What Makes A Good Social Media Network Platform?

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October 1, 2011

A lot has happened in the online sphere lately. The introduction of Google+, the long delayed Twitter Analytics and recently, all the debate on the new Facebook features and layout. In the past we’ve seen the rise (and fall) of Friendster, MySpace, High5 and many other social networking sites. Why did they grow cold? I don’t know about you but as I read through different reviews, complaints and compliments, I realized that everyone have different feelings towards either platforms and a question popped up in my head:

What Do You Look For in A Social Media Network Tool or Platform?

Could it be… Apps?

The games on Facebook, the add-ons on LinkedIn, the 3rd party apps on Twitter. Is the flexibility of the platform a reason of your choice?

Could it be… the number of Users?

“800 million users on Facebook and growing, that’s the place to be!”

Could it be… the Cool factor?

“Because everyone is there and all my friends have it, I’ve got to be there else I’m not cool.”

Could it be… Privacy?

Or would you prefer something more controlled such as Twitter’s protected Tweets?

Could it be… the Diversity of Content?

The ability to post / share / read text, images and videos (and location?).

Could it be… Mobility?

Something that you can easily manage on mobile such as check-ins, text in 140 characters, something that requires less maneuvering on-the-go.

Could it be… Advertising opportunities?

Perhaps Facebook appeals to you more because you are given the option to advertise?

Could it be… the Analytics?

The ability to keep track on what’s happening with your updates – the number of clicks, shares, visitors and etc.

What is it that you look for in a social media network tool? What makes you define a tool as ‘useful’ or ‘great’? I’d love to hear your thoughts :)

Which Grills Faster? The Android, iPhone or the Windows Phone?

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November 13, 2010

| Jan Wong

Hello there! How’s your weekend coming along? Some weekend browsing allowed me to stumble across this and if you’ve always been wondering which of the 3 phones mentioned lasts longer on the grill, this video is made for you:

What’s interesting to note that this video is not made for sheer entertainment purposes – it is to promote a product called the EZGrill disposable grill. If you haven’t noticed, this video is going viral with about 9k views on YouTube since it was uploaded 24 hours ago. People all around the world are tuning in just to see 3 of the latest gadgets out there getting grilled helplessly.. and watching a live demonstration on how the EZGrill works!

A costly idea? EZGrill will need to sell more than 200 units to recoup the cost spent on the phones for this ad.
Will it be possible? At the rate it is going, very much so.
Should EZGrill give the phones away rather than grilling them? Nah.. The grilling cooked up a huge opportunity for consumers to see their product in action the fun (for some) and dreadful (for some) way. The hype builds faster this way, too!

So, what does it take to go viral?

Looking at EZGrill’s ad, I managed to pick up 2 simple points:

1. Pick something that’s current: EZGrill used the 3 most talked about gadgets – the Android G2, iPhone 4 and Windows Phone 7 as the main catch. They did not say “See how my EZGrill works and how awesome it is” but to use current topics to capture the attention of the consumers, then show them what the product is all about.

2. Do something unusual / drastic: They pulled something drastic as opposed to IKEA that went for the unusual route. EZGrill used 3 current items, did something drastic and that captured major attention and interest (and shock). Grilled phones? We don’t see that coming everyday.

There are definitely more ways to go about viral videos but usually the above two does it just right. I am personally interested to see how far this video will travel.

Did I miss out something from EZGrill’s video? I would love to hear them :)

Till then, fancy a barbecue, anyone?

My Google Story

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October 1, 2010

| Jan Wong

In case you’re wondering – yes, this site also reveals part of my happenings in life, injecting a little bit more flavour to the site as a whole; something lighter than the usual information dosage, especially for the weekend :)

“Did you know that Google originally ran under Stanford University’s website – google.stanford.edu?”

On the faithful day of 27th September, a dear friend of mine celebrated his 12th birthday – Google

Google's 12th Birthday

I must confess that I didn’t really like Google when we first met. I was closer to Yahoo! back then. Yahoo! was cooler as he offered various online games, games that allowed me to meet people from other countries through ‘chat’ and the opportunity to beat them in checkers, chess and pool.. all the way back in 1997, when I was 10. I had a mail account with Yahoo! at that time and I thought it was the coolest thing on earth, although I also had accounts with Hotmail, ICQ, Excite, Lycos and the likes. Yahoo! remained my favourite.

“Did you know that the domain Google.com was officially registered on the 15th September 1997, and only launched on 27th September 1998?”

At that time, Google looked like this:

And Yahoo! like this:

I pretty much stuck with Yahoo! all the way till 2004, where my life was turned around with the introduction of Gmail. Really. At that point of time, Gmail offered 1GB worth of mailbox size in which I needed and what made Google cooler is that Gmail was only available on special invitation. Wow! At that time, most mailboxes were only 100MB ~~big~~ small!

Because of that, I started hanging out with Google more and found that he is able to search more efficiently than my previous buddy! He gives me the results I require and does not take a long time to load up as he really is a simple dude, with his name on a white background.

Since then, Google became my answer to everything and has yet to fail me ever since. He became a buddy throughout college, university and life. Today, I can still be found on Gmail and have also furthered my commitment, being attached to Gchat, Gcalendars, Gdocs, Gmaps, Gbuzz and his cousin, YouTube. He is so nice that he has even taught me the secret to be ranked #1 on him and managed to do it for a number of my sites (this site soon, too)!

Sure, he has his pitfalls once in awhile, but I’ve never regretted getting know Google. Happy 12th Birthday, friend!

How did you get to know Google? Do YOU have a Google story? It’ll be great to hear them,too ;)

Google Does It Again!

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September 10, 2010

| Jan Wong

If you’ve been using Google lately, you’ve most likely came across a couple of things (or differences) just within this couple of days!

First up, the Google logo doodle was seen to be in balls on www.google.co.uk (not anymore)!

What’s so special about this, you ask? Seen cooler doodles than this? Check out what happens when you ‘touch’ the doodle with your mouse cursor:

How cool is that? What’s even cooler is that when you move your browser window around, the balls actually move accordingly!

Now, if you managed to catch a glimpse at the subsequent update to the Google doodle, it looked something like this:

When you first load up Google.com, the doodle will be in grey and it colours up as you enter a search query. Nothing great compared to the earlier doodle? This update actually launched Google Instant – a real-time search overhaul to the existing search features.

What does it do? It is capable of predicting results AS YOU TYPE! And, the results are predicted and displayed real-time based on the popularity of the sites so you’ll probably get “Amazon” when you type “A”, “Facebook” for “F” and so on, without having to press ‘enter’! Don’t believe me? Try it out right now at Google.com as it is already up and running!

Searching is now more convenient and much quicker with Google Instant :)