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Revolutionizing Everyday Communication: Social Media Sites

Posted by Guest Author on November 30, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

Social Media websites have grown phenomenally in recent years. Millions of people use social media sites like Facebook, Twitter etc. to connect with their virtual friends and share important tit-bits of their life. Wikipedia estimates that 1. 5 billion people use social Media websites. This speaks of the enormous power of social sites in terms of its reach.

While websites like Facebook, Twitter etc, have become a global phenomenon regional social media sites are not far behind. It would be difficult to believe but Japan occupies second place in terms of Twitter community. QQ, the largest social networking site of China has more than 300 million active members who form a vibrant community.

It is no wonder that large corporations have begun taking notice of social networking sites. They are actively utilizing the power of social sites to communicate with their customers. It is easy to spot a dedicated group for a particular product or a brand. The raw power of social sites can be gauged from the fact a simple application on Facebook can become viral and reach millions of users in no time. Which other medium can boast of such power in terms of reach and effectiveness?

Social networking sites have become integral part of social life. It does not matter if a person is a customer, producer or a marketer. If he is not using social site he is risking losing his business to his competitor.

Marketers have begun using the social sites to broadcast their message. There have been cases where the company whose product failed initially was able to re-launch the product successfully with the help of social sites.

Large corporations are not behind either. Dell Corporation successfully utilized Twitter to promote its promotional campaigns. The company created a special offer exclusively for Twitter users. It is believed that Dell Corporation was able to generate revenues to the tune of $ 10 million from Twitter alone. This example demonstrates the viral power of social sites which can catapult a brand into top league in no time.

There is much more scope for innovation in the technological interface of social networking sites. As the technology progresses we may witness the complete integration of various applications within social networking sites.

 






Top 10 Facebook Applications For November 30, 2009

Posted by Joanne Dolles on November 30, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

We have two new additions to our Top 10 Facebook Applications list, with one zooming up out of no where and the other my prediction from last week.

I predicted last week that we would see FishVille not only in our Top 10, but in the #7 position. I was close! FishVille made it to #8 as of this mornings’ application data. In just a few short weeks we have seen over 20 million new players start their aquarium collection.

However, the big news today is the surge of Social Interview out of nowhere to land at #3, with a whopping 31 million users. Social Interview asks you 20-25 questions about your friends and your life.

The reviews on this application are extremely positive! One review in particular summed up what I suspect makes Social Interview so appealing:

social interview allows me to express ma(sic) feeling without jurisdiction. i love it

Here is this weeks Top 10 list:

Top 10 Facebook Applications For November 30, 2009


Source: http://appdata.com

 

On our Top 10 Gainers list this week, we are seeing a few new ones worth your time to check out:

Fish Isle – Escape from the hustle and bustle of land living and move out to sea in Fish Isle! Create your own fish farm, decorate your personal tropical getaway, visit friends on nearby islands, and much, much more.

Reviews of Fish Isle so far are extremely positive. There seems to be a few connectivity issues, but that has been the norm for all too many applications the past week or two, so don’t use that as a gauge of the apps’ entertainment value.

seems to be gathering mixed reviews and is a one time use app until the developers start mixing up their content. Otherwise, some good fun.

Here is the balance of our Top 10 Gainers this week:

 

Top 10 Facebook App Gainers For November 30, 2009


Source: http://appdata.com

 

Links To The Top 10 & Others Mentioned:

  • FarmVille –
  • Causes –
  • Social Interview –
  • Cafe World –
  • Mafia Wars –
  • Happy Aquarium –
  • Pet Society –
  • FishVille –
  • YoVille –
  • Texas Hold’em –
  • Happy Pets –
  • Snowball Fight –
  • Zoo World –

If you have any comments or suggestions about our Top 10 lists, please feel free to let us know

below!

 






Posted by Guest Author on November 30, 2009 ·  

Facebook has become a universal fetish for teens, college students, moms, dads, business people, musicians, artists, baby boomers, grandmas and grandpas…there is no limit to the reach of Facebook.  Frightening?

This phenomenon has effectively superseded traditional industrial media (newspapers, film and television), by transforming news or social developments into social dialogues. Social media allows numerous sources of information on the same topic to be created and accessed, the content of which is referred to as user-generated content or consumer-generated media. With such a wide reach, it is no surprise that the marketing sphere has embraced it wholeheartedly.

Given the vastness of the online world and potentially limitless number of audience members, the idea of social media marketing is an appealing one. Marketing through social media should be thought of as a viable option when you consider the fact that the most affluent consumers are the most likely to be influenced by media when it comes to the selection of home repair services. In general, online reviews and opinions have begun to play a large part in swaying the decisions of many consumers on a myriad of services and goods.

If you’re getting hit with hard with marketing messages by people that you’ve met on Facebook, do these people a favor…

TELL THEM TO STOP! You don’t have to put up with bad Facebook Marketers and poor Facebook Etiquette.  What I suggest, you tell people is… “Hey, we just met.  You’re coming on a little heavy with the marketing.  I’m here on Facebook to create relationships and to meet people. Slow down.”

Many companies or businesses may find it a great wrench to move away from more traditional marketing and into media marketing. It’s true that time is needed to fully come to grips with a different approach to information, but when used correctly, social media can eventually prove to be a great return on their investment

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How To Advertise Your Business Using Facebook Pages

Posted by Guest Author on November 28, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

You can advertise using Facebook page for business. This is a social media website where you can create a profile and expose your business. It’s a totally free service and anybody can use it. You can find many social media websites but Facebook is one of the most popular. The website has a lot of members. If you are hesitating to subscribe just think for a minute at how many of those members could become your clients. Facebook is full of opportunities for you and your business!

Go to Facebook and create your profile. Start by signing up and create a name. The name should be your own, but add a fan page that is the same with your business name or your major keyword. Facebook gives you the chance to have an online business for free.

Let the world know everything about your business. Try to write a good content for your Facebook page. Describe your business and the products you’re selling. Make sure your text will be clear and easy to understand for everybody. In order to maintain the credibility of your business you should write only real things.

Buy a digital camera and take some clear pictures of your products. You have the possibility to upload them on your Facebook page. This will make your business even more successful. If people can see how the product looks like they are more likely to buy it.

From time to time announce on Facebook all the promotions you have. For example you can give a free product for every 2 bought. This will attract even more clients.

Also, don’t overlook the advantages of integrating all of your social media applications.  For example, be sure to include a subscribers on you Facebook page, as well.

All the news you have regarding your business should be posted on the Facebook page. If you always have something new to share about your business people will become interested. For example you can let people know about any new product or about the reductions. This way you will be active on Facebook and people will come back to read more about your business.

You can also organize a competition on the Facebook page. Announce on your Facebook page the contest details. People will have the chance to win one of your products. It’s a great way to make people become familiar with your products.

Be sure you check your Facebook page daily. Try to answer to all the comments you receive. This will make people trust you and your business. It’s important to keep checking your Facebook page. Long time ago people where only using social media websites like Facebook for making new friends. Now business entrepreneurs realized what a good opportunity this can be. You should give it a try!

 






Social Media Marketing: Five Simple Steps to Getting Started on Facebook

Posted by Joanne Dolles on November 28, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

Social Media Marketing for business using Facebook can build relationships and provide value to those within your Facebook network. Facebook allows you to be real, get to know other people with similar interests while building credibility and trust. In this article, we’ll discuss five simple steps to getting started on Facebook.

1. Create a profile in your real name
2. Connect with others
3. Communicate to others by wall posts
4. Update your status
5. Join and participate in FB groups

Create A Profile
When creating the perfect Facebook profile for social media marketing there are several things to keep in mind; like posting a great recent picture of you with a smile. People want to put a face with a name and posting a picture that does not include the whole current you doesn’t build credibility. Choose a tagline that grabs the readers’ attention while it explains who you are and what you do. Complete your profile by filing in personal information such as hobbies, favorite music, and maybe your goals and aspirations. Including personal information helps others want to get to know you better because you may have similar personal or business interests. Remember to be real, when you are fake, people can see right through you.

Connect With Others
Connecting with others is the reason Facebook was created in the first place. To get started, import your address book or search Facebook for people you may know or have done business with. You can also connect with new friends by viewing the friend list of your connections, you may find others that you would like to get to know better. Unlike Twitter where you can follow anyone, Facebook requires a friend to accept your friend request. When sending a friend request, send a personalized message with your request. There’s nothing like someone you do not know requesting to be your friend and not even introducing themselves. Include who you are and why you want to get to know the person, your chances of getting accepted will be much higher. Once accepted, you can view your new friends profile and they can view yours.

Communicate To Friends By A Wall Post
Start communicating with your friends by posting an interesting quote, asking a simple question or providing valuable information about your interests. You can post on a friends wall to say hello, give good wishes, or help friends find solutions to their business problems.

Update Your Status
Updating your status is similar to a wall post except it is where you post what you are up to, how your day is going and to encourage interaction between friends. This is how you develop and grow your credibility and contribute to your social media marketing. Friends will get to know and trust you. By contributing to the conversation and posting valuable information relevant to your niche or industry you will raise your trustworthiness and become a know expert.

Join And Participate In Facebook Groups
Joining and participating in Facebook Groups is a great way to expand your social media marketing and get in touch with others with similar interests. Simply type groups in the Facebook search and you will see a list that includes the groups that your friends belong to. You can also browse groups and sort them according to your interests. There are many groups to choose from and you can even start your own. Once you have joined a group, participate by adding to the conversation; this is the way you will make additional contacts. Don’t be shy, contribute to the conversation and introduce yourself.

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FarmVille Players, Send Your Friends An Exclusive Gift!

Posted by Joanne Dolles on November 26, 2009 · 6 Comments 

It seems the push is definitely on to move FarmVille away from Facebook, and over to FarmVille.com. In an effort to encourage us to do so, Zynga has introduced a variety of Exclusive Gifts, made available only to those using the FarmVille.com interface.

As you can see from the image below, there currently are 7 new giftable items, that from within Facebook show as a “FarmVille.com Exclusive”. Once you open FarmVille.com in your browser, these items immediately are unlocked, assuming you have reached the required game level.

If you choose not to use FarmVille’s new browser based version, you can still accept Exclusive gifts sent to you by your friends and neighbors. However, you may want to take a few moments to go try it out. We have had great success using the web based version and almost no connectivity issues. As much as we love Bits The Cow, it is wonderful to play without seeing her!

FarmVille.com Exclusive Gifts

 


FarmVille.com Exclusive Gifts:

  • Barrel of Grapes
  • Wooden Log
  • Ladder and Bucket
  • Orange Flag
  • Purple Flag
  • White Flag

If any of you have me as a neighbor, I am loving the Barrel of Grapes! (hint hint!)

 

 






Hoax! “Facebook Using Your Photos In Ads” Rumor Resurfaces

Posted by Joanne Dolles on November 25, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

The power of social media and social networking is at it again – this time, unfortunately for the wrong reasons. With 250 million Facebook accounts, it doesn’t take long for just 1 little wall post comment to spread like wildfire.

A perfect example of this wildfire happened last month with our How To Set Your Facebook News Feed And Wall Settings post. Within just 48 hours we had 125,000 people come read it, 32,000 people share it with their friends, and have since then accumulated a total of over 275,000 views – all from 1 little post.

However, the same ripple effect can happen with false and/or misleading information and rumors as well. They may be started by someone simply trying to help, or it could also be for malicious reasons. Regardless of which, the end result usually is the same; and in this case below, its outrage and panic for no reason.

We’ve seen the rumor being passed along on walls ways too many times the past few days so thought we would try and help clarify what exactly Facebook does do with your profile photo.

On Friday, Facebook will start using your photos in ads that will appear on the profile page of your contacts. It’s legal and is mentioned in the fine print when you create your account. TO stop this do the following: Settings, Privacy Settings, News Feed and Wall. Then click on Facebook Ads ( tab), choose “No one” and… save changes. Copy this and use in a status update. *****PASS ALONG*******

Let me start off by saying this rumor is FALSE. Facebook has also confirmed it is false. It was initially started back in July 2009, and has more recently sprouted up again. Here are the details on exactly how your photos are used:

Firstly, in my opinion, anything that says “PASS ALONG” should be considered suspicious. This is a favorite tactic of hoax initiators that you most likely have seen in your regular eMail Inbox over the years. We are told to “pass it on to everyone on our list” or else “the buildings will come tumbling down, oceans will overflow, volcanoes will erupt and… your dog will run away!”

Secondly, the instructions to follow above will not hurt if you were to follow them (they actually are decent), but what if they were harmful to your settings or computer? Don’t blindly make adjustments to any account setting or computer set up based on a nameless “tip”. Make sure the tip has been initiated by a reputable source, and is backed up by some documentation.

This particular rumor claims it is going to use your photos in ads placed on your friends profile pages. This is NOT true. However, Facebook DOES use your profile photo in some advertising – 99% of it harmless and no different than telling people what you have become a fan of. Photos from your photo albums are never used, and the ads are only seen by your friends. They are only connected to advertisers that you have a relationship with (eg: you are a fan).

Here is an example:

 

Facebook Advertising Examples

 

Reading though some of the comments posted around about this rumor, we have seen many people claim Facebook is lying, and that they really do use photos from our albums for advertising. They claim this is true because they have found their album images in Google.

What many don’t understand is that Facebook is a social network – it’s for sharing. If you do not want your photos shared, you need to reconsider posting them to your account, or protect the albums with better privacy settings.

Search engines also regularly crawl all websites, including Facebook. It is possible for your images to become indexed in places such as Google, Yahoo or Bing via this method as well. If you do not have the proper security settings you want, once you send that photo to your wall, you’ve unleashed it to the public!

Take control of your photo privacy – learn more below.

—————————————————-
To find out how you can adjust the privacy settings on your photo albums,
videos and more, take a moment to read
How To Pick The Exact People You Want To See Your Photo’s And More
—————————————————-
To find out more about Facebook use of your Profile photo for advertising:
Go to Settings –> Privacy Settings –> News Feed and Wall –> Facebook Ads
—————————————————-

 






FarmVille Storage Buildings: A Pathetic Whack From Zynga

Posted by Joanne Dolles on November 23, 2009 · 2 Comments 

Literally millions of people had been anxiously awaiting the release of some sort of storage capability on their FarmVille farm. The ability to expand our farms has been painstakingly drip fed to us, resulting in the need to be able to put stuff somewhere! With seasonal decorations costing a pretty coin, and keepsakes galore, almost every player has been begging for the ability to store items.

So, when Zynga made the following announcement last week, I quickly scooted over to my farm to start storing!

“We’ve heard some of you are feeling a bit cramped on your farm. FarmVille is proud to introduce STORAGE! Now you can decorate to your heart’s content while knowing that you have a place to store your stuff. By the way, have you seen the new Country Fair items? Check ‘em out and see why the sheep are having such a blast! ”

 

 

My first thoughts? “You have GOT to be %#&@! KIDDING me!”

Unfortunately, the amount of FarmVille storage allowed per building is pathetic…

The options are far from giving us the ability to “decorate to your heart’s content while knowing that you have a place to store your stuff.” In fact, it is sorely lacking.

Regular Red Barns allow you to hold 6 items. A Tool Shed will allow an additional 2 items. FarmVille combines these totals together and will show each building containing ?/8. This means, when you click on your tool shed, despite being able to only put 2 items inside, it will say 2/8. What you see in your tool shed also appears in your barn and vice versa. Animals cannot be stored.

That’s it… We can store 8 items total.

Considering the Red Barn takes up 6 land plots to place, and it can store 6 items, I am hard pressed to find the logic behind this! Why bother storing if the barn is going to consume the same amount of space? The same logic goes to the tool sheds. These take up 2 spaces, and can only store 2 items…

Now Zynga is a business and as such is out to make money – completely understandable! I too make my living online but acknowledge that added value is what keeps customers happy and coming back for more. The options Zynga has made available for those willing to pay real cash for additional storage are sorely lacking in this added value.

A premium barn (any other color than red) holds just 20 items, and the pink tool shed holds 15. Granted, this is a combined 35 items, but I suspect not everyone paying is going to want a PINK(!) tool shed just so they can store stuff!

The premium barn costs 27FV$ and the pink tool shed an additional 22FV$. This works out to approximately $9.00usd. Considering you can purchase hundreds of different fabulous games out there for $10-$20, I honestly think their pricing structure is a little wonky.

So in conclusion….

1. Free player FarmVille storage allows up to 8 items, but takes up to 8 spaces.
2. Premium player FarmVille storage allows up to 35 items, but is PINK(!) and will cost up to 49FV$.

Not sure about the rest of you, but I am definitely disappointed…

Oh by the way… Zynga? Can you please send me a new wheelbarrow? I placed mine in my barn and it seems to have been gobbled up by a turkey or something because I have not seen it since….

 






Top 10 Facebook Applications For November 23, 2009

Posted by Joanne Dolles on November 23, 2009 · 3 Comments 

Once again we see the usual suspects topping the Top 10 Facebook Applications leader board!

FarmVille, Causes and Cafe World hold onto first, second and third respectively. Causes did lose about 500,000 users, allowing Cafe World the opportunity to creep up a little closer to that second spot.

 

Top 10 Facebook Applications For November 23, 2009


Source: http://appdata.com

 

Continuing to gain massive ground on our Top 10 list is FishVille, with an impressive 6.7 million additional users this past week. You don’t see it on this weeks list as it falls into the 13th spot of our Top 10, but based on the past few weeks, I suspect we will see it around #7 next week!

Also closing in on our Top 10 list is ; a fabulous application for those of you wanting to take Facebook off your desktop PC.

There are a few interesting new applications gracing our Top Gainers list week as well, including some seasonal goofy fun from an app called Snowball Fight.

The “New App On The Block” goes out to , developed by CrowdStar; the makers of Happy Aquarium. Happy Pets is a game where you can take care of a variety of pets. Decorate rooms, feed and play with your pets and watch them grow and be happy. With the super success of Happy Aquarium, I don’t doubt we will see Happy Pets nearing the Top 10 soon.

Our “App Warning” goes out to Moment of Truth; one of those scary apps where we can supposedly find out what people honestly think about us. Reports are this one is full of spam, and won’t allow you to disable posting to your wall – most likely the reason it has gained so many users this past week. If this app continues to insist on publishing with out permission, I suspect Facebook will have it pulled shortly…

If you are looking for more animal fun, take a peek at Zoo World developed by RockYou!. It looks to be a fun game where you can build up your own zoo, collect and breed animals, hunt for treasure, and trade with your friends. We will be keeping our eye on this one!

 

Top 10 Facebook App Gainers For November 23, 2009


Source: http://appdata.com

 

Links To The Top 10 & Others Mentioned:

  • FarmVille –
  • Causes –
  • Cafe World –
  • Mafia Wars –
  • Happy Aquarium –
  • Pet Society –
  • YoVille –
  • Family Link –
  • Texas Hold’em –
  • Farm Town –
  • FishVille –
  • Happy Pets –
  • Snowball Fight –
  • Facebook for iPhone –
  • Zoo World –
  • Moment of Truth –

If you have any comments or suggestions about our Top 10 lists, please feel free to let us know below!

 






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