#goodPeopleImiss

still kind of a trip when I see myself on tv. bizarre. but thank you to PBS for getting the dialog going. our kids are going to be OK IMHO.

You can be a fan of Ernie Manouse on FB here.

[this was in my drafts folder. I updated it with the photos and hit publish.]

I arrived in Austin tonight and immediately felt I had to experience Austin. Not that I wasn’t just here a month ago for a beautiful wedding. And at SXSW before that. And that I was just in Las Vegas speaking at CAPRSA this weekend. And before that in OKC for a lovely wedding. And before that in NYC speaking at PRSA’s Digital Impact Conference. ADD or not, I have no shortage of input. Yet I get to Austin and I have this fear of missing out.

So I choose to stay in my hotel and catch up on processing photos. And prep for my talk tomorrow (I really like to over-prepare. The audience deserves it.) And I wanted to process some of the photos from the rebuilding of the World Trade Center I took in NYC from last week.

But I can’t help it. I twittered a photo of Austin from my cell phone. Wrong move. I am also a photographer and I immediately see this tweet from djlawrasaurus:

Try n get a cool #bat shot

[this was in my drafts. unfinished. because I googled it and found out I was right next to the bat colony and it was almust sunset. there it is.]

So there is that….

From the New York Times

Company Settles Case of Reviews It Faked

Lifestyle Lift, a cosmetic surgery company, has reached a settlement with the State of New York over its attempts to fake positive consumer reviews on the Web, the New York attorney general’s office said Tuesday.

The company had ordered employees to pretend they were satisfied customers and write glowing reviews of its face-lift procedure on Web sites, according to the attorney general’s statement. Lifestyle Lift also created its own sites of face-lift reviews to appear as independent sources.

Full article here.

The short version is “don’t submit fake reviews.” Pretty basic really.

This is a few blocks from my house. Play the video (short) to get the context.

Well it took me half a week, but here is the full video of our panel from the Mom2Summit last weekend. The title was “It’s the end of marketing as we know it. And we feel fine.” First the full video.

Panel: It’s the end of Marketing as we know it. And we feel fine. from Ed Schipul on Vimeo.

Lessons learned about video: Given this was my first real attempt at video, I learned a few things. Like you can’t work with MOV files on a PC with Movie Maker. Macs have iMovie, which rocks. And iMovie compresses video into mv4 files which is cool with youtube. Limiters: Youtube limits video length to 10 minutes. Facebook limits video length to 20 minutes. Google video allowed longer videos but they are shutting it down. The ONLY product that worked was Vimeo for a 32:56 video. In short, vimeo ROCKS!

A direct link to “It’s the end of marketing as we know it. And we feel fine“

I had the privilege of moderating the panel “It’s the end of Marketing as we know it. And we feel fine.” at the Mom2Summit this weekend in Houston. With the help of Katie we coordinated a panel with these three talented bloggers:

1. Kirsten Chase (Motherhood Uncensored, Cool Mom Picks)
2. Jordan Ferney (Oh Happy Day)
3. Jenny Lawson (The Bloggess, Good Mom, Bad Mom)

In the planning phase it occurred to me that panel introductions are typically a bit boring. This led to “instead of introductions we could do ____” type thinking and conversations with HK. Various ideas such as non-existent peacock sightings (don’t ask) and bullhorns were ruled out.

Somewhere along the way Rachel suggested we do “interpretive readings” which led to a quick call to a friend from AAF at the Pastorini Bosby talent agency in Houston. They provided three amazing options and we would up selecting the brilliant actor David George. And David rocked the house!

Update: Here is the panel followed by the introductions:

Panel: It’s the end of Marketing as we know it. And we feel fine. from Ed Schipul on Vimeo.

Without further adieu. Here are the three blogger introductions for my panel at Mom2summit! (And a huge shout out to Katie Laird for all of her help putting the panel together!)

A dramatic reading of Kirsten Chase‘s blog post V is for Vasectomy.

A William Shakespeare Shatner tribute to the beauty of Jordan Ferney‘s blog Oh Happy Day.

Oh my, where do you start with The Bloggess? Well, we chose to go back all the way to Jesus.

Thanks to our organizers and the sponsors of Mom2Summit for bringing this great conversation to Houston! I also know from working with her that Maggie put in a ton of time on the summit so thanks Maggie!

PS – MistyKhan has a great recap of day 1 from the conference here. And be sure to check out the mom2summit photos on flickr!

PPS – Huge THANKS to Monica and Laura and Carrie for trusting me to run a panel. What were you thinking? Heh.

The ability to express yourself through social media is not new. And to fight to become Internet famous.

And Gwen Bell asks some great questions on the topic of Internet Famous at what price?. All of which reminded me of this.

“The role of prizefighters, surgeons, violinists, and policemen are cases in point. These activities allow for so much dramatic self-expression that exemplary practitioners – whether real or fictional – become famous and are given a special place in the commercially organized fantasies of the nation.”

- Irving Goffman, The Presentation of Self, Pg 31

“So much seems possible at the beginning of a trip, so many  things seem brimmed with meaning.” pg 5

“…trickster is a boundary-crosser. Every group has its edge, its sense of in and out, and trickster is always there, at the gates of the city and the gates of life, making sure there is commerce.” Trickster, pg 7

Reading about fakesters led me to this post on fake twitter accounts varying from Fake Steve Jobs to Fake Seth Godin to my favorite, Chuck Norris. Chuck throws down the tracks like

“When google has a question, they “norris” it.“

And some fakester parodies are richly deserved like rahodeb of Whole Foods (In)Fame(ity).

Motivations for fakester accounts based on famous people might include a desire for attention, satire, performance art, hatred of what a person represents, desire to be in on a “secret”, or admission into a Goffmanesque “back room” to blatant monetary goals. But there is a motivation of some kind that piggy-backs on top of someone else’s fame.  Every invention of a new namespace opens up opportunities for these reputation barnacles.

But there is a different type of “fake account” in the form of a completely made up person or object. A persona. And this type of fakester account is lumped in with the impersonators, and this is a mistake. I submit they are entirely different.

In disparaging terms, these are called “sock puppets.” Wikipedia clarifies

“The key difference between a sock puppet and a regular pseudonym (sometimes termed an “alt” which is short for alternate, as in alternate identity) is the pretense that the puppet is a third party who is not affiliated with the puppeteer.”

My problem with the “sock puppet” term is that the pejorative nature overrides the trickster legitimacy and social commentary conveyed. Hence I suggest a new term for those that have passed a social acceptance threshold within the community. For lack of a better word I’ll call these characters Avasters.

Avasters – an character created by a person or persons that is not based on a specific person living or dead. An invented character that acts and behaves with a unique personality. And earns the right to be considered a “person” within the community.

Examples of Avasters anthropomorphizing an object or creature are:

1. Love Lamp – yup, a lamp, on myspace. I love lamp. Calling love lamp a sock puppet just seems wrong.
2. MarsPhoenix – a talking mars rover
3. AskThe Universe – a cosmic answer source
4. The Unicorn – bio: “I skullf*@k Leprechauns”

Avasters anthropomorphizing a deity or anti-deity include:

1. TweetJeebus
   - just on the verge of sacrilege, and funny as hell. Note he is not impersonating Jesus, rather has created a new almost impersonation.
2. Satan – self explanatory

Avasters that are invented people are:

1. Jon Swift – blogger who was deleted and added back later on facebook. I include him here because the real JS is clearly deceased.
2. Twitches protected account just for bitching between “in kids”
3. TweetTarded – mean spirited commentary on social media folks, but not that creative IMHO
4. Amanda Chapel – PR vixen and social media impresario, borderline mean but genuinely an avaster in that “she” is “real”.
5. etc.. etc.. (but feel free to add more in the comments.)

Friendster once killed off the fakester accounts which is attributed to their death knell. Facebook has policies against fakester accounts. Yet Amanda exists. Why?

The first difference to me is that Avasters create a personality and are just as real as a real person. They aren’t leap frogging to popularity
on another’s fame, only to tire of it. They are building something. Creating something even if trolling at times.

There is also a distinction between an avaster acting as a created persona and a blogging-pseudonym. Blogging under a pseudonym is simply a way of protecting your identity while expressing your opinion. Perhaps with greater candor than otherwise allowed, but nonetheless it is “a”
person. And they might have legitimate political reasons for hiding. Life and death reasons.

What fascinates me the most are the avasters that garner attention, have built reputations, remain closely held, offer intelligent commentary
and yet are run by GROUPS of people.

“… it becomes apparent that the way people seek and give attention and the amount they are likely to receive is significantly shaped by their social roles and their status within the major institutional hierarchies.” – The Pursuit of Attention, pg 34

The most famous avaster of all IMHO is none other than Mr. Bungle of LambdaMOO fame. This is a medium literally built on top of a rape in cyberspace. Dangerous territory indeed.

The most interesting current Avaster? That would have to be the lovely Amanda Chapel. Brought to you by none other than the honorable profession who brought us the unprecedented Committee on Public Information. Say what you want, she makes an adept critic of our society.

Image: Hat Trick by Cayusa