Not anymore. Days go by. Inboxes are too full. Spam filters send legitimate emails off the radar screen. It sucks, but it’s true.

So where have these crucial conversations gone?

• Back to the phone – this is good for a number of reasons, and I’ve personally seen this occurring in my own business.
• To SMS – Whether your contacts are close friends or important business associates, text messages seem to get much more attention these days. It’s the first thing people check, wherever they are and whatever time it is.
• Facebook, Linked-In and Twitter (for some people) – I’ve had entire business conversations with people within Linked-In and Facebook.. the FB one was a friend already, however. These tools allow people to strategically filter their discussions by friend groups.
• In person – Still the best way to discuss business.
• Via Skype, IM, Chat and so forth – This could include a Web cam or HD conferencing. Again, the filtering factor of buddy lists and contact circles makes it useful to busy executives.

What’s your experience? Are you having any luck with direct email marketing? Are people you meet and email slow to respond? Please comment below to share your thoughts.

The point of this little riff, however, is to parse through some of the observations I’ve come across and to make some sense of it all in both a business and personal context. This exercise was originally just for me, but it occurred to me that you might benefit, as well.

One thing’s for sure – there’s *a lot* of chatter, anxiety and buzz out there with respect to everything social media/networking.

First, I want to set a baseline about communication and socialization and what it means to me. Then maybe we can move on to some of the curious things I’ve seen out in the “social networking” world.

I’ll start with an anecdote. When I was in high school, a friend and I started our own t-shirt company. I almost said “apparel company” there, but it wasn’t .. just one idea for a funny t-shirt (see image). The design was funny, interesting and relevant to the obsessions of our target audience – high school kids.

Could this have gone viral back in 1985?

It was about partying, status symbols (tongue and cheek to some extent – heck we were all growing up in one of the cheesiest, money-hungry cities in the U.S.), and college, the fortunate obsession of my peer group. So those elements were all in place.

And we sold thousands of t-shirts, sweatshirts and tank tops. Enough to keep me on the beach and sipping (moderation – ;^)) Coors Light well into my college years.

But I don’t think it was the design, the humor or the general theme that made the project work. Those elements had to be in place, of course. Yet, it needed something else.

We used to call the really popular, socially active kids “soc’s” back in the day (pronounced soshes, with the ‘o’ sounding like its name). I guess I was one of those. But I had hooks into a lot of different groups – including the geeks (I had an Apple II+ before anyone else), the mods (I loved the Jam, The Clash and Generation X), and the jocks (I played tennis but hung out with the water polo guys).

The t-shirt company needed that “soc” component. The word needed to be spread amongst a group of people who liked each other, shared the same values and perhaps wanted to see our project succeed. My buddy and I were in a good position for that. We liked a lot of people, and they liked us. In today’s online world, you might call it “friending” or “following.”

That little business was a mix of social and business.

“Business Life” bleeds into “Social Life”

Over the years (I’m 41 now), I’ve seen a swinging tide of communication and interaction with my own business that straddles this line between social and business. And I always come back to the same core idea: Business is social. That’s no revelation, I know. But it’s important. In my writing business, I work with people I know and like. I’ve met some of them in person. Some through email originally. Some via social media channels. I talk with them from week to week on the phone. We have common goals and interests when it comes to marketing copy, persuasion and content production.

My clients and I got to know each other in person, online and over the telephone wires (the last two are the same I guess). We sussed each other out, made sure our shoes were clean, made sure we didn’t smell bad and decided to do business with each other. That’s the way it works. You can’t take the social component out of it. And personal life bleeds into business life. They can see my Facebook stuff, if they like. But I run a clean show for the most part. I have a few wild friends that post off-color remarks on my pages from time to time, and I’ll put up a questionable humor link from time to time. But everything’s PG to PG-13 for the most part.

So, when I talk to people about Facebook, Twitter and the like, I often come back to the idea that business is social and the Internet is just another communication device. It’s no different than the pony express, the written letter, the telegraph, the steam boat or the telephone.

“But you lie, Phil!”

Yes I do. Somewhat. There’s a big difference between these new tools and the old, one-to-one communication channels like telephone, letter, email and personal conversation.

With those older “technologies,” the viral or word of mouth element is limited. If you call three friends and tell them some gossip or some useful business information, then your potential “megaphone” factor might extend the message out to another 40-80 people maximum, depending upon on the value or interest-level of the message and your own circle of friends. The people on the other end of the line have to be very motivated to call another person and extend your message, so 40 to 80 might be stretching it. The same thing applies to a letter, a newspaper clipping you mail, or an email (though emails are slightly more viral due to forwarding).

With something like a Facebook or Twitter post, however, your information can be immediately launched to massive networks within seconds. All it takes is one friend with several hundred Facebook contacts  or a Twitter follower who has several thousands of followers in their network.

If I had a Twitter account back in 1984, I would have designed college sweatshirts for every community in Southern California and beyond, and then mined Twitter in reverse to spread the word. What does that mean? – “Mine Twitter in reverse..?” This subject is worth another post, but essentially, it’s about using tools like search.twitter.com to connect with people that have similar interests (and to target demographics). You can do similar mining on Facebook now, too. I might have even used AdWords to get the word out.

Who will go to bat for you?

Getting the word out is crucial, of course. And, to go viral you need strong connections to living breathing people. Here are the three keys to getting the word out:

1. The strength of your connections
2. The level of your engagement
3. The quality of your message

These also apply to your personal communications. The point here, however, is that it doesn’t matter what communication channel you use. Use your phone, a postage stamp, an email, Twitter or Facebook. But pay attention to those three keys. These are what will determine who will go to bat for you.

#1 has to do with who cares about you and your products/solutions. The root of this “caring” lies, interestingly, in the quality of care you direct toward your customers and contacts. If you care about your consumers/users/audience, then you’re putting yourself in their shoes every day, trying to figure out ways you can benefit them.

#2 has to do with the quality and quantity of your interactions. How many “touches” do you have with customers and friends/followers? Are you bugging people or offering them real value and insights? Are you answering their questions and trying to help them when your solution is not working out as planned?

#3 is an extension of #2. If you’re selling *anything* these days, you’re in the content production business. Ask any exec in upper management at Starbucks, and they’ll tell you that they’re in the content production and experience business. They nailed down coffee production, franchise and supply chain issues long ago. Their key differentiator is now “experience enhancement.” That means testing store designs and content (e.g. music selections and messaging on displays), engaging with “hub” or power/influencer users online and in the physical world at events, and constantly pumping out relevant information (whether it’s regarding philanthropy projects, music, books or coffee facts). Content has always been king, and you need to produce it well in order to make any kind of impact in this world. That goes for software companies, shipping companies, French fry peddlers, freelancers, web designers, lawyers, dog walkers… everybody.

Now, that said… ask yourself, “Would I rather make 500 phone calls? Or is it worthwhile building a network of Facebook and Twitter followers?” If I were selling sweatshirts, I’d opt for the latter. Multimedia advantages aside (e.g. demos, jpegs, and video showcasing the products), social media tools scale much more easily than phone calls, post cards or index cards on the bulletin board at the local coffee shop.

A strange world in transition

Ideally, social media allows you to make more connections with people and perhaps even make more meaningful, lasting connections – whether it’s for business or social purposes. But that’s not always the case is it? People resist participation, some only broadcast their views and others just don’t communicate all that well.

What follows are stories about three friends/associates of mine and how they perceive social media. Keep in mind, these people are like most of us (with the exception of the techie guy who’s deeply immersed in this social media scene). They want to find tools that are easy for them to use and don’t complicate their lives further. I can identify with that, and I’m not going take issue with them on a technology level. Many of the tools and “solutions” out there that are supposed to make communication easier are difficult to manage, and they don’t do what people want them to do (see my other post on Posterous, FriendFeed, Soup.io and ShareIn).

So, I’ll start with the simplest of stories. This guy is a friend of mine from high school. He’s what I’d call a Facebook power user. He’s constantly updating his status, posting photos and linking to articles of interest. One time I posted a story about Twitter on my Facebook feed, and he fired back, “I hate Twitter.”

To me that was strange. Here’s a guy that spends a good portion of his day using a communication tool (Facebook) to update his pool of friends and communicate with them. There’s another tool out there that does something similar and he hates it. There could be something else going on, too. Suw Charman-Anderson has an interesting post about social media polarization, bigotry and “outgroup” phenomena.

People become religious about their tools and forget the underlying reality – it’s about communication. You see this with people who are passionate about Macs over PCs. Those who like blackberries over iPhones, etc. I’d agree that some tools are easier to use for particular types of people. For example, I like my Blackberry, because I can’t stand texting on touch screens. I think the same thing applies to my friend and his Facebook account. He’s committed to it. He’s all dialed in. And he’s used to the way it works. I can appreciate that.

I’m pretty sure that similar feelings accompanied the evolution of other technologies, as well. I have an aunt, for example, that can’t stand email. She prefers the pen, the ink and a stamp. People despise Amazon Kindles because they like the feel of paper pages. There was a time when a lot of people despised cell phones (many still do for a variety of reasons).

You don’t find many people who despise communication, however. And that’s really what we’re talking about. There are a lot of preferences out there. Some people prefer texting. Some Skype. Some IM. There’s an evolution of how a particular communication thread goes, too. For example, I like to text to set up plans and get simple questions answered, but I’ll go to voice when the conversation looks like it’s going to include more details or a personal tone/touch.

And, if I want to share something with a large group of people without “bugging” them, I choose social media tools like Facebook and Twitter. The people on the other end of the communication can deal with the information (or not) whenever they choose. The scalability factor is nice, and it’s easier for me to update a lot of people at once. This is different than direct communications like @-replies and one-to-one threads in Facebook, of course.

The second friend is a business woman who’s involved in media production and advertising for small businesses. She runs an “old school” magazine/dining guide that recommends restaurants in the local area. I call it old school because the publication is beholden to its advertisers – the old model for print publications. You sell ads and offer the buyers a carrot. If they buy ads, they get editorial. It makes for a very un-transparent, deceptive “guide.” We met up to discuss our respective marketing capabilities, and I mentioned social media, Twitter mining, Word Press blogs, etc. She said she was able to do any of those types of things for clients (with partner companies), but she doesn’t follow the technology trends and the new advertising models. She didn’t know what AdWords are, for example.

During our conversation, she pushed back really hard against any mention of social media or the value of social networking with respect to marketing. Personally, she felt that any new tools or practices (like using Twitter or Facebook) would just complicate her life. She found chasing email frustrating enough as is.

Her demographic for the dining guide is young adults, probably 18 to 35 – pre-children professionals that have time to go out and eat well, club, etc. I mentioned that this group increasingly avoids email in favor of social media communication. I repeated the popular line of Gen Y – “If I want to get a hold of an old person, I’ll use email.” Otherwise, they’re filtering their communications via social media tools and sites. This helps them avoid burdensome activities like chasing email all day. My friend wasn’t buying it. She was more interested in talking about four-color layouts for direct response post cards. I don’t have anything against those, but I thought we’d get beyond that.

And, I must say (Ed Grimley) that I concur with her about the frustration with yet another social media tool to use or site to join. For most of us, it’s exhausting keeping up with these things. People need easy-to-use, intuitive tools that offer shortcuts. Many don’t know about bit.ly and tiny.url and the like. They don’t have the Firefox plug-ins like UrlBarExt. They don’t want to cut and paste links. I think this is why the buzz around tools like Tumblr, Soup.io, FriendFeed, Posterous and ShareIn is so busy. These tools have their flaws, but they’re getting closer to an ideal social media sharing solution (for businesses and personal users). So, I’m hopelessly committed to this evolution. I can’t wait to check out Google Wave, for example. I’ve tried Mozilla’s Flock, and I use both TweetDeck and Seesmic Desktop.

But I was taken aback by this friend’s position. While I could understand it completely, I just think it’s a bit naïve for a marketing professional to resist this. It’s like resisting using the phone for cold calling, using the yellow pages for prospecting or using the mail for advertising in days gone by.

My third friend is a big anomaly… a paradox of sorts. He’s someone I’ve partnered with in the past (on AdWords campaigns for joint clients). He’s a power user of Twitter, Facebook and all things social media. In fact, he frequently offers seminars and talks on the subject. His niche is in helping small businesses with Web marketing and positioning. He’s a big proponent of WordPress (I am, too).

I recently emailed him with questions about some social media issues I was wondering about. No reply. So I pinged him with an @ on Twitter and a DM. No reply. I emailed some more as additional ideas came up. Nothing. Then I commented on some of his Facebook entries to see if I could get a response there. Nope, nada.

It was very strange. Here’s someone who’s hook-line-and-sinker in the tank for social media, and he’s ignoring direct communications. Could be that I offended him. Maybe I owe him money (don’t think so). It’s possible that he’s a huge power user of these tools and that my pings have fallen through the cracks. I could imagine a scenario where my emails go to his spam folder, his Twitter @ feed is way too jammed and he ignores DMs (like a lot of Twitter folks do, due to spam).

It’s just weird that all this use of social media actually prevents communication. In this case, it’s probably time to just pick up the phone.

Circling Back – Be a Communicator, a Content Producer and a Content Filter

Ok, so what are the big take-aways here?  Communication is the critical component to all of this. Despite my failures with friend #3, and the resistance of many to new communication channels – socializing and sharing ideas with people drives business and friendships. There’s nothing new there, but it’s an age old truth.

Also, people are at wildly different stages of adoption when it comes to communication tools. Heck, even folks in the marketing space still resist new modes of communication. People find tools that they like, and they stick with them because they’re comfortable and they’ve invested in some “build-out” of profiles, skill sets, etc.

So what should you do when it comes to using social media tools for better business and relationships? My recommendations are simple (even though I’m often guilty of not following them very competently).

1. Communicate clearly and often – Write better, produce better videos and blogs, and make those “touches” no matter what communication channel you’re using.
2. Filter content for your friends and followers – Use your authority, expertise and experience to help others make better decisions in their lives. Simple. The amount of information available is staggering today. People need trusted filters to make better decisions about the media they consume, the products they buy, and the people they associate with. With the right networks and associations, we’re moving toward more efficient, productive relationships. The tools are getting better, and people are catching on.
3. Focus on value – What do your clients, friends and associates want from you? When you figure it out, deliver that in big, heaping helpings. Don’t spam or bother. Instead, converse, comment and connect. Broadcast messages are becoming less attractive as these new media channels evolve. Interaction and caring are the keys.

Long post. Thanks for hanging with me! .. Fingers cramping… Must get coffee.

I just read an interesting post on ad agency focus in the Web 2.0 world by DJ Francis of Online Marketer Blog. The article elaborates on what David Ogilvy said about creativity so many years ago. Year after year, I come back to this philosophical kernel: sales is where the rubber meets the road. We often get so distracted with the fun, new-fangled Facebook, Twitter and Friend Feed tools. Yet, marketing and advertising are ultimately about sales. So, yes, those tools are useful channels for communication. But, if they aren’t used with sales in mind, their ROI is difficult to measure.

With respect to agencies, Web 2.0, social media, etc. will make a lot of dough for many agencies. People love the new communication channels and fun Web-based software tools. For many, however, this will be a money pit, a dazzling show and wheel spinning exercise. If not taken seriously, these types of efforts will get many agencies fired. No measurable ROI and they’ll be shown the door.

Web 2.0 marketing exercises can be a major distraction. Businesses need to realize that these tools and “strategies” are merely communication channels. That’s it! Nothing else has changed. If you’re not delivering the goods through those channels, you’re not going to move the sales needle. And by “goods” I mean the following:

• Prospecting and lead-gen. Do your social media efforts produce fruitful leads? Or have you deluded yourself into thinking that you’re “building a brand” by socializing. Heck, even Coke has to sell soda.. eventually.
• Persuasion. Remember the line from Glenn Gary Glenn Ross – “A-I-D-A. Attention, Interest, Decision, Action. Attention– Do I have you attention? Interest– Are you interested? I know you are, because it’s shit or walk. You close or you hit the bricks. Decision– Have you made your decision for Christ? And Action.” Persuasion takes many forms… but I just love that line from the movie. Dr. Robert Cialdini is the guy to read if you’re really interested in persuasion research and reality.
• Closing. You have to make promises, and provide compelling calls to action and offers. Like Vince Vaughan’s character says in “Wedding Crashers” – “Now get out there and close some ass.”
• Deliver value. Pure and simple – the product has to be a winner.
• Customer service. Every good solution, product or service has to be supported by supreme customer service. Make sure the right processes and people are in place.

Remember, “business” still has to happen. Don’t get distracted by socializing for socializing’s sake. Yes, business is a social activity, but value has to be added and profit has to be made.

Do you have in-house writing staff but need a fresh, outside perspective?

Is your existing copy connecting fully with prospects, partners, employees and customers?

Here’s an offer that won’t cost you anything but a simple referral once you’ve completed the process.

This month (May ‘09), QualityWriter is giving away a few free copy tune-up and critique packages to select prospects and past clients (this is something we usually charge $300 to $400 for). This is first come first served – we can only do so many between regular deadlines.

Here’s how it works:

First, call us or email to get the ball rolling (949) 515-3510 dunn@qualitywriter.com.

Next, send us Web content, a landing page, a direct mail or email piece, a case study, a data sheet, a short brochure, or two pages of a white paper (anything up to 500 words), and we’ll give it a complete content analysis and evaluation (review notes and improvement plan included).

Make small progress today with your marketing documents, and ensure big progress in the future:

• Connect with prospect/customer motivations.
• Restructure your copy to get a natural conversation going
• Immediately get customers thinking about the key issues and questions that matter to them most
• Present solutions in a clear, compelling manner
• Strengthen your calls to action and show readers what you’d like them to do next
• Bolster your credibility and authority with 3^rd party analyst or customer quotes, testimonials and insights

You can also get a taste for how I work and think.. and perhaps we can work on a writing project some day.

Get started right now – call (949) 515-3510 or email dunn@qualitywriter.com. There’s nothing to lose here. If the improved copy helps you sell more and improve your brand/image, you actually come out ahead.

You can’t just turn off the bull-horn and expect to save money by being quiet, though. That’s a recipe for disaster.

I’ve detailed this elsewhere, demonstrating how the smart companies actually gain market share during recessions or depressions. So I won’t belabor that point any further.

So, how do you connect with customers when they’re so resistant to new spending initiatives? How do you generate better leads when customer budgets are shrinking?

Here a quick, high-level run-down of the pertinent answers.

First, you should show them:

• How your solution saves them money.
• How your solution helps them make money.
• New ways to make money.
• How your solution helps simplify their business.
• How your solution helps them reduce head count (painful as that subject may be).
• How to eliminate wasteful activity.
• Real life customers you’ve helped do all of the above (as case studies)

I can help you do this by writing your white papers and customer case studies, which are crucial lead generation pieces.

The next question you should be asking is: How do I find people that are interested in these topics (with respect to my solutions/products/services)?

I have several different approaches to this last question. Some are social media related, some involve emailing people, some use good old-fashioned direct mail, some utilize Google Adwords and Facebook ads.

If you’d like to explore these topics in more detail and create a marketing campaign that gets immediate results, please give me a call at 949-244-9440 or email me at dunn@qualitywriter.com.

P.S. I have a really efficient system for carrying out these types of direct marketing plans. Please give me a call or email and I’ll tell you how I automate direct response campaigns with my assistant.

P.P.S If you end up hiring me to write some content for you, there’s zero risk. When the copy drives sales it’s essentially free. (All it takes is one extra sale to absorb your writing costs. You can’t lose.) Plus, I personally guarantee my work. You get a full refund by just calling up and telling me where I missed the mark and what I could have done better. I need you to tell me at least five things we could have done better. There’s one little catch: If you decide to keep the copy and continue using my services, I’d like you to give us a referral to one of your colleagues who you think can benefit from our services. Easy.

Here are the important issues:

How do you connect with customers when they’re so resistant to new spending initiatives? How do you generate better leads when customer budgets are shrinking?

Here a quick, high-level run-down of the pertinent answers:

• Show them how your solution saves them money.
• Show them how your solution helps them make money.
• Show them new ways to make money.
• Show them how your solution helps simplify their business.
• Show them how your solution helps them reduce head count (painful as that subject may be).
• Show them how to eliminate wasteful activity.
• Show them real life customers you’ve helped do all of the above (as case studies)

The next question you should be asking is: How do I find people that are interested in these topics (with respect to my solutions/products/services)?

I have about 10 different approaches to this last question. Some are social media related, some involve emailing people, some use good old-fashioned direct mail, some utilize Google Adwords and Facebook ads.

If you’d like to explore these topics in more detail and create a marketing campaign that gets immediate results, please give me a call at 949-244-9440 or email me at dunn@qualitywriter.com.

P.S. I can help you start figuring out what your prospects are looking for in just a few simple steps. And, conveniently, I’m a marketing writer that can help you develop content that drives sales.

P.P.S. I have a really efficient system for carrying out these types of direct marketing plans. Please give me a call or email and I’ll tell you how I automate direct response campaigns with my assistant. You, too, can do big things with very few people.

Here’s the article link again: What New Year Resolution Can REDUCE Your Persuasiveness? – Marketing and Sales Tips

Take a look and let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

The story is strangely stirring and moving while disappointing. Something about it pulls at the heart strings, urging us, showing us that greatness is out there to be found and to be found within us. Anyone who has ever pursued artistic and/or musical endeavors can feel it.

Anyway, read the article if you’re in for a moving (if disturbing) experience.

Now – on to the marketing angle. There’s a point in the article that describes people playing Lotto while the virtuoso flails away on his Stradivarius. One man can even recite the exact amounts of the tickets he played and the money he lost. Pathetic.

If you’re involved in marketing, however, you recognize this particular scenario as pedestrian. People are commonly motivated by what’s in it for them. They are hard-pressed to part with quarters, even though Bell commands ticket prices of $150 and up, when a personal return is not blatantly obvious (you have to give some people a break – many are not classical enthusiasts). They are highly motivated to improve their lot in life, however, even though the lottery is not the best way to do it. They are motivated to go to work (as you’ll see most doing in the videos embedded in the article) to perform their missions and realize their dreams and deliver on their purpose. These areas are where marketing power lies. Personal agendas are a huge deal. People almost always look out for #1 first (even though it may be sad at times).

If you held a contest where Joshua Bell plays more popular tunes and the audience guesses their names a la “Name That Tune” you’d have a recipe for something different, I suppose. You’d need a cheesy MC like Richard Dawson, too. In that scenario, there’s something directly participatory and rewarding involved with the audience.

Another point to take away is that even genius needs window dressing – or “framing” as the article describes it in relation to paintings. Greatness needs to be introduced, and the audience needs to be instructed as to the level of competence they are encountering. Comparisons, testimonials, and, yes, even hyperbole are necessary to introduce kings, queens and accomplished musicians.

Marketing 101, perhaps, but very interesting to contemplate this with respect to the Bell/Post experience in the subway.

I’ve clipped some of the insightful tid-bits below. Thanks Roger!

Insight #1: “For B2B web sites, the content that really matters in terms of positioning and prospecting isn’t your ‘markitecture’ pages – your product and services descriptions, corporate histories and such…. it’s your ‘thought leadership’ pages – the places where you express opinions and ideas rather than features and benefits.”

Insight #2: “Furthermore, what of the people that you lose along the way? To me, a commitment to form-filling is no great measurement of the quality of a sales lead. A far better tactic is to set your thought leadership content free and give people more ‘opportunities to engage‘ with who you are and what you stand for.”

Warner continues, “Let’s face it, most of us are commitment-phobes when it comes to the web anyway. Why not just accept this fact and move on?”

Here are Warner’s review questions for evaluating your own white paper exchange process:

“Ask yourself:

• What’s your most valuable and engaging content?
• Do you make you accessible enough?
• What’s the upside of providing more opportunities to engage with it?
• What’s the downside of removing a subscription line?
• How scientific is your answer to the previous question? (Gut feeling, conventional wisdom, or based on small side-show experiment and validated by stats?)”

“The old days of companies tightly controlling a marketing message are gone…The interactive forces of the Internet – including social networking sites, online discussion boards, and blogs – are arming consumers with tools that can quickly and exponentially spread the word to other would-be customers if a product stinks or a company blunders… Companies such as Charles Schwab and OnStar are creating Internet platforms to literally read the minds of consumers, seeking out insights that directly drive their new product strategies.” [my emphasis]

This reminded me of AdWords, of course. AdWords is great for driving business or clicks to your site via general advertising techniques. However, what a lot of people don’t realize is that AdWords is a great tool for testing promos, floating new ideas, and reading the minds of consumers. And it’s cheap!.. given the right niched-out keywords.

The article details various ways companies like FedEx, eBay, Schwab and others are using the social connectivity of Web 2.0 (I hate saying Web 2.0, but I did, shame) to their advantage. FedEx’s CIO Rob Carter says, (paraphrased from the article) “The explosive growth of this connectivity has been ‘completely underestimated’ in how it will affect society and markets.” I concur.

The article also talks about some fascinating new trends, like having your Second Life avatar or character purchase things for you or book reservations for you online. I know, that sounds crazy. But think about it. Why the heck not? If you build the right character, with all your tastes, desires, wish lists and so forth, why not set him free on a shopping spree? I’ve never played Second Life, but I assume there are vendors in there, like Amazon.com. (If you know how this works, please comment below and enlighten us.) FedEx’s Carter comments in the article, “Second Life has enough momentum to make us wonder: What if this identity I’ve built could spill over into my daily life and get things done for me?” Your avatar would be like an information robot – tuned to all your preferences and guided by “business rules” that determine decisions.

Carter extends the concepts further, saying, “The greatest opportunities lie in socially networking corporations together – horizontally, across business processes, which don’t necessarily live within your four walls anymore.” Great example = Gaming like Second Life supporting commerce like FedEx and Amazon.com.

The article describes how some companies like OnStar use Nielsen BuzzMetrics to analyze how they’re performing in “consumer-generated media.” This is another hot topic, worthy of another post, probably.

There’s a cool story about Dell’s celebrity advertising campaigns, too. I’ll blog more on that later, too.

In the mean time, read the article. It’s a mind bender.