Olympics on Facebook

We can either be impressed with the offer, or consider them unremarkable for attempts at creating fanfare for the king of all sports events: the Olympics.

Olympics Games City

To begin with, the latest game launched is dedicated to the ongoing Olympics and the various sports that can be played online as Facebook applications. The game mechanics bear strong resemblance to Sims City and other city building games on Facebook. The game play has not received any favorable reviews and since it’s theme-based, it is predicted to be short-lived once the fervor dies out. Most reviewers recommend the game to be played with friends, which allows for faster and more challenging advanced levels. But that also means paying for the game. All in all, the idea is worth it in trying to capture the spirit that makes the game somewhat worth a short while.

NBC/Facebook

But is the next idea any better?  For several reasons, yes. Facebook collaborated with NBC channel earlier this month to provide full, live coverage of the Olympics. NBCs hopes are pinned to the 900 plus users, encouraged after watching CNN’s application running successfully over the up and coming election. And pinned they were, but largely containing angry protests by viewers against tape delay. That has apparently not affected their ratings, which were revealed as ‘record high’ in the US, amounting to over 14 per cent more than the previous Olympics.

Other ‘Olympic tools’ that prove useful are ‘2012 Olympics Hub’ and a Fan page created especially for interaction and finding information on everything Olympic.

Originally Posted By Avenuesocial.Com

Apps to Manage Apps

Is there really a need for so many apps? The iTunes store has over 650,000 applications and several hundred are in the development process as of now. Despite that requests for more apps outnumber those that ask for apps to be reduced. Some clearly spell out the exact specs for apps not present in the app store. Here is a quote as evidence: “I need an APP with the following ability: Input names, dates of births, physical characteristics, list tattoos or scars and face photos… I would pay for this app and several law enforcement officers would as well…”

Then there is the Beam Brush application recently launched for the hygiene conscious. The iOS app monitors toothbrushing habits via Bluetooth through a specially designed toothbrush! Those who find this piece of news amusing would be surprised to learn that such apps are downloaded and used. Heavy duty research is conducted prior to application development to find out what users want and the reason for the existence of such apps and because there is a demand for them.

All reasoning focuses on a single point: to make life easy from every aspect. This may be for educational, professional or personal use or simple entertainment. But with this variety, it can become hard to manage and not know for sure whether so many apps will serve as convenience. This brings to mind an initiative by Huffington Post, who has launched a website, ‘The Reddit Edit’. It extracts and organizes news from a news management website, Reddit. That’s simplifying, meaning that you don’t require sifting through an assortment to get to more specific and important information.

In a similar way, there are software products such as Xilisoft’s ‘iPhone Magic’ and applications on the iTunes store that reduce or eliminate the number of steps for an app process. Such as ‘Easy Media Transfer: Web, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth & Dropbox.’  The app is capable of quickly transferring and exchanging videos, photos and even entire albums from one iOS device to another as well as from iOS to a Mac using any of the wireless technologies, including cloud storage.

With the success of ‘Bump’ that allows sharing photos between two iPhones by simply touching each other’s device or between mobile and PC, they have introduced another photo and video-sharing app, ‘Flock –  Photos Together.’ It automatically selects you and your friends and groups them from entire photo albums which can then be shared with friends. This omits the tiresome work of going through each photo individually. The app also has the ability to remove faces of insignificant persons from the pictures.

Originally Posted By SocialJitney

How To Become A Twitter Celebrity?

There is no pre-tested and confirmed formula for making it big on Twitter. It is a very unconventional form of media and what people are doing over Twitter is termed as Mini-blogging. So, in a manner of saying, it is just another way of posting online about what you feel about certain issues, but in a lot fewer words.

All you have to do on Twitter is to make yourself sound interesting, important or informative. If you can be good at any of those three things, you’re at the right place. The basic purpose of this social networking forum is to let you follow your favorite celebrities, journalist, entrepreneurs, or anyone who you cannot possibly meet or interact with in real life. But over time, it has been transformed into forum where writers, bloggers, and all sorts of interesting people get together and share random moments of their lives making the place much more attention-grabbing.

You need to start off with discovering the most influential Twitter users around you and start following them. Picking the ones who are not actual celebrities makes it easier for you to get replies to your tweets and even get followed back by them, at times. Regular interactions with these people and posting interesting things that they might retweet will give you greater exposure and more people might start following you.

If you are a girl and you have a pretty profile picture on your Twitter profile, you are likely to get thrice as many followers as the most famous guy in your college regardless of how thick you may sound in your tweets. And I don’t mean any offence to all the blondes out there.

One more thing you can do is to keep posting different sorts of news occasionally with the relevant HashTags. It could be about Technology or politics or movies or anything that you think people may respond to. But keep in mind, correct Hashtags are very important. They serve as the Keyword and give your tweet a lot more visibility, especially if that Hashtag is trending. Or you can simple look at your left on your Twitter home page and pick the Hashtags that are currently trending in the top ten and post about them.

In the end it’s all about being a little more fun and interesting that who you actually are and you will hit your Twitter celebrity status in due time.

Originally Posted By Avenuesocial

Samsung Galaxy S3 Technology Rocks The World

The Pebble Blue look of Samsung Galaxy S3 is really looking wonderful. The slim body of this cell is really heart touching and the Smartphone runs on Android 4.0. Samsung is going to launch the same Smartphone in the third week of this month in the United States. Samsung Galaxy S3 comes with a default user interface. The Second phone of this leading brand will come with Ice Cream Sandwich(Android 4.0) after Galaxy Nexus.

With some solid and attractive features the S3 comes with 4.8 inch HD Super Amoled (1280*720) display. It’s really awesome! The camera of this phone is really superb. This phone provides “Burst Shot” feature which one allows users to capture twenty continuous shots. The 8 Mega Pixel camera provides the ability, clarity and speed to users. We can easily record HD video with the 1.9 Mega Pixel front facing camera which is bundled with 64 gb micro SD slot.

S3 is also studded with excellent multimedia features. Samsung Galaxy S3 provides “Video Hub” and “Game Hub” options to users to access different social games and high quality TV and movies. It also has the most standard and quality features like Recording and Playback in Full HD, Recording Snapshots, Bluetooth4.0, Burst Shot & Best Photo, WiFi HT40,NFC, GPS and many more features. Samsung is really going to unveil elegant technology because of the battery power of this Smartphone really ensures a minute talk time of 11 hour and 40.

Samsung Galaxy is the cutting edge device in the present time and has outperformed iPhone’s performance already. The exceptional and exotic features of this phone are really looking impressive and incredible. It’s really one of the most buzzing cell phone of this world has ever seen.

OpenXcell Technolabs is a premier android app development company. It has a talented team of expert android app developers having expertise in developing custom android applications.

Originally Posted By Weebly

Encore Functionalities Are Leading Blackberry To The Right Path

The evolvement of blackberry has surpassed its targeted market and has encased all types of users than just business people.

Earlier days Blackberry was intensely known as a business phone that uses to emit an aura of professionalism, nevertheless, according to the time an evolvement, competition and demand made blackberry commence with other features than just offering business tools. Every mobile manufacturer is known for its area of specialize, and so it traipses around among its lovers.

The idea of expanding the segments worked for Blackberry to grow its business but the image remained same as it was known “A business phone”. An encore of features, applications and flexibility propelled blackberry to exceed its targeted market.

Blackberry has been a big help for people who work through the internet or stay connected with international clients. The ergonomic business applications have tons of benefits to offer than just receive emails and make/attend calls. The increasing lively list of blackberry app development is boosting the productivity of blackberry and is making most people’s preference. Every new version of blackberry has some robust additional features and applications to offer; looking at this no doubt people who hold older version would like to switch. Nevertheless, people cannot afford to buy a new phone whenever a company enhances its functionalities and comes up with a new version. So not to make its customers dejected, blackberry offer’s flexibility of integrating the new blackberry applications or custom blackberry application based on one’s need seamlessly by taking the help of blackberry app developmentcompany.

Blackberry also has its own growing application library called Blackberry App World where Productivity, Games, Video & Music, Utilities and Fun applications can be found for free. In order to develop customapplications blackberry app development company needs to keep themselves evolve with technology to suffice their customers. Custom blackberry mobile application development allows one to get their work done faster than usually what time it takes. Even it also helps to stay connected with business or one’s personal need, wherever they go. Such innovative freedom brings some sense to one’s world and makes the life better than ever.

Originally Posted By Weebly

Cloud Connection on Social Networks

It is now impossible to imagine anyone living in isolation, unless they were rebelling against the system. While the internet set the initial pace, social networks inferred data from multiple units on singular platforms and systematically organized them. But this organization would not be made possible, especially for larger networks such as Facebook, were it not for cloud computing. Cloud services function as virtual systems within a larger system.

Facebook is not a cloud service in the strictest sense, but their features have all the components of cloud computing, which is data sharing. The storage capacity is exemplary. Just to give you a glimpse, it has an estimated 60 billion photos stored within its network that occupies 1.5 million GB of disk space. With all the other networks put together, the data storage figures in zettabytes! With such astounding figures, cloud storage is the only solution, because no physical drive could be able to manage all this and more of future storage within its system.

Cloud storage works for both personal and corporate use. Users are able to access Facebook applications without worrying about storage capacity on their device. If you are following its progress, then you will also be aware of such data centers that are accompanied with security threat. That is why social networks are required to be proactive in order to maintain data.

Cloud gaming is another popular feature service that is increasingly popular. The best part is that Facebook game apps do not require download. Java is an essential programme required for its operation and fast internet speed to play games. Just how successful cloud ventures are has been observed lately through Gaiki that offers its cloud gaming service to Facebook through which game developers can create game apps for the network and provide video streaming for users. The same toolkit is also applicable for movies and music streaming.

Cloud services have proven to be versatile in their capability to provide broad-based connections for various business feature services. For instance, cloud storage assists CRM by providing customer data to marketers. It also forms the basis for direct communication on platforms and help target advertising to the right customers.

Originally Posted By Avenuesocial

Counteracting Invasive Mobile Ads

We frequently hear news reports on how ‘annoying’ mobile ads are and how they ‘invade’ user privacy. Mobile ads have been known to ‘spy’ and numerous articles are published regularly on ways to completely remove them from smartphone. This consequently leads to deletion of applications that are considered partners in crime.

Rather than speak of fairness and integrity, users find this option to hide ads an advantage over televised programs, where viewers have no choice but to wait out interruptions of ‘short breaks’. Compare that to the little notifications that appear or take up a small space of the screen. The least reaction is merely visual and will irk mainly those users who are easily perturbed. On another extreme, when mobile carriers intentionally use push notifications then it is bound to stir a strong public reaction, as it happened recently with T-Mobile. Having admitted this move as accidental, they immediately stopped the ads. It’s a learning lesson for carriers who wish to follow best practices in mobile advertising.

While inappropriate methods are uncalled for, we should also consider the developers’ and sponsors’ point of view. They need to advertise for monetization and sustenance. Most Android applications on Google Play are free, so how do they benefit? To some extent, shady apps do install spyware, but then, they aren’t popular either. While Google Play maintains their vigil against unethical means of deriving user information, it is not enough to deter them completely. Deleting apps is not a long-term solution either. Users are generally recommended that they install a virus scanner that will check for malware and viruses within apps, but that is pretty much limited. That is why mobile app developers are advised to follow best practices if they want to see their apps as well as their ads running successfully—and simultaneously. The main points are covered here.

Best practices

• Run a test prior to publishing the ad
• Ensure that the ad comprises three most important aspects: it should carry a specific message, it must be creative, it must offer something unique to consumers
• Keeping the ad design simple is a safe bet because of the small screen size of the mobile
• If you are catering to an international clientele, make sure you offer translation options for them to understand your what your ad is about
• Track and measure your ad performance to check how many have viewed and taken up on your offer. Marketing companies advise advertisers to assign an average order value (AOV) on mobile apps to evaluate conversion rates
• Android platform caters to a larger number of carriers than other mobile OS, so it’s good to check any compatibility issues that may occur on by testing on all devices

Originally posted by SocialJitney

Perspective on China’s Anti-Facebook Stance

The world’s largest population comprising 1.4 billion is disconnected from the world’s largest social network site. While other countries block Facebook on and off, China is the only country that has remained persistent in its ban. But it seems Facebook is as persistent as the Chinese government.  That is why Mark Zuckerberg scampered off once again to China to attempt to gain ground. Attempts have been fruitless so far, but Zuckerberg is on a mission of making the world ‘connected’ regardless of the fact he is now the 28th richest man in the world.

But knowing that the online Chinese population is over 5 million, which is twice the population of U.S. according to a Forbes report and 38 per cent of these are mobile-only would make anyone in the technical industry drool.

Incidentally, Facebook is just one from over thousands of banned sites in China, most are major international social and sharing networks and incidentally, very few are censored for adult content. It’s ironic to observe humanitarian organizations’ websites included in the list, especially Reporters Without Borders (RSF), an NGO that defends freedom of expression. This is self-explanatory of the extent of suppression still pervading in this day and age.

Despite China’s self-sufficiency in the global market, their people are deprived of the right to choose. Whether there will be revolt as dramatic as in Egypt and Syria is not the point. The country’s young are reportedly happy with substitute networks such as Weibo and RenRen. Given the country’s technical manpower, we can be assured of their having a sound network, excellent software capabilities and as great, if not more app developers as Facebook.

It is the impact of such restrictions that are contributing to the suffering of 128 million Chinese who live below poverty line. Because this ‘shield’ is hampering business growth in the country. By not allowing international social networks, they are also deterring business growth. E-commerce and trade have reached customers in every corner of the globe. Business through personal interaction has proven far more successful than the traditional and formal process conduct. While competition is higher and more open, services and product improvement is now based on understanding users’ interests at the individual level. And China is missing out not because social networks will affect negatively or positively, but simply because they are absent. The fact remains, it is one country against the world. It is hoped the government would understand they are not ‘giving in’ by lifting such bans, but that they will be ‘giving’ their people, who are old enough, in the literal sense (majority Chinese population is ageing), their basic right to decide for themselves.

 

This post originally appeared on  Avenuesocial.

7 Tips For Effective Social Photos For Your Business

Today, anyone can be a celebrity. Thanks to social media that has silenced the perpetual and often boring debate of picture versus the written word, to an agreement that one complements the other. Facebook’s Timeline may seem to have sparked the discussions again, with their demand for large photos to be posted on the profile. But even article writers will have to admit that the 399 wide pixels cover image has replaced a thousand words. But unlike other social media that are either too photo-oriented or too text-oriented, Facebook is well-balanced, retaining the apps functionalities, links and text that make for a complete ‘story,’ a word that is now commonly associated with the site.

It is inspiring to see what individuals and companies have done with this Timeline. But don’t feel overwhelmed by brands. As long as you have made yours look unique and conveyed what your company serves through the image, consider the job well done, no matter what size or how new your business.

To handle the medium, Facebook has sage advice: “Covers must not be false, deceptive or misleading, and must not infringe on third parties’ intellectual property.” This and more do’s and don’ts on the Facebook website must be appreciated for providing quality and standards to marketing that had become increasingly lagging in the business world.

But there is a downside of putting pictorial content on social websites, which is that they are open to criticism. To avoid embarrassment of your picture categorized under ‘top 20 weird photos’, it is a good idea to take the opinions of trustworthy sources prior to posting the photo. While at it, here are useful tips to ensure your pictures are as good as your business, or even better:

• If you lack imagination, just put up your company’s logo and slogan. Play around with their placement, the fonts and colors.
• To be able to elicit positive emotions through images is very effective, taking into consideration to not cross the limits of professional boundaries. These may be in the form of an amusing picture to humor, or scenic visuals to enchant.
• Bring the photo to life by making a colorful collage.
• Utilize features from within the site. Facebook has also been generous in providing photo apps. One distinct app that includes the voice functionality is the Fotobabble.
• Use the flexibility provided by the medium. Change as often as you like, and edit as much as you wish.

Assess the photos before posting, immediately after posting, and continue to monitor its popularity through feedback.

This post originally appeared on  Avenuesocial.

Facebook’s New Ways for News Updates

News is no longer the well-written article or a controversial headline by reporters. The way news is disseminated within a new social medium seems to have made users into journalists, where the user can exercise a wide variety of information of what they consider as newsworthy and through the source of their choice.

It is interesting to note the way users select and absorb information, i.e. through indirect contacts simply because of diversity in interests. This in turn leads to more learning, compared with the immediate circle which generally shares common interests. The updates one receives from their immediate circle can be a waste of time and page space. Therefore, social media has offered ways to tunnel the information directly from indirect sources onto the user page.

Subscribe

A few months earlier, Facebook introduced the ‘Subscribe’ button as a choice for users to ‘Allow Subscriber’, in addition to the ‘like’ and ‘comment’ option. It may be set as private or public, where users will receive updates transmitted to their page. The choice is not simply limited to user selection. The quantity and quality of information can also be controlled after selecting the subscribe button, by specifying whether the user requires ‘all’, ‘most’ or ‘only important t’ updates and also tick marking on ‘life events,’ ‘status updates,’ ‘photos and videos’ and ‘games.’

News Feed

Following this, while Twitter has previously provided the ‘Twitter Lists’ option for users to choose the kind of information, Facebook will allow the user to specify and organize the information by other users by adding them on their ‘interest list.’ The purpose is similar to the way a user organizes his or her friends’ lists. Major advantages to this tunneling of information are that users will not require researching news sites, because they will already have received updates within their own page and will even be able to keep information out from within their won contacts.

How companies can avail the opportunity through apps

The news feed has paved the way for social media to not just be people-focused’ but more information-focused. Recently, media companies such as Huffington Post, MSNBC.com and Pixable have incorporated media apps onto their Timeline page as a way of relaying specific news. Consequently, new users have added the Facebook apps which has thereby increased traffic to their sites. So what you have to say will catch the attention of readers rather than who you are. By creating interesting and relevant news, companies can post updates and link them to blogs and videos to inform people about their products.

 

This post originally appeared on  Avenuesocial.