SCVNGR: Earn Your Right to Be Vain

M. Bamieh
Posted by M. Bamieh on September 24, 2010
Filed under App Reviews, Future of the Web
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There is something lackluster about social check-in apps like FourSquare, Gowalla and Facebook Places. Whenever I tried to use or checkout one of those services, I was always thinking about how letting my friends know where I’ve been is not exciting enough for me to use it. This impression of those websites not providing me with a lot of incentive to maintain my accounts but a new service has popped up and it seems particularly intriguing with its marriage of social media and gaming; SCVNGR.

So what is SCVNGR?

SCVNGR at its core is a Social Game, it makes you look at the locations that you check-in from in an entirely different light. When you check-in from a location you will be able to choose from a variety of  scavenger hunts or “treks”, they could ask for a specific word mentioned in a restaurants menu or to take a picture with a certain landmark. After completing each challenge you will earn points, badges and even real-world rewards for your efforts, never mind that boasting rights for pawning your friends. other users.

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Catfish: A Social Networking Movie Worth Watching

M. Bamieh
Posted by M. Bamieh on September 22, 2010
Filed under Offbeat
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Seems like Social Networking movies are the ‘IT’ thing in Hollywood this season, but here comes along a documentary that actually makes its viewers think about their social interactions on the web.

Filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story and decided to document a budding friendship between Ariel’s brother Nev, a 24 year old photographer from New York City, with Abby (8 years old) and her sister Megan (19 years old) from rural Michigan. The story starts with Abby contacting Nev via Facebook, asking for his permission to make a painting from one of his photographs, then we follow Nev as his friendship develops and he and the filmmakers decide to pay the girls a visit at their farm in Michigan. This is as much of a synopsis as I can give without spoiling the movie for you but its a well written thriller and you will certainly stay on your toes during the second half of the movie with plot twists and climaxes that will leave you thinking about them for days!

So, unlike The Social Network and Twitter movies this one will actually deliver on being something more than just a gimmick and gives us and entertaining movie experience, so I totally recommend that you go and see it. It was released nation-wide in the United States on September 17th. If you have already watched it, let us know what you think.

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The ‘Haul’ Video — Learn Social Media by Example

M. Bamieh
Posted by M. Bamieh on September 9, 2010
Filed under Social Media By Example
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Every teen queen knows, a bountiful trip to the mall is never complete until you get to show off your ‘Haul’ to your BFF but now with social media you can have a much bigger stage to show off on! In essence that’s what a Haul Video is all about.

But this is not all, the Haul video seamlessly ties in micro-reviews, clues about whats trending for the new season, tips and hints on where to shop, and how to get the best deals. Those teen queens are becoming the definition of shopping porn, there are thousands of ‘haul’ videos on Youtube with several that have more than a million views.

Success: 5/5
Virality: 4/5
Innovation: 5/5
Feels like an ad: No
Brand visibility: 5/5
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Feeling Lonely? Why Not Rent a Friend?

M. Bamieh
Posted by M. Bamieh on September 2, 2010
Filed under Future of the Web
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This evolution of moving into more personal and more private interaction would have realistically ceased at the level of friends and family, but what about those who don’t have their friends and family immediately available to them? What about those who want to spend time and hang out with their friends rather than just stay in touch. Thats the gap that the rent-a-friend service fills

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The Game Layer on Top of The World [TED Video]

This was a really amazing TED lecture that I thought about sharing, the possibilities that open up in your mind, after listening to this lecture, are truly amazing. The concept is very simple: the evolution of social networking has reached its apex and settled on a platform; Facebook. Now, the way forward would be to […]

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INFOGRAPH: Do You Know Who’s Watching You?

INFOGRAPH: Do You Know Who’s Watching You?

A researcher that packaged and posted the information of more than 100 million public Facebook profiles on the internet caused a certain ripple of concern. Nowadays privacy is an ever growing concern for a lot of people, and they are becoming aware of the importance of privacy and securing your information on the web. Although...

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Cisco SPice — Learn Social Media by FAILURE!

Cisco SPice — Learn Social Media by FAILURE!

A cause of Projectile Vomiting?

What is it about? With the runaway success of Old Spice’s brilliant campaign, the “creatives” at Cisco decided to do their own spin off of the campaign by basically copying it in an attempt to tag along for its meteoric rise. About the campaign Director of Strategic Communications, Doug Webster, basically fell in...

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HOW TO: Reactivate a Disabled Facebook Account

HOW TO: Reactivate a Disabled Facebook Account

The Dreaded Account Disabled Message

Facebook have quite the draconian usage policy and at any point in time you might find yourself the proud owner of a disabled Facebook account. Do not dispair for there are ways to reactivate your account without having to re-create a different one.

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Interesting Facts about Facebook [Infograph]

Interesting Facts about Facebook [Infograph]

Facebook Facts Infograph - Source: OnlinePhDPrograms.com

I was browsing the net for information and some interesting facts about Facebook to include in a presentation that I was making the other day and i thought to share some of the information that I came across. One site created a list of 50 interesting facts about Facebook that I found really helpful, and the good part about the...

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Flipbook: The iPad iMagazine

Flipbook: The iPad iMagazine

A killer App or the latest Gimmick

With more than 3 million iPads finding their hands into consumer hands, it had comfortably found a place for itself in the musical chairs game of consumer electronics. The way fans and consumers have reacted to the iPad defied critics who proclaimed that the device didn't fill a need, and it is simply an over sized iPod that could...

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