Australian Federal Police: Cost of Nigerian Scams

134 out of 139 people in Queensland contacted by Australian Federal Police have fallen for Nigerian Scams. Lottery scams.

They sent a little more than $18 million dollars to Nigeria. That is $135,000 per person.

Accountant, Lawyers, Doctors. Not people you would expect to fall for “get-rich-quick” schemes. I hope their tax, law and medical expertise is scientifically informed!

Keys, email management. Know who is sending you email.

(from Sky News, 2:15pm)

My comment: wisdom from my Dad: if something sounds too good to be true, ignore it.

w00t!!1 Podcast Famous

cathedral

After yesterday’s unstructured Twitter meetup: The Podcast of the Twitter meetup with a random conversation.

http://gdayworld.thepodcastnetwork.com/2007/08/23/gday-world-281-melbourne-twitter-lunch/

Thanks Cameron for letting me be heard on Australia’s #1 Podcast. I’ve gotta stop saying the g-word so often.

Yesterday I had consumed +5 standard coffees (my usual day is +2) by the time the podcast was recorded. You can hear the pace in my voice. Later that day, I Twittered the world to death with random questions (including: does Windows Mobile 6 have a regedit? evidently, yes. Thanks Paulfo) and statements. On the Virgin Blue flight home, I wrote a couple of pages of notes of the day that have spilled into these blog posts.

I’ve had the opportunity to think about the “Marketing and Twitter Strategy” question, and have posted my thoughts from yesterday’s Melbourne experiences.

Social Networking: People, not Messages

 

What is the Web 2.0 World Saying about you, now?

I strongly recommend any Marketing/PR person just starting out to download and install Particls: http://particls.com/. You can use Particls to watch the internet for you. Enter the phrases and words that are your products and brands, and watch the conversation that ensues.

It is wise to start your online journey by engaging the existing conversations and existing communities, rather than attempting to start your own lonely blog and talk to noone.

 

Social Networking use by Marketing/PR

Social network using MySpace/Facebook/MSN Live/Linkedin/Bebo etc etc etc is a perfect mechanism for creating a community; and more importantly: staying connected.

Note that people are largely engaged in these communities for personal social reasons, not to have a product shoved down their throat. The rule of authentic voice applies.

 

SecondLife use by Marketing/PR:

Know who and where of your audience. Despite heavy hype in the traditional media, the number of people logged in to SecondLife always seems low. (25000 to 40000)

There is something enticing about a completely immersive 3D world, where in a dream-like state you can fly anywhere and build anything. It demos well, and the allure of “instant millions” attracted a certain “type” of initial user.

The web was like this in 1994/5. Not much out there, much hype and a limited few had the hardware and ‘bandwidth’ to participate. I would highly recommend doing deep research prior to significant investment.

Fully immersive worlds such as World-of-Warcraft (note: you probably cannot market here) are very successful; and the future of end-user generated immersive worlds is large.

 

Twitter use by Marketing/PR:

http://gdayworld.thepodcastnetwork.com/2007/08/23/gday-world-281-melbourne-twitter-lunch/

@Froosh expressed it best: Twitter is micro-blogging: thoughts in 140 characters. It is also more instant. What is happening now.  An organisation’s existing blog strategy should also cover Twitter.

Running 2 bots (http://twitter.com/NeilFinn and http://twitter.com/Elv15) and an event alias (http://twitter.com/auremix07) my assessment is that Twitterers are looking for real people, not chat bots at the other end of the line. Twitterspam such as “go visit this link” and the like causes mass unsubscribes. “Our product x is now shipping” the same.

What the Twitter-verse is looking for is the instant human reaction and feeling from events that precedes the formal cycle.

So, just Twittering to get a “message through” or hype a product/event does not work. What is needed is an authentic, honest voice of a real person. It is part of your Word-of-mouth, viral strategy.

 

In a Write/ReWrite/Read Web, People matter. Not Messages

Blue Day, Melbourne

Blue Day means a clear day. I could see the sky. After leaving a dark and rainy Sydney, 4degC Melbourne was a rude surprise.

Up at 4:00am. A cat wandered out, stretched and looked at me quizzically seemingly asking : “WTF?”

Lovely Blue day in Melbourne

After checking the online world, my new residence, drive off to the airport. Megan’s battery is stuffed. Oh well, time to jump in the other MINI (Scarlett) and off.

Virgin Blue to Melbourne left only 10 minutes late due to Melbourne being fogged in. The in-flight magazine “Voyeur” has a one-page article on Social Networking. LOL. It’s mainstream now.

On the panel

There are two reasons for being in Melbourne: PR Summit run by Frocomm. I am a panelist along with Marilyn Chalkley, Manager, CSIRO Media Liaison and Andrew Parsons, Director, Production and Digital Communications, Department of Immigration and Citizenship. My title merely said “Professional Geek”

(for those watching my Twitter: here is the real Air guitar Youtube: Dr Richard Helmer’s Every wanna be rocker’s dream come true)

The session prior to the panel was by Abigail Thomas from the ABC. Abigail talked about ABC’s SecondLife island.

So, the panel was interesting. There is a big gap of experience and understanding of the “online native” world. Just podcasting a Press Release will not cut it for Podcasters and Bloggers. Creating a SecondLife island will cost, and attract 3 dogs and maybe a man (as much as I technically love SecondLife, we have yet to see the future)

My opinion on this in a forthcoming post.

Interestingly, the recent experience of Cameron Reilly, Twitterarti (including myself, I admit) and Telstra was mentioned in almost passing. Dr Hugh Bradlow from Telstra’s response is an excellent step into the conversation.

Had a break-chat with Gabriella Stern, Senior Editor from Dow Jones Newswires Singapore. Chat was about Journalism in this new online world we find ourselves. Enron, Stock Option Repricing and all sorts of discussion around blogging and journalists. After watching the PBS documentary, Newswar, it was enlightening. One part of our discussion related to the “mainstream media” and bloggers working together.

On the subject of the famous (The Bulletin famous) Cameron.

So, I have a few hours to kill. Twitter-friend Andrew Barnett was in the Melbourne CBD. After consulting a map of Melbourne streets, I navigated my way to Starbucks on the corner of Bourke and Queen street. Twitter’d to all that I was there, ready for anything.

Anything happened. Cameron Reilly popped in for a few moments. Later, Froosh and Andrew Barnett popped in for a chat on life, universe, weddings, parties and anything.

Upon returning to the impromptu Twitter meetup, Cameron derided me for my choice of corporate-coffee and insisted we move to Nick’s on Little Bourke Street. Let me say, it’s my new Melbourne food joint of choice. We are joined by new Twitter-friend, Garth.

So, off we trot to Nick’s.

Cameron Reilly

Cameron interviews us all on Twitter: questions related to how it has changed our blogging; general Twitter stories and if corporations should “adopt” Twitter.

@Froosh, @garthk, @andrewnbarnett

My opinion on this in a forthcoming post. Same post as above as the topic inter-connects.

Transport in Melbourne 2007

Taxi, Jetstar, Sydney, Home. Cat looks at me completely refreshed. I write this blog with the cat asleep. Oh for the cat’s life.

Melbourne was beautifally blue today. Cat missed that.

Flinders Street Station, Melbourne

Geek Project: Debian to Windows Home Server

Do you have an old PC lying around in your house?

Do you have a swarm of laptops needing to be backed up?

Do you have a collection of photos, videos that need to be stored centrally?

Like me, it’s is time to install a server on your home network.

Last year, I transformed an old Dell 8200 PC into our home server. This year, I am going to upgrade to Windows Home Server. Now available: for example: Eyo in Australia have it on their web site for AU$230.00