Facebook Video Chat

Facebook Is Planning to Launch In-Browser Video Chat Next. According to techcrunch.com this will launch next week.

Members of facebook can Now share photos, update status and message through their profile and the option for video chat will add spice to their Facebook account. Google launched their social network Google Plus Last week.

Skype – Skype is a peer-to-peer Internet telephony service, Skype allows Skype-to-Skype free calls. Around 170 million People using the Skype Service and Facebook have more than 750 million active users.

Zapak Tambola

Zapak.com, India’s leading gaming portal today announced its foray in social gaming with the launch of World’s first Housie game on Facebook called Zapak Tambola. This is Zapak’s first social game on Facebook which is an independent application with complete social integration.

Zapak Tambola is a version of a very popular game called – Housie, played in clubs, parties and other social get-togethers across India.  The multi-player game allows players to chat with each other from the same room and also send and exchange virtual gifts. The exciting part is that unlike the offline game, Zapak Tambola allows players to experiment with different avatars which they can show off.  The advanced Avatar feature is a first in synchronous (games where players play live with each other) games on Facebook.

How to play? It’s simple. Users have to log on to – http://apps.facebook.com/zapaktambola/ and choose a room from the lobby to play in.  The rooms are with variable ticket prices appealing to both players who like to play it safe and the ones who love to win big. Then the user buys tickets to participate in the game. Numbers are called out randomly by the Tambola Host and crossed automatically on the ticket purchased. The winners are the players who claim first on the numbers getting crossed out in a particular pattern (Jaldi 5, Top, Middle and Bottom Rows, Full house).

Features of the game Zapak Tambola :

· Zapak Tambola is a multiplayer room based game. And has social features like chatting and gifting presents to friends and counter parts.

· The game follows international standards of gameplay and can be enjoyed by users from around the world

· Avatars – Users have an array of options to customize and create unique avatars for themselves which helps them stand out from the crowd.

· Virtual Currency – TCoins and TCash are the two currency options available to play the game. This currency can be used for buying tickets and customizing avatars. Multiple payments options are available to buy Virtual currency.

Gaming today forms a significant part of Facebook worldwide with engagement not limited to only catching up with friends but largely playing social games. Out of 26 million active users on Facebook from India, approximately 5-7 million of them play games on Facebook every month.

Speaking on the launch of Zapak’s new and unique social game, Manish Agarwal, Chief Operating Officer – Reliance Entertainment – Digital Business, said – “We are extremely thrilled to have launched Zapak Tambola. Housie is the most played party game in India and lends itself perfectly into a social game. Our main objective with Zapak Tambola has been to create an easy and popular game which can be enjoyed by users equally irrespective of their age. Facebook has an untapped opportunity of Indian themed social games and we hope to tap it aggressively.”

So log on to http://apps.facebook.com/zapaktambola/ and start gaming!

Facebook Like Box Customization

You can Easily customize your Facebook Like Box for better look and Style.

1, Change Number of Connections : In the code find ” connections= ” and Change the Number, for exapmle currently its showing 50 and you need to show 1000 find ” connections=50 ” and change as ” connections=1000 “.

2, Show/Hide Stream : Find the part ” stream= “. To Show Put as ” stream=true ” and Hide ” stream=false “.

3, Show/Hide Scroll : Find ” scrolling= “, To Show Put as ” scrolling=yes ” and Hide ” scrolling=no “.

4, Change Width and Hieght : Find ” height= ” and ” width= ” and change the Values. Put the same values on the Line Style= width:px; height:px; ”

For Example You need the New size 300*250 Put width=300 and height=250 also in the Style= width:300px; height:250px; .

CFB Facebook Winner

Renowned Swiss watch brand Carl F Bucherer recently announced an interactive contest on Facebook. The Watch Quiz held on Facebook received excellent response from participants across the globe. Mushtaq Khan from India won the Carl F. Bucherer’s facebook watch quiz and was felicitated with a stunning Patravi ChronoDate Watch by Mr. David Vallata, Executive Vice President Sales, Carl F Bucherer during an event held in Delhi recently.

Mr. Mushtaq Khan was one among the 1000 participants in the CFB’s Facebook watch contest. The objective was to attract Facebook users to become CFB friends and make CFB’s Facebook activities more popular and interesting.

Enthralled at winning the Facebook CFB contest, Mr. Mushtaq Khan said, “I am really excited to win this contest and thanks to Carl F Bucherer for presenting me a master timepiece. I have always been mesmerized by the brand’s collection and I am high spirits as I sport this Chrono Date.”

On the occasion Mr. David Vallata Executive Vice President Sales, Carl F Bucherer said, “We have received an overwhelming response to the contest and want to thank all of our Facebook supporters. These contests are not just ego-boosters but a great way to stay connected without missing out on the great content.”

To own a CFB timepiece please rush to your nearest store of Ethos Summit. CFB watches are exclusively available at all the Ethos Summit store across India.

For more information and updates on Carl F Bucherer, please join us on the Carl F Bucherer facebook

Eat Out

HindustanTimes has launched a unique application called Eat Out where, a user search for the Crystals Nominated TOP Tables restaurants across Delhi- NCR with a downloadable map and read recommendations from HTCity Eating Out Guide. Apart from the TOP Tables restaurants a user can also search for other restaurants, cafés, nightouts, caterers, cinema halls, heritage location, hotels, hospitals and even CWG venues, you name it and Eat Out has it!

This application gives the user, freedom to choose their favorite cuisine and search for restaurants serving them. This application also allows a user to search for restaurants, cafés, nightouts etc. specific to the area of their choice.

Another brilliant feature of this application is that it also gives you directions to the restaurant you are searching for from your current location in real time. So from now on, you don’t have to worry about finding your way, whenever you want to try out a new hangout joint in Delhi/NCR.

All one has to do is logon to www.hindustantimes.com/eatout and start exploring the various eateries from around the town and even read reviews of other users on different restaurants.

This application is also available on Facebook on http://apps.facebook.com/htcityeatout/  as well as for Nokia, Blackberry and Samsung phones where it can be downloaded from the HT Eat Out website.

Pizza Hut Celebrations

Pizza Hut Celebrations – the official page on Face book for Pizza Hut in India has now crossed over 1,40,000 fans – an achievement that highlights the brand’s strong foothold in the social media space. Pizza Hut is engaging and interacting with its fans on the social networking site and this has seen a rapid increase in the fan base. The Pizza Hut Celebrations page is now the most popular restaurant brand page on Facebook in India.

The growing popularity of Pizza Hut on Facebook further reinforces the strong connect the brand shares with its customers. The constant posts and comments by the consumers on the page are a testimony to the brand’s engagement and relationship with the fans.

The official fan page is a complete virtual space for fans to interact with Pizza Hut and share feedback. The page also keeps them updated on all latest offerings, contests and information from the brand. The highlight of the page is that it is extremely informative and interactive. The page has over 1.4 lakh fans, which is more than any restaurant brand in the country. This milestone is an indicative of the strong brand establishment and popularity amongst its consumers.

Speaking about the exemplary achievement, Anup Jain, Director- Marketing, Yum! Restaurants India subcontinent- Pizza Hut said, “The social media space today has become an extremely important medium for any brand. Having a good presence on social networking sites is important to reach out to the consumers. As a brand, we are very excited with this achievement as we are the only restaurant brand in the country that has reached this benchmark on Facebook. We believe in engaging with our fans rather than just being present there- we have regular posts and interesting contests for our consumers and encourage a healthy interaction with the members. We have always tried to keep the fan page interactive and informative for our consumers and the number of over 1, 40,000 fans means that we are on the right path. We hope to increase this number even higher and are confident that our fans will join us in our journey to the next milestone- that of becoming the most popular and talked about brand on Facebook in India.”

Mahindra

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M), one of India’s leading automobile companies, recently crossed a significant milestone. Its online community on Facebook now has a fan following of 4 lakh people. This massive community base, one of the largest online communities for any company or brand in India, is a result of the popularity of brands such as the Scorpio, Bolero, Xylo and Logan, in addition to its unique properties, The Great Escape and Auto Quotient.

Speaking on this achievement, Vivek Nayer, Senior Vice-President, Marketing, Mahindra & Mahindra said, “With 4 lakh digitally savvy people endorsing our brands on Facebook, this is indeed a recognition that we are proud of. It validates our continued focus to innovate in order to drive customer engagement & buzz around our brands, resulting in this massive fan following.”

He further added, “It is our fantastic  portfolio of brands with their loyal fan following that is helping us  achieve this huge popularity – be it the successful launch of Xylo, the iconic status of Scorpio, the restored confidence in Logan,  the ever popular Bolero and the unstinted passion for Mahindra Great Escape & Auto Quotient.”

Fan page numbers:

Scorpio – 1.5 lakh fans
Bolero – 50,000 plus fans
XYLO – 60,000 plus fans
Logan – 25,000 plus fans
Great Escape – 65,000 plus fans

The Mahindra Automotive page on Facebook is a platform for owners and enthusiasts of Mahindra vehicles to communicate with each other and share their experiences. Photos and videos of their experiences with Mahindra vehicles are showcased along with opportunities to participate in several contests.  Various activities conducted on fan pages include the ’Scorpio Photo Contest’, the ‘Bolero SUV No.1 contest’, the ‘XYLO happy legs contest’ and the ‘Logan loves India’ contest.  India’s first online 3D off-road game modelled on The Mahindra Great Escape, was also recently launched, registering a record figure of two million plays within months of its launch. The brands also use Zapak, Twitter, Flickr, Youtube, Scribd and Orkut to reach out to their digital audiences.

Links to the Mahindra Online Auto Community -

Mahindra Scorpio: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/MahindraScorpio?ref=ts
Mahindra Xylo: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/MahindraXylo?ref=ts
Mahindra Bolero: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/MahindraBolero?ref=ts
Logan Loves India: http://www.facebook.com/LoganLovesIndia?ref=ts
Mahindra Great Escape: http://www.facebook.com/MahindraGreatEscape?ref=ts
Mahindra AQ :  http://www.facebook.com/MahindraAQ?ref=ts

Radio Mantra

Radio Mantra takes a step closer to its listeners and becomes the only radio station in India to have a unique Facebook Application to interact with its listeners. The newly launched facebook page and application have been in their beta testing phase for more than a month and have received an enormous response from the listeners.

“Recognizing the changing dynamics of the society and the way today’s generation communicates, along with the growing importance of social networking websites have triggered, us to develop our presence on social networking platforms”, said Rahul Gupta, Director, Radio Mantra. “The FB application is one of its kind and makes our non-music content available to our listeners. We are the only radio station in India and possibly the world to be using this platform to interact with our audiences in this way.”

Apart from a platform for discussions, the application has a range of interactive tabs, which allow listeners to subscribe, comment and interact with popular shows and segments of the radio network. Users can go to http://www.facebook.com/radiomantra and access all the content after liking the page.

Commenting on this unique applications development, Vidit Paliwal, Big Step Technologies (the company responsible for the development of the app) said “The Radio Mantra page has been very well integrated into Facebook and has been designed and developed to have many engagement points for users and allows them to share their favorite programs on Radio Mantra with their Facebook friends.”

The Application has a stunning design and a lot of thought has gone into getting the right element at the right place, while ensuring all elements get the required importance. “The visual appeal of this page is something we can hardly find on FB. The social networking icon has been represented in a new way which brings a sense of freshness on the net.” said Arjun Yadav, Project Management Head, MMI Online – Designers of this Application..

“With emergence of Facebook as India’s No.1 Platform for interaction by millions of people, we couldn’t ignore the power of social networking for a longer time” said Narendra Tripathi, COO, Radio Mantra. “We are really happy that now not only we can connect and interact but extend the bond we have built with our listeners further ”

Facebook

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a report on traffic to Social Networking sites in India, revealing that Facebook.com grabbed the number one ranking in the category for the first time in July with 20.9 million visitors, up 179 percent versus year ago.

“The social networking phenomenon continues to gain steam worldwide, and India represents one of the fastest growing markets at the moment,” said Will Hodgman, comScore executive vice president for the Asia-Pacific region. “Though Facebook has tripled its audience in the past year to pace the growth for the category, several other social networking sites have posted their own sizeable gains.”

More than 33 million Internet users age 15 and older in India visited social networking sites in July, representing 84 percent of the total Internet audience. India now ranks as the seventh largest market worldwide for social networking, after the U.S., China, Germany, Russian Federation, Brazil and the U.K. The total Indian social networking audience grew 43 percent in the past year, more than tripling the rate of growth of the total Internet audience in India.

*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Facebook Takes Top Spot among Social Networking Sites in India

Facebook.com posted an especially strong month in July, growing 12 percent versus June, to capture the top spot in the category with 20.9 million visitors. Orkut ranked second with 19.9 million visitors (up 16 percent vs. year ago), followed by BharatStudent.com with 4.4 million visitors (up 3 percent). Twitter.com had the highest rate of growth among the top five social networking sites, increasing 239 percent to 3.3 million visitors. Yahoo! owned two of the top ten social networking sites: Yahoo! Pulse (3.5 million visitors) and Yahoo! Buzz (1.8 million visitors).

*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Source : comScore

M TV

MTV, India’s leading multimedia youth platform has crossed a phenomenal number of 500, 000 fans on its Facebook fan page – www.facebook.com/mtvindia! With a reach of 100mn last year, MTV India’s Facebook fan page is yet another way of going beyond television & right to where the youth is. Innovative content & constant evolution has helped MTV to cater to what the youth looks for today.  With a promise of a lot more ‘multiplatform-ication’ coming up, MTV pays a tribute to the youth of India & says a BIG Thank YOU!!!

The MTV fan page not only talks about music and entertainment, but also talks about important topics like social reform, politics and sports. It is everything the youth can relate to and a platform where they can voice their opinions. The page’s passion points revolve around its fans’ passion points… thus the 500, 000 and still counting! From television, to now social media, MTV is surely a viral you must catch!

“To keep consumers coming back for more, you need to have constant engagement and TV alone can never do that. Hence the Beyond TV drive. The challenge is to create a meaningful platform and then let the world co-create around it. The fact that over 500K very sharp young minds are a part of the MTV World shows that we are moving in the right direction. But really, this is just the start towards becoming a truly multiplatform brand” says, Aditya Swamy, Senior Vice President – Sales & Marketing, MTV India on this milestone.

To know more, log on to www.mtvindia.com !