Mr.Farmville

5 Facebook Strategies Pros Need In Their Play Books

With seemingly every professional athlete now using a Facebook fan page, what do athletes — and their page administrators — need to do to get noticed?

And what can the rest of us learn from the best examples set by sports pages?

When athletes began using Twitter and Facebook to connect with their fans a few years ago, it was easy to get followers and likes, which as you may remember were called fans back then.

The reason was because it was so new to sports fans, that no matter who the athlete was, fans were enamored with the fact that they could actually know what these athletes were doing, thinking, and feeling.

Average NFL players like Nick Barnett were able to amass hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers by being early adapters and giving fans access to them in an unscripted, informal setting, contrary to the typical post-game interview where the player is essentially forced to say the politically correct thing.

Fast forward to today and nearly every professional athlete is using Twitter and Facebook to interact with their fans, which is great for fans, but bad for the players, as the saturation means that typical fans aren’t going to follow them just because they have Twitter and update their status saying what they had for lunch.

Moral of the story? If you are a professional athlete, you need to understand that in order to grow your Twitter followers and Facebook likes, you must stand out. How do you do that? It’s really quite simple, but requires you to follow these five basic steps:

1. Use Facebook and Twitter, but remember how much more powerful Facebook is.

Research not only shows that there are a great deal more people with Facebook accounts than Twitter accounts, but that there is an even greater ratio of Americans that use Facebook daily when compared to Twitter.

2. Consistently provide your audience with unique video and picture content, or you’ll blend right in with everyone else.

You aren’t going to get fans to pay attention to you by just posting text updates unless you’re LeBron James.

To captivate your audience and get them coming back for more, give them content that they won’t find on your teammates’ pages.

I highly recommend that all iPhone or Droid users download the app “Tout,” which gained popularity when Shaq used it to announce his retirement.

3. Ask your teammates, friends, and acquaintances to help you out.

They may not do it, but it never hurts to ask. When asking, it’s best to provide them with the exact copy of what you’d like them to say (including your pages URLs) so that it’s easy for them to copy and paste it.

4. When times are great and times are bad, don’t forget to post.

While we all sit on the couch watching players win a big game or lose a heartbreaker, these players are physically drained after either outcome.

Despite that, I think it’s imperative that players recognize that often the most opportune time to post is in these situations, because that’s when fans crave their updates most.

5. Sometimes your best post is what you don’t post.

There are countless examples of athletes posting controversial thoughts that have cost them both fans and money (see: Rashard Mendenhall bin Laden tweets).

My cardinal rule I tell the athletes I work with: If you wouldn’t say it on TV during an ESPN interview, then don’t post it on Facebook!

Guest writer Jeff Weiner is president and chief executive officer of ESBL Sports Management.

Both images courtesy of Shutterstock, second one taken by Mike Flippo.

Source: All Facebook

We Try World of WarCraft: Mists of Pandaria's Monk for Ourselves

You've read our in-depth analysis of Mists of Pandaria, but how does the new monk class actually play? Contributor Billy Berghammer has the full report.

Want an extended look at Mists of Pandaria's other new features? Click here to check out the complete breakdown by World of Warcraft superfan Julian Rignall.

Perhaps not the biggest surprise of BlizzCon, was the announcement of the new expansion to World of Warcraft. Currently the Pandaren can play as a mage, shaman, priest, rogue, hunter, warrior, or the new monk class, so I opted to give the new class a go. Since my main character that I currently play as is a mage, this experience was quite different. The Pandarens open section doesn't take place on Pandaria, but just off the coast on the back of giant sea turtle, and I got to play through its entirety.

First and foremost, one of the new differences to the Monk class is the fact that there's no auto attack. This offensive class will keep players constantly hitting attacks after locking on to an adversary. In the starting zone, my Monk began with a simple jab and tiger palm attack, but as I leveled up, new attacks such as a blackout kick, tiger palm, and eventually a spinning crane kick (think Chun Li) were moves added to my arsenal.

Beer stealing? I can definitely get behind that. These are the types of quests I really hope Blizzard leans on instead of the kill 4 of these, gather 5 of these types of quests – because I did plenty of those fetch quests too."

Moves are powered by chi, and to gain chi you need to use an opening attack such as a jab to build up both light and dark force. Once the meters are powered up, you can then pull of more advanced moves. In essence it makes switching up attacks in these encounters feel more like combos in fights, where you jab, then tiger palm, then jab again, and finish with a blackout kick or something else.

Monks do have a new dive roll that can be used to either evade attacks or travel a little quicker on foot. Considering the fact that the Monk is such an offensive based class, diving into an enemy, spinning around, targeting and then letting off a flurry of attacks was quite satisfying, even though the early enemies I encountered were fairly low-level. Needless to say I dive rolled enough to earn the Panda Express achievement (roll 100 times at BlizzCon). It's fun, what can I say?

Since I really enjoyed more of the action type quests introduced in Lich King and Cataclysm, I was hoping to see more in this starting zone. Since this is such a different type of class, the first few levels were based on training and learning the ways of the Monk. And while there were action quests in the opening section, it needed more. One early action quest example had my Monk climb on top of posts that were in a lake, ring a bell, and then later leap from post to post and kick and knock off other monks as one of the training exercises. There was also a quest to stop enemies from stealing beer.

Although the trailer shows a fairly cute Pandaren doing martial arts, don't think that Blizzard has dipped into the world of Kung-Fu Panda too much. While this area wasn't quite as dark as some of the areas visited in the last few expansions, I really enjoyed the Asian influences I saw. From bamboo tree, ponds, and farms, to temples, shrines, and beautiful tapestries, it oozes in an interesting combination of cultures that I found intriguing. It's a refreshing change of pace from Knights, Orcs, Dwarves and Elves.

This whole opening zone took me about 2 hours to complete, which saw my monk reach level 10 quickly. Obviously, this was a BlizzCon demo and that time length could grow a bit, but I don't see it growing exponentially. A bit after hitting level 10 and finishing the quests on the turtle, you choose which faction you want to join. Since I was quite in love with this new world and enjoyed my time in the starting zone, I was ready to jet off to Pandaria and continue in this excellent new land. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to do some grinding first, because Pandaria is reserved for level 85-90 questing and raiding.

The Pandaren is a fun new race, and I'm enamored with the new world, but I'm not sure if it will be enough for me to start yet another alt. The road from 1-85 is a long one, but it's going to be interesting to see what Blizzard adds to the mix in the coming months to get new players and old to do it all again.

Source: Daily News from GamePro.com

#7: Kinect Sports Season Two

Kinect Sports Season Two
by Microsoft
Platform:

Xbox 360
Release Date: October 25, 2011

Buy new: $49.99
5 used & new from $45.99

(Visit the Hot New Releases in Xbox 360 list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Source: Amazon.com: Hot New Releases in Video Games > Xbox 360

#7: Xbox 360 Live 1600 Points [Online Game Code]

Xbox 360 Live 1600 Points [Online Game Code]
by Microsoft

873 days in the top 100
Platform:

Xbox 360

(510)

Buy new: $19.99

(Visit the Best Sellers in Xbox 360 list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Source: Amazon.com: Best Sellers in Video Games > Xbox 360

#7: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
by Bethesda

137 days in the top 100
Platform:

Xbox 360
Release Date: November 11, 2011

Buy new: $59.99

(Visit the Best Sellers in Video Games list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Sunday, October 23, 2011

#9: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
by Sony Computer Entertainment
118 days in the top 100
Platform:

PlayStation 3
Release Date: November 1, 2011

Buy new: $59.99

(Visit the Best Sellers in Video Games list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

#7: Saw II: Flesh and Blood

Saw II: Flesh and Blood
by Konami

1 day in the top 100
Platform:

PlayStation 3

(9)

Buy new: ~~$39.99~~ $15.56
57 used & new from $5.99

(Visit the Best Sellers in Video Games list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Nuts and Bolts

Nuts and Bolts is a 30 level puzzle game where you have to “help Nuts and Bolts reach the exit of each level by connecting beans to platforms.” Have fun!

Continue Reading about Nuts and Bolts

Source: FreeGamesNews

#1: Battlefield 3 - Limited Edition

Battlefield 3 - Limited Edition
by Electronic Arts
153 days in the top 100
Platform:

Xbox 360
Release Date: October 25, 2011

Buy new: $59.95

(Visit the Best Sellers in Video Games list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

This Week's Headlines From Across Inside Network

A roundup of all the news Inside Network brought you between October 17th and 22nd.

Inside Mobile Apps

Tracking the convergence of mobile apps, social platforms and virtual goods.

Monday, October 17th:

Tuesday, October 18th:

Wednesday, October 19th:

Thursday, October 20th:

Friday, October 21st:

Saturday, October 22nd:

New This Week on the Inside Network Job Board: Natural Motion Games, Lolapps, TinyCo and More

Inside Social Games

Covering all the latest developments at the intersection of games and social platforms.

Monday, October 17th:

Tuesday, October 18th:

Wednesday, October 19th:

Thursday, October 20th:

Friday, October 21st:

Saturday, October 22nd:

New This Week on the Inside Network Job Board: Games Cafe, King.com, TinyCo and More

Inside Facebook

Tracking Facebook and the Facebook platform for developers and marketers.

Monday, October 17th:

Tuesday, October 18th:

Wednesday, October 19th:

Thursday, October 20th:

Friday, October 21st:

Saturday, October 22nd:

New This Week on the Inside Network Job Board: Storm8, TinyCo, Lolapps and More

Source: Inside Social Games

#2: Battlefield 3 - Limited Edition

Battlefield 3 - Limited Edition
by Electronic Arts
131 days in the top 100
Platform:

PlayStation 3
Release Date: October 25, 2011

Buy new: $59.95

(Visit the Best Sellers in Video Games list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

#9: Just Dance 3

Just Dance 3
by UBI Soft
31 days in the top 100
Platform:

Nintendo Wii

(24)

Buy new: ~~$39.99~~ $33.96
42 used & new from $33.22

(Visit the Best Sellers in Video Games list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

#7: Xbox 360 4GB Console with Kinect

Xbox 360 4GB Console with Kinect
by Microsoft
Platform:

Xbox 360

(306)

Buy new: $299.99
193 used & new from $235.00

(Visit the Best Sellers in Hardware list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Source: Amazon.com: Best Sellers in Video Games > Xbox 360 > Hardware

#7: Gears of War 3

Gears of War 3
by Microsoft
Platform:

Xbox 360

(333)

Buy new: ~~$59.99~~ Click to see price
128 used & new from $42.00

(Visit the Most Wished For in Xbox 360 list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Source: Amazon.com: Most Wished For in Video Games > Xbox 360