Facebook Applications

The 2 graphs below indicate the number of facebook applications provided and how users take advantage of them.

The free game, which allows users to invest in farm equipment and sell their produce for profit, has exploded in popularity since being launched on June 19th.
With nearly 35 million monthly users, the game will soon surpass the 35,554,755 record achieved by the How Well Do You Know Me? application.
It owes its popularity to a growing trend among urbanites to try to their hand to the rural life by harvesting vegetables, milking cows, and shearing sheep.
Online farming games have enjoyed a huge growth in popularity in recent weeks, even as the real-life industry is in steady decline.
AllFacebook, a website which tracks the popularity of applications, has estimated that there are over 72 million farmers on Facebook across a number of farming games.






Farmville’s San Francisco-based developer, Zynga, says that the game provided a simple, fun way for people to unwind at the end of the day.
Players spend an average of 20 minutes a day tending to their farms, with much of that time taken up with planting their fields.
Although Farmville is free to play, Zynga draws revenue from online advertising and from some users who are prepared to pay for virtual goods.
Mark Pincus, the Zynga Chief Executive, branded the game a ‘cultural phenomenon’ and claimed it taps into a new demand for family-friendly games.
He said: ‘By combining the best elements of social gaming, with people’s instinct to nurture, we’ve created an incredibly fun, wholesome and rewarding experience.’
Another farming game, Farm Town, is Facebook’s second most popular application.
The rest of the top ten includes a range of applications which allow users to do anything from donating to charity to starting a virtual Mafia family.






A pairing of the two most hyped tech products of the year: released what is arguably the single best iPhone-customized website to date at iphone.facebook.com. Like the iPhone website which launched late yesterday, it isn’t much to look at in a normal browser. But open that thing up in an iPhone and you’ve got a very usable site.
The site uses javascript to avoid page refreshes, although there is still some lag in moving around the site (this is an iPhone issue). The main navigation tabs – Home, Profile, Friends and Inbox – are at the top of the site. Click on any person and see their profile, wall or photos via a horizontally scrolling interface.

Top Ten Facebook Applications

Rank	Applications	Average number of users
1.	Famville	13.4 million daily users
2.	Farm Town	6.0 million daily users
3.	Mafia Wars	5.8 million daily users
4.	Facebook for iPhone	5.7 million daily users
5.	Facebook for BlackBerry	5.2 million daily users
6.	Pet Society	4.4 million daily users
7.	Texas Hold Em Poker	3.8 million daily users
8.	Restaurant City	3.7 million daily users
9.	Facebook Mobile	2.7 million daily users
10.	YoVille	2.6 million daily users

Facebook App Developers

The phenomenal success of Facebook has been instrumental in releasing the entire spectrum of opportunities for businesses that want to position their brand effectively. The Facebook application has brought a mini revolution in marketing. Facebook app developers are playing a crucial role in scripting the success of the branding exercise.
The increase in social networking has seen investors lining up to develop applications that engage the user's attention. Application developers are offering their expertise to develop apps that include entertainment, as well as the commercial value. App programmers help the companies with expertise in optimizing the applications of the social networking sites like Facebook to gain leverage from the Facebook's platform. These developers also offer support for marketing and monetization of the applications that so the best interest of the company.
Facebook app developers have experience in developing applications for Facebook. They are able to create designs that can attract a large customer base without much difficulty. The service of these developers helps companies to be highly successful in their marketing campaigns through the use of Facebook applications.
Facebook app programmers are an ideal choice because of their experience and expertise in designing the applications. They know the pulse of the market. Their expertise makes easier to achieve a higher ranking on Facebook. This helps companies to expand their operations by successfully launching applications that increase their profitability and visibility on the Internet. The Facebook app developers are experts in their domain hence they are able to provide applications that can ensure immediate success for the businesses.
The apps developers offer their expertise in the viral promotion of application; they have the complete infrastructure consisting of designers, copywriters and expert programmers at their disposal. These developers even help companies in building mobile Facebook applications for android, Windows mobile and iPhone platforms. The app developers work just like the either team of the company advising that is best for the interest of the client.
It has become essential for companies to work closely with the Facebook app developers because of your expert insights in user behavior on Facebook. A company that has a superior product, but poor marketing will always lags behind the company that may not have a terrific product, but succeeds because of great marketing. Facebook is all about branding and the professional services of the Facebook app developers can help the application reach millions of users in no time.

How to Socialize Your Website?

Social marketing has emerged as a strong pillar of marketing, and there are no ways you can escape the power and potential of these strategies. It is an essential aspect of online marketing and is the simplest way to reach a large segment of consumers. When you make attempts reach your audience via social sites, you are contacting them at a comfortable place and in their own personal space. Traditionally, all the marketing efforts of websites were concerned with search engines but the scenario changed overtime because youth and middle-aged could be easily targeted on social networking sites rather than on search engines. Listed below are some of the simplest ways to market your website on social platforms. Following of these trends in the right approach will ensure that you get more traffic and business in an extremely limited time frame.
Using Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace, Orkut: If you own a website, it is obvious that you will have Facebook page, a business profile on LinkedIn and a Twitter account to give short blog updates. You can link these pages on your portals. This will encourage visitors to check the page on social sites, even if they are not interested in your portal. For those, who are yet to own accounts on social sites, you are missing out on many grounds.
How your blog can be your social tool: If you are running a website that is directly related to generating business, you need to maintain a business blog which is regularly updated for your business statuses.
Blogging is not just about writing once in a while; rather it is a daily routine of your business, which you cannot skip at any cost. As a matter of fact, your blog will get more attention, and you might just enjoy the passion of writing.
Use mobile features on your website: It is essential that your website is designed and optimized for mobile use. This doesn't mean you need to develop Mac or iPhone applications, but all you need is a smart web designing technique. Just keep the load time of your website low and avoid using hungry graphics in all the pages. You website should be easy to navigate and have features that will interest the targeted customers.
Have RSS feedback: If you have done RSS, you can do it with a blog. In most cases, RSS is built right in applications that deal with blogging. It is all about syndicating the content of your websites because the users get the scope to create feeds on various websites of their interest and that in turn, gives them the updates on their emails.
You can also socialize your portal by embedding videos to your portal and further sharing them on various networks like the fan page of Facebook. You can also add presentations and share the same on social media and portals. Bookmarking new content on social portals can also be beneficial in drawing attention. With these simple techniques, you will see a substantial change in traffic and business of your website. Your presence in the social networks will ensure that you are up-to date on various concerns of the business, and your internet marketing strategies are doing the right work for your website.

Make Friends on a Free Chat Site

Free chat sites are one of the best new ways to meet friends, connect with people and share information with other people in your network. When you make friends through a free chat room, you have the opportunity to expand your social circle, meet new people from around the world and engage in conversations even when you're stuck at home alone.

Why Make Friends Online?

Why not? When you use a free chat room site to connect with friends around the world, it costs you absolutely nothing other than your time. Online chats allow you to quickly and easily meet and get to know other people both in your own town and around the globe. Making international friends offers a window on the world that you can't get in any other way. You can learn about their daily lives, chat about world events and get a different perspective on the world around you.

What Can You Do On a Chat Site?

There are many different kinds of chat rooms available online. Some of them are part of larger sites and allow you to connect with friends you've made on the forums there. Others are standalone rooms where you can sign in and meet people, or invite friends you already know to chat with you. You can set up a profile, make connections with others, share pictures - privately or publicly - and enjoy the company of people that you meet or already know.

What Kind of Room Is Best?

With all the free chat room sites available online, you can easily find a chat site to talk about any interest you have. You'll find rooms that cater to younger people, rooms devoted to flirting and romance, free chat sites for older singles and younger singles, even chat rooms where kids can get help with their homework. You can share music in a chat room devoted to music - or share your love of a particular artist or style of music with others who share your likes and dislikes.

Connect With Friends on a Chat Site

While you can make friends on a free chat site, you can also the chat software to connect with your friends and colleagues online. Many sites that offer free chat rooms allow you to set up a private room, complete with passwords, and invite friends to join you there to discuss anything you want. It's a handy way to meet with business colleagues or make plans with friends you can't connect with in real life.

How to Use a Free Chat Room

Using a chat room is as simple as signing up with a free chat service. Generally, you need nothing more than a valid email address to sign up for real time chats on chat sites. Most will require you to give your birth date to ensure that you're more than 13 years old. Once you've signed up and validated your account on the site, you can create a profile to let other people get to know you a little, upload photos of yourself to your own albums and decide whether you want to share them with everyone or mark them private so you can decide who can see them and who can't.

Whether you use a chat site to make friends or to connect with friends you already know, make sure that you check the site's usage and privacy policy to ensure that you're on a safe, free chat site - then go on, have some fun and meet new people.

Structuring web sites for charities or non-profits

This article examines the work done to enhance the web presence of Tanzania Development Trust, a UK-based voluntary charity which I joined as Treasurer in 2010.

Since 1975 TDT has acted as the charitable arm of its parent, Britain Tanzania Society, channeling donations to development projects in Tanzania. It has also worked successfully with a number of other charities and trusts which share its vision, funding or contributing to projects suggested and overseen by TDT. It has amassed an impressive track record in delivering funds for projects that make real changes within communities. Inevitably, however, there is always more demand for funds than fund available.

A strategic review in 2011 highlighted the need to broaden our funding, and to attract donors from outside our 'traditional' sources. Younger fund raisers, without a natural connection to the trust, did not seem to be 'finding' us. An easy litmus test was given by the thousands of sponsored climbers each year on Kilimanjaro: why, over the previous four years, had only four chosen to climb on behalf of a charity so clearly dedicated to good works locally?

However, we needed to be realistic about costs and resources, and take into account the entirely voluntary nature of TDT. Our thoughts turned naturally to the Web, as a low-cost means to engage with a mass audience. Though not solely responsible for the Trust's web presence, I have taken on responsibility for the development of our Facebook page, and delivering enhancements of our web site, in particular ensuring a flow of new content to the front page.

Our first step was a 'no-brainer': we needed to experiment with social media. Our brainstorming identified this as a means of tapping a younger audience. But with average ages of social media users climbing, and the fastest growth in numbers among 'silver surfers', there is a varied and huge audience out there (Facebook says more than 50% of its 750 million active users log in on any given day! Also, I have read that 1 of every 8 minutes spent on the Internet, is spent on Facebook); the question is, how to engage it?

Charity fundraising site JustGiving has a page of hints on fund raising. Among other things, it tells us that 15% of all visits to JustGiving resulting in donations, come from Facebook. Also among its hints, was a quotation which seems to me to describe fund raising via social media in a nutshell: "Fundraising is a story. You have to tell that story, to a group of people who will be interested, interact and support you."

In setting up and 'seeding' our Facebook page, we have kept both parts of this quotation in mind: it has to tell a story, and we have to develop a constituency of friends interested in our activities, and Tanzania as a whole. Please bear in mind when visiting our page that it is early days, also that the two people who set up and administer the page have a combined age of 116! However, I hope it will be evident that we are putting in place the basis for a much greater dialogue with interested parties which we intend will result in greater recognition of our 'brand' and ultimately in more people fund raising on our behalf.

We have also opened a twitter account (@tanzdevtrust), but this is very embryonic, and used mainly at present to receive Facebook posts and forward them to the website.

Since it was set up a few years ago, our web site (www.tanzdevtrust.org) has been maintained admirably by our Chairman, with information on the way we work, projects funded, and on Tanzania as a whole. However, we now realised that it would need some significant tweaks to be used as a fund-raising tool.

We researched a number of 'best practice' guidelines for a fund-raising site. However, resourcing constraints mean that changes in our web site will be more evolutionary than revolutionary, at least until our committee is joined by a communications/website manager, which we are currently looking for (could it be YOU?).

Here are a number of the 'best practice' bullet points. Some we do at present, some we shall be addressing. Others may need impetus from a new communications manager.

• The front page should exhibit a short explanation of the missions or goals of the organisation. Plus easily found navigation to longer mission statements, services or actions. An easily identifiable and memorable tag line, or slogan, is a good way to solidify the brand. (On the whole we did this already, in particular our USP that all money donated goes to projects being well expressed and understood).


• Visitors should see IMMEDIATELY how to become involved or donate to your mission or cause. There should be a 'call to action', including an immediate way to help. This could be in the form of 'bite-sized pieces' (eg '£10 buys a....'), via selected project(s), or perhaps via some e-commerce feature.


• UTILISE SOCIAL MEDIA to encourage member activity and bring new members or donors to your site. Aim for a CONSISTENT look and message across media. Google and other search engines place surprisingly great store by social media. (Well, through our Tanzania Development Trust Facebook page we have made our first steps in this direction.)


• And when utilising social media, don't always be too earnest:   constantly banging away on your need for more funds is likely to be a turn-off.  Leaven it with more entertaining and interesting stories, which are more likely to be read, and MUCH more likely to be shared outside your existing circle of 'Likes' or friends.


• Use fantastic photos and impactful videos! User-friendly technology nowadays makes this so much easier, and we all know about a picture painting a thousand words!


• Be PUBLICLY THANKFUL to those who support as volunteers or financial contributors. Thanking those who are helping goals to be reached or activities to be successful encourages more engagement from visitors. Social media complements the web site by giving a very direct way to do this.


• A 'latest news' or 'blog' section with current and active content will encourage repeat visitors to the site. Again, search engines like blogs because they present regular new content. (I have made the front page have a more 'blog-like' feel, though it's not actually a blog structure - probably it should be).


• Have a general contact form for visitors to get in touch.


• There should be a news media or press release section to help promote and encourage media outlets to spread your message. (We haven't done this - will probably need to await a communications officer).

How to Use Social Media to Protect Your Brand

In today's world of the internet, companies have got to be even more aware of what their customers are saying about them and, more importantly, where they are saying it. Social media platforms are a common place for people to talk about a particular brand and they will often talk about what their perception is and how the service can be improved. This is something that companies in all industries and of all sizes can use as failure to monitor these conversations can have an adverse effect on business and your social standing.
One of the main benefits of social media is that it acts as another level of customer service and if your customers can see that you are actively trying to rectify the problems, they are more likely to give your brand another chance. However, the main reason why companies monitor social media platforms is so they can make sure that any problem does not escalate into a huge problem that ends up damaging the brand image of the company.
Twitter and Facebook are the main social media platforms that people comment on so it makes sense that companies have their own page. This should mean that if people want to use the site to complain or make ideas, a company has got it all in one place. It is, therefore, important to ensure that the company has a member of staff that is monitoring the page. By doing this, your customers know that you put customer service high on your priority list and over the long term they can use this as a way of communicating with your company.
The problems arise however when people start making comments on blogs, forums and their personal Twitter and Facebook accounts as this is going to be harder to monitor. This is where social media experts come in as they can make the most of the social media tools that are available to ensure that all conversations relating to your brand are monitored at all times. Of course, if you are using an external agency then you need to ensure that they have experience in working with clients of a similar size to yours and that they are going to have the right tools to monitor your results. Social media is a relatively new technology and many companies are yet to embrace it so when you take the plunge make sure that you do it correctly from the beginning.

Pros and Cons of Going with a Groupon

You've heard the ongoing buzz about Groupon. You've even seen your business competitors offer deals and drum up customer excitement themselves. And now there is talk about potentially using Groupon to promote your business. But is this really a good idea?
Let's explain how it works first. Businesses use Groupon to offer deep product or service discounts of 50% or more. Groupon then opens an online, time-sensitive offer to potential customers as long as a certain amount sign on to participate. The result? Scores of happy customers who get to enjoy a fantastic deal at your place of business.
Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, it might be - unless you plan correctly. We'd like to plot out some of the pros and cons for companies using Groupon. Hopefully, this insight will help you decide whether Groupon could benefit your business in the long run.
Pros to Groupon
Surge of business. An immediate increase in customers will result as Groupon users take advantage of the deal.
Increased visibility and immediate relationship building. The ultimate benefit of Groupon is advertising. Groupon will introduce your business to an entirely new set of customers. If done correctly, lasting connections can be forged with brand new clientele.
Extra inventory can be moved quickly. Whether you need to sell tickets to an event, or have a large inventory of products that you need to move, Groupon can solve this problem for you immediately.
Cons to Groupon
Surge of business. Many businesses are overwhelmed by new customers and the sudden inventory loss if they aren't prepared ahead of time. Groupon does offer caps on offers so as not to overwhelm the business.
Groupon keeps 50% of your profits. If your business is already offering a 50% discount, and then losing 50% of its profits, your business needs to be prepared for any potential loss.
Customers don't always return. In fact, one source found that repeat business only occurs, on average, 19% of the time. Customers may only be interested in the deal itself and some may even feel that Groupon makes the business look desperate.
Other online deals might work better. By using various social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, businesses can offer exciting deals at a lower cost and without any third party overhead.
The key to businesses finding success with Groupon is planning. Businesses need to make the deal part of their overall, long term business plan. The loss in profits should be factored in and considered paid advertising as you increase visibility and market presence. Businesses should also be prepared for the potential inventory needs, the sudden surge in clientele, and the challenge of attracting them back again without another deeply discounted offer. If businesses are ready for that, then Groupon might be a good deal after all.

Facebook content Sydney Melbourne Brisbane

Social media content has become one of the most powerful and direct ways to keep in contact with your clients. You can build up a client list by making friends with them on Facebook, or adding contacts to your profile in Linked in for example. Each one of these sites has their own way of building up a network and the greater your contacts are the more likely you are to succeed in business. People will know who you are and they will always be in contact with you because the whole idea behind these platforms is to keep in contact with people. However you may not be able to maintain the required contact to keep your presence known, and that is when it makes sense to have somebody manage the account for you.
People that manage your account can be found in just about any city you like. All you need to do is search under Facebook content Brisbane for example and you'll find companies that do it for you. Content specialists are familiar with all the aspects of running and maintaining these accounts and you can rest assured that they will be working on your profile to improve its status and your business. The biggest driver of social media is the fact that you have contacts, so the primary goal of these social media managers would be to increase the number of friends you have connected to your account. The more people that are joined or linked to your account the more exposure you get. Anything that gets posted to your account can be seen directly by all your contacts, and to an extent their contacts as well. Provided you create an interaction with your existing contacts, their contacts will be able to see that interaction as well. It is their job to make your profile interesting enough to keep people coming back and to refer others so that they can join in and keep up to date with everything that is happening with your business. You may want to use the posts you make for your latest deals or clearance sales that you are having. People get notified about these specials and take advantage of them whenever they become available. That means more exposure and increased sales for your business.
Keeping your profile active and interesting requires a lot of time and effort to make it work properly. If you don't have the time available to manage that, you need to get someone to handle it for you.

A Great Deal - Advertising on Facebook for Free

Advertising on Facebook for free is a fantabulous way to attract plenty of customers for your business. Amongst the various social networking sites, Facebook is the largest one. According to the Facebook statistics of 2011, there are over 500 million users and Facebook is now used by 1 in every 13 people on earth. Around 250 million, almost 50% of the total users log on to Facebook every day. The average user has about 130 friends and this would increase very soon.
Advertising for a company is very important, especially when you are starting a new business or you are operating in a competitive market. Advertising sometimes requires plenty of costs, and those costs can be more than the allocated budget which lessens the company's planned profits. It's simple. If you have a business, you have costs to run it.
You want as much free and inexpensive advertising as you can get. If you get free advertisement as your business grows, this can offset expensive start-up costs associated with a new business.
Advertising on Facebook for free is an option that many companies have taken on and are still taking advantage of. All you need to do is to create a fan page. You can start increasing you fans initially through the members of your organization and current customers and expand that fan base by passing the word on to family, friends, and the network of anyone currently connected to your individual page.
Creating a fan page on Facebook is an option that is available to all kinds of businesses. You can design and decorate the fan page according to your company and add relevant information and photos to make it attractive for your fans. You and your fans can comment on the company's wall and share the various insights and reviews about the company, its progress, updates, new arrivals etc.
Keeping the fan page up to date is absolutely necessary as you need to keep your fans engaged, and that can only be done if they find relevant, engaging, and interesting information.
This process of free advertisement is helping a lot of businesses today to earn recognition in the market, and a lot of businesses are running nationwide as well as international simply due to advertisement on Facebook. So if you want your organization to get recognition and you need to save time, effort and money, then advertising on Facebook for free should be an extremely attractive option.

Demographics on Social Networking Sites

According to studies, 22% of the time spent on online, is spent on social networking sites. But, it's interesting to learn the stats behind the users of the sites…Here are a handful of interesting facts.
Demographics by Age
Did you know that the fastest growing demographic on Facebook are senior users above the age 65? This comes as a surprise for many, however senior citizens are utilizing social media more than ever. What are the reasons? Basically to be able to connect with loved ones, find people from the past or search for online organizations for concerns for instance chronic illness. One of the most prominent generation on social media nonetheless, remains age group 25-44. Facebook has 46% of its users age 25-44, while the percentage for the very same age group for Twitter is 57%. The age group 45-54 is constantly gaining ground on social networking sites. It is more dominant on Facebook that Twitter, with 26% and 18% respectively.
Demographics by Gender
Women surpass men for most social networking sites. For instance, on Facebook 54% of the users are female and on Twitter the proportion is 52%. However, on the professional site LinkedIn, 58,9% of the users are male. Google+, one of the newest sites, is totally ruled by men, with a whooping 74% of the users being male.
It's interesting to discover that men and women have totally different sharing habits on social networks. Females are 600% more likely to share content associated with partying and eight times more likely to share one of their favorite love songs as well. Men however, are more likely to express feelings about parenthood on social networking sites than women are. Additionally, men are not afraid to project a more "nerdy" side on sites than women do, since they are 10 times more likely to share stories about buying their first computer or about getting bullied when they went to school. Both men and women however, equally share content on career aspirations or more personal feelings such as self-doubt or worries.
Demographics by Education Level
Most users on social networks have a high education level. On Facebook, 26% of the users have a minimum of a bachelor's degree, while 55% claim having no less than some college education. The education level is even higher for Twitter users, on which at least 37% have a bachelor degree and 49% have some college education. YouTube is also a social networking site with high education level users. 51% have some college education and 26% of the users have at least a bachelor's degree.
Demographics by Income
LinkedIn is the social networking site with the wealthiest users, since 71% of the users make at least 50K per year. On Facebook, 66% of the users have an salary of 25K-75K and on Twitter 52% of the users make at least 50K.
What do you think about this information? Are any of them surprising?

Facebook Marketing Information You Should Know

What makes Facebook marketing so special? For one, it's one of the biggest if not the biggest social media websites on the Internet today. What does that mean to you? It means millions and millions of people are chatting, sharing and searching for something every day at this one site.
Jumping into this site with a great fan page and a couple of great ads just may be the thing your business needs. If you alreay have a Facebook fan page and things are moving a little too slow for you, perhaps you need to take a step back and re-review your current campaign. Did you know that the average Facebook user has a minimum of 150 "friends"? Yes, that is a lot.
Facebook is taking social media by storm and people are joining every day. You need to take advantage of this playing field; there is a piece of the action in it for you. The tricky part is finding the best spot on the field. With some investigation and some trial and error, Facebook marketing will become easier each step of the way.
If you haven't been able to get around your obstacles yet, there are some great tactics you can try. One thing you can do is check out the competition. This is something that works on the Internet and in the brick and mortar world.
You should create a fan page which is super easy to do. Once you do, keep it interesting and up to date as possible. Keep the page lively and entertaining; of course, limit it to the scope of what you are offering. Be sure to keep posts and tag lines short and sweet. Get your readers engaged; this can be done by asking questions of your readers and/or adding a poll widget. The answers should be used as part of your Facebook marketing campaign as the answers/results will give you a good idea as to who your target is.
Remember that Facebook is a social media site, so don't bombard everyone with promos or special offers. You want to be a friend first and then begin introducing them to what you have to offer; just don't be too pushy about it otherwise you'll lose their friendship. The more friendships you have, the greater opportunities will open up for you. Facebook marketing can be a lot of fun and it should be.
This is the time to be creative and try new marketing strategies out. With so many users signed on every day, there is bound to be someone who will like what you have to offer. It only takes one and this it will escalate from there. Try a campaign where you post several images for a new logo and ask your readers for their opinion; everyone likes to give their opinion about something.
For newbie's, advertising will be one of the most expensive tasks that must be done. A Facebook fan page is free and an ad starts out at about $20.00 which is a super cheap way to get your company's name out into the public eye. Facebook is fun and is free; just remember to be friendly and keep it professional.
Sure you can advertise in your local newspaper or send out flyers, but why not use the benefits of the Internet? Facebook marketing is easy, cheap and a lot of fun.

Chatroulette, the bad that brought out a good

Febuary 2010, that's the time I heard of this website called Chatroulette . There was a post on the New York times that wrote about this Russian teenager who had built a website that by then had over 1 million hits per day. I went through the article to find out that it was a website about meeting people randomly by video chat. I thought that was cool, so soon enough I was on the website. Started it off and got "nexted" by a lot of guys, which was a good ego crusher and then I saw a couple of penises which wasn't pretty either. But at the time I didn't really think much of it. (just guys being creative).

When I fell on the few girls I met, most of them nexted me as well, which I didn't find fun. However after my first run I probably talked to 3 or 4 people meaningfully. I was a bit stupefied. I was like this is both pretty cool and pretty crazy, so I stayed an avid user of Chatroulette for the next 3 months. Sometimes when I didn't want to go out on Fridays I would stay home and Chatroulette till 1am and then go to bed. It was funny the effect Chatroulette had on friends. I would read my facebook feed and see girls dressing up just to look good on Chatroulette. That's the effect Chatroulette had at the time.

My best moment on Chatroulette was probably the day I nexted onto Ashley Tisdale. It was pretty exciting that first, celebrities where on it and that secondly I was actually talking to one at the moment. It was amazing to see how connected the world had felt from this. It made my head go spinning for a bit.

But like every good thing, Chatroulette downfall was the penis problems. With the increasing popularity, more and more exhibitionists came on to the website to show off their stuff. The more they came on, the more people were turned off and dropped off the bandwagon. Their final blow came in August when they shut down the website for a few weeks to release a new version. People moved on and since then they have never gotten back to they past fame.

So was Chatroulette a huge flop ? Some may say yes but in general no. Here's why. Chatroulette has brought our attention to a new age of social networking which is real time social networking. Just from using video chat, they used a technology which everyone have been waiting for to become really mainstream. Something skype is the only one able to scratch the surface. With video chatting you can talk and see the person you are interacting with. But still it has never been able to go as mainstream as im chatting or social networking. Skype today has over 600 million accounts but not in 10% use it as the main tool for communication. Carriers still make billions of dollars on communication when skype and many others allow you to call for free or almost.

Also Chatroulette scratched a surface of actually meeting people from the comfort of your computer. Before connecting with someone online it was by im chatting and by looking at their pictures or taking the traditional method of going out. Chatroulette allowed users to meet others actually online and have a conversation. It was awkward but it was a start and it can only get better with technology advances.

With websites building up on this real time social networking it will lead to new technological niche. First off an age where you can meet and talk with people at the instant instead of the passive way social networks of today behave. A short summary will be you log on, then you decide to make some new friends from say your college. You then start meeting some new classmates like you would in a club but just behind your computer, you connect real time and build the friendship straight there, actively and not passively. You can build your network in real time. Sharing will be in an active real time form, like google + hangouts is doing. You find a music you like, you listen to it with all your friends actively and comment actively. I mean there is so much more possibilities with live video social network that today social networks can't handle. Watching events not like ustream but like you would really do at a bar or so.

Thats why I think Chatroulette is scratching the surface of something that could soon become huge. Video chat today is still unfortunately an underwhelmed tool today, used mostly by the sex industry and the skype users, when it has so much it can offer. Its good that a few websites are working on it, like google+ and their hangouts, tinychat and Video chat rounds. Apart from the chatroulettes and the omegles, there is also new player that I really find interesting as well, which is ViDoBounce. You may keep an eye on them, they amalgamate skype, chatroulette and tinychat in a great mix.http://vidobounce.com

So its clear that live social network could be the next age which will push the limits of social networking to another barrier.

Making the Most of a Friendship Site with a Free Chat Room

If you've recently joined a new friendship site, all the features available to you may be a little confusing. Most sites can help you meet friends from all over the world as well as connect with friends you already know - but figuring out the easiest and best ways to use all those features can take a little doing. These tips can help you in getting started to make friends on that new friendship site you just joined.

Fill Out Your Profile

If the site allows you to set up a profile, take advantage of it to let people know important information about you. Check off your likes and dislikes, post a photo and write an introduction to let potential new friends know who you are and why you're hanging out on a free chat site.

Browse the Chat List

Before you rush to set up your own chat room, check out the list of rooms already in use. Many users of the friendship site will have set up a room already and made them public. That means that they're inviting others to drop in and make friends with others chatting there. Look for rooms about subjects that interest you and drop in to see how the conversation is going.

Hang Out for A While

Don't just pop in and out of chat rooms. When you first enter, post a "hello" to the room so that people know you've entered, but don't pop right back out if you don't get a response immediately. Be patient, especially if there's only one person in the chat room. Give the people in the room time to notice you're there and acknowledge you. You might miss some of the most interesting new friends if you're too impatient to wait for them to say hi.

Set Up Your Own Free Chat Room

If you don't see a chat room that interest you, most free chat room sites allow you to set up your own private chat room and make it public or private. Give it a descriptive name so that others know what you want to chat about and set it public so that it appears on the chat room list. Once you're all set up, hang out in your chat room and wait for people to drop in. Do pay attention, though, so that you notice when people arrive and can greet them.

Connect with Friends You Know

Most free chat site software allows you to invite people you know to join you via email. This feature allows you to use a friendship site as a quick meeting room option. If you want to connect with colleagues from work to discuss a project or talk with friends from a game without being logged into the game, this is a great option. Just set up your room and invite friends to connect with you there to chat privately and collaborate on your projects.

A free room is one of the handiest features offered on a friendship site. If you belong to a chat site that offers you the ability to create your own chat room, take full advantage of it to meet friends from all over the world or connect with friends you already know.

Facebook timeline

Timeline is a new way of presenting yourself on Facebook. Gone is the single column wall of posts you're used to for profile updates. Gone are the neatly divided panels of every Facebook profile page that existed up until now. Gone is the struggle to figure out what someone you've met only recently was like a few years ago. Gone is the static feeling that all your past updates have.
In your old profile's place is a page that gives over much of its real estate to updates presented down the page as a dual-columned array of tiles that contains status updates, links, photos, media and a whole lot more. And oh yeah, you can plaster a giant-ass panoramic image across the top of your profile.
How it works
Facebook Timeline looks like a Tumblr blog, letting you scroll vertically through all the biggest moments in your life-maps of where you've been, pictures, comments, apps, and more.
In Timeline, you can curate "the story of who you are," highlighting important photos, events, apps, and more by clicking a Star next to any event.
How to do it
Step 1:
Log into Facebook
Step 2:
Enable developer mode, if you haven't already. To do this, type "developer" into the Facebook search box, click the first result (it should be an app made by Facebook with a few hundred thousand users), and add the app.
Step 3:
Jump into the developer app (if Facebook doesn't put you there automatically, it should be in your left-hand tool bar)
Step 4:
Create a new app (don't worry -- you want actually be submitting this for anyone else to see/use). Give your shiny new app any display name and namespace you see fit. Read through and agree to the Platform Privacy agreement. This is the step you need to be verified for.
Step 5:
Ensure you're in your new app's main settings screen. You should see your app's name near the top of the page
Step 6:
Look for the "Open Graph" header, and click the "Get Started using open graph" link.Create a test action for your app, like "read" a "book", or "eat" a "sandwich"
Step 7:
This should drop you into an action type configuration page. Change a few of the default settings (I changed the past tense of "read" to "redd" -- again, only you can see this unless you try and submit your application to the public directory), and click through all three pages of settings
Step 8:
Wait 2-3 minutes
Step 9:
Go back to your Facebook home screen. An invite to try Timeline should be waiting at the top of the page
And you're done! We've seen this work quite a few times now,

Communications Policies Are A Must

If the company you work for is fairly large it's important to have a web communication policy. The policy is important because it helps to define who can talk on behalf of the company. You don't want to get into a situation where an employee appears to be speaking on behalf of the company in a social media platform. This could cause legal problems for both the company and employee.
When an employee works for the company and chooses to talk about the company's product or service it needs to be clear in what capacity they are participating in the conversation. If they have authority to talk on behalf of the company it needs to be clear they represent the company. If the authority is not authorized the employee needs to make sure they say it's their own personal opinion and not the thoughts of the company. In either capacity the employee needs to know what they are allowed to discuss online.

Within your policy make it clear who can put out documents on behalf of the company. Everyone thinks they are good writers but truly there are individuals who shouldn't be writing documents that will be given to the general public.
If an issue arises there should be a section within the web communication policy that outlines who within the company should be contacted. This will help to make sure the right individuals are informed about the specifics of the situation and determine if a plan of action is needed.
Any type of communication to the public is a reflection of the brand. All individuals who will be interacting with an external audience need to be trained in the basics of communication. You don't want the worst writer within the company writing announcements or press releases. It only takes one bad communication to taint the image that took years to build.
Don't wait until an issue pops up to create a policy. The policy shouldn't be complicated to understand when it is being read. The most important thing is to make sure the policy is easy to find within your company.
Once a document is out on the web and a search engine indexes it there's a big problem. So if you have an employee giving false information on a blog the search engine will have it stored in its internal database. The information will show if it is matched by the right search criteria. Yes, the post can be deleted but most likely the damage has already been done due to web users who saw the post already. The same goes for documents; once the search engine indexes the document the only thing to do is delete the document and hope no one made a copy or saved it to their computer.

SMO Tools: How To Use SMO Techniques

You're a social media jetsetter, eh? Every day you fly around the web, sharing your smiling mug and clever sense of humour with all your Facebook friends, LinkedIn contacts and favourite Tweeps -- all while blogging about it.

You get around. You know how important it is to have a full suitcase of essentials to avoid being stranded in a land of social strangers.

Do You Know How To Use SMO Tools?

If you're looking to take advantage of media optimization it's safe to assume you want to be found online. So, as you make your way around the social media globe why not use your tools to build direct roads back to your online home? Leave the jet lag for someone else.

Five Quick SMO Techniques To Get Started

LINKABLE LUGGAGE -- Pack stuff people want to see. Social media is all about sharing information. So, if your site and/or blog is crammed with regularly updated and interesting content worth linking to, it's therefore optimized for social media where those links can take root, grow and be shared.

EASY ACCESS -- Less clicking. More sharing. If your content isn't sharable with a simple push of a button, it's a lot less likely to stray from home. To help it avoid getting lonely, optimize it for social media by adding one-click tagging, bookmarking and sharing buttons to help visitors share the love.

DON'T BE A STRANGER -- Keep in touch. If someone retweets your content, makes a comment, or just mentions your material, make it count for both of you. There are many ways to reciprocate using social media -- especially if their own content is worth sharing. If not, show appreciation in your next blog post or simply comment back. The more people you're in touch with, the more optimized your social media efforts become and the further it can travel. This applies to all form of sm.

TAKE THE TOUR -- Without participation, social media is fruitless not to mention boring. By getting involved in what you're passionate about, your message can spread further and faster. Diving into open discussions, tweet chats and reader input makes your name, brand and social media profile visible -- optimizing every channel you make use of. Even creating forums and bulletin boards connected to your own site will generate conversations you can take part in.

KNOW YOUR FELLOW TOURISTS -- Content can only resonate with people interested in it. You know your stuff is interesting, but what are like-minded folks talking about? Find out. Online communities are seemingly infinite. By getting an idea of what similar people are talking about, where they're talking about it why it's important to them will no doubt optimize your efforts. Knowing your audience is the first lesson of creating good content. Why not give them what they want? Using and scouting things like Facebook groups and Twitter feeds will give you the knowledge you desire.

If you pack your bag with these quick essentials, hit the social media road with confidence and keep it real on every stop you make, your trip will become more optimized each day.

Happy trails.