At this risk of sounding like a buzz word jockey, I feel that 2007 will be the year the we begin to see a trend in social media. A trend where different forms of social media (blogs, podcasts,videocasts,wikis etc.) begin to converge. While this convergence has already begun I feel that the emergence of virtual worlds in the mainstream will expedite this process. Worlds such as Second Life, Kaneva, There and Cyworld (and dare I say Google?) are all, at their core, social networks.
Sure these platforms are 3D and allow for the fantastic but; MMOG’s have been able to do that for a while. There is something different about these new platforms. What is different about these new platforms and why is the mainstream beginning to pay attention?
With PodcampNYC approaching, I looked to some of the people I admire most to help tackle questions surrounding social media convergence and virtual worlds. As this is an unconference, and the rules are quite different than your average corporate affair, things may go in unexpected directions. In fact, this conversation that I am starting right now may morph into something completely different by the time Podcampnyc rolls around, but I think this general topic is something worthy of diving into.
The participants:
...and of course me.
More information soon.
Tags: Joseph Jaffe, Greg Verdino, Mark Wallace, Johnny Ming, Adam Broitman, Podcampnyc, There, Second Life, Kaneva, Cyworld, Google, MMOG, Social Media, 2007, Converge