DreamGrow Social Media

Why Consumers Friend or Follow Companies

New chart by MarketingSherpa shows what is motivating the social relationship between consumers and brands.

[One] unique driver of social connectedness with companies is to “get to know” the company. Although other aspects of the Internet have already opened this arena up to scrutiny, social media accelerated the ability of individual consumers to monitor, communicate and comment on companies as citizens.

Study Reveals Two Types of Twitter Users

In a study of Twitter Mor Naaman and Jeffrey Boase found that 80 percent of users are “meformers,” people who use the platform to post updates on their everyday activities, social lives, thoughts and emotions. The remaining 20 percent are “informers” and share information, have larger social networks and are more interactive with their followers. Read their paper. via Study Reveals Two Types of Twitter Users . We try hard tha most of our post on Twitter would contain information and not meformation.

Applying game mechanics to social media

Everyone likes games – your preference might be for the simple, like Solitare, or complex, like World of Warcraft.  If you think games are frivolous, think again – they help us accomplish the simple, like getting an infant to eat, and the complex, like warming up surgeons or disaster response.  But as in all things, moderation is key and some people have died when taking games too far. Here’s how game mechanics work.  My friend Max Kalehoff blogged about five keys of successful game design as communicated by expert Amy Jo Kim (no relation to me).  I’ll apply her framework here:

• Collecting things
• Earning points
• System feedback
• Value exchanges
• Customization and personalization

via Being Peter Kim: Applying game mechanics to social media.