The Planet Blog

Stop laughing. Computers are cool now.

That’s what the sticker in my office says, anyway. (Given to me by our very own Todd Mitchell, thank you very much. He’s funny.)

To conclude my three-part blog, I thought I’d focus on some sites I think have really helped to define this new era of the Internet. Plus, it gives me an excuse to play…er, I mean research the Internet while at work. Bonus!

Let’s start with MySpace because, well, it’s the one I’m most familiar with. I’ve had my account since early 2004. I’ve seen lots of growth and changes with the site over the years. Many new features have been added, with better functionality, which makes it really easy to use, but even more it’s really easy to be addicted. With all of these upgrades, the fundamentals of MySpace haven’t changed; it’s a place to hang with your friends and make new ones via the interwebs. That plays a huge part in the site’s success.

In the beginning, the site featured blogs, profile customization, bulletins and comments from other users on your friends list. Today the site has expanded to video, music, instant message, mobile texting and news. You can even search job listings there! Part of what makes this site so compelling is that in order to participate, you have to be a member. You create an account because someone you know has one, and you want to read their blogs and have the ability to comment. Once you get involved, you’re addicted. You also have the ability to completely control who views your page. You can be as public or as private as you like. It’s really all about your comfort level, but more importantly, it’s all about you.

MySpace was founded in August of 2003 by eUniverse (now Intermix). The site was sold in 2005 for $580 million to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. (That’s some serious moola for a site built on the geeky idea of making Internet friends.) The site is currently ranked by Alexa as #3 on the list of most visited sites in the U.S.

You Tube has become a crazy phenomenon. The idea behind it is quite simple: create a site with a simple interface where a user can upload any sort of video that exports into a format most browsers can view. And it’s free. Genius.

The world’s inner celebrity has come out to shine. If you aren’t contributing, you’re watching. If there is something you’ve seen on TV at some point, chances are you can find it on You Tube. If you want to show the world how you and your friends act the fool, just upload and share. Anyone who ever hoped to be some level of celebrity now has their chance, and they’re using it.

Google purchased YouTube on Nov. 3, 2006, for $1.65 billion in Google stock. I can’t even begin to fathom that amount of money. The site is currently ranked #4 in the Alexa rankings.

DIGG.com, which began as a technology-based blog site, is really a fantastic example of one that grew solely from social networking. Users contributed content by seeking out tech blogs, articles and news stories, and then posting them on the site. Now, it’s much more than just technology, with subsections ranging from entertainment, world and business, and gaming. They even offer video and podcast sections as well.

For a blogger, one of the pinnacles of success is having people “digg” your blog. Translation: having someone who reads it like it so much they link it on DIGG. Bloggers have become obsessed with getting their stories “dugg”- so much that the site has implemented practices for stopping spamming of your own writing. (But I’m not above asking you guys to click that little DIGG button on the bottom of this page. Click it. CLICK IT.)

Tons of sites have made an impact building the Internet to what it is today. These are just a few examples of sites that in my mind have been leaders in shaping the Internet culture. They’ve become regular phrases in our everyday lives translating into a major pop-culture phenomenon.

So, now my three-part look at the Internet Social Scene is done. I’m not sure what else I’ll be writing about in the future, but I’m sure there will be some topics that tickle my fancy.

If any of you, dear readers, have suggestions; please feel free to let me know! I’ll dig (ha,ha dig!) down and look into questions you have about Internet happenings, happenings at The Planet or anything else you might find interesting. The sky’s the limit.

If I can make it relevant to technology or the Internet, they’ll probably let me blog about it. Even nail polish and lipstick. Maybe. (What? I am a total girl, you know.)

- Ali

Where’s the Beef?

Remember back in the day, there always seemed to be a commercial everyone was talking about?

Two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun.
I totally double-dutched to that one.

How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
Mr. Owl did it in three. I tried so many times to do that as a kid! It was totally impossible and I was crushed.

I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company.
I found this on YouTube and it instantly took me back to my living room with the green shag carpet and wood paneling. It gave me chills. I know it’s crazy that a commercial can have such an impact. But the time was so tumultuous and that commercial gave a little bit of comfort and hope to the world. (And I’m a sucker for nostalgia; Coca-Cola especially.)

Plus, I know people who cried during Hallmark commercials. My mom included. MCI long distance ones too.

Commercials became as much a part of our television entertainment experience as the shows we were watching. It was a mad competition to see who would have the funniest, catchiest and most innovative approach. Huge multimillion dollar campaigns would launch in hopes to have the next catch phrase.

It’s not really like that anymore. Sure, there are a few companies I can think of that still go above and beyond in the TV campaign area. Geico’s Gecko and Cavemen come to mind. But, really, when was the last time you sang a TV jingle? I haven’t since Chili’s made me “want my baby back ribs.”

The face of advertising is changing, my friends. Aside from the big push at Superbowl, big budget TV campaigns are on the decline. The invention of DVR and the insanely vast amount of broadcast TV and cable networks make it near impossible to pay attention to the commercials. Companies are turning to more cost effective approaches via the Internet – specifically social networking sites.

Do you know of any national retail corporation that doesn’t have a Web site? I don’t. I’m sure you’d be hard pressed to find one. Take that as a challenge, if you like! It’s now common practice to include Internet and online activities in any marketing and advertising plan.

Many companies have gone way beyond simply having their own Web sites. They’ve ventured into the social networking scene, creating MySpace pages and blogs and using email campaigns to drive traffic to these sites. And why wouldn’t they? It’s the Internet version of pollination.

A busy little Internet bee stumbles upon a blog or new Web site. They take that information and link to their own blog or post it on a message board. They use it to pass along information and foster discussion. Then along comes another little busy Internet bee that takes the link and posts it in various other places and so on and so forth. Voila! Pixel pollination. I can’t really think of a much easier way to spread your message than having someone else do it for you.

For some, these practices are still brand new. People are just testing the waters. As we start to see more success with this sort of “grass-roots” marketing, the entire way we implement advertising and promotions will change.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see where we are a year from now. With the ever-changing face of the Internet, new marketing and advertising opportunities will always be on the horizon. It’s an exciting time to be part of such prevalent change in this still-budding new medium. No one has really jumped out as a leader in innovation for this new age of Web-based marketing. Having the opportunity to be a player rather than just a spectator is making the evolution all the more fun.

Up next – The Social Scene 3: Web based communities – top sites, key features and why they’re so addictive.

Stay tuned!

- Ali

Long Distance Social Networking circa 1993:
Get paper.
Get pen.
Sit and hand write the first draft.
Massage hand for a moment to get the cramps out.
Find the nice stationary and the good pen — the one that doesn’t leak.
Write more.
Crumple up that first page because you totally left out a word.
Write more.
FINISH!
Place in envelope.
Write out the envelope.
Realize you left out the last page.
Argh …
Open (and ruin) envelope.
Write it out once more.
Place the letter (all pages!) in the new envelope.
Seal. (Ick. The glue is gross.)
Find a stamp.Um. Stamp. Where are they? Think.
Tear up your house looking for one.
“MOM! I need a STAMP.”
Bug mom to get stamps on her way home from work for two days.
Get the stamp and place the letter in the mail.
Wait weeks to see if your friend received it while everything in it is completely outdated.
Start over again.

Long Distance Social Networking today:
Log onto Myspace.
New Comments! New Messages!
JOY!
Read messages and comments.
Respond.
The end.

The above happens within a two-minute timeframe. Who would have known how vastly different the world would change in a mere 14 years. Really, five years if you simply go by the introduction of the Internet to the masses. It has changed the way we communicate in every capacity. Everything is faster, sleeker, wittier and smaller. Every day teeny tiny new little gadgets are invented to enable us to stay plugged into everything: our friends (and frenemies), TV, music, movies, sports, news, gossip … it’s never ending.

I find it all incredibly fascinating.

Technology is moving so fast that it’s hard for even the techiest of tech people to keep up. Web 2.0 applications and practices are in full swing with blogs and social networking sites becoming actual outlets for advertising and marketing opportunities. Not just a place to write about what you had for breakfast and saying “What’s up” to your homies. The entire landscape of the Internet has changed and in the grand scheme of things, it’s still in its infancy. As a result, traditional marketing and advertising practices are taking a backseat to more innovative approaches.

I’ve often been questioned by people who haven’t embraced the Internet (and more specifically social networking sites) as fervently as I have. They don’t get it. I might as well be telling them that I talk to monkeys. But slowly, even the most skeptical people are coming around.

My first foray into the realm of Internet geekdom was message boards. I found a couple that focused on topics I liked and I dove right in. Now, I’m a social person. I talk non-stop. (Go figure I work in communications.) I love to debate, but even more so, I love being in the know.

So the world of message boards was like a little piece of pixel heaven. I can talk, laugh, argue and always be in the know because the posts stay there. I can go to bed fully engrossed in a topic, then wake up the next morning and catch up on what I missed while drinking my coffee and lounging in my jammies. You can’t do that in real-time. If you aren’t there, you simply miss out.

For years, I was happy in my little communities. I knew everyone. Everyone knew me. It was like Cheers but with a keyboard and no beer. I made friends and attended “meet-ups.” I talked regularly to folks both on the boards and on IM from all over the country. Then one day, my friend Gabe sent me an invite to MySpace. I was totally confused. I had heard of Friendster and never understood it, either. I mean, why would I need MySpace? I have my beloved message boards!

I accepted the invite and let the page sit for months. Suddenly, all the people I interacted with regularly on message boards were getting pages. They started leaving comments and writing blogs. Slowly those same people started become more open and really letting parts of themselves show through. The blogs became personal. Pages were designed to reflect their tastes in art, music, film and TV. It really became and extension of themselves.

I know people often question the usefulness of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. They want to know why you would want or have a need for those sites, when message boards are available and so prevalent.

There are two very distinct differences between the two:
1) Message boards are about the community more than the individual, and social sites are the opposite.
2) Networking sites allow users to control who they interact with.

With social sites, the user is the superstar, so to speak. The content is about them. It’s where they can show off their creativity and inner celebrity. And most importantly, they control who views it and who’s allowed to participate. All of this in conjunction with the explosion of YouTube gives the “average Joe” the ability to create their own community of fans and get a taste of celebrity life via the Internet. Think of it as the “Me” generation of the 80’s with a focus on celebrity status rather than financial (and less hairspray).

The Web has changed the way we think and interact, both in our personal lives and in business. Marketing and advertising companies have had to completely rethink strategies … but that’s something I’ll visit in part 2. Stay tuned!

I KNOW. That’s so old school. I’m bringing it back, though.

- Ali