Dino Baskovic Can’t Lose

Mashable's Pete Sizemore summed up the the Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines snafu quite well:

Southwest’s use of social media in addressing the situation could be said to be commendable.

It appears that some Southwest employee eyeing Echofon caught the tweet and immediately recognized his handle.  Even if he wasn't an avid fan of the View Askewniverse, said staffer undoubtedly saw the 1.6-million-plus followers and Verified Account seal and didn't hesitate to wake the customer relations veep outta bed.  The blog post went up faster that you can say "snootchie bootchies!" and I doubt most large airlines would be so nimble given the same circumstances.

The story has survived several news cycles with observers falling into the "die Southwest!" or "try a treadmill Smith!" camps.  No need for me to weigh in either way, though I must call out this: Silent Bob simply can't silence this story just because he wants to:

DONE with this. @SouthwestAir blogs, so I blog: http://silentbobspeaks.com/?p=393 G'night, folks. Let's talk about anything else tomorrow.

This story will end when it wants to, not just because he is suddenly tired of it.  Sorry, but that's jut now how life works.  Think of that the next time you are so fearless with a flip phone, Bluntman.

Over the years, I've mingled online in one form or another with the web greats.  Rubel, Garrett, Zeldman -- even a guy by the name of Berners-Lee.  But nothing compares to this, by far my proudest ping.

Note to Chase: do whatever Kevin Smith says, no matter how absurd.  And I'm really sorry about the slam, but it was great to see you again with the Mrs.

From Twitter:

eBay/Paypal and MillerCoors are donating a cent per hashtag (via tweet, Facebook update, or blog post). The campaign is aiming for a Guinness World Record 'for the distribution of the largest mass message through social media' in one day.

Also: Social Media Campaign to Beat Cancer Eyes Record in Guinness Book (via Mashable)

Cancer sucks, but Cleveland rocks.

Famed funny man from my old hood Drew Carey is raising awareness and dollars to fight cancer via social media.

The short of it: a guy named Drew Olanoff was diagnosed with cancer and decided to LIVESTRONG.  One thing led to another, he's auctioning off his Twitter handle @drew to the highest bidder, and Drew Carey will pony up a million bucks if an equal number of people follow him on Twitter.

I wonder how Twitter will hand off the followers between accounts, or whether other famous Drews (e.g. Barrymore, Dr. Drew Pinsky) will raise the ante.  Regardless, this is welcome news for cancer tweeps around the world.

Thank goodness for Follow Fridays.  Now go follow Drew Carey!

Proof from The Google's temporary cache that I, too, once had my ugly mug on The Facebook.

Sad that I had to drunk dial my 2 a.m. booty call that is Twitter after not returning her calls for months.  I mean, The Twitter.

The Posterous is no slouch, but boy do I miss The Facebook. 

Now that "Rich Uncle Pennybags" is finally open for business, here are my first impressions of Monopoly City Streets:

• Slick interface.  Think "Command & Conquer meets Google Maps."
• Buying the streets I grew up?  Cool.  Rebuilding my old school and childhood home?  Very cool.  Owning high rise condos on Whiskey Island? Now we're talking.
• The fact that no other registered user in the world can touch my properties?  Now that is neat.  Unless of course, they own a bulldozer.
• Sharing my real estate prowess on Twitter, gravy.  Facebook, I wouldn't know...
• The game servers lag a bit and the official blog is a tad preachy, but it's free and I ain't griping.

MCS won't replace the kitchen table.  Sure, I miss my thimble, but that's not the point.  This isn't "online" Monopoly, which already exists on multiple platforms.  Nor is it a mere transformation of an American classic.  Rather, a transubstantiation of a ageless brand from gaming tradition to global juggernaut. 

Think of it.  Monopolists in Moscow, for example, snapped up parcels along Arbat Street faster than they could say "это очень дорого" within hours of the site going live.  Save the uber-wealthy, Muscovites can barely afford to stare into store windows along Arbat, much less live there.  But as of today, they are virtual landlords, competing with other consumerists around the world in a digital land grab not seen since Second Life.  The economics of EverQuest also come to mind.  Wake up, marketing!  This could be bigger than Mafia Wars, larger than Second Life!  We need banners and apps and contests! 

Maybe I'm wrong.  Second Life did lose luster over time.  Then again, MCS could be the next "next big thing," spawning countless cottage industries and consulting fees. 

That's the marketer in me talking.  What about the consumer?  Perhaps this fad will pass by my next blog post.  Or maybe I get hooked.  Would I pay for premium play?  Will I crave each session as I once did with Scrabulous (now Lexulous) on Facebook?  And this is light years ahead of Lexulous...

Time will tell.  For now, it's fun to frolic in the old 'hood.  Think I'll go grab another green house.

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Opening drive.  First and 10 at the 35. 

Hewlett-Packard PR takes the snap and goes into motion:

The New York Times Bits Blog opens up the line:

Andreessen should add some entrepreneurial thinking to HP's board. http://bit.ly/N5Xhz ^VG

HP peddles right, then left, then right again:

RT @nytimesbits: Andreessen should add some entrepreneurial thinking to HP's board. http://bit.ly/N5Xhz ^VG

Bits Blog blitzes for the sack:

Odd to be retweeted by @hpnews on a news release from HP.

HP drops back and throws long:

@nytimesbits we liked your commentary, hence the retweet...thx!

Pass is incomplete.

Obama calls Kanye 'Jackass' (from Politico)

Twitter has updated its Terms of Service to include changes in advertising, spam control and developer APIs.  If the last few years of watching users and the media react to TOS changes from sites like Facebook with pitchforks, then it's worth paying attention to details.  One of those, as clearly highlighted by Twitter's own blog post on the matter, concerns the ownership of one's tweets:

Twitter is allowed to 'use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute' your tweets because that's what we do. However, they are your tweets and they belong to you.