Tech -- Culture -- Humour
It’s with great pleasure we feature a guest post from Tateru Nino. We’ve profiled Tateru previously for good reason – there are few people who would understand Second Life more fully.
That’s a simple enough fact. Without communities, there can be no commerce. Even the simplest of communities suffices, but in the absence of it, you’re not going to make sales or effectively market your products.
In the offline, atomic world, communities are largely a matter of geography and infrastructure. Communities form because people are, willingly or unwillingly, in proximity. That’s why the corner store does alright. They’re right there, in your community, and they provide the sorts of things you want.
In the online world, however, matters of geography and mobility infrastructure are largely erased. Community becomes entirely a matter of choice. There’s no captive audience online. There are only interested audiences, and if you don’t have their interest, then someone or something else does.
So, we have two rules.
One, you need a community before you can attempt to sell. Two, you need to be providing something that community wants before they will buy.
Both rules are commonly ignored online, and in particular by businesses operating in virtual worlds.
There are basically only two ways to deal with rule one. Either you have to move into an established community, or you have to build one. The latter means you have to get people interested, and keep them interested. Even when they’re not paying you for product. That’s hard, and expensive and pays off big in the long run. It’s not a strategy for those who are into short-term gains or who are undercapitalised or undercommitted.
The alternative, of course, is to cuddle up with an established community. In the offline world, that’s newspaper advertising, billboards, sponsorship and so on. Online this is often done with banner-ads, but banner-advertisers tend to be quite a bit more scattershot. In the offline world, even a poorly-placed advertisement will be seen by many potentially interested people. In the online world, a poorly-placed advertisement may be seen by almost nobody who is interested.
A million impressions in the wrong place may be worth far, far less than a hundred impressions in the right place.
And that brings us to rule two. You’ve got to be selling something that the community wants, otherwise you may as well just be setting fire to your marketing budget. A kiosk promoting mobile phone plans isn’t going to work in a medieval role-playing environment or a historical recreation. It’s so out-of-place that you’ll get negative impressions, regardless of how many eyeballs and apparent engagement you’re deriving.
This is one of the few times that I actually counsel marketers to behave differently online than offline. You need to keep the same offline core fundamentals of marketing: Know your market, do your research, and refine your approach through empirical trials — but out in the virtual environments, you need to stop assuming you have a ready-made community. You’ll have to find an appropriate one, or make one — or go back to print ads and billboards.
A scientific expedition disembarks from its plane at the final outpost of civilization in the deepest Amazon rain forest.
They immediately notice the ceaseless thrumming of native drums. As they venture further into the bush, the drums never stop, day or night, for weeks. The lead scientist asks one of the natives about this, and the native’s only reply is “Drums good. Drums never stop. Very BAD if drums stop.”
The drumming continues, night and day, until one night, six weeks into the trip, when the jungle is suddenly silent. Immediately the natives run screaming from their huts, covering their ears.
The scientists grab one boy and demand “What is it? The drums have stopped!” The terror-stricken youth replies “Yes! Drums stop! VERY BAD!”
The scientists ask “Why? Why? What will happen?”
Wild-eyed, the boy responds, ” . . . BASS SOLO!!!”
Thanks to The Inquisitr, we know the answer:
You might not be able to get the big man himself — he’s pretty busy right now, after all — but dial 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) and you can talk to a real person who’ll tell you where he is and what he’s up to. If you’re outside the United States, dial 1-719-556-5211 to call Santa instead.
By the time you read this the lines will have closed but keep it in mind for next year.
A Merry Xmas to all.
A store that sells new husbands has just opened in New York City, where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates.
You may visit the store ONLY ONCE! There are six floors and the attributes of the men increase as the shopper ascends the flights. There is, however, a catch: you may choose any man from a particular floor, or you may choose to go up a floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building!
So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband.
On the first floor the sign on the door reads:
Floor 1 – These men have jobs.
The second floor sign reads:
Floor 2 – These men have jobs and love kids.
The third floor sign reads:
Floor 3 – These men have jobs, love kids, and are extremely good looking.
“Wow,” she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.
She goes to the fourth floor and sign reads:
Floor 4 – These men have jobs, love kids, are drop-dead good looking and help with the housework.
“Oh, mercy me!” she exclaims, “I can hardly stand it!”
Still, she goes to the fifth floor and sign reads:
Floor 5 – These men have jobs, love kids, are drop-dead gorgeous, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak.
She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor and the sign reads:
Floor 6 – You are visitor 31,456,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please. Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store.
A new wives store opened across the street.
The first floor has wives that love sex.
The second floor has wives that love sex and have money.
The third through sixth floors have never been visited.
As announced on the official blog, the new design developed over recent weeks has gone live, initially for those not already registered as Second Life residents. The new version loaded for me this afternoon:
The re-design has attracted a lot of comment, a significant proportion of which has been criticism. For what it’s worth, I like the new design. Is it derivative? I believe so, but pretty much everything on the 2D web is. The new site does provide a real showcase of what Second Life has to offer, which must count for something. What are you thoughts – do you like it, hate it, or couldn’t care less?
In more than two years of daily involvement in Second Life, one of the highlights has been the community approach of ABC Island since its launch in 2007. This year has posed some challenges for the island but things appear to be back on track if the latest addition to the island is any indication.
Arguably the key meeting spot on ABC Island is its sandbox, and that’s where the latest build has appeared. It’s an interactive Aussie Xmas display, all created by the small group of ABC island regulars. Quite rightly, the BBQ is the centrepiece:
Stalwart ABC Island admin, Wolfie Rankin, suggested the original concept but the end product is a result of some great group input. I’ve repeatedly lauded both the ABC and Telstra presences in Second Life, in both cases primarily for their communities and the passion with which they maintain them. Within the broader Winterfaire festivities currently underway in Second Life, the Aussie Christmas rightly stands out.
Do take the time to spend an Aussie Christmas on ABC Island if you can – it certainly beats the shopping queues in RL.
A teacher noticed that a little boy at the back of the class was squirming around, scratching his crotch, and not paying attention.
She went back to find out what was going on. He was quite embarrassed and whispered that he had just recently been circumcised and he was quite itchy.
The teacher told him to go down to the principal’s office. He was to telephone his mother and ask her what he should do about it. He did it and returned to his class. Suddenly, there was a commotion at the back of the room. She went back to investigate only to find him sitting at his desk with his penis hanging out.
“I thought I told you to call your mom!” she said. “I did,” he said, “And she told me that if I could stick it out till noon, she’d come and pick me up from school.”
Torley Linden has returned to the official Second Life blog with a detailed roundup of Second Life’s annual Winterfaire event.
Anyone on the east coast of Australia may actually feel a greater bond to the event given the near absence of summer to date. If you’re running an Australian Winterfaire event, post a link in the comments. I know the ABC Island admin team are working on some great stuff, not necessarily for WInterfaire but it’s the time of the year for celebrating new things.
It’s also a great opportunity to wish you all a wonderful Xmas and New Year’s – thank you for taking the time to read our stories over the past year and we’re looking forward to doing the same again in 2009.
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