VirtualWorld.ca
The real world is becoming more virtual.
Taking a page from Groupon and all the other group deal buying sites, Facebook has launched Facebook Deals in Canada.
Surprisingly, FB isn't charging stores for using this service. The deals are meant to be for people on the go with smartphones, and don't involve printing out a paper coupon.
Some of the stores already using the service are Chapters Indigo, Dynamite, Garage, and Joe Fresh. Considering there are 10 million users of FB in Canada, expect a lot more stores to try it out. It may even get FB some more Canadian users, when those who aren't on FB find out there are deals to be had.
I think it makes a lot of sense for FB to do this. They have a large audience and the information on where people live. If you are out for a night of shopping, you can use your smartphone to quickly find any deals in the mall or store you're at. Right now, you need a smartphone to use the service.
Read the full article here:
http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/Facebook-launches-new-feature-capress-1939345831.html?x=0
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Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Egypt blocks Facebook and Twitter
VirtualWorld.ca
Egypt is blocking Virtual World activity. There are huge protests going on in Egypt right now, and much of the organizing and information transfer is happening online, through email and texting but also on Facebook and Twitter.
Think how fast organizing a protest can be when all you have to do is send out a tweet on Twitter about it, or list it in your Facebook post. Instantly, thousands of people can see it and act on it. And others can even re-post the news to their followers or contacts, creating a viral news effect.
This kind of use of social networking probably wasn't expected at Facebook and Twitter when they first started out, but both are perfect platforms for this kind of service.
Egypt is blocking Virtual World activity. There are huge protests going on in Egypt right now, and much of the organizing and information transfer is happening online, through email and texting but also on Facebook and Twitter.
Think how fast organizing a protest can be when all you have to do is send out a tweet on Twitter about it, or list it in your Facebook post. Instantly, thousands of people can see it and act on it. And others can even re-post the news to their followers or contacts, creating a viral news effect.
This kind of use of social networking probably wasn't expected at Facebook and Twitter when they first started out, but both are perfect platforms for this kind of service.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
China is taking over the Virtual World
VirtualWorld.ca
Chinese internet use is climbing. I read over the weekend that within 5 years, Chinese will be the language most used on the internet, moving ahead of English.
According to this article, there are now 457 million Chinese internet users, and it's still growing fast. Mobile phones with internet access is helping the trend, and it's astonishing to think that the number of people using the internet in China right now is greater than the ENTIRE population of the US.
For more details, click below:
http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/Agency-China-Internet-capress-2250075737.html
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Chinese internet use is climbing. I read over the weekend that within 5 years, Chinese will be the language most used on the internet, moving ahead of English.
According to this article, there are now 457 million Chinese internet users, and it's still growing fast. Mobile phones with internet access is helping the trend, and it's astonishing to think that the number of people using the internet in China right now is greater than the ENTIRE population of the US.
For more details, click below:
http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/Agency-China-Internet-capress-2250075737.html
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Friday, January 14, 2011
Top Online Marketing Trends for 2011
VirtualWorld.ca
Want to know where to focus your online maketing and social media efforts?
Here is a great article on hot trends in online marketing for 2011. I'm also posting it here so I can come back and re-read it when I need to.
The only thing I'd add is that you will need to have a good domain name as a backbone to your online marketing and social media efforts.
Click here to see the Top Trends in 2011
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Want to know where to focus your online maketing and social media efforts?
Here is a great article on hot trends in online marketing for 2011. I'm also posting it here so I can come back and re-read it when I need to.
The only thing I'd add is that you will need to have a good domain name as a backbone to your online marketing and social media efforts.
Click here to see the Top Trends in 2011
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Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Virtual Fail - Using Chapters gift cards on Kobo
VirtualWorld.ca
It's great that we now have a choice of ereaders to use, and among these is the Kobo. The Kobo reader website is at KoboBooks.com and the device is also sold by Chapters/Indigo in Canada.
For Christmas, we bought a Kobo for our daughter, and it was hard to get. Stores were running out, they were backordered online, but a family member was finally able to find one for us to give our child.
All great until we tried to use a Chapters gift card to order an ebook online at the Kobobooks.com site.
Here are some tips for the people at Kobo to get their site running a lot better.
- On the checkout page, PUT A NOTE saying that you have to enter credit card information even if you are using a Chapters gift card. It is a hassle to even have to enter a credit card when you have a gift card that will cover the full amount, but if those are the rules post it so it's clear! We didn't know to enter a credit card as well as the gift card info, plus we thought the site might charge the credit card. All of this could have been avoided if there was a simple note on the page. I'm sure many people are also having a headache with this.
- Don't ask for a credit card if someone is using a gift card. It isn't necessary. If there isn't enough on the gift card to cover the payment, you can always create an error message to that effect and THEN ask for a credit card or other payment option. People hate to enter credit card info when it isn't necessary.
- ANSWER requests for HELP promptly. I sent a message through their online Help center about a week ago over this problem. My wife sent another one a few days ago. Still no reply! I know it's just after the holidays, but a response within one or two business days is almost mandatory these days for a mainstream product. I found the answer to this problem by myself eventually by searching through online forums. You are competing with the Kindle, the Sony reader and others! You have to differentiate yourself and stand out through ease of use and great customer service!
- And a final note to Chapters/Indigo. If you are going to sell an ereader in your store, your store should also sell the ebooks that go on it. Why should I have to go to a completely different website and create another account somewhere else? If I were you I'd find a way with the Kobo people to let the books be sold through Chapters, with a Chapters account.
All in all, despite this checkout problem, I had the ebook we wanted on the Kobo within minutes after completing the order and it is ready to go. This isn't a tech or gadget problem, which would be a bigger issue to me. I think the Kobo reader is going to work well and now we'll be able to order with ease knowing how it all works. I don't want to scare anyone away from the device itself.
But the people at Kobo could learn a few things about improving customer service and ease of website use.
It's great that we now have a choice of ereaders to use, and among these is the Kobo. The Kobo reader website is at KoboBooks.com and the device is also sold by Chapters/Indigo in Canada.
For Christmas, we bought a Kobo for our daughter, and it was hard to get. Stores were running out, they were backordered online, but a family member was finally able to find one for us to give our child.
All great until we tried to use a Chapters gift card to order an ebook online at the Kobobooks.com site.
Here are some tips for the people at Kobo to get their site running a lot better.
- On the checkout page, PUT A NOTE saying that you have to enter credit card information even if you are using a Chapters gift card. It is a hassle to even have to enter a credit card when you have a gift card that will cover the full amount, but if those are the rules post it so it's clear! We didn't know to enter a credit card as well as the gift card info, plus we thought the site might charge the credit card. All of this could have been avoided if there was a simple note on the page. I'm sure many people are also having a headache with this.
- Don't ask for a credit card if someone is using a gift card. It isn't necessary. If there isn't enough on the gift card to cover the payment, you can always create an error message to that effect and THEN ask for a credit card or other payment option. People hate to enter credit card info when it isn't necessary.
- ANSWER requests for HELP promptly. I sent a message through their online Help center about a week ago over this problem. My wife sent another one a few days ago. Still no reply! I know it's just after the holidays, but a response within one or two business days is almost mandatory these days for a mainstream product. I found the answer to this problem by myself eventually by searching through online forums. You are competing with the Kindle, the Sony reader and others! You have to differentiate yourself and stand out through ease of use and great customer service!
- And a final note to Chapters/Indigo. If you are going to sell an ereader in your store, your store should also sell the ebooks that go on it. Why should I have to go to a completely different website and create another account somewhere else? If I were you I'd find a way with the Kobo people to let the books be sold through Chapters, with a Chapters account.
All in all, despite this checkout problem, I had the ebook we wanted on the Kobo within minutes after completing the order and it is ready to go. This isn't a tech or gadget problem, which would be a bigger issue to me. I think the Kobo reader is going to work well and now we'll be able to order with ease knowing how it all works. I don't want to scare anyone away from the device itself.
But the people at Kobo could learn a few things about improving customer service and ease of website use.
Did Facebook pay $8.5 million for FB.com domain name?
VirtualWorld.ca
The price of virtual real estate keeps going up!
Last year it was learned that Facebook had acquired the domain name FB.com from the American Farm Bureau Federation. What wasn't disclosed at the time was how much Facebook had to pay to get it.
Today a report from Reuters came out that:
“At their annual meeting in Atlanta, Farm Bureau officials on Tuesday said the organization earned $8.5 million by selling a couple of domain names but is barred from identifying the buyer.”
If you put two and two together, we now know what happened in the FB.com sale. It looks like this was uncovered at Tech Crunch.
http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/11/facebook-paid-farm-bureau-8-5-million-to-acquire-fb-com/
Facebook also owns the domain FB.me, which it uses for a url forwarding/shortening service. The price of good domain names keeps going up, because virtual real estate is becoming more in demand.
If you had owned FB.com and Facebook came calling, how much would you have asked?
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The price of virtual real estate keeps going up!
Last year it was learned that Facebook had acquired the domain name FB.com from the American Farm Bureau Federation. What wasn't disclosed at the time was how much Facebook had to pay to get it.
Today a report from Reuters came out that:
“At their annual meeting in Atlanta, Farm Bureau officials on Tuesday said the organization earned $8.5 million by selling a couple of domain names but is barred from identifying the buyer.”
If you put two and two together, we now know what happened in the FB.com sale. It looks like this was uncovered at Tech Crunch.
http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/11/facebook-paid-farm-bureau-8-5-million-to-acquire-fb-com/
Facebook also owns the domain FB.me, which it uses for a url forwarding/shortening service. The price of good domain names keeps going up, because virtual real estate is becoming more in demand.
If you had owned FB.com and Facebook came calling, how much would you have asked?
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Saturday, January 1, 2011
Facebook most visited website in 2010
VirtualWorld.ca
Facebook was the most visited website in 2010 with just under 9% of all US web visits.
Google was a very close second, and just ahead of Facebook if you include all the websites Google owns (like Youtube).
I am not surprised by this, with all the reports about how FB has been growing.
What site will be the most visited in 2011?
Happy New Year!
Facebook was the most visited website in 2010 with just under 9% of all US web visits.
Google was a very close second, and just ahead of Facebook if you include all the websites Google owns (like Youtube).
I am not surprised by this, with all the reports about how FB has been growing.
What site will be the most visited in 2011?
Happy New Year!
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