Hi, I'm Antonio Barimen, aka skribe Forti. My background is in the film and television industry but about 15 years ago I began building both virtual and online communities. Now I use that experience to provide professional consultation to business, from SMEs right up to Fortune 500 companies.
My philosophy is simple: improve the lines of communication by establishing strong, engaging communities. And then build from there. It works for both B2C and B2B
Recently I was asked to do some consulting for a company. They were developing a strategy for their online presence and wanted some assistance. The strategy involved a lot of social media and made some fairly bold claims about the returns on their investment. Upon seeing this, the first question I asked was where was the research to back these claims. There was none, and worse there was no budget to do any market research. Fortunately they had a year’s worth of web metrics that I was able to analyse and offer some practical solutions.
Metrics are often under-utilised as a market research tool, whether it be the number of hits on a website or which demographic is watching a video. Careful analysis of your metrics can yield a wealth of information that you can then use to help develop your digital strategies. Here are three: Read More
Oscar Wilde once observed, The only thing worse than being talked about, is not being talked about.
And he was right. Good publicity is great, but bad publicity is a PR opportunity. When things go pear-shaped in social media, they splat so hard and so fast it doesn’t seem possible to wash the stink off. With the right approach and strategies in place, however, you can turn a PR crisis around.
Gartner recently advised that by 2013 seventy percent of businesses will have guidelines for their staff’s activities within virtual worlds. I’ve just completed a set of behaviour and dress guidelines for a company that has plans to work in Second Life. I’ve adapted them and thought I’d share:
Many of the guidelines that a company currently employs for social networking also apply in virtual worlds. If you need some help in establishing those then here are 40 examples that you can draw upon for inspiration. There are a few issues that are virtual world specific that require special attention, however. Read More
Since the open beta period for Blue Mars began I’ve noticed that some Second Life content creators have been dismissing it out-of-hand. Mostly they claimed that the tools for creating content in Blue Mars were too hard to learn. Many also said that they were not interested in providing content for Blue Mars, and some even inferred that without them to provide the content Blue Mars would wither and die. As I stated in my earlier article, Blue Mars – Being Different, Blue Mars will ultimately be able to draw on a wealth of content, possibly more than Second Life currently does. So if I were generating real world income by providing content in Second Life I would seriously consider taking the time to evaluate Blue Mars as a prospective new market. It makes good business sense, and I can tell you that there are hundreds, perhaps thousands out there, who are eagerly waiting for you to let this opportunity pass you by.
We are seeking resumes and demos ONLY from individuals with BOTH (Note: BOTH – there will be trouble if you don’t have BOTH) VIDEO and AUDIO TECHNOLOGY SKILLS. And we do mean BOTH. Not ONE, but BOTH.
We are working on behalf of a high quality small Feature Film and Music Production company owned by NAME ACTORS. Yes, NAME ACTORS. ACTORS with NAMES. Not NOBODIES like YOU. Projects are QUALITY INDIES with literate scripts (ie. NOT horror – we hate HORROR. STOP sending us HORROR scripts. They’re too scary for our NAME ACTORS). NOTE: WE ALREADY HAVE the writing, directing, acting, singing, musicians, and producing covered. WHAT WE NEED : ONLY ONE – or a MAXIMUM TEAM of 3 TECH PEOPLE – we’re not sure – who have ALREADY worked together and can show their collaborative TECH work.
This is a UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY!. You’ll be working with NAME ACTORS, for no money but just think – NAME ACTORS (as in ‘I got screwed by NAME ACTORS’). Speaking of which you must be over 18 years of age or have decent fake ID – we won’t check too hard. Oh, and you must look hot. SUPER MODEL HOT. They are NAME ACTORS after all. In fact if you’re really SUPER MODEL HOT you may not need to have any technical skills at all. Contact us. Remember to send a photo or lots. Video is nice too. Boys, girls – we’re not picky.
We offer you an UPGRADED Credit on the film and potentially grow with our company : People new to the industry but proficient with TECHNOLOGY are welcome, as are more experienced individuals who have updated their skills. WE NEED a Super-Techie who can:
Shoot and Light a Digital Feature
Edit the Feature
Record and master a Music Album/Sound for the Film.
Be really needy and insecure.
Do it all FOR FREE!
Has their own cape and spandex.
It is of utmost importance that you have ENTHUSIASM for the TECHNOLOGICAL aspects of Film and Music Making. For EXTRA credit : if you can also design a “Flash” Skills Website for the project. Massages are nice too.
Remember, you will be working for NAME ACTORS. An opportunity not to be missed.
* Lampooned from an original positions vacant ad – I didn’t need to change much.
For people in Perth, a good friend of mine, Bret from Free Beer, is running a series of web promotion seminars aimed at businesses that want to increase their web traffic. Bret’s stuff is always top notch and at only $75 is an absolute bargain. I highly recommend that you check it out.
At about the thirty minute mark of my wife’s nearly two-and-a-half hours wait for a doctor this morning I came to the conclusion that there must be a better way to do doctor’s appointments. Being stuck in a crowded waiting room – usually full of sick people – is never any fun. Being stuck with a bored child is a clear and present danger banned under the Geneva Convention and the United Nation’s Declaration of Human Rights. It really is a ‘hurry up and wait’ situation as you’re required to be on call and remain in the immediate vicinity. Clearly this is a waste of everyone’s time, so what’s to be done?
I spent another great session at the VIO seminar in Second Life on Monday morning (my time). Xander Newman covered how to deal with real life businesses that are using Second Life for vCommerce. All great stuff and it, deservedly, drew an awesome crowd. However, at the usual after-seminar discussion someone mentioned that they wished they could buy pizza using Second Life. Buying real life goods from a virtual world is not a new thing. Both Dell and American Apparel tried it in Second Life back in 2006. By all accounts both were dismal failures. Likewise delivering pizza (or any other real life product) faces some monumental hurdles to make the experience both worthwhile for the retailer and a valuable alternative to the comsumer.
Over the last few years business has shown a great interest in using virtual worlds for enterprise. Everything from seminars and conferences to virtual trade shows and retail. However, after an initial flurry of activity many soon abandon them. For some the required learning curve is too high to be an effective tool. For others the return on investment is not high enough. Whatever the reasons, no virtual environment seems to have really delivered what enterprise needs for its mass adoption. That may be about to change.
