Synopsis: Jawbone.tv takes a look at Numero 8: The Santos Dumont Project, the first Brazilian social network narrative. (C. S. Soares is a guest contributor. He is a Brazilian author and literary blogger. Follow him on Twitter @cssoares.)

Imagine for a moment that books (especially digital books) could be better defined as services, rather than products. Indeed, this different way of thinking could provide interesting and new ways of creating, producing and marketing a narrative. As stories become increasingly based on integration with technology, the scenario becomes even more plausible, which is the driving force behind the 'Santos Dumont Numero 8' project, a novel being published online and across social networks (primarily Twitter) since April 2009.

The plot revolves around Alberto Santos Dumont, a Brazilian aircraft inventor and pioneer of aviation who numbered each of his aeronautical inventions from 'Santos-Dumont number 1' through 'Santos-Dumont number 22', but for some superstitious reason he refused to use the number 8 in his numbering sequence (this is, of course, one of the puzzles to be deciphered in the novel).

I wrote this novel a couple of years ago, and originally, it was published on paper, as most novels are. I noticed some writers and publishers were a little reluctant to copy traditional paper books to the online environment, perhaps trying to avoid the digital version cannibalizing the paper version.

I, however, believe the two versions are complementary, and that the online book can and should take advantage of modern media convergence. This convergence was, in fact, the driving force behind the adaptation of Santos Dumont Number 8 on Twitter.

As a method of presentation and interaction with the story, I created a Twitter profile for each character in the book. These profiled characters interact with followers by posting messages about what they are doing at every moment of the plot. A feed aggregator consolidates all of the Twitter profiles and facilitates a linear history for about 1,800 followers of the @sd8 twitter profile. (You can view the Twitterstreams of all characters simultaneously at Crowdstatus and on StoryTlr, two online applications that aggregate the Twitterstreams of multiple people.)

I'm using approximately 30 free tools from the Internet on this project, including publishing, management and dissemination tools. Online, the novel became a blog, a twitter stream, a social network (on Ning), and a Facebook profile. Readers will find related videos on Youtube (including a trailer for the book), and there's a radio that plays songs related to the story on blip.fm (a song is even being composed for the book).

The original book can be read, consulted and commented on at the project blog and recently it was opened as a wiki connected directly to the text of the story. Google translator is also used to distribute the story, periodically, to native readers in 8 different languages.

The project has received extensive coverage from the Brazilian press for being the first Brazilian novel published on social networks and I believe it validates a new way to tell stories, with social networks acting as a platform for the publication of novels. In this new medium, a narrative can adopt the best features of the online/interactive environment rather than simply copying the form of sealed paper books.

Moving forward, I believe the structure and processes of writing a networked book will benefit greatly from the creation of an easy to use meta language (perhaps based on XML), that allows software to identify characters, actions, dialogue, etc. directly within the text itself. This would help create a truly immersive experience with the text, and it's something I'll continue working towards in the coming months.

In the meantime, l have documented every step of the Santos Dumont Numero 8 experiment, with comments on the concepts and tools used, to be published as a novel tentatively entitled 'Narratives on Social Networks'. As well, the complete Twitterized version of Santos 8 will be organized and published as an ebook after the completion of the project.

For additional details please check out the online presentation of the project or visit the official site at santosdumontnumero8.com.br.