Mediaboss Marketing

By Muhammed Aqib T P

With hobby sites and forums having absolutely little to no functionality beyond text posting, social media platforms breaking patterns and rambling, now offers features farraginous of all sorts starting from monetization to live streaming, broadening horizons for social interactions to a level unimaginable. Undeniably, online gaming evolved apace with social media. With its artistically rendered virtual interaction, potential to capture ceaseless imaginations of youngsters, and with an excellent growth opportunity, the gaming industry grew on to new frontiers. Unlike the times when gaming industry merely served a niche market, it now brings together gaming and socialising in a way unlike before, giving grounds to rise of the next new social media. Gone are the days when voice-chat feature remained a far-off dream and when games were meant to be played effectively with bare text chat or nothing at all. In contrast to the traditional, solitary and antisocial gaming, multiplayer games like Fortnite and game-creation platform Roblox, transcends the gaming environment with its highly social environments, encouraging collaboration, conversation and real-life connections. Online games like Roblox, Minecraft, Animal Jam and so many more not only have quests you can embark on together, but also rooms you can customize and characters you can become. With Discord gathering hundreds of millions of users who use its text and voice chat features to connect with gaming communities all over the world, voice chat marks its spot in the core part of the gaming experience.

These days, you probably dont see too many of your friends posting about their Farmville estates on Facebook any more. As the younger set have largely moved away from the platform to more eye-catching and smartphone-savvy platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok, many of the popular games of years gone by have faded into memory. However, that doesnt mean that the new generation of phone-obsessed younger millennials and Gen Z kids has given up on online gaming. Talk to any 12 year old and youre bound to find out tons of information about their Fortnite character skin, their Minecraft dungeon, or their Animal Crossing town, and thats not to say that these viral games are restricted to adolescents; tons of adults regularly enjoy gaming with games like the ones mentioned.

In todays digital age, gaming is all the more immersive, engaging and a viable way of networking and community building and with connectivity in-home and on the go, players stay connected to their games and their friends regardless of time and location. The soaring innovations have given way for players to uncover more realistic and fully immersive simulations on screens and lenses, and with online socio-gaming now setting benchmarks, the world is still only learning just how influential gaming really is. Fostering online communications and engagement, a lot of the existing apps focus on connecting strangers and providing them with an opportunity to socialise; a platform to connect, hear and be heard all the while battling. With Socially immersive and interactive gameplays, the virtual world gives gamers brand new and a diverse community to engage, making it a much fuller and more meaningful interactive internet marketplace. Social media having fallen to the wayside, online gaming companies now have monopolized social media group interaction. From giant triple-A titles to crowdfunded indie games all have communities much stronger and deeper, creating movements even beyond the gaming world. The rapid spread of digital platforms, the massive phenomenon of streaming, the growing popularity and accelerated rise of esports, have reinvented the gaming landscapes, and with new game genres emerging every now and then new monetisation models are forthcoming.

India being a talent hub, along with the spike in digital adoption during the pandemic, and availability of cheaper, faster and better internet quality, Indians have access to better games now than ever. With over 300 million user base, increased time spent and monetisation, mobile gaming is said to triple to a $5 billion market opportunity by 2025, and with metaverse now taking the world by storm, a crossover of the same would downright be sheer ethereal experience.

The author is CEO of WAFA Voice Centric Platform. Views expressed are personal.

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Why gaming industry could be the new social media - The Financial Express

CINCINNATI, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Union Institute & University's (UI&U) The Institute for Social Justice (TISJ), founded to provide innovative and practical solutions for the challenges to social justice around the world, announced today its One Just World Resource Center is seeking community input and action partners. Everyone is invited to share their voice on monthly topics which will help guide TISJ as it continues to plan and build content, resources and programs. It is also seeking influencers, changemakers, and organizations that have made a positive impact in bringing about social justice. This outreach and inclusion of community voices is considered an essential step in TISJ's focus on expanding social justice, from the ground-up.

Submissions can be made via One Just World Resource Center https://www.tisj.myunion.edu/resource-center. The many voices will help TISJ understand and identify what the community needs most as well as inform development of helpful resources.

"TISJ is strongly committed to engaging, collaborating, and creating with those who have already found a way to make a difference," said Betsy Martin, Executive Director, TISJ. As an example, the Bob Moses Educational Series is one of the first initiatives under development at TISJ. This changemaker's model of group-centered leadership, which empowered Black people with voting rights and youth with math skills,has inspired many of the community-building initiatives TISJ is putting in place.

"We want to provide guidance, resources, and tools to help individuals and organizations take action in a way that provides meaningful impact," said Martin. "We understand that this may look different depending on your point of view and your community. This is why we are asking everyone to lend their voice to the conversation Log in and speak up, we're listening!"

The One Just World Resource Center will provide individual and organizational support services, including helpful content, interactive events, opportunity to connect in action projects. The input received via the Resource Center, will inspire experiences offered across the entire One Just World platform, including the Digital Library of videos, podcasts, webinars, articles, papers, and research; Virtual Coffee, which hosts conversations and networking; Virtual Community, which provides both physical and digital work and meeting spaces; Book Circle, which organizes social justice book-sharing, discussions, and author events; and Online Events, that will include webinars, podcasts, and discussions.

About TISJ The Institute for Social Justice exists to impact society through participatory and democratic work with individuals and organizations. Beginning with reflective abilities and systemic awareness, it creates organizational and social structures that no longer perpetuate injustice in society. TISJ applies theory to practice through a coalition of thought leaders who are scholar-practitioners, philanthropists, policymakers, community advocates, and others committed to promoting social justice and equity in the U.S. and globally through research, education, and policy. Since its founding in 1964, UI&U has focused on academic excellence, creativity, diversity, and integrity. TISJ aims to reach significant and clear progress toward social justice by advocating for equality, valuing diversity, and committing to an innovative teaching and learning environment that shrinks economic disparities and eliminates racism. TISJ connects programs and individuals that are committed to providing "innovative and pragmatic solutions" globally.To learn more about The Institute for Social Justice, visit tisj.myunion.edu.

About Union Institute & University Founded in 1964, Union Institute & University has been a nonprofit pioneer in educating adults through distance learning. Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, Union Institute & University offers undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degree programs, as well as certificates designed for those seeking to make a difference in their own lives and within their communities. The university offers specialized online and low residency degree programs with high-touch faculty attention, designed for students regardless of where they live and work. Union's flexible delivery models emphasize relevant and transformative coursework taught by a national faculty of scholar-practitioners. Union graduates including two dozen college presidents, leaders in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, members of the United States Congress, and the first female prime minister of Jamaica promote Union's legacy of utilizing education to transform lives and communities. Based in Cincinnati, UI&U has additional Academic Centers in California (Los Angeles and Sacramento) and Florida (hollywood).To learn more about Union Institute & University, visit http://www.myunion.eduor call 1-800-861-6400.

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UNION INSTITUTE & UNIVERSITY'S THE INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE SEEKS INPUT FROM COMMUNITY FOR ONE JUST WORLD RESOURCE CENTER - PRNewswire

Bigger is always better. Many of us think this is true when it comes to building our online networks of social media friends, connections and followers. But new research suggests the opposite may be closer to the truth: curating small networks of trusted connections may be smarter in the long run. While this may seem counterintuitive, it also comes with a caveat.

We often feel compelled and are even encouraged by social media platforms, to grow our networks. Consider all the prompts about someone else you might know and who to follow. We all want the sociometrics (that number of friends or followers posted in the corner of your profile) to look good.

Both offline and online, our social networks can function as either prisms or pipes.

As prisms, they broadcast to others our likes, dislikes, opinions, interests, activities, and more. They signal who we are, or want to be, to our network of social connections.

As pipes, they act as conduits through which help and resources can flow. Using our networks as pipes is an important part of how we build relationships. We give and receive advice, advocacy, endorsement, emotional support, and tangible things (like entrepreneurs do, for example).

Studies of face-to-face networks have generally shown that, whether we use our networks as prisms or pipes, bigger is better.

But what about online?

We flock to social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram because its easy to view, share and store our connections, allowing us to communicate with them whenever we want. Thats what makes connecting online and offline so different. We cant search and find a comment we made six days ago to a friend over coffee. We can, however, find and reshare a conversation we had with our Facebook friends three years ago. It turns out thats a really important distinction.

Its when we use our online networks as pipes, not prisms, that small matters and seems to be valuable. In a recent study of Canadian entrepreneurs, our team of researchers uncovered this counterintuitive point and shed light on the reasons why.

We think it suggests some broader insights.

For people to actually use their online networks as pipes for resources and support, three things need to come together. First, we need to believe we have the ability to ask for or give a resource or support (termed exchange). Second, we need to have a way to actually make the exchange happen. And finally, we need to want to conduct the exchange.

All those digital viewing, scanning, sharing, searching and storing capabilities of our social media networks make it really easy for us to believe we have the ability and arrangements to use our networks as pipes. I can quickly and easily ask my online network for something I need and get a quick response. But our research suggests that we dont always have the willingness to ask.

Through interviews with entrepreneurs, we uncovered that the reason is likely that people are really worried about what others will think. This perceived social judgment risk can get in the way of entrepreneurs getting helpful resources from their online networks. We suspect its not just entrepreneurs who are worried about this. Thats because perceived social judgment risk is a product of audience collapse, which reduces our willingness to reach out online.

Audience collapse happens when we add people to our online networks from all aspects of our lives. These might be people we know well and people we barely know; personal connections, work acquaintances, volunteer connections, hometown connections and those with shared interests and hobbies.

By building these varied and oversized networks, and inviting so many different people to join, our willingness to ask for help goes down. With all that searching, viewing and sharing, who knows where our request might land?

Our research reveals that many of us likely perceive a lot of social judgment risk in asking for anything but information from our online networks. We are worried that others will judge our asks as weak, needy, unsure, confused, too personal or otherwise inappropriate, making us less willing to seek help. This dark side implication of bigger is better social media networking is rarely discussed.

If this resonates, what can you do?

To make our social media networks useful as pipes, we suggest creating trust networks. These are purpose-built to stay small yes, small. Only add people who will support, not negatively judge, and help you these are the people you trust.

A trust network is likely to be very high in reciprocity, or the giving and getting of help, because all members feel it is a safe place to ask for and give help. It becomes a really useful pipe network where small, not big, is valuable.

So, if you want to use your online networks as a prism to signal things to the world stay big. But if you want to give and get help, then create a purpose-built, small trust network on social media. We think youll be glad you did.

This article by Claudia Smith, Assistant Professor, Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria, is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Entrepreneurs! Your social networks should be small and curated - The Next Web

If youre one of the millions of people who recently decided to make a job change, you may be considering how to share the news. Updating your LinkedIn profile is a good place to start, but how should you share the news on other platforms?

Celebrating something new is important, says Lana Peters, vice president of the Americas for HiBob, an HR software provider. You may have found another job, or you may be looking for another position, taking a sabbatical, or taking time to evaluate what you want in your life, moving forward. Whatever the case may be, celebrating that on social media is completely fine.

First, consider the purpose of your announcement, says Christy Pruitt-Haynes, a consultant at NeuroLeadership Institute, a science-based leadership-development consulting firm.

Are you simply informing people of a new way to get in contact with you, or a new career opportunity youve recently accepted? she asks. Are you soliciting help to find your next opportunity? Are you announcing a retirement, or that you are moving to entrepreneurship? The purpose should absolutely shape the narrative.

Do it right by following these dos and donts:

This post can provide a good opportunity to thank your previous employer for the opportunity and for what you learned, suggests Peters. Even if your experience wasnt entirely positive, theres likely something valuable you gained.

You can use the opportunity to share some of your accomplishments, says Pruitt-Haynes. For example, I am very proud of my time at XYZ company where I was able to grow sales by 17%, diversify our vendor list to include 50% more businesses owned by people of color, and lead a staff of 15 to our highest engagement year ever.

You never know who will read that, and you cant miss an opportunity to brag on your abilities, adds Peters.

Social media also helps you provide context around your career journey. To me, the biggest goal that this accomplished is telling a story about that individuals career journey and progression over time, says Josh Dazel, vice president of human resources at Skai, an AI-driven marketing data analytics firm. Take advantage of positive opportunities to share this narrative rather than leaving it for recruiters, hiring managers, or other connections to infer.

Think of a departure post as being on par with a well-crafted resignation letter, says Carlos Ledo, assistant general counsel and HR consultant for Engage PEO, an HR outsourcing-solutions provider. The goal is to show your former employer appreciation for the opportunity you were given and leave the door open for a potential future return, he says.

If youre going to a new job, list your new job title and function, adds Ledo. Not only will this provide individuals who follow you a clear picture of where you currently are in your career, but it can open the door to collaboration with others in your social media community, he says. It can also help you bring in new business to your current employer.

It can help to stay connected to colleagues from past companies on social media, says Dazel. Its a small world when it comes to the job market within a specific industry, so you never know who you will cross paths with again, either as a colleague or a client, he says. Maintaining and fostering these relationshipseven when youre no longer coworkersis a positive step and strong networking practice that takes little time and effort.

Talk about whats next for you, and ask for what you need, says Pruitt-Haynes. For example, if youre retiring, mention that youre open to catching up over lunch or happy hour. If you are looking for a job, share that youre excited about finding your next opportunity in the industry or fields of interest to you. And if youre taking time off, let them know you cant wait to emerge from your much-needed down time with a renewed sense of purpose.

If youre looking for a new job, be clear about what you want and the skills you possess.

It isnt easy to truly understand what skills a person has, or the types of functions they perform within a role, solely based on a job title, says Ledo. Succinctly express the skills you possess, how you can apply them in your next role, and how you feel your experience can add value to a new employer.

If you lost your job and didnt see it coming or didnt feel it was warranted, Peters suggest taking some time before you post the news publicly.

The worst thing that I see happening is that folks are being let go or leaving organizations, and theyre at home and dont have an outlet, says Peters. We all need to give each other a little grace and think through how were communicating, even more than we might have when we were all on site. Its a different feeling of rejection and loneliness when youre in a home office.

And assume everything you share or post on social media is viewable by the public, says Ledo. A false sense of security can lead to posts that can be seen as controversial or damaging to your professional reputation, he says. A good rule of thumb is not to post anything you wouldnt be willing to say in front of a large audience filled with strangers and potential employers.

Disappointment is temporary, but the internet is forever, says Pruitt-Haynes. Represent yourself and your long-term goals well.

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This is the right way to post about your job change on social media - Fast Company

Why Good Wi-Fi Is Critical for Business Operations

Most commonly, what we would experience is just a dropping connection to the network, explains Wayne Shuster, service manager at Hansel Ford. Thats a big problem for automobile service technicians because modern cars are sophisticated, requiring network-connected diagnostic equipment to pinpoint and fix problems.

We need that network in order to communicate with vehicles and then connect to Ford through that wireless network, Shuster says. We also use tablets around the shop, and those tablets are used to record vehicle specifications during routine maintenance.

Mikayla Lopez, a consumer experience manager for Hansel Auto Group, said she often had to use her cellphone as a wireless hotspot while shooting videos for Hansels social media accounts and to perform other aspects of her job.

It was pretty frustrating to get kicked off the network or just have that really slow lag time, Lopez says. It was really difficult.

The problem was compounded by the fact that Hansel had a mix of different vendors networking technologies installed at different locations and by the fact that some of that equipment was managed by a third party while other parts were managed by in-house staff, led by IT Manager Joshua Demitro.

MORE WI-FI:How to get flawless connectivity from anywhere.

Demitro decided to deploy Cisco Meraki networking technology and Wi-Fi 6 access points throughout Hansels locations. That decision allowed the company to move on from its third-party vendor and easily manage the network in-house.

We were really confident in the tools that the Cisco Meraki platform provided for us, Demitro says. It gave us all the tools that we needed to feel confident in managing it on our own without having to go through too much complexity. Built into the product were all the tools that we really needed to troubleshoot issues and to maintain the security of the infrastructure.

Wi-Fi 6 technology allows for much faster connection speeds and up to 75 percent less latency. Thanks to the introduction within Wi-Fi 6 of orthogonal frequency-division multiple access, which allows for the transmission of signals from routers and access points to multiple endpoints at the same time, Wi-Fi 6 communicates better with multiple devices than previous generations of Wi-Fi technology.

For Hansel, the results were immediate.

Its a lot better, Lopez says. I can actually use the Wi-Fi, so thats great for somebody that handles the social media accounts. I dont hear many complaints from our customers anymore, and our salespeople are very appreciative of it.

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How the Right Network Equipment Can Boost Business Operations Overnight - BizTech Magazine