The P2PR community we've started over here is all about changing the way things are done - shifting broadcast modes of thought, delivery and measurement to networked ones.
This is why I think changing the way things are measured is so critical to success:
Almost a year ago I wrote a post that called on those who would 'do viral' to remember who actually 'does' viral: The humans doing the interacting with one another.
And to that end attempts at 'viral' work which enables co-creation gives you both engagement and relevance.
One example I remember well from a previous life was an excellent and funny video - expensively made with high production values too. It was on topic. The seeding strategy was sound.
But it was essentially broadcast, broadcast which USED the user as the distribution channel. So the message couldn't be adapted by the receiver. There was no room for their input. No adaption = low adoption. And if I don't adopt, I'm not going to pass it on; as simply illustrated as I can, here.
The quality was high. But the relevance was low. And relevance, as I so often say, beats quality every single time.
Allowing people to put a little of themselves into 'your' viral makes it 'their' viral.
And as Alan Moore - and by osmosis I, am so fond of saying: "That which we create, we embrace." It allows us to work with the user rather than targeting them, based on the understanding that the User Is The Destination Now.
It makes it their message, not yours.
So I was delighted to walk into my new job this morning to be met with this new piece of work from Brando-Digital (yep, that's where I'm working now).
(By the way, we're so new the company site is nothing but a holding page right now. If you'd like to know more about us, drop me an email at david AT brando-world.com )
Despite the he-would-say-that-wouldn't-he inevitable in this; I think it's pretty cool. It allows the adaption of the message which will encourage that adoption.
It's promoting a new phone, the Sony-Ericsson W595 - so the youtube element is not only relevant (you can upload direct to youtube from the W595) it's also a helpful viral aside.
Technically, some may be interested to know the creation of this effort has involved mashing-up apisfrom youtube, googlemaps AND facebook.
And importantly, it uses not only the silo'd social networks (in this case facebook) but also email - the most ubiquitous of all the social connectors.
Yeah, yeah, yeah but it's also a bit of fun people can have together at Halloween. We've given people, as Mark Earls would say, something they can do together - we've made the human interaction element the important element.
Have fun with it. Pass it on if you think its cool and think someone else will do to. Here's mine, below. BTW I'm not 43 - yet! But I am odd.
Full 35min Clay Shirky interview now available to download
I've just added a new post to /Message - the full 35minute version of the Clay Shirky interview regular visitors to this site will have seen sliced up over the past week or so. On /Message you can get the whole thing in one hit AND download it all for playback on your pc/iPod etc.
In part two Clay explains why he thinks email is the most effective tool for group-forming (and therefore for influence on social and political change) right now. He describes the impact its 'dull' ubiquity is having on the US Presidential elections. And we talk about the future of mass any-and-everything (though particularly broadcast TV) with reference to solidarity goods (value gained from shared experiences). Clay reasons that far from dumbing down, the fragmentation of the internet is demanding increasing quality from its hits. When media and channels were scarce you got a share in the value of solidarity goods simply for showing up. Now you only get a share by being truly excellent. Watch the video below. Buy his book here. See him speak here.
Clay Shirky on how algorithms caused the credit crunch
I had the great good fortune to meet and interview Clay Shirky (author of Here Comes Everybody) yesterday at Incisive Media in London. He was in town for the AOP conference among other keynotes - and meetings with Government Ministers, no less. So to get a one-to-one for any length of time was fantastic. We had a scheduled 20mins... but things got interesting so we stretched it...
The result is the video you see below. At least, that's part of the result. It's part one of seven. The interview lasts over 35mins in total and Clay answers not only my questions, but all those put through comments on this blog or via twitter over the last few days.
I'll be adding the next six parts over the next week or so - and for those who can take it all in one go - I'll add the full and unedited (and higher quality) version to google video before too long (youtube limits me to 10mins a pop, anyway).
In part one we talk about Clay's journey - what is in his background that makes him place the human element so high in his consideration of group forming network theory. (image by matlock via flickr)
And the new ways value are created in self-forming communities of purpose leads us to Clay's fascinating analysis of what the bankers did wrong and what they can learn (how social capital mitigates risk) from reconnecting with humans.
I've been playing with qik recently as anyone who has caught any videos from me will know. Qik allows you to broadcast live streaming video from your mobile phone. There's usually a small delay before it'll appear in my live channel (see latest from the channel below) but it's close to live.
This evening from 6.30pm (UK, BST) I'm going gliding - and I'm taking my mobile and qik with me. I managed to broadcast on just a couple of bars of 2G signal recently from a forest in Norfolk. I reckon hundreds of feet above the Cambridgeshire countryside should offer an even tougher challenge! Here's what I've written about qik before.
UPDATE The rather disappointing outcome appears below:
