Max Kalehoff wrote a post in June about "Game Mechanics Applied to Marketing And Brands." The idea has recently gotten some mainstream attention highlighting a framework of five key tenets explaining why people enjoy games – and how the same principles can be applied to marketing (more on this in a second).
On an Aer Lingus flight in November from London to Shannon, I read an interesting article in Cara about sugar collecting. And given that the sugar packets in Europe tend to be different than those in the US, I figured it was a good place to start – with pictures. (Otherwise, I’d probably be collecting a bunch of insects somewhere in my house as well.)
Little did I know there was an actual term for this practice – sucrology. And by creating a group on Flickr, there’s a way to make it a more interesting experience as well. It’s a place for:
- Collecting: posting pics of packets I run into
- Points: members, page views, discussion threads
- Feedback: comments on member pictures
- Exchanges: sharing pics with others
- Customization: Editing the group page and related properties, like the wikipedia entry, future blog, etc.
That’s the best part of social computing – IT’S FUN. (Ever think about why you blog?)
BTW – if anyone can help get a copy of that article, it would be very much appreciated!