Platform integrations - Facebook + There.com

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Will has a nicely detailed post on there.com’s “Facing There” application that strategically integrates the experience of there.com users onto their social networks on facebook. It is an interesting way of extending the experience of their users a step beyond by synergizing with one of the more popular social networking platforms. This is also a good case to evaluate how people are planning virtual events on there.com and sharing the event details on their facebook pages. Does this level of syndication, synergies and cross-platform interactions help enhance user experience?


There.com recently launched a Facebook application, Facing There. Facing There’s app design, launch and roadmap are part of There.com’s strategy for operating in a world where their users have to manage participating in a growing number of social graphs.Michael explicitly cited the exploding number of social graphs online, and we discussed his company’s strategic decision making on how to partner with Facebook and MySpace versus compete with them. These large social networks do not have support for avatar based interaction, the core of There.com’s user experience. Facing There is an explicit attempt to allow users to take their There.com experience and make it a part of their social networking experience.

You can read the complete post here.

10 reasons why every company should host virtual events

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There has been an endless debate on whether or not to jump on the virtual events bandwagon. We’ve seen examples of how companies like Microsoft and Nokia hosted their virtual events. We’ve also seen how companies like IBM have such a dominant presence on virtual worlds such as Second Life.


If your company has a large enough user-base or prospect lists but you can’t justify the costs of holding live physical events, then you should consider going virtual. It’s time for us to drop our inhibitions about virtual events and face the facts. Here are some to begin with:

1- There are actual calculatable benefits of virtual events, like increased productivity time, reduced carbon footprint, zero traveling time, increased volunteer participation, zero geographical boundaries and bigger audience attendance.

2- Ability to engage people more interactively on a one to one level. When networking, you can have conversations with multiple attendees at the same time (just like in IMs) and yet make them all feel you are talking exclusively with them. It’s also easier to locate contacts from your existing Twitter, Friendfeed, LinkedIn or Facebook networks. Those are people you may not necessarily recognize in real life, but will be able to find easily in a virtual setting.

3- During these interactions you can share material, knowledge, presentations, PDFs, photos and other files. You can also add content recommendation systems.

4- One of the biggest post-event challenges is to analyze the attendee’s data. Virtual Events makes it much more advanced and quantifiable. You can see exactly what each attendee did, where he went, who he talked to, what material he downloaded, what questions he asked, what conversations he had with others etc. This is all valuable information that can help you understand your audience better and follow-up with them accordingly.

5- Using all of the information about a prospect or user that you gather, you can then easily categorize them according to how interested they are and how much they already know. You can then add them into your sales pipelines in different lists depending on their current relationship status.

6- Event marketing in virtual events is much lower than live physical events. According to Brent Arlsaner, VP of Marketing for Unisfair, a virtual events coordinator; virtual events generate leads at about $23 per head count.

“Take our client Quest Software’s first virtual event, which generated leads at a $23-per-head count. Marketers know that $23 per lead is a pretty impressive return on investment.”

7-If you are pressed on time, it takes on average one third to one fourth the time to organize virtual events as opposed to physical events. Less organizing time, means lesser headaches and lesser overhead costs.

8- If you want to hire booth staff or volunteers, you can get cheaper options from across the globe instead of being restricted to geographical constraints. All you have to do is put up a job post on Elance or oDesk and review the candidates that apply. You can pay only for the actual work done rather than for the number of hours.

9- The registration and ticketing process of virtual events is simpler in nature since it eliminates the need for paper tickets completely. This can be integrated with a payment system to make the entire registration process a seamless experience. Instead of tickets, you can simply grant access on the doorway when someone logs into the event space.

10- You can market richer content which is available on the spot instead of waiting for the event to be over. Some attendees may immediately add the pictures to their flickr, friendfeed or blogs. Pictures of the event or attendees can be taken and passed around during the event with your clients/sponsors brands visible in the background. This will give the clients or sponsors an added incentive to advertise or sponsor the event.

Is this why companies like On24 are coming up with virtual event platforms for other companies to host their events? What other virtual event platforms can be used?

I would like to take this debate a step forward with you guys. If any one of you has hosted virtual events, please share your experience with us here. If any of you have had a chance to market virtual events, what challenges did you face? If any one of you faces barriers to entering the virtual events world, let us know what they are. Together, let us try to evaluate whether or not this is the future of events. I’m tagging some notable people in this domain, Julius and Eugene to get the conversation ball rolling. Let’s hear all of you out.

P.S: Its okay to disagree.

What virtual events can do for your business

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What impact are virtual worlds creating that can effect our businesses? Its fascinating to see how big companies like IBM have these massive presence in virtual worlds like Second Life in which they are directly engaging their customers and staff. Its incredible to see how distances are broken down in instants in which you feel like you are in the same room as people who are miles and continents apart.


There are conferences, parties, garage sales, and all kinds of events happening in Second Life ALL THE TIME. That says a lot about the potential market for you to expand your services. If you don’t want to invest time in planning online virtual events, you can at least use those platforms for marketing your real-life services. Find out if your target market is on these and connect with them.

There are 3 million+ people (reportedly growing at 20%) in Second Life alone. Isn’t that reason enough to check it out and see how that rich platform can benefit your business? There are many ways in which you can make revenue; online sales, services and consultation to name a few. You can check out a list of virtual worlds to choose from here.

Just for bonus, here is an interesting video of a virtual wedding in second life