mgieva

Archive for November, 2009

Online games lead the way with freemium

In facebook, marketing, media on November 24, 2009 at 3:40 pm

When my brother first started using Facebook, he got hooked on Texas HoldEm Poker. “Do something different than playing these poker games,” I told him hoping he would use the social network the way I did. The truth was I was scared myself of the addictive nature of Facebook games.

As FarmVille, Texas HoldEm Poker and Mafia Wars become increasingly important for a user, they gain tremendous significance for businesses. “Such games are the hottest thing going in the $13 billion online-gaming market,” a recent USA Today article reported. Interestingly enough, a big portion of this revenue is reaped not through traditional advertising but through what professional journalism might soon run on—micro-transactions.

This micro-transactions business model, based on both free and premium services, is appropriately termed as freemium. “The freemium model, with roots in Asia, is built on the concept of giving away games, then charging players 25 cents to $10 to buy so-called virtual goods that enhance their gaming experience,” wrote USA Today.

Yet this business model in the gaming industry relies on the first nature of social networks—interacting with people and spreading the word. The more people play FarmVille, the more people will be willing to pay 18 coins for a green alien cow. And I am surely getting the invitations to participate.

Photo credit: taberandrew

Multimedia journalism done right

In journalism, media, new media technologies on November 19, 2009 at 5:26 am

When Steve Fox, a Umass journalism professor and former editor at the Washington Post, came to speak in my media class this week, he showed two slideshows. The first one was the AP’s Death of a Marine narrated by Julie Jacobson and the second one was the New York Times’ An Ambush and a Comrade Lost. Which one of them was multimedia journalism done right?

Most of us agreed that the New York Times did a better job of presenting the casualty of American soldiers losing a comrade in Afghanistan. The soldiers were recorded telling their own story while photos illustrated every step of their way. Some brief gun noise in the background captured our attention.

Jacobson’s piece, on the other hand, was distracting and opinionated. She was narrating the story of a marine’s death in Afghanistan. But what the slideshow seemed to portray was the journalist’s own struggle to take the photos she took. This definitely reduced the power of the story.

What these two examples convey is that information dictates what medium journalists should employ. Some pieces come out better as slideshows with audio while others were meant to be long articles. Some stories need to be told using the subject’s own voice, while others can be illustrated better with graphics and charts.

These were some of the questions Fox tackles in his journalism classes at Umass. What is the best way to approach a story? Often, the importance of sound and image can transcend that of text. Combined together, as in the NY Times story Climbing Kilimanjaro, these mediums can produce an amazingly interactive piece.

“Convergence is a philosophy,” Fox told us. And if done right, he said, it will be the future.

The strategy of a Facebook user

In facebook, social media on November 9, 2009 at 9:52 pm

This summer, a friend told me she had a strategy for using Facebook. You can imagine the look on my face as I heard this news. But honestly, I haven’t stopped thinking about what a brilliant idea hers was.

My friend’s strategy has multiple benefits. Personally, it keeps her organized in terms of upcoming events and other happenings. Socially, it keeps her active and in connection with a wider network of people. Professionally, it keeps her time investment in the social network low, allowing her to focus on her real work.

What exactly is it that she does? She has simply designed a systematic approach of using Facebook that reflects her personality.

First, her glance lingers on the home page. As a passionate music fan, she watches the video clips her friends have posted. “In the morning, listening to something selected by other people creates a nice vibe, a different point of view, if you want,” she told me.

Then, she shifts her glance to her friends’ statuses. Sometimes she comments on them, sometimes she “likes” them–actions that show less involvement than writing on walls or sending private messages. Thus, she keeps in touch with more distant friends and acquaintances.

Interestingly enough, this simple strategy illustrates her communication ethics. Commenting or “liking” other users’ statuses and posts on Facebook is like waving hello to a person. Communicators don’t want to look hypocritical by showing too much involvement in a conversation with someone they don’t know well. Similarly, my friend is saving that right for those she considers closer to her. ”In general, I don’t write on walls without a reason,” she said.

Having read the home page vertically, she shifts her attention to the right. She looks at upcoming birthdays and events. She always wishes happy birthday to her friends. Having gone through the entire home page, she is done with Facebook.

So, do you have your own strategy for using Facebook?

Photo Credit: frankblacknoir

With social media, can we reunite spontaneously?

In college, media, new media technologies on November 4, 2009 at 3:55 pm

As graduation approaches, I am reminding myself how much I will miss my fellow classmates and the moments we shared together. And I am getting more and more excited about reunions when we will catch up on one another’s life stories. Or not?

With both my close friends and distant acquaintances on social networks, will our reunions ever be as eventful as I imagined?

On Facebook, the graduating classes of 2009 and 2008 are just a mouse click away from me. I follow them as they travel to Istanbul and London. I know who entered a serious relationship and who separated with her boyfriend. I know what kind of job they got and how passionate they are about it.

Similarly, I will know all about the changes my class of 2010 will be going through soon.

But I used to fantasize that, in ten or fifteen years, when we meet at Mount Holyoke again, I wouldn’t know any of that. I was expecting to not recognize some faces and to jump with surprise when hearing about weddings and adventurous trips. I hoped to experience the same stories my mother used to tell me about her meetings with former classmates.

But my generation’s story is quite different.

Technology, a 2008 article in the Scientific American argued, has led to this generational divide. “On one side are high school and college students whose lives virtually revolve around social-networking sites and blogs. On the other side are their parents, for whom recollection of the past often remains locked in fading memories or, at best, in books, photographs and videos,” wrote Daniel J. Solove.

The social networking enthusiast I am, I will be sad to empty my drawer of fading photographs. I hope that, in ten years, when my class reunites on campus, I will encounter some unexpected changes and pleasant surprises.

Photo Credit: kirikiri