Within the past year, Spunlogic has jumped from 30 something employees to around 70 employees. In the two years (or so) that I’ve been with the company we’ve only had one microwave. When we moved from the Zonolite location to our Midtown location, it came with us. Of course, until recently having only one microwave was not an issue. One generally only had to wait a few minutes before they could warm up their coffee or lunch. Now that we’ve doubled in size, the queue generally built up quickly. Because of this, someone recently started a “Second Microwave Fund” via a Styrofoam cup on our sole microwave.

The last time I checked, there had been 35 cents donated, we were on our way to getting a second microwave!

Yesterday, as I went to warm up my leftovers from the night before I noticed there was a second microwave that had magically appeared!

It was donated by our fantastic Project Management intern, Katie. Katie joined us this summer after her trip to Spain, and has been a tremendous asset to our department. We’re really sad that she’ll be leaving us for her last semester at Mercer University (Go Bears!). Thankfully, she’s leaving us with a “warm” daily reminder in the break room.

On behalf of Spunlogic, I’d like to say “Thanks again, Katie!” Have a great semester – come back and see us soon!

We all know that the current generation of children are going to have a different view of the world and the role of technology in our lives. My kids already want me to “rewind” the radio or anything not hooked up to a TiVo.

Now enter the newest phenomenon - part Gigapet, part Beanie Babies, part Second Life. They are called Webkinz and they are taking over the world.

What does Webkinz have to do with user experience and online marketing?

Unlike other stuffed animals, Webkinz come with a secret code that you enter online to unlock “a world where you care for your virtual pet, answer trivia, earn KinzCash, and play the best kids games on the net!” And not only does it have it’s own currency system like Second Life, but it has a virtual world where kids can interact with each other.

I think Webkinz is interesting for various reasons. It’s not just a well masterminded plan to suck parents wallets’ dry with another collectable; the site itself is addicting for both kids and parents (my wife tries to earn KinzCash in order to buy more stuff for “Sparkles” room)

While there are lots of great marketing ideas that are pushing the growth of Webkinz, the point of this post is that these types of websites are changing the way even the youngest of kids expect to interact online. My daughter is almost 6 and is already part of an online community! She and my son (4) have also been using websites like Noggin.com and Playhouse Disney for the last couple of years. Not only do these sites have games, but they have tons of video content and rich interactivity.

These types of sites are changing the way the next generation will expect to interact with the web. I fully expect that in a couple years we are going to have a good laugh when they say “Daddy, what’s a web page?”

This week, the Behavioral Research Department says goodbye to our summer interns – CarterAllen and MetalStorm001. Both have played key roles in the success of our summer Virtual Worlds Research Program. Together, they have conducted research on marketing, branding and avatar behavior in a range of virtual worlds including:

• HiPiHi
• Doppelganger
• Habbo Hotel
• ToonTown 
• There.com
• Entropia
• Kaneva
• RuneScape
• Whyville
• And of course, Second Life

MetalStorm001 and CarterAllen have become so immersed with in-world experiences that I refer to them by their avatar names here. But just before I send them back to school and back to the realities that come with the real world, I wanted to ask them a few questions about their virtual world experiences so far. Here’s what they had to say.

What is your favorite virtual world and why?

CarterAllen: Kaneva was my favorite, mainly because they seemed to merge the real world with the virtual world. Many of these worlds, like RuneScape or Entropia, are so far out that they hardly seem possible, and these fantasy aspects are why they’re such a big draw for many users. However, Kaneva combined aspects of a virtual world like Second Life with aspects of a 2D social networking site like MySpace, and this made the world a sort of halfway point between the virtual world and the real world. It’s targeted specifically at users who are less interested in extensive fantasy worlds, but more interested in spending time online for social interaction.

MetalStorm001: I would choose There.com. There are several reasons. A)  There is a very large area of land to explore and many cool themes for islands and such. Such as an island designed to look like an alien planet and a city called Saja, which is located above the ground, floating in the sky. B) I like that in There.com, if you do not pay for the subscription, you can level up your skills to get awarded free stuff. That way, even if you don’t want to spend money on the game, you can still customize your avatar and have your own house. C) I also enjoy that there is always an activity being held somewhere in There.com pretty much all the time, all you have to do to find people is look for an activity in the activity bar. D) I also love that real bands come into the game to play in concerts that you can attend. E) I also like the ability to customize your avatar in many ways, from changing their appearance, to whatever you want them to wear, from goofy clown noses to cool t-shirts.

What is the most surprising thing you learned in your virtual worlds research this summer?

CarterAllen: The most surprising aspect for me is how fast these worlds are growing. For instance, Second Life has grown from 6 million avatars to 8 million avatars (a 25% increase) in the last two months. Yet, more than anything else, it almost boggles my mind that people are willing to spend their hard earned dollars on virtual items (land, houses, clothing, concerts) that don’t even really exist. More than $1.25 million real dollars are usually spent in world in Second Life on a day to day basis. This is proof more than anything else that virtual worlds are more than just a passing fad. 

MetalStorm001: First, I’m surprised that so many people take virtual worlds very seriously and spend a large portion of their time in world. Second, I’m amazed that the amount of custom made items is almost infinite… I mean, I have ridden on everything from a sports car to a giant floating Great White Shark! Thirdly, I learned that no two virtual worlds are the same, even though some strive for the same goal as their competitors.

Will you go in world after you leave this internship?

CarterAllen: Honestly, probably not. This is partly because I think if I picked up virtual world browsing as a habit, I don’t know how I’d ever get anything else done at college. The other part is that, while I’ve immensely enjoyed researching and learning about these worlds over the last three months, it’s still not something where I’ve then felt like, “Wow, this is something that I have to get into.” For me, the concept of a virtual world where people actually interact, much less spend money, is in itself almost surreal and challenges our traditional view of reality.

MetalStorm001: Yes, There.com is entertaining and I would like to continue playing after I leave my internship here at Spunlogic. Probably, because I have it on my computer and a couple of my friends play. If my friends didn’t play, I probably wouldn’t, because I wouldn’t know anybody and it’d be complete strangers online. I will also go into World of Warcraft after my internship, because I’m currently paying for that game and I find it very entertaining and fun to play.

What are your thoughts on the future of virtual worlds? How will they change or evolve?

CarterAllen: I think the evolution of virtual worlds over the next five years is going to be very interesting. Like most somewhat controversial issues, there are distinct positives and negatives that come with these booming virtual worlds. On the positive side, worlds like Second Life have created virtual meeting spaces for businesses. This never before has been possible. Two people from opposite ends of the world can now interact and hang out in the same club, side by side. The social networking possibilities are limitless. At the same time, virtual worlds may open up a new can of worms that even ten years ago we never could have envisioned. There was an article in last week’s Wall Street Journal about a man whose real-life marriage is on the ropes because of his Second Life relationship with another woman. I think it’s a given that virtual worlds are going to grow like wildfire in the next few years. Whether that’s such a good thing or not remains to be seen.

MetalStorm001: Virtual Worlds will never die. They provide us with an alternative with which to escape from reality and become someone other than ourselves. I think more companies will get in, even though a lot of companies are already in-world. People will always play, but if they keep making more virtual worlds, eventually there will be too many. There are already some that aren’t making it because there aren’t enough people going in them. With more and more virtual worlds popping up, they’re going to continue to run into that problem.  

Okay, maybe communication never truly left … but our awareness of it has grown keen as we shape effective customer experiences in interactive media. Recently, Donovan (Director of User Experience) gave a presentation about web 2.0’s impact on the landscape of user (customer) experience.  He convincingly described how web 2.0 capabilities evolved as a response to user needs and allow the web to become, among other things, the communication medium people envisioned 10 years ago.

In this changed landscape of customer experience, what is communication exactly?  How do we ensure customers not only get our messages but also find them relevant and convincing?  How do we coordinate messages across multiple channels to deepen our relationships with customers?

As a start toward answering such questions, I just published “Rediscovering Communication“ for the online magazine UXmatters.  Please add your insights as we journey through this exciting landscape together.

I watched the movie ‘Click’ last night. Not so much because I was wanting to see it but, rather, because there wasn’t much else on.  I found it surprisingly relevant to my line of work and was inspired to write this post.  If you haven’t seen it, the premise is this: a stressed out Architect (Adam Sandler) is trying to get ahead at his firm by working hard for his smarmy boss (David Hasselhoff).  He gets frustrated one night due to the stress of balancing work and family.  He then flips out because he can’t find his TV remote so he sets out to buy a universal model. 

The only store open is a Bed, Bath and Beyond where, during his search for said remote controller, he comes across a door marked Beyond (I found this funny in and of itself – never thought about what the ‘beyond’ was).  Behind this door is Morty (Christopher Walken) – the resident ‘scientist’ of the ‘Beyond’ department.  He shows Mike (Adam) this new ‘universal remote’ and Mike soon discovers that the remote can control everything … EVERY thing.  He can turn down the volume of the dog, pause his kids, fast-forward his wife nagging at him.  He soon gets caught up in fast forwarding through all of the hassles of life so he can get his work done and get promoted.

AH, but this isn’t what I wanted to talk about.  After a while, the remote starts to ‘learn’ Mike’s preferences and reacts automatically to life’s situations.  Every time his wife starts yelling – fast forward.  Every time he goes to get ready for work – fast forward.  He can’t stop it.  It’s the way the remote is programmed.  So, Mike’s remote was supposedly programmed to be ‘smart’ … to learn his preferences and react automatically thus making his life easier.  But what happens is that his life becomes a huge mess.  He changes his mind about wanting to fast-forward through things, but the remote can’t unlearn. 

This so-called ‘personalization’ or artificial intelligence has been around in various forms for quite some time.  There was talk in the 70s about AI.  When the internet boomed personalization and customization were the rage.  Now Microsoft is coming out with a search engine feature  that will try to ascertain what you MEAN when you search the internet by comparing it with items on your desk top.  All of this makes the assumption that computers can predict your future behavior by examining your past behavior. 

While this theory holds true in many aspects of life, I don’t find that it does in ‘searching’ behavior.  At any given time, I may change my mind or focus or may be searching for something I may never search for again.  I may have documents on my computer from work that have nothing to do with personal searches.  I balk at the thought of someone – something – trying to second guess what my intentions are.  It’s like the former coworker of mine who insisted to me that we could tell what our users wanted by looking at what they did via our web logs. 

Examining past behavior only tells us what people did, not what they want to do.  I simply don’t understand the constant push to try to get computers to do something that, quite frankly, a lot of humans can’t even do.  Why should we expect a computer to know what we’re thinking and what we’re going to do?  Why would we WANT them to?  I certainly don’t.  Disagree?  Just watch ‘Minority Report’.

For the past few months I’ve had terrible back pain. (stay with me, I have a point). I finally broke down and made an appointment with an orthopedic doctor near my home. During this process I thought to myself … “Man I wish there was a website that reviewed local businesses like this, so I would know if the place I just booked an appointment with is any good.”

Of course, only AFTER I scheduled the appointment did I discover Yelp.com, a website designed to “find, review, and talk about” businesses in local areas. Funny enough, the day after I found Yelp, Jeff Hilimire emailed me about it, and later shared a recent Fortune article. The article tells success stories from businesses who have been positively reviewed on the website, including a hairdresser who has so much business now that he has to “ice his hands on weekends.”

It’s fair to say that not everyone will experience the kind of sucess the hair salon did, but it is interesting to see this concept working. Certainly online reviews are nothing new, but Yelp does a great job of creating community around the reviews. The Fortune article says “Yelp doesn’t require users to reveal themselves, but it coaxes a lot of them into the open as a way to keep everyone honest and civil.”

I kinda think that Yelp has a bit of a Facebook feel. Users can write reviews and post images for any business. And, Yelpers can even develop an “elite” status by uploading a profile picture, using their real name, and remaining active on the website. Fortune called these Yelper-Elite the “squeaky wheels” - who, with their ability to get invited to exclusive events, can determine the fate of a new restaurant.

Well, I’m about to test Yelp. I actually did find my orthopedic doctor in Yelp, who was favorably reviewed. We’ll see after my appointment today if the review stands up!

How many times have you searched the internet today? Ok .. now how many times have you helped out a charity today?

Well, if you use GoodSearch, those numbers should be the same. I have been a strict Google user for many years now, but today might be the day I change search engines. Powered by Yahoo!, GoodSearch allows you to enter the name of a charity each time you search. GoodSearch will then donate fifty percent of all ad revenue from that search to your chosen charity.

Granted, it only works out to about a penny per search, but it does add up over time. GoodSearch even lets you see how much it has added up to. Check out the Amount Raised page and it will show you how much your charity has received each month, each year and since the inception of the site. For example, they have donated $1,506.14 to my charity of choice, the Susan G. Komen foundation.

Not bad for a search engine.

So here is the story, I went searching for advertisements in the virtual world There.com the same way I do with most of the other worlds I’ve been assigned to find marketing and advertising in. My process is this: I go through the tutorial, I search the starting area, and then I talk to people to learn if anyone is aware of ads off the top of their heads. Then I navigate the rest of the world on my own in search of any signs of in-world branding.

Finding advertising in There.com took an especially long time since the world is actually quite large. However, as you’ll see, what I found in my exploration of the world is a blend of real advertising and user-generated product placement.

The Tower is a virtual world club where bands play and people come to listen, dance, and talk. This is just one example of a band that was playing in-world while I was researching.

I found a bunch of people wearing X-Games t-shirts and even came across X-Games-branded hoverboards. Are they holding their own version of the X-Games in There.com? Or, are they just using the game to promote them?

This was one of the arcades I came across. I did notice that the names on the video games were changed, likely to avoid copyright infringement.

Advertisements on benches are common in real life (or RL, as we say in virtual world speak). Apparently they’re also popular in There.com.

Yes, this is a Playstation 2 on top of the Television. The Sony logo on the side is missing (replaced by some illegible logo) - but it’s clear as day that’s what it is.

Again, changing the name slightly on the product, this can of “RAID” bug killer, has been modified to R.AID bug killer. (Oh, and just in case you were wondering … my avatar is wearing a fox costume and a jetpack … hey, an avatars gotta have some fun.)

It drives me crazy how much the product names/logos change in this world. But, hey, it’s still advertising a product. Here I am actually behind the counter of a bar looking at a Carona (Corona) sign.

There.com is a very large virtual space. In fact, as I was wrapping up my research I discovered that there were four or five other islands that I didn’t even know about.

Still, as I continued to explore I kept finding more and more examples of advertising in-world. And, since much of it was user-manufactured, there are real opportunities for the actual brands to come in with legitimate branding.

In case you haven’t heard, the real identity of Fake Steve Jobs has finally been revealed. If you still want to believe that Jobs is behind the wildly successful The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs blog, then please click on the little X at the top right corner of your browser and get back to whatever you’re doing before you were distracted.

An attempt to expose Fake Steve Jobs fails

Many have wanted to uncover the true identity of the Fake Steve Jobs (aka FSJ). In May, BusinessWeek covered the blog once news surfaced that the author was selling a book about the FSJ parody on Amazon. And then three weeks ago, the heat was turned up as Fake Steve Jobs posted an entry about how Valleywag was attempting to uncover his true identity. That’s when the story really changed because that’s also the time when a significant list of potential bloggers was posted. The list included:

• Leander Kahney, managing editor of Wired News and author of the Cult of Mac blog.
• Eric J. Savitz, the West Coast Editor on technology investing for Barron Magazine.
• John Paczkowski, a technology news blogger for All Things Digital.
• Andy Ihnatko, a technology columnist for Chicago Sun-Times and opinion columnist for Macworld Magazine.

All of the these authors seemed like good candidates for the anonymous blogger job. Unfortunately, they all denied involvement or simply avoided answering the question of whether they were/were not the person behind FSJ. There was even speculation at some point that Valleywag was behind the blog but all things changed yesterday.

Fake Steve is finally exposed

Well, it turns out to be Daniel Lyons, a senior editor at Forbes magazine who covers enterprise computing and consumer electronics. For over a year, Fake Steve Jobs has been entertaining many of his readers (including myself and several other notables at Spunlogic) with his “candid thoughts.” For instance, he pokes fun at the ideas of Steve Wozniak, talks about how Apple’s responsible for the rise in the stock market, and even talks about iPhone snafu’s. Daniel has “channeled” Steve as if he was Steve Jobs — as a reader, you know that there’s no way that the blogger is Steve Jobs but you still want to believe that it is (in a Santa Claus kind of way).

But just like the video drama marketing spoof lonelygirl15, all things must come to an end! At least it was fun to read while it lasted.

Valleywag has a post about the hotspots in Silicon Valley, and instead of going into my typical meditative state where I hum loudly and picture myself in Silicon Valley in the midst of all things online and cool (ok, I don’t really do that…much), I thought I’d maybe point out some of the hotspots in the ATL. Below are four of the most popular networking spots to grab a bite, each with a little something different to offer.

The Silver Skillet - mostly breakfast networking but you can find everyone here

OK Cafe - breakfast or lunch, take your pick

Thumbs Up Diner - for the East Atlanta crowd

The Flying Biscuit - my favorite is the one on 10th and Piedmont…

Anyone care to suggest a few more?