Game Over: MySpace Seeks Salvation in… Gaming?

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC

What lies in store for MySpace?

MySpace is losing it. And I’m not talking about its members defecting to Facebook.

Last year, the once mighty, world dominating social network that had crushed its predecessor Friendster suddenly found itself splattered on Facebook’s windshield. At first, MySpace responded by copying Facebook features, but copying a competitor is not a long-term success strategy. In fact, it just gives the competition credibility.

So MySpace gave up the fight and is fully rebooting by going after a niche market…

String Up the Velvet Ropes! Why Social Networks Need Barriers

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC

L.A. contains miles of velvet ropes that pack more protective power than the Great Wall of China. They’re fronted by large scowling men armed with high-caliber clipboards. And they’re assaulted nightly by swarms of wannabes, who are then repelled by blatant acts of discrimination based strictly on looks…

Pipe Dreams: Did Silicon Valley Pick The Right Role Model?

just a series of tubes

Former Senator Ted Stevens was roundly mocked for his comment that the Internet was a “series of tubes.” Now, I can think of a hundred reasons to ridicule venal old Ted, but his analogy wasn’t that off the mark. Yes, it was technically wrong, but many Web 2.0 companies share the same purpose as public utilities: they exist to pipe stuff to users…

Mob Rules: The Legend of How Web 2.0 got 2.Owned

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC

Cue track 8: "Falling off the edge of the world"

A long time ago, in an Internets far far away, the people were promised a galaxy free of corporate-empire dominance, where the little guy would have a fair and equal shot at being heard, where small businesses could claim riches once envisioned only by multinationals, and where unsung individuals would finally be sung. The playing fields would all be level, and there would be many goals to shoot at…

Untweetable: Why Twitter Fever Isn’t For Everyone

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC

It was all about that sharpener...

When I was a kid, the object of all crayon lust was the Crayola 64 box with the built-in sharpener, because a dull crayon was almost as bad as soggy Cocoa Pebbles. And yet, that Crayola 64 contained some bizarre colors like Maize, Burnt Sienna and the fun-to-say-but-rarely-used Raw Umber.* While Black was quickly worn to a stub — one could never have enough Black — Maize lasted longer than the Shredded Wheat that mom tried to get us to eat in place of Cocoa Pebbles. (Sorry, mom, miniature bales of hay are for miniature horses.)

The point of this contrived metaphor? Just because a color exists doesn’t mean you have to use it. The same holds true for new media like Twitter…

Friend Me: 5 Rules for Advertising on Facebook

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC

Updated 26 June 2009

In its infancy, Facebook sucked for advertisers, as its mostly collegiate users ignored mass marketing en route to mass socializing. No surprise there: Facebook is a social network, so its users were using it as intended.

But the commercial disinterest of Facebook users meant that marketers were wasting their dinero. For us refugees from the full-frontal ad assault called MySpace, that was a good thing. For Facebook’s investors? Not so much.

Then a couple of transformational events occurred…

“Wait, That’s My Face!”: Identity Theft, Social Networking Style

Paige H. got a huge surprise this week. The 20-something Midwesterner had attempted to keep a low profile online: “no MySpace, no Facebook, no blog” — indeed, she’s long had a “distaste for the world of social networking websites.” And yet, thanks to a marketing schemer, she became one of the most popular girls on Facebook… but under the name “Monica Rockle.”

This Way To The Egress: The Pros and Con Artists of Marketing

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director, Atomic Tango LLC

“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.” — Abraham Lincoln

“There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” — George W. Bush

“Beware of geeks bearing grifts.” — Cool Rules Pronto

Phineas Taylor Barnum was the consummate 19th Century showman and one deceptive bastard…

Are You For Real, Monica Rockle II: The Updates, the Photo, and… the Haunting?

The epic saga continues…

Are You For Real, Monica Rockle? A Facebook Marketing Case Study

Dear Monica Rockle:

I got an invite to your “Psychology Marketing Project” on Facebook. (Note: Facebook has since removed this “Project.” Too bad.) And as someone who professionally conducts and teaches marketing I have to hand it to you: pretty damn clever…