developer: cool, that’s what we do. how can I help?

caller: I have a simple site and I need some updates. not much really, just a few changes. is that something you do?

developer: yes, what is the url?

caller: well I’ll need you to sign an NDA before I give you the url. can I fax it over?

developer: no (thinks: “do I still have a fax to email gateway working? hmmm”)

caller: what?

developer: we just met and you want to fist bump attorneys?

caller: no, i just don’t know how else to protect my intellectual property!

developer: you have a site now, right?

caller: yes

developer: live on the internet?

caller: yes

developer: …… long pause…..

caller: ok, I see your point.

…. 45 minutes of spec requests and contract pre-negotiation convo takes place here….

caller: so basically that’s it. my brother-in-law said he could build it for $225 dollars but I wanted to call around and get a few options to see if I could reduce the cost. He’s not very good actually.

Thoughts going through your head as the dev:

1. developer (option 1): so you have a job board and you want to enhance a few features of monster.com to allow for a commission and affiliate structure?
2. developer (option 2): so you have a great e-commerce idea, have been reviewing amazon.com and found a few ways to improve on their theories to sell widgets?
3. developer (opti0n 3): so you want to have a self sustaining site that makes you money with no effort invested while you work at your current job realizing the money-for-nothing potential advertised on TV?

Resolution: have you heard of Crowdspring?

#respect #withAllDueRespect

“Sometimes you aren’t even sure it is a win?”

“When you’re a hoser, admit it”

- Adam Sohn at PRSADIconf

After spending a lot of time falling asleep at the library while facing the philosophy books, I determined that the concept of destiny is a construct that allows man a gentle release from facing the terror of his existence, and that… (more)

It will also be great to see our conference co-chair Deirdre Breakenridge, the moderator of the #techprsa Tweet Chat and the author of PR 2.0! We were lucky enough to have Deirdre chair SchipulCon09 last year and I assure you she is a great speaker and “gets it.”

From the official T3PR Conference Web Site:

Achieve your organizational goals with T3PR’s panels, networking events and tactical sessions developed by the industry’s premier thought leaders, including:

“Driving Your Online Footprint: PR Experts as Influencers” — Christine Perkett, CEO and founder, PerkettPR

“Storytelling in the Changing Digital Space” —  Nick Bilton, technology reporter and lead writer, Bits Blog, The New York Times; author of the upcoming “I Live in the Future & Here’s How It Works”

“The New Era of Blogging” — Joe Ciarallo, editor, PRNewser; manager, PR Initiatives at MediaBistro (moderator);Adam Ostrow, editor-in-chief, Mashable; Sara Polsky, editor, Curbed; Frederick Mwangaguhunga, founder,MediaTakeOut.com

“Facebook Marketing and the Word of Mouth Campaign” — Justin Levy, general manager, New Marketing Labs; author of “Facebook Marketing: Designing Your Next Marketing Campaign.”

“B-to-B Tech Firms and Murphy’s Law: Anticipating Communications Crises” — Harjiv Singh, co-founder and co-CEO, International, Gutenberg Communications

If your schedule permits and you can join us in NYC – THIS  - Friday, June 11, 2010. Ping me for a discount code!

From a technical perspective, this makes perfect sense. Because the largest churches in Houston do not mention the word “God” on their web sites. Yes really. Using a search engine keyword analyzer, a test of second.org shows the following.

Note the title is “Second Baptist Church, Houston, TX.” Thus they will likely rank for “Churches in Houston” but not for “God in Houston.” A simple fix would be to update the title to “Second Baptist Church, Serving God in Houston TX”.

I mention this because exactness of speech matters. It means that some of our largest churches have zero (0) possibility of being returned if a downtrodden person googles for them in the middle of the night. It means missed connections when a bible study group at a particular church might be the perfect connection for a fellow Houstonian. But we will never know because of a failure of exactness of speech.

On the flip side, a tip of the hat to Braeswood Assembly of God church which comes up for both the physical location and second natural ranking after KSBJ in the search results. And all because they mention the word “God” in their title.

So be specific. Be exact. And I’ll leave it to you to search for the ministers’ names – they rank a bit higher than God.

And of course the slides are available on slideshare.net/eschipul as well as embedded below. Thanks!

“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

1. TSPRA (Monday)Web 2.0 Trends for Public Relations Professionals on Mon 18-Feb-08 11:00 AM
2. BMA (Thursday luncheon) What Social Media Means for B2B Marketers on Thu 21-Feb-08 11:30 AM
3. Sullivan Group (OTC Marketing seminar) OTC Marketing Seminar on Thu 21-Feb-08 2:00 PM

Also note that tomorrow night, Tuesday, is Refresh Houston with Stephen P. Andersen.
The Force Behind Star Wars: Turning Design Ideas into Reality on Tue 19-Feb-08 6:30 PM