The acquired apps this year include Instagram, Gowalla and the most recent Glancee, two of which are location based apps. By this it is assumed the web based network, in addition to gaining talent, is on their way to strengthening their mobile strategy. Since they already have an over 900 million user base on the web, Facebook’s priority is now to hold on onto them (engagement) and monetize (ROI) on both web and mobile platforms.

But previous experiences of LBS apps by users were not as successful, since users felt torn between convenience and insecurity. While geo reference data expanding users’ geo knowledge and fraud detection through IP address are some of the advantages, there is also the vulnerability and spamming that deterred users from using LBS apps. That is why it is believed Glancee will continue to be primarily used to locate their friends more than strangers.

Facebook, however, is expected to change the viewpoint by:

• Allowing users the opt-in feature prior to using LBS apps. For this, apps will have to provide incentive strong enough for users to volunteer information of where they are and where they intend to be. SMS, Advertisements opt-in ads, KYC (Know your customer), employment opportunities, shopping discounts and coupons are just some of them.
• LBS relies on GPS technology which simply tracks the location, while LBS uses the information to provide value services to the user. That’s where the role of apps comes in. To create a quality LBS Facebook app, there must be accuracy of information, it should reasonably priced and not interfere with the network’s system configuration, since data lookup-server based use IP detection technology and Wi-Fi.
• Since access to location data is accessed by service providers, developers and wireless access point, it is important that companies limit the quantity of people who will have access to avoid misuse of information.

Companies may not consider this issue important now, but will eventually have to come around. With Facebook being as popular on the mobile platform as they are on the web, competitors will follow suit on their LBS apps. They may have the greatest products and services.

Related Posts

• May 7, 2012 -- The perfect Ad : 16th Annual Webby Award for ‘Best Use of Social Media’ Given to Intel’s Advertisement App ‘The Museum of Me’ (0)
  Fame tends to arouse curiosity regarding its background, as in the case of celebrities. Sometimes, the higher the level of creativity, the more unusual its background. In this case, the app was just r...
• April 30, 2012 -- Zynga-Facebook Partnership Takes On A New Front (0)
  “The most powerful relationships between partners are when both parties have considerable power and there is low potential for conflict, which has certainly been the case with Facebook and Zynga so fa...
• April 27, 2012 -- What Facebook Ad Conversion Rates Mean For The Business Sector (0)
  2011 conversion performance via Facebook’s advertising offerings was decidedly strong, especially in c-goods and retail with both displaying conversion numbers nearing fifty percent.  Media campaigns ...
• April 16, 2012 -- Facebook’s New App: Instagram (0)
  Something makes the almost two-year old app tick--why else would a giant network buy it for $ 1 billion, more than its net value? Facebook’s actions are impacting the social industry in general and mo...
• March 12, 2012 -- Facebook’s New Ways for News Updates (0)
  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 c...

The document is evidence of the in-depth study that Facebook must have undertaken to come up with such strategies that they hope will be more beneficial for them as much as users and developers alike. As of late, the number of complaints from users had risen regarding excessive spamming, an issue that their new store should help resolve. From the sound of it, their review process will be more strict as the guidelines state that apps will be removed if they feel to meet the expected quality and may be resubmitted after improvements suggested by Facebook. It is fortunate as well, because it gives a chance to developers to understand the criteria for quality apps.

Unlike their previous freemium applications, Facebook intends to monetize by adding the option of paid apps, especially for games and live streaming. Of course the monetary benefit for both iOS and Android are equally high as sales figures are expected to improve for the mobile companies. At the moment, Facebook draws a little over a quarter of percentage from iPhone. The percentage will most likely increase in the future.

While it is still too early to talk about Facebook coming up with their independent own cellular system, Facebook’s focus has certainly shifted to the mobile platform, since statistics show majority users access Facebook via the mobile. If revenues are not profitable enough, then perhaps the presumptuous ‘Facebook mobile’ will probably be food for future thought.

Related Posts

• May 9, 2012 -- 5 Social Marketing Strategies that Work (0)
  There was a time when business firms kept their secrets to success among themselves. Now, they are willing to impart their knowledge candidly. What has changed? The main factor is the presence of soci...
• April 25, 2012 -- Making The Most Of Business Through Social Engagement (0)
  The effort to engage your customers on social networks is as frustrating as it is challenging. One often reads a guide about ‘easy tips to engage customers’ or some similar quick fixes that assure you...
• April 23, 2012 -- On Olympics And Social Freedom (0)
  Media restrictions were easy to implement when there was just the print industry and a few channels to deal with. But an entire global network that cuts across boundaries and breaks government imposit...
• April 16, 2012 -- Facebook’s New App: Instagram (0)
  Something makes the almost two-year old app tick--why else would a giant network buy it for $ 1 billion, more than its net value? Facebook’s actions are impacting the social industry in general and mo...
• April 2, 2012 -- Facebook’s Password Policy: The right to remain silent (0)
  Media has been defending free expression since its inception, and even now the battle ensues. Sometimes it’s the government, how many of you know that Facebook is non-existent in China. Sometimes it i...

A Brief Look at Facebook’s Open Graph & How It Works

The system that Facebook uses to organize information and links contained on its platform is known collectively as Open Graph.  Where Open Graph differs from the standard social graph that Facebook uses is that it actively encourages cross-platform incorporation.  Adding Facebook’s trademark “Like” button is a great way to bring your page into the Facebook fold and expose it to the indexing services and heavy traffic Facebook offers its affiliates.  The music sharing services provided by Spotify closely mirror Open Graph’s innovation.

Facebook, as an initial platform, provided a very specific set of services; namely, Facebook connected users to other users.  Open Graph changed the whole game, spreading Facebook’s branding and imagery all across the internet as a greater community.  The omnipresence of the “Like” button speaks to the success of Open Graph, and many websites feature it as a standard inclusion in their basic makeup.  A little pinch of Facebook’s trademark code and bam, presto, your site is now a Facebook object, indexed and fully accessible via user profiles and Facebook searches.

Open Graph apps provide a wide array of functionality centered mainly on publication and automation of web feed productivity.  Performance reports on app functionality over pre-specified time periods is also a common feature provided by Open Graph apps, which can handle preprogrammed wall or blog posting as opposed to dealing with the continuous time constraints and pressure of formulating posting schedules on the fly.  With a combination of extensive programmability and data collection, Open Graph is a great tool for keeping a finger on your business performance’s pulse.

How Can You Make Effective Use of Open Graph?

Understanding the impact a sizeable exposure through Facebook’s greater network can have on your business is a big part of success in social media marketing.  Without the exposure provided by Facebook and other mass social media platforms like Twitter, Spotify, and Google+ achieving real and lasting internet visibility can be a serious challenge.  Even with the aids provided by those platforms it’s still a tall order to stay relevant online.  The expansion of Facebook’s digital borders, however, means that you can bring the best of social media marketing to any website by incorporating minimal changes into your site’s code.  It’s just good business sense to take advantage of every edge you can get in the highly competitive field of online commerce, and bringing yourself into the Facebook fold is part of maximizing your brand’s potential.

Related Posts

• April 2, 2012 -- Facebook’s Password Policy: The right to remain silent (0)
  Media has been defending free expression since its inception, and even now the battle ensues. Sometimes it’s the government, how many of you know that Facebook is non-existent in China. Sometimes it i...
• March 20, 2012 -- What Facebook Timeline Apps Mean For You (0)
  The three primary changes introduced by Facebook in Q3/Q4 2011 have presented a number of new opportunities and challenges for marketers. The key features include a new design for profile pages called...
• February 20, 2012 -- Coping With Social Media Marketing Changes (1)
  The way advertising works has come a very long way since its advent. It has changed styles with a frequency that companies often give up halfway. Choosing to be independent does not work any longer in...
• July 20, 2011 -- Leading Financial Services Go Social for Merchants (0)
  Global financial services are jumping on the bandwagon of social media and reaping desired results out of it. One of the most recent financial services to harness the power of social networking giant,...
• June 29, 2011 -- How to Build a Massive Facebook Fan Base (1)
  If you’re going to really make the most from Facebook, you need to have a sizable Facebook fan base. The fact of the matter is that you can set up a stunning page for your business, sink tons of time ...

1.    Gamification

Incidentally, gaming is no longer just about playing games. It is considered the highest form of user engagement and therefore, a most effective marketing strategy. It targets all age groups, as opposed to earlier game development apps that were mainly designed for youngsters. Leader boards, badges, real time activity feeds, avatars, progress bars and levels are all ways to prolong user engagement and encourage their return to game apps. Facebook game development is exemplary in providing such incentives in their applications.

2.    Platform

No matter how great a marketing campaign a company has, it is the medium that makes all the difference. Despite having created some of the most brilliant games on the internet, Zynga is highly dependent on Facebook to market their games. User strength increases by sharing common interests through personal networking. Companies use an indirect strategy to build their clientele, by first approaching their customers who are expected to then pass on the campaign within their circle. Success ratio obviously depends on population within the platform, and the subsequent manner of campaigning chosen by companies.

3.    Collaboration

As previously mentioned, Zynga’s main success has been due to their partnership with Facebook. The arrangement is mutually beneficial. The point here is that it is wiser to team up than work alone. Even if a company is financially strong, it still requires external stakeholders support in order to be in league with their competition. Advertisement and PR agencies are strong allies.

4.    Blogging

Content is another strong marketing tool that generates ROI and works well in maintaining long-term strategies. For the purpose, a company may either choose public platforms, their company blog, or better yet, a combination of both. The main factor that must be focused on is for authentic and well-written content generation. Paraphrased and downright imitation will not pay off in the way genuine efforts do. A company’s individual identity stands apart through its content. Including photographic, textual and video uploads is ideal and lends variety to the blog.

5.    Applications

These serve well for surveys and polls. Apps can reach out to a wider audience, and is especially recommended in building an international clientele. Facebook’s Open Graph is easily accessible, which businesses can avail for brand promotion and monetization. In house Facebook apps can be utilized as well as custom apps created by Facebook developers. Good applications are highly viral and obtaining feedback improves communication and thereby, a positive customer relationship is maintained.

Related Posts

• November 23, 2010 -- Real Results, Real Revenue: Three Social Media Success Stories (16)
  We hear about the need for a social marketing presence all the time. We hear about the best practices, the best sites, the best promotions, and how many followers Starbucks has this month. But for a...
• April 2, 2012 -- Facebook’s Password Policy: The right to remain silent (0)
  Media has been defending free expression since its inception, and even now the battle ensues. Sometimes it’s the government, how many of you know that Facebook is non-existent in China. Sometimes it i...
• December 5, 2011 -- 7 Ways to Increase Facebook ROI for Your Brand (0)
  Businesses generally know how to measure ROI for their various marketing endeavors. They look at specific real-world metrics to see whether a given marketing campaign is having the desired effect. Thi...
• July 20, 2011 -- Leading Financial Services Go Social for Merchants (0)
  Global financial services are jumping on the bandwagon of social media and reaping desired results out of it. One of the most recent financial services to harness the power of social networking giant,...
• July 19, 2011 -- What Does a Successful Marketing Strategy Need? (0)
  Social media marketing is a full time job and not something that a business man can do on its own on a regular basis for his brand. It requires patience, whole lot of time and resources. For a good ru...

One visit to this Facebook app will have the harshest critics agree the award was well deserved. Intel had not anticipated their success either, so imagine their surprise when the ad app gained 1 million ‘likes’ in just five days after its release!

Describing its graphics would not do justice to this superbly crafted app. It serves as an inspiration to marketing, especially for B2B in learning that there has to be an ambitiously high level of risk that companies must be willing to undertake, to do what no one has done before; as the cliché goes, to be leaders, not followers, which means that they must be prepared for success and failure.

About the museum

The app reached a high level of engagement that advertisers’ dream of reaching. Calling it an advertisement may sound ludicrous because it does not come close to the likes of an advertisement. The ingenious promotion is subtly mentioned in the last few seconds displaying Intel’s second generation of Core i5 processors. The music composition had 400 voices blended together by a renowned Japanese artist.

But there is one trend that this ad has followed: drawing on human emotions. Watching one’s life trailing from the past to the present brings on a nostalgic wave of cherished memories. Here lies the question of user privacy because the entire content is an entire extraction of the user’s personal data. However, the virtual exhibition hall only displays the information shared with friends, such as photos, locations, posts and links.

While one reviewer has remarked about the ‘narcissist’ theme, it is an excellent publicity tool for companies in a manner resembling Facebook’s Timeline.  Smaller firms should not be intimidated by the largeness of the project, or by the cost of investment. Intel implemented an idea that would otherwise have sounded far-fetched is an admirable quality to possess.

Related Posts

• May 16, 2012 -- Ensuring User Security with LBS (0)
  When you are as big as Facebook, it becomes easy to get what you want. And Facebook has been raking it all in with acquisitions at a speed that has left everyone wondering about just where the world’s...
• April 30, 2012 -- Zynga-Facebook Partnership Takes On A New Front (0)
  “The most powerful relationships between partners are when both parties have considerable power and there is low potential for conflict, which has certainly been the case with Facebook and Zynga so fa...
• April 27, 2012 -- What Facebook Ad Conversion Rates Mean For The Business Sector (0)
  2011 conversion performance via Facebook’s advertising offerings was decidedly strong, especially in c-goods and retail with both displaying conversion numbers nearing fifty percent.  Media campaigns ...
• April 16, 2012 -- Facebook’s New App: Instagram (0)
  Something makes the almost two-year old app tick--why else would a giant network buy it for $ 1 billion, more than its net value? Facebook’s actions are impacting the social industry in general and mo...
• March 12, 2012 -- Facebook’s New Ways for News Updates (0)
  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 c...

Facebook Fan Page and Twitter advertisements have been considered to be most effective for business promotion. While doing so, however, two assumptions must be avoided:

1. Business advertising on social media must be strategic, not a trial and error experiment. Once the ‘sponsored story’ goes online, consider it sold. The advertisement will have already been viewed by hundreds the very moment it is public. Mistakes are not forgotten, and those who chanced to view the advertisement once will have instantly decided on whether they wish to engage or disengage from your site.
2. The social media platform must never be compared with any other form of media, especially not with broadcast medium. Video marketing is very different on YouTube than it is on regular television in the following ways:

* it is free
* ten times more viral
* shared by anyone
* it can be rewound
* comments can be expressed
* it is more flexible

The greatest advantage is that half the work is done by social media itself. They act as a guide to set you off and all you require is to put in your half. When you Customize A Facebook Fan Page and succeed in attracting the right fans, and then consider that you have used the service to the optimal.

What’s more, your advertisement strategies should continually evolve in a dynamic manner, as the social platform does. A newly introduced demo tool for Facebook advertising is remarkable in itself, because it provides a simple procedure for you to design the advertisement and lets you view it prior to the content being publicly released on the homepage. (https://www.facebook.com/FacebookStudio/app_252363594842548)

Since companies are now investing in social media for advertising their brands or services, it is vital that they assess their weaknesses and strengths and create a new brand strategy that maintains the core concepts, and adopts a style that is focused entirely on their objectives, yet moves away from their standard format. Social media, such as Facebook, requires thinking out of the box. It should be a blend of creativity, intelligence and authenticity.

Related Posts

• April 18, 2012 -- Six Ways To Make Social Media Advertising A Success (0)
  So you have decided to build a Facebook fan page to launch your product. But you aren’t sure things will work out. The reason your confidence is shaken is perhaps because of your previous attempts and...
• April 11, 2012 -- Vox Populi: How to Engage Facebook’s Public (0)
  Facebook began as a way for college students to keep in touch.  It grew beyond that with eye-watering speed, and now it’s one of the world’s biggest media platforms.  Its “citizens”, nearly eight hund...
• March 30, 2012 -- Common Social Media Marketing Pitfalls & How To Avoid Them (0)
  Social media marketing is a new toy.  It's just finishing its first turn around the playground, and it's left some bruises in its wake.  Major brands shutting down their Facebook stores, ad campaigns ...
• December 29, 2011 -- How advertising increases the life span of social media (0)
  Online advertising has been a dream come true for corporations that no longer rely on traditional methods and limited choices, then keep their fingers crossed. Their confidence today in generating hig...
• August 17, 2011 -- 12 Steps for Crafting your Social Media Policy (0)
  Social media presents a unique opportunity to businesses of all shapes and sizes. Companies from the local hardware store to the major worldwide brands are using social media sites like Facebook and T...

One can’t help being biased, is it always about the money? But what is money without success? Perhaps Zynga (ZNGA) has realized this and is slowly making its move towards an independent platform while the going is good by opening its very own site, Zynga.com. It’s been stated that they are ‘testing waters’ or perhaps slowly weaning off. What does it mean for Facebook?

The Zynga-Facebook partnership is taking a new turn, for the better, as Zynga embarks on their journey toward gaining more liberty.   As of now, it is a requisite for game apps to integrate their payment on Facebook, which means the purchasing of virtual and digital goods. In turn, Facebook receives a substantial portion from transaction payments between Facebook app developers and users.

Right now, to cut off ties with a social network that has more than 900 million users to their portfolio would certainly be an unwise decision, especially since most of Zynga’s revenue (93 per cent in 2011) is generated by Facebook games, while Zynga contributed record sum revenue of 12 per cent to Facebook the previous year.

Currently, there is a common pattern that Zynga and Facebook are following: that they both quickly bought out competitors, Facebook took over Instagram and Zynga took over OMGPop and both companies are now focusing on engagement and the mobile platform to further their business. Whether this bond will stand against rough weather is uncertain.

Zynga came into being just three years after Facebook did, and in the fall of the same year they released their first game on a social network that was growing by leaps and bounds. Great move, and the only way was up thereon. In 2010, Zynga and Facebook signed a five-year agreement.  Part of the dependency was also the restrictions imposed by Facebook, which slowed traffic growth to games. One instance of this is when, the same year, Facebook stopped Zynga from posting ‘notifications’ and explained it was because of customer complaints about spamming.

So one can understand the level of insecurity and ownership issues, but Facebook is also aware that social gaming rates high on users’ scales, and may offer Zynga a fair share of revenue. It just remains to be seen just how fruitful the outcome will be for both companies that have played their part well. And if they can play it better apart, so be it.

Related Posts

• March 24, 2011 -- What’s Next for Facebook? Faceflix? (5)
  Look out, Netflix!  Facebook might just be coming after you. Earlier this month, the social media giant streamed The Dark Knight directly from the popular movie’s Facebook fan page.  The move accom...
• April 2, 2012 -- Facebook’s Password Policy: The right to remain silent (0)
  Media has been defending free expression since its inception, and even now the battle ensues. Sometimes it’s the government, how many of you know that Facebook is non-existent in China. Sometimes it i...
• February 29, 2012 -- Facebook Strengthens Bond With The Mobile Web, Increases Room for App Development (0)
  The main reason why Facebook is so obviously keen to focus on the mobile is its fast rate in increase of users, that is, four times more on the mobile in just half the time, when compared with PC user...
• February 10, 2012 -- Top 16 Characteristics of Effective Facebook Brand Pages (0)
  Facebook holds near-limitless potential for marketing. In particular, Facebook offers businesses some of the best branding opportunities around. Companies can get innovative with their approach to bra...
• January 11, 2012 -- Gateway to social shopping (1)
  If you are still undecided as to whether social shopping is a safe bet, this is not an assurance that it is. But then, so is physical purchasing if you don’t check the item before purchasing only to d...

Traffic Boosts: Advertising Market Venues

The value of advertising with Facebook is clear.  The social media platform’s huge exposure and broad market presence means that advertising channeled through its particular avenues is wonderfully efficacious.  Huge sections of the internet as a public forum interface with Facebook daily and in multiple ways.  With high rates of traffic, the high conversion rates provided by Facebook become even more valuable.  Also, Facebook’s advertising is routinely classified as high-value given the conversion rates the website displays.

Companies doing advertising business with Facebook report an average increased return of roughly forty percent for conversion rates and from between five and ten percent increases in traffic rates.  Facebook fans of a brand are much more likely than browsing non-fans to visit your site, so enabling a page with Facebook support is an obvious decision.

Strong Conversion Performance

The conversion rates displayed by Facebook’s advertising endeavors are a great way to bolster sales.  Because of the ways in which advertising with Facebook can help a business expand its visibility, advertising in the online sector has come, increasingly, to mean advertising with Facebook through banner ads, behaviorally targeted ads, and several other marketing methods.  The feedback loop is a central principle of advertising.  Facebook ads bring in more traffic, more traffic means more significant conversion, and more conversion means testimonials, critical exposure, and

Consumer Goods as an Avenue for Expansion

The consumer goods market is bread and butter for Facebook ad conversion.  The direct purchase model with its focus on image-based shopping experiences and convenient online transactions provides a great foundation for expanding into alternative marketing vectors.  The kind of ad targeting that brings people in opens up a whole potential world of marketing techniques, and branching into affiliate marketing and networking couldn’t be easier than it is with Facebook as a springboard.

Conclusions

Part of a measured approach to market involvement with any relevance must include an extensive measure of involvement with the internet market sector.  It’s an absolute necessity for any business that wants to pursue success and visibility.  Understanding the benefits Facebook and its broader network can confer is something that should be handled in-house by any responsible branded interest.

Related Posts

• July 20, 2011 -- Leading Financial Services Go Social for Merchants (0)
  Global financial services are jumping on the bandwagon of social media and reaping desired results out of it. One of the most recent financial services to harness the power of social networking giant,...
• July 19, 2011 -- What Does a Successful Marketing Strategy Need? (0)
  Social media marketing is a full time job and not something that a business man can do on its own on a regular basis for his brand. It requires patience, whole lot of time and resources. For a good ru...
• March 28, 2011 -- Can Social Media Marketing be Effective for B2B Companies? (5)
  Companies like Starbucks, Disney, Levi’s and Domino’s Pizza are all universally known to be active in social media marketing.  Opportunities to reach potential customers for businesses selling directl...
• March 8, 2011 -- Utilize Social Media for Joint Venture Marketing (9)
  Small business owners and startups measure the success in the field of social media or online marketing with the increase of fans, followers and customers for their business or identity. Another way b...
• April 2, 2012 -- Facebook’s Password Policy: The right to remain silent (0)
  Media has been defending free expression since its inception, and even now the battle ensues. Sometimes it’s the government, how many of you know that Facebook is non-existent in China. Sometimes it i...

It is good to read up, but take the opportunity to learn from Facebook’s own success story. They too, have their ups and downs but that hasn’t stopped them from continuing their effort to engage users. Despite slow growth compared to the previous year and their net income decrease by more than 12 per cent, Facebook continues to invest heavily. Examples are their recent acquisition of Instagram and patents from AOL. Do not compare the amount, but pick up on the strategies.

When the going gets tough, get going or be ready to fall in the depths of failure and regret for not having given the business your best. Don’t just confine yourself to Facebook Fan page. Share the page with other social networks such as LinkedIn and Twitter.

Don’t depend entirely on your own marketing efforts to promote your business. Encourage your fans, no matter how few, to share the page as well. Interconnect by set the page link as default along with your signature at and use it in your business email correspondence.

Join groups relevant to your company and incorporate maximum number of Facebook apps to lend variety to your page. Focus on the Timeline profile image. The weightage given to this particular aspect by Facebook makes the fact clear that photo content is a very strong tool and captures user interest instantly. As of now, Facebook is implementing an increase in size in the profile photo to 160 x 160 pixels and realigning its placement. The attention to minute details of imagery is a signal for you to pay attention to yours.

Customize Facebook Fan Page for variety and character. Virtual media provides for flexibility. The content does not always have to be about the company. Share anecdotes, while maintaining professional discipline. Encourage interaction through apps and response tabs such as ‘like’ and ‘comment’ and ‘Fan Gates’ for non-fans.

Related Posts

• July 20, 2011 -- Leading Financial Services Go Social for Merchants (0)
  Global financial services are jumping on the bandwagon of social media and reaping desired results out of it. One of the most recent financial services to harness the power of social networking giant,...
• June 29, 2011 -- How to Build a Massive Facebook Fan Base (1)
  If you’re going to really make the most from Facebook, you need to have a sizable Facebook fan base. The fact of the matter is that you can set up a stunning page for your business, sink tons of time ...
• April 16, 2012 -- Facebook’s New App: Instagram (0)
  Something makes the almost two-year old app tick--why else would a giant network buy it for $ 1 billion, more than its net value? Facebook’s actions are impacting the social industry in general and mo...
• March 28, 2012 -- Five Great New Advertising Strategies on Facebook (0)
  Feeling uninspired? Can’t come up with any new and unique marketing strategy to compel buyers to your business? Be assured you are among the millions out there wondering how to continue keeping up and...
• August 4, 2011 -- Google+, Fastest Growing Social Network with Extraordinary Numbers! (18)
  Google+, a new social network from the house of Google has hit the market by storm. Google+ is giving a serious run for its money to the 750 million user base of Zuckerberg's Facebook. With over 20 mi...

With Olympics barely three months away, those who will not be physically attending the games in London will be glued to the computer and more so the mobile, according to reviews. The 2012 Olympics is being called ‘social media Olympics’ because of this and the fact that coverage will go beyond the length and breadth of the 2008 event. Facebook apps such as U.S. Olympic Genome Project have been especially created to engage users through Olympic trivia and various games apps. Sites have been dedicated exclusively to Olympic related newsfeed updates about the event and athletes.

The advantages of social media are far too many in comparison with other form of media. The focus can now be on any athlete the user chooses, rather than relying on televised media who control which players to lend coverage to. Now users can also follow the mediocre and the losers if they choose. That is freedom.

But what happens when this freedom is restricted, as has been by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG)? The reasons given by them for posing restrictions are to control security as well as finances. With a team of 70,000 volunteer ‘Game makers’ LOCOG has already made a head start by announcing the rules for social media coverage.  Some major rules are:

• Athletes cannot be photographed with any other brand other than their sponsors’.
• Volunteers must not reveal their location; photograph any location that is officially restricted to public, such as the VIP section and the VIPs themselves.
• Volunteers must not provide details through content ‘text, audio, or visual’ about athletes, the dignitaries or of themselves.
• Social media coverage of Olympics must follow the official release and not be original.

This is not the first time that restrictions are being posed for a game. Earlier, an English football coach banned his team from using any kind of media during the World Cup 2010 except the official website, for fear of players getting ‘distracted.’ The same ban was imposed on New Zealand’s rugby team on similar grounds.

That is as far as restrictions go. Now consider the fact that these players/volunteers have relatives and a large social network of friends. How can they be stopped? This thought process follows news of how a football player’s wife who criticized her husband’s coach on Twitter for showing partial behavior that did not favor her husband!

Restrictions or no restriction, Olympics 2012 is predicted to be the most socially heightened media experience of the decade and we can consider ourselves lucky to be part of it.

Related Posts

• May 30, 2011 -- Facebook’s New Revenue Stats Predict Future Dominance (0)
  According to a new study and market survey, Facebook has been making unprecedented profits. Its current value is said to be more than $87.5bn! This is excluding the outstanding shares worth $2.5bn. It...
• May 24, 2011 -- Facebook ‘Like’ Button: A Source of Huge Traffic (1)
  Facebook like and social plugins can be used in various ways to generate more and more traffic for a business and a website. Over the past year Facebook likes have proven to be more than effective in ...
• March 14, 2011 -- Fortune 100 Increasingly Embracing Social Media Marketing (9)
  A new report by Burson-Marsteller says that Fortune 100 companies are using social media marketing in an ever increasing way. The study involved 32 U.S. companies, 47 European companies and 18 Asia...
• November 23, 2010 -- Real Results, Real Revenue: Three Social Media Success Stories (16)
  We hear about the need for a social marketing presence all the time. We hear about the best practices, the best sites, the best promotions, and how many followers Starbucks has this month. But for a...
• April 16, 2012 -- Facebook’s New App: Instagram (0)
  Something makes the almost two-year old app tick--why else would a giant network buy it for $ 1 billion, more than its net value? Facebook’s actions are impacting the social industry in general and mo...