Posts Tagged ‘social’

Gamification start-up Badgeville is celebrating its one-year anniversary with an ambitious new effort that looks to build a social network out of any website. Badgeville’s Social Fabric technology allows a website to quickly add a host of real-time social features that charts user behavior, updates users on their on-site activities and allows people to follow any piece of content or fellow users.

Kris Duggan, CEO of Badgeville, said that with Social Fabric, social sharing goes up 100 percent, and user generated content increases by 50 percent. Page views also go up 20-30 percent. Websites can start to enjoy some of the engagement that has made Facebook so sticky.

You can read the whole article at http://gigaom.com/2011/09/12/badgeville-turns-any-website-into-a-social-network/

Local politics — schools, zoning, council elections — hit us where we live. So why don’t more of us actually get involved? Is it apathy? Dave Meslin says no. He identifies 7 barriers that keep us from taking part in our communities, even when we truly care.

You can watch the video at http://www.ted.com/talks/dave_meslin_the_antidote_to_apathy.html

getupp is a location-based commitment service. Commit to activities that require your presence at a specific location at a certain time, for example, going to the gym after work or being home on time for dinner. getupp verifies and shares whether you keep or break such commitments. Open the getupp iPhone app at the right location at the right time, and your commitment is completed. But if you fail to show up, your commitment is broken, and your failure is automatically shared with your friends on Facebook.

You can find all the information at http://www.getupp.com/

Goalfinch is a goal setting tool built on a principle that economists have known for centuries: incentives matter. If there’s a goal you want to accomplish, you have the best chance of succeeding when there are incentives in place to reward you for getting it done. Goalfinch helps you create incentives to accomplish your goals.

You start by defining a goal, picking a deadline (all good, measurable goals have deadlines), and inviting some of your Facebook friends to verify whether or not you accomplish your goal. Then you make a financial contribution to Goalfinch. This money is “on the line” until you either reach or fail to reach the goal. It’s an additional incentive to motivate you to go out and get it done.

When you reach your goal, your friends should sign in to Goalfinch and confirm that you have succeeded. By default, Goalfinch won’t count your goal as successful until all the friends you invited come to the site and do this. If you succeed before the deadline, congratulations! Goalfinch will send your contribution back to you. If you fail, however, Goalfinch will donate the money to a charitable or non-profit organization (you can select one while defining your goal).

You also have the option to distribute your contribution proportionally: For each friend that confirms you’ve completed your goal, we’ll return a portion of your money to you, up to the full amount. For example, if you invite three friends to verify your goal but only two of them confirm that you complete it, you’ll get two thirds of your money back. The rest will be donated.

You can find all the information at http://goalfinch.com

MingleBird is a mobile socializing application that makes meeting people a snap. Played at social or business gatherings where “ice breaking” can be a chore, MingleBird makes mingling and networking fun. Using the iPhone app, players seek out assigned “connections” at events to win points and prizes, all while developing valuable social and business relationships.

You can find further information at http://www.minglebird.com