Social Gaming

It is my understanding that Zynga is one of the most popular social gaming providers. They have over 70 million daily active users. They provide facebook with the applications like Farmville, Mafia Wars, poker and others. They have a team of investors who invest millions of dollars, the biggest one yet being $29 million.

Social gaming is about connecting with others through games. Its about competing with your friends, even if they are not physically with you and it is casual. It is not "hardcore" gaming, but I have seen many people become addictive to these games, especially farmville for some reason.

It was announced that the iPhones are now going to have social gaming platforms. To me this means that social gaming is a force to be reckoned with if Apple is investing in it.

People are even spending money on social gaming, gift certificates for farmville can be bought at 7-Elevens, and these social gaming sites are making hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. An interesting note is that some of the most popular social gaming games, are those that you have to pay in order to really advance, and the crazy thing is, is that people ARE!

I used to play farmville, but than got absolutely bored of it, and I can't even fathom why someone would actually spend money in. Maybe its the little kids who they are targeting for those gift cards?

A study was done by mashable.com and they determined that average social gamer is a 43 year old woman. Facebook seems to be the platform of choice for social gamers, and it is expected that the social gaming industry will make $1 BILLION in revenues this year, with over 100 million people social games.

After learning about the social gaming industry I was actually shocked that the majority players were middle aged women. Maybe thats why some social games are able to charge customers, because this age group usually has a larger amount of disposable income?

Gone are the $,$$$,$$$ Superbowl Ads???

According to Gary Vaynerchuk businesses need to recognize the ROI of Social Media. The connections that are formed because of Social Media far surpass traditional modes of advertisement, and they are WAY cheaper.

This automatically made me think of the millions of dollars companies spend on Superbowl commercials, because they reach such a vast audience. There are people who watch the Superbowl just for the commercials. With the expansion of Social Media is it possible that Superbowl commercials may longer no cost an extravagant amount of money?

I want your opinion

Your facebook status, tweets and whatever other statuses are great ways to get opinions and questions answered by the public. I witnessed on a family members facebook status a few days ago a huge heated debate over healthcare. It was pretty interesting to read what people thought and how passionate they were about the subject. Joe Kraus views social networking as heading this way more and more. People can easily answer questions that their friends have in seconds without ever even talking with them.

Social networks are ever expanding, and they are changing how we use the internet. Blogs are becoming increasingly popular avenues to access information. The internet is a changing landscape just like the world, and it will become more and more public the longer it is around.

So someone Stumbled Upon Your Page? So What?

Small companies need to figure out ways to properly use programs such as google analytics to make sure that the time and money they put into their companies is worth it. Who is looking at your site, what are they getting from it? Are they browsing for awhile or leaving right away?

Companies need to know why people are visiting their websites, and what the value is. If the company just has a website to have one, why?

Getting Started With Online Marketing – Web Analytics – Part I | Whatever it Takes | Fast Company

The Death of the Pageview - ReadWriteStart

The New Resume

The traditional resume is boring. Its boring to write, its boring to read its just plain boring. That is why people are finding new ways to show what they are capable of to potential employers. Social networking has had a HUGE affect on how people network and who they know and have connections to. I believe that in the next couple of years the traditional resume is going to be out the door, and instead there will be some new tech savy resume. If the business world is changing, way wouldn't the way you get a job be changing too?

Traces of Inspiration » The Blog is the New Resume

Brazen Careerist Launches Social Resumes – WebWorkerDaily

Field Trips on Second Life

I can see the benefits of a virtual classroom, such as during the snowpocalypse or events that prevent a University from operating, but I would not chose to take a class completely in a virtual classroom. The major benefit of Second Life to me is the availability to take 'field trips' and showcase experiments that would not otherwise be safe or able to be perform in a class.

I really like the thought of being able to see the places that we all learn about, through something besides pictures. I feel like if we were able to experience 'seeing' a country or experiment, the outcome would be so much more educational and leave a more lasting impact on the students. I am really looking forward to checking Second Life out on Wednesday, now that I understand what it is about!

Learning in Second Life: Virtual Education

Virtual world, real money in 'Second Life'

Today's Resume

People used to apply to jobs by going to an interview for a company and bringing them their resumes. That is still mainly the case, but there is a twist, and that is personal branding. You can post your resume on multiple sites online and firms will contact you if they conduct a search and your resume meets their criteria.

We do personal branding without even knowing it sometimes. It's in who you are friends with on facebook and LinkedIn. What interests you list, and how you interact with people online is apart of your brand.


You can connect with others based on how you brand yourself. You can even brand yourself on the relationship sites like eharmony. The internet has allowed people to show people they have never met who they are. Are you proud of the brand you have created for yourself? Are you aware of how people of viewing you by viewing your social media accounts??

How to Get the Most Out of LinkedIn

The Brand Called You