Los Angeles, CA -- June 1, 2012 -- “Privacy is dead,” or so says the social media enhancement firm behind RankUp, SocialIQ. Gone are the days of furtively updating status messages and examining communication hints from potential employers, dates, or friends. “Social media should be fun, but it should also work for you,” says Jennifer Pflaumer, Head Data Manager at SocialIQ, “what we’re offering is an efficient way for network relations to be capitalized on, especially those that the user may not see.”
Auto Response
Used primarily on college campuses, RankUp treats networking and socializing as a realistic game that affects the user’s real life social connections. Through offering advice to users as well as generating automated responses to online social situations, RankUp takes control of networking while affording the user choices. “The Automated Response System is probably the aspect that I’m most proud of. Our team is continually working on updating algorithms to guide its decisions for a more realistic messaging experience,” says Kelly Wortham, Chief of Technology Infrastructure at SocialIQ.
New Social Media Site Games the System
Lifestreaming network, RankUp takes climbing the social ladder to a whole new level
Lifestreaming
While RankUp has been met with controversy from consumer privacy groups, the idea has taken off among college students, with an average of 2 million student members joining every month, as well as a number of consumers outside of university networks. Social media has been moving towards this level of automation for some time. With the influx of these platforms, consumers have been turning towards lifestreaming services in order to manage networks.
Advice
RankUp takes lifestreaming to a level beyond that of competitor, FriendFeed through incorporating gaming and ranking aspects to the service. “What I like about it is that I don’t really have to do anything if I don’t want to and I still have an online presence,” says UCLA third year student, Kevin Lee, who has used to RankUp to determine which campus parties to attend and to find summer internships. Through Advice that is generated, RankUp gives users the who, what, where, when, why, and how of people to connect with.
Social Ranking
“The power really is in the user’s hands, they can decide what to do with the information we give them. It’s a game, but it’s also about making real-life connections,” says Kelly Minta, the Trend Analysis Manager at SocialIQ. Merging gaming, social networking, and automated messaging has proven to be both entertaining and risky for users. But it’s a risk people are willing to take. “I get home from class and I can check it [RankUp] to see who’s talked about me, who would make a good connection, who I have reached out to, and where to meet the people who will give me opportunities to move up the social ladder,” says Minh Le, a graduate student in Information Studies at UCLA. Giving over control can cost users in not knowing what is being generated from their profile, but it offers effortless rewards as well.
Social Capital
Entertainment and social connections are the cornerstones of RankUp. Users can see the benefits of use through the various ranking capabilities and network identifiers that let them build social capital while “playing” the game. Log on, rank up, and let the games begin!