Most popular Facebook check-in landmarks Worldwide

Facebook has released two infographs of the most popular landmarks based on check-ins made Worldwide (actually in 25 cities). It is not surprising that shopping malls and outdoor markets are quite popular.

Check out the infographs:
 


 Read the post on Facebook.

Facebook page fans

We launched the Adamok Dot Net Facebook page some time back. It has become an amazing hit with over 3000 fans and fast growing (3,338 at last count).

The page automatically pulls posts from the Adamok.net blog as well as interesting link from other technology and gadget sites and Facebook pages.

If you are not a fan yet go ahead and join the community.

The Sims Social now live on Facebook

Video game maker EA has brought the popular game The Sims to Facebook. Called The Sims Social, the online game is finally live today. You can create your virtual Sim, build you ideal home and interact with all your friends.

The game already has 7,324,839 monthly active users when I last checked.

Looks like Farmville has a serious competitor.

Lady Gaga releases songs on Farmville

Singer Lady Gaga has released 2 songs from her new 'Born This Way' album on the popular Facebook game Farmville. She has her own neighbourhood called Gagaville.

In order to access the songs, player would have to complete a few tasks on the completion of which they are allowed to listen to the songs. A really unique way to release new songs and Lady Gaga is of course unique.

Here's the list of the songs:
Marry the night - not available
Electric Chapel - available May 18
Fashion of His Love - available May 19
BORN THIS WAY album - available May 20–23

Linking blogs to Facebook

This is an update to my previous post on my problems linking Twitter to a Facebook page (not my profile page).

I tried different things but it didn't work out and in the end I just gave up. I have already linked my blog and Twitter and I had hoped to publish my Tweets on my Facebook page by linking the two up. This was main reason I had wanted to link the two social mediums.

I was talking to a friend and she suggested a solution which was really simple that I would have kicked myself on the butt if that was possible.

She asked whether it was possible to publish the blog feeds on my Facebook page. There was no need to link Twitter to my Facebook page as my main intention was to publish the blog feeds on Facebook automatically without me having to post regular updates manually.

I used the Notes app on Facebook. Click "Import a Blog" in the Notes settings. I then put my blog feed url which I had published using Feedburner.

Now my latest blog posts appear on Facebook automatically.

Problem linking Twitter to Facebook page

I am having problems linking my Twitter account with one of my pages which I created for for an organisation I am part of on Facebook. I am using the Twitter application on Facebook. It automatically allows me to post to my Facebook profile but not to my specific page which I created.

Does any one know of a solution?

Facebook emails

Ever since Facebook announced that they were going to providing an @facebook.com email address to every person on Facebook which wants one, I have been waiting for the invitation. I finally got one yesterday and signed up straight away.

After you sign up, you can email anybody directly by going to Facebook Messages and then typing in the email of the person you want to send the email to where you would normally enter your Facebook friend's name. You also have the option of attaching a file or taking a picture or video. However, I am not sure why, when I last tried it, the file attachment function was not working.

However, there are people who are harvesting people's emails by luring them to a fake Facebook email signup app. So be careful.

Watch out Gmail, Facebook mail is here.

Mark Zuckerberg is Time's Person of the Year 2010

I know you know and this is old news. However, my post is about the negative comments and discussions on the net on why Zuckerberg doesn't deserve to be the Time's Person of the Year.

I just wish they would just shut up. Most people love Facebook and that's the first thing they check on their PC, or Macs and now their mobile phones, when they wake up.

If you don't like Facebook and worried about privacy, just close your account.

In University, you are nobody if you don't have a Facebook account. If you don't, how are you going to know about the cool events happening and how are you going to discuss your group projects.

Facebook's the place where we get back in touch with friends whom we went to nursery with and with old girlfriends who are now old with kids.

Automated Facebook profile hacks

Soon after I hacked my Facebook profile the old fashioned way, I found out that several sites can now automate the whole process and have your hacked profile ready in less than a minute.

In my previous attempt, I couldn't align my pictures properly and I found out that I had forgotten to take my two lines of profile info into account.

I used the Pic Scatter online tool developed by McCann Ericsson, to create another profile hack. It's really easy and you can even specify the number of lines of your profile info. However, it does take out the fun part of hacking and the trial and error process and ultimate satisfaction.

Also read for more sites where you can automate the whole profile hacking process: How To Hack Your Profile Picture In 30 Seconds

My Facebook profile hacked

Don't worry, my Facebook account wasn't hacked.

I was inspired by all the creative Facebook profile hacks out there and set out to hack my own Facebook profile as well. Check out my first effort below:



I couldn't get the images to align perfectly but I think it's good enough for a first try. I have a lot of idea but will try them when I finally submit my thesis.

In case you want to hack your own Facebook profile, just go over to the step-by-step guide on the Telegraph's site.

FarmVille on Facebook

Games are the main reason that Facebook has become so popular and FarmVille is the most popular game on it by far. When I last checked it's Facebook page had 20,963,762 fans and mentions that it has 81,125,786 monthly active users.

Developed by Zynga, this Flash game allows you to build up your own virtual farm complete with crops, animals, buildings and even aliens cows. It is one of the several game applications I am playing on Facebook but of late, it is the only one I am most active on.

If you thought that online games were only for kids, you are totally wrong. Almost all my friends playing this game are in their 30s, most of them with kids and some in top managerial positions. My wife is hooked on it as well. I have just reached level 33 while top in the ladder is a lady friend who is on level 60. I know of a few of my friends who actually spent money to buy virtual stuff on this game - Yes! Real money.

I can only guess the reasons why this game is so popular. First of all, it may be due to the fact that FarmVille allows room for creativity and growth unlike other games on Facebook. You should see some of the amazing designs that some people have come up with.

Then there is the social networking part, you need to have friends and interact with in order to expand, to get gifts and experience.The game developers keep the interest up by coming up with limited edition decorations and gifts, mystery boxes, upgrades and special themes - for example, it's the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics now and Valentine's day theme a few days ago.

This could be a really interesting topic to research academically - the motivations, the virtual economy, etc. Too bad I am really busy with my own research on attitude towards blogs.

Are you on FarmVille?

Tweets on your Facebook updates

A couple of guys noticed that my latest tweets also show up as my latest updates on my Facebook profile and was wondering about that.

Well, it's simpler than you think. All you have to do is add the Twitter application on Facebook. Once you have done that, all your tweets (apart from @ replies) will show up on your profile updates.

Posting our blog feed on Facebook

Blogger firdaus zahari a.k.a FaKE left me a request. He wanted to know how to put up our blog feed on Facebook.

It's really easy.

1. Open the Notes application on Facebook

2. Take a look at the bottom of the right hand side bar between the Facebook ads and the notes from your friends.

3. Click Edit import settings » under Notes Settings.



4. Enter the url of your website of feed/RSS in the space provided.

5. Click 'Start Importing' and you are done.

Pet Society on Facebook

Facebook celebrated it's 5th birthday this Wednesday and it's growing from strength to strength.

I guess one of the reasons this online social network has become so popular are the wide choice of applications that anyone on the network can sign up for, depending on their interest.

Definitely, the most popular applications are the games. Apart from Knighthood, my favourite game on Facebook, I have a few others on my profile. This includes Pet Society, a virtual world where your pet lives, eats, meet friends, play and buy stuff. In case you are wondering how the developers make money from these game, just take a look at the Pet Society website. You can buy t-shirts, mugs and loads of other stuff. Once you open their application on Facebook, you can also visit the bank to buy coins using Paypal and other means of payment. You can then use the gold to buy stuff including virtual wallpaper and seasonal decorations.

This is but one of the interactive games from Playfish.com. Other popular games include "Who has the biggest brain?", "Word Challenge" and more.



Unfortunately, this has become my daughter's favourite game as well and I would have to let her play with it every day after coming back from school. Looking at the bright side, she has a better understanding of money - how to earn it, spend it and more importantly - saving it.

If you are on Facebook, do check out the game.

#1 Knighthood player in Warwick

One of my favourite games on FaceBook is Knighthood, an online multiplayer role playing game where you recruit friends as vassals, construct and expand buildings, rise in rank (I am now a Viscount on Knighthood), form alliances and even attack other players.

There have been several updates and among the new developments is that players in peace mode are now included in the rankings and symbolized by a crown with a laurel wreath. Previously you needed to be in war mode to be ranked.

Quite surprised to learn that I am now the #1 player of the game in the University of Warwick.



If you are Facebook, do join my kingdom.

Viscount on Knighthood

I have been playing Knighthood, a strategy game on Facebook for a while. Read my previous post about being addicted to the game here. I decided to lay low for a while to lick my wounds and build up my defences. Lost a couple of my vassals to more powerful opponents the last time I was in the war mode.

I recently moved up to Viscount, thanks to Count Zaid, my leige. However, yesterday I found out that another player, Count Odd had seized me from Count Ziad and became my new liege. On the request of Zaid I went into war mode and rebelled against Odd but was not successful. I noticed that my profile is now in the "Realm" and was quite happy to find out that I am the #3 player in the University of Warwick.


If you have no idea what I am talking about, you are obviously not familiar with the game. Maybe you should join my army.

Facebook problems on Firefox

Not sure whether any of you are facing the same problem but I am unable to create albums or upload pictures on Facebook using the Firefox browser. I am able to take the pictures and make comments but whenever I try to create an album, it will just hang.

However, I have no such problems using Microsoft Internet Explorer. As I use Firefox most of the time, this can be quite annoying.

Anyone facing the same problem?

UPDATE:

Found the cause of the problem. Apparently, to use the full-featured photo uploader on Firefox on Microsoft Vista, you must have the latest version of the Java plug-in. Versions of Java older than 1.6.0_07 will cause Firefox to freeze (info provided by Facebook). Alternatively you can use the simple uploader, which works just as well..

Addicted to KnightHood on Facebook

Sometime back I was invited to join KnightHood, one of the hundreds of applications on Facebook by one of my friends. I signed up for the online multi-player game but it seemed a little to complex and I promptly forgot about it.

Quite recently, another friend was telling me about this "amazing strategy game on Facebook" and that's how I rediscovered the game. And after doing some research, quickly got into the thick of it.

You start out the game as a Squire and then move up to become a Knight (or Lady), then a Baron (or Baroness), a Viscount (or Viscountess) and so on. So far the highest ranked player is a Duchess Marina . To get started, you recruit your friends as your vassals. You then go ahead building, expanding and upgrading new buildings including Castles, Marketplace and Walls among others.

Building a Marketplace will being generating gold, which can then be used to hasten the construction and upgrade of other buildings including your defences, namely, Wall, Watchtowers and Pallisade.

Building Barracks allows you to raid other players and steal their vassals. I made some mistakes in the past such as expanding my Barracks too fast without building up strong defences. This brought me into the attack bracket of some very aggressive players and ended up losing several of my Vassals. I later learnt that it is advisable to build up very strong defences (at least 2 levels above your Barracks) before expanding and upgrading the Barracks

I was released by my leige who said that I was pushing up his attack bracket and I thus became a "Sovereign". I was loosing too many Vassals and decided to disband my troops and went into peace mode (no one can attack me in this mode nor can I attack anyone else while I build up my defences.

There were some interesting offers on the discussion boards. One guy was offering 10000 gold per week or 1000 gold everyday to join him as a vassal with the freedom to be released any time. This sounded good with me and I became his Vassal.

I will be gathering back my armies as soon as I finish building the dreaded Trapper. Don't be surprised if you find the servers down once in a while. The game is still in Beta.

Yeah! I am really into this game.

Join me here .

PS. Neewbies! I suggest you go through the KnightHood Wiki Help site before you start playing.