I'm learning business from a Playboy playmate
It's a bit embarrassing, but I'm actually learning from the online business success of a Playboy playmate. Actually, not quite a playmate but a "cybergirl."
Her name: Tila Nguyen, also known as Ms Tila Tequila.
Her business: www.myspace.com/tilatequila
To appreciate her business "genius," you have to scroll all the way down on her MySpace page and read the paragraph she wrote about herself. This is a girl who definitely understands the concept of "Brand Me."
Now, you may or may not agree with her decision to take off her clothes for Playboy, but what's undeniable is that she knew, right from the start, how to leverage MySpace (and MySpace, in turn, leveraged her, er, shall we say, "popularity."
Here are the facts: In September 2003, about to be ousted by Friendster for her "in your face" attitude and behavior, she was approached by Tom Anderson, founder of MySpace. He presciently knew she would contribute significantly to MySpace.
She was among the very first people to sign up with MySpace. When she saw there was nobody, she decided to mass email 30,000 to 50,000 people, inviting them to join her on MySpace.
The rest is history.
She now has over 1.6 million friends. Well, the word "friend" is a highly plastic concept in the social networking scene, but nevertheless, she IS popular.
After I read about her success, I went to her MySpace page to look for some pictures, oops, I mean, to do some business research.
So I decided to create my own MySpace page, at http://www.myspace.com/superpetersworld.
My next move is to connect to Tila Nguyen, and pretend I'm a long-distant cousin so all her friends can hopefully become my friends, too. I'm just kidding.
In case you're a bit confused about all this social networking phenomenon, let me share with you an insight I recently had.
There are basically four major spaces:
Email and MySpace both focus on the individual. It's all about you.
MySpace, however, is subjective in that it allows you to express who you truly are, inside. Alternatively, it allows you to create or project a fictional or fantasy-based version of your identity.
Email, on the other hand, is more straightforward.
Facebook and Linkedin are collective, since it's all about the relationships (Facebook) and connections (Linkedin) you have with other people.
OBJECTIVE / SUBJECTIVE
Email and Linkedin are objective in that people usually stick to facts. There's little room for fantasy.
Linkedin, for instance, is more factual than Facebook. On Facebook, you don't have to state who your employer is, nor what previous jobs you've held.
Please note that a connection seems to be more objective than a relationship, which is an intersubjective phenomenon (where the subjective aspects of two people merge). This is why relationships are more complicated than business transactions or connections. At the same time, relationships offer more depth and are definitely more interesting.
My theory is that a complete and well-balanced person will use all the four tools above (email, Facebook, Linkedin, MySpace) to fully express himself or herself.
(Of course, you don't have to get naked like Tila!).
Here's another summary:
Are they right or wrong in ignoring the economic and business opportunities offered by MySpace and Linkedin? I will answer in an upcoming post.
Her name: Tila Nguyen, also known as Ms Tila Tequila.
Her business: www.myspace.com/tilatequila
To appreciate her business "genius," you have to scroll all the way down on her MySpace page and read the paragraph she wrote about herself. This is a girl who definitely understands the concept of "Brand Me."
Now, you may or may not agree with her decision to take off her clothes for Playboy, but what's undeniable is that she knew, right from the start, how to leverage MySpace (and MySpace, in turn, leveraged her, er, shall we say, "popularity."
Here are the facts: In September 2003, about to be ousted by Friendster for her "in your face" attitude and behavior, she was approached by Tom Anderson, founder of MySpace. He presciently knew she would contribute significantly to MySpace.
She was among the very first people to sign up with MySpace. When she saw there was nobody, she decided to mass email 30,000 to 50,000 people, inviting them to join her on MySpace.
The rest is history.
She now has over 1.6 million friends. Well, the word "friend" is a highly plastic concept in the social networking scene, but nevertheless, she IS popular.
After I read about her success, I went to her MySpace page to look for some pictures, oops, I mean, to do some business research.
So I decided to create my own MySpace page, at http://www.myspace.com/superpetersworld.
My next move is to connect to Tila Nguyen, and pretend I'm a long-distant cousin so all her friends can hopefully become my friends, too. I'm just kidding.
In case you're a bit confused about all this social networking phenomenon, let me share with you an insight I recently had.
There are basically four major spaces:
- Email (individual / objective)
- Linkedin (systemic / objective)
- MySpace (individual / subjective)
- Facebook (social / subjective)
Email and MySpace both focus on the individual. It's all about you.
MySpace, however, is subjective in that it allows you to express who you truly are, inside. Alternatively, it allows you to create or project a fictional or fantasy-based version of your identity.
Email, on the other hand, is more straightforward.
Facebook and Linkedin are collective, since it's all about the relationships (Facebook) and connections (Linkedin) you have with other people.
OBJECTIVE / SUBJECTIVE
Email and Linkedin are objective in that people usually stick to facts. There's little room for fantasy.
Linkedin, for instance, is more factual than Facebook. On Facebook, you don't have to state who your employer is, nor what previous jobs you've held.
Please note that a connection seems to be more objective than a relationship, which is an intersubjective phenomenon (where the subjective aspects of two people merge). This is why relationships are more complicated than business transactions or connections. At the same time, relationships offer more depth and are definitely more interesting.
My theory is that a complete and well-balanced person will use all the four tools above (email, Facebook, Linkedin, MySpace) to fully express himself or herself.
(Of course, you don't have to get naked like Tila!).
Here's another summary:
- Email is for communicating
- Linkedin is for connecting
- Facebook is for communing
- MySpace is for creating (videos, music, your fantastic self, etc.)
- Email --> writing letters and mailing them
- Linkedin --> professional and business associations
- Facebook --> get-togethers with family and friends
- MySpace --> artistic studios
Are they right or wrong in ignoring the economic and business opportunities offered by MySpace and Linkedin? I will answer in an upcoming post.
posted by Super Peter at 11:53 PM
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