On Demand

Marie and I were at the mall on Friday, it had been a day of meetings, and we were in a mood to watch a movie.

Trouble is, it was 4.43pm, and there weren't any movies starting till after 6. What? Very strange. And then, there's the question of would the movies on after 6 be ones we liked? It's mass media thinking at its worst.

Wouldn't it be great to combine what's great about the movies (the shared experience, the big big screen, surround sound, fresh popcorn) with what's great about DVDs (you choose them, you start them when you want, it doesn't have to be "the latest", you can see films from years ago).

And it's possible - or at least a pretty good compromise is possible. You could take an unconference approach to your movie theatre, letting people suggest movies, and have the rest vote on when to see them. Sure, it wouldn't be the exact one-to-one experience we desire, but it would be a fun compromise. It would be fun because it's like a game. It would be social because you know the others in the theatre aren't just there for "whatever's on", but they actually chose the film you're seeing.

How would this work? It wouldn't work by charging membership like Fatso. I pay my Fatso membership because it comes to me. I don't go to the mall on a predictable basis. This needs to be something that works as a spur-of-the-moment thing, as well as an ongoing community that could collaborate online.

That was our thoughts standing in the movie theatre. We had similar thoughts at the zoo on Saturday, but I guess animals are less prone to do things "on demand" for us! :)

Cinema has great potential to give me what I really want
(Photo credit: Jonathan Posner)

Community-generated video with Wapid - iJumpTV #38

Click to Play

Why is Marie eating a Memphis Meltdown 12,000 feet in the air? It's all because of Wapid.co.nz, a site that brings together marketers and online talent. Founder Scott Fenton tells us more. Referenced: http://www.wapid.co.nz/ http://blueskiesskydiving.co.nz/

How can we keep the petrol companies honest?

Pumped Up
Originally uploaded by lincolnose2

With all the news about petrol prices and their steady upward climb, I wonder if we, the people, can demand clarity from the companies who supply us with much-needed fuel.

I'm not a geek. Not really. I don't know much about programming, but I do know a good idea when I see one.

So here's an idea that presented itself to me: a people-powered website that displays the cheapest petrol prices in the country, or in a particular area. (Okay, it's still a sketchy idea)

There are already some precedents in different industries:

* Houseoftravel.co.nz scrapes the websites of airlines for prices, delivering the lowest price
* Interest.co.nz has a staff that manually check the interest rates from each bank, and their community has begun to help with that manual process.

Is there a way of finding out what's the price of petrol around New Zealand, and what the trends are, so well-prepared drivers can not only check the traffic cams before they set out, but also check where the cheapest petrol is?

Is there a way we could make this mobile? Or at least geotargeted?

What mashups are possible? Google maps seems an obvious choice.

Who would benefit, apart from consumers? Maverick players like Gull - the only petrol company to front on Close Up last night - might be interested, if they're open to transparency.

Industry organisations like the AA might also be interested in being associated with this.

I think there are enough of us with enough skill to make this happen. What do you think?

Scoop: ‘Social Networking’ Trend Coming To Real Estate

Scoop: ‘Social Networking’ Trend Coming To Real Estate

Great to see Harcourts blowing the trumpet for social networking. This is an interesting example of being seen to be onto it, simply by saying we all need to be onto it. It's a peculiar trait of this time in history, when social networking and web 2.0 is so new, that there's a lot of room in between the know's and the know-nots to educate and position yourself and your company.

But as far as I can tell, Harcourts are the real deal. They've even got an office in Second Life.

But it's quite funny to have a press release simply saying 'we've been to a conference and we think that what they said was really important'. Maybe I should send a press release out every time I go to a conference ... or I could just blog it.

Hmm... I'd better stop, I'm sounding snarky. But while I'm teetering near the edge of snarky, I'll say this ... why put 'inverted commas' around 'everything'? It's kind of 'annoying'.

:)

But hey, the press release worked, it showed up on my Google Alerts for Generation C, and here I am writing about it instead of doing my other work. Great work, Harcourts!

Cross-post: Gen C comes to Australia

Cross-posted from blog.Looksy.org

Gen C hits Australia

A column in The Australian puts a start date on Generation C - 1985. It’s a bit of a tongue-in-cheek column, but maybe there’s a bit of truth to it?

generation C (for communication, caring and compassion apparently). This generation, born in the late 1980s, is completely wired, does not believe anyone born before 1985 knows how to use Bluetooth or a DVD player let alone an electric wanger - sorry, I mean one of those new-fangled computers.

These children of the millennium create their own content online, and while generation X pays for an unlisted number and retreats ever deeper into its funkhole, gen C spends its time going public and talking about itself in neurotic detail on the web.

Every member of gen C is a celebrity - they must be; they all have a website, don’t they? Gen C was also taught to care. They not only want to save the whales, but forgive the fiends of Guantanamo and September 11.

They sound like every generation of idealistic youngsters: eager, cute and, sadly, about to run slap-bang into reality.

Already the article’s been picked up in the blogosphere, here, here and here.

Maybe Wilf Jarvis was right?

Art of chatting face to face dying | The Daily Telegraph

Quote:

Psychologist, Harvard Business School researcher and etiquette columnist Robin Abrahams says societies have become filled with shrinking violets.

"In the past, only about 40 per cent of people reported being shy in social situations,'' Ms Abrahams said.

"It's now a significant problem affecting about half.''

...

"Society is changing so rapidly it's becoming difficult to navigate. There's no longer a set of rules for appropriate behaviour,'' she said.

"At the same time, technology is enabling us to opt out of difficult situations and causing people to become more insular.

...

Ms Abrahams said the answer was in developing a new approach to teaching social skills.

"It can't be about the memorisation of customs as it was in the past, because there are too many potential situations and too much social change and cultural diversity.

"It needs to be more like chess, based on strategies and general principles.''

Ms Abrahams recommends two key strategies: communication and practice.

"Communicating with others about their expectations is a huge part of feeling comfortable socially,'' she said.

"And so is practice. Social interaction is like anything else: the more you do it the better you become.''

Reminds me of Wilf Jarvis' comments, and also of the need for diversity. Everything is connected.

Hear the Generation C podcast

After many months of talking about and thinking about doing a podcast, I and my Looksy.org buddies have created a podcast.

For best results, subscribe to the podcast (if you're using iTunes, click here). You'll hear the progress of the world's first consumer-generated documentary, as well as meet some fascinating folks from the world of generation C and business.

Any technical problems let us know in the column or send an e to discover@looksy.org. This is most definitely a work in progress.

The break-up

The Break-Up
Uploaded by Damon_Crepin-Burr

The first anti-Facebook rant I've read

Facebook is flavour of the year as far as social networks go. But Jeremiah Owyang has composed a stinging critique of Facebook. In a Twitter post Owyang said "i just realized i'm putting a lot of effort into facebook (even inviting you all) but I don't own any of this data, they do."

Good point. It seems that openness is the primary virtue of any internet app these days, because just about anything has the capacity to become vital infrastructure. Therefore, lack of openness is the worst sin.

In terms of openness, Facebook has been praised because it lets people create their own widgets (mini-applications). But the need to sign up or sign in to see anything - Jeremiah's got a good point.

Meanwhile, I haven't even begun to explore Facebook. I've set up a profile and been invited to groups by a few people. Add me as a friend if you like, just let me know you're a reader of Mad Young Thing.

---

PS: There's an interesting post from David Young (no relation, but we did check) about the purpose of social networking. Interesting reading.

The voice of a generation

Jack Kerouac.

Hat tip to Public Address (not going to the party, but it's a great idea).

Question: does Generation C have someone who epitomises this generation?

Mobile- the next mass media?

Faster Future: Publishing possibilities now and beyond: Mobile as the 7th Mass Media

Thought-provoking stuff about the future of media. I was talking with my mum (who doesn't own a computer or a cellphone, and lives out of coverage area for all but 2 TV channels in Auckland) about online media (as you do). I said things start to get mainstream when they get simple.

Trademe's an example (and I actually got that in a discussion with Kevin Bowler, CEO of Yahoo!Xtra). He said it's simple enough for mums and dads to use. That's the beauty of Web 2.0 - you don't need to understand that AJAX stands for whatever it stands for to use it.

So with cellphones... when they get actually simple to use - which the iPhone seems to promise - it's entirely possible they will become the next mass medium.

Bring it on. We could definitely use some phones/browsers/minicomputers/messaging devices that are easy to use.

What's the future of music retail?

This is what happens when it rains in Auckland.

Insurance for the hip and trendy

I've often come across insurance brokers who are trying to make insurance more interesting. I don't blame them, it's pretty boring, and it has the added burden of not adding any value - it's the product you don't want to use.

So it's interesting to see a press release about "the first NZ life insurance offerings that specifically target the Internet-savvy ‘Generation C' "!

More here, and I've also blogged about it on our Looksy.org Generation C blog.

Silent morning

Didn't listen to any podcasts this morning on the bus.

No particular reason, just didn't feel like getting the headphones on.

What a great experience! I'd forgotten what it was like to just sit and observe the world around me. People are so interesting!

Ended up feeling kind of an unplugged euphoria, thinking thoughts like "human race, you are beautiful"! Got to watch that, might end up feeling kindly towards my fellow beings.

Seriously, though, I feel that one of the biggest needs in the infoverload age is balance. If you're an entrepreneur (and if you are, chances are you're that way inclined), look for opportunities to bring balance, perspective and context to people's lives. We've got so much choice today we kind of need a few customised ground rules to help us enjoy life.

Hmm. All of those things - balance, choice, ground rules, customisation - are trends about Generation C. Interesting...

Gartner's rules for Second Life

Gartner Says 80 Percent of Active Internet Users Will Have A ``Second Life'' in the Virtual World by the End of 2011

As heard of (and mentioned approvingly by Neville Hobson, aka Jangles Junot) on For Immediate Release.

Social networking eats TV, Video Games

eMarketer.com - Social Networking Increases Internet Time

Interesting piece which shows that social networking has increased people's internet time overall, at the expense of TV (which we all knew was dying a slow death) and video games (the heir to the movie industry).

Okay, so this is just one study, and one conducted by MySpace, but it's an interesting piece of data nevertheless.

Meet Generation C - the nice people

Who are the people who will shape the future of marketing (and everything else)? Generation C.

If you'd like to understand Generation C - or you are Generation C ... or both (!) take a trip to Looksy.org.

We're co-creating the world's biggest consumer-generated film. Do you want to be in it?



We'll also be podcasting and blogging, connecting with the conversation about Generation C around the world. Stories like FinanceVisor - Markets > News >this report saying Generation C will be nicer than people like me!

Meet the Looksy.org team

Links Roundup

Interesting stuff I'm noting down - might as well share it too:

• Will Ferrel and his co-writer are taking on user-generated online content: FunnyOrDie. More in this Hollywood Reporter article. (Hat tip: Skip Press)
• The Sundance Institute is looking for ways to make the world a greener place - just pitch them on film in one minute or less! That is exciting!
• Wired Magazine's Elliot van Buskirk reckons MySpace's glory days may be over - and it's all over widgets. Interesting. In New Zealand, Bebo outranks MySpace by far. And in Brazil, Orkut is all the rage.
• An Accenture survey says that, according to entertainment industry executives, the greatest threat to the industry is the audience. Generation C does things differently, folks! The talk is of what kind of content will work, and that's necessary to think about, but let's also spend some time understanding the people in the equation. If the audience is a problem - why not ask them for help? Which is precisely what Looksy.org is trying to do.
  

Music publicity, Gen C style

The songbird who's outselling Take That with her homemade album | Showbiz | This is London

Thanks to Skip Press for passing on this fantastic story of DIY marketing for quality music. I think we're getting closer to a time where the high quality stuff does just find an audience.