(For this analogy, we're going to dig into Tthe Digital Subconscious, and use some SimCity comparisons, starting with the original.)

Part I: Siloed Microsite
While SimCity predates the internet as we know it, it's an apt metaphor for what we do know today as microsites: as stand-alone, social silos that, for the most part, don't connect.  While these early cities provided roads that gave the appearance of 'connecting' to some undefined, otherworldly place, it was more to placate the user.  Ultimately, cities (microsites) were attempts at creating some benefit more for gamers (brands) than the city inhabitants (consumers).  (Imagine if our real-llife cities were no longer connected by roads or mass transit.  That's the Web of Microsites.)

Part II: Functional Social Presence
Flash-forward to "the future" SimCity 4 & Sims tie-in (the social web).  With a fully networked global infrastructure, we're able to truly connect, to share, and to foster meaningful relationships in what was a previously solitary experience.  Brands are now able - and expected - to go beyond self-serving exercises, if they want to provide real meaning to their consumers.  Just as Maxis has experienced unprecedented competition in the gaming over the last few years, consumers now have infinite opportunities online and in no way need any one particular brand or service (short of a very small number of companies).



Part III: The Big Picture
Functional presences in digital social spaces look like the image above: a world lit up with activity. The real experiences don't happen in any one place, they happen everywhere: between the places - the cities, the networks, the sites, the services. Ultimately, the internet is a sum greater than its parts. It is amazing and full of life, and if the humans feel at all threatened by the machines, they will rebel.

Tread lightly.  And smartly.