Core77

Street cool - virtual ethnography in the blogosphere

By Niti Bhan - October 2, 2006

in Design Business

For business trends Mr Evers has a network of spotters who rely on blogs covering business ideas. "Often those blogs are local, so especially our Japanese, Chinese and Brazilian contributors pick up stuff that may not pop up in mainstream US and British publications," he says. "We actively scan MySpace, Cyworld, Habbo Hotel, Flickr and YouTube, as one can keep a finger on the pulse of (youth) culture by reading what people are putting out there, what they do, what they like. It is the same for activities in virtual worlds like Second Life. "Everything is available, everything can be found and observed, with millions more joining this space each year and contributing. "Our role is becoming more of a curator as the average marketer just doesn't have the time any more to track everything. We are also an adviser on what to actually do with these observations if you're a brand. What we do is virtual anthropology." Read full article here.

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niti bhan

18 years ago

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Actually, any design firm working in the emerging markets space has begun to, or should, understand the value of the virtual since much of the phase zero research can be done online, particularly imagery.
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csven

18 years ago

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And they can thank a product designer from the Core forum for helping to crack open Second Life to companies like Toyota, News.com, Major League Baseball, Text 100, Leo Burnett, and Adidas. Now if I could only get more IDers to understand virtual spaces and the opportunities they present.

http://blog.rebang.com/?p=1038
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