Hi, I'm Antonio Barimen, aka skribe Forti. My background is in the film and television industry but about 15 years ago I began building both virtual and online communities. Now I use that experience to provide professional consultation to business, from SMEs right up to Fortune 500 companies.
My philosophy is simple: improve the lines of communication by establishing strong, engaging communities. And then build from there. It works for both B2C and B2B
I’ll be discussing using video advertising on the web at Barcamp Singapore, which happens on March 27th. The venue is Singapore Polytechnic (next to Dover MRT – 20 minutes train ride from City Hall).
I’ll be talking about how to use web video in your business and some of the pitfalls you need avoid. It’s not as straight-forward as most people – even the professionals – think.
I hope to be able to meet some of you there so we can have a chat and maybe a coffee or three. I love meeting new people.
The old site was getting a little tired so we’ve spruced it up a bit. We’ve changed the colour scheme and added a shiny new gallery slider, which links to articles offering helpful advice.
It’s still a work in progress – like every website on the planet – and we expect a few niggles of the coming days, but please bear with us. It will be worth it. We have some great things planned for the coming months and a few surprises as well. So stay tuned.
Why not leave a comment and tell us what you think?
I am currently in Singapore, which has one of the most modern mass transit systems (trains to us old folks) in the world. Passengers are even treated to a video entertainment system while onboard. What a great way to advertise to a captive audience! But just how do you advertise using video on a train?
This is a great clip featuring George Miller talking about the forthcoming Mad Max 4. He also talks about the state of the Australian film industry which is in a pretty shocking state at the moment.
George is spot on about what the industry needs. What he doesn’t say, however, is where the money is going to come from.
The experiment of having a pool of government money that is assigned by bureaucrats has produced a plethora of features that even Australian audiences don’t want to watch. The government simply can’t afford to spend the money needed to kickstart the industry and keep it going. Only private capital can do that. Ultimately only a tax concession will rejuvenate Australian film like it did in the late 70s and early 80s when a 150% concession was on offer to investors. It’s not a coincidence that our most successful and most iconic films were created during this era.
Gartner recently advised that by 2013 seventy percent of businesses will have guidelines for their staff’s activities within virtual worlds. I’ve just completed a set of behaviour and dress guidelines for a company that has plans to work in Second Life. I’ve adapted them and thought I’d share:
Many of the guidelines that a company currently employs for social networking also apply in virtual worlds. If you need some help in establishing those then here are 40 examples that you can draw upon for inspiration. There are a few issues that are virtual world specific that require special attention, however. Read More
Since the open beta period for Blue Mars began I’ve noticed that some Second Life content creators have been dismissing it out-of-hand. Mostly they claimed that the tools for creating content in Blue Mars were too hard to learn. Many also said that they were not interested in providing content for Blue Mars, and some even inferred that without them to provide the content Blue Mars would wither and die. As I stated in my earlier article, Blue Mars – Being Different, Blue Mars will ultimately be able to draw on a wealth of content, possibly more than Second Life currently does. So if I were generating real world income by providing content in Second Life I would seriously consider taking the time to evaluate Blue Mars as a prospective new market. It makes good business sense, and I can tell you that there are hundreds, perhaps thousands out there, who are eagerly waiting for you to let this opportunity pass you by.
As some of you may know I’ve been spending a great deal of time in Blue Mars. I’ve been mainly providing video tutorials but I’ve also been keeping a close eye on forums and blogs that reference the new virtual world by Avatar Reality. One thing that keeps cropping up is the idea that Blue Mars will fail – or at least struggle – because it doesn’t cater to the Second Life demographic. This is a short-sighted view and fails to take into consideration what attracts people to virtual worlds. In fact, the way in which Blue Mars differentiates itself from Second Life may have a greater bearing on its success than any similarities.
