Internet corner music store eMusic is integrating with Facebook, allowing Facebook Connect feature users to share their music recommendations with friends. To quote Marketwire:
“Back in the day of the corner music store, word-of-mouth was one of the best ways to find out about new music,” said Deirdre Stone, eMusic SVP of Product Development. “Facebook is the modern day equivalent and we want to empower the eMusic community to engage in this way. eMusic has always offered a richer experience than mass market digital music retailers, and integrating Facebook Connect will make it an even better place for fans to share information about their favorite music.”
Similar in theory (though larger in scope) to Audience Works’s ORBIT, a tool that should be embraced by way more arts marketers than are using it now.
Similarly, Virgin is using Facebook Connect for its planes, using an incentive system to get users to upload and interact. Air travel is a harder sell than music, but if anyone has made flying hip in recent years, it’s been Branson’s team. Moreover, to report from Cnet, the company will be putting social networking onto the actual planes:
So, in theory, your friends on Facebook could see that you are sitting in seat 5D, watching Diggnation, and drinking a Coke. There are, of course, a lot of interesting possibilities with this. The system could potentially show passengers if any of their friends are also on board so that they could send them a drink or go say hi.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could find out if you had any friends at the opera…I’ve often left the house at 11:00 pm only to find out that my galpal was sitting one level below me the entire time. Even better, what if you could find a way to meet the guy two rows ahead of you, or the girl in the balcony who looks cute and singe?
SXSW is working on their own social networking site for conference and festival attendees to congregate and connect before they head to Austin. They’ll be able to compare schedules, “meet” other attendees beforehand, and join groups. Opera festival companies (Glimmerglass, Salzburg Festival, Mostly Mozart, Santa Fe…) take note.
Similarly, some of the UK’s top museums–including the Tate, the V&A and the British Museum–are creating a collective website for artists, art lovers, and anyone who has visited the museum. Per the BBC:
“What we want is people to be inspired and talk to each other,” says Carolyn Royston of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
“They will be able to create communities of interest around collections.”
There’s already a community of operaphiles, why not create a platform that allows current fans and culturally curious to come together…Perfect opportunity for word-of-mouth marketing with very little interaction from the business itself (which in turn feels a little less Big Brother-ish).
Finally, on a related note to the British Museums, the Prado is now offering virtual tours of its museum through Google Earth. Including some close-close-close-ups of the art. It’ll never beat a rainy museum day in Madrid, but it’s still frankly awesome.
