DaxThink: Digital life

Many of us have accounts on Mybook and FaceSpace etc, and will update them with status messages, photos, comments etc. But do you really think about who might be reading it? Clearly a lot of people don't.

I remember a situation a few years ago when Friends Reunited was all the rage and I was interviewing a graduate for a new job. They sat opposite me and said they were back from travelling and wanted to start their career in earnest. When I checked their Friends Reunited page there was a note saying that they wanted to earn some money for 6 months and then F~~~ Off back to warmer climates! Ever since, I have always looked up potential staff online.

But an Auzzie has recently won the prize for the biggest bust and has turned into an online celebrity. Check out the exchange with his boss below:

From: Niresh Regmi
Sent: Wednesday, 27 August 2008 9:35 a.m.
To: Kyle Doyle
Subject: Absence on Thursday 21st 2008

Hi Kyle,
Please provide a medical certificate stating a valid reason for your sick leave on Thursday 21st 2008.
Thank You

NIRESH REGMI
Real Time Manager, Workforce Operations

-------

From: Kyle Doyle
Sent: Wednesday, 27 August 2008 9:38 a.m.
To: Niresh Regmi
Subject: RE: Absence on Thursday 21st 2008

Niresh,
1 day leave absences do not require a medical certificate as stated in my contract, provided I have stated that I am on leave for medical reasons.

Thanks
Regards,

Kyle Doyle
Resolutions Expert - Technical

-------

From: Niresh Regmi
Sent: Wednesday, 27 August 2008 9:39 a.m.
To: Kyle Doyle
Subject: RE: Absence on Thursday 21st 2008

Hi Kyle,
Usually that is the case, as per your contract. However please note that leave during these occasions is only granted for genuine medical reasons. You line manager has determined that your leave was not due to medical reasons and as such we cannot grant leave on this occasion.

NIRESH REGMI

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From: Kyle Doyle
Sent: Wednesday, 27 August 2008 9:43 a.m.
To: Niresh Regmi
Subject: RE: Absence on Thursday 21st 2008

Hi Niresh,
My leave was due to medical reasons, so you cannot deny leave based on a line manager's discretion, with no proof, please process leave as requested.

Thanks
Regards,

Kyle Doyle

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From: Niresh Regmi
Sent: Wednesday, 27 August 2008 9:50 a.m.
To: Kyle Doyle
Subject: RE: Absence on Thursday 21st 2008

Hi Kyle,
I believe the proof that you are after is below



Kyle Doyle' Facebook page declaring: Kyle Doyle is not going to work, f... it -- I'm still trashed. SICKIE WOO!

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From: Kyle Doyle
Sent: Wednesday, 27 August 2008 9:55 a.m.
To: Niresh Regmi
Subject: RE: Absence on Thursday 21st 2008

HAHAHA LMAO epic fail
No worries man
Regards,

We tend not to be shocked anymore by what we can find online or what we see on TV, perhaps a simple case of over exposure?

But sites like WikiSky.org are truly amazing. It is an interactive map of objects found outside of our solar system with good descriptions to explain each one.

Whether this is your 'thing' or not, go take a look at be aware of just how amazing it is to have this sort of information at your fingertips.

Seems to be one of the great digital marketing buzz words of 2008 doesn't it?

Everyone seems to be building one, promoting one or adding one to their desktop. Great little tools or transportable code that allow us as marketers to distribute our functionality or message to a greater audience often via a viral mechanism.

But...

Earlier this week I was asked to speak at a widget conference and so prepared a talk about how media planning must evolve to make the most of the benefits widgets offer. But whilst I was doing this I couldn't help but think that this was something and nothing.

Widgets have their uses, and have helped us as marketers focus on engagement and interaction as apposed to just pushing a message out. But most 'widgets' really are nothing new, and are simply interactive rich media banners.

Banners have been able to take the search or booking form from a website and transport it millions of times around the web for years; in fact the last company I worked at (Bluestreak) pioneered the expandable, search enabled banner back in the mid/late 90's using Java.

What does define a widget then over a banner? I would argue it's a grey area, and having attended a conference on it I think it is even greyer than I thought before. In simple terms though, a banner becomes a widget when provision is given for it to be taken out of its native environment and embedded onto the desktop, a social space or elsewhere.

Isn't it true that (nearly) all widgets can be banners, but not all banners can be widgets?

I can take a widget that was designed as a viral tool and ad-serve it across my media plan into standard ad units, why is that a widget? Make it shareable and suitable for a specific audience in a social environment for instance and then yes, you have a widget.

Of course there are exceptions, and there has been some good work done on tools that clearly are widgets - STA travel and their desktop widgets would be a good example. The point is that what most brands (and the industry) are calling widgets are not widgets and could have been achieved in another, often simpler, way.

There has been an entire micro-industry created about widgets - I find this astonishing. Will we be having conferences about just widgets in 3 years time? I would argue not. Just as we won't be having conferences on the sole topic of social media either, and instead will see it firmly wrapped up within the psyche and practices of good digital marketers.

As an agency we talk about the term 'widgets' and we even build 'widgets', and I would argue we have some pretty sneaky uses for 'widgets'. But let's not lose sight of what widgets are - a new tactic that we can choose from to fulfill our chosen strategy.

In preparation for the talk I was chatting to a colleague on Gtalk about it. He came up with the perfect description of how most agencies end up getting into the world of widgets. Sometimes it's from proactive strategy, but there are many agency folks in Soho who I am sure will recognise this...

1. Client bored, feeling sleepy
2. Has coffee
   
3. Still bored
4. Boss demands budget be spent
5. Reads the word widget on RSS feed, not sure what it means
6. Client calls friend and asks what widget is
7. Calls Agency of Record and demands widget
8. Agency shows mock-ups of a bouncing widget
9. Client doesn't want to seem too eager and so send them back to the drawing board
10. Agency now shows mock-ups of something that bounces and rotates
11. Client has used Agency hours for this project
12. Agency implements
13. Client returns focus to TV and paid search campaigns

I have done it several times, and I bet you have too.

That late night situation, a few beers down, and you send a text message or an email you really shouldn't have. I fell foul just recently in fact; you would have thought I would know better at my age!!

But thankfully Google are here to save me from myself with the introduction of Google Goggles.

Goggles is a new feature in Gmail that allows me to set certain times that I might have been on the beers, and will make me solve some math problems before I can hit the send button. Fail to complete them and I will be locked out on the grounds of being drunk!