Don Failla is a legend in multi-level marketing. His classic guide: The 45 Second Presentation That Will Change Your Life. is geared around a series of ingenious presentations that you can make quickly to prospects using elementary line drawings on a napkin. Simplistic and fun but they actually have the power to educate and influence people.
This is not a book about pitching and selling. It’s about teaching the reader this simple method which allows you to learn how to build a network of associates. Failla teaches you a step by step plan for building and sustaining a profitable network marketing business. Including instruction on organizing, motivating, mentoring, working with people and a manual in psychology as well.
A powerful must have business guidebook.
Many libraries are providing video games for hire to draw teenagers and young adults through their doors. Yep, they’ll come into the libraries in droves, but is that a good idea?
Our vision of the library as a place for contemplation and studying, with the occasional homeless person, does not include a hangout for gamers. Although a large percentage of public libraries allow video games on their computers.. For the majority of teenagers this is the perfect place to go on to Facebook or MySpace social networking sites and talk to friends or listen to music Yes, I know libraries nowadays often have more DVDs than Blockbuster and more computers than the local IT training centre. But…..
CDs, audio books and graphic novels can be checked out along with books. Children’s story time, reading groups, knitting groups and lectures. Some libraries have youth groups, local history meetings, computer training (for ALL ages)… but still. Video games? Whatever next!
Libraries are no longer just about books and reading, more a recreational and social centre. A place to meet new friends and where locals share their knowledge and of course have a good gossip!
If you’re worried about video games promoting violent or addictive behaviours, rest assured that library staff are concerned too. But there is very strong evidence that online games aid concentration, enhance problem-solving skills and relieve stress.
And did I say that they get kids into the library? Maybe they may even take out a book!
Should libraries stock video games — or ban them?
We are all aware that it is important to keep our brains active. Like any other muscle in our bodies, we need to exercise our brains to improve memory and concentration levels. To keep our brains sharp, we need to improve many brain skills such as spatial reasoning and problem solving.
A perfect and fun way to do this is to play online games. As well as providing a fun experience, they can provide your brain with excellent exercise for all ages. It is not difficult to find a game to suit you. The choice and availability of online games is vast. Arcade games, word games, puzzle games, masses of sports games, problem solving games, plus many others.
Tetra Block is a good example of a problem solving game based on the popular Commodore 64 classic Tetris. It is easy to play but offers enough complexity and difficulty to keep your brain well challenged. Playing games online is a highly enjoyable and relaxing pastime and provides an outlet away from the problems and stresses of our daily lives.
Interpreting patterns in games such as Fruit Frenzy and Blob Factory improve concentration and your speed as you move up the levels. The structure and general complexity of many of these types of games, although relatively simple to play, enables players to gain and improve skills that will in fact be useful within their work and student lives.
Following the recent worm outbreak on Facebook and MySpace, security experts and the social networking sites are working to prevent future attacks.
It was reported that less than .002 percent of Facebook users were affected by the worm. Everyone who was infected were notified. The culprit was a piece of web code that looked like innocent user-generated content but it multiplied across the network.
Facebook and Myspace have worked hard to solve the problem.
“They seem to be proactive at dealing with the situation and have shut it down fairly quickly. They have their own anti-spam service within the system, and that’s what helped it from spreading far and wide.”
“The issues we saw on PCs 10 or 15 years ago, we’re now seeing on social network platforms. Unless social networks are careful, they will be facing the same spam-type issues that we see in email spam. The big challenge for the sites is to accept user generated content that won’t do anything malicious to the website.”
Scrabulous - an unofficial, online version of Scrabble – launched in 2007 on the social networking site Facebook had over 1,000,000 monthly users. The owners with the rights to the game in the U.S. and Canada, Hasbro, filed suit in federal court in New York City against Jayant and Rajat Agarwalla, the Calcutta-based brothers who created Scrabulous. Mattel, which owns the Scrabble rights in the rest of the world, had earlier issued cease-and-desist letters to the Agarwalla brothers, but they ignored them. Facebook has now taken the application off of Facebook in North America
A new application has been started on Facebook – Save Scrabulous! Reportably with more than 10,000 signatures. The Agarwalla brothers have fought back and introduced a new word game called ‘Wordscraper’ in January, which is already gaining popularity from Facebook users.
The question is was this a sensible business decision from Hasbro? Missing the opportunity to capitalize on Scrabulous’s success in the Social Networking world, which all businesses want to embrace, and allienating Scrabulous fans.
What do you think?
Will you miss Scrabulous?
The Phoenix Generation: Insights into Chinese Consumers is a comprehensive lifestyle study focused on Chinese consumers ages 16 to 30. Pearl Research’s study covers Internet and technology product adoption and trends; lifestyle trends such as the growth of hip-hop, street basketball and the NBA. The study also provides exclusive consumer segmentation and an analysis of the Chinese middle-class.
The Phoenix Generation study is based on 200 in-depth one-on-one interviews across both first- and second-tier cities in China and more than 450 survey respondents.
Key findings of “The Phoenix Generation: Insights into Chinese Consumers” include:
Popular Trends – Street basketball, the National Basketball Association (NBA) and hip-hop have grown in popularity as Chinese consumers embrace new cultural experiences. Pearl Research takes a deep dive into these segments with ethnographic research and how marketers have leveraged these trends to connect with Chinese consumers. Brands such as Nike, Adidas and Li Ning have benefited from this as Chinese youth aspire to look like their favorite sports stars.
Internet and Online Games Trends – China has more than 210 million internet users making it the largest Internet population worldwide. However, Internet usage in China tends to differ as 100 million of these users are under the age of 25, thus are more likely to seek out entertainment content. Based on Pearl Research’s online survey, online gaming (60%) and chatting (65%) were cited as top reasons to go online. Approximately 51% of the study sample enjoyed playing multiplayer online games (MMORPGs) while casual games were also popular at 44%. This survey includes data about monthly entertainment spend; mobile phone, MP3 and PC penetration; PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii hardware adoption and Internet café usage trends.
Consumer Segmentation – Pearl Research has devised detailed consumer segmentation to understand the wide range of Chinese consumers. Urban incomes have reached $5,000 in first-tier cities such as Shanghai and Beijing. Allison Luong, Managing Director of Pearl Research, “As incomes rise in China, “Chuppies” or Chinese Yuppies are an increasingly common sight. Many place their savings into purchasing homes, cars, and investing in stocks and bonds. They are at the forefront of China’s burgeoning middle class and spending boom.”
Unique Websites – Pearl Research has compiled a list of unique websites in China. These sites were selected based on their popularity and growth potential. Pearl Research has included Xiaonei.com, Blogchina.com, Sky-fire.com and Dangdang.com as some of the sites to watch.
Some Conclusions - On basketball in China, Chinese Hip-Hop, popular websites, Internet café usage, that PC’s are major gaming platforms, online games and downloads are top online activities and that a significant portion of the Chinese youth are dual gamers. Plus many other fascinating statistics.
It has been forecast that more people will watch the Beijing Games online than any other Olympics Whether it is with the proliferation of social networking sites such as FaceBook or MySpace, sharing links across Twitter or on YouTube, spectators will be catching up with the Olympics, live or catchup, time and time again.
Thousands of blogs have sprung up with many individuals wanting to share personal Olympic event videos online This is a one off opportunity for media researchers to log, not only how long viewers watch the Olympic Games, but also the platforms they use – online, cell phone, TV…
The 2008 Games will also serve as a test of the ability of the Internet to reliably and securely distribute massive amounts of live and delayed digital video coverage from any given event.
We hear loads of negative stories about everyone spending too much time on the World Wide Web and not getting on with their lives. Let’s have some positives for a change!
The time we can all save with online banking instead of travelling to our nearest bank, using our precious fuel, only to find we’ve left that cheque we wanted to pay in at home on the kitchen table!
Catching up with friends on Facebook, Beebo, LinkedIn, MySpace, Tagged, or whatever social networking site you favour. I am having a great time revisiting the good ole days. Keeping in touch with family and exchanging photos. Making new friends, having discussions on all sorts of subjects, sending gifts and pokes, entering some very strange quizzes and joining groups I would never have encountered in the ‘real’ world. Very entertaining and revitalizing.
Don’t get annoyed when your inbox is full of forwarded email. Those jokes and piccies make us smile and you’re on their ‘friends’ list which gives you the feel good factor. Don’t forget to pass them on!
Now I hear that blogging is good for your health. It’s like writing your innermost thoughts in a diary. Many people do not want to share the intimate part of their lives with friends and family but are comfortable sharing their work problems and personal relationships with faceless strangers. Chat rooms are also great stress busters, just seeing someone you enjoy talking to is ‘online’ makes you feel good.
Online skill games reduce your stress levels and boost self esteem. I cannot go to bed without a last minute game of Fruit Frenzy! Online games are a great way to exercise your brain and they are having a massive impact on creativity, energy and overall productivity in the workplace.
Independent Associate Jonathan Hart, from Queensland, Australia, is promoting uVme through his breakfast radio show!
He has added a link to uVme from the radio station’s website, and is running a competition offering a prize to the first person who beats him at a uVme game within three tries. He says he has been doing this for the past month, and nobody has managed to beat him so far!
The average age of game players has risen to 35 and 40% of gamers are women according to a new survey by the video game industry’s trade group, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA).
Among the survey’s main findings:
* 65% of American households play computer and video games
* 38% of American homes have a video game console
* The average game player is 35 years old
* 26% of gamers are over the age of 50
* Women age 18 or older represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (33%) than boys age 17 or younger (18%)
* 41% of Americans expect to purchase one or more games this year.
Parents are also influencing the way their children, rent, buy and play the games:
* 94% of parents are present when games are purchased or rented
* 88% of parents report always or sometimes monitoring the games their children play
* 63% of parents believe games are a positive part of their children’s lives.
This research highlights that video games are now an important and popular form of entertainment which is appreciated by every section of US society.
The top selling video game of 2007 in the US was Halo 3 and the top selling computer game of 2007 in the US was World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade. ( Statistics provided by The NPD Group)
The complete 2008 Essential Facts booklet is available online at: