Mobile Year in Review 2011

Facebook vs. Google+

[Via: Single Grain]

The Ten Commandments of Managing Online Communities

Julius Solaris illustrates us in the presentation below how online communities should be manage based on ten "commandments".

The 10 Commandments of managing Online Communites

View more presentations from Julius Solaris. (tags: communities profitable)

The Good, The Bad and The Skittle's Social Makeover

As you probably know by now, the rainbow of flavors (Skittles) has taken the social media in a very experimental, Modernista kind of way. I've read some very interest articles about this social media phenomenon. Some say that they are gonna burn in hell for doing something so confusing, dumb and non-sense like this. By the other hand, there are others in the crowd that are standing up giving a triumphal ovation for such a approach. Here is my point of view, the negative side of the situation:

- There is no official information about the product. I mean, I could go to the Wikipedia site and edit the actual Skittle's product information and say that Skittles is the newest product distributed by Jelly Belly.
- No filters for porn, racial, rude and obnoxious comments from some social sites involved.
- No filters for their competition products, i.e. me saying something on twitter like: I just love M&Ms... visit www.m-ms.com.
- No filters for any malicious scripting or spamming.
- The SEO of their website may be affected (I would love to hear some comments from experts about this).

Like everything in life, there are two faces of the coin, so lets bring the good side from all this and what they are probably thinking with it:

- The expectation campaign is tremendous. What do they have under their sleeves? What is the next step? A new product? A stunning web 3.0 website? What? What?
- They are interested in what their clients, consumers, have to say about their product/brand.
- We can see a social media campaign acting live. How fast and easy can a product impact social media users.
- Branding through word of mouth. Everybody has something to say about this new Skittle's website. Skittles here and Skittle there!
- Cheap website and ad campaign. I mean, they are not really spending a dime here.
- Since traditional online advertisment (websites, banners, video spots) can be ignored, they are using a non traditional way that canít be ignored.

Whether you love it or hate it, this strategy is making noise in the business and social world and its gonna be interested to find out what is next.

What is your thought about all this?

New Facebook Pages and Other Product Updates

Facebook held today a press conference webcast to discuss the new Facebook Pages. Mark Zuckerberg along with Director of Product, Chris Cox, and Product Manager, Peter Deng participated in the 2 hours webcast. One of the main features they revealed, among other product updates, were the new Page's format. Read the complete coverage here.

Do you think this new Pages will replace traditional Landing Pages?

Oodle's Launches Today A New Classifieds Product On Facebook

Today Oodle is announcing its new classified product on Facebook, which will replace the old Marketplace application. One special feature in this new version is that classified listings can be posted for free. In an attempt to make it more social, Oodle's marketplace is taking a "conversational" approach to classifieds listings. Check the complete review here.

Social Games: Success Comes With Player's Status?

I remember the days when traditional games were all about the playing experience; mind blowing visual graphics, cool sound effects, real life situations, etc. With the success of social media games, comes a big question, what makes them successful? Is it the fact that users can publish through their profile status what game are they playing and how good they are?

My answer would be yes! The profile status becomes a billboard that let other people know about the game activities you are on. And this works as a "word of mouth" kind of advertising. The ease of recommendation given by the network's structure allows users to discover games and get involve in them. Plus, add the attention that they receive when high scores and other game facts are shown to the rest of their friends. It might work as a motivator for other players. Have you ever feel motivated to play a social game because a friend's profile recommendation?