Social Gaming is Taking Over

Who doesn't like playing games with their friends? Whether hosting a game night at your apartment on a Saturday night or an impromptu game of Poker with a friend during your lunch break, people always enjoy playing games with friends. This is because playing games is a great way to socialize and learn about your friends. You get to see how they make strategy, and how they show off their skills.

With the rise of social networking site, play games with your friends has been taken to the next level. It's called social gaming, and it's taking the Internet by storm. This massive phenomenon is taking passive and inactive social networking users, and turning them into social gaming addicts.

Games like the hugely popular Farmville are played on Facebook and fans of the game are hooked. The most interesting facts to come out of the social gaming craze are the demographics - going against what I would perceive as the norm, the average social gamer is a 43-year-old woman. And 55% of social gamers are women. This is huge information for advertisers and the people who social networks like Facebook. If women are returning to Facebook multiple times a day to play games like Farmville with their friends, how are some other ways that Facebook can make sure they stay?

Also, fascinating is how successful the companies that own and run these social games are. Zynga, the developers behind Farmville, has over 750 employees worldwide and gains millions of dollars from it's users.

I see social gaming only expanding from this point. It seems to be popular among all types of demographics, and people are willing to spend money on these games that they are playing so frequently. If there is revenue, more and more people are going to start being interested, and more and more innovative games will be coming out for people to get hooked on.

Return on Investment: Worht It?

ROI. Return on Investments. It's the big buzzword that social media enthusiasts love to throw out to make their social media gospel more appealing. But, is the return on investments you get with social networking really that groundbreaking? The short answer is yes.

The amount of people you can reach on Twitter alone who are actively following your message and supporting what you do trumps any kind of traditional advertising. Once someone has chosen to follow you, they have chosen to invest in you and your message. This is a very active audience who will value your realtionship online greater than them just passing by a billboard on the street.

The Blog is the New Resume

As an avid reader of blogs and follower of young people doing great things in the online space, I have seen the rise of blogs that also act as resumes. What a great way to show future employers who they can hire. Unlike a resume, which lists current and prior positions held and schools attended, a blog shows the reader a complete picture of who someone is, what their interests are, and what assets they can provide for you. It's truly a piece of work, whereas a resume is a list of work. A blog is a picture, while a resume makes you uniform like everyone else.

A great thing that a lot of bloggers are doing is adding a tab or linkable section to their blog that features a traditional resume in the form of a blog post, so that those who are looking can see experience intermixed with current ideas and thoughts. Someone who is doing this well is Joe Coscarelli, a recent NYU grad and aspiring cultural writer. He includes a resume with experiences and training along with blog postings about pop culture, which is what he would like to be hired to do.

In this day and age, you have to be willing to give some of yourself, your content away for free in order for people to get a taste of who you are and what you are all about. If they see that you are being extremely successful and crushing it on your blog for no cost, they are going to be compelled to want your talents to be a part of what they are doing.

I need to finally get on this. New blog, tomorrow.

Teamworking around the world

After recently reading some articles on virtual teams and coworking, I have been thinking about the idea working in teams in the workplace.

Teamwork is definitely an excellent way of working - through collaboration come innovation and some of the best ideas. So, to me, working in teams is essential. With the Internet, working together means that you can be anywhere at anytime, as long as you have an Internet connection.

There are so many collaborative tools online which can be used to optimize coworking. Tools like Google Wave, Yammer, and Skype are revolutionizing the way virtual teams work together. Companies like Cisco Systems are dedicated to making products that make virtual teams more effective than ever.

What World Am I In?

Honestly, I have a hard time related to Virtual Worlds. Video games have never really been my thing, whether they were played on a console or the computer, so the draw of digital worlds like Second Life never really reached me. But, I have followed them, and after reading about some of them and their uses, I see their importance.

It's interesting how schools like Yale are using their presence on Second Life to promote education and learning in and outside of the classroom. It's a cool place where collaborative, teamwork can be used and taught, as well as how communities work. I can see Second Life being a great tool in classes for Urban Studies or Development courses. Also, it can be a great tool for students learning about Business because it can address issues such as team building, business making, and community impact. The fact that these companies are worth so much money is a testament to how successful they can be. Another virtual world that would be interesting to look into would be popular game World of Warcraft, which I know is also worth a major amount of money and has users spending a lot of time in.

It's also interesting to see how new technology will embrace various virtual world. With the introduction of Apple's iPad, will virtual world become more common place as the platform by which you access them becomes more and more comfortable? Will virtual worlds like Second Life and Farmville become more of a community when it is more comfortable to access these worlds with your hands and senses?

Get Linked In With LinkedIn

It's an interesting phenomenon that has happened to me since I have been at college. Every time a job fair comes along on campus or the a semester is ending, I get a flood of emails in my inbox saying that "Someone new would like to Link to you on LinkedIn!" It is at that time I am reminded of my LinkedIn profile that I made sometime in my senior year of high school after reading that it would be a good tool. I still do think it will be a good tool, but it is a working profile/resume that takes time to develop before you can start searching for others to become a part of your network. I feel like I want to keep my profile and maintain it every once in a while and then when the big time comes closer, I will make it more public and open so that I can enter the world of LinkedIn with confidence. After all, networking with someone with a lot of experience is a lot more valuable than networking with someone who know less than what you know. To me, it's all about learning the ropes before diving in... (I might have used two idioms right there and combined them into one, I hope you get it.)

As I read in the Yahoo article by Liz Ryan, "Networking gives you a chance to meet new people, but quality trumps quantity in human relationships, every time."

As a business I would love to use LinkedIn as a recruiting tool because it puts all the information you need right in front of you. Having prospects send you a link to their profile makes everything so easy and efficient.

In a world where everyone has a cell phone, everyone is constantly communicating, and the Internet is in the palm of your hand, it is hard to believe that the world of mobile technology has not reached it's full potential. The fast growing world of mobile 2.0 is still a toddler and it's still learning how to walk and talk, and everything that it can do.

In the United States, ultra-connectivity is still a fairly new world. Texting is only recently become the norm to most, and having a Internet-connected phone is still a feature that most do not have. But, the future looks bright.

The recent high-tech trends in the mobile all have to do with one things: location. Startups like Foursquare and Gowalla are location based social-networks in which you "Check-In" your location on your phone to show those in your network where you are. Your friends can meet up with you based on where your last check in was. Foursqaure even rewards your for checking in to different locations. Business have figured out ways to monetize these location based social networks by offering discounts and rewards if your check-in. For example, some bars will offer free drinks if you show them that you check into their location.

In Japan, what are known as "thumb novels" have become popular. More and more people are reading stories that are made to be read on a cell phone. I think these are a great idea, especially in a country that is heavily populated with people living in large cities like Tokyo and Kyoto who are commuting on trains and subways. It seems like a great way to pass the time.

What do you think? It's important.

Having recently read sections of "Personal Influence" by Paul Lazarsfeld and Elihu Katz for a class, I was drawn to the article in The Economist titled "Word of Mouse", which applied the ideas of Lazarsfeld and Katz to the changing world of advertising on the Internet.

With Facebook Connect, advertising has changed and is in the hands of the people. No longer does the company solely control their image, but with social networks, you can shares with your network what products/services you like or don't like. If you share with your friends on Facebook that the shirt you just bought from Urban Outfitters is awesome and really warm, they see that you think positively of that product and they will have a positive view of that. You can express your displeasure with the service at your local gas station online, and everyone on your network will know about it.

With Yelp, reviews are in the hands of the people and if you are looking for what people are saying about the barber or restaurant you are thinking about going to, you can look up what they say online, and a community of reviewers can talk back to you.

Is The Internet Making Us Dumb?

Revolutions happen. Sometimes they are fast, other times they are slow. But, no matter what, revolutions shift our culture, or world so quickly that those who didn't see it coming oftentimes cannot wrap their heads around what happened, or why what they have lived with for all of their lives is no longer the norm.

This is precisely what happen to Doris Lessing, 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature winner. The Internet Revolution changed the world that she knew, I don't blame her for saying that the Internet is full of "inanities". If you read her speech, which advocates for the joys and importance of reading, you can see why she may think that the Internet is a place for useless banter, socializing, and not learning outside of the realm of computers.

But, the culture has changed, and the way we get information has become much easier and faster than ever before. We can Google, and get latest current events, academic articles and information, and take this all for granted.

But, I see where Lessing is worried. With her love of books and all that they have taught her, the thought of books and all of the information that they store becoming obsolete is frightening. And there is certainly published information that hasn't made it's way to the Internet. But, there are many people who are making sure that this information isn't going out of the window. Sites such as Wikipedia are example of this. Millions of people are constantly adding information to the site so that it keeps becoming larger and full of as many facts as possible.

So, with all revolutions, there will always be people who get lost and don't understand what is going on, it's a fact of life.

Customer Service and Crowdsourcing

I. Customer Service

Social Networking Forces Change in Customer Service

The business saying, "The Customer Is Always Right" has never been truer than it is now. The Internet has completely changed the game of customer service, and no longer can you have sub-par customer service be an acceptable part of your company. With the massive numbers of people connected through social networks, a company's downfall can instantly be broadcast to hundreds, thousands, or even millions and become a part of public discussion.

The following is a perfect example of how the world of customer service has greatly changed:



This video, featuring famous video blogger iJustine, had over 3 million views in it's first 10 days online. This Wikipedia article covers the fallout of the video, which included press coverage of the video from USA Today, ABC News, CNN, and Fox News, to name a few. In these interviews, she discussed how she felt that the bills, which detailed each telephone call made and received and text message sent and received, weren't environmentally friendly, nor was sending a box for the bill cost-effective. After the press coverage, AT&T released a statement saying that subsequent bills would be in summary format, with details provided upon request. The company needed to respond as more and more people became upset with the format in which they were receiving their bills.

A company that is an innovator in customer service is Zappos, the online retailer. The company is know for their customer service policy, which will go to great lengths to serve the customer. The company has a 365 day return policy on all of the items, and will guide you through the process either online or on the phone. They have even been know to help customers with issues that are non-Zappos related in order to create a trust and between company and customer. These two articles go greater in depth about the awesome company and their awesome customer service.

II.

Video on crowdsourcing

As more and more people are becoming active citizens on the Internet, working together to accomplish a common goal becomes easier than ever before. The idea almost seems ubiquitous now, as sites like Wikipedia and Threadless have been around for quite a while, and the concepts that these sites first introduced no longer seem foreign to most users.

I have participated in my fair share of crowdsourcing projects, on of them being on The Guardian's MP Expenses investigations this past summer, in which the British newspaper invited it's online readers to look through over 700,000 expense reports from the Parliament and determine whether or not they were probably filed, etc. Check out the details here.

Lastly, iPhone apps have been used in the to 'make a difference' using crowdsourcing techniques. Check them out here.

The Beginning

Back into the Blogger world, huh? I remember these days. Filled with discovered blogs filled with strange Google Image'd pictures and self-promotion (See: Vote for Brolley for Class President fo the Class of '08), etc. Alas, I cannot remember the password to the e-mail used to create the blogs of yesteryear (why would my 15 year-old self may my password hint "Rival High School's Musical"? What does this mean?)

This student-generated blog has been created to use as a tool in my Social Networking in Business class which is held in the Information Technology Department at American University. I look forward to learning about the topics to be covered in this class and can't wait to participate in class discussions. On my honor (scout sign up), all posts in this blog are my own, and I will maintain this integrity throughout the blog's existence

See you soon blogosphere.