Posts Tagged ‘Megastarmedia.com’

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Social Networking Use Rises 48% Among US Women

Friday, December 11th, 2009

Social Networking

Social Networking


A majority of US women use social networking sites, and half of them say social networking sites influence their shopping habits, according to a recent study on online social networking among women from social media platform SheSpeaks.

According to the SheSpeaks Second Annual Media Study (pdf), 86% of US women now have a profile on at least one social networking site, a 48% increase from 58% who had a profile in 2008. Since 2008, the percentage of women reporting they log into their social networking sites at least once a day grew 36%, from 53% to 72%.

Of particular interest to retailers, 50% of female social media users say they have purchased products because of information on social networking sites, and 40% report they have used coupon codes found on social network.

Facebook Most Popular

Facebook is the most popular social networking site among women. Some 95% of respondents who have a social networking profile say they use Facebook, a 46% increase from 65% last year. MySpace dropped 33% in popularity, with 42% of female social networking participants reporting they have a MySpace account, compared with 63% in 2008.

Twitter, which was included in the study for the first time this year, has a 38% participation rate, SheSpeaks said.

“Although Facebook is currently more popular than Twitter among women, they each share a purpose in women’s lives,” said Aliza Freud, founder and CEO of SheSpeaks. “Facebook serves women’s need to interact with friends and share photos, while Twitter has become a tool that is primarily used for professional networking and learning about up-to-the-minute news, promotions and deals.”

Hearing what friends are doing, having fun and expressing themselves top the list of reasons why women say they use Facebook and Twitter, though more women visit Facebook to express themselves and have fun. However, a higher percentage useTwitter to learn new things, promote themselves/their work and follow celebrities.

Online Video Grows in Popularity

The study also found online video has grown in popularity over the last year. Almost 40% of the women in the study report that they frequently watch video and TV content online, and 85% say they watch it frequently or sometimes.

A separate poll of SheSpeaks members found that clips from news and TV programming were the most commonly watched type of online video in the prior week (68%), followed by videos that are forwarded (49%), full news and TV programs (40%), and videos posted by friends (40%). Entertaining advertisements were the least popular type of video, but were still watched by one-third of women within the last week.

The study paints a more optimistic picture of social networking’s growth in popularity among US adults than other studies released earlier this year, reports Retailer Daily. According to the most recent Consumer Internet Barometer report from The Conference Board, released in June 2009, growth is occurring but not as rapidly as indicated by SheSpeaks study. The Consumer Internet Barometer indicates 43% of internet users participate in social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. This is a 16-percentage-point jump from the 27% of users participating in social networking sites a year ago.

Online social networking participation has especially grown among users ages 55 and up, the study found. Last year, only 6% of internet users in this age group participated in online social networking, compared with 19% this year.

About the study: The Second Annual Media Study is based on responses 1,500 adult women who are members of the SheSpeaks social networking community gave to an annual survey.

Request a social network consultation today www.megastarmedia.com

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Megastarmedia @ Technorati!

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

Technorati Profile

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Understanding Social Community Software

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

There are many experienced Internet users and marketers that have not yet discovered the usefulness of community software. These experienced individuals have watched the growing popularity of social networking websites with apprehension and are not sure if, or how, they will benefit from this new Internet revolution. Fortunately, many professionals have to come to realize that social networking can provide an enormous boost to their business in terms of traffic and sales. This realization often comes with a full understanding of the community software that is used to create and manage many of the most popular social networking sites online today.

The most popular social networking websites online today were first created to help friends, coworkers, and family members stay in contact. They make it easy for people to message each other, share news in the form of blog posts or bulletins, or even share outside news or blog feeds. There are many social networking websites online today that all help individuals and businesses network usually completely free of charge. The community software used to create these websites is designed to make it easy for the average computer user to easily set up an account and communicate with other users.

Community software comes in many different forms and is designed to include features that the website owner believes users would want or appreciate. Some software programs are designed to offer high levels of account security and easy functionality. Others are designed to be visually appealing and promote blogging or other forms of communication or information sharing. Regardless of the main goal of the community the website owners will have the software designed and installed in a way that is easy for the average user to manage.

One thing all community software users and owners must remember is that software will, on occasion, fail. This will often happen when thousands or millions of users are all trying to access parts of the site simultaneously or when a user’s computer is not compatible to some of the sites features. Community software often involves many trials and errors and if you are someone interested in investing in community software to use on your own site always test things out before committing to a full launch. Many large companies have sponsored limited beta trials of their social networking sites to find, and fix, all major bugs before completely launching their site.

Once you understand the downfalls of community software and its advantages you will be able to decide whether or not signing up for a social networking community is right for your business. Many website owners have found that signing up for social networking sites has positively influenced their business sales and website traffic. If you are still unsure about the benefits of using social networking software experiment with a few social networking sites that operate using different types of community software before making your final decision.

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Social Networking – Why You Should Start Your Own Community

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

After the enormous popularity explosion that followed the launch of MySpace many Internet entrepreneurs and marketers found themselves wondering why they did not come up with MySpace first. The idea of social networking is nothing new but before MySpace it was not seen on such a large, user friendly, level. Quite a few Internet savvy people would have loved the chance to make a fortune selling advertisement space to major movie studios, television stations, bands, and much more. Surprisingly creating a website like MySpace is not nearly as difficult as you may be imagining.

In order to establish a social networking website it is necessary to invest in your own, customized, social networking software. This software is created by a developer that specializes in creating programs to be used for social networking and will be branded for your own use. While hiring a development company and setting up web hosting along with marketing can be expensive in the long run it will be worth it.

Even though many people prefer setting up their own profiles on sites like MySpace and using them to promote their own businesses setting up your own website will give you much more control over your promotion and increase your opportunity for financial success. When using third party sites you are totally dependent on their system and have to hope that there is no downtime, errors with messaging, or anything else that can have an adverse affect on your promotional efforts. You are also at the mercy of their staff that may or may not close or lock your account for a variety of reasons real or imagined leaving you to cool your heels until someone has the time to answer your support ticket.

Setting up your own social networking site will give you total control over the community. You will be able to invite your friends and business associates to sign up and then watch the news spread through word of mouth. Unlike other website ventures social networking leads to word of mouth news being spread because once a user has a profile set up they want the world to see it. Plus you will be able to set up a site that showcases your own interests be it body art, music, television, animation, or anything else you can imagine.

If you are interested in starting your own social networking website you will need to contact a web design company that specializes in social networking sites. Since there is a lot of work involved in the development and upkeep of any social networking site you will want to choose a company with experience in the field. Once you have found a web design company that has designed sites that are similar to your own vision contact them with any questions you might have. In many instances these companies will be able to recommend web hosting and even provide marketing assistance. With all of this in mind if you are someone that wishes you were the owner of MySpace it is time to invest in your own social networking site.

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Custom Web Design – 3 Things to Remember

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

When the time comes to hire a professional to design a customized site for your company it is easy to be influenced by the competition. Many small business owners make the mistake of creating overly flashy websites that have the latest technology and features. While this might create an impressive impression it might not be for the best. Before you give your designer a list of requirements that you feel will generate sales remember these three things.

First of all, your website must be easy to navigate. Visitors should be able to find everything that they need without hunting for it. Include links to all major parts of your website; “About Me, Contact Us, etc.” at the top of your website and at the bottom. Make sure that everything is easy to understand your clients should not have to spend an hour figuring out how to get around the site.

Secondly, the website must clearly state your companies name and contact information. When a visitor gets to your website they must be able to tell, right away, that it is your site. With visitors going to hundreds of websites each day they will eventually get confused. This will happen a lot if you are selling goods or services that will lead to your visitors doing a lot of comparison shopping. Your site must be able to stand out in the crowd by showcasing a brand name, logo, or other identifying graphic that will be memorable and easily recognizable.

Third, and finally, your website must be able to load in all browsers quickly. Web surfers are notoriously impatient and after a few seconds of dealing with a slow loading website they will move on to the next best thing. The only way to avoid this is to cut down on large graphics, excessive animation, and anything else that will slow an Internet user down. When you are trying to come up with ways to make your website load faster, always remember that not all users will have access to a DSL or high speed connection. Test your website out using dial up and test it in multiple browsers. Even though you might like your exciting flash entrance page a user with an older computer, outdated Internet Explorer, and dial up might get angry when your website crashes there entire system.

Always remember that it is your company’s services and products that matter. Do not let yourself get fooled by the flash that some company’s use to hide their lack of quality. Focus on what your website needs to educate potential customers and rank well on major search engines.

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Benefits of Dedicated Game Servers

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

If you are a person or business that is running a website aimed at gamers or that hosts Role-playing or other online games then upgrading to a dedicated server is something that you should consider. With the ever growing popularity of online gaming many game forums, blogs, and chat sites find themselves receiving a large amount of steady traffic each and every month. When using a shared hosting plan this overload of visitors could lead to slow loading time, busy server errors, and in some situations a temporary shut down of your website until you pay for additional bandwidth. Rather than deal with any of these inconveniences consider investing in a dedicated gamer server.

Some people are unwilling to look into dedicated game servers because of the cost traditionally associated with them. In the past years dedicated servers have required buyers to pay expensive equipment and maintenance fees. Plus a dedicated server should always be watched to avoid outages and other problems that can come from a large amount of steady visitors. Even if you are able to afford and monitor a dedicated server owners of these servers have also needed to have extensive knowledge to fix problems with the servers. Now there is an alternative.

Many shared hosting companies will offer clients a chance to rent their own, dedicated, server. These companies will still charge a monthly fee that is a bit higher than standard hosting but this fee will cover the cost of equipment and they will be the ones to monitor and fix any problem you might have. Most companies that offer dedicated servers and hosting of any kind will recommend the services to any client that hosts a high traffic website. If your current host does not actively advertise dedicated hosting then consider contacting them privately with your needs and budgets. They might be able to point you in the right direction. In the event that your hosting company does not offer any type of dedicated game servers then contact your website designer. Professional website designers will often have a list of hosting companies that they have worked with in the past and are glad to recommend good companies to existing or past clients.

If you are starting a gaming site for the first time and have no experience with hosting companies or design companies contact the owners and of some of your favorite existing sites. In many cases the owners of the site or the site designer will be happy to make recommendations and help you get started.

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Posted in Dedicated Servers | 7 Comments »

How to Benefit From a Dedicated Server

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

Dedicated servers are something that many website owners here discussed often in chat rooms and on website support forums. While many new website owners will sign up for a shared hosting plan business owners that are affordable and maintained by a web hosting company other owners have invested in dedicated servers. A dedicated server is a server that is used by only one company for their website or websites. In the past owning a dedicated server was extremely expensive and required a lot of maintenance and technology knowledge.

These days having a dedicated server is much easier and a bit more affordable than it was a few years ago. Web hosting companies that previously offered only shared servers have now made dedicated servers available to their customers. This allows users to sign up for a hosting account the same way that they always have only now they will not be sharing a server with other account holders. The price for this service is more expensive than a shared hosting plan but still much more affordable than purchasing and managing private equipment. In addition to being more affordable investing in a dedicated server that is maintained by a third party is much more convenient. Neither you nor your staff has to worry about constantly monitoring your new server for downtime or errors. The web hosting company will perform the exact same support and troubleshooting services as they always have.

There are many benefits to having a dedicated server but the primary benefit in most website owners’ eyes is that they no longer have to fear downtime being caused by another website owner’s site. Many website owners do not realize that when sharing a server their site is in the hands of many other website owners who may not be very knowledgeable or responsible. Poorly designed sites with bad coding and other problems have led to entire servers crashing. Even if a sites coding does not disrupt the server, the sites traffic can sometimes lead to problems.

Many shared hosting plans limit the bandwidth being used by each account that is using the server in question. The web hosting company will either charge heavy fees for overuse or temporarily limit access to a site if it has exceeded a certain bandwidth amount. Unfortunately there are always times when a web hosting company does not notice an overage until it has already caused a server failure. This sometimes happens when a website uploads new content or starts a new traffic campaign that leads to a sudden burst of traffic. When a server is down your company will be penalized as traffic and potential customers are lost when they reach a site that is not active.

To avoid downtime and errors that are caused by shared hosting it is best to invest in a dedicated server. Dedicated servers are perfect for website owners that simply cannot afford to be down often and for website owners that expect a lot of traffic daily. Having a dedicated server will not only cut down on downtime, it will also make your website load faster and work more efficiently for your visitors.

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Posted in Dedicated Servers, Web Development | 1 Comment »

Online Communities – How to Build Your Own Online Community

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

Building a community can be extremely profitable if done the right way. Imagine owning your own highly trafficked website. You will be able to sell valuable advertising space, memberships, and more while owning a lucrative, highly trafficked website. Plus, if you ever get tired of managing the website you will be able to sell it to an interested buyer. With all of this in mind you might be wondering why more people haven’t launched their own interactive website and the answer to that is that many people simply do not know how to get started.

Building an interactive website takes time and research. It can be similar to launching a traditional website, at least when it comes to finding a good web hosting company, marketing, and choosing a domain name but after those steps things get difficult. For starters, an Internet based community is designed to help people from all over the world communicate with each other while many traditional websites are designed to spread a particular message or promote a specific product. When you design an interactive website you will have to keep all of your visitors in mind.

The first thing you should do when deciding how to build and interactive website is to decide how you want members to interact with each other. There are many options available but in the end your choice should be based on your budget and the time you have to manage your new website. The most popular options currently available for interaction are forums, blogs, chat rooms, and private messaging. Each of these options has its own benefits and drawbacks which must be considered before making a final decision.

Online forums are easy to set up and a great start for website owners who do not have much money to invest in social networking software or web designers. Many web hosting companies even offer one click install features that let customers set up online forums with little or no web design knowledge. Forums give members a chance to talk, discuss, or debate various subjects and usually include private messaging features that allow members to talk privately. They also give members the chance to set up their own profiles complete with photos and links to personal or professional websites and other messenger services. The one downside to forums is that they often require a lot of moderation to avoid spamming or other abuse from taking place within website members’ areas.

Blogs are another popular online community feature since they give members a chance to rant and rave about any topic that comes to mind. While blogs and online journals are extremely popular setting up a site that allows multiple users to register for their own blog can take time and require the help of a professional designer. Many Internet based communities that allow blogs offer other features such as profiles, photo sharing, and more. Plus blogs require a lot of moderation since each post often needs to be reviewed for abuse along with comments made by other users regarding the posts.

Lastly, private messaging is another feature that necessary when building a website that is based on online communication. Members will want to be able to talk privately to each other and staff members. Offering private messaging will give members a chance to interact and help establish stronger bonds among members.

Once you have decided what features you want your online community to have the next step is finding someone to design the online community for you. Even if you are a website or software designer you might not have the free time that is necessary for designing, testing, and maintaining an online community. Hiring outside help will let you build a member driven site without interfering too much with other ventures.

After you have found a designer or developer, and tested your site it will be time to market your new online community. This will be an important phase since an online community will never succeed without members. Start by getting friends and family members to sign up for accounts with your new online community and later invite coworkers. One benefit of online communities is that they often spread thanks to word of mouth when other members start sharing their profiles in an effort to get more friends or make more connections.

Building an online community can be a trying experience. It takes time, money, and more than anything else patience. If you are working on establishing your own online community do not get discouraged when things do not get done as quickly as you would like. Always remember that you working on building your own little online world and creating a world will often include much trial and error.

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Video Marketing – Things to Remember When Starting a Video Networking Site

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

Video social networking has grown over the years with sites like YouTube, MySpace Video, and more producing massive amounts of traffic. Each and everyday users all around the world search for their favorite television shows, music videos, and how to videos. Major corporations have even taken advantage of the video sharing craze by sponsoring consumer created videos and purchasing advertisement space for commercials to be aired before online videos. Once Internet marketers and investors realize how profitable video social networking sites are they want to know how to start their own, similar, video sharing sites.

Before talking to a web developer or coming up with site layout ideas you must first establish a budget for your new venture. Video sites require specialized hosting packages because of the huge amount of memory and bandwidth needed to keep any sort of video site operating. If you are serious about this venture you might want to consider investing in a private or dedicated server. This will help you avoid site outages and overages which can lead to extra, unnecessary expenses. Also be prepared to consult a lawyer before you go live!

While all business ventures benefit from legal advice video sharing creates an opportunity for all sorts of legal problems. Some users will attempt to upload copyrighted videos or inappropriate material. Having a term of service and user agreement prepared by a lawyer will help avoid any serious misunderstandings that could result in the loss of your website. After you have consulted a lawyer and come up with a realistic budget it is time to find a website developer.

Quite a few individuals attempt to build their own video sharing sites with absolutely no help but if you are not a professional website developer this will lead to a lot of stress and wasted time. Coming up with a working software program that will let users register, upload, and share videos is a complicated process. A professional web developer with social networking website experience is necessary to create an acceptable, fully functioning, video sharing network.

When the time comes to consult developers have a list of features that you want your video sharing site to have. Try to include every desired feature in your first consultation because the designer will need this information in order to give an accurate price quote and time estimate. Requesting additional features at the last minute will result in launch delays and a raise in your original estimate. Common features found on video sharing sites are:

User Registration- This will help you, the owner, keep track of who is uploading what material.

Age Verification- With age verification you will be able to prevent minors from being exposed to inappropriate material.

Video Sharing- Visitors and registered members should be able to embed videos on blogs, websites, and also directly link to videos in emails.

Reporting- Users should be able to report inappropriate content to you and other staff members. This will help make the process of monitoring content easier and give users a way to respond to content that they disapprove of.

Other features that you, a website owner, might like on your video sharing site are messaging systems, user profiles, feedback/comments, and rating. These features are popular with users but are not necessary or required. If you do decide to implement these features always include a reporting system so that users can easily notify staff about inappropriate profiles, comments, or messages.

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