Events of the week included the Obama Jobs Speech, straw poll in Florida won by Herman Cain, 2 policer officers in Fullerton California were charged with murder for beating death of Kelly Thomas, Two and a Half Men killed off Charlie Sheen’s character, and 6 tons of space junk falls harmlessly in Canada.
5 of my favorite posts in Google + week of September 18, 2011
Posted by Zacarias Abad Torres
Posted by Dave Beckerman
Posted by Massoud S
Posted by Pedro Henrique
Posted by Michel Rajkovek
The big news item this week was the 10 year anniversary of 9-11. I was especially moved by the reading of the names by family members at the 9-11 memorial. A few things that struck me was that there were no political speeches given during the ceremony out of respect for those lost on that day.
Here are some my favorite posts what are yours?
Posted by Rapha Ritchie
Posted by Morgan Abbou
posted by Suraj Hota
Posted by Viktor Skurko
Posted by Denise Oliveira
I hope you enjoyed these posts as much as I did. For more follow me on Google Plus or on twitter @Fierce_Living and @Fierce_Chat
It’s been a crazy week with Obama’s speech, blackouts in San Diego, terror threats, recovery from a hurricane on the east coast, a typhoon in Japan, more unrest in Egypt, and a tropical storm that hit Louisiana and later brought flooding to the Northeast. That’s why it’s great at times to get lost in whatever your guilty pleasure, escape from reality, mode of entertainment is.
There were a lot of great posts that came through the timeline once again and I could easily post over 20 that I thought were terrific. I have to at least try to follow my own rules (until I decide not to) so here are my five favorites.
shared by chantal gayatri
Shared by viktor skurko
shared by Felix Wang
Shared by Deborah Rosier
Shared by: nader madakto
And this video is honorable mention. I saw it in the stream and went to you tube to watch it but in the process I lost who shared it with me.
I hope you enjoyed my findings. Let me know what favorite things you have found in your social media endeavors this week.
Google Plus is about 2 months old and has approximately 25 million users. There has been a lot of discussion lately about the battle between Google +, Facebook, and Twitter. Each platform has its advantages and disadvantages and there is enough room in the Social Media universe for all three platforms in my opinion.
Many of you who know me know that I am a huge fan of Google Plus. I am a visual learner and have a great appreciation for all of the visual imagery available on the site. You can have a hangout with friends and watch You Tube videos, you may be bombarded in your stream with a boat load of infographics or you can check out the work of many great photographers and artists who have taken to the site.
Over the next several weeks I am going to select my favorite 5 posts of the week and share them with you in my blog. The criteria I am using is the wow factor of images, creativity in infographics, quantity of comments generated by the post, or it’s just one of my favorite topics. What are your favorite posts this week on Google Plus? Leave me a comment with a link.
Posted by Morgan Abbou
Posted by vikhil nv
Posted by Graham Smith
Posted by Steve Raffner
Posted by Misha M.-Kupriyanov
I’ve been using Empire Avenue for about 3 months now and while I enjoy it, it feels like something is missing. I can’t really put my finger on it so I thought I’d survey some users and get some additional perspective.
I asked the following questions and received 21 responses.
Survey Questions:
1. How long have you been on EA?
2. How did you find out about EA?
3. What do you want to get out of EA?
4. What do you like best about it? What do you like least?
5. What SM do you use the most?
6. Has EA impacted the way you use SM?
7. Have you made any new contacts? Do you connect with them on other SM sites?
8. Do you have a strategy for EA? Have you set any goals?
9. How many hours per day do you spend on EA?
10. Will you continue to use the site?
Bonus:
11. If you are a new user (within the last 2 weeks) what are your expectations from the site?
What I really wanted to figure out through this survey was not just why people were playing the game but are they actually getting any practical value out of it. I think for the most part they are but let’s dig into the responses and see what we can discover.
Time on the site
I was pleasantly surprised that I received a response from somebody who had only been on the site for 4 hours. I just checked and CITYCHATTR (Saskia Wijngaard) is still playing and has a stock share price of over 50 with dividends of 0.37. Another respondent, CASTREZANA has been on the site for 6 months and I am happy to say that he is doing great with a share price of 91.26 and dividends of .81 per share. I did not hear from anyone who had been on the site for longer than 6 months.
How did people hear about the site
Almost everyone who responded either found out through Twitter or FaceBook, although, a few were referred to the site by their friends and one came across it by accident.
Why do people want to play Empire Avenue
More important than how they found out about Empire Avenue, however, is what they do with the site once they are on board. Empire Avenue is a game that channels the stock market but can you actually make money by playing it? On the surface it doesn’t seem likely, however, if you look at the survey responses carefully it is quite clear that there can be significant financial gains generated through this venue. For example, ARIIX CANADA is an entrepreneur and stated that they have made a staggering amount of contacts and consider their entire network expanded by over 2000 people as a result of registering with the site. This account also is doing very well with a share value of 103 and dividend of 0.71.
Like Best/ Like Least
While Empire Avenue is certainly a place to connect, learn about social media, and just have fun there are certainly a few things about it that drive people crazy. By far the most annoying thing about Empire Avenue is that if you take a few days away from the site or from using your social media connections it is very likely that your share price and dividends will take a hit. KRMC states “the share price can fluctuate widely and once it goes lower it is very difficult to bring it back up again.” A few other complaints are the site takes a long time to learn how to use it and the site itself can be slow at times. One last complaint is the social media sites you get credit for using are limited.
On the other hand, respondents really enjoyed the abilitiy to make contacts that they never would have made otherwise. The site also makes it very easy to connect with people on the social media sites that are connected to Empire Avenue. The site has an algorithm that is used to measure activity on the social media sites which also serves as a motivator to increase your activity in those sites. It’s also fun to watch your share value increase and interact in the hundreds of communities that have sprouted up on the site.
Strategy and Usage
Social media is the heart of Empire Avenue and all of the respondents to the survey were aware of this and the associated benefits. Of course, my sample size is small compared to the total number of people on the site and I was hoping to run across someone who’s main focus was on gaming so I could get a different perspective.
Respondents were most active on Facebook and Twitter but there are many who use LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+ and even eCademy. Most people spend about 30 minutes a day on the site but there are several who have it open all day and check in periodically throughout the day. The amount of time spent on the site tapers off over time. CHOCOHOLIC started at about 9 hours per day but now only spends close to 30 minutes per day.
Like anything in life it is my belief that you need both a strategy and goals and objectives to be successful with Empire Avenue. ZANZPLANS has a strategy to buy people she likes and try to find those who will reinvest in her. KCHAMP26912 says ” Yes I’m working on purchases at least 100 shares in all who have purchased 100 or more in me and matching anyone below, then I’m going to work on increasing my daily earnings so I can start putting more in those who own more than 100. On the social side I plan to get to know everyone better as time allows.” Great strategy, I say, because her share value is 119, her net worth is over $7M and her dividends are 1.34 per share.
Will you stay on the site?
Almost everyone said they were in it for the long haul, however there were a few who were going to play it by ear. 365GRATEFUL will only stay on the site if she can garner interest from others. PETERADIO can’t live without it and ARIIX CANADA says of course, it’s pretty much the future of social media.
Bonus Question
JOEBURROUGHS stated that he hoped to get some friends signed up so that he could compare networks. CITYCHATTR expects to bump up their traffic on other SM sites. Both are doing well with share value in the 50’s and dividends close to 0.40.
My Responses
Several people who took the survey wanted to know my responses to the questions. So here they are. I started playing about 3 months ago. I’m pretty sure I heard about Empire Avenue on Twitter. Like most people I use it to make connections, have some fun, and measure my activity in SM. What I like best about the site is it encourages engagement in social media and offers you a way to measure that activity. What I like least is that unless you really invest an enormous amount of time on the site your score plateaus and is difficult to get a strong bump unless you become hyper active.
The social media sites that I use the most are Twitter and Google+. I do engage differently on social media than I did prior to signing up for Empire Avenue. I think this is due to The Hawthorne Effect. I have connected with several people on the site and carried those connections over to Twitter and Google+. My strategy is to focus on trying to connect with interesting people, buy into at least 3 players per day, taking into consideration their activity in social media, share price, and dividends before I make a purchase.
Each month I set two goals that I’d like to achieve during the month. My current goal is to increase from 130 shareholders to 200 shareholders and increase my net worth from $745K to $1 million. I noticed that when I started setting goals and making them public, quite a few players invested in me just because they wanted to contribute to my success and help me to meet my goals. I encourage anyone playing the game to set goals and make them public by posting in the communities they are involved in.
I’m still not able to put my finger on what’s a little off about the site. I would love to hear from you to see what your thoughts are. I do think it is a fun way to make valuable personal and business connections, keep track of your social media footprint, and improve your engagement in social media.
Additional Tips for Empire Avenue
For tips and cheats on Empire Avenue click here
http://www.michaelqtodd.com/eavtwitter
http://commercialscott.com/2011/06/re-5-tips-tricks-and-tools-for-empire-avenue/
Shout out to the survey participants:
PETERADIO, KRMC, JOEBURROUGHS, EMMAG, WHOIS, SANZPLANS, RAYCOLON, 365GRATEFUL, ZAGORATH, ARIIX CANADA, PVH, CITYCHATTR, KCHAMP26912, ANJLEE, CALL, AHYNES1, CASTREZANA, FR05TY, CPERKCPA, and CHOCOHOLIC
Fierce Living 