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
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Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
Lots of awesome stuff this week, let’s get into it:
Social Media For Beginners
I’m always conscious that everyone’s visit to my site could be a first visit. If you’re looking for a great resource for how to dip your toes into social media’s waters, how about 35 tips for getting started with social media? Very beginner friendly.
Online Influencers
No secret, this is a pet topic of mine. Read Write Web says research suggests influencers are alive and well on social media sites. John Bell of Ogilvy also talks about working with word of mouth influencers and the ethics involved.
RSS
RSS adoption at 11%? I wonder if the numbers are accurate. It would seem lower than that, just from my personal friends.
Research
Two interesting articles on the usage patterns of Africans, particularly with respect to mobile. Might be of interest to the Comm215 Wiki at some point in the future, I suspect.
Community Management
Everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon and hire a community manager. Consider the job hazards of the community manager as told by Jeremiah Owyang before diving head in.
Finally, for education, The Edublogger asks if you’re making your life easier with Google Calendar. Vastly underutilised tool in classrooms and project groups for collaboration and it’s time you get started! Although my online tools have expanded to include reQall and Remember The Milk, I started with Google Calendar (or GooCal, as I affectionately call it), and it’s a great starting point.
As always, do share interesting links you read about this week with me, you can find me on delicious.com/uniquefrequency or simply leave the link in the comments!
Tags: african mobile usage, blogger outreach, community management, community manager, edublogger, google calendar, jeremiah owyang, job hazards of community manager, john bell, online influencers, read write web, rss, rss adoption, social media for beginners, tips for getting started with social media, wom, word of mouth influencers
Posted in Icio | 2 Comments »
Monday, October 20th, 2008
Oh so much good stuff this week from my favourite writers. Let’s get right to it!
Plurk
I’ve talked so much about Plurk, I really hope you’re on it by now! Make Use Of tells you how to become a star in the Plurk Universe. Nothing groundbreaking, but it’s a nice read, especially for those thinking about signing up. (ps: Don’t forget to add me as a friend too).
Recession Opportunities
It’s the wrong move, but ad spend, marketing and PR are the first things to go when budgets get cut, especially in recessions. Which means it’s never been a better time to look at social media tools as a great alternative.
Christopher Penn (of the Marketing Over Coffee podcast) gives us opportunities and predictions for the recession and Chris Anderson of the Long Tail tells us what the recession meant for “free”. I would pay attention to the “freemium” model, which isn’t yet hugely popular back home.
Twitter
In those small pockets of time that Plurk is down, some of us still go over to Twitter, and Brian Solis gives a great rundown of tools available, which is worth reading if you’re using Twitter for business or community management. (ps: I’m on Twitter too)
Community Management
Speaking of community management, Corvida over at Shegeeks.net recounts her lessons as community manager for Read Write Web. Most important for people thinking they’re community managers, “Everyone wants to be our friend” is a very terrible misconception. Get with the programme.
Word Of Mouth
Andy Sernovitz aka the word of mouth guy has a post called “Give away your buns” which brings home the lesson: “Every spoiling asset is a marketing tool”. I’ve seen this – or rather the lack of this – at work too many times. It’s time for companies to start utilising word of mouth more effectively.
Did you read anything mindblowing this week? Would you care to share? Share it with me on Delicious.com, or post it in the comments below! Did you find the links useful? What type of links would you like to read more of? Love to hear from you as well.
Tags: ad spend in recession, andy sernovitz, brian solid, chris anderson, christopher penn, community management, corvida, delicious, free, freemium, make use of, marketing over coffee, Plurk, plurk universe, read write web, recession opportunities, shegeeks, social media during recession, the long tail, twitter, wom, word of mouth
Posted in Icio | 2 Comments »
