Links of Note: June 6, 2007

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Links of Note: June 6, 2007

June 6, 2007 10:11 AM Posted by mac

VoIP and 911:
VoIP call dials 9-1-1 in another state (The Oregonian)

This is why I don't use VoIP:

"... a frantic woman phoned 9-1-1 and said her son couldn't breathe. Her call went to the 9-1-1 call center in Beaverton, [Ore.] even though the woman was three time zones and 2,700 miles away, in Peachtree City, Ga."

Fortunately, the boy survived, but good lord, can you imagine going through this? After surviving the ensuing heart attack, I'd take a shotgun to my VoIP system.

In most situations I fall on the side of personal responsibility, but it irks me that Vonage -- the VoIP company servicing the Georgia family -- says the mixup was due to customer error.

"... the customer took his phone with him to Georgia, and plugged it in without telling Vonage of the change."

Granted, the customer should know the pitfalls of VoIP and 911, but Vonage and other VoIP firms should have fixed 911 problems years ago. It makes no sense: if an emergency call is the most important call anyone can make, why didn't the VoIP folks address the 911 issue early on?

Via ZDNet

Social Media:
NBC.com Touts "Social Networking"

Take a look at this NBC.com screenshot:

As you can see, NBC.com is trumpeting it's new "social networking" features: Profiles! Blogs! Photos! Uh ... Widgets!

But way down at the bottom of the breathless marketing copy, you'll find this telling paragraph:

"We hope you're as excited as we are about what's in store for NBC fans only at NBC.com."

"Only at NBC.com." Yeah, see, that's the problem. Social media and the whole Web 2.0 thing works best when the material isn't "only" at one location -- especially if the foundation for the experience is based on content.

MySpace and Facebook draw folks in because they're community hubs, but NBC.com can't -- and shouldn't -- try to duplicate this model. Rather, NBC can use "social media" to boost its brand and create awareness about its shows.

Fabricating a pseudo community looks good on paper -- especially if it boosts page views and CPM rates -- but community development (the kind marked by MySpace-like success) is an organic process that can't be forced. And yet, NBC.com and other content providers pour efforts into these initiatives while ignoring the one thing they do have: original content.

News Corp. had the right idea: Acquire a successful community (MySpace), don't try to build it.