Ever have that moment when you’re in the middle of some inane conversation and the thought flashes – this could be a Dilbert strip! Well rejoice, for the newly launched Dilbert website offers you the chance to make just that happen. Oh the opportunities that this new world offers. Write your own ending, write the dialogue for an entire strip or start the strip and pass it along to friends to add their dialogue.

For a comic strip, this is pretty huge. Enabling user generated content or feedback to filter into a brand is something that companies struggle with on a daily basis. The fear, and reasonably so, is that if you give people the chance to talk about your brand they’ll say mean things.

Dilbert’s creators understand that people are already saying, and doing, much of what this new website offers and have made the decision to become a part of that conversation.  Good for them.  I wish more companies embraced this type of user feedback because an essential part of a product or service lifecycle is hearing what customers want and making the offering better. I know, it takes time and a lot of convincing to even get an audience to start the conversation, but it’s not going away anytime soon.

So what do users think about this 2.0 version of the Dilbert site? They think it sucks. Yep, that’s right, after all that hard work to add more features they want the old site back. Why? Loss of functionality and compatibility. Apparently the old site made it easier to view daily strips and find old ones.  Site creators have apparently been monitoring this feedback and added a blog post saying that they’re looking to make some changes in the next few weeks. User feedback rocks!

On Thursday February 28th, Cybergrrl Oh interviewed Del Ross, VP Distribution Marketing (Americas) at Intercontinental Hotels Group, regarding Crowne Plaza’s presence in Second Life – Place To Meet Island. Now anyone that’s read the Spun blog knows that we’ve created this space and continue to be super excited about it.

Of course, with Second Life, rarely does all go smoothly. And this event was no exception, with images not appearing to the host having lag problems – it was indeed a typical Second Life event. But it worked out well because it not only highlighted the challenges that companies can expect to face but also how well the functionality of the island works.

The interview included tough questions regarding the strategy decisions for creating Place to Meet Island, how it’s currently being staffed, what marketing tactics were used, ROI that has been realized and what the future holds for Crowne Plaza’s Second Life presence.

All in all, this is a great interview to check out.

Over the past year, the buzz has been building about social media and how marketers need to get on the bandwagon. It’s a great time for agencies, like Spunlogic, who has the experience that companies are looking for, not only to build applications and Second Life presences, but also to provide strategic advice and direction.

It’s not so great a time for the marketers who might be itching to get their feet wet but are hesitant because they have no way of justifying the cost to their bosses. Here are a few reasons that you can use.

Reason #1:
Your audience is already talking about your brand using social media. Whether it’s by putting up a Facebook profile with your brand name, twittering about you, or creating a presence in Second Life, using your brand name, they’re there.

Getting in the game provides you the opportunity to control the message you want to have out there.

Reason #2:
Your competitors are, if not there yet, certainly planning on getting into social media in the near future. Capture the market with your big idea and watch the scales tip in your favor.

Reason #3:
Social media is not going away. Consumers are finding and more importantly creating new and different ways to connect to your brand. Being there is really about fishing where the fish are.

If you think that this medium won’t impact user behavior then think of all the current standard online channels: Website, email, search. When companies failed to get in the game early they lost significant market share and spent considerable time and budget to get up to speed. Is that really where you want to be?

Keeping up on the pace of the ever-evolving Internet is no small task, so I wanted to do my part by sharing a few new tagging sites that I’ve recently learned about. I’m sure most of you know about del.icio.us (bookmark URLs; write tags; other people can browse through your bookmarks) and Digg (bookmark URLs; other other people can browse through your bookmarks and ‘digg’ it too; bookmarks are sorted by topic). Here’s some others that are starting to get popular:
= Furl.net (not .com)- described as ‘An easier way to save and share your online discoveries’. It’s like another Digg or del.icio.us but the homepage is very bland, which puts me off some but the site is a part of Looksmart.com, so it’s understandable.

= Simpy.com – yet another site tagging/bookmarking app but looking through their customer reviews. It seems that they could be serious competition for del.icio.us because of the other features being offering.

= reddit.com – similar to Furl.net and others where you get to post what’s new and popular, but different in the way that, based on user votes, items get dropped or raised on the list of ‘cool’.

= MyWeb.Yahoo.com – Yahoo!’s beta version of site tagging. For me, not very interesting and isn’t at all different than what the other sites are doing. As a Yahoo! fan, I’m disappointed.

= Blogmemes.com – offering the Hispanic community a way to promote and share links, stories, videos and other ways to share culture. In other words, a Spanish version of site tagging which I think is an interesting spin on things.

= ma.gnolia.com – tries to differentiate itself but is really just another site tagging app – although it is prettier than some I’ve seen.

= Stumbleupon.com – keeps track of your preferences as you search the internet, recommending similar sites to the one that you’re on. In other words, they use the search display advertising algorithm for web browsing.

= Technorati.com – Scours the web for blog posts and entries about social media items. It’s like getting your water cooler gossip fix without leaving your desk.

= Newsvine.com – An instant reflection of what the world is talking about at any given moment. It is people actively submitting articles from online news sites about the things that they are reading/interested in/ talking about/etc. Like Technorati, but with real articles instead of blogs.

Now that you’ve been brought up to speed on tags, try out the services and tell us what you think!

For almost every native New Yorker who was around when 9/11 occurred (and the aftermath) there is an unspoken bond of anguish and immense sorrow that never seems to diminish somehow as the years pass.

I’m one of those native New Yorkers. Every year I find myself tearing up when the TV specials come on and have the change the channel. I still can’t find the courage to see any of the films that have come out since because I don’t think I can sit and watch it happen all over again. The one thought that I keep coming back to is – there are thousands of people that I will never meet, never smile at and never get to know now, gone in the blink of an eye.

This year, I ran across an article about a Second Life event that commemorates that fateful day and was curious enough to overcome my aversions (at least for a little while) and check it out. According to the article, the sim opened at the time when the first plane struck. I logged in and teleported.

Names of those lost from each of the buildings and planes, as well as the service men and women who lost their lives, are etched on a wall, which is surrounded by water on three sides. Pictures of those lost (at least I’m hoping that’s what it is) are collaged and displayed in a separate area.

No buildings are shown, which I think makes it even more significant. People came in and out; some returning for a second or third visit. Flowers, signs of ‘We will not forget’ and more are scattered around the base. No one talked very much. And periodically, a soft rain would fall.

It was beautiful in the ways that only Second Life can be.

Remembering 9/11, we will never forget.

For the CSI fans out there – good news, now you can become a part of the CSI intrigue by gathering clues and solving mysteries, in Second Life that is! That’s right – the makers of CSI: New York will be developing a storyline, in the fall, where a murderer escapes into Second Life where you, the general public and obsessed fans can take part in the investigation and help to solve the mystery.

This is a great way, I think, for the show to use an emerging media to include their audience in an amazing interactive experience. It seems that ideas like this are one of many ways that marketers are creatively capturing the imagination and eyeballs.

Take for example the ingenious marketing of several TV shows (Heroes, Lost, etc.) where a trail of clues to random websites that lead to other websites, emails, and even text messages are left for the fans that are loyal and brilliant enough to figure them out. They uncover hidden storylines, plots and much more.

And the same is being done for movies, check out for instance this interesting post on mentalfloss.com that talks about the upcoming movie by J.J. Abrams that has no name – but yet is being advertised. This is the type of immersive marketing that I can see as the next wave of the future. It’s not just a combination of website, email, direct mail, and (does this even exist anymore?) telemarketing. It is a full on experience and I for one cannot wait to ride that wave.

It must be akin to watching your child go off to their first day of kindergarten – feeling pride, worry, and hope. These are the same emotions I felt on Friday morning as I got into the office to go through everything (again). Yes, the day was finally here. My baby – the project that not only me, but an entire team of folks, poured their heart, soul and sweat into, and who lost countless hours of sleep over – was finally going live.

What am I talking about? The launch of Crowne Plaza’s The Place to Meet Island in Second Life - and the live event that was held to kick it off. Quickly, The Place to Meet in Second Life provides private, corporate meeting rooms (free). Users are able to reserve space, invite attendees and upload media for a close-to-real-life meeting experience - only without the travel or expense of a real life meeting.

With a prestigious panelist and expected media coverage I was nervous, to say the least. Hours before, the functional team gathered in a small conference room, huddled over computers awaiting the hour.  A small hiccup occurred at the beginning, a box needed to be checked to allow users (i.e. press) to teleport into the island. Box checked, the media was let in and with little distractions, the event began and stress levels started to go down.

In the control room in the back, safely out of sight, I was controlling the slides with the media manager that is chockfull of functionality.  It not only provides you with the functionality of changing media but there is a complex logic built into the script to dynamically generate the menu and files that have been uploaded through the equally complex scheduling site. 

Reflecting elements of design from various Crowne Plaza hotels, the rooms have been created to facilitate almost any type of meeting.  The island itself was beautifully crafted, composed of tropical trees and plants that form an idyllic environment to put any user at ease.

The amazingly brilliant team that worked diligently to bring this project to life has to be commended on a job more than well done. Of course, none of this would’ve been possible without the excitement and encouragement that the Crowne Plaza team displayed. Embracing this new medium and technology could have been fraught with tension and hesitations, but they jumped right in.

It has always been the ideal setting for magic. Teleporting is magical (with or without the use of Floo powder), chairs can be summoned on a whim (who would know it’s coming from your inventory?), and any all-knowing wizard can easily find the hottest spots in town (crystal map anyone?). But now, this interactive medium has brought magic to a whole new level. Yes, it’s true; Harry Potter has come to Second Life!

The excitement was palpable in the Spunlogic office when we landed in Hogwarts castle. In front of us was a sorting hat with instructions on how to take the sorting quiz and find out which house you belong in (Hufflepuff!). Anticipation grew as we roamed through the classrooms (where you can sign up for classes) to discover self stirring cauldrons, spell books, potions and lots more.

The oohing and aahing was at an all time high when we discovered Diagon Alley. The point of arrival at Diagon Alley is a fairly innocuous looking marketplace. Wander in a little closer, past the Leaky Cauldron and you’ll stumble onto a whole other world. Imagine a scene taken from the pages of any Harry Potter books – students in cloaks with floating tags above their heads, identifying them as being from the house of Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Gryffindor, or Ravenclaw, milling around outside of the Scarborough Emporium (makers and sellers of broomsticks), chatting and trying out spells. It was surreal.

Of course, we had to check out the wand shop, because every good wizard must have a wand. Gleefully, we examined scepters, wands and spells of various shapes, sizes and function. My purchase and experience can be summed up by the following:

Wand: $L150
Spell: $L150
Feeling the unbelievable wonder when a Phoenix shot out from my brand new wand: Priceless

Can you tell I’m a Harry Potter fan?

We wandered around the sim a little longer and discovered that one of the many ways to interact with others was to become part of the Harry Potter role playing game. With enough time on your hands, one can easily become a Hogwarts student, enroll in classes, learn to cast spells and become an integral part of the community.

The experience that this sim offers, for those HP fans out there, is not to be missed. Seeing this world come alive, and to be able to interact and experience it in a way that the books, movies and websites cannot provide is, well, the stuff of dreams. All made possible by Second Life.

As an account manager for Spunlogic’s initial foray into Second Life, I have had some interesting experiences – being chopped to pieces by a ninja (complete with blood gushing everywhere), shot by a watermelon gun (that rockets you into the air) and teleporting to places that I would never step foot in, in real life that is.

I’ve also been observant of how companies are bringing their brands to life in this new medium. From what I’ve seen, after the initial PR frenzy, too many islands and creative masterpieces are left to exist without continued support or attention. Does any of this sound familiar? Think internet in the early days, when companies were launching their websites but couldn’t get the return visits that make sites successful. Companies these days have, for the most part, figured out the key to getting people to come back to their website – fresh content, sales, blogs, and more.  Similarly, these are the thing that will keep Second Life residents coming back to your sim, but it needs to be put in the context of the environment, like holding continuous events (musical, educational, etc.). 

Marketers need to approach marketing to Second Life residents in the same way as they would approach any media plan. Throwing up billboards and renting kiosks are not going to cut it in the long term. Marketers need to think about their audiences’ behavior (or let Spunlogic help you), their likes and dislikes, imagine you were one of them and develop tactics to engage them. Provide a sandbox on your sim and challenge residents to build their own interpretation of what your brand means. Recognize winners and display the winning creative on your website.  It’s a similar tactic to Coca Cola’s ‘The Coke Side of Life’ campaign – users are engaged and you are building brand loyalty, something every marketer dreams of doing.

Remember, Second Life residents are there for the experience. They want to be able to do more than just listen to a concert – they want to interact with the performer and other attendees in ways that aren’t possible (or as easy) in real life. Provide them with an ongoing opportunity to interact with your brand, and they will return. The days of simply “build it and they will come” no longer exists; not for the web and definitely not for Second Life.  Otherwise, you might find yourself with a few well made objects and scripts but no one to look at them.