Last week, Google added Google News Badges to their news page. In line with other efforts to personalize your news feed through Google+ and +1, Google News Badges allows users to easily keep track of the different topics they follow within the daily newsfeed. There is still room for possibility, but Google News Badges does…
The concept of serious games has been around since long before gamification, but gamification has arguably taken the first major steps into going mainstream whereas serious games have largely been mired in small form pilot projects. In an article in Develop, investment consultant and games industry expert, Rick Gibson, explains that the crucial difference is that…
Spurred by the movement around self-tracking, there are apps that can track your steps, runs, and rides, but tracking what you eat still requires continuous input from the user. Food tracking apps and books have been around for a while now, but a start-up based out of Amsterdam, Foodzy is a web based app that lets…
With the daily hacking successes, breaches in security, and unethical behavior by corporations, it has never been more important to read through the “Terms of Service” and “Privacy Policy” before entrusting personal information and potentially sensitive data to companies. Zynga has made the process a little easier on the eyes (and on the scrolling finger)…
Throughout Earth Month in April, Recyclebank hosted an online game, the Green Your Home Challenge. Visitors interacted with virtual rooms to learn how to be more environmentally conscious and implement new “green” changes in home and lifestyle. Players were also given rewards, challenges, and leaderboards as well as bonuses for referring new players. Recyclebank teamed up with ROI…
This week, Bing Gordon, former EA executive and part of the KPCB sFund team, gave a practical breakdown of gamification and how it can apply to businesses of every type. While presenting at sFund’s Gamification Event, Gordon gave details on how gamification can help “acquire, engage, and retain” users. More than just a tool to increase…
Primarily aimed at an international audience, hotel chain Marriott has just released a Facebook game designed to introduce prospective employees to the hospitality industry. MyMarriottHotel allows players to take on the role of a hospitality manager. Currently, the only “mini-game” takes place in the kitchen, where players must cook, buy supplies, and get dishes to the counter,…
For the past five years, dorms across the University of Chicago have taken part in “The Battle of the Bulbs” to compete on who could get the largest decline in energy usage. From a baseline and year-by-year measurements, the school challenged itself to see who could save the most energy and “do it in the dark” for…
This week, Facebook announced that after a nine month pilot program, they will be using Rypple for internal review and communication. Facebook is already seen as one of the more satisfying place to work in the tech industry, and Rypple promises that their new service, Loops, will improve upon Facebook’s proven culture. We previously covered some of…
This week’s recap has a collection of gamification stories form around the web. If you watch one video on gamification, let it be from the Chief Scientist at Salesforce.com, JP Rangaswami. He has an excellent perspective on gamification of the enterprise. Other articles include a clarification of gamification terms, a further look into the pitfalls…
Kevin Slavin, co-founder of Area/Code (now Zynga New York) and Sebastian Deterding, UX designer, academic and gamification expert, both agree that Saatchi & Satchi S’ new study, “Engagement Unleashed: Gamification for Business, Brands, and Loyalty“, is plain and simply sloppy. “In a world filled with sloppy thinking, this ‘Gamification’ deck… is the sloppiest I’ve seen in…
Ford is undergoing a transformation. Coming out of the financial crisis and the collapse of the US market as the only major American car company to not receive a bail out, Ford has taken it upon itself to reinvent an industry that in the past has been represented by gas guzzling SUVs and American muscle cars. At…
The Massachusetts Innovations and Technology Exchange (MITX) will be holding their annual Innovation Awards on June 16th. Categories include Best “Doing Good” Innovation, Best Commerce Game Changer, Best User Experience, and others. SCVNGR was an awardee in 2009, and with the increasing interest around gamification, MITX introduced the “Best Use of Gamification” category. Finalists have been announced…
Beintoo is a gamification startup out of Milan that focuses on uniting users across the app ecosystem with a series of socially oriented game mechanics. So far, gamification platforms have been gunning for big targets, with the majority working on projects around larger brands and campaigns. Beintoo is the next step in the trend towards using…
Last week, Keas came out of stealth to reveal a gamified business that aims to engage individuals in the quest to get more fit. The company was founded by George Kassabgi and Adam Bosworth in 2008, who previously worked heading up the Google Health program. The site has already gone through a 12 week pilot at…
