving of more community recognition.
In concept, the site is filling a social need, but to me it feels like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. While each member gets one candle for free, other candles are earned through 1) writing a popular prayer request, 2) lighting a candle for prayers that become popular, 3) getting other people to join the network. If you can’t/don’t want to earn your candles, you can purchase them with a real money “donation” (which the Boston Globe indicates are $5 per 20 candles). The money helps support the site, which is owned by Notati, a for-profit company that admits to using PrayAbout to experiment with “predictive market techniques, virtual goods, and community spam filtering.”
As a religious individual, I am frustrated that a company would seek to make a profit from people’s prayers, even if the profit comes later through re-use of the technology developed by donations toward site improvement. As a social marketer I am fascinated by the use of a social cause to improve a networking platform. What do you think?
Posted July 30th, 2007 by Kevin
Will JK Rowling kill Harry Potter? Will the iPhone levitate? Are the cast members of “Lost” in purgatory? If you want an answer, you can find plenty of them in the appropriate community. Today, anyone can be a Super Sleuth and find facts and data to support a desired theory to the questions above. The most recent example of this phenomenon is 1-18-08.
If you’ve seen the movie trailer, your first reaction was probably “WTF?!?!?!” Followed quickly by, “What was that called? I didn’t see a title.” Paramount Pictures released the trailer prior to Transformers and the blogosphere has been buzzing ever since (you can see the trailer here). There was no story mentioned. It looked like an earthquake, until something roared. There was no title. Just 1-18-08.
Now, just three weeks later, you can find countless theories and a huge foothold online. Have a theory about the movie, visit the wiki. Want to get some additional clues, visit blogs like this. Want to follow the breadcrumbs that Paramount is leaving you, then check out the official site at www.1-18-08.com where you can view four still images they’ve released to date and check back often as there are more to come.
So…what is the community saying about a movie with no title, characters and confirmed plot line?
“I just watched the trailer to 1-18-08 and it looks like its going to be one hell of a movie. I have no clue what it’s about.”
“…Along with the date (1-18-08), we see a time of 12:36 A.M on one of the pictures. I did a google search for 12:36 (with the idea of a biblical verse) and here’s what it came up with. “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak…” Matthew 12:36
“Supposedly he told Ain’t It Cool News that it’s about a giant worm that falls to Earth. Sigh…Viral Marketing works I guess.”
Posted July 27th, 2007 by Neha
I never thought I could get so engrossed in the series, but I have, as have ten million others who bought J.K. Rowling’s seventh book within the first 24 hours. As hardbound copies of Deathly Hallows adorned the windows of Barnes & Nobles and Borders around the nation and crowds gathered to learn about the perils and dangers that lurk in wizard world for round 7 of the Harry Potter series, a group of people in the real world are taking on the challenge of reminding readers and fans of some more serious issues.
I learned about the Harry Potter Alliance recently – an organization started by two young guys, Andrew Slack and Justin Oberman, on MySpace who had two common interests – social causes and Harry Potter. Through the power of social networking, the group grew in numbers and is now dedicated to familiarizing young readers about the parallels of the Dark Arts to the goings –on outside of Hogwarts. Harry Potter and the Dark Lord Wal-de-Mart videos, posted by the HP Alliance, raged across YouTube so adolescents could understand the controversial ethics policies of the behemoth retailer.
So while I quickly scooted into the nearest corner bookshop to get my own closure with the series this past weekend, the HP Alliance is encouraging avid fans to throw house parties to generate awareness for the crisis in Darfur. Party attendees are invited to indulge in food and treats and also learn a bit more about Darfur through a Pottercast with Joe Wilson, former U.S. Ambassador; John Prendergast, Senior Advisor to the International Crisis Group; Dot Maver, Executive Director of the Peace Alliance; and John Passacantando, Executive Director of Greenpeace.
So as I plunge headfirst into the last of the series to see what happens to Harry this time around, HP Alliance will take on the bigger issues and perhaps I’ll have a little dinner party myself to help them out in their strides toward social awareness.
Posted July 17th, 2007 by admin
Check out how social networking is shaping the “Medisphere.”
1) Sermo.com
The American Medical Association teamed up with Sermo to create a Web-based professional networking community for physicians.
2) DoctorsHangout.com
DoctorsHangout is an exclusive friendship and social networking website for doctors and medical students. As a member, you’ll be able to share your videos, photos, mp3s, and thoughts with other DoctorsHangout users.
3) DoctorNetworking.com
This is the premier professional networking site for physicians and other professionals in health care.
4) Relaxdoc.com
RelaxDoc.com is a private, highly selective online community created exclusively for physicians.
5) Tiromed.com
Tiromed is a professional knowledge network exclusively for students of medicine and physicians.
6) SocialMD.com
SocialMD is a great casual networking tool for physicians.
7) ClinicalVillage.com
ClinicalVillage.com was created to give doctors the ability to communicate with other clinicians and build an online community where they can share their clinical and life experience.
MedicSpeak.com
MedicSpeak is a powerful networking site for Physicians, Biomedical Researchers, Medical/Biomedical Students.
If you come across another social networking site that is not in this list, please include it by posting a comment.
Posted July 11th, 2007 by admin
The Live Earth event on Saturday, July 7, was announced as the most significant musical event in the 21th century by some and completely dismissed by others. In any case, it was a grand effort to raise global awareness of a problem that we can all try to do something about. I watched it from the floor of Giant Stadium in New Jersey.
The ten hours in the hot New Jersey sun were well worth my money – I saw more bands line up in one day than I have across my entire lifetime (not that that’s very long). The crowds that stayed at home and watched the 24-hour broadcast from seven continents (yes, including Antartica) broke the streaming viewership record: more than 10 million hits (as a compared with the previous record holder, the Live 8 event in 2005 which had 2.9 million). And not only did we witness great performances by great artists, we also heard them speak about saving our planet in a generally sincere way.
Some of the celebrities talked about creating a new movement and starting a revolution. That sounds very 20th century to me. My Eastern European upbringing taught me that revolutions have a way to go sour. Instead, I’m all for raising awareness and trend setting as the new vehicles of change in this century. Al Gore laid out his seven pledges that he wants people to sign. I opted to choose my own seven things that I hope to get out of this experience, because it’s not about my signature on a piece of paper – it’s about what I do to help save the planet.
#1 I heard loud and clear from the celebrities who candidly admitted that they sin against the environment daily and pledged to do something about it. It’s always hard to change bad habits and then it takes extra effort to stay disciplined about it. If you ask me, one of the best quotes from the event came from the pretty Fall Out Boy, Pete Wentz, comparing environmentalism with working out – “…you’re only gonna do it if it’s convenient for you. Cause the first day you’re like ‘I’m totally gonna do it!’ and then the next couple of days you don’t.”
#2 The variety of performances and appearances are what made this event great. Yes, most people watched because of entertainment, not because they are so concerned about the Earth, but in the meantime they got to hear their favorites deliver a simple message. It ranged from Madonna’s capstone “Hey You” broadcast from London and Melissa Etheridge’s sermon-like performance, through Petra Nemcova’s Tsunami survival confession and Cameron Diaz’s and Leonardo DiCaprio’s presence in support of their friend, Al Gore, to Jon Bon Jovi and Sting’s no commentary style. Seriously, how many blondes will it take to persuade you to change those light bulbs?
#3 Many journalists and bloggers talked about how celebrities are being hypocritical by not practicing what they preach in their over consumption of non-eco friendly goods and modes of transportation. But I think we are also hypocritical because we love to watch them go over the top. Celebrities are ultimately business people who supply what we demand. Why hasn’t Ed Begley Jr.’s house been on MTV Cribs yet? Plus, greening your home seems like a lot of fun to me and it helps save a ton of money. So let’s demand more green and less bling. Soon enough there will be MTV Green Cribs. In fact, there already was a Green Pimp My Ride.
#4 And speaking of rides, I loved the backdrop of the stage made of old tires. Recycle, reuse and renew are the three verbs that I really believe can make a difference. If you are like me and love to build stuff from scratch, finding creative ways to reuse something will leave you with a great feeling. For those who know me, I’m big on renewable energy, too. It’s the way of the future!
#5 One of the most bizarre messages was the Live Earth one-minute spot of livestock ‘pooping’ on camera to emphasize the CO2 emissions that this produces. Most of the crowd turned their heads and looked away. To me this was a good metaphor for the ‘inconvenient truth’ which we don’t want to face. We need to break the nasty habits we have practiced for years or we will see cities like New York, London, Amsterdam and Boston under water within our lifetimes. It will be hard to look away then. Call it awakening, call it preemptive action or call it whatever you want. Just snap out of it already and start making a change!
#6 Save energy and fuel. In my days as a poor student I learned the habits of using public transportation, carpooling and turning off appliances that are not in use. I’m keeping those habits in case I do become rich and famous.
#7 I did notice how overwhelmingly young the crowd was at the concert, considering that Bon Jovi, Roger Waters and the Police were the three major acts. The low TV viewership ratings raise further concern that some people are turning a blind eye. (There were, however, complaints about foul language.) The message needs to reach all generations. The issue has been heavily politicized, but disaster will not care about political views when it strikes. I don’t have the answer for dealing with the political problems of going green, but I hope the message does reach all humankind.
Posted July 9th, 2007 by admin
Colin Smith is a “Do Everything Social Web” guy. He participates in the coolest social networks, belongs to the most cutting edge communities and utilizes the newest services in web. A day in the life of Colin goes like this:
7:00AM: Wakes up and gets ready for work. He logs on to Pownce , MySpace, Facebook and Wallop to see if he has received any messages or files from his friends.
8:00AM: Orders his breakfast at Diningin to pick up on his way to the office. While riding the bus he uses his iPhone to check The New York Times for the day’s headlines, peruses through his unread mail and updates his Twitter status to “heading to the office…sunny day finally!”
8:45AM: Upon arriving at the office he realizes that he forgot to pick up his laundry. He logs on to Domystuff to outsource doing his laundry to someone else. He also hires a dog walker to walk Victor, his French bulldog at noon.
12:00PM: After a long morning of calls and meetings Colin decides to switch it up to CampusFood for his favorite chicken parmesan sub from a pizzeria near his apartment.
3:00PM: Colin catches a break and decides to explore his new neighborhood at FatDoor. He learns about his neighbors’ dog club, finds a golf partner one block from his apartment and joins a peer mentoring volunteer group in the nearby middle school.
6:30PM: Colin realizes he’ll be late to his friend’s birthday party at his favorite bar in town. He decides to buy him and his friends a round of birthday cocktails at BuyYourFriendaDrink. His friend receives a text message moments later with a message saying, “Happy B-Day…working a bit late but will be there by 8 PM”. The text includes a drink code that validates his free drinks at the bar.
Colin is an example of the millions of innovators and early adapters that are integrating their everyday activities with the services and novelties of the social web. I predict that at this pace it will take less than five years for the social web to connect people with every service across all industries.
