Erik Qualman's Blog, page 616

Avoid These 4 Common Investing Mistakes

One of the most common investing mistakes you can make is to not invest at all. But, investing can be a daunting project for the new investor, because there is so much to consider and so much that can go wrong. By avoiding these four mistakes, however, new investors can begin to build strong portfolios with confidence rather than apprehension.

Making Emotional Decisions

Emotions can get in the way of even the most experienced investor. When the stock market fluctuates too far or too quickly in either direction, temptation to alter one’s investment plan rises. The inability to predict what the market will do causes many investors anxiety. Based on the news or on current market behavior, many investors get nervous and make split-second decisions that negatively affect their portfolios. Rules, research, and planning are the best ways to curb these emotional temptations.

Buying High

When a stock has been steadily increasing, and it seems like most Wall Street investors are buying, it can be tempting to want to get in on the action. But buying high isn’t a good idea. Mainly because the stocks are expensive already, and there’s a very good chance that they’ll soon plateau or start to decline. A better option is to buy when stocks are in a dip, or to have rules or a plan in place that dictates when to buy stock, and stick to it. Buying high is, by and large, an emotional decision.

Failing to Do Research

Relying on tips from friends at work, relying too heavily on what Wall Street is doing, or buying stock because the company seems successful or has a single interesting product are all bad ideas. Doing research means more than checking the DOW for what’s hot; each investor’s portfolio is affected by many personal things, such as how much risk a person is willing to tolerate, and how much one can invest. Investing in the biggest names or the most popular companies is a mistake. Consider instead doing in-depth research on a particular industry, like the oil industry, because companies such as those under the Barbedos group, headed by Kashim Bukar Shettima, are extremely successful but lesser known than giants like BP.

Hanging on to Losing Investments

A big mistake investors make is keeping investments that are losing money. This mentality is simple: it’s easy to believe that the stock will eventually go back up, and one can sell once it breaks even. But the reality is that the stock could continue to go down, eating up money that would be better invested somewhere else. A good way to know when to drop an investment is to set rules constituting when to sell, and follow them.

Most of the mistakes new investors make come down to making emotional decisions. Whether it’s choosing popular stock, buying when prices are too high, or waiting to break even on a losing investment, keeping to a plan and setting up rules is the best way to keep these emotional decisions from negatively affecting a portfolio.

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Podcasts and New Media Advertising

I can personally say the way I consume media has drastically changed. I watch TV on Netflix or Hulu and don’t have cable. I enjoy original shows, clips, and programs on YouTube, listen to music on Spotify, Pandora, or Songza as well as one of the most unique new forms of entertainment; podcasts.

The podcasts I enjoy are simply digital copies of audio/radio broadcasts and interviews. My constant favorite for the past few years is the Nerdist Podcast which is great for entertainment purposes as well as the Smart People Podcast which has some great thought provoking content. What I think is the distinguishing feature of podcasts is how I am able to consume them. I can download them onto my smartphone, listen to them in the car or on the go with headphones while I work out for example. It’s awesome, original content coming out all year that is experiencing a boom recently, which in turn is a great opportunity for advertisers to create a unique relationship with their audience.

According to recent findings, 29% of Americans listen to audio podcasts (clumping in video bumps this number up), which is a sizable chunk consuming podcasts of all varieties on an array of topics. This means that consumers are getting on demand entertainment, news, and discussion on what they want most, creating a unique experience for them every time they listen. I know with the Nerdist Podcast, I feel like I’m catching up with friends when I listen to the podcast so whenever they talk about something, I follow up and heed their opinions. Check out these recent metrics that back up that sentiment:

67% of podcast listeners don’t mind sponsorship messages and occasionally find them useful, compared to only 6% positive sentiment expressed for the advertising approaches of television or commercial radio.
Nearly 80% of podcast consumers (responding to the survey), agreed that “when price and quality is equal,” they “prefer to buy products from companies that advertise on or sponsor” the podcasts they regularly enjoy.
Ninety percent of these respondents indicated that they had taken some kind of action as a result of podcast advertising or sponsorship, and over 40% reported purchasing behaviors, which indicates that they are receptive to the right message, in the right context. (For the rest of the findings, click here)

Although I’m mostly highlighting podcasts here, it is clear that with this being a huge new media format, other mediums like music streaming sites and video streaming sites cater to the same sensibilities. We don’t want to be fed phony ads any longer. If I’m looking to buy a camera, I’m going to ask my friend who knows about cameras or reference customer reviews at the very least. Consuming is social and the advent of on-demand entertainment is linked with that. Advertisers take notice and start to take advantage of this new possibility to create a more authentic, genuine connection with your customers.
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Virtual Communities for Writers: Building a Fan Base Around Your Writing

Most business professionals have known for years that social media marketing is essential for success. Perhaps you never thought of it as “marketing” before – these things you do to get people to appreciate your writing. But deep down, it is marketing.

It is establishing a fan base, it is sharing your passions with others, it is creating a conversation around a topic you feel passionately about, it is sharing wisdom.

And it is an essential task.

Not only will establishing an online community of followers help build your writing career, it will also create a community of like-minded individuals. This support system is more valuable than money (although, it will probably provide that too in the long run!).

Regardless of your reasoning, there is no possible situation where having thousands of devoted fans is a bad thing. So just do it already!

Do It Now

Most of us lack the motivation to put pen to paper each day – no matter what we are writing. The thought of undertaking a massive project like marketing our work on social media seems nearly impossible.

Plus, adding another task to our to-do list is often a bad idea for two reasons.

First, it could make us feel even more overwhelmed and stressed – like we have too much to do and not enough time to do it. This often causes us to do nothing at all because we just don’t know where to begin.

Second, it might be tempting to spend all our time doing “fun” stuff like chatting with friends on Facebook and never actually write a thing worthy of marketing.

However, it is essential to get the job done, to make your presence known on social media. In fact, you should have had it done yesterday.

Think about it. It is nearly impossible to have one without the other – a successful writing career and a devoted fan base. How can you establish yourself as a writer if you haven’t convinced anyone to buy into what you have to say? And how can you create a fan base if you have nothing to share with them?

Find a way to write and create an online fan base at the same time.

Know Who You Are Connecting With

There are numerous social media platforms you can join, but that doesn’t mean you need to join them all. In fact, spreading yourself too thin is almost worse than not creating the account in the first place. If you don’t have time to interact and develop each and every one of your social accounts, don’t bother. You will just alienate people with your lack of interaction.

That being said, you need to know what the audience is like on each social platform. Then, you can choose where you want to begin your marketing campaign.

Facebook is like your high school reunion, college homecoming and family Christmas dinner all rolled into one. It’s good for reminiscing, catching up and not taking yourself too seriously.
Twitter is like a noisy cocktail party. It’s good for quick, informal interactions – but the person you’re chatting up will probably move on to the next group of people before you have a chance to develop a real relationship.
Google+ is like a club – likeminded people come together to share their passions. It’s good for finding fans in your niche, but it might be hard to develop a more diverse following.
LinkedIn is like a hiring agency. It’s good for making business connections, finding a job, and buddying up to industry leaders.

Check Your Profile

If you already have a social media account that has primarily been used for personal communication, it is time to do a little housekeeping. Edit, purge, and update.

Think of your profile as a business card. You want to convince people to pick that card up, put it in their pocket, and pull it out when they need your services. In online terms, you want them to circle, follow, subscribe or like you.

Would you go to a marketing event in the “real world” and give out your contact number on the back of a napkin, scrawled in barely-legible ink? Why would you think to do the same with your online presence?

Upload a profile picture (this is an absolute must) that is of your face – and only your face. Don’t snap a selfie in the bathroom mirror. Don’t pose beside your precious car. Don’t include your husband, kid or dog.

Humbly and simply tell your story. Show you are capable, trustworthy and friendly.

Be an 80/20 Kind of Person

Remember social media is social. It was designed as a way to converse and interact with other people. If you use it for purposes other than what the manufacture intended, you’re asking for trouble.

While social media is great for marketing yourself and your writing, that isn’t the sole purpose. To be on the safe side, spend 80% of your time sharing the works of other people. Consider your audience and then link to content they would find appealing – articles, videos, photos.

At most, 20% of your social media interactions should be spent on self-promotion or your own contributions to the conversation.

Another way to think of it is like this: follow the example set by NPR. For approximately 363 days a year, the radio station shares quality, relevant content. They spend the rest of their time asking for pledges. People gladly accept this little bit of self-promotion – and willingly give back. NPR works hard to earn that opportunity by sharing great stuff with listeners the rest of the year.

Be like NPR. If you consistently provide great insight to your readers, they will be more willing to check out your own stuff because you’ve earned the right to toot your own horn.

Turn the Other Cheek

If you are waiting for universal acceptance of your writing, you’ll be very poor for a very long time. You will never create a composition that generates 100% agreement. Accept that fact right now.

If someone calls you out on your social media platform of choice, ignore the criticism. Don’t get angry. Don’t fight back. Turn the other cheek.

If they attack you again, block them. Then get on with your life.

Buck Conventional Wisdom

Writers are creative creatures. We don’t typically respond well to stiff, rigid rules. Therefore, it isn’t surprising to learn we are telling you to disregard what social media marketing experts typically advice people to do.

Many marketing experts will advise their clients to formulate a plan before jumping into social media. “What are your goals? What tactics will you use to meet those goals? Take a look at these strategies that have helped Business X increase their ROI by a million.”

It is probably safe to say none of that applies to you. Even for them, it isn’t a guaranteed way to create a fan base. In reality, there is no right or wrong. All you can hope for is to do what is right – for you.

Dive in. Go for it. Start drawing fans to your written masterpieces today.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluespf4...

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Flow and Flaw in App Marketing Via Social Media

That social media really plays a very important and crucial role in the mobile app marketing strategy. This is an undeniable and well-known fact. This is a special form of app marketing especially for all those who don’t have much budget for exclusive marketing schedules. Marketing through social media will help you reach more audience. You can also find the type of audience who has knowledge and also interest in what are offering them. What’s more, social media can help you to get more customers – credits to the “recommend your friends” app of the social media!

Let’s start with what you shouldn’t be doing through social media marketing;

Don’ts:

Never delete negative comments or reviews:

If you are negative comments about your service or product, take it lightly and positively. If there is any possibility for improvement then go for it else ignore it. Don’t delete those negative comments or put a fight over there.

Don’t rant:

You can market, specify about the positives of the product or service. Even you may go for humorous yet sensible posts but refrain from ranting or self praising posts. These are big turn-offs to the audience.

Now that we have analyzed what are the turn-offs, let’s discuss about the Do’s;

Do’s:

Be Interactive:

Be it facebook or twitter, be interactive. Respond to your customers and audience, also be open to reviews. Social media is not just for posting your contents; it is also for being interactive with your customers.

Be unique and innovative:

Try to be unique and innovative; always add a dash of freshness in your marketing efforts. There might be thousands of apps that will be available out there similar to yours but you should add a unique touch to the way marketing is done. This is how you will reach the audience. Try to show all the uniqueness and innovativeness in your marketing skills on the social media. Be expressive, don’t tell them that “app is there”, show them what all they can do with the app.

Give offers:

Offers, deals, and discounts are some of the best marketing strategy that is to be done by developers to market their app. You can create deals or offers thus making more users to be attracted to your page and participate. Alternatively you may also make users to come to your site using some events. Host events which will be related to your events and offer freebies or discounts based on it. For example, if you have created a games app, you might ask the users to give certain information regarding the game or host a quiz. Optionally, you may ask them to like the page and invite friends in order to get some freebie. This way not only your user count increase but the customer retention will also be higher, they will visit your FB page more and more.

Videos: Make videos of your app working or anything regarding your apps, you may create any comical video or cartoon for your app. This will go viral and it will get wide popularity and lot of recognition. Videos are more catchy and high way to attract more users to your product. Action speaks louder than words.

These are few of the dos and don’ts that must be kept in mind while you are trying to use social media as the marketing strategy for your app promotion. Although, there are many more tips and tricks, these steps are very essential and mandatory. These when rightly used can get you high productivity and right set of audience and users.

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Infographic: The Evolution of the PlayStation

In the last few decades, gaming has evolved from the proverbial amoeba to a talking, psychic, fire-breathing dragon with HD cameras for eyes.  We have gone from kick-the-can to Pong to realistic fantasy worlds with characters controlled by simple gestures in front of a camera while conversing with other players around the world.

When the PlayStation was first released in the mid-1990s, it was revolutionary.  Ever since, the PlayStation console has represented a microcosm of technological advancements in realistic graphics, computer memory, processing power, responsive controllers, multi-tasking capabilities, and social networking.  All this in one little gaming console?  The PlayStation’s history of its current four models is truly remarkable.

Looking back at the history of gaming reveals the astounding growth of console science and popularity.  What started as a simple gaming system using emerging tech like CDs and 3D graphics soon saw partnerships between game and technology companies to produce innovations never before imagined.  The consoles became lighter, started using less energy, stored more memory, showed sharper graphics, and became more responsive between the game action and the player.  The latest incarnation takes multi-use, multi-screen, and social networking to another whole level of convenience, usability, and speed.  As the popularity and capabilities of PlayStation consoles continue to grow, it’s easy to see why this gaming colossus stays atop the industry.

Infographic presented by: Wish.co.uk

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Banks Know Social Media is Money

Just about every type of business is now using social media, so it should come as no surprise that banks have jumped on board.

There are small, neighborhood banks and large financial corporations both using social media sites, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, and more.

They are using it for a variety of different things, ranging from advertising and marketing, to announcing upcoming promotions, new banking products, and providing fast customer service.

Why Banks Should Utilize Social Media

The first thing to look over is why exactly banks choose to use social media.

One of the biggest reasons is because that is where there customers are. In today’s delicate economy, going where your customers are proves essential.

So once banking institutions figured out the majority of their customers were active on social media, they began using it as well. There are millions of customers on Twitter and over a billion Facebook users, drawing banks to these social media sites first. Of course, they also find benefits to other networks as well.

Some, like Wells Fargo, use multiple social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. The newest social media site that banks are flocking to is Pinterest. Not only are they following customers there, but providing customer service as well.

How Banks Cash in on Social Media

Banks are using social media in a few different ways.

Aside from customer service, they are also using social media to build a community and help to sell more products from it. Some banks have new banking products, such as free checking accounts, student savings accounts, or new terms on their loans. This provides a great place for advertising them to the right audience.

They are also using it as a way to look at what their customers are posting and find out where their biggest complaints or suggestions are. Some banks are even using social media sites as a way to help with their crediting decisions.

Top Banks Using Social Media

Here is how a couple of the top banks on social media are using it to their advantage:

Barclays Bank – One of the banks using social media the most is Barclays Bank. On Twitter, they several branded accounts for offering services, sponsors and different areas of business. They also have a Facebook page where they post updates regularly and have received more than 320,000 likes and a LinkedIn page for recruiting employees.

HSBC – HSBC is one of the largest banks in the world, with branches throughout the UK, U.S., Mexico, and Brazil. They have separate social media accounts for each region, including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+.

Future of Banking with Social Media

Aside from what banks are currently doing on social media, they may soon be using it in an entirely new way.

There is talk of online banking actually entering social media where transactions can be done over sites like Facebook.

This is something that financial service companies see as being a possibility in the future. It may be customers being able to check their account balances on Facebook and Twitter, and possibly doing other online banking transactions as well.

Photo credit: money.howstuffworks.com

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Influencer Marketing for your Brand: Avoid These 5 Mistakes

“Influencer Marketing” – the latest buzz phrase in the marketing sphere – but is your brand doing it right? There are multiple pitfalls, which are easy to miss even if they’re right in front of you. So instead of running towards the finish line, tread carefully and strategically for your brand’s benefit and ensure you have chosen the right influencer with the right tone, brand fit, and appropriate audience.

Avoid these pitfalls along the way:

1. Not understanding the definition of an Influencer

First and foremost, what is an influencer? The word means different things to different people and brands, and rightly so. There are different types of influencers, and your brand needs to decide which ones are right for their brand messaging, their target audience, and the unified effort. For example, celebrities are considered influencers due to their large following on social channels and otherwise. And then you have experts, journalists, personal branders, and topic authorities. So which one is right for your brand and your campaign – #2 should help with that.

2. Forgetting to put together an Influencer Strategy

An influencer strategy, like a social media strategy, channel strategy, and/or content strategy — is significant because it allows a brand to determine which influencers are right for the brand, how they will be reached out to, how they will be worked with, and what the goals and learnings will be from the program overall. Without this, you are just tweeting to random people and pulling at straws and may turn up with the short one. And no brand wants that.

3. Missing the brand fit

When you evaluate your list of influencers it’s important to ensure that the ones you’re considering are not opposed to the brand in any way. For example, it would be poor form to choose an influencer which may have spoken badly of the brand, a product of the brand, and/or some partnership/program that the brand was involved in. Additionally, it’s important that the influencer(s) fits the brand image in a way that isn’t too controversial (unless that’s what the brand is hoping for). For example, if the brand’s image is about being conservative, eco-friendly, and about local efforts, than it may help if the influencer has similarities in those areas or strengths that will help influence those areas as well.

4. Only using tools to find an influencer

This is a huge error that can cause the wrong influencer to be chosen. Although there are many tools out there that will help one get a list of influencers that may fit the brand/campaign, the human touch is still necessary. For example, 10 awesome influencers may be brought down from an initial list of 100 or more, which helps with efficiency and time to get down to the ones that mater and could have an impact for the brand. However, it’s important to look back into the person’s history (especially regarding #3 above), check to see the conversation that the person is having on their social channels, and ensure that the tool was accurate in its assessment. For instance, is the audience of that influencer one that matters to the brand? If not their influence is less likely to make an impact and bring awareness, engagement, and/or positive sentiment towards the brand as it had hoped.

5. Lack of authenticity

Since he or she is an influencer, they’re obviously authentic, right? Not, necessarily. For example, if an influencer is being poked by a brand a second, he or she may be writing sponsored content on a regular basis. Then where’s the original content, the content that matters to their audience. It’s important that the influencer has a balance of content that is still their own because without their own, personal, un-biased opinion, the authenticity is lost, and their influence is less valuable.

Looking for more input to ensure your influencer marketing starts off on the right foot? Reach out in the comments below!

 

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How Effectively to Build up Quality Backlinks to Your Social Profiles

Businesses are able to grow their website popularity on the search using their social profiles. With the strong social signals coming from the various social networks, you can significantly find your website rank work its way up to the first page search result. One of the most effective ways of growing the organic traffic of your site, promote branding and website popularity is to make your social profile more active and popular. By building quality backlinks to your social profile you can essentially make your business more relevant to the search engine result. Here are some ways on how to build up the quality of backlinks to your social profiles.

Leverage on Google

Have you heard about Google profiles, Google Places and Google Plus? These are great potential tools in helping you build quality backlinks to your social profile. With Google profiles, you can use it in bringing better signal to the search engine about your social website accounts by creating a profile about your employees or business partners or directors and leave your custom link to an appropriate keyword on their bio. Google Plus can also grow your authorship by leaving across the various blog sites where you submit your posts a link to your social profile. Google Places is another channel where you can provide your business listings and provide information about your business while embedding your social profile custom link. Google is a very powerful traffic source to your social profile and you might as well make use of them in building strong backlinks. With SEO ranking check, you can track down the valuable organic traffic source that helps in building your link building efforts.

Use Squidoo Lenses to grow your backlinks

Creating informative lenses in Squidoo can be a powerful source of high quality backlinks to your social profile. By writing highly informative blog like content while referencing your business products and services, it is easy for you to include in your content a do-follow link to your Squidoo lens content pointing to your social profile. Squidoo is a popular hub as far as obtaining quality information is concerned and it ranks high in the search engine. Traffic pointing towards your social profile from Squidoo can bring better influence to your search engine results page.

Leave your social media footprints across the social media networks

If you have different social profiles, it is essential to make it known across various channels in the social media community. By using simple text links that are embedded to your author bio when writing a blog post will help. You can also add your social profile link on social icons that you can post on the footer, sidebar or header of your website. Try to be active in leaving comments and participate on the discussion forums in social media while leaving a custom link of your social profile to your signature. You must provide insightful comments in order to make other people become interested in viewing your social profile link.

Use the do-follow link

There are two kinds of links on a web page namely the do-follow and no-follow links. If your focus is building quality links to your social profile you should make sure that your links are do-follow. This type of link sends a signal to the search engine to follow the links on a web page in contrast to the no-follow links which essentially tells the search engine to ignore the embedded link to a web page. SEO ranking check will also yield a negative result with a no-follow link so make sure that your links are do-follow to ensure that your link is counted as backlink to your social profile by the search engine.

 

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Rental Car Agencies Drive Off Being More Social

A wide range of businesses are using social media for marketing, networking and simply to get the word out about their latest deals and promotions.

Rental car agencies are included in this, where previously their best marketing tactics were word-of-mouth and some Internet searches. Rental car companies provide different types of vehicles to those who need them, such as cars, trucks, vans and SUVs.

And not surprising, the two largest companies in the country, Hertz and Enterprise, are big users of social media. Hertz has more than 23,000 followers on Twitter alone, not to mention how often they use Facebook. Both Hertz and Enterprise not only update frequently, but reply to others as well.

Great Customer Support

One of the best things about rental car agencies using social media is that they can use platforms for providing customer support.

Enterprise has a great reputation for replying to questions or concerns on Facebook and Twitter, making their customer responses public. This not only helps the one asking the questions, but others who visit their sites and might be wondering the same things.

Finding Local Businesses

Getting more customers is also an advantage of rental car agencies using social media.

Consumers often use social media when they are looking for something in particular, not necessarily when they already know the business name.

Searching for “California auto insurance” brings up results in sites like Twitter, that show them not just auto insurance companies, but reviews of other people who use these companies. The same can be said for local rental car agencies.

Offering Deals and Promotions

Social media provides rental car companies a great opportunities for announcing new deals and promotions. Without having people subscribed to them, it is hard to let consumers know about these deals.

This can often be what causes a potential customer to choose them over another rental care agency down the street.

Many of them even offer weekly coupons, especially useful for people who need rental cars often and follow them on sites like Twitter or Facebook.

Providing Special Contests

Aside from deals, coupons and promotions, rental car agencies can also hold contests on social media sites.

Facebook is especially useful for this. In fact, another large rental car agency, Alamo, held a contest in 2013 offering $5,000 to a potential customer to use for their rental cars at any time they wanted. The sweepstakes ended up being a huge success for them.

Search Engine Result Benefits

Finally, rental car agencies have been having luck with search engine results and their social media sites. A lot of updates and other information from their social media profiles actually show up in search engine results.

By posting regularly, they are increasing their ability to appear at the top of the search engine results lists when someone searches for a local place with rental car deals.

All of this information proves how rental car agencies are currently getting more success by utilizing the benefits of social media.

It can be used for just about any type of business out there.

Photo credit: boardingarea.com

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From Joysticks to Likes: The Merger of Social Media and Gaming

Facebook is part of our daily routine and we can Tweet in our sleep. Social media has become so compelling and integrated into our lives, we return time and time again to check out our newsfeeds and update our lists. The continued development of new features has increased the time spent on social media, to the point where Experian Media reports 27 percent of the hours spent online involve social media. The ability to play games directly on our Facebook feeds has been a large factor in our increased time on the site. How has gaming and social media converged?

Freemium Apps

Nearly every game on Facebook allows users to play free of charge. Instead of demanding cash up front, the gaming industry has learned to profit through social media’s “freemium” craze. While you can play games like Candy Crush on Facebook without ever needing to put a dime into the game, many users pay small amounts to upgrade or unlock items. Games require you to collect points, wait certain periods of time or complete puzzles in order to level up or gain an upgrade. PLayers who don’t want to wait or go through all of the extra steps can buy levels and upgrades with real money. The games are designed to make you impatient so you are willing to pay to skip a tedious step or side quest. Prices can range from a dollar even up to to $100.

Some Facebook and social media games have other ways to pay for content. Some require users to scroll through ads or watch a video in order to get to the next level, while others require subscriptions or need players to complete surveys. Freemium games are not just exclusive to social media, however. Major game titles like “Team Fortress 2″ and “League of Legends” have launched on a free-to-play model with for-cost upgrades. These social games can be accessed through any mobile device or computer.

Off-Console Play

Triple-A gaming titles released for consoles cannot generally be played on social media networks, but that does not mean the gaming stops as soon as you turn off your Xbox or Playstation. Origin.com launched the Battlefield 4 app and social media platform in order to encourage BF4 players to connect online, develop friendships based on the in-game experience and compare their performance to others in their networks. Social users can compare their statistics, including that all-important kill-death ratio, then look for recruiting clans and even set up their characters for the next firefight.

Traditional gaming consoles have taken a big step toward social gaming by connecting your personal information and acting as almost a social media profile in itself. Gamers can connect and play together in a new and more personal way, furthering satisfaction but also posing security risks. Console gamers should be careful not to provide too much personal information when accessing online social games.

Social Gaming Platforms

Though many games offer Facebook pages or Twitter updates for their fanbases, only one company has taken the effort to provide a social platform dedicated to games themselves. Valve’s popular PC-gaming platform Steam lets users launch games with the click of a button and even trade games to fellow users. Steam offers the same features as social media, including profile pictures, chat, and friend lists, and now will let users do so on their very own Steam Machine console in 2014. Will the Steam Machine be popular enough to de-throne the major titans of the gaming industry like Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo? While that remains to be seen, Valve is betting that the social aspect of the Steam Machine will prove as popular as the games offered at launch.

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