Erik Qualman's Blog, page 682

Social Gaming Infographic

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Social Gaming Infographic covers trends and statistics. What social games are hot? What social games are trending?

Source: Tripwiremagazine.com

 

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Social Media Infographic: 9 Tips

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Website Challenge Infographic

This is a fun infographic from ZippyCart (fun for us nerds). There are 70 iconic Internet brands in the image below. For example you may see Tom's Shoes right in the middle, or the street sign with Google? A trickier one is the shark with the headphones in the water (yep Grooveshark). Can you find the rest?

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Download the full size version of this image, to zoom in and see details you can't miss.

Grand Prize – Starter Store for one year from CoreCommerce, 70 Websites Challenge Poster, ZippyCart T-shirt, and an Organic T-shirt of your choice from Data Threads

The  are simple and entering to win is easy. Identify 50 of the 70 websites, and you'll be entered into a drawing to win a free CoreCommerce store for 1 year. Better yet, we'll write about your store and give you free press once it goes live! To enter, simply visit our official entry form, agree to the , and hit submit.

 

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Tweet to Win

Need another example of Social Media's influence on all aspect of our lives? Look no further than the current negotiations between the NBA and the NBPA. As Derek Fisher and the NBA Player's Association try to outmaneuver the NBA and commissioner David Stern, they need to leverage Twitter as an asset in their negotiation.  Soon the lockout will begin encroaching on the regular season schedule and public perception will begin to apply pressure to negotiations based on how the story is framed in the media.  The side that controls public sentiment can come out in better favor with fans and effectively own the hearts and minds of NBA fans now and in the future. As the catalyst for the player's to control public relations, I give you Fisher's Five: LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Lamar Odom, and Derek Fisher.

To date, in the public arena, commissioner David Stern has controlled the conversation in the media. If the conversation is brought to Twitter and the proper strategy employed, the player's can gain control. The starting five have more followers than the teams, the league, and owner Mark Cuban combined. (see graph below) If they get to field reserves they could exponentially dwarf the NBA's twitter influence with less than 25 active players.

The NBA has taken a strong position and painted the picture they want the fans to perceive.  According to the NBA, the league is a business and the teams and owners are losing money, therefore the players need to make concessions in order to support the league and restore health to an ailing business.  Since an honest discussion about highly complex issues can't be had in the public arena and the league has decided to go to the press, the player's must respond in kind. Tweets with photos, video, and well-developed arguments can give twitter followers a complete picture of the issues and demonstrate to the NBA that the player's have direct influence over the fans.  This is the only future for the player's. If players control communications with the fans then the league, networks, and brands will be beholden to them.  The player's having direct-to-fan contact is the only way to effectively shift leverage and create a league where the player's can negotiate a fair and equitable CBA.

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By: Anthony Rodriguez, Lineage Interactive

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Social Media Growth Infographic

Great social media infographic highlighting that social media's impact on the world is still in its early stages. Social media growth infographic courtesy of SEJ.

Source: The Growth of Social Media: An Infographic

 

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41% of Gaming on Social Platforms

I know when I saw all the social games coming out, such as Farmville and others, I thought they would have a minimal shelf life and the phase would pass…I thought wrong. Social gaming is not just another fad that would pass like overall pants…it is here, and is only growing bigger and bigger. Don't believe me? Check out these stats…!

1. 41% of Gamers are playing on social media platforms

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2. 60% of gamers play with friends 

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3. 26 million play social games on their mobile devices 

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4. Social Gaming Ad Spend increased from $183M in 2009 to $293M in 2011  [image error]
 
 5. 55% of social gamers are female and 56% of social gamers play daily
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What does this tell you? It's no fad…it's no phenomena that will disappear in a day. Social gaming has sky rocketed in the past couple years, as seen from the Ad spend, the amount of gamers, and the amount of time spent gaming daily and monthly by avid social gamers. People like to be competitive, have interaction with their friends, have a friendly distraction, and feel connected with others while they do something they enjoy. So what does this mean for brands and advertisers? It is a great avenue and way to jump in and build brand awareness via ads in games. For example, Honda did a fabulous job at placing its CR-Z in a Facebook game in order to create brand awareness. It was also a very unique way for its audience to engage with the brand. Smart? Yes. Are you ready? It's your brand's turn!

Sources:

Dream Grow Social Media

Pcmag.com

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41% of Gamers on Social Platforms

I know when I saw all the social games coming out, such as Farmville and others, I thought they would have a minimal shelf life and the phase would pass…I thought wrong. Social gaming is not just another fad that would pass like overall pants…it is here, and is only growing bigger and bigger. Don't believe me? Check out these stats…!

1. 41% of Gamers are playing on social media platforms

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2. 60% of gamers play with friends 

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3. 26 million play social games on their mobile devices 

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4. Social Gaming Ad Spend increased from $183M in 2009 to $293M in 2011  [image error]
 
 5. 55% of social gamers are female and 56% of social gamers play daily
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What does this tell you? It's no fad…it's no phenomena that will disappear in a day. Social gaming has sky rocketed in the past couple years, as seen from the Ad spend, the amount of gamers, and the amount of time spent gaming daily and monthly by avid social gamers. People like to be competitive, have interaction with their friends, have a friendly distraction, and feel connected with others while they do something they enjoy. So what does this mean for brands and advertisers? It is a great avenue and way to jump in and build brand awareness via ads in games. For example, Honda did a fabulous job at placing its CR-Z in a Facebook game in order to create brand awareness. It was also a very unique way for its audience to engage with the brand. Smart? Yes. Are you ready? It's your brand's turn!

Sources:

Dream Grow Social Media

Pcmag.com

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Inviting the World to Your Event via Social Networking

Remember the good old days when you would pick up the phone or mail out some hand-written invitations to your party? Well, those days are essentially a thing of the past given the outreach of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

In the latest social networking gaffe, authorities in Fort Collins, Colorado say that an open invite on Facebook to an annual Colorado State back-to-school college party led to thousands of college age men and women showing up for "the biggest pool party of the year."

When all was said and done, several individuals were in handcuffs, several people were injured, and there was quite a cleanup to be undertaken.

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Some Police Monitor Facebook and Other Social Networks

Given that authorities in many communities now follow Facebook, Twitter and other social media venues more regularly, it didn't take long for authorities to get tipped off to the goings-on, although police in this case said they were not monitoring the Facebook party site in question.

According to a police spokesperson, "Some people came from as far away as Denver (about 65 miles) for this back-to-school party."

Authorities reported that the party's Facebook page had approximately 3,000 registered individuals, with some 2,000 actually showing up. As a result, authorities, who indicated complex management may be cited under the city's nuisance gathering ordinance, had to close surrounding streets in order to clear the venue of people.

While police would not say if any further arrests are pending, a video of the scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uHCECbO6_M&feature=related) has already surfaced on YouTube. If you remember the rioting in Vancouver last spring following the Stanley Cup Finals or other such events, authorities have used such sites to review videos and images to see who may be breaking the law.

Lest you think this is the first time such a college event has been advertised, it was just a year ago in Virginia when a block party close to James Madison University drew thousands through a Facebook post, leading to the event being closed down by police in riot gear.

As the Rocky Mountain Collegian pointed out in an editorial, "The Rams Pointe pool party perpetuated every negative college student stereotype there is, and it will make it that much harder to gain back any respect.

"After all, the party may have been totally awesome, but it probably wasn't worth risking our reputation over."

So, are you ready to use Facebook, Twitter or another social networking venue to advertise your next big shindig?

Photo credit: Erin Udell

 

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40,000 quake-related tweets within 60 seconds

If you did not think the social networking world had taken much of the world by storm in recent years, this week's events here in the U.S. are a perfect example.

Tuesday's rare 5.8-magnitude earthquake in Virginia had much of the nation and other parts of the world for that matter buzzing on both Twitter and Facebook.

As Hurricane Irene barrels down on the Eastern seaboard this weekend, expect similar if not more social networking to occur.

Tweeting and Sharing

While the western half of the nation has never been a stranger to earthquakes, folks in Washington, D.C., New York City and other northeastern cities see them about as often as they do tornados.

So when the ground rumbled for a few seconds on Tuesday, residents in a number of eastern states and parts of eastern Canada were quite literally shocked. Many of them took to their cell phones and other means of electronic communications and began tweeting and sharing their experiences.

According to information from Twitter, the site had more than 40,000 quake-related tweets within 60 seconds of the earthquake, while Facebook said it had some 3 million U.S. users updating others about the event.

While many of the tweets and shares came from businesspeople, people at home, and on school campuses, a large number also originated within the government.

According to a FEMA spokesperson, the agency put Twitter to use to alert people impacted by the quake not to use cell phones unless absolutely necessary, thereby freeing up some of the lines for emergency calls.

Among the tweets was this one from the Department of Justice – "Quake: Tell friends/family you are OK via text, email and social media (@twitter & facebook.com). Avoid calls."

Meantime, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg tweeted – "I've spoken w/ our Police and Fire Commissioners & we've activated the Emergency Management Situation Room. Thankfully, there are no reports of significant damage or injuries in NYC at this time."

With Hurricane Irene appearing headed for a direct strike on North Carolina and potentially all the way up the Eastern seaboard this weekend, government officials, airlines, hotels and others are already using social networking venues to alert individuals about the situation.

 

Stats Back up Social Networking Emergence

While many people still turn to television news to get their updates, there is little doubt that sites such as Twitter and Facebook are quickly if not already becoming the go-to places for immediate updates.

According to a pair of June Red Cross surveys from more than 2,000 people combined:

After television and local radio, the Internet ranks the third most popular way for people to obtain emergency information with 18 percent of both the general and the online population directly using Facebook;
Nearly one fourth (24 percent) of the general population and a third (31 percent) of the online population would turn to social media to alert loved ones they are safe;
Four of five (80 percent) of the general and 69 percent of the online populations surveyed think that national emergency response organizations should regularly monitor social media sites in order to respond quickly.

 

"Social media is becoming an integral part of disaster response," Wendy Harman, director of social strategy for the American Red Cross, said in a statement. "During the record-breaking 2011 spring storm season, people across America alerted the Red Cross to their needs via Facebook.  We also used Twitter to connect to thousands of people seeking comfort, and safety information to help get them through the darkest hours of storms."

With Hurricane Irene expected to live up to her billing this weekend, figure on Twitter and Facebook creating quite a storm as people continue to set sail on this new information age journey.

Photo credit: Cleveland.com

 

Dave Thomas is an expert writer on items like call center services and is based in San Diego, California. He writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on call center company purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs at Resource Nation.

 

 

 

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Steve Jobs for President Video

Funny 30 sec video on Steve Jobs becoming President. Click to play and enjoy! – Erik Qualman

(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

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