DEATH the Digital Plan

We’ve accomplished so much on digitally. Almost every business model has transcended to a digital model. But over the past year or so I’ve been thinking about one business model that has yet to really transcend digitally...though it’s almost here and that model is…

DEATH

…it’s already a big business in the dirt world. Funeral services, memorials, obituaries, tombstones, even the catering business is attached to the business of DEATH.

I know you’re gasping at my focus on such a touchy subject.

My essay is an exploration of my thoughts about DEATH and potential for business plan about transcending DEATH in the digital world and what I think the future of DEATH will be. My reasoning around the subject of DEATH probably stems from my mid life, questioning who I am, my purpose and if anyone really knew me at all – sometimes this type of self absorption is a good opportunity to see if anyone is thinking in the same way if so what’s the opportunity?

Here I go: not to belabor the details of my request from my Will, I don’t want to be put into the ground & buried. I believe my human vessel should be cremated to save the planet from further waste and pollution. I believe the body is merely a vessel my personality, thoughts, dreams, feelings, hopes, desires, memories is really what makes me me and therefore the most important information worth saving. Here is where I see the opportunity in DEATH.

A slight digression, we do a great job of digitally preserving and archiving our arts, music, TV programs, movies, even our financial statements that go on in years in time, but why not the human personality?

Here lies the business I want to be in…

I want to be in the business of the preservation of personality – the thoughts and memories of the individual. Think about this instead of visiting the cemetery, you visit the digital version of your loved one. The memories, personality, all the digital bits and bytes about this person are archived so that you can relive those moments of your loved one. Therefore, in DEATH there is the opportunity for ever lasting life in the digital world.

Yes, there are several businesses that cater the digital business of DEATH already:

Death Switch
Dead Man’s Switch
Sympathy Tree
Virtual Memorials
Asset Lock

There are even folks talking about how to manage your digital bits after you die.
And Facebook will preserve your FB page for as long as long can be, but really how long is long; how about of your life is really there, what will it be used for in the future?

The list goes on…
Even searching the business of digital death [without quotes] led me to about 74 million possibilities about the subject.

I believe a lot of us are thinking about it, but I want to be the one to do something about it.

The future of DEATH could be something extraordinary. As our scientists continue to explore the possibilities of artificial intelligence [AI], the idea of utilizing existing data and information to give AI personality could be drawn from the profile of Human Archive. By utilizing your digital personality could provide you with ever lasting life.

What do you think…

My first step into this world is through a history project I’m working on with Aliza Sherman and Jen Myrunok, Women’s Internet History project. This project will help with the structure of story telling, preserve the stories of women who helped shape, provide a purpose for, and develop the internet. Join us in the preservation process @womensinternet on Twitter.

Women's Internet History Project is dedicated to preserving the stories and contributions from women who were the pioneers of the early internet days 1980-1999. This project provides the biographies, contributions, experiences and connections shared by women who were involved with internet and digital.

Mission:
The premise of this project is to provide a platform to tell our stories, connect with one another, and celebrate the accomplishments of women in every aspect of the Internet evolution.We're building a historical record of women in the Internet history over a 20 year span.The project is co-founded by Aliza Sherman, Jen Myronuk, and Tery Spataro

Are you Over or Under?

Toilet paper is a necessary comfort for all households. But the big debate has always been whether the toilet paper should roll over or under. This age old debate may be the cause plenty of divorces, separations, firings, and social uprisings. Cottonelle took up the cause of whether TP should be dispensed over or under by having a public vote on which way to roll.

The Cottonelle campaign rolled out a couple in celebration of Thomas Crapper Day according to Blessing Abound Mommy. I first noticed the outdoor advertising on a bus shelter. I chuckled thinking why bother…but then I took a closer look. I discovered Cottenelle made it very easy for consumers to participate in the debate by voting and voicing their option on which way to roll via the Roll Poll Throwdown.

The message that the debate is on is integrated in a number of ways creating several stragetic touchpoints:

• Outdoors
• Website to cast your vote and see the voting results via a US map which has comments and videos
• Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
• Search engine marketing (SEM)
• PR, blogger, and twitter chatter
• TV ads
• Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott got into the act with Cottonelle puppies, who doesn’t love those adorable puppies?

What I really enjoyed about this campaign was the fun way to engage consumers. There was a similar campaign over the Coke/Pepsi debate but TP isn’t something consumers usually discuss in mass. This was a clever way to give consumers an opportunity to talk about the over or under dilemma gets the conversation started.

Kimberly Clark got consumers to talk about TP and engage in the over or under debate. Budget minded consumers may be hunting for cheaper TP brands or offers to offsite strapped budgets. Was the Cottonelle campaign enough to provide brand affinity for Cottonelle? Was there any thought to customer acquisition an easy way to provide coupon offering?

Social Measure the Holy Grail - SMBChicago

The other morning I had the pleasure of being asked to moderate a session; the honor to discuss an important subject – Digital Measurement precisely Social Media Measurement. We’re all trying to figure out how to measure social media, the Social Media Breakfast was perfect place to discuss theories and successes in measuring social media. I wasn’t sure of the level of experience my audience would have so I de-geeked my formulas so that we could have a pleasant conversation.

And a pleasant conversation we had. The Social Media Breakfast of Chicago founded by Craig Bagdon, Scott Bishop and Mike Pilarz who brought together people from all types of backgrounds who are excited by social media and it’s various forms, usages, and users. The group I had sparked enthusiastic conversations around calculating success through measurement and a genuine desire for participates to get something out of the session. If you’re going to show up for an early morning breakfast this is the place that will fuel you physically and intellectually.

I presented rationale on measuring Social Media. Most importantly what’s necessary to do before your begin to measure. It’s always good to have a baseline. We all acknowledged there are so many different behaviors to measure. I spent the past years working out the behavior and intent which I described through a schema I created.

Rick Sack made a great comment about social media he said it’s not media it’s marketing.
The take away from our lively session on Social Media Measurement:

• Identify the communication objectives
• Define the communication objectives and in terms of social media usage
• Identify the social media tactics along with key performance indicators
• Indicate outcomes – these are end results of the communications, such as reaching the audience with message. inspiring dialogue, and learning.
• Set the return on investment as well as baseline for future analysis – the formula for this is cost of acquisition.
• Cost of program/metrics = CoA

Danial Prager, Ocean Agency, nicely summed up Social Media Measurement session in his blog post, On Social Media Measurement.

My recommended reading:

Aliza Sherman, The Everything Blogging Book
Clay Shirky, Here Comes Everybody
Bob Garfield, The Chaos Scenarios

Highly recommend attending the Social Media Breakfast Chicago - #SMBChicago follow: SMBChicago

You can find me on Twitterhttp://www.twitter.com/tery or Facebook.com/teryspataro

Request for Senior-Friendly Computer

Joyce and Elaine, two seniors citizens have an open request to Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mike Dell for a senior friendly computer.

Social Media Graffiti

Means of self expression and communication have change through out the ages. At one time cave paintings were the means of communication and in some cases self expression. Cave paintings turned into fine art turned into well you get the picture. Over the past 2 decades we've seen a new form of self expression in terms of social media.

Social media is the term used to explain self expression online whether through blogging, video, networks. It could be executed through popular programs like:

• Twitter
  
• Facebook
  
• YouTube
  

Often the community will part take in these forms of expressions by commenting and rating, whether it approves or disapproves there is an audience which propels the author.

Self expression and opinion has taken on a more grotesque form. Recently employees are assaulting the companies they work for. As in the case of Dominos we saw the YouTube video in which employees violate the integrity of the food made and served at Dominos and the brand.

This form of self expression is social graffiti. Like graffiti seen in real public spaces this form of graffiti is seen online in social networks like YouTube. Whether we like it or not social graffiti is here to stay as part of the freedom of self expression that digital media provides.

What's UP with CBS and Online Full Episodes?

CBS provides the best network online viewing experience EXCEPT they stopped providing full episodes. Why CBS stopped, the fans of Eleventh Hour and Mentalist will never know. Over the past couple of months fans have complained to CBS. But CBS has not responded to fans' postings on the CBS community message board. Which make the situation even more disappointing! How could CBS ignore us? What are the advertisers thinking? They should support online full episodes!

http://www.cbs.com/forum/forums/show/95.page

http://www.cbs.com/forum/forums/show/101.page

Almost 4,000 views on just the subject of "Where did the full episodes go?" but not one response from CBS. 

Eleventh Hour is great and a lot of fans have opted to watch online. I did because of my busy travel schedule and the fact is I don't own a TV.

Well, perhaps CBS will surprise anxious fans by striking up a deal with Hulu, which offers the best online viewing experience. Hopefully in the process CBS will not loose Eleventh Hour fans and the show will remain.

I have one question for CBS "What's UP with online full episodes?"

No Cable TV or TV since January 2007 it's all about Hulu

It started as an experiment ended up as a lifestyle change. I was curious can I enjoy the same television entertainment online that I enjoy through cable TV? Can I get everything that I love to watch on cable TV through online?

Keep in mind my computer is a HP Pavilion laptop originally I was using wireless then opted for cable modem to receive internet access.

My tastes in online entertainment are science fiction, drama, girl tv, science, and cooking shows.

I began the experiment in January 2007. I watch programming on ABC, CBS, NBC online, Hulu, Joost and will buy programming I like through ITunes.

At first it was struggle:

ABC provides the Full Episode Player. ABC recently made enhancements but did nothing to help with jerkiness and shaky access. I was watching Pushing Daisies yesterday the video was not syncing up to the sound. It would grind to a halt making the experience frustrating. HD is nice when it works but all unless you have a lot more bandwidth than the average person it’s difficult to see a complete program.

I don’t like having to click on the advertisement when it’s finished to get back to the program. What I do like about the ads is that they can be interactive.

I watch on ABC online: Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money, Ugly Betty, The Practice, Eli Stone, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, and Desperate Housewives.

I would not have the time to watch any of these programs if I had cable TV even if I saved the programming to DVR I would not have the time or patience to program it.

CBS originally had InnerTube recently changed format. The resolution and speed are an improvement. The HD version works nicely.

I watch CSI, CSI Miami and CSI NY; just saw The Mentalist and waiting to see The Eleventh Hour. On occasion I’ll watch Numb3rs.

The ads play for about 30 seconds and bring you right back to the program. There are only about 5-6 ads per 45 minute program.

NBC provides video of most of its programming but also makes it available on Hulu. I watch several NBC programs including Chuck, The Bionic Woman, Heros, Medium, and Lipstick Jungle.

The ads stream the similarly to CBS and again is 5-6 ad per 45 minute program.

Hulu provides the best experience for online entertainment as well technology. I watch my favorites like Fringe, (new) Battlestar Galactica, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Lipstick Jungle, Heros...and watch older shows like ReGenesis. So far I'm not compelled to buy a TV.

When I can’t find anything I will use Joost and IStore. Joost has some the older programs like Twin Peaks, Crusade, Moonlight and some interesting British programs including HEX. One feature I like about Joost is you can chat with your friends while you’re watching. It reminds of the very early days when Charlene Smith created Orb for Mystery Theatre 2000 for SciFi Channel. If you were a member of ECHO at the time you can chat and your posts would show up on the bottom of the TV screen.

I’ve gone the same with my mobile phone and not having a land line. TV feels constricted and I want to see programs on my time served up when I want it.