I still clearly remember how we first met.

Some time in January this year, I was complaining on Twitter that London hotels and even budget accommodation were so exorbitantly priced, and that the ones within my budget were dingy, dodgy and disgustingly flea-ridden (according to tripadvisor reviews).

Suddenly, out of nowhere, I received a Tweet from you, asking me to consider the various apartments available on your website for rent.

My initial thought was: “Pssh. Property agents!” – But after checking out your Twitter profile page, I was surprised to find that you were not a property agent!

And so I clicked.

And there I was, transported into a world full of amazing properties available for rent as holiday homes, in over 250 cities around the world!

My first impression of you was instantly dispelled, and I was immediately drawn to the exhilarating possibility of finding an accommodation in London that was affordable, clean, and homely!

How Roomorama.com worked just blew my mind – it was a platform that helped match hosts (people who have rooms or apartments to rent), and guests (who are looking places to rent).

It’s kinda like a hotel booking site, except I get to stay at apartments in non-touristy neighbourhoods rather than in hotels. Like this one, Doughty Street in Bloomsbury, London:

I found that Roomorama.com answered all my needs as a traveller! I usually prefer to stay with locals, interact with them, instead of staying at hotels.

I found that hosts on your website usually offer free use of the apartment’s kitchenette where I could cook meals if I found eating out too expensive, boring, cumbersome, etc. Many hosts also offered wi-fi internet, washing machines, etc. That’s brilliant! Although I don’t cook, at least I can microwave. Hehe!

After searching searching through a pretty impressive list of hosts and their homes, I finally settled on getting a room in the Bloomsbury area in London.

Still within Zone 1 of London, this apartment was, as the host promised, within a short walking distance to the Russell Square Underground Tube station. Perfect!

Plus, the host (Jeffrey) was really really friendly when we corresponded through Roomorama.com‘s private message! His rates were listed at £42 a night, for 2 persons! Seriously, how do you beat such prices with hotels? We ended up paying £70 a night for 3 persons (we asked him for the extra sofa single bed for my sister) including a small Roomorama.com admin fee. Very reasonable prices, indeed!

So thank you, Roomorama.com for bringing to us such an awesome service, and definitely, for answering to my frustrated call of help that fateful day in January. Without you, my London trip and stay in May 2011 wouldn’t have been as wonderful, as homely, and as amazing.

Much love from,

A super Roomorama.com fan
(who has booked yet another Roomorama.com listed property in London for the trip next month!)

Read about my latest Roomorama stay in Kensington, London, in July 2011! Nothing short of fantastic.

————————————–

To my readers, here’s what you should do if you see a room or apartment on Roomorama.com that you like.

Roomorama.com Booking Instructions

1. Click on “Inquire Now”.

2. A pop-up will appear, as below. Select your dates, and drop the host a message, asking if he would accept your booking. (Be nice, this is not a hotel booking, and hosts can reject dubious characters – after all, they are inviting you into their homes!) Feel free to ask any questions you may have about the apartment/room that you want to book.

3. Wait for a response from your host. If he accepts your inquiry, you will be notified that you can make a booking. The dashboard below is what you will see when you log in to your account.

4. Once accepted, you can make the booking, and pay. What happens is that you’ll pay the total booking amount to Roomorama.com, who will hold the funds for you till you check in to the apartment. This is to prevent errant hosts from running away with your money! So you see, it’s completely safe with Roomorama.com!

5. After you have made the payment, you will receive a “Secret Code” by email. Do not give this code to the host yet. Store it somewhere safe, and after you have arrived at your apartment and have inspected that everything is in order, do pass the code to the host, so he/she can get claim payment from Roomorama.com.

The Roomorama.com fee we paid was only a total £24 for 3 persons, 3 nights. So convenient and reasonably priced!

————————————–

Perhaps you’re now wondering: Okay, the booking process seems simple enough. How was the actual stay itself?

A review of my stay

We arrived in London on 17 May, and after some delays at the airport, we got to Jeffrey’s apartment safely. Armed with a 3G data-enabled SIM card and Google Maps, we found that the apartment was a mere 12 minute walk from the Russell Square Tube station. Jeffrey was already at the apartment, waiting for us, when we rang on his doorbell.

It was a little unfortunate that we had been shopping so much all over Europe prior to arriving in London, and we had really huge heavy luggage. Unfortunate because most London apartments, town houses and budget hotels don’t have elevators! HAHA!

Anyway, we managed to get our luggage up into the apartment, and I must say Jeffrey and his house mate Chris keep a cozy, neat and clean home.

We settled in quickly enough, with Jeffrey showing us around the apartment, the stuff we could use (like the washing machine, Wi-fi, kitchen, glasses, food we could help ourselves to, etc.) during our stay. Jeffrey also had a whole stack of maps, guide books, and even Oyster Cards for us to use as we made our way around London! That was really a nice gesture on his part.

We chatted for a bit, and he shared with us that he’s an American expat artist and a social worker (actually I had read that on his Roomorama profile page already, hehe). Anyway, he was really a lovely host!

I have no photos of his apartment, unfortunately, because I was too excited. But I can say that all his photos are accurate representations of his place, except he moved the furniture in the room around a bit.

All in all, it was a great stay, and we totally appreciated the fact that it was so accessible, and just minutes away by Tube from 2 of our favourite places in London – Covent Garden and Leicester Square / West End!

————————————–

A video about Roomorama.com

You might also want to check out their blog for featured properties, promotions, and new cities that have been added to their listings!

If you like this post, please click on my Facebook like button below, and also Tweet it!

Important Update: As at 20 June 2011, the contest mechanics have been updated. Just follow the steps below!

Some of you who follow me on Twitter and Facebook must have seen my updates about the Hotmail / Windows Live “Save Social Energy” Campaign that I was involved in some time in April.

Hotmail generously sent me to Kuala Lumpur to watch Bruno Mars live in concert. I travelled luxuriously by SIA to KL, and stayed at Traders Hotel in the city centre while I was there! Read more here!

This time, Hotmail is bringing all of you yet another awesome treat!

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS™!

As you probably already know, the highly anticipated finale to the Harry Potter series comes on 15 July 2011. But why wait till then? You could be among the first in the world to watch it at the World Premiere on 7 July, IN LONDON!

Friends who know me well will know that I am definitely a tremendously big fan of the series! Are you, too? If so, read on to know what you can win!

1 winner from Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand can each win:

• A ticket to attend the World Premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows™ – PART 2 in London
• Return flight tickets to London
• 3D2N accommodation in London

Working with Warner Bros to bring you this amazing Grand Prize, Hotmail has designed a special quest that uses its Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Mail platforms to help you complete the challenge, to win this exciting trip!

The World Premiere that will be held on 7 July at Leicester Square (possibly one of my favourite areas in London, as this is at West End!) will (of course) include a red carpet event that will take place beforehand at Trafalgar Square. It will be attended by all the stars of the movie, as well as JK Rowling herself!

That’s Emma Watson (aka Hermione) at the 2010 World Premiere in London for Part 1 of the 7th movie.

Photo credit: SocialiteLife.com

I’m just brimming with excitement at the thought of all these! So imagine my excitement when Microsoft first contacted me to be part of this campaign!

Can’t wait any longer? Read the 8 steps below to find out how you can be part of all this action!

——————–

5 steps to win a trip to London to attend the World Premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows™ Part 2 :

1. Go to iwanthotmail.com/harrypotter

2. Fill in your details, accept the T&C, and ‘Enter the Contest Now’.

3. Check your Windows Live Mail or Hotmail inbox for the next step to take in your Harry Potter quest! If you don’t seee the email, check your spam folder.

4. Your first task will be to watch a video. This is actually the movie trailer! You’ll have to answer a question, so do watch out. *hint hint: answer is at 0:34*

After watching the video, you will be given 2 questions:

a. In the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows™ Part 2 movie trailer, what do Harry, Ron and Hermione use to escape from Gringotts?

b. Most Creative answer wins: Who is your favourite Harry Potter Character, and why? (20 words or less)

5. Send your answers to the specified email address, and you may be the lucky one to join me in London for the World Premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows™ Part 2!

Contest ends: 11:59PM (GMT +8) on 20 June 2011. That’s a week from now! Don’t miss it!

There’ll be more prizes to win (from my blog itself), so stay tuned! But first, you probably have something more important to do now.

The first step of your journey begins here:

——————–

This promotion is brought to you by:

by Microsoft

Note: Winners will be selected by contest judges from Microsoft, and I have no influence in the judges’ decision.

Full Disclosure: My trip to London, UK to attend the World Premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows™ Part 2 is fully sponsored by Hotmail.

As of now, all the tickets for the concert are are sold out.  But the good news is, Hotmail has one pair of tickets left to give away as a Thank You to its fans and users. What has Bruno Mars got to do with Hotmail? Read on to find out, and when you’re done, sign up for what looks like the best opportunity to get your hands on an all expenses paid trip to watch Bruno Mars live in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

——————–

Ever felt like being online gives you an information overload? Sometimes, I feel that way. And being online 18 hrs a day sometimes also means that I almost never switch off.

Friends have asked me: Isn’t it distracting for you to be “online” so much at work, on the various social media platforms?

For me, I now use different social dashboards to manage different things. One of the latest dashboard I now use is the Windows Live Dashboard! If you haven’t tried it out, you should. Just log in with your MSN/Windows Passport, and you’ll be able to access your dashboard.

From this dashboard, you can link up your Hotmail account, Windows Live Messenger, Facebook, LinkedIn,  Twitter and more, so you see all the activities going on on a single page! It’s really pretty cool. Here are the services you can use:

So if you haven’t recently logged on to Hotmail, you definitely should. You can post a single status update to all your social networks (depending on your settings, which are totally customizable). You can actually even reply to Windows Live chat buddies, Facebook friends, and more, from this new dashboard.

So it’s definitely great for people who login from different computers. You don’t have to install different types of software or social media client – this is web-based, and you always see the same screen, no matter whether you log in from San Francisco, or Singapore, or Melbourne, or London!

So what does this have to do with having an information overload?

Whenever you socialize or consume information online, you’re effectively using what we call ‘social energy’. With the various platforms and social media tools we use on a daily basis, you will realize that you’re wasting a lot of social energy, and causing communication inefficiency!

It’s like that movie, “He’s Just Not That Into You“:

“I had this guy leave me a voice mail at work, so I called him at home, and then he emailed me to my BlackBerry, and so I texted to his cell, and then he emailed me to my home account, and the whole thing just got out of control, and I miss the days when you had one phone number and one answering machine, and that one answering machine had one casette tape, and that one casette tape either had a message from a guy or it didn’t, and now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. It’s exhausting.”

Yes, it’s exhausting. So why not put everything on one single dashboard, and manage your communication more effectively?

This way, you can be more organized, productive and efficient, both at work and in your personal social life.

If y0u find yourself often feeling like everything is just too much for you to handle, Hotmail and the new Windows Live dashboard in your new Hotmail can also help cut down on the stress level in your life.

Doesn’t that sound great? It’s like taking a vacation from your online life, but not really leaving it at all. A win-win situation where you are still connected, yet you can cut down on the clutter and 5 million different voices shouting at you from 20 different social media platforms!

And… Even more good news coming your way!

To further help you relax and enjoy this new found freedom, Hotmail is going to send you on an all expenses paid trip to Kuala Lumpur in April, to watch Bruno Mars live in concert!

Contest closes on Monday, 31 March 2011, so HURRY check it out, if you wanna catch Bruno Mars Live In Concert!

And oh, don’t forget to watch this short clip about Bruno Mars.

Psst. I’m also going on the trip, thanks to the cool folks at Hotmail. So come join me! We get to hang out in KL as a treat from Hotmail, eat awesome Malaysian food, and watch this awesome performer LIVE in concert! HERE. REMEMBER. CLICK. HERE.

This awesome promo is brought to you by Hotmail. To find out more about saving social energy, CLICK:

Full Disclosure: My trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to attend the Bruno Mars concert is fully sponsored by Hotmail.

*This list is constantly being updated when I find new deal-of-the-day sites, so do bookmark this page and check back for more great deals!

Some of my links have been updated to my referral links. Please use this to sign up, if you like this list. It doesn’t cost you, and it gives me some spending dollars on these sites. =)

List of LIVE sites:

• VoucherWOW.com
• Plus.BigDeal.sg (update: as of Sept ’11, acquired by NTUC Plus)
• Deal.com.sg
• LiveOffCoupon.com
• Tip-It (Do not patronize. They offer sharks fin deals. We must stop sharks fin consumption!)
• StreetDeal.sg
• SGdeal.sg
• ShiokDeal.com
• MyDiscountClub.com.sg
• CozyCot DailySpree
• SuperDeals.insing.com
• Hungrydeals.sg (by HungryGoWhere)
• Reebonz City ¹
• UrbanJourney.com ²
• City Nomads Singapore
• AllDealsAsia.com (Aggregator)
• Groupon.sg (formerly Beeconomic.com)
• JuzToday.com
• Outlet.com.sg
• GrabMe
• DailyDeal @ GreatDeals.com.sg
• Groupon2u (Aggregator) (game over)
• TakeMeToGreatDeals.com
• FoodPon.SG
• DealCreation.com
• Voucherlicious.com (Do not patronize. They offer sharks fin deals. We must stop sharks fin consumption!)
• GorgeousDeal.sg
• TreatsOfTheDay.com
• JigoCity Singapore
• iLoveDeals.SG (Aggregator)
• perks.mocca.com
• SGpetdeals.com (interesting, offers deals for pets!)
• GobblerDeals.com
• GreenDealSG.com (eco-friendly products and services)
• Wego.com Fastdeals (Travel deals)
• TwentyOneDeals.com (Aggregator)
• Dealzilla.sg (Aggregator)
• MadAboutDeal.sg
• BigHooha.sg (thanks, DaintyFlair!)
• Coupark.com (Aggregator) (thanks, Feliz!)
• Swoop.com.sg
• Adsite.sg
• Buyza.com
• WhereGotOffer.sg
• SweetHoneyDeals.com
• JobsCentral Learning Deals
• SGcardeal.com.sg
• Da Tao Tuan (aggregator)
• AtCrazy.com
• bestbuys.com.sg

¹  : Contributed by Esther of OurTravelations.com
²  : Contributed by Anjali

New sites of the week:

• Bought a deal and decided not to use it? Sell it at Recoupon! (Thanks Shen Heng!)
• Whee.com.sg
• DealSocl.com (Aggregator)
• (Do you have any others to suggest? Comment below!)

Up coming:

• DealSociety
• MealDeal.com
• eZoopon (death before launch)
• BuyStation.sg
• SocioDeal.com.sg
• Skinpon.com
• PowerfulDeal.com

List of previously active sites that don’t seem to offer deals anymore:

• DailyDealsHunter.com (Aggregator)
• DealsinAsia.com (Aggregator)
• SingaporeDeals.net
• Good2GreatDeals
• Singadeal.com
• SGdealzone.com
• VioletVoucher.sg

It’s no wonder these sites are so popular, as they offer discounted coupons for restaurants, spa services, dessert parlours, cafes, hotel and holiday accommodation, cruise holidays, movie tickets, haircuts, fitness classes, and much more! And very possibly the winning strategy to this is that these sites are social, and rely on the power of social media and word-of-mouth to sell. Win-win situation for the merchants and the consumers, I say. While some say it may not be ideal for a brand to participate in such promotions (though I still think it depends on how it is executed), I think this is good news for consumers like us who love to experience new things! I’m really excited about the launch of HungryDeals.sg tomorrow! Their first deal is definitely going to be awesome, as it’s going to be from our favourite microbrewery, Brewerkz! In addition, I’m already loving their look, from the screenshots that they’ve released via SGEntrepreneurs:

I just hope these sites go mobile soon (and I’m not just talking about iPhone / Android apps, but mobile-optimized websites), and integrate with PayPal mobile, so I can shop on the go, from my mobile phone! I definitely agree with Daniel Goh, who presented at The Next Big Thing a few weekends ago, when he shared that group buying has really taken off this past year, and that there’ll be more to it in 2011 in terms of mash-ups. So perhaps HungryDeals.sg really ought to look into the ‘location based’ idea, eh? See Daniel’s presentation here:

Update 1: Google is said to be bidding on Groupon.com – Now maybe I should’ve gone ahead with the ideas I had some months ago. Perhaps in 2 years time, Google will buy me out? Teehee.

Update 2: Groupon.com is going to set up shop in Singapore, with an acquisition of local company Beeconomic.

Update 3: Groupon.com rejects Google’s $6billion offer!

Last night, thanks to Sony Pictures Singapore and Qais Consulting, I was privileged to be one of the first seventy (or less) members of the public in Singapore to attend an exclusive preview where we were treated to a screening of the highly anticipated fall movie “The Social Network“ (also commonly referred to as “that Facebook movie”), which is loosely based on a novel “The Accidental Billionaires“, featuring young billionaires.

Except I don’t think Mark Zuckerberg’s success was accidental. The man is brilliant, and you have to give him credit for building a website platform like Facebook. Read the many articles online about Facebook and Zucks, and you will see that the development of Facebook was in no way an un-calculated move, nor an accident.

The movie, directed by David Fincher, was simply brilliant. It offered an insight (albeit some dramatized), to who Mark Zuckerberg was, and is. Zucks has told the media that he has no plans to watch the movie (in fact, he did not turn up for the screening of the movie that was organized for all staff members of Facebook Inc.) earlier this month.

He may not like that he was portrayed as a “backstabbing, conniving, and insensitive” (The New Yorker: 2010) or an egotistical and greedy (Mashable: 2010) individual, in the movie. But beyond that, I believe it does correctly portray Zucks as a socially awkward geek, a brilliant individual, who is complex and closed to outsiders (i.e. anyone but himself). I don’t believe there are many people in this world who may understand Zucks himself, nor predict his next move. And that, in itself, is brilliance.

The character study of Mark Zuckerberg (played by the aptly casted Jesse Eisenberg) is only one part of the movie. The rest of it tells of how Facebook came about (some of it may have been exaggerated), the development of the social networking site, the people involved, and the lawsuits that arose. I also must say that Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker (founder of Napster) was a surprisingly good choice, and the part about the Winklevoss brothers (or the Winklevi, hehe) really made Zucks look like the prototypical millenial rockstar and badass geek. I loved it!

I loved the flashback scenes between the two legal discussion meetings and the scenes back in Harvard (which weren’t shot in Harvard, by the way) (Wikipedia), the geek scenes with all the hacking and coding (*hyperventilates*), the snarky/cocky answers (what an awesome script, kudos to Aaron Sorkin!), and yes, most definitely the intense opening scene where Zucks and his girlfriend Erica have a heated argument that ends with her breaking up with good ol’ Zucks and telling him,

“Listen. You’re going to be successful and rich. But you’re going to go through life thinking that girls don’t like you because you’re a tech geek. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won’t be true. It’ll be because you’re an asshole.”

EPIC! (Intense scene portrayed below)

The reality, though, is that Erica Albright might just be a fictional character (nobody really knows for sure, as far as I can tell from a Google search, although some sites say that her real identity is NYU alumni member Erica Bern-Cohen), and dear socially awkward Zucks in real life, is in a very stable relationship with American-born Chinese Priscilla Chan, whom he has been dating since 2003, even before Facebook was born.

In the face of the release of this movie, Zucks has been followed around by paparazzi, and an article which contained pictures of Zucks and Pris was widely circulated on the internet (and a lot on Facebook itself).

Now Zucks is a billionaire (the youngest in the world, in fact) and he can have any girl he wants. He may not be extremely dashing, but his geek and his brain turn many women on, I’m sure. Priscilla is no head-turner, and in fact, the pictures in the article showed her to be a frumpy, pudgy, plain-faced girl with little sense of fashion. I must admit that my initial thought upon seeing the photos were “this must be true love”. And yes it was mean, but hey, like I said, Zucks is a billionaire with girls falling all over him, I’ll  bet.

But moving on, after reading The New Yorker’s article “The Face of Facebook” (which is an awesome supplement to the movie, by the way), you find that Zucks and Priscilla have a pretty stable relationship that’s lasted longer than any of mine so far, to be sure. And she’s probably stuck by him through thick and thin (well, from rags to riches) from pre-Facebook till now. And just last month, Zucks updated on his Facebook that “Priscilla Chan is moving in this weekend.” Must be pretty serious! It’s kind of heartening to know that relationships can and do last even if you suddenly find yourself the CEO of a company valued at US$25 billion. I also like how in the movie, Zucks still dressed in his usual slacker hoodie even after Facebook achieved milestone successes. So typically geeky!

About Facebook privacy:

In the last 1-2 years since Facebook literally became a global phenomenon, the company has been under a lot of fire for simply being in line with Zucks’ vision of Facebook and the internet: open. But I see where Zucks is heading (an article I wrote back in May 2010 which sparked a bit of a discussion in the comments section). I have heard and read arguments against my own, saying that Facebook needs to respect people’s privacy beyond just what their friends can see but what Facebook and its partners can access from their profiles through apps and default settings, but I still believe that the internet should be open.

On the issue of Facebook privacy issues, Mark Zuckerberg says:

“We realize that people will probably criticize us for this for a long time, but we just believe that this is the right thing to do.”

And I feel that it is the people (the users), who need to be in control of themselves, their own sharing, their actions that may cause backlash on the internet, etc.

Anyway, it’s an argument that will go on and on and on, even though Zucks and Facebook have undertaken to deal with the privacy issue in coming months. But as the movie’s tagline says:

“You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.”

This hasn’t turned out to be much of a review, has it, with my rambling about Zucks, his life, his character, bits and bobs about the movie, about Facebook and its direction, etc.? But here’s the final conclusion:

You should watch “The Social Network”:

• If you’re a Facebook user
• If you’re a Social Media geek
• If you’re a geek
• If you’re an entrepreneur
• If you’re a movie buff

Actually, I think everyone should just watch it.

In the boyfriend‘s words: “It’s a major geek bitchfest.” If nothing else, the scandal is worth the watch. And hey, everybody loves a scandal!

I’ll probably be re-watching it when the movie is released in cinemas all across Singapore come 28 October 201o, with friends who are just as huge fans as I am of Facebook, and we’ll have another round of discussions then!

Other interesting articles:

• [Mashable] “The Social Network”: Mashable’s Complete Movie Review
• [Mashable] How Has “The Social Network” Changed Facebook’s Brand Perception?
• [ReadWriteWeb] Did You Love or Hate “The Social Network”? Don’t Worry – It’s Generational

[All images in this post have been provided by Sony Pictures]

If you like this post, please share it using the buttons below!

All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go. I’m standing here outside your door, I hate to remind you but you need to prepare!

SMWF Asia is happening in 12 hours – have you prepared yourselves?

Attending a conference is a big deal to me. I like to get the most out of my time spent at a conference, and the amount of money spent for the conference fees, if any. So here’s how you can prepare the way I do:

1. Look at the conference agenda and workshop agenda and decide which ones you want to attend
2. Check out post-conference networking events, such as the Facebook-sponsored Helipad Party, and this community-organized TweetUp
3. Set up hashtag monitoring columns on your Twitter client (I use Tweetdeck) – The 2 hashtags for SMWF Asia are: #SMWF and #SMWFQ
4. Prepare namecards for networking and introductions to conference attendees – you may also consider bringing Pokens or digital namecards if possible
5. Add yourself to lists of attendees that you can network with via Twitter such as this one. Check out the list of attendees and link up with them on Twitter before the conference.
6. Check out this [Google Spreadsheet] list of conference and workshop speakers’ Twitter handles or follow the Twitter List I’ve created
7. Connect with conference participants, speakers, and exhibitors via Twitter and other social networks, if you are interested

Here’s how you can connect with me:

Other must-bring items:

1. Laptop + Charger
2. Namecards and Poken
3. Mobile phone
4. Conference pass confirmation email
5. Jacket (conference venues can be freezing, at times!)

BTW. If you have an iPhone, there’s an SMWF iPhone app!

Happy conferencing! See you at SMWF Asia 2010!

[Image source: TheSituationist]

2 months ago, I blogged that I will be attending SMWF Asia 2010 as part of its team of official bloggers. Now it’s less than 2 days away! I’m definitely getting excited, as are many in the local and regional Twitterverse and blogosphere.

If you haven’t registered for the event, or if you’re not sure if you want to pay for the event, you can get a ‘preview’ of sorts by attending the free exhibition and workshops!

Do register for an SMWF Asia workshop pass here.

I’ve started a Google Docs spreadsheet for all conference and workshop attendees to list themselves and their Twitter usernames, so that we can Tweet for a meet up during the 2 days of the conference.

Please add your name to the list here if you are interested to meet up during lunch and coffee breaks. In addition, we’ll be having a TweetUp at Zsofi’s Tapas Bar after the conference and workshops end on 23 September. Do RSVP promptly for all the activities, and come meet up with us!

According to Facebook,

… managing multiple accounts is a serious violation of Facebook’s Terms of Use. If we determine that an individual has more than one account, we reserve the right to terminate all of their accounts.
(source)

On the topic of business profiles on Facebook, they also say,

Maintaining multiple accounts, regardless of the purpose, is a violation of Facebook’s Terms of Use. If you already have a personal account, then we cannot allow you to create business accounts for any reason. You can manage all the Pages and Socials Ads that you create on your personal account.
(source)

Which means users are supposed to create all Facebook pages, administer them, and manage them from a single user’s individual account.

However, if I use my personal Facebook account to administrate multiple business Facebook pages, which includes:

• Sending messages to individual members Facebook pages, to obtain feedback, answer their questions, or conduct audits for contests
• Sharing links and media content on various public pages, including my own Facebook profile, and through Facebook message (to direct Facebook page users to a source to obtain information)

Social Media World Forum Asia 2010
22-23 September 2010
Suntec City Convention Centre, Singapore

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

I first heard about Social Media WorldForum Asia from Dorothy Poon, who attended SMWF last year and who has been, for 2 years running, one of the official media partners for this event.

I think this in itself is something exciting for me, because Dorothy is a friend and someone I continually engage with, online and offline. Earlier this year, I also attended the Mobile Marketing Association Forum Asia with Dorothy, and to say the very least, Dorothy is a very attentive conference attendee who injects very insightful updates into every conference’s social stream. Definitely looking forward to following her live updates on Twitter come 22-23 September 2010.

SMWF Asia, in its second year now, is fast gaining traction amongst social media practitioners and enthusiasts in the region, and worldwide. It should come as no surprise that social behaviour online in Asia is very much different from that in other parts of the world, so those who are looking to understand the digital space in Asia should definitely attend this event.

There’ll be several segments to the event, namely the:

• Conference
• Social TV session
• Exhibition
• Workshops
• Networking events

I’m personally looking forward to a few specific items on the agenda during the event:

• “The State Of Social Media in Asia Today – A Year On” – Keynote by Thomas Crampton, Asia-Pacific Director, 360 Digital Influence,Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Hong Kong
• “Case- Study -Social Media Marketing @ Toys R Us” – Presentation by Argha Sen, Head of Marketing & CRM, Toys R Us
• “Increasing customer intimacy and empowerment through Social CRM” – An Interactive Panel session with Damien Cummings of Dell and Nik Ong of MRM Singapore
• “Integrating Social Media into traditional marketing strategy“ - An Interactive Panel session with Singapore marketers (Derek Yeo of Tiger Airways, Jeremy Khoo of NTUC Fairprice, Francis Wang of Singapore Turf Club, and Pooja Arora of P&G)
• “Monetizing Social Media & Social Networks” – Keynote by Laurel Papworth, Social Network Strategist
• Meeting Brian Solis
• Meeting Shalabh Pandey
• Party at Helipad!

25% discount off conference ticket price: Find out how

Social Media WorldForum Event Brochure

Twitter handle: @SocialMediaWF
Twitter hashtag: #SMWF

Project Reach is a programme presented and spearheaded by Murdoch University’s Public Relations students in Singapore. The programme consists of Causathon, an online fund-raiser competition and a Conference, which is the landmark event for Project Reach.

Causathon “the race for cause” kick-starts on 7 July 2010 and involves 85 students in an online fund-raising competition. To raise funds for 14 different causes, the teams will tap on social media and the online social giving portal Give.sg, which helps connect Not-for-Profit organizations with donors.

I found out about Give.sg during the first Twestival SG event which I volunteered at. I got dunked for charity! Anyway, the people at Give.sg are a really passionate bunch, who have been working at their Give.sg portal, to improve users’ experience. Check out some of the fund-raising projects that they had a hand in recently! One of the key offerings of the Give.sg portal is its personal fundraising feature, which allows individuals to start their own campaigns and get friends and family to fund their favourite social projects by donating to a cause or Not-for-Profit / Charitable organization that they support! If you’re interested to find out more, you can always give the site a try, or Tweet them at @GIVEsingapore.

But I digress! Back to Causathon - I’m really excited to go down and meet the teams, and find out more about what each of them are planning to do to raise funds for their cause. Perhaps I can even do my part and share with them some ideas about how to further reach out to people on Social Media!

But this is not all just talk – You can follow the teams’ progress at this Causathon microsite on Give.sg, and make a donation to help them achieve their targets for their selected beneficiaries!

Wanna find out more and meet the teams in person? Come down today, to SMa Institute of Higher Learning, at 410 North Bridge Road #01-00 (It’s just opposite the National Library and Bras Basah Complex at Bugis!)

You can also get to enjoy a good cuppa coffee from Starbucks, at just SGD 2! Yes, you read that right! SGD 2! All proceeds from the coffee sales go to charity.

So come on down if you’re free this afternoon, come and meet us, and have a cuppa joe with us, for a good cause! Some bloggers will be joining us too, to learn more about this project, and share the word with their readers! Interested? Join us!

Among the bloggers attending will be:

Sham of mhisham.org

Robert of robertsky.com

Catherine of camemberu.com

Aaron of aaronpeng.org

Nikita of iHengbok.blogspot.com

We’ll be having rounds at 3pm, 4pm, and 5pm! If you plan to come, just Tweet me at @daphnemaia or call me at 91685900 so I can personally meet you there!

Official Twitter hashtag: #projectreachsg