Holi Twitter backgrounds – Rang Barse on Twitter!

Celebrate the festival of colors on Twitter, this year. With these colorful holi twitter backgrounds.  Splash a dash of color on your twitter page to spread good cheer among friends and followers.

So, before you take your pichkaris and head out to drench your friends in color; before you start splashing those non-toxic gulaal powders on the little ones; and before you get high on bhang and jive to a holi Bollywood number, add these cool holi twitter backgrounds to your twitter profile and get into the holi spirit of exuberance. Read more

50 interesting social media terms!

Social media is very much a part of our cultural mosaic. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have changed the way the world communicates. And blogging has given everyone an opportunity to express their views on anything under the sun. What’s more, these new-age media channels have affected all aspects of our life and have created a parallel universe in which people converse, connect and network across geographical boundaries. So, it’s fitting that social media has generated several interesting terms that best describe the social media lifestyle.

Here are 50 interesting social media terms, have fun reading it! Read more

Why it’s social media over super bowl for Pepsi

Top super bowl ad spender, Pepsi stays clear of super bowl commercials, this year, and instead focuses on social media.

It’s the first time in 23 years that Pepsi commercials haven’t appeared during the super bowl. Instead, Pepsi has decided to focus on social media marketing. Pepsi’s social networking campaign probably costs a lot less than a full-blown super bowl ad. But the company expects to reach out to more number of people over the course of several months, through Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.

Pepsi’s Refresh Everything Project on Facebook has more than 350,000 fans and seeks to donate more than $1 million to worthy causes in February alone. The Pepsi Refresh project is a huge hit and has given the brand mileage that can equal even a super bowl commercial. And the great thing is the campaign can extend over a period of several months and is not restricted to 30-odd seconds.

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Did you hear the Save Our Tigers roar on social media?

The tiger is roaring loud and clear, all over Facebook and Twitter.  And the reach and extent of its roar, within just a few days is simply amazing. Right now, Stripey the Cub (saveourtigers’ Facebook profile) has 20,702 fans and the saveourtigers twitter profile has 1,461 followers.  And the numbers are growing exponentially. Plus, what’s really amazing is the extensive user participation in the form of comments, discussions and re-tweets. Facebook fans have even gone ahead to form saveourtigers local groups! And to think that hardly a few people knew that our national animal was facing extinction, until a few days ago, the buzz created by this campaign is amazing.

Saveourtigers campaign is a fine-example of how mass media and social media advertising can be successfully synchronized to produce overwhelming visibility and active user participation.

Here are a few reasons why the saveourtigers cause has received tremendous response on social media, right from the word go:

1. The television campaign and  the use of celebrities has given the much needed visibility to the website
2. The saveourtigers website design not only informs but also involves users. It urges users to act – by reading about the cause in the blog (which has just one post now but we are sure more will follow), viewing videos on youtube,  by donating or by joining the cause through Facebook and Twitter
3. What really hooks the visitor on to the website is the Join the Roar application, where the user can pledge his support and help unravel a part of the tiger’s image.
4. Facebook allows for active participation and initiates action through  discussions, comments and even creation of local groups
5. Twitter keeps followers posted on latest developments happening on the blogs/Facebook profile/website.
6. There is a seamless flow of information across both media – mass media as well as social media, one directing the user to the other
7. Active exchange of information, views and ideas across all online channels, especially across social media networks – Facebook and Twitter, initiating greater audience participation.
8. Both mass media and social media complement each other, lending maximum mileage to the cause.

We’ll be watching to see how the saveourtigers campaign unfolds over the next few weeks. We would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this cause and the channels used for promoting it. Please leave your comments.

Top 7 romantic ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day on Twitter

Cupid’s all over twitter. With hot background picks, cool deals on Valentine’s Day goodies, contests and what not. So, get the romance going this Valentine’s Day on Twitter. Show your love with sugar-coated tweets and make someone feel very special, twitter style.

Here are 7 romantic ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day on Twitter.

1. Get a romantic background: Start the Valentine’s Day Celebrations by sporting hearts for your profile background. Take your pick from sites like Twitrounds and Twitterbackgrounds. It’s the best way to get into the romance mode.
2. Win a diamond necklace for your love: Cinemablend has announced a contest on twitter to celebrate the release of the movie The Valentine’s Day. All you have to do is log in to your twitter account and follow @cinemablend and then tweet this message: “@cinemablend Happy Valentine’s Day! Enter me to win the prize pack.” The lucky winner gets to win a diamond necklace, the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for your loved one.
3. Follow the love and win gift cards: American Greetings’ “Follow the Love” contest lets you win cool retailer/cash gift cards. Follow @AmGreetings, submit a tweet based on the question of the day, and tag your submission #LoveAG. Win a gift card and splurge on a romantic treat!
4. Get some romantic ideas: Looking for some sizzling ideas to boost up the romance quotient, this Valentine’s Day? Then, look up Feb14th Ideas for some red-hot gift ideas, decoration themes and a lot more.
5. Book a candlelight dinner: Look up great deals on Valentine’s Day dinners and book ‘em in advance. TrioPalmSprings offers a great dinner package. So, do a host of other resorts and restaurants. You can even win a free dinner giveaway. Harbormagic offers one, right now.
6. Get a taste of some Twitter love: Give your loved one some Twitter candy. Now, those little heart-shaped Valentine’s Day Sweetheart candies come with messages like ‘Tweet me’ and ‘Text me’. Your love has a one-in-80 chance of getting such a tweet message on her sugary treat, this year.
7. Send love tweets by the minute: If nothing else works for you; if you are a little hard up for cash or if you haven’t had the time to prepare the perfect Valentine’s Day dinner, fret not. Simply send love-struck tweets, say every 10 minutes, round-the-clock on Valentine’s Day.  You can even pick up some messages from sites like Romanticmessages and send them as tweets. After all, what’s more romantic than reading tweets like this: “Falling in love with you is the second best thing in the world. Finding you is the first,” all through the day!

Now, Twitter, Twitter, everywhere…even at the Grammy’s!

Did you know Twitter is now a part of the Grammy’s? Artist Imogen Heap accepts a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical wearing a specially crafted “Twitter Dress.”  The dress has its own Twitter feed and displays twitter pics sent by fans in real-time using hash tag  #twitdress. Imogen Heap says that the dress was a way to let fans “accompany me on the red carpet.”

Well, you can call it a very weird idea for a red carpet dress but what really comes out is twitter’s unrivalled popularity among celebrities and the common man, alike. And what’s more, twitter is the bridge that connects the two, that too in a global platform like the grammy’s. It’s like the fans get to be on the stage along with their favorite stars.

No doubt, twitter is now really a global phenomenon and a huge brand in itself. What with celebrities going out of the way to utilize its services and brand name to further their visibility.  Its ability to connect people and convey important messages in short, crisp sentences in a very short time frame is its biggest draw. And the number of twitter users is growing by the hour.

Twitter is really become the voice of our times and has now become accepted as a part of the popular culture of our day and age, along with Lady Gaga’s strange costumes and alien-ecosystem movies – a theme that’s beautifully reflected in Imogen Heap Twitter Grammy’s dress!

Why Bill Gates couldn’t ignore twitter. And why you shouldn’t too!

So, Bill Gates (@BillGates) has finally arrived on twitter. A bit late, though. But did he receive a rousing welcome or what? Within 8 hours of signing up for a twitter account, he surpasses 100,000 twitter followers. Right now, he has 375,609 followers and the numbers are going up by the hour. And it’s barely a week since he joined twitter and he has sent just over 20 tweets in this time. It surely pays to be the richest man in the world, right?

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10 easy ways to promote non-profits on Facebook

Social media has opened up new avenues for networking and connecting with new people and cultures. It has also opened up a new horizon of possibilities for promoting social causes. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, when used effectively, are powerful tools that can help spread awareness about social causes, alter audience perceptions, induce change and encourage positive actions.

Facebook with over 300 million users is simply the best way to promote a non-profit organization. It’s flexible, easy-to-use and has a wide array of applications and tools that make promoting a social cause, a whole lot easier. Besides, where else can you connect with so many users in one go. And where else can you generate awareness about your cause at the click of a mouse.

Here are ten easy ways to promote your non-profit organization through Facebook.

1. Create a Facebook Profile
   Start your Facebook promotions by creating a Facebook profile. It’s your online address on Facebook. Just login and create a page (the page needs to be created by a Facebook user. After logging in to Facebook go here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php to create a new page. Read this brief PDF guide to understand more about Facebook Page).
   You can add your logo and a small write-up about your organization. Add photos if any are available.
   Keep updating if you want ’em coming back for more! Add more information and update your Facebook profile regularly. Most Facebook causes fail because visitors get disinterested when there is hardly any new information.
2. Add applications to make it interesting
   Add quizzes, add polls, get visitors to voice their views, add games, and puzzles, in order to get your supporters interested in your cause. Remember not to over burden your Facebook profile with tons of applications. Choose few and choose wisely.
   You can use this application to create interesting polls pertaining to your cause. http://apps.facebook.com/opinionpolls/create_poll.php
   Check out this interesting application that lets you create games for your eco-friendly cause: http://apps.facebook.com/planet-saver/
   [Read this guide to get some help with adding applications to Facebook Page]
3. Join relevant Facebook Groups/Pages
   Now that you have a Facebook profile and interesting content, you need to focus on building awareness about your cause and leading more people to your profile page. You can start doing this by connecting with other users through Facebook groups/pages. Take a look at a few groups that you may find interesting like:
   I Support Non-Profits
   Ngos in India
   Promote non-profits
   Visit groups like these where you can connect with people who have a passion for helping others or visit groups related to your area of operations, say, environment groups if your organization works for afforestation. Seek to genuinely help people solve their problems or give out information they need while connecting with them through these groups. That way, you can get more people interested in your work while generating a whole lot of goodwill.
4. Support through other channels
   You can get more support for your Facebook profile and greater visibility through other channels like Twitter tweets, Youtube videos, Flickr images etc. All these channels can be connected to your Facebook profile. So, your profile gets content-rich, while eliciting visitor interest through other channels.
5. Start blogging and connecting with bloggers!
   Start a blog. Write about your organization, your vision, your passion, your commitment, add success stories and testimonials. Promote your blog extensively through your Facebook profile. People can read about your non-profit and relate better to your cause, this way.
   Another great way is to connect with bloggers. Talk to them about your cause.  Show them how committed you are to spreading awareness. Request bloggers to give more visibility to your cause and your Facebook profile through their blog posts.
   Bloggers can help you get more mileage for your cause simply by putting in a few words about your organization along with a link to your Facebook profile. It’s a great way to reach out to a large group of audience, who may or not may not be active on Facebook. Also a word from a reputed blogger will build your brand online and add a touch good will to your organization among the online community.
6. Raise funds
   You can raise funds for your cause successfully through Facebook. Most of the popular non-profits are doing it and so can you. For example, organizations like The Nature Conservancy and Mercy Corps are working to raise funds through Facebook. And very recently, there is a large drive on Facebook to raise funds for the earthquake survivors in Haiti.
7. Manage events
   You can manage events online or promote offline events through your Facebook profile. It’s a great way to encourage participation in your cause. Seven for Seven uses Facebook to talk about upcoming events and even asks for registrations online. Use the Events application in Facebook to create events for your non-profit or invite fans to your offline events.
8. Call for volunteers
   Do you need volunteers to pitch in for a cause?  Schools and colleges are using Facebook to encourage youngsters to volunteer for social causes. Whether it’s cleaning up the neighborhood or planning a tree or visiting an old age home, you can always find volunteers from any part of the world through Facebook. Take a look at Singapore 2010 Volunteers on how to utilize Facebook to attract volunteers for your non-profit.
9. Get into discussion mode!
   Another great way to encourage participation in your Facebook profile and keep visitors engaged is by urging them to discuss their points of view. It’s a great way to start a conversation, keep the ideas flowing and get the visitors talking about your cause. Use your discussion forum to talk to your visitors, hear them out, seek out ideas and encourage participation in your cause.
10. Inform. Engage. Educate.
    Remember, give visitors information that is useful to them. Like why it’s so important to vaccinate children against pneumonia (Prevent Pnemo) or how  hospital births can save more lives in a developing nation like India (Sure Start Project). Keep visitors engaged, then, educate them about your cause. When you offer information that’s interesting or useful, people are more receptive and more willing to spread the word about your cause.

9 ways to promote non-profits using Twitter

What’s happening?  That’s the question everyone’s answering these days. Twitter is quite a rage with the online folk these days. And people are not just using twitter to tell others when they woke up in the morning or what they ate for breakfast, twitter is now being used to promote brands and build businesses. What’s more, twitter has become the perfect medium to promote non-profits because of its wide reach and its ability to attract followers with less than 140 characters.

Here are 9 easy ways to promote non-profits using Twitter:

1. Create a Twitter profile

Start promoting your non-profit by creating a twitter profile on similar lines – http://twitter.com/pathsurestart/ .This is your online address on twitter and you can add a small bio of your organization. You can even use http://twitbacks.com to create an interesting background to your profile

2. Follow other non-profits

Use twitter to connect to other non-profits. Take part in conversations with other non-profits, reply to their messages or re-tweet them to your followers. This way, you build relationships on twitter and earn a lot of good will for your cause. Also, you get to be active on twitter and gain some visibility for your cause.

3. Promote blogs/news

Use twitter to build a buzz around your cause. Promote your blogs; update your profile with news on a regular basis. You can use twitter to promote stories and experiences in your blogs. You can create polls for twitter using applications like http://twitter.polldaddy.com/ and ask people to cast their vote or even play your games through twitter messages. The more information you give out, the more likely people will get excited about your cause.

4. Tweet useful information

Give out information that may be useful to people, so they may be willing to RT it to their followers. Re-tweeting is a great way to spread your message. And people will re-tweet only when they know that the message is funny, interesting, useful or if it really touches their heart.

5. Use pictures, videos and more!

Share pictures:

Only 140 characters are allowed in a twitter message. But a picture speaks a thousand words. Say a whole lot in your tweet using pictures. Use http://twitpic.com/ to add pictures to your messages and post it on twitter

Share videos:

You can share videos from youtube and myspace on twitter. The reach is more and a touching videos inspires better.

6. Nominate for a twitcause award

Nominate your charity for a twitcause award http://www.experienceproject.com/twitcause.  If people think that you’re cause is good and you are doing a good job, they will vote for you. Your cause is recognized and awareness about your work also spreads in the twitter world.

7. Petitions to spread awareness

http://twitition.com/ helps you create, sign and share petitions on twitter. Spread awareness about your cause by requesting tweet people to sign a petition pertaining to your cause. You can spread the word about your cause and also get people involved in your work through petitions.

8. Raise funds

http://twitter.com/WeGiveMealPacks uses twitter on a regular basis to collect funds and other necessities for their projects. So do a host of other non-profits. http://twitter.com/RangDe uses twitter to raise micro-credit to help the marginalized in India.

9. Create a twibbon

Use http://twibbon.com/ to promote your cause. Create a twibbon and request your supporters and followers to use it on their profile. This way they can show solidarity to your cause and also help spread awareness about your work.

So, the next time you tweet for your non-profit, remember, 140 characters can indeed make the world a better place!

A Comprehensive Guide to Playing FarmVille on Facebook

“Howdy Ya’ll! Come on down to the Farm today and play with your friends. We got plenty of land for everyone. Come and see what everyone is hootin’ and hollerin’ about.”

If you are a Facebook user, you must have got accustomed to notifications filled with invitations to join FarmVille and gifts of trees, chickens and sheep from your FarmVille-farmer friends. All the FarmVille action on the Facebook wall is drawing even the novice gaming crowd towards it. The nostalgic urban crowd is quickly getting hooked onto the virtual farming game and deriving simple pleasures from ploughing land, sowing seeds, harvesting crops, collecting fruits and raising livestock in their own virtual farm.

The game was developed by San Francisco based gaming firm Zynga and launched on the 17^th of June. Despite being a fresh entry into the world of gaming, FarmVille has carved its niche and already boasts monthly stats of 30 million registered players across the globe, hundreds of them adding each day.

You have been wanting to start farming like your friends, but you have postponed the plan for quite some time. Your wall is notifying you about friends moving up on FarmVille. They are exchanging gifts, have a collection of beautiful FarmVille photographs with new animals and trees being added everyday. If you want to kick start farming now and if the activity on the wall is freaking you out, fret not!! Here is a comprehensive FarmVille guide which teaches you FarmVille farming from the scratch. Read more

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