Posts Tagged ‘YouTube’

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Media Post has been discussing the word engagement and Gord Hotchkiss set out to present the two definitions.

Both definitions are tied to a personal connection and commitment to something beyond our own self. To be engaged is several steps past just showing up or just being involved with someone or in something. In fact, the word engagement has become quite a buzz in social media companies. We even have books that focus on how to be more engaged or engaging on the internet.

Our business revolves around party activities, so we ask the question: Can you have an engaging engagement party?

The answer is yes… From the “ring and wedding” perspective, the engagement period can be one of the most engaging times in a couples life. If done right, all the family becomes engaged in the process.

The impact of a wedding announcement is widespread, even though the focus is on a singular event. There are two distinct families to be introduced, connected and finally united.

But even a traditional engagement party leaves some people out in the cold; feeling less engaged in the process. The level of connection is naturally diminished for some family members who live a distance from the bride and groom.

When an engagement party is planned, there are often those who feel left out because they cannot afford to travel for the real party. In this case the distance builds barriers to personal engagement.

The solution to this challenge is to find ways to engage others without the need to travel. The new tools on the internet can help to involve distant relatives and friends at the start of the engagement period, and through to the wedding party. Skype, Facebook and Youtube can all be employed to share some of the exciting steps toward the nuptials.

Weddings create a flurry of party and gift giving opportunities that are used to support and demonstrate love for the couple. Those who live close get the great parties and participate in the fun personal interactions. It is sad that distance is a restriction for some friends during this important life event.

How could the web be employed to make the engagement party more engaging for even the most distant friend?

We have a few ideas, like some sort of online party…. What about you?

 

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists

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We appreciate the Ning social network for two reasons.

1. Ning was the social networking platform that our family used to test the gift exchange game for the two years prior to building a commercial version.

2. Ning is now demonstrating that free is not always the best business model.

In 2007 and 2008 our family held the Christensen Family Gift Exchange on the pages of Ning. In 2008 we used the network for 19 days and shared over 800 comments, images and YouTube videos among our 11 family members.

It was the functions of the Ning platform which inspired much of the functionality in the AlbinoPhant online gift exchange party.

Now it has been announced that Ning is closing the free version of their network and moving to a full pay-to-play model. It is sad that so many will be losing employment from the company. Yet, it is still a fact that money fuels the economic engine of enterprise, and nothing sustains better than selling real products or useful services.

This will be a hard pill to swallow for many who have relied on Ning to give them free use of what they built. On the other hand, we are learning that free does not pay the bills. And that a sustainable business model should be a part of all internet properties.

Thank you Ning for how you inspired our family…. And good luck with your business transition!

We thought that you might be interested in how our family used Ning to share gifts and build an online party… Watch the following slide show

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists

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Mashable shared a video and some details concerning the state of the internet.

Jesse Thomas created this video to demonstrate how big the internet is becoming….

This is one big party and it is great to be involved!

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists

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Type A Mom suggests that every online application should find their ideal niche. The following is a definition of the niche that our parties are chasing…
Tell us what you think.

Social sites on the internet usually take one of two tracks to success: One is to create products with mass appeal, and the other is to find a valuable niche.

Mass appeal strategies usually require something that appeals to multiple ages and varying needs or interests. Facebook or YouTube come to mind as social sites with mass appeal.

Niche strategies focus on a smaller number of prospects or demographic, and then gather their customers from a market with significant numbers. Entrepreneur magazine suggests that “A niche marketplace is a small, specialized market segment within a larger, viable commercial industry”.

The AlbinoPhant Party is built to satisfy customers within the DSGS niche, which is a portion of the well established $115 Billion dollar US Gift Sales Industry.

What is a DSGS? They are gift purchasers who shop for and share gifts with those they love from a distance, or a Distance Separated Gift Shopper. Regular gift shopper’s purchase locally, then they wrap the item and make the delivery in person at some event or party. On the other hand, Distance Separated Gift Shoppers tend to rely on internet resources for their gift shopping needs and have deliveries made by others. Or they purchase locally, box and ship the item using standard shipping services. They usually miss the actual gift unveiling because distance has restricted the more desirable personal attendance.

Sarah Christensen is a DSGS. She is a parent, a child and a sibling of individuals who live at least a day’s drive from her home. Sarah has a history of supporting her family and friends by purchasing gifts and personally attending events or parties with those she loves. Even when separated by distance, she continues to look for efficient and economical ways to share with this group. Because she is over 50 and an empty nester, the volume of family and friends who live a distance away continues to increase, forcing her to become a regular Distance Separated Gift Shopper in order to remain supportive.

The DSGS also relies heavily on social networks to stay connected to those whom they wish to support. They also rely on e-Retailers, UPS and other gift delivery services to facilitate the need to share these gifts and build memorable interactions.

The total percentage of the US gift sales industry included in the DSGS niche is not measured, but there are indications that it is large and getting bigger. We know that Sarah’s age and family demographic group is joining the social networks in ever increasing numbers. And we also know that American family units are dispersing in larger numbers with each passing day. But the DSGS niche is so much more than just an older age group. Gen X and Y both are experiencing the same problems of gift support from a distance. They have their parents, grand parents, siblings and college friends who are dispersing at an ever increasing rate.

There should be no argument that the growth in social networks and online retail sales is partially a result of the needs of the DSGS niche. Online activities that can combine gift giving support with a uniting conversation can flourish as they serve the Distance Separated Gift Shoppers.

What other resources are the DSGS’ers looking for?

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists

Bruce and Sarah Christensen are new Facebook developers, and they have delivered an online version of the white elephant gift exchange or Yankee Swap for families and friends this holiday season.

The white elephant party is called AlbinoPhant, and the Christensen’s have been testing this online game with their grown children for the past 3-years.

“When our youngest got married and left the nest, we started sharing our gifts through playing this game, and we loved the party atmosphere and fun conversations this allowed us” stated Sarah, the mother of five and grand mother of seven.

The AlbinoPhant party is a mimic of the traditional White Elephant gift swaps that are common among social groups during the holidays. The Facebook game provides real shopping markets from Amazon for selecting and purchasing a gift for the event. Players virtually wrap the image of the selected gift and then the party is ready to start.

“The game is just like the real party in many ways. The gifts are opened on the web page, there is gift stealing among the players and all the fun conversation that a group shares in a standard party”, explained Bruce Christensen.

Like a regular gift exchange, the AlbinoPhant party selects players at random to open gifts and then displays them on a common playing page. There is a comment box which allows players to share banter and poke fun at each other during the activity. There is the option to add YouTube videos and other images into the conversation. All of this is accessed by individuals as they play on their computers, from anywhere in the country.

Sarah continued, “Our family is scattered from New Hampshire to California, so this online party saves all of us the travel cost to attend family events, while still allowing real fun and personal connection with each other”.

The AlbinoPhant party is a Facebook application and takes full advantage of the social networking tools available. The host uses Facebook’s network to send the invitations and then the Facebook sharing system allows party conversations to spill out onto the web.

“We built the application to be as close to the traditional party as possible, so that families and friends would feel comfortable with the game. We use trusted brands, like Amazon and PayPal, and when the party is completed gifts are delivered using standard shipping companies”, added Bruce

This online party is a real gift exchange, so players use ecommerce to purchase the presents for the party. Then after the party is finished, these real gifts are sent out to each player’s doorstep. This party breaks new ground for Facebook, where virtual gifts have been the norm, and adds a new partnership between online retailers and social networks.
AlbinoPhant is now available thru the internet for family and friends to share gifts, steal gifts and banter together just like they have done for years, and McMinnville is this white elephant’s delivery room.

The Facebook application link is: http://apps.facebook.com/albinophant/

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists

The social networks can now be used for friendly larceny, with the launch of an online white elephant gift exchange party called AlbinoPhant.

This Facebook application allows family and friends the opportunity to party together in a virtual gift exchange, just like they would if gathered together in one location. They exchange real gifts, share friendly banter and enjoy the holiday spirit, through the online party.

Gift exchange parties are social events that focus on sharing gifts with family and friends and then “stealing” gifts from one another in an organized party game.

www.albinophant.com brings people together to participate in the party on a common game-play page, where wrapped gifts are displayed, opened, stolen and where comments are shared. This application facilitates gift giving among those who would be sharing gifts with each other anyway. AlbinoPhant just provides a fun, conversational and social way to pass out the gifts.

Traditional white elephant parties build lively conversation and great stories around the gifts as they are opened. With the enhanced sharing tools on the web, the online version allows more expressive conversation than ever before. The AlbinoPhant comment stream allows party participants the opportunity to post YouTube videos and images to assist in making the exchange party a real fun game. There are even opportunities to share some of the conversation outside of the party in other social networks, allowing the party atmosphere to spill over in other corners of the web.

The online white elephant party uses a combination of eCommerce and social networking tools to build the party system. AlbinoPhant is a gift purchasing and sharing facilitator, displaying hundreds of Amazon items in level pricing markets for convenient shopping. The host and each party participant use these single pricing markets ($15 to $50) to select gifts for the party. This leveling feature is used to keep the gift spending closer to equal among all of the players, reducing the “big-spender/cheap-skate” issues.

When all of the gifts are virtually wrapped, opened, discussed, stolen and re-stolen, the game ends. The application’s management system then sorts out who gets which real gift and sees that each present is delivered to the correct address.

The online gift exchange is a labor of love by the Christensen family, who are new to Facebook application development. The Christensen’s have tested the online gift swap party with their scattered family members for several years. They hired a team of Facebook developers and other web professionals to take their simple family party exchange and turn it into a fully operational Facebook application. Now they are eager to share this fun exchange, AlbinoPhant, with others.

This holiday season the networks will play host to thousands of gift thieves and promote friendly banter to liven up holiday parties. What is more social than a lively party?

To see press release go to http://myprgenie.com/3333

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists

A new Facebook application moves the White Elephant Exchange Party online, with gift sharing and conversation for family and friends this holiday season.

Albinophant is a mimic of the traditional Yankee Swap or White Elephant parties used in social circles in the US and Canada. With this online version, players purchase real gifts, share them, steal gifts from one another, and then the present for each individual is shipped to their door by conventional methods.

The party is hosted on Facebook so friends can easily join and invite others into the gift exchange within the social network platform. Each player uses custom ecommerce markets to shop for a gift, then they virtually wrap their present in preparation for the party to begin.

There is a common game play page in the AlbinoPhant application that acts as the virtual living room where all players gather for the fun. The game play page has a comment area where players banter, share videos and images, all while opening and stealing presents from each other.

The application is remarkably similar to the actions that millions are familiar with in the traditional White Elephant exchanges. But there are extra enhancements that are not possible with the regular event. Players can actually share a part of the party experience on Facebook, with friends not in the party, which expands the fun. In addition, posting YouTube videos in the party allows players to embellish their comments to other players. There is also a gift rating system and player awards built into the actions of the online party.

Hosting a party is simply a matter of joining the application, selecting a time to start and then scouring Facebook for those you want to invite. Explaining the rules is easy and the game allows players from any part of the US to join and share in the fun.

This year the Elephant in the Room has become active and is a party animal on Facebook. So invite your family and friends to join in an online fun party this holiday season.

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists

White Elephant Gift Exchange parties or Yankee Swaps are the most popular gift-giving parties during the holidays. Millions gather in family rooms and church cultural halls to share gifts, steal from one another and enjoy the social banter during this group game.

Today, AlbinoPhant launches on Facebook as the online mimic of this traditional favorite for family and friends. AlbinoPhant is a partnership between the computer mouse and a well known white elephant party game. This online game allows family and friends from anywhere in the country to party together without leaving home.

The game application combines the massive audience on social networks with the convenience of online shopping from Amazon, into a party atmosphere. Friends and family share gifts with each other while AlbinoPhant gives them a fun way to pass out the presents.

Unlike other simple game applications on Facebook this party shares real gifts, not the virtual gifts that are so commonplace now. All players purchase a gift from special markets, and they virtually wrap their gift and get ready for the party. When all the players have their gifts purchased and wrapped, the game begins

All of the activities develop and are displayed on a common game-play page in the party. Players will find virtually wrapped gifts in the middle of the party room. They will see a display of the other players who are attending. There is a random player selection system and gift rating buttons. And of course, there is gift opening and gift stealing functions to build upon the fun.

Every good party is full of conversation, so the AlbinoPhant experience includes a comment box that allows many fun enhancement opportunities. In addition to the words that flow into the comment stream, there is the capability to include YouTube videos and images to assist players in creating a multimedia conversation.

The white elephant party ends when all the presents have been opened, stolen, rated and discussed. There are awards presented, and finally each gift is ordered and shipped to each of the player’s by conventional methods. There is no clean-up to do and everyone leaves with some great social memories.

This season you can combine your mouse with AlbinoPhant and bring your friends and family into one big party.

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists

The Christensen’s of McMinnville are not going to get arrested for helping friends and neighbors steal gifts from each other this year. Their family has been stealing from each other in an online white elephant gift party for the last 3-years. Now they are sharing the fun on Facebook, so everyone can start gift swapping this season.

You have probably played one of the White Elephant Gift Exchange, or Yankee Swap games during the holidays in the past. It is the gift party where everyone brings a fun wrapped gift, they put the gifts in a pile and then they take turns opening, stealing and bantering together.

The Christensen’s have figured out a way to mimic this same activity in social online networks, like Facebook. They call their online white elephant party, AlbinoPhant, a party application, hosted on Facebook. The unique thing about AlbinoPhant is that you use real gift images in the game and then those real gifts are delivered to your door after the completion of a party.

AlbinoPhant is just like the traditional gift swap party, and can be played from any Internet connection. This means that family members from all across the country can join the party without leaving their homes. This will be helpful for tight family budgets this year.

White elephant parties allow families to stay connected and share gifts with each other in a lively atmosphere of fun and games. With the enhanced sharing tools on the web, the online version allows more expressive conversation than ever before. A steady stream of AlbinoPhant comments allows party participants the opportunity to post YouTube videos and images to assist in participating in the fun. There are even opportunities to share some of the conversation outside of the party in other social networks, allowing the party atmosphere to spill over to other corners of the web.

The online gift exchange is a labor of love by the Christensen family. Sarah Christensen, a mother of five and grandmother of seven, shares her love of the game by commenting, “When our youngest left home three years ago, we missed our family gift exchange party so much we started doing our party online.” And Bruce Christensen added this comment, “We visited more in 19-days while we were playing, than we do all year, because of this party”.

The Christensen’s hired a team of Facebook developers and other web professionals to take their simple family party and turn it into a fully operational Facebook application. Their entire family loves this game and is thrilled to share it with others.

Their family won’t find themselves in jail this Christmas, but they are excited to be spreading gift thievery and lively banter well beyond Oregon this holiday season by playing AlbinoPhant.

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PartyWeDo
The AlbinoPhant Creators
Your Party 2.0 Specialists