My role was to offer insights (aka presentations) on common social media tools, business models (yeah, right ), and the nature of instant feedback! What was really interesting was how intimidated many of these senior women, primarily from the broadcasting world, were about these new “digital” options and distribution channels. However, after a week of learning, there were many great take-aways that highlighted the incredible success and need for such programs. A few of the key take-aways included:

• developing a real appreciation for social media tools and the value they can bring to a company or brand
• realizing that the digital world is very similar to the real world (and the traditional media world), with differences occurring primarily in what we “called” things, i.e. jargon and acronyms.
  (At the end of the week, we had a huge whiteboard covered with glossary terms and important websites and applications!)
• understanding that it’s all about the audience; the platform or medium is merely a conduit to conversing with them
• recognizing that games are often about the relationships created within them
• learning about the “attention economy”, the “device revolution”, and what “locative media” is
• reviewing some amazing case studies, such as ZeD TV, Regenesis, Fallen, CurrenTV, and many more
• recognizing the tremendous work associated with creating a successful blog and blog presence
• evaluating the pros and cons of HD programming and production
• realizing that storytelling needs to be taken to a new level
• establishing our own personal brands, even within large organizations
• appreciating that we all face similar challenges!

I’m sure there are many I’ve missed and over the next couple of days, I will sift through my notes and perhaps write other posts. However, I did want to sincerely thank the Banff New Media Institute (BNMI) (the organizer), CWC & Corus (the sponsors), and the phenomenal participants and my co-peer advisors for a spectacular week of dialog, conversations, insight and laughter! It was magnificent to expand my social network and to have connected with so many accomplished and inspiring women!

One cool take-away for me was the fact that I can now officially call myself an “Artist”… at least that’s what it says on my Banff Centre ID card ! The Banff Centre and this program definitely inspired creativity in me this week!

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What are these “hybrid” social networks? Generally, they include many of the functions in Facebook or MySpace, but are also tied to or integrated with Virtual Worlds, MMOGs, Television Programs, and even that “old media”, Books . At Donat Group, we have several projects that are doing just that…just check out MTV’s Virtual Lower East Side project. But that’s just the technology side of things…what about the business drivers?

Today’s Furrier.org post – Finding the Next Google nicely summarizes one of the key business drivers behind these “hybrid” network activities. Microcontent will be a viable business model. Knowing this, many large media companies are already creating the necessary online communities/networks to monetize a variety of microcontent. These projects are not merely initiatives to merge (or play with) social technologies, they are new ways to expand and connect with an audience, and hence, more advertising opportunities. However, one major challenge for these media empires will be ensuring that the advertising is appropriate for the community. A very fine line, indeed! All of this makes for some interesting times ahead!

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In any case, on the way home, I started to wonder what his Social Graph might look like based on his party playmates . What would a Social Network Analysis look like for a 4-year old? Who were the influencers, mavens, trendsetters, cool hunters, etc.? Which application would be most important to his network – the Train, Car or Balloon App? Perhaps, the Dora App (that one seemed to appeal to both boys and girls). Is 4 too young to think about such things? The simple answer is yes! I’ve clearly been focusing on Social Media too much lately!

I sincerely hope that I am not the only one with such outrageous thoughts! If you’ve had similar experiences, I’d love to hear them!

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