The Who Rocks Facebook with Name That Riff
I’m not a big fan of the majority of available widgets, apps, and games that bombard Facebook. Most are garbage in my opinion, and do nothing other than clutter your profile or page.
The problem is many of these widgets were built with the old school marketing mentality of “if we build it, they will come.’”
The truth is, Facebook widgets fail for the following reasons:
- They provide zero value, and do nothing but act as bulletin boards for a product or brand.
- There is no level of engagement that relates to the user.
- They rely on a flashy gimmicky presence to create a viral whirlwind.
- The existing culture and loyalty of the brand was never taken into consideration.
So when I came across The Who’s Facebook game, Name That Riff, I was skeptical. Being a big Who fan, my concern was their game would fall into the above reasons of Facebook widget purgatory. That wouldn’t be the case.
Name That Riff works.
The game provides loyal fans an opportunity to show off their knowledge of The Who. The design is strong and fits in the visual identity the band has built since the 60’s. Most importantly the game is simple and doesn’t take much time.
- You are given 17 music clips to listen to.
- You must choose from 3 answers and have 30 seconds per clip.
- Like the bar quiz games, the quicker you answer, the more points you rack up.
- You are allowed three chances to improve your score.
This game picks songs from the entire Who archive. Also songs start at random places to throw you off. I fancy myself as a knowledgeable Who fan, but I tripped up at some of their selections. Once done you can publish your score on your profile and in your news feed. You can also compare your score with your friends on Facebook or globally.
The word of mouth aspect is very clever.
Players are urged to challenge their friends. Doing so opens up bonus rounds that you can play to improve your score. And unlike other apps that rely on you spamming random friends, you’ll want to share it with other Who fans.
The Creative Corporation, who built this game, did their homework, and it shows. They took into account, what fans of The Who love, their music. By providing a simple but entertaining widget that people will want to use and share, they are successful. It appears that Name That Riff was just released on TheWho.com, so it will be interesting to see how well it does.
Incidentally, if I happen to win the customized American Standard Stratocaster, I’ll let you know!
Crisis Commons: Crowdsourcing Information Solutions for the Crisis in Haiti
In response to the devastating aftermath of the twin earthquakes (on January 12 and then on January 20) in Haiti, Crisis Commons has come to serve as a key forum for the coordination of professional volunteers in the development of rapid solutions to the diverse array of information-based challenges facing the aid effort.
Crisis Commons volunteers are drawn from experts in the fields of geospatial mapping, software development, graphic design, language translation, NGO and government work, and general logistics.
Teams collaborate most intensively and perhaps productively at live meetings called “Crisis Camps”, which have met and will be meeting in cities across North and South America, from New York to Los Angeles, and from Bogota to Ottawa.
Projects resulting from Crisis Camps include a Creole-to-English mobile app, and a platform enabling the sharing of resources between relief organizations called the We Have, We Need Exchange.
Many other projects have been conceived and are in development. View the full project list here.
In order to learn more about becoming a collaborator on a Crisis Camp Haiti project, click here.
Seth Godin on Email Marketing
Seth Godin has an insightful blog post up where he very succinctly describes the fundamental difference between spam and permission-based email campaigns.
A spam campaign feels like a smart idea, but over time, the more you use it, the less your brand is worth. A permission campaign, on the other hand, only grows in value, until it gets big enough that you can build an entire business around it.
Earning permission is a long-term, profitable, scalable strategy that pays for itself. Think about how much better off a brand would be if it took the time to make promises, keep them and be transparent about its communications.
Ultimately your list is only valuable if your subscribers are engaged. An email list of 10,000 passionate, engaged people who have truly opted in is more valuable than a list of 100,000 addresses acquired through nefarious means. Those 10,000 folks will buy your product, write letters to Congress and/or donate money. With spam lists, you’ll be lucky if they even open your email.
The Top 6 Government Social Networks
The Top 6 Government Social Networks
Exceptional social networks listed in this OhMyGov article include The Federal Contractor Network, Our Border, GovCentral, ExchangesConnect, Govloop and Military.com. From my review of this list four of the six appear to be built on the Ning social networking platform.