ChaosScenario

How Evil Is Google?

If you went through all the trouble to build a website with engaging content, hoping you could monetize it with advertising, what would you do if someone created a tool that allowed users to not just block your advertising, but replace it with ads of their own, and thereby hijacking your revenue stream.  You would not be compensated for any interactions or impressions this replacement ad receives. The company that replaced it, however, would.

This is the dilemma reported by Joseph Farah, the fiery editor-in-chief of WorldNetDaily ("Another Reason to Hate Google," August 23, 2007), and he's decided to speak out against it.

Webpronews.com also reported on the charge ("Google is Evil? According to Joseph Farah, it is," August 29, 2007). Both are looking for answers. So far Google has not responded, and I've not been able to locate much else about it on the blogosphere or on the net in general (I even condescended to do a a few searches on Yahoo to be sure there was no intentional suppression of information).

I can't find anything on the Google Toolbar landing page or full feature list page that would lead me to conclude that this tool is actually adware, but the fact that they don't appear to have answered the charge at all after a week is troubling. It seems it would be so easy to address if the charge was untrue.

It's entirely possible that Google is choosing to ignore Farah because they think that he is hopelessly unfriendly to anything the company does, since one chapter in his book is devoted to exposing Google as an evil company. But leave Farah aside. I'd like an answer to this charge, too.

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I'm no friend to most banner ads. They are not usually utilized well, and even when they are, their effectiveness is questionable (though their are cost scenarios that might make their use justifiable as part of a larger strategy to communicate with customers). In general, if Google wants to provide a means for users' computers to track their own behavior and request ads more relevant to them, I can accept that, as long as that information is not fed back to companies wishing to make use of it for their own purposes, except in the aggregate.

However, a good sense of propriety demands that Google not replace ads on pages owned by companies with whom Google has no agreement to do so.

Does anyone have any more information on this? I'd love to hear your thoughts. - Cam Beck

Wii brings parties beyond gamers

People who aren't really gamers are getting into the Wii. Adage reports that Wii parties are all the rage. Retirement homes and cruise ships are planning parties where people get together and play the games.

"The Wii is great for parties because of the level of activity and the multi-player format -- it's fun to play and fun for others to watch," said Lariayn Payne, VP-marketing and public relations at Evite.

This is an interesting phenomenon to me because of how the Wii was created and how the community it creates.

Three or four years ago, Nintendo was struggling in an arms race with Sony and Microsoft. The Game Cube was becoming less popular because it lacked the graphic intensity and in some cases titles that the other platforms were getting. Instead of trying to catch up in the race, Nintendo thought outside the box. They created a platform that was about playing together, about activity rather than how quick you could click a button. Last Christmas season, when new platforms were released, Nintendo outsold the competition and hasn't stopped.

The article also mentions the Wii parties that are becoming more popular. What I really love about the Wii is that, beyond the games, owners can create Miis that look like a cartoon version of who they are or who they want to be.  These Miis can interact with other Miis. You can also participate in polls that are taken among other Wii owners around the world. What this does is goes beyond playing Doom online, it gets people to interact, communicate and try their hand a (albeit limited) physical activity. It's no wonder these parties are popular. They've tapped into ways that people have built communities through the ages. - Paul Herring

The Personal Development List

Jim Stroup, the brilliant mind responsible for Managing Leadership, put ChaosScenario on a list of blogs that are useful for personal development. As I looked at the list, to my surprise, there were a lot of blogs I didn't recognize (and many I did -- some of the names I wanted to include were already there), so I thought it a good opportunity to invite you to keep expanding your field of vision, to break out of your comfort zone and explore new things and new people.

• Lisa Braithwaite at Speak Schmeak
• John W. McKenna at The Leadership Epidemic
• Josh Kaufman at The Personal MBA
   

With the three names I added above, this group seems to be reaching Z-List type proportions. Please take a look and be sure to subscribe to the blogs that interest you. - Cam Beck

Aaron Potts at Today is That Day

Adam Kayce at Monk at Work

Al at 7pproductions.com

Alan Torres at Made to Be Great

Alex Shalman at AlexShalman.com

Alexander Kjerulf at The Chief Happiness Officer

Alexys at Unraveling The Spiritual Mystique

Albert Foong at urbanmonk.net

Amber at Random Mangus

Amie Ragan at Psychology of Clutter

Amy Hedin at There is no Maximum to Human Potential

Andrea Learned at Learned on Women

Andrea J. Lee at Money, Meaning, and Beyond

Andy Wibbels at AndyWibbels.com

Anita Pathik Law at Power of four Way

Anna Farmery at The Engaging Brand

Antonio Thornton at AntonioThornton.com

Ariane Benefit at Neat & Simple Living

Ask Lucid at Ask Lucid Spiritual Development

Belle Wong at Abundance Journal

Billy Smith at The Organic Leadership Blog

Blogfuse at LifeDev

Brad Isaac at Achieve It

Brian Clark at Copyblogger

Brian Kim at briankim.net

Brian Lee at geniustypes.com

Bob at everyeveryminute

Cam Beck at ChaosScenario

Cara Lumen at The Success Magnets With Cara Luman and Your Second Wind Blog

Carlon Haas at Possess Less Exist More

Chris Marshall at Martial Devlopment

Christine Kane at ChristineKane.com

Clyde at Feeling Good

Conceive, Believe, Achieve at Conceive, Believe, Achieve

Craig Harper at Motivational Speaker

Curt Rosengren at Occupational Adventure

Damian Carr at Soul Terminal

Daniel Sitter at Idea Sellers

Dave Schawbel at The Personal Branding Blog

Dave Schoof at Engaging the Disquiet

Davers at Language Trainers Blog

David Allen at The David Allen Company

David Bohl at Reflections on Balance

David Fitch at David Fitch.com

David Rogers at How to Have Great Self Confidence

David Seah at David Seah.com

Dawud Miracle at dmiracle.com

Dean Lacono at Law of Attraction for Beginners

Debbie Call at Spirit In Gear

Debbie LaChusa at 10 Step Marketing Collection

Debra Moorhead at Debra Moorhead.com

Des Walsh at Thinking Home Business

Dick Richards at Come Gather Round

Don Simkovich at Hey Don

Donald Latumahina at Life Optimizer

Donna Karlin at Perspectives

Dr. Charles Parker at The Core Psych Blog

Dr. Hal at Northstar Mental fitness blog

Drew Rozell at Drew Rozell.com

Dwayne Melancon at Genuine Curiosity

Edward Mills at Evolving Times

Ellen Weber at Brain Based Business

Emmanuel Lopez at The Adventures of Motivatorman

Ellesse at Goal Setting College

Elly Jolly at Jolly Life Coaching

Enoch Tan at Mind Reality

Eric Napier at Quotation Collection

Frank Kanu at Frank Uncovers Excellence in Leadership

Frank Roche at KnowHR Blog

Galba Bright at Tune Up Your EQ

Guy Kawasaki at How to Change the World

Gleb Reys at Personal Development Ideas

Grayson at Modern Worker Blog

Gretchen Rubin at Happiness Project

Gustav at Success-is-in-you.com

Gyanish at Diethack

Hilda Carroll at Living Out Loud

Henrik Edberg at The Positivity Blog

Honman at Open Your Mind to Prosperity

Inkedmn at The Cranking Widgets Blog

Itzy Sabo at Email Overloaded

Jacklyn Ker at Inspiring and Empowing Lives

Jason and Michael at Black Belt Productivity

Jason Ivers at A Miracle a Day

Jason Womack at Fit and Effective

Jay White at dumb little man tips for life

Jean Browman at Transforming Stress Into Power and Cheerful Monk

Jeff Lilly at Druid Journal

Jeffrey Phillips at Think Faster

Jennifer at Goodness Graciousness

Jeremiah Owyang at Web Strategy by Jeremiah

Jerry Hart at Blue Print to emarketing

Jerry Lopper at Personal Growth

Jim Stroup at Managing Leadership

Jim Walton at Black In Business

Joan Schramm at Accelerating Momentum

Joanna Young at Coaching Wizardry

John Pratt at John Pratt International

John Place at John Place Online

John Wesley at Pick The Brain

Jonathan at Smart Wealthy Rich and Freelance Folder

Josh Bickford at Reach For Magnificence and Reach for Magnificence

Julia Rogers Hamrick at Julia’s Blog: Journal of the Journey Home to Eden

Julie Bonner at Declutter It

Kailani at An Island Review

Kammie Kobyleski at Passion Meets Purpose

Karen at Journey with Water Learner

Karen Lynch at Live The Power

Karen Wallace at The Clearing Space

Karl Staib at Karl Staib.com

Kevin Kinchen at Creative Power of Thought

Killeris at Attitude, The Ultimate Power

Kim and Jason at Escape Adulthood

Kim George at Doing What You Can Do

Kirsten Harrell at Ipopin

Krishna De at Biz Growth News and Todays Women in Business

K.L. Masina at Be Conscious Now

Leah Maclean at Working Solo

Laura Young at The Dragon Slayer’s Guide to Life

Lee Nutter at bmindful

Leo Baruta at Zen Habits

Life Reflection at Universe in a Single Atom

Linda Salazar at Awaken The Genie Within

Lisa Gates at Design Your Writing Life

Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Lola Fayemi at Real World Spiritual and Personal Development

Lorraine Cohen at Powerfull Living

Lucid at Spiritual Suggestions

Lyman Reed at Creating a Better Life

Maddy at Illuminated Minds Want to Know

Maria Palma at The Good Life

Mark at The Naked Soul

Mark Forster at Get Everything Done

Mark McManus at Build Your Life To Order

Mark W Shead at Productivity 501

Martin Avis at Kickstart Daily

Matthew Cornell at Matt’s Idea Blog

Meg Haworth at Life Lessons From Your Soul

Melanie Benson Strick at The Success Blog

Merlin Mann at 43 Folders

Michelle Moore at Happiness Blog

Michael Port at The Think Big Revolution

Mike St. Pierre at The Daily Saint

My Everyday Planner at My Everyday Planner

Nancy Tierney at Unconditional Confidence

Neil Patel at Quick Sprout

Nick Smith at Life 2.0

Nneka at Balanced Life Center

Organize-It at Organize-It

Pamala Slim at Escape From Cubicle Nation

Pamm Larry at My Spiritual Dance

Patricia Singleton at Spiritual Journey of a Lightworker

Paul at Paul’s Tips

Peggy Payne at Peggy Payne’s Boldness Blog

Peter at I Will Change Your Life

Peter Aldin at Great Circle

Peter Haslem at Necessary Skills

Phil Gerbyshak at Make It Great

Philippe Matthews at Shockwealth

Priscilla Palmer at Personal Development Demands Success

Raymond Salas at Zenchill Powertools

Reg Adkins at ElementalTruths

Rick Cockrum at Shards of Consciousness

Rick Cooper at The PDA Pro

Ririan at Ririanproject

Rob at 7Breaths

Rob Cooke at Leave the Office

Robert at Compassionate Council

Robin Yap at Yap 3.0

Robyn McMaster at Brain Based Biz

Roger Von Oech at Creative Think

Rosa Say at Managing With Aloha Coaching

Ryan Marle at The Alpha Project

S.J. Yee at Personal Development for the Book Smart

Sam at Aquire Wisdom and Live with Passion

Scott Adams at The Dilbert Blog

Scott Bernadot at Keeping The Secret

Scott Ginsberg at Hello, My Name Is Blog

Scott H Young at Scott H Young

Scott McArthur at McArthur’s Rant

Self Pursuit at Self Pursuit

Shane Navratil at Zoomstart

Shauna Arthurs at Breathing Prosperity and Follow Your Path

Shaheen Lakhan at GNIF Brain Blogger

Simone at Dynamic Living

Simone and Mandy at Outfit Inspirations

Slade Roberson at Shift Your Spirits

Sleeping Dude at How to Wake Up Early

Sonora Jayne Case at Positive Realities Coaching

Spike at Organize It

Stephanie and Jeffrey at Brains on Purpose

Steve Olson at Steve-Olson.com

Steve Pavlina at stevepavlina.com

Steve Roesler at All Things Workplace

Stephen at HD bizblog

Steven Aitchison at Change Your Thoughts

Surjit at Gurushabad

Susan Sabo at Productivity Cafe      

Ted Demopoulos at Blogging For Business

Thom Quinn at Qlog

Tim Ferris at 4-Hour Workweek and Lifestyle Design Blog

Tom Spanton at TRCoach

Tim Taylor at My Agapic Life

Tony D Clark at Success From The Nest

Torlink at You Create Reality

Travis Wright at Cultivate Greatness

Trizoko at Trizoko.com

Trevor Gay at Simplicity is the Key

Troy Worman at Orbit Now!

Tuck Self at Rebel Belle Blog

Tupelo Kenyon at Tupelokenyon.com

Vickie at Contemplate This

Wally Bock and his real-life management insight at Three Star Leadership

Wan Qi at Meditation Forum Mantras

WildBill at PassionateBlogger

and these collaborative sites:

Burst Blog

Daily PlanIt

Did I Get Things Done

GTD Wannabe

Life Coaches Blog Stratagies for a Greater Life

Lifehack.org

Transformational Girlfriends

What I learned from Miss Teen USA

Have you ever tried to make a point, but because you started the answer before you really thought it out, you rambled on for awhile, loosely tethering your "thoughts" around some ill-conceived nebulous concept, only to discover that, when your time was up, you forgot where you started and ... wait ... what was I saying?

If you've been living under a rock for the past two days, you may not have heard Caitlin Upton's nigh-incomprehensible explanation about why one-fifth of Americans are unable to locate the United States on a world map.

Let's be honest. This was a test of the contestant's ability to BS. Asking for a real answer to this question in one minute without the benefit of preparation is like asking the contestant to solve the problem of hunger.

In our fervor to make fun of someone who choked under pressure, we've forgotten to express outrage that one in five Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map. This, I'm convinced, says more about us than it does about Miss Upton.

Miss Upton's experience should also remind us that it's better to admit ignorance than fake expertise. Expertise can at least be learned. - Cam Beck

Life's priorities to an 8 year old

So much time working, reading blogs, trying to keep up to date and get things done...

I had the opportunity this week to have a "date" with my daughter and listen to what's going on in her life. I learned things I never knew before, like:

The two main characters in High School musical may actually be dating.

While other girls pretend to be Mia Hamm, she prefers to be Abby Wambach 'cause she saw how good she played when we saw her play against the Canadian's Womens Soccer team

• Kitty Webkinz are really hard to find (also, if you don't feed your Webkinz, they will get very sick)
• Although there are currently no Broadway Musical stars who are also professional soccer players, she'd like to be the first

Once she grows her hair so that it's pass 10 inches, she's going to donate it to locks-of-love. (you get a free hair cut AND they donate your hair)

Ok, this is boring stuff for all of our readers. But here's the point:

I'll try to remember this night forever because she'll never be eight again.

It's easy to get caught up in what doesn't matter. I've been on a lot of jobs that were going to "redefine the standard" or "change the game". At the end of my life, heck after a couple of years, all these projects will be forgotten. My daughter, however, will still be here, hopefully enjoying life as much as she does today.

Find someone who matters and take time to find out what's interesting to them.

- Paul Herring

Mark Cuban's Internet is "Dead and Boring"

Being an entrepreneur is a tough, even if you're a billionaire like Mark Cuban. Just because you have lots of money to throw at something, it doesn't mean you won't lose it. Indeed, even if you've already thrown lots of money at something, you may have already lost it. Therefore you might feel compelled to give interviews to bring some short-term attention to your own product or service in hopes that people will consider using it. If you capture enough of them, you might even turn your little venture into something successful, or at least get it to a point that you can sell it without losing too much of the money you've invested.

Even when I disagree with him, I have to begrudgingly conclude that Mark Cuban is an incredibly smart man. He may well believe that the Internet is "dead and boring" as it stands today, but I think the statement is more provocative than genuinely defamatory. Whether or not by design, it will bring attention to Cuban and his HD television venture, HDNet.

It will not affect what we do on the Internet, except maybe give us more energy to prove him wrong.

I expect Cuban's words to be taken out of context a lot over the next few days. His salient point is that broadband speeds need to increase, and that's very true.

He also doesn't expect the availability of higher broadband speeds to increase over the next five years  as much as it has over the past five, and that's likely also true. Although speeds of 9 gigabytes per second are on the horizon with Internet2 and Internet3, it will be awhile before the infrastructure is at a point that it can support it on a wide scale -- certainly more than 5 years.

But when it does, you can expect it to outperform anything Cuban has to offer, and it won't even be close. To use Cuban's own analogy (which he used to compare today's speeds to 1 Gbs speeds), it will be "like comparing the plane Orville and Wilbur Wright built in 1903 to a brand-new Boeing."

The problem Cuban has is that he's either underestimating the importance of content or overestimating the quality of his own, as he has hung his hat on the content generated by disgraced (and aging) reporter Dan Rather "for another 100 years."

His statement is obviously hyperbole, but it does give us a sense of where Cuban's head is at. Although he's fun to watch and can always be counted on for quotable material, I don't think we have much to worry about from his quarter, if we continue to innovate as we have been.

And that's where the Internet still has a significant edge. TV is still just TV. It relies on interrupting people for revenue. The Internet is a space where people are still trying to push the boundaries and make it better and give people what they want, when they want it, and under their own terms. That's not only an exciting place to be from our perspective, but it's also a desirable one.

Until we perfect compression techniques or increase the bandwidth of the Internet over a wide scale, it may be true, as Cuban says, that the Internet will be a utility, like electricity. Even if that's the case, though we still have the capability and enormous potential to make it a better utility.  Investments made up front to improve utility through usable interfaces have historically had a cost-benefit ratio of 1:10 to 1:100. I don't know of any comparable television venture that has any return that is so promising.

Let's put that last statement in perspective. Macy's recently dedicated $100 million to run fall television ads featuring celebrities like Jessica Simpson and Martha Stewart in an effort to boost sales, which have not been great. These ads will run on television and rely on an increasingly ineffective interruption model (though some unimaginative agency wonks might try to make them "viral" by putting the 30-second spots on YouTube).

Imagine what Macy's could accomplish with that money if they instead spent it in a way that allowed them to have a more direct relationship with their audience, or if they spent a fraction of that improving the usability of their website.

Mr. Cuban will bring himself a lot of attention by making inflammatory statements, and it will actually work to some extent. He's not paying money for this attention, so his ROI is off the charts. But at some point, a smart person like Cuban is going to realize that the time he's spending tearing down a competing medium would be better spent improving his own product, perhaps by integrating some of the best utility already available on the Internet. - Cam Beck

Addicted to Gaming: Finding a Captive Audience

To an advertiser, the best kind of audience is a receptive one. The second best kind of audience is a captive one. Since finding the receptive audience requires so much more energy and effort, I've observed much of the time companies consider a captive audience the Holy Grail of advertising. Since, outside of school, a captive audience is so hard to find, commercial organizations just try to put their messages everywhere they think their audience is looking. With that mindset, as the means to communicate with audiences increase, I wonder how advertisers might react to some people's unhealthy addiction to gaming.

Apparently the problem is so widespread that several online support organizations have sprung up, populated by spouses and significant others (70% women, 30% men) of addicted gamers. One such organization is ominously called "Gamer Widow," a 2,000-strong community with a name that infers that the beloved gamer spends so much time pursuing his addiction, he is dead to his wife.

The game in question is irrelevant, but the most popular antagonist on the boards I've seen has been the highly successful World of Warcraft (WoW).

When I read an article on MSNBC ("Game Widows Grieve 'Lost' Spouses," by Winda Benedetti) that described the problem, I envisioned thousands of advertisers descending on the gamers' virtual worlds trying to figure out how to angle for a product placement.

If you work for an agency and this describes you, before you take this course, even if only for your own interests, please consider whether that bottle of Coke really fits in the medieval-like environment of WoW.

Having a captive audience doesn't guarantee success, and in fact interrupting people in the middle of their whimsical hobbies or even their unhealthy obsessions with a promotion of an irrelevant product or service is not a good way to build relationships based on trust.

Instead, consider a model that allows you to meaningfully engage with your audience. Most importantly, don't get in their way. After all, in most cases, you need their input more than they need yours. It's harder to work that way, but ultimately more fulfilling. At least that way you won't have to feel badly about trying to take advantage of anyone's irregular or unhealthy behavior. - Cam Beck

Thank You For Being My Friends

Where: NYC
When: April 4-6, 2008
Who: Bloggers and their guests
Cost: $350 for registration + fees, travel and lodging expenses

Visit Blogger-Social.com for more information.

Special thanks to CK, Drew, Luc, Mike, and Matt. - Cam Beck

Johnson & Johnson's new approach to PR

Last week Cam and I were talking about possible topics for blog posts. Cam mentioned the Johnson & Johnson issue with the Red Cross. In a nut shell, J&J is suing the Red Cross because of it's use of the Red Cross (or so it seemed at the time, read further).

I expected the old, traditional PR approach. Several press releases full of corporate speech, maybe a CEO or better yet PR speech where a bland prepared statement is read, and lot's of attacks from all sides on J&J for suing one of the most well respected charities in the world. Last week I was prepared to write a post scolding J&J for letting their legal team lead the company beyond common sense.

It turns out J&J chose to respond differently. Emergence Marketing points out the differences. J&J has had a corporate blog for some time. They used the corporate blog to address the issue, probably attempting to get their side of the story out to the blogosphere. Their communication was plain spoken and addressed the issue concisely. Bottom line, they simply told their side of the story plainly, yes using press releases and conferences, but also using their blog and new media tools.

So what was their message? Turns out the issue isn't about the use of the Red Cross in general but the fact that the charity is licensing the symbol to other companies, not just for first aid kits, but also for use in cosmetics, clothes, you name it. Turns out J&J owned the symbol before the Red Cross ever existed.

The issue has been covered extensively on the blogoshpere. Seth's blog and a host of others have covered it. Some have just taken the typical blogosphere approach and come out against the corporate giant (J&J). Quite a few, however, have defended J&J, not citing the press release, but quoting proof points from the well written blog post on the matter from the J&J PR department.

Most Fortune 500 companies are afraid to put up a blog, let alone one that addresses PR issues on it. This fear is mainly due to the time commitment to posting and getting those post approves through legal. There is probably also a hidden fear of not understanding and being able to control new media tools. Bottom line, it will require more work and learning for these staffs and frankly, they'd rather just ignore it. What they are missing out on is an opportunity to break through the clutter of traditional approaches and possibly avoid the negative backlash that often times comes with it.

Congratulations to J&J for at least having the courage to taking new approaches to getting their message out. - Paul Herring

Don't Forget About Your Quiet Customers

When Matt Dickman first introduced his readers to coComment, I was ecstatic. I comment on a lot of blogs, and it can be difficult to keep up with all the conversations I have going on concurrently. coComment seemed to be a tool tailor-made for me... until they tried to fix it.

Suddenly and without warning, nothing worked for me anymore. coComment launched a new release that froze my computer and made it terribly difficult to track my conversations. Rather than write the company imploring them to fix a product I'm not paying for, I simply stopped using the tool, and I went about my merry way.

Today, though I never wrote to them about the bugs (but had since disabled the Firefox plugin on my computer) I received an email apology from coComment's execs, who assured the recipients of the email that they fixed the bugs and they wouldn't put us through that again. The apology seemed sincere enough, so I enabled the tool again.

So far, so good.

Here's the takeaway: For every complaining customer, you can be sure there are plenty who have quietly decided to ignore you. Don't attempt to make a molehill out of a mountain. If you catch wind of a problem, fix it and make amends as rapidly as possible. - Cam Beck