Jun
30
I just finished listening to Steve Gillmore’s talk at Gnomedex (no I’m not there, but I’ve had the audio stream running on the Q most of the day). He spoke, once again, about the ‘Attention Economy‘, a concept that roughly translates to: “There’s real money to be made by knowing what you, Joe Media Consumer, read/watch/listen to.” This is, of course true.
Every media company for the last 100 years, from NBC to the New York Times, has been sustained by money made from eyeballs + time. The twist in the internet age (as evidenced by Google, Yahoo, MSN, Amazon and countless other internet companies) is the level at which they’re able to make money off of your personal attention. Buy a Michael Bolton CD on Amazon and, hey, you’d probably also like this Celine Dion CD. You know you want it, you crazy music fan, you….
Gilmore’s new twist on this whole thing is that you (yes, you Joe Media Consumer) should personally own and make money from your attention. Today you give all of your attention away to Big Media (old and new). Surf a while on Yahoo, there’s money being made. By Yahoo. MSNBC.com is no different. Gilmore’s proposal is this: cut out the middle man, through some magical combination of Web 2.0 wizardry and VC money. Give it a couple of years and we’ve got an economy made up of people who make 6 figure salaries doing nothing but surf MySpace.
Jun
19
A Second Life for Deadwood
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I love HBO’s “Deadwood”. It’s not only one of the best-written dramas to come along in years, but more interesting to me is the detail with which they’ve recreated the texture (both physical and psychological) of the historical time and place. It’s a simultaneously optimistic and ugly world where characters play out their dreams and desires, unfettered by rule or constraint.
Second Life is a lot like Deadwood. Just go there. Wander around. Thankfully (unlike the historical Deadwood, S.D.) there’s no chance of being shot in the street, but if you look long and hard enough you’ll find all of the other elements: gambling, sex, and all other manner of lawless capitalism at work.
Second Life is not a game. There’s nothing to win or lose. There aren’t really even any laws in Second Life. Sure, the creators of the world (Linden Labs) have created a basic set of rules and limitations, but it’s a place largely regulated (or unregulated) by its inhabitants. It’s a place where people can go to recreate themselves, in whatever image or manner they want. Physical barriers disappear- your appearance and abilities are bounded only by your imagination.
Jun
19
Smart syndication…
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Sony to let bloggers post music videos Well, as long as they display them in Sony’s ad-supported player, which bloggers can soon embed on their sites. It’s part of a new Sony site called MusicBox Video, powered by Brightcove.
This is a very good idea….
