A man locked in a steel box for 30 days with cameras showing his every move to the Internet public will give away 30k GBP / 50k USD if you can find him. He does not even know where he is, but he is given periodic clues to help you determine his location.
The appeal seems massive so far. Viral, even! What do you think? Is it total madness or is it creative social media marketing genius?
A part of me wants to say that he is totally nuts, but that is coming from the guy who Webcasted a live stream crossing 6,000 miles in nine days during the 25th Cannonball One Lap of America from the confines of a Corvette with huge stickers that said CopMagnet.com all over it.
I say “Bravo!” to the Man in Box. I hope he survives the 30 days with his mind intact.
View the live video stream below. Just click the play button to see what he is up to now.
I have been thinking about the power and truth of live Internet. The power in the numbers is staggering. Today, we can all be journalists, and many of us clearly have a story to report. In fact, before I finish this article I will demonstrate the potential of social journalism with a live video stream from my cell phone, and have it posted to my Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, YouTube, and others as it happens … in real time. Speed of information delivery is a huge trend these days, as I pointed out in a recent article about social feeds in Google search results, and once you put it out there, it is not going away.
People love to tell their story, and it is even better if they tell it right when it happens. They often want to tell it before they have too much time to dwell on the details, forget about it, or in many cases even give thought to whether it should be told. If it is an important story, they may even find incentive of wide recognition for being the first on the scene.
This goes well beyond only social journalism. Entertainment has also taken on a whole new look. Earlier tonight my son came to me asking to watch some of our videos from a weekend visit to the zoo. He already had a Wii game on, so instead of showing him on the computer, I played them off my YouTube channel on the big screen television. Then I played some more videos off a laptop in the other room by accessing them through my X-Box 360. This all sounds so insane to me that my kids will never remember having to wait until Gilligan’s Island comes on at four o’clock. Who needs old school television these days, except for those who work for television?
If we did not each have a story to tell, there would not be over 35 million people (out of over 350 million active Facebook users) who update their Facebook status each day, and Twitter may only be a group of about 30 people reporting how the cookout at cousin Evan‘s place went. As it is, the world faces a turmoil of how this all works, and how can we best use all this information.
Where this is going and how it will change our society is a story that is being written each day. For some, it is a story of how drunk they got at a fraternity keg party and are sorry for the embarrassing photos they posted on their social networks. Others will apologize to customers for not being the company they portrayed when their media exposure was more one-way, and worked much slower. In extreme cases, nations will defend political scrutiny such as that of the Iran elections being lambasted on Twitter, and people will run scared from health issues like H1N1.
The threat of misinformation and lack of vetting is there, but the real time “get it now” reality creates an appeal to masses that cannot be overlooked. It opens a lot of questions on the value of real time social journalism. I discussed this with a high school journalism teacher just this evening, and we agreed on many things, but challenged others. Overall, I think our conclusions were inconclusive.
So where does it go, and how cool is it that I just coincided the release of this blog post by streaming the first comment from my cell phone? Now imagine doing that five years ago! I was ultra-high-tech in 2008 when I did a 6,000 mile nine day live mobile auto racing Webcast or my Tornado encounters on my storm chasing Webcast. Now all I need to show you my surroundings along with live GPS and live chat is a cell phone and a service like Qik or LiveCast.
On one hand, being live (or close to it) makes it easier to disclaim discrepancies simply for the fact the facts may not all be known. On the other hand, it can leave a door open to fast spread of misinformation and rumors. One known fact is that people are taking notice in great numbers.
The questions and considerations of social journalism are in no short supply, and I hope your comments are not either. Please tell me and others what you think. Let’s discuss it. Add your comments here, and of course, feel free to message me live with the Meebo chat on the left side of this page.
Social media uses are about as vast as outer space. In the case of the upcoming launch of Space Shuttle Discovery live Webcast and chat with the astronauts, it brings back excitement of space travel … at least to me.
Perhaps generations have changed the pursuits of children, and space travel is not quite as exciting as it was in 1969 when the world looked up at the moon with awe and NASA astronauts walked where so many of us only gaze. When my son’s kindergarten class each walked across a stage in costumes representing what they hope to be when they grow up, I can only recall one astronaut. There were a lot of veterinarians, firemen, and my proud little entomology prodigy, but not so many space travelers. Maybe what they needed all along was more social media to restore the excitement of spaceships and the great big “out there”.
Today, I am inspired once again as I await the opportunity to watch the Space Shuttle Discovery launch to the International Space Station. What is inspiring to me is that through social media, NASA lets the world in on the experience along with a chat with the astronauts. This is yet another way that social media makes the world, and even outer space, just a bit smaller for all of us.
I will be tuning in to watch it live at 1:36 a.m. Eastern on 25 August. In the meantime, I will periodically look for notes at spaceflightnow.com, live video at NASA TV, and updates on Twitter to see what is happening at the space center.
If imagination is limiting your Internet marketing efforts, take a lesson from the professionals and open your mind to new Internet marketing ideas.
In early Spring 2008, I was tasked with developing an idea to reach more people in the fast growing demographics of automobile racing. Blogs are great, and can give a great mental picture of the action, but something was missing. Writing in blogs and posting some photos is great, but everybody was doing that. We needed something different and better. We needed imagination!
How About a Live Racing Webcast?
Enter the Live Racing Webcast. A racing Webcast, now there is a clever and fun idea to reach people. We could mount cameras in a racecar and air it in a live Webcast for people to come and watch our race season. We could distribute press releases in each of the hundreds of markets we would cross, and receive a lot of press coverage. It would be a great multimedia opportunity.
That is exactly what we did, but we did not stop with a live video Webcast. We added live in-car chat and a live GPS feed to make things even more engaging. We chose a time in early May 2008 to launch the Webcast with a 6,000 mile nine day maniacal road trip called the Cannonball One Lap of America. The event celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2008, and we were there to document it from beginning to end. Since the Cannonball requires drivers to drive the racecar itself from track to track across the USA, attracting much attention, we decided on the domain name, CopMagnet.com.
Internet Marketing With Imagination
I am often asked for new and better ideas about how to reach more people online. Fortunately for me, that is how I earn a living. I am an Internet marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) professional. My job is to develop new ways of defining and targeting an audience online. It is a great job, but one that comes with its own challenges. The greatest challenge is imagination. Fortunately, imagination is not my personal weakness, but it is often the weakness of my clients. Without marketing imagination, and the insight to implement new and better ideas to reach your market, you give everything to your competitors on a silver platter. The prevailing limitation to imagination is the people.
Internet Marketing Limitation: The People
If you close your mind to imaginative Internet marketing ideas, you greatly limit your potential. Think about your audience, and not yourself. Consider what appeals to them and what will engage them. If it is a racing Webcast, do it. If you find yourself short of ideas and your imagination is hurting you, consult a marketing professional and listen to what they tell you. They may just be on to something. When you open your mind to creative new possibilities, you are much closer to receiving their benefit.
Author Mark Murnahan is the Chairman and CEO of YourNew.com, Inc. and provides SEO consulting services to companies and non-profit organizations. Mark Murnahan may be reached toll free at 866-A-Web-Guy (*REDACTED DUE TO AGING WEBSITE*) for consultation.