Second Life on CSI

After hearing about Second Life in class this week, I saw this week's episode of CSI: New York in which it featured Second Life. The CSI 's were called to a murder scene in which the victim was a woman who was dressed like a popular avatar from Second Life. The CSI's create their own avatar and look for virtual evidence to try to solve the case. They trace people who were logged on, as well as have to

It was interesting to hear them use some of the Second Life terms such as "tp" (teleport), "tell" (private message), "calling card", a "griever" (some that harasses people), and different user names. This showed the more eccentric side of the program, but it definetly showed how obsessive some people are with it. Obviously this was an extreme version of the program, but very cool that it has been incorporated into a popular tv show!

This episode of CSI will bring about new Second Life users. A commercial during the show even featured a site to join the CSI Second Life team to "feel what it's like to be part of the CSI team". A good PR technique on their behalf.

Here's a preview, check it out.

Podcast!

The JenKasMeg Show – Social Media for Non-Profits

:28 sec – Jennifer: Social Networking

3:44 min – Megan: Blogging

7:08 min – Kassie: Twitter

This podcast is the result of a class project for our "social media and internet for PR" class. This podcast was made in Audacity. The song we used is called "Move Your Body" by miyoshimasato.
Listen to our podcast here.

i can't get no....SATISFACTION

Satisfaction is a people-powered customer service website for ANYTHING. "Satisfaction is a place for real people to get the most from their products and services, and for companies to get real with their customers." You can ask a question, report a problem, share an idea, or just say what's on your mind and start a topic of your own. You can also join an existing conversation if you would like to talk about that topic. Satisfaction is just a big open conversation for everyone.

When I first got on Satisfaction some of the topics being discussed were Apple, O'Reilly Media, and Moola. They were discussing their latest problems and their favorite aspects of the programs. This is seems to be very helpful for companies because it allows them to receive feedback, complaints, improvements, or get their questions answered.

It's pretty cool, check it out.

Google Alerts

While reading chapter nine of The New Influencers i learned about several social media alerts that let you monitor certain information, brands, companies, or whatever it is you like to keep up with. I decided to try these sites out. They are very helpful and convenient. I subscribed to a few Google Alerts and it gave me instant feedback. What an effective source; all I know is thank goodness for Google!

A Book on Blogging!

A new book by Tom Masters, Blogging Quick and Easy: A Planned Approach to Blogging Success, was published recently. The book discusses how blogs work and how you, yourself, can blog. It is aimed at the older generation who do not know much the new world of blogging. "A recent study by the Pew Internet Project reports that 46% of bloggers are now over the age of 30 and 16% are 50 or older. “Blogging Quick & Easy” was written by 56-year-old Tom Masters to simply explain both the technical skills and discipline required to operate a successful blog."

I think this is a great idea. If you want to learn about aspects of social media and are not familiar with blogs, or any new social media, it is hard to know where to start. I sure wouldn't have known how to use all the social media we have learned this semester if it weren't for taking a course on the internet and social media.

A Toast to GNGNB

Chapter 8 of The New Influencers discusses how Joe Carpenter became a podcaster in a unique fashion. He was interested in podcasting as a hobby and decided to try it out. As Carpenter states, "The best way to drive is to get behind the wheel" (Gillin 147). Not knowing anything about wine, but living near the heart of Northern California's wineries, he decided that a podcast for amateur wine lovers would be a good topic to start up his podcast. Carpenter and his friend started A Guy, a Girl, and a Bottle (GNGNB for short). His site is now a hit and it is run by him and his wife Pam. They run a new show about once a week. They have received a good amount of media recognition and PR through press releases, newspapers, and blogs. From not knowing anything about podcasts or the topic itself, they have come a long way.

WordCamp Israel

WordCamp is a conference for WordPress users, developers, and anyone interested in it. It has been held in many cities such as San Francisco and Beijing. The conferences discuss blogging and the future of WordPress. WordPress is a free blog publishing program. On October 25th there will be a WordCamp Israel conference in Tel Aviv. They will also focus on the topics of: "norms of freedom of speech in the Israeli blogosphere, business related blogging, SEO for blogs, marketing with blogs and blogs as information sharing medium in organizations." The keynote speaker will be Lorelle VanFossen, blogger from the Blog Herald.

Stormhoek - Blogging = Marketing

Chapter six of The New Influencers discusses small businesses. Blogging is a great way for small businesses to thrive. You don't have to be a great writer, update your blog everyday, have great connections," but you can be effective enough with a modest investment of time to make the effort worthwhile" (Gillin 120). Stormhoek especially interested me. They are a small South African wine maker. To promote their company, they sent free bottles of wine to bloggers, so that the bloggers would write about them and use them to start up their public relations. All of their marketing was done through blogs and it worked! Their sales double the year after this blogging marketing was done. That's incredible. The bloggers even gave them ideas for events and themes. Their website is full of blogs, Youtube videos, Flickr photos, RSS, and even a link to their Facebook group.

Anywhere.fm

Anywhere.fm allows you to upload your music onto this site, save it, and then use it anywhere. It is very similar to itunes but you can access it on any computer with any type of web browser. It also lets you share your music with other users and become "friends" with other users, like facebook or myspace. There is no limit to how much you music you can upload. You can create playlists and search music by not only artists or songs, but also most played, newest users, etc.

It reminds me of del.icio.us and the other social bookmarking sites we learned about in class.