Guess what, I've just dig this blog up from deep under tons of dirt.

I don't even remember I had a blog.

I am an extremely emotional person, but I'd love to pretend that I am not. So there has to be a way to release my inner demon.

Join me in my journey of finding passion!

Bye... for now

It's been a pleasure journey to the world of blogger. Some people were born to write, some just love to but cannot be as good. I never thought I was a good blogger, so I never tried. But thanks to this course I get to know that at least if I try, I can. So, this might be the last post in this blog, I just hope it can be a fun and enjoyable one.

So let's all prepare for the fun last ride!
As you're reading my blog, I am quite sure that it has to be more that 9 hours for you. Gotcha!

 Hence, if it's more than 9 hours for you, do a little test here to see if you are addicted to Social media yet :)

You are blogging? What blog are you? Find yourself here!

Are you familiar with these icon? Sure you are!

But here's another way to interpret them :)

So yeah, now you know everything, good luck with your exams! Best of love!

QR code 101

QR code are two dimension bar codes that can contain any alphanumeric text and often feature URLs that direct users to sites where they can learn about an object or place. Their ability to hold more information and their ease of use makes them practical for small businesses. QR Codes could be used:

• The back (or front and back) of your business card.
• Your brochures and other marketing materials.
• The sides of trucks and trailers.
• Product tags and packaging
• Convention and event nametags
• Restaurant menus
• Event ticket stubs
• Point-of-sale receipts

Can't imagine how you can find your lost key with a QR code, have a look at this link. 

Social QR Code is designed with “Social Sharing” and Social Media in mind. Your ability to gain Facebook "Fans", Twitter "Followers", or to share vital content on Facebook and Twitter, is optimized by placing a Social QR Code in your storefront window (or, on ANY physical item), making it very easy for customers and clients to stay in touch. 

The potential for QR Codes is limitless.  What’s most exciting is how they take what social media is doing well now, bringing people together with technology, and extending it to enhance the experience. I would love to see more QR code marketing around!

Need vs want

A man attacked his wife for not liking his Facebook status. Excuse me, this seems to be a joke to me.

It might be laughable, but it also raises some concern how the real life relationship can be vastly affected by the online social network. Are we depending too much on online communication tools? Are we losing confidence to speak face to face?

Do you have those Facebook friends that you hardly call if they walk pass you on the street? I know that I have those type of friends. Why is it ok if you suddenly remember a long lost friend and jump in to their page to say hello, but it is not really ok to walk to their house that is not too far from your house. That might depend a lot on what type of people you are, shy or outgoing, active or passive. But the reality is many of us believe that online friendship can replace the real life friendship. I don't Like your status because I am sitting next to you and saying those replies in person.

I am not saying that using Social media is bad. I am saying that maybe we are overusing it. I used to Facebook my housemates when they are just a wall away. Weird, but it happened! And for a while, I almost lost that connection, that true enjoying chit chat time with my friends. What we need is friendship and connection, what we want is more convenient conversation, but what we did might not stick with what we need in the first place. Not surprising!

Just a small note, don't bash me! :)

I need help with Social media!

My friends and I are actually setting up a small online magazine lately, and what makes me concern is how to use Social media to acquire more followers.

Our online mag is a small local one, very infant The Saigonese.

We are all students, so the budget is very limited, and the online sense of the mag makes us think Social media marketing must be the choice to promote us further. However, doing this is a lot harder than thinking about it.

We have Facebook fan page, Facebook group, twitter, YouTube, Flickr and of course the mag itself. We are now focusing more on Facebook since majority of our target customers is not twitter users. Even each of the admins for the Facebook fan page have actively promotes the page to their friends, the number of likes does not increase rapidly like what we imagine, given the credit of each of us and the vast number of our friends totally.

So, that alone alarms us! Despite the hard work we are putting in, this can fail badly!!! So, I use what I learn. And things turn a bit brighter!

First of all, do not invite all of your friends, it’s not likely they will respond to the invitations, people are naturally that ignorant. So, what I recommend is to choose from your friends list about 10 of the most influencers, send personal message to them, introduce the page, ask for their opinions. Also, send personal message to your besties, asking them to help spreading the page. The key is to address them as individuals, make them feel like involving and grab the attentions.

Apart from keep updating your page with relevant and interesting news updates and pictures, share them back to your personal home page. This is, in my opinion, more powerful than sending out invitation, sharing back the news to your page makes it appear on News feeds, and people can go to the page by clicking the post link. Being one of the admins doesn’t mean you need to agree with every post from other admins. You can generate conversations by speaking your opinion, referring back to the post on the fan page, get your friends involved.

I’m still figuring out what else to do, since this is a very small non-profit mag, the most irritating thing is the work contributed by volunteers is very unstable and unorganized. Nevertheless, we are seeing growth in the monthly visits, pageviews and likes, a positive sight!

Do you guys have any recommendation to promote my page? J give them to me please!

The Sims and Social media

True or not, the most developed and profitable areas in Facebook is not advertising, it is gaming. Zynga, and now EA, they are playing out their cards on the most popular social media page, Facebook.

EA game title The Sims Social has seen its monthly average users surpass that of Facebook giant Farmville on the social network. In total it now has an monthly average user base of 36m users. 

Only a few weeks into the Facebook games market, The Sims Social is already surpassing two of Zynga’s most popular and successful games on Facebook, Zynga Poker and Empires & Allies. That’s impressive considering The Sims Social is almost brand new. Yes, it does have its loyal followers who know the massive EA franchise, The Sims, but these numbers are still very fascinating to watch.

However, Zynga’s still looking good with behemoths such as CityVille but they are definitely starting to pay more attention with the numbers The Sims Social is putting out in such a short time frame.

What do you think? The Sims Social will last and out run CityVille totally? And if it does, does that create incentives for you to start buying and playing more of EA offline games? Let me know by leaving comments below.

Banks and Social media

HONESTY TEST: Wrong changes!

Have you guys watched this series of NAB newest ads on Youtube? 

I was pretty amazed with the previous campaign from NAB, the "break up". It was huge, and the Social media platforms were integrated brilliant. As well as using social media in a positive way, NAB have used Twitter to reveal bad news to customers, with the bank last year Tweet that there were some technical problem with its online banking portal.

If numbers stand for victory, Commonwealth and Westpac win in Facebook and Twitter respectively here. However, in general, NAB seem to be the big player in both field. Speaking of this, I really wonder is Social media worth invested for banks?

Is it because of the trends that banks are having their presence online? Maybe. Or maybe not.

Why go for Social media? Why? Because this is one of the ways society communicates now. What financial institution would be arrogant enough to believe that it could just ignore the activity that is happening in social media and expect it to manage itself without (negatively) affecting their brand? 

If a bank doesn't respond to their consumer grievances, another bank will. And the bank that is most available and helpful in the medium that people are using - which now is social media and its associated platforms - will be victorious. How successful they are is another issue entirely. 

I had a look at NAB's Twitter and Facebook accounts, they are actively respond to their followers' questions and comments. But one of the thing that I'm more than concerned is even if they are actively involved online, are they actually helping their customers in real life? (For the similar topic, have a read at this blog Amity's blog post about her experience with Online brand's performance)

How about your thoughts? For what it's worth, would you like a bank's Facebook fanpage or follow its twitter?