Seriously Warm And Fuzzy

It all started yesterday when I upgraded to Firefox 4.0 Beta.  Once I installed it, my homepage defaulted back to a mozilla.com page.  And on this new homepage was a link to Firefox Live, which is a page dedicated to streaming live video of Firefoxes cubs in their habitat at the Knoxville Zoo.

Mozilla has put together a pretty impressive set-up.  You can watch the feed from any number of angles, including "Cub Cam - Frolic", "Cub Cam - Snooze" and Cub Cam - 360 Cute".  I started with "Frolic", but didn't see anything.  When I switched over to "Snooze" I saw one of the cubs, but it quickly moved out of the frame.  So I started to experiment with "360 Cute",  using it to triangulate where the action was and then switching to the other cameras as applicable.  I stayed on the site for an hour.

It's an hour of time I'll never get back.  But that's OK - I don't want it back.  Because watching Firefox cubs basically do nothing was oddly entertaining.  And as the site's tag-line suggests, Firefoxes ARE seriously warm and fuzzy.  I like me some warm and fuzzy from time to time.

But the problem with my brain is that it wanders.  I started wondering how easy it would be to set up my own live stream.  A quick Google search answered that question and within 5 minutes I had an account on ustream.tv and was streaming video of me talking to my boss on the telephone.  True, not that exciting.  But the video feed is only part of the equation.  You also need an audience and an event.

A big part of success in social media is leveraging the crap out of all your assets.  I have this blog, which has a bit of an audience.  I also had my crack team of web marketeers - Jeff from Dangle The Carrot, Mandy from Caratunk Girl and Kovas from Midwest Multisport Life to start a blistering Twitter campaign.  "Blistering" may be an overstatement, but then again hype is a-ok when it comes to marketing:

@17281posse @jeffirvin Beavers on Bikes? Life Altering Event Happening http://www.theroadmultisport.com Sat 10 AM to 10 PM PST! Please RT!

The event part is easy.  Following the logic that hype is a-ok, creating an event can almost be an afterthought.  All you have to do is convince everyone that the event that took you 5 seconds to think of is pure awesomeness, perhaps even life changing.  Don't believe me?  Search YouTube.  Anything goes.  Everyone is Spielberg and mediocrity is regularly rewarded.  And I have mediocre down.

So perhaps for the first time in blogging history, I have created a Bike Cam.  For the next 12 hours, you will be able to watch my bikes sit in my still as unfinished living room.  I have also strategically placed the dog beds in the shot.  So if you park yourself in front of your computer all day and/or check back often, chances are you'll get a glimpse of Natasha and Joe.  That's my seriously warm and fuzzy.

Please spread the word.  Let's see if we can take the wind out of the sails of those damned Firefoxes, at least for a day.  PS - sorry about the commercials.


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