It's the holiday time, which means reruns, football games and family. You  may be looking for some alternative tv viewing which will undoubtedly take you online to the video viewing site of your choice. If you are over 17 and like stupid human tricks check out www.blockbuster.jackassworld.com.  Today  Blockbuster will premiere the first full-length feature film, Jackass 2.5, directly to online audiences on Windows and Mac using Microsoft Silverlight. This is one of the largest projects in Blockbuster history, made possible using the rich media CDN from Limelight Networks and Silverlight. To view you will need to download Silverlight here. This marks a transformational shift in how users are choosing to consume their media today and in the near future, a trend that Microsoft is paying attention to and enabling with Silverlight.

What's interesting is a conversation going on internally at MSFT regarding the decision to co-brand with Jackass. Silverlight is an open developer platform so MSFT doesn't restrict use to anyone, regardless of brand. That much is completely understandable. The question that internal folks have is why we are promoting the partnership and is Jackass a brand MSFT wants to be associated with. Brand equity is a very valuable asset and not one that any company should regard carelessly. Does partnering with Jackass erode MSFT brand to our most loyal and trusted consumer base, families? My opinion, No. Not when you are talking about consumers. This is a developer story driving awareness of new technology to developers.  Consumers will not pick up this story, particularly at the time of year it's being announced.

I would guess Jackass is more accepted brand among developers than families so the partnership is probably a good fit. It's a challenge when a company as big as MSFT has so many different audiences to consider when making partnership choices. Gamers, techies, mommies, COO's; it would be impossible to please all of them with one marketing message.  The trick then becomes not alienating the masses and targeting your message so you don't hit the wrong audience with a message not intended for them.

I have several people ask me for more information about social media tools, how to, etc. I firmly believe in re-purposing perfectly good content so here is an article from Marketing Profs that will get a novice started on a good social media plan. I can't emphasize enough the point made that "listening is twice as important as speaking." 

One marketing newsletter I subscribe to just announced their picks for top sites of 2007. Worth a look. I can report I have visited exactly 2 of these sites, but then they are designed for marketing consultants and small businesses of which I am not. But nonetheless, interesting list. Take a look.

1. PayScale
2. Yahoo Pipes
3. Google AdWords Keyword Tool - Google ad words tool
4. Compete.com - competitive intelligence
5. Andiamo Systems - buzz tracking
6. Shoutlet - social media marketing tool
7. HitTail - SEO long tail optimization
8. The Ultimate RSS Toolbox
9. Deliverymonitor.com - email delivery tool
10. Newsforce - SEO for PR
11. Google Custom Search Engine

Interesting post about influencers here. Worth a read. My favorite part is;

“First off, you need to be using the Firefox browser. If you are still using Internet Explorer, please immediately hit yourself in the head with a hammer several times. When you regain consciousness, please go and download Firefox, it is free.”

It appears that some smart PR person from MySpace wants to make sure people know MySpace is still bigger than Facebook. Read more about it here. But I'm thinking, does it really matter who is bigger today? There was a time when Netscape could say they were 'still' bigger and we all know how that story ended. My point is the focus shouldn't be on where the numbers are today, it's more important to think about what your business model says your numbers are going to be tomorrow.

Facebook is how people talk to the real people in their lives. MySpace is about show, entertainment. I don't actually think MySpace and Facebook are in the same business. MySpace should be comparing themselves with YouTube numbers. MySpace will need to worry about people's entertainment hours in a day. How much time does someone have to watch tv, XBox, Wii, movies, music, web? Facebook isn't just entertainment, it's connection with real people. That makes it sticky, and sticky is where you always want to be. MySpace has no sticky. I can get entertainment lots of places. Facebook has my friends, I can't get that other places -- hence sticky!