But regardless of who defines gamification – the concept is essentially the same to each stakeholder that’s in the “game” – what are the best and most effective ways to keep eyes on a website? Also, how do you get those eyes to want to share and interact with the content amongst their social spheres of influence (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN, etc.)

It’s going to take more than just a scrolling leader board, and it’s going to take more than a few cool looking badges that you can earn for providing comments.

What’s needed is buy in from large, influential brands and the influx of cash to gamification platforms and high quality blogs that focus on community.

Check this infographic out from the folks at BigDoor – it speaks precisely to those points; that brands need to get involved and that serious direct spending on gamification initiatives HAVE to start happening.

We bloggers will continue to provide the great content, now we’re looking to gamification platforms to provide us with the tools and mechanisms to bridge that interaction gap.

2012 should be a blast !!

Disclaimer: HicksNewMedia is a registered publisher with BigDoor

Related articles

• Cisco Blogs Get Gamified (blogs.cisco.com)
• Gamification Q&A – Let’s Play! (blogs.forrester.com)

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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Do you think you can use your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIN networks to actually get you a job?

Well, illustrating a recent survey by Jobvite, this infographic highlights the profiles of a person using social media for searching jobs along with some simple, but helpful tips for the curious.

Created by: MBA Online

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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Even with the government censorship folks are finding ways of getting their voice heard across the Social InterWeb.

Check out the following infographic that breaks it down exactly how the Chinese are doing it.

[image via]

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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What is it about social media that has made it such a HUGE part of everyone’s marketing portfolio? Fact is that at the core of social media is a need to connect and share. As human beings this is a central and crucial need. It was only a matter of time before social networks became a household name and for online business users – a marketing phenomenon.

If you recently took up social media for your blog or business, let’s take a look at three quick and smart tips for new users.

1. Share Freely and Regularly – if you want to be a good standing member in any social network – be it Twitter, Facebook or Google Plus the one thing I would most advise a new social media user is to share, share and share. Follow those you genuinely like and consider good sources of information, entertainment, tips, etc and share freely whenever you can. And don’t be shy about letting another user know that you tweeted, LIKED or PLUSED something. As you may or may not know there are ways to “tag” someone to let them know they were mentioned. In time and as you become skilled in using social media you will in turn become a resource yourself and someone that other people look to for tips and advice. Keep this in mind and know that someday newbies will be coming to you on how best to use social media. But for now, the golden rule is? Share, share and share.

2. Busy? Cherry Pick Your Social Network – we admit that running any sort of social media campaign is daunting and can become very time consuming. With this in mind, we advise to choose just one of the BIG three in social media which is: Google Plus, Twitter and Facebook. Choose the one you most enjoy using and would like to become more involved with and give it your all. Follow, share, learn, keep up with the trends and changes and master your chosen social network. In time, you will become a dominant player and member within your own right.

3. Learn The Tips of The Trade – if you really want to master social media, then study the trade. As in follow those with good tips on the subject and subscribe to blogs that deliver the goods on best practices within social media. Some of these sites include Problogger, Social Media Explorer, Chris Brogan and others. All of the BIG THREE social networks implement a surprising amount of changes on a regular basis. But to stay current and learn how best to use social media we need to stay on our toes and keep up with the never ending surprises.

What did we miss? Share below your BEST tip for a new social media user. Pretend your next door neighbor – who runs an auto shop – just signed up for Facebook. What advice do you have for him.

This guest contribution comes from Missy Diaz who writes for several web clients including Paul, a cheap car hire service in the UK.

[image via]

Guest

Contributing authors on the cutting edge of technology reporting.

This past weekend was the first time the conference was held in Los Angeles and, judging by the turnout – I’m thinking they’re coming back annually from now on.

My experience was both rooted in personal and professional necessity. On the personal level, I got to see and hang out with a couple of buddies that I hadn’t seen in literally 20 years. So that reunion was well worth the trip.

From a professional perspective, with HicksNewMedia being a Digital Publishing and Technology Consulting Team by design, it was a no-brainer that I’d be at BlogWorld to be with “my people.”

I had a defined schedule of events that I wanted to ensure I accomplished and there was a list of peers that I consciously wanted to be sure and have a conversation with.

All that being said, I was well prepared to remain flexible with my schedule (something I learned from my CES 2011 travels). By adding some slack in my schedule and not being overly strict with my day, I was blessed with some powerful, unexpected personal interactions.

For my first session, first thing in the morning I headed straight to hear Mr. Darren Rowse talk about Blogging From the Heart. Darren has been an entrepreneurial model for me since Day 1 – obviously I read his blog and follow him on Twitter, but his was also the very first techniques of blogging book that I ever purchased.

The overall official schedule of events was well designed and spread out to be conducive of people wanting to spend time interacting and meeting. For instance, that Darren Rowse keynote was from 9-10 and the next one wasn’t until 11:15, which is where we heard the State of the Blogosphere (#SOTB2011) from Technorati CEO Shani Higgins.

Shani did a great job going through the raw numbers. I won’t speak to the entire report (which is quite long, but you can see it in all its glory here). I will point to a demographic breakdown that Shani mentioned in terms of Who Are The Bloggers?

• 61% – Hobbyist
• 18% – Professional (part-time and full-time)
• 8% – Corporate
• 13% – Entrepreneur

I, and the majority of the team at HicksNewMedia, fall into that growing 13% entrepreneur category

After the Technorati keynote, my weekend got a bit more hectic (see my schedule below)

I’ll be writing individual posts for the interviews I conducted, but back to those unexpected personal interactions I mention above.

During Darren’s keynote I finally got the opportunity to meet Leo Widrich, the co-founder of Buffer. I’ve been using Buffer for a number of months now and it really is social media automation done the right way. Having the ability to immediately and/or schedule updates to your Twitter and Facebook profiles is only the beginning for this platform. Look for huge announcements in the coming weeks as Leo and Joel build tighter linkages across the Social InterWeb.

Warren Whitlock, a man that has been around the media industry for literally decades is someone I see at nearly every technology conference I attend; doesn’t matter if I’m at CES, Cloud Expo, MacWorld or BlogWorld – Warren’s in the building. He’s always networking, telling others of his vast life experiences, and making business connections – I love it. This past weekend I happened to be talking with Warren about life…and in walks Lee Pound. Lee Pound has also spent decades in media and publishing. He prides himself on being a go-to resource to help professionals and business owners write and publish books that showcase them as the recognized expert in their field. During this chance meeting, Lee presented me with a signed copy of the latest and still not released book that he and Warren collaborated on, Profitable Social Media: Business Results Without Playing Games. The book will be available on November 11, 2011. I consider this to be a major score – thank you Lee and Warren !!

Greg Voakes – an extremely talented young man out of Victoria, British Columbia is one of our primary resources for the high quality infographics you’ve seen on both THE Tech Scoop and INFOtainment News. He overheard me chatting with the team at YouCast and again, that quick, impromptu introduction of putting the “real face to the Twitter ID” was invaluable. From that 10 minute face-to-face, I believe that HicksNewMedia and Greg’s organization will open up additional collaboration opportunities to bring to you, our valued readership.

Marla Schulman – I love this lady. I literally drove all over downtown LA in an attempt to catch up with her at the various parties happening Friday night. No luck, we unfortunately didn’t connect until the last day right before the final New Media LIVE keynote. But it was still awesome to see her.

Calvin Lee – The self-proclaimed Media Ho himself. Great to see the man, the myth and yes the legend roaming the expo hall.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to talk with Mari Smith. Everytime I saw her she was flanked by people wanting to hear her words of wisdom. By the way, if you haven’t ever seen Mari in person, FYI – she is stunning – that is my personal and professional opinion. She is a great teacher, a great communicator and just an awesome resource. I follow her blog religiously.

Chris Brogan was chilling in the Que Publishing party and I didn’t get a chance to talk to him this time (last time we talked was at CES last year), however, we did exchange the playa to playa head nod. Good to see you man!!

Didn’t get a chance to share a drink with Brian Solis – I still owe him one from hooking me up at SXSW last year. I’ll get you next go ’round man. Much success on your new book, and let me just say how happy I am that Revolution is coming back!!

I think I’ll be updating this post for days, adding bits of information that I find throughout the notes I took – so come back. Also remember I’m writing individual posts on the interviews I held with the awesome startups on display in the expo hall.

In the end, BlogWorld Expo LA 2011 was a major success. Rick Calvert and his team spare no expense to ensuring their events are of the highest quality.

I’ve found 2 great photo libraries from the event, CuriousJosh has a cool slideshow published on LAweekly.com and below is the results of a #BWELA search on Flickr.

See you all next year.

Related articles

• BWELA 2011: 7 Key Takeaways from BlogWorld Expo 2011 (businesswire.com)
• One More Thing – Blog World Expo (emergiblog.com)

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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As you may (or may not) know there are numerous ways to bring exposure to your blog and promote it on the web, but we are going to focus on five for the purposes of this article.

See our top picks for five quick ways to promote your blog on the net.

1. Social Media - you have three to choose from here including Facebook, Twitter and now Google Plus the latest social network to join the fray. The method for each is pretty much the same however they do work differently and each have different guidelines to get the best out of them. For each one the key is to engage engage and engage. With Facebook try to post regularly and do post items of interest to you niche. Anything from quotes, tips, information, news, and anything else of interest to your audience. Keep it light, keep it short and keep it coming. With Twitter rack up some fans, keep them in the loop and retweet others on a continual basis. Remember that with social media the key is to share and to allow others to shine.

2. Contests/Giveaways - another fantastic method to promote your blog is to create a killer giveaway and let your readers and visitors know about it. The key is to have a fantastic prize then let everyone you know including blog friends about your giveaway. Also don’t forget about your social network such as Facebook,Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus.

3. Guest Blogging - one of the absolute best to promote any blog and to promote any blog page or article. Find one in your intended niche and then send an email to the blog owner via the sites contact form. From there create a knock out article and then submit it to the blog owner. If approved and published on the site, consider yourself very fortunate as you just scored a prominent spot in what could possibly be an established and popular blog.

4. Blog Carnival - this is an old classic but still rings true for any blog owner. Simply visit the site find a relevant blog carnival and submit a blog article to it then await a response from blog carnival host. This is a quick and easy way to gain exposure for your blog and in particular your blog site. They’ve been around for a long time and I use them on a regular basis. You should too.

We welcome and encourage you to try any one or more of the methods mentioned above to bring additional exposure to a new or existing blog and gain all the momentum you need.

Let us know below in the comment area which method (or methods) you intend to try and how we can help?

This guest article was written by Missy Diaz who writes for several clients including Tim a website builder on the web.

Guest

Contributing authors on the cutting edge of technology reporting.

Klout has been around for 3 years, if you’re on Twitter more than likely it’s safe to assume that you know who the company is and what they look to measure through their Klout Score metric.

Tomorrow morning I get the distinct privilege to sit on a conference call, as part of the Klout Squad, and get first hand insight to the new scoring algorithm, and other various enhancements and usability improvements to Klout.

Joe Fernandez and his team have a good thing going with Klout – advertisers, brands, and businesses small and large are paying attention to what is perceived as an individuals capability to influence behavior through social media platforms.

Watch this quick video that was recently released and posted on WSJ where Joe and some influencers speak about the what and why of Klout and about the ever-important WIFM (what’s in it for me) as they discuss the Klout Perks that individuals can receive for being influential in a given topic.

I’ll update this post after the 8am PST call with all the updates. Until then, I’ll give the nod to a TheNextWeb and the great article written by Drew Olanoff tonight after he had a chance to speak directly with Joe Fernandez.

Update: So the preview call is done, and we got to see some of the new goodness ahead of time – the tech team at Klout was still coding away so there were still a few issues showing us detailed score insights.

That being said the focus of the conversation was to let us know that the focus of Klout really is taking a dynamic shift. More focus on what they’re call a PeopleRank algorithm.

From the Klout Blog,

…Since influence is the ability to drive action and is based on quality, not quantity. When someone engages with your content, we assess that action in the context of the person’s own activity. These principles form the basis of our PeopleRank algorithm which determines your Score based on:

how many people you influence,
how much you influence them and
how influential they are.

Let me say it - hallelujah - the fact that Klout is now consciously rewarding quality instead of spammy quantity blind RTs and links. Now we’re getting somewhere…

The mention that “all platforms are viewed equally” is also a great achievement. Even though I logged into my new-and-improved more accurate Klout score moments ago and saw that it dipped by a whopping 8 points, it’s good to see that more folks outside of just Twitter show up in my influence network.

Major step forward team – great to see the refinements. Keep ‘em coming

Related articles

• The Standard Measurement For Influence – Klout (thetechscoop.net)
• New Services Coming To Klout (thetechscoop.net)

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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Those of us that work to educate businesses and professionals the true value of engagement on social media platforms have had this exact conversation.

Everything from the flailing arms, the blank eye stairs and the eventual palm to the face.

Watch, and chuckle (or simply feel our pain).

[video via]

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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I say that because, a new data visualization put together by reppler.com, shows the impact that Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIN interactions, and comments, actually have on you being selected by an employer.

For instance, in a recent blog post on the Simply Hired blog, Shannon Leigh, a talent and development manager at Kforce, posted the following as three things recruiters check for:

1. What you post. “Just having your name and where you worked doesn’t give us [recruiters] a lot of perspective of who the candidate really is,” says Leigh. “We like to see how candidates are leveraging social media and engaging in discussions to see what their thought process is.” To that end, make sure you’re pushing your industry’s “conversation” forward, not spouting off personal newsbytes or inane (inappropriate) banter about last Friday’s kegger.

2. Who you know. This reveals how well-connected (and in-the-know) you might be in your industry. Professional groups and associations likewise shed light on what you’ve been up to, and can show your willingness to step up your game and take on new skills.

3. How you present yourself. Is your profile filled out and up-to-date, or does it appear robotic, listing only your name and birth date? “Updating your profile with current experience is crucial,” says Leigh. “Recruiters want to find out everything they can about you to make sure you are the best candidate for the job.”

Times have definitely changed folks. Consider yourself made aware.

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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In the past couple of months I’ve watched a number of keynotes from Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff and in each talk he’s touted the involvement of his company and the KLM Airline.

Nothing wrong with repeating good news – and I’m quite impressed. Check out the latest video production from KLM Airlines as they highlight how Facebook, Twitter, and Salesforce.com have literally transformed their customer service engagement and responsiveness.

If I EVER have a flight destination to anywhere KLM may fly – they’re at the top of my list!

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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