Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category
Starcraft II
Activision/Blizzard’s online role playing game World of Warcraft (WOW) continues to amaze me. With more than 11.5 million monthly subscribers it is one of the most successful online gaming models ever created. This past Tuesday Blizzard announced a new feature called ‘Real ID’ to be used on its official bulletin boards. This feature would require a person to submit his real first and last names in order to submit comments. It appears to be first tested on a new game release called StarCraft II but it appears the ultimate plan is for the new policy to apply to all forums.
They have put it under the banner of helping improve the quality of conversations and make the forums better places for players to visit. Blizzard said in a blog post that the change was intended to “help improve the quality of conversations and make the forums an even more enjoyable place for players to visit.”
“The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players,” and it went on to offer, “However, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where ‘flame wars’ (vitriolic commenting), trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild,” Blizzard said.
“Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before.”
The gamers are almost unilaterally opposed. And furious, if not possible vindictive (many have posted they will quit the game, never post again etc.)
Anonymity, for better or worse, has been used in online gaming since it began. Apparently after receiving a backlash, one community manager, under his former alias Bashiok, decided to test the system with his real name. The results were not so kind. Within minutes of internet sleuthing, everything from his personal life to the names of his wife and children were put on public display. None of this is surprising at all, given how much information is published on the internet.
Is it any wonder why the gamers are apoplectic?
Many people rely on anonymity as they move around the internet. The cartoon shown as a part of this post is a prime example of people’s desire to be anonymous.
Companies understand that that there are problems with spamming, griefing, threats, etc. but a large amount of Blizzard’s customers think that showing their real names is infinitely worse. The gamers feel if Blizzard continues on this track, the practice could spread to other networks like the PSN. Perhaps now, the outcry will have them think again.
But for me the real questions are – 1) How is this serving the membership and community? 2) Why now? 3) What will be done with the data?
What do you think – good idea? Bad idea?
In case you are wondering the photo is of Ivan Pavlov.
Like most of us email flows into my inbox and my PDA at all hours of the day and night. At times I feel I am drowning in a sea of both relevant and irrelevant emails. But when I come into the office I open my MS Outlook, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, (and a couple of other sites just to check and see what’s been going on since I last looked). Recently I worked out getting those same things on my PDA.
Aside from the fact that the above makes me into some type of information junkie and perhaps even zombie, I do like the ability to monitor my own dashboard of what is going on.
But as I sat in a long meeting yesterday and my phone was buzzing with emails, texts and even a call or two (I can tell the difference by how many buzzes) I resisted the temptation to look at my PDA. And it was ok. I have been going out of my way to not look at it in meetings, at lunches or dinners, or even with my family (probably I am worst to them about that) trying to espouse the philosophy to be in the moment and that in person contact is far superior to electronic contact.
I read an article this week that many people have become so in tune with their devices that they actually to a degree get a rush of dopamine when they receive a message from someone. And some people even get more out that contact than they do a physical one.
I get the idea although I feel in my case the reason is more Pavlovian. Ring that bell and I begin to salivate perhaps? I want to deny this.
I’m going away for a few days next week for a short and needed break. I will have my PDA and my laptop to check things – but I won’t be doing it regularly. In fact I will turn it off after the morning check and not check again until the end of the day. I find that when I do that there is almost nothing that cannot wait 8 hours or so. Also almost universally whatever seems critically important and blazing seems less so with the passage of time.
So I’m going to turn it off for a bit. Can you? Will you?
I just could not let it go. The DMA bought the trade show DMDays NY (DMDNY) several years ago. Not a bad move and it sort of made sense as a replacement for the now defunct DMA spring show. I’ve been in and around the direct marketing industry long enough to remember that it was once DM Day (singular). In recent years the show had moved to the cavernous Jacob Javits Center where it was one of at least two or three shows going on simultaneously, and even with that it was gobbled up by the immense expanse of the Javits.
Prior to the past several years the DMDNY show was at the NY Hilton. My associate Mickey Alam Khan – editor of Mobile Marketing Daily, put it best when he noted that the show at the Hilton promoted ‘butt-brushing’ since spaces were tight and people actually and literally ran into each other. That was a good thing! So after spotty attendance at least year’s show at the Javits the DMA decided to move the show back to the Hilton. Great move right? Well yes and no.
Well yes since it was always a giant pain to get over to lunch dates from the Javits. Restaurants abound near the NY Hilton and combined with the great Hilton bar, (where MANY meetings took place and where business really got done), made the Hilton a great choice. They got that right.
But the show itself? As my soon-to-be 17 year old daughter would note OMG! She could easily add WTF? Of course I discourage her from using that type of language. But she’d be so right. Digital Marketing Days. WTF? The name is changed but it was the same tired old show – no, it was more tired.
I readily acknowledge that the education tracks were much more shifted to digital marketing (social media, analytics, PPC, SE0/SEM) more than ever before. So some effort was made to change the tone. Yet in walking around the two floors of the exhibits it was sad, gray and depressing. Most of the people I talked to at the booths were disappointed in the turnout to put it mildly. And digital it was not. There were virtually no mobile marketing demos, and for whatever reason some printers and related companies. I could go on but you get the idea. Maybe those printers had a few digital presses, but it was not exactly what crossed my (or the people I talked to) mind when I thought of Digital Marketing Days. The show is for the most part irrelevant. There some good people speaking but for the most part you can get the tracks and discussion at a myriad of other conferences.
I insinuated in a post after the DMA annual conference last fall (held in San Diego) that AdTech had eaten the DMA’s lunch. Well to me now it looks like it’s only gotten worse. In contrast I had a very nice evening at the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation Rising Stars event down at Bridgewater’s at South Street Seaport. The DMEF is a great part of the DMA and its mission of helping promote and attract young talent to direct (and digital) marketing is right on. It’s uplifting to see young talent want to be involved in our business although after being at Digital Marketing Days I would wonder why.
Were you there? What did you think?
Having blogged about it a couple of times, I have also been ‘using’ Foursquare’s location based platform to ‘check-in’ over the past five months. I am dubiously proud of being able to claim that I am the ‘Mayor’ of the Acela club at CitiField in New York.
And I have been to the Acela club exactly three times this season which leads me to think that people who visit the Acela club do not subscribe or care about Foursquare. In fact the few people I asked who work there had never even heard of location based services like Foursquare. As Acela club ‘mayor’ I have not been offered the key to CitiField or even a free drink – alcoholic or not.
In an article in today’s NY Times http://nyti.ms/aDGgmn, it was noted that Loopt is offering people a mobile game that rewards people for checking in frequently to particular places. And as such one can become ‘boss’ of certain locations – sort of like being the mayor. The key thing is that companies like Gap, Burger King Etc., plan to use Loopt Star to reward loyal customers. Foursquare is also working with its partners to offer real-time rewards for check-ins and frequencies of visits.
One thing the article fails to mention is the vagaries of GPS check in on these platforms. I know for example on Foursquare when I attempt to ‘check-in’ I am given a list of nearby locations even if I am smack in the middle of one on the list. (Somehow I find it really odd that if I am sitting in a Starbucks it tells me that the one I am sitting in is somehow 137 meters away). But I can also check-in to any of these GPS-enabled locations whether I am actually physically there or not.
GPS technology is set to make a major leap forward with the advent of High Accuracy-NDGPS which will enable accuracy to the centimeter level. This will be a critical enhancement since it appears that I can check in at any number of places simultaneously/concurrently (or at least in quick sequence), so that I could gain reward points at places I actually never visited.
Think about it, you are sitting at coffee shop in the middle of the city, but you check in at Burger King (for the third time that week) even though you have been to the Burger King. Now Burger King sends you a coupon for a soda with a sandwich purchase. Retailer margins will be squeezed. People will game the system – that can be guaranteed.
I understand that companies can counter that talk about the fact the patron actually purchased something, but at the same time product is being given away for nothing. And how is that a good idea?
So join up now and get free stuff – while you can.
According to the “State of Inbound Marketing Report” from Hubspot, as reported by Marketing Charts, inbound marketing is continuing to grow in importance at the expense of outbound marketing. This is good news and further validation that paid search, SEO, social media, blogging really resonate with consumer as well as marketers. For a copy of the pdf – http://bit.ly/aewfHr
With so many marketers looking to employ social media and other non-traditional outlets the report should serve notice that attracting interest in products and services will become the dominant method of marketing. And I could not be happier.
I posted last October that my hope was with the passing of pitchman Billy Mays http://bit.ly/anfWYD the shouting might finally stop. In an article by Stuart Elliott in today’s New York Times http://nyti.ms/9CQlR9 companies like Proactiv are also getting the message that fast and loud is no longer the way to promote products. When the giant infomercial and marketing firm Guthy-Renker tests a less ‘noisy’ approach, that’s big marketing news indeed.
Eliminating in your face direct marketing come-ons still will take time. And don’t think for a second that there aren’t consumers out there that don’t respond to FREE, and ACT NOW. There are many of them out there and the older you are the more accustomed (ok inured) to the blast and hope approach. They continue to be effective but if you look closely you can see the tide is changing.
Why do I think it’s better to attract? Mainly because it offers the prospect/consumer to choose to pay attention what interests them and to disregard messages that they individual feels are irrelevant. The result should be a deeper level of customer engagement since it’s THEIR choice to engage. It does present a major challenge and shift in thinking for marketing agencies. That shift has already begun and there is now a mad scramble in the agency world to show understanding, performance and measurement for social media campaigns in particular.
I’m both intrigued and excited at the direction things are heading with regard to attracting more interest as opposed to promoting it. To give you an example we have a client that wanted to send out text SMS messages to ‘opted-in’ teens promoting music in mall stores. While that can work (and we are planning to test) we suggested signage in the malls noting the number to text to in order to receive free music at the store. We are in development of the campaign right now.
Which do you think will work better?
