Monday, December 1st, 2008
If you usually skip weekly link section (published Sunday night/Monday morning, depending which part of the world you’re in), don’t skip it this week because there are two great research pieces, two blog posts and *gasp* one semi-mainstream media post this week. All great reads.
Community Management
Online Communities: Establishing A Community’s Culture - As empirical as research can be when it comes to stuff like “community” and “culture”. A must-read for those involved in community management, or thinking about entering it.
Gamer Demographics Research
Very interesting findings about Target Audiences For Online Game Advertising. Among others:
THE INTERNET AS A DOMINANT FACTOR IN YOUNG MEN’S LIFE:
* 69% say they can’t live without the Internet, versus just 31% for television
* 40% use the Internet for more than 22 hours a week
* 36% say they can’t live without the Internet for socializing
* 33% say they can’t live without online entertainment
GAMERS AS CONSUMERS
* The average gaming household income ($79,000) is notably higher than that of non-gaming households ($54,000).
* Gamers are willing to pay extra for the latest and greatest: they are twice as likely as non-gamers to buy a product featuring new technology even if they are aware that there are still bugs.
Twitter
Like many other people around the world, I was hooked on the hashtag #mumbai on Twitter following the attacks. The lessons learned from this are everywhere, so I won’t re-blog them here, but it’s nice to see social media tools getting some recognition from big mainstream media outlets like Forbes on Twitter’s Moment.
Blogging
Mitch Joel tells us to Start A Blog Today, and I couldn’t agree more. Especially for those like me, waiting to enter into a very competitive market in this recession economy, it could just make the difference, assuming you’re applying for an enlightened corporation that would recognise the benefits of blogging.
Blogger Outreach
Finally, Brian asks Why Do We Have Blogger Events? and I think he’s hit the differentiating factor on the head. It’s not about randomly inviting people for events, it’s about community building. And that’s the hard part.
As always, share your links with me on Delicious or just leave them in the comments below!
Tags: #mumbai, blogger outreach, blogging, brian koh, can't live without the internet, community management, establishing community culture, forbes, gamer demographics research, gamers as consumers, harmless bananas, internet as dominant factor in young men's life, internet usage statistics, mitch joel, should i blog?, start a blog today, target audience for online game advertising, twitter
Posted in Links | No Comments »
Monday, November 17th, 2008
A weekend of travel means less blogging this week, but definitely not less reading!
Blogging
You want to show you know what you’re doing, even if the company you’re in follows prehistoric methods, so that the next person who hires you has a reference point. Joseph Jaffe tells you how in AdWeek - Save Your Career, Start A Blog
RSS
Daily Blog Tips has 50 Simple Ways To Gain RSS Subscribers - some might just come in useful!
Word Of Mouth
Andy Sernovitz gets another link this week for telling us why Your Word Of Mouth Markting Doesn’t Have To Be About Your Product. I’ll admit I liked this post partially because Molson Canadian is my new favourite beer while I’m here in Canada. (Oh and they have a blog, and recently an event right here at Queen’s!)
John Johansen had a great experience at Best Buy, which is the polar opposite of what some companies are doing in this recessionary period. (Examples to be posted, soon). He also mentions that because it was a special event there was extra help, free drinks etc, but many people also bought something. Do you think they included his blog post (or any other positive ones) while measuring the ROI of that event?
Social Media ROI
While we’re on that topic, David Meerman Scott tells us how to Answer The Ultimate Question: “How do I convince my boss of the ROI of new marketing?” - It’s not a long video, definitely worth a look.
Gen Y, Millennials and Digital Natives
Quickly becoming an interest point for me these days. Prof Netzley has a deck on Educating Gen Y and how collaborative technologies foster participant-centered learning. . I’d say it’s definitely worth flipping through, especially if you’re trying to figure out what the heck Gen Y is about and how we learn.
Tags: adweek, andy sernovitz, best buy, blogging, collaboration, collaborative technologies, communicate asia, daily blog tips, david meerman scott, digital natives, educating gen y, Gen Y, generation y, john johansen, joseph jaffe, michael netzley, millennials, molson canadian, new marketing, participant centered learning, queen's university, recessionary times, ROI, rss, save your career, social media roi, start a blog, ways to gain rss subscribers, word of mouth marketing
Posted in Links | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
In addition to being away last week, I also fell pretty ill, which pretty much took up any and all time and energy I had to do anything, much less blog.
One thing that I found interesting was that the Magnum advertising post generated a lot more talk than I thought it would both here and on Plurk. It surprised me not because I thought it was a bad post (though I worked on it on a weekend while away), but because it came out of nowhere, from the simple act of my colleague buying a Magnum. Just goes to show you can’t predict what people will talk about on the internet.
Working at a multi-million dollar TV channel (which is as mass media as they come) for the last month has been very interesting for me. On one hand it reminded me of my passion for music and youth, on the other hand the nature of the environment meant I was thinking a lot in the “mass media” setting than in the niche, web2.0 setting than I normally do. Is there a way to merge the two? Surely there is. I don’t have the answer to that (and maybe no one does yet), but it was definitely a very exciting month. The least “social media” month in 2008, to be sure.
Moving ahead, I’m leaving for Canada on the 24th of August and will be there till the end of the year on exchange. I’m really looking forward to checking out how their social media scene is like and meet some people, maybe attend a conference or two. If you have links to people or bloggers or companies embracing web2.0 there and wouldn’t mind sharing, do let me know. Greatly appreciate it.
And now, back to regularly scheduled blogging.
Tags: blogging, canada, short hiatus, social media
Posted in Announcements, Blogs, community | 2 Comments »
Monday, June 9th, 2008
I got directed by Katherine Druckman (who I found out only recently is the wife of fellow Plurker and Twitterer Gary Druckman) to this great video of Gary Vaynerchuck on the topic of community.
I can’t embed the video, but here’s the link.
If you know me personally you know I don’t spend time on watching videos or browsing YouTube at all. When people send me links I watch them for 30secs and switch them off, but this video kept me watching from start to end. Trust me when I say: You. Must. Watch. This.
I watched the video and think I totally identify with what Gary is saying. I have the benefit of having a relatively small community right now and it’s important that I reply to all comments (yes, I know sometimes some fall through the cracks and I’m sorry!) and I engage as many people as I can through Twitter and Plurk, heck when someone I don’t know comments on my blog, I send an email to him/her if they left a valid one just so I know who they are and what why they chose to spend their very precious attention on my blog.
I don’t care who these people are. They could be some hotshot banker or someone going through a hairstyling apprenticeship (yes, that’s Tasj from Australia who loves the “little guy” coffee chains as opposed to the big Starbucks franchises), I value them all the same. And I choose to believe these relationships matter and if nurtured, will grow in to bonds of value that you just could not put a value to.
If you’re blogging or you’re involved in an online community in any way, do not take them for granted. Don’t think you’ll start caring when you’re a B-list or A-list blogger, you gotta form those bonds and show some appreciation now. Drop an email to a commenter, @reply them on Twitter or message them on Plurk saying thanks. Even better, head to their blogs and leave a comment in return. They’ll payoff sooner rather than later.
Tags: blogging, community, gary druckman, gary vaynerchuck, katherine druckman, twitter
Posted in Blogs, Plurk, community, social media, twitter | No Comments »
Monday, May 5th, 2008
As Sham has already reported, SMB:S2 will be happening in three weeks on the 24th of May, 2008. All the details can be found at the Facebook event page.
Who should come?
Anyone interested and passionate about the social media space, be it blogging, podcasting, social networks, micro blogging etc. What this event is not, however, is a blogger outing that is so popular around Singapore. Read up about the original event and check out the blog coverage if you think you might be interested!
ps: The event is open to all so feel free to invite fellow friends to the Facebook event page, hopefully people who can help move the conversation further.
There’ll definitely be more news and updates as and when it happens, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, we already have 19 confirmed guests on the Facebook event page, won’t you be one of them too? What would you like to see that this SMB? More structure? A proper format and/or discussions? Let me know and we’ll see how we can factor it in.
Tags: blogging, facebook event, micro blogging, podcasting, smb singapore, social media, social media breakfast singapore, Social Networks
Posted in Singapore, social media breakfast | 8 Comments »
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008
I’ve been sitting on this for awhile, but this is my first audio interview with four fellow bloggers: Amelia, Jacqueline, Nabilah and Calin. They came down one sunday to be special guests on my radio show on SMU Campus Radio (very creatively called The Talk Show), and talked about social media in general and blogging in particular.
I think it’s a very open, sincere and insightful interview with four people who have just started figuring out the whole social media space together with me. It’s not as organised as I’d like it to be as I had to cut out the music due to copyright issues, but I definitely think it’s worth your time nonetheless. Do give it a listen!
I couldn’t find a way to embed it on Wordpress, so listen to it here. Doesn’t take long to load!
Tags: all quirk no play, amelia, audio interview, blogging, blogging thoughts, body treats, calin, curious foodie, jacqueline chang, nabilah, new to blogging, social media
Posted in Media, SMU, Singapore, social media | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008
John Moore over at Brand Autopsy tells us why Starbucks Must Blog. And I’m inclined to agree with him, but I think besides the very real business concerns, there is a bigger why:
Clearly, Starbucks was ahead of the curve with tapping into satisfying the consumer need of a Third Place—a place besides home and work where people could form community. But consumers have evolved from needing a Third Place to needing a Third Space. This Third Space includes social media spaces like blogs, vlogs, podcasts, Twitter, and many more. These are spaces where meaningful online communities are forming.
I’ve had my share of unpleasant experiences at Starbucks, and I admit if I send in an email, I get an apologetic reply (and a free cup of coffee). But sometimes I really want to send an email back saying “Do you really think just that free cup of coffee is going to gain back that loyalty from me?”
Starbucks’s unwillingness to engage the public and blogosphere is unfortunate, but not surprising (Apple’s Social Media Hell, anyone?). Just two days ago I was talking about social media and blogging to an older professional, and blogs were instantly dismissed (perhaps due in part to the state of local blogging here in Singapore).
To quote John Johansen’s comment: It’s going to be an uphill battle for the foreseeable future
How sad that I’m writing this while having breakfast at a Starbucks.
Tags: blogging, brand autopsy, community, howard schultz, john johansen, john moore, social media, starbucks, third place, third space
Posted in Blogs, social media | 5 Comments »
Friday, January 25th, 2008
Propelled by the fact that Xiaxue actually was deemed important enough to be included in the National Library’s archival, I checked her blog to find that there are in the region of 16,000+ visits per day.
Admittedly, I initially thought that this was some inflated number or spam or something, but looking closer at her comments, they’re in the 300+ region for a post. Given that it’s widely accepted that content is written by 1-2% of the population (so 300 comments translates to roughly 15,000 readers), it’s probably a somewhat accurate figure.
So I’m really wondering what someone like Mitch Joel or Seth Godin’s take on this would be. I wonder if it’s a local phenomenon, or if this is seen elsewhere as well. (Tila Tequila points to it being the same case, at least in the US).
I kinda think the fact that someone who literally blogs randomness about her life gets 16,000 hits a day, is probably a little hard to swallow for those people trying to really do good for the community and make the world a better place.
From a marketing point of view, it’s amazing though. I could send Xiaxue a free product of mine, and instantly generate word of mouth among 16,000 other people.
Who knew when we were learning about “gatekeepers” of communities, they might one day refer to her.
Tags: blogging, Blogs, national library, xiaxue
Posted in Blogs, Singapore | 4 Comments »
