Starbook.me is the premier social network for Chinese celebrities and stars.

Each Celebrity receives their own social network or fan site, where they can communicate and share their news directly with their fan base. Once a follower signs up as a ‘Fan’, they will have exclusive access to the celebrities photos, videos, thoughts, weibos, and news.

Today, Jill had a first chatting session with her fans at Plus Factory. Hope everyone had a good time!

To view StarBook.Me, please click here

Robe di Kappa’s 2011 Fall Collection.

Great job to the Beijing and Ho Chi Minh team to make it happen. This site has lots of cool features built in HTML5. The horizontal parallax effect is def not an easy one, but we did it.

To view the website, please click here

See more photos here

Click here to visit the site

The Royal Dutch Airlines KLM is not sitting still when it comes to Social Media Campaigns, it’s back with another campaign: KLM TRAVLR.

Tribal DDB Amsterdam has come up with another great idea for KLM; TRAVLR is the new search tool of KLM that helps you to find your ultimate dream destination by aggregating content from a variety of Social Media Sources. The catch is besides providing an extra service to its customer, to increase ticket sales.

How does TRAVLR work?

First of all, KLM TRAVLR is very user friendly. After you typed in your interest in the search-box (for example beach) and your budget, the application will generate relevant content from Youtube, Twitter, Google Maps, Wikitravel, Flickr and Foursquare (see figure 1). The search results are displayed through a single interface, which shows pictures, additional info, videos that can be played and a real-time twitter newsfeed of the search interest and destination (see figure 2). Of course, you can share your dream destination through Facebook and Twitter.

Figure 1 Snapshot Beach

Figure 2 Snapshot Beach Destination

User Generated Content

The platform is not limited to any pre-selected information; visitors are free to search in User Generated Content. They can use KLM TRAVLR freely without any I-Must-Follow-These-Procedures for inspiration.

About the tool

The API of the different Social Media Sources has their own advantages and disadvantages. This makes it not always easy to filter the right content. Currently, the search tool is being launched as a Beta version to gather more feedback from users so they can optimize the service. In addition, they are working on a tablet ready version.

Hooray another Social Media Campaign that is interesting and fun. It is one of those tools you would go back to find some inspiration. As said, the tool is very easy to use; in two steps you can see one of your potential dream destinations. Also, I find it in some kind of way entertaining (vids and pictures) and you can share your interest with others. Of course, it is still very slow and not easy to find unless you are Dutch but don’t worry it is a Beta version people=)

The story will be continued !

Sources:

KLM

TRIBAL DDB

Emerce

Let me start this blog with a disclaimer: I am reviewing Quora in my capacity as the editor of Plus Factory Blog and not as some kind of Social Media Expert. I just share my thoughts with you of how I think about Quora.

People share and learn from each other’s experience

Ok so you probably all heard of Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Myspace and so on.

What If you put two former Facebook employees Adam D’Angelo & Charlie Cheever together? Bingo, you’ll get a new brilliant Social Media Platform named Quora.

Simply said, Quora is a question and answer platform where people can ask questions while others can answer it.

Quora is THE Social Media Platform of the moment; almost every ‘’Influential Social Media Sites’’ like CNN, Techcrunch has covered a story about Quora. Many Social Media Experts are a big fan of Quora. Scobleizer one of the social media experts even calls Quora as the biggest blogging innovation in 10 years. Me as a Social Media fan couldn’t get behind so I decided to write a blog dedicated to Quora.

But, what in the world is so interesting about this new social media hype? Lets find out.

FACTS

Quora is:

* An online social form of a knowledge market

* A service that allows users to ask questions and give answers

* Tied back to a person (each question and answer is associated with the person who made it)

* Inverse blogging

* A social media platform with lots of Sillicon Valley ‘’celebrity’’ members

* Worth between 86 million dollars and 1 billion dollars

Quora provides:

* A high quality resource of questions and answers

* A social media platform where people can exchange their experience and thoughts

* Optimized search options: questions, topics, and usernames, post titles are indexed and stored in the ‘’Search-Box’’

Quora is not for dummies?

Honestly, my first impression was like what a boring website; it’s not attractive at all and certainly not a website where I would waste my time with! However, I have to keep in mind that appearance is just one factor. Quora could be an uber-cool and useful Social Media Platform. When you go to www.quora.com you will see Quora’s logo, a login space and an index menu. (See figure 1). As a newbie, I would like to experience Quora but before I can play with Quora I first need to sign up. In the right bottom of the index page is ‘’sign up’ button.

Figure 1 index page Quora

As soon as I pressed the ‘’sign up’’ button I got forwarded to the next page where I got the notification I need to have an invitation in order to create an account on Quora (see figure 2). How am I supposed to know where I can get an invitation? This gives me another I-don’t-want-to-use-Quora feeling. But don’t worry; I wont give up until I find the reason why people are so into Quora!

Figure 2 Sign up index page Quora

Still stuck at the sign up part, I learned that people without a Quora account also can use the ‘’search option’’ of Quora. Hallelujah for the account-less Quora dummy like me. Like anyone else, I searched how to sign up. It turns out that people with a Facebook or Twitter account (thus me) can login on Quora without an invitation. Hooray again! That sounds great, but wait, I’m in China and don’t have access for both these websites. What a bummer! For the invitations part you need the have an invitation from your friends (for example through FB invitations). An other option is to use US or Canada proxies. Options enough for all us people. I must say that the Quora ‘’Search option’’ really surprised me, it is very user-friendly and I got the answer that I wanted.

Figure 3 Invitation search Quora

Account

As mentioned before, everything on Quora is tied back to a person. Each question and answer is related to the user. A Quora member must use their real name, picture and give a short biography description to create an account (this will be checked by Quora’s admins). This is to ensure the honesty of a person and why they answered in a certain way. For example, If Ashton Kutcher gives an answer to a question about acting, that answer will give people an other insight than someone who is not an actor.

Facebook+Twitter+(Blogging) = Quora

Ok we know Quora is just an other Q&A platform but what makes Quora that special? Well put Facebook, Twitter and Blogging together and voila there you have the ultimate Social Media Platform: Quora. While playing with Quora, I noticed some resemblances between Quora and these Social Media websites. Below you will see my findings (what do you think?).

Twitter–>Quora: Besides the standard ‘’Follow Me Button’’ they added two more buttons ‘’Follow Topic button ’’ and the ‘’Follow Question button’’. Very clever of them, in this way you can follow certain people, topics and questions you are interested in. This is a big plus for new users that have no active friends on Quora. Also, it shows the questions/topics with the best contributors.

Facebook–>Quora: Adam and Charlie must have thought what Facebook can do, we can do it too: bring the live news items to you. Just like Facebook was for the Harvard-elite, Quora’s launch was in the beginning only for the Sillicon Valley elite. Only the ‘’Big-Guys’’ could join this exclusiveness.

Blogging: Do I need to say more? Quora is the new Social Platform where people can communicate their interests in a new innovative blogging environment.

What kind of questions can I expect?

Quora is not limited to a set of topics: people can create their own topics and questions and answer them anytime they think it could become a better resource for other users. However, every question will be checked and approved by the Quora admin team before it will be posted on Quora. Also, questions cannot be duplicated so THINK before you add a question! In some cases it is possible for admins to delete questions such as, when the question does not represent a sincere attempt at eliciting good answers and for the original asker to delete a question for a period of time after it is asked. Since there are a lot of ‘’Professionals’’ you can expect more business-related questions. However, as said, any question is possible.

Like it or not

The cool thing of Quora is the ‘’voting system’’; if you think an answer is very useful you can click it up and if you don’t like it, just click it down. This way, the best answers will rise to the top.

How do I get started?

We now know how we need to sign up and what kind of questions you can expect but how do you use Quora?

* First login.

* Search for topics/questions in the Quora Search-Box at the top of the page. I would say browse around, follow the topics/questions you are interested in and get a better insight of ‘’good questions and bad questions’’.

* Share your curiosity, inspire people and fire your question.

* Answer questions or improve questions that you think you have the perfect answer for. Don’t rattle nonsense if you don’t know!

* Vote and participate: Click it up, click it down. Show your interest and follow. Let the people you are on Quora.

* Just explore and have fun, share your experience and learn.

For more useful tips: the Quora guide made by Quora

Search-Box

The Search-Box is a big WOW! I must give them credits for having such optimized search options. Whether it is a question, topic, people, mixed words or even just 2 letters it will find all possible matches.

Figure 4 Search-box Quora

Will users benefit from Quora?

Since Quora is still evolving, it is too early to say whether companies will benefit from Quora or not. If you would ask me, I would say yes. Why? Because from my perspective

1) Social Media Marketing is becoming more and more important for companies as traditional marketing tend to be not ‘’good enough’’ anymore. Social Network Sites, Mobile Internet, Blogging and so on have become a part of our daily lives.

2) Companies could use Quora as a way of ‘’Branding’’. As a Quora member you could make your brand more visible to the consumer and increase your brand awareness. For the ‘’Big Companies’’ it is an extra free publicity.

3) Companies could use Quora to service consumers. Answering questions to your clients will lead to more satisfaction. (More satisfaction could increase into more sales)

4) Quora is already known for its quality, it could help you boost your company.

Downside

I must admit that Quora is a wonderful invention, nevertheless, I ran into some cases I would call ‘’distracting’.

* Too many questions are still unanswered. Although many questions are answered, there’s a lot of I-Am-Still-Wondering-Around-On-Quora-Without-An-Answer

* Quora is only available in English. They are probably working on an International version but till then we can only use English on Quora.

* People can only sign up with an invitation, Twitter or Facebook account. For people living outside US/Canada or like me living in China it is harder to use Quora (unless you have an invitation or use VPN).

* People without an invitation have limited access. You cannot see all the answers on Quora. Therefore, you need to be a member.

* Plain layout. I still find the website a little bit boring (maybe it’s just me)

Go or no-go

I must admit in the beginning I was not so impressed of Quora and would rather do something else instead of wasting my time on this so-called ‘’Hot Social Media’’ HOWEVER, after exploring the website I must say I find it very interesting and amusing. Quora offers a lot of high quality information and opportunities.

All in all I would say if you don’t want to get behind, sign up and blog your question away! GO-GO-GO!!

Source:

www.quora.com

the biggest blogging innovation in 10 years

CNN

Techcrunch

Nice work on the launch. Thanks to all 3 offices!

Last weekend, we got a fresh look for the office. The walls were painted, new iMacs and table tops!

Friends, stop by, because you know we look good!

Plus Factory just launched the PF CPM Calculator for the iPhone. This free iPhone app is made for our web media buying/sales force teams who need a quick leg up on CPM, CPA, and CPC calculations. Quick to install, and easy to use, this CPM calculator is hard to beat, as is the price – FREE!

To download your version of this app, click here.