In a world dominated by social media, new "buzz" terms emerge constantly; like Tweeting, Hashtags, Likes, and, pun intended, the like. The latest is Gameification, which doesn't necessarily point specifically to social networking, nor gaming, but rather to the concept of using the same principles as gaming to keep consumers engaged with one's brand.

The exact definition, according to Wikipedia, is as follows: "the use of game play mechanicsfor non-game applications (also known as "funware"), particularly consumer-oriented web and mobile sites, in order to encourage people to adopt the applications. It also strives to encourage users to engage in desired behaviours in connection with the applications. Gameification works by making technology more engaging, and by encouraging desired behaviours, taking advantage of humans' psychological predisposition to engage in gaming. The technique can encourage people to perform chores that they ordinarily consider boring, such as completing surveys, shopping, or reading Websites."

There are four main facets to Gameification, explained TransGaming's President & CEO Vikas Gupta during the Evolution of Consumer Communications panel at the Canadian Telecom Summit this week in Toronto, ON. (TransGaming is a company that distributes gaming via the Web across various mobile platforms.) People want status, access, power, and stuff. He uses the example of frequent flyer programs to illustrate his point. As a frequent flyer, Gupta enjoys plenty of advantages through Air Canada, including things like priority boarding.

"If you're not in the priority line and you see those people getting on ahead of you, doesn't that piss you off?" he asks. "Air Canada is encouraging me to become a more engaged consumer."

Thus, the status comes from his priority labeling, while access comes from things like being able to relax in the private lounge, or acquire the best seats on a flight. The third component, power, comes in the form of things like Gupta being greeted by name when he flies, and thus being made to feel good and as though he's in charge. Last, there's "stuff;" as a frequent flyer, Gupta receives everything from fancy baggage tags, to nice notes from the airline.

"The more they give," he explains, "the more I will fly with them. I will take more expensive flights, and I will take more inconvenient flights. But I will always take Air Canada.

"Air Canada is playing me like a fool," he suggests, "but I'm still doing it. That's exactly what video games are built on. And the idea is spilling over to every other industry."

Lori Bieda, Executive Lead, Customer Intelligence at business analytics software company SAS, agreed, citing her own example of an instance that might be considered Gameification. A clothing company geared towards tweens and teens called Wet Seal developed an interactive Website with a social format where customers can communicate with other shoppers, talk about clothes, and create virtual outfits that the online community can vote on. Then, the shopper can visit the store, literally show the salesperson the virtual outfit that his peers approved, and ask for all of the items within in to buy and recreate it.

"Tweens buy en masse," she explains, "and they want to look like their peers."

In this case, the shoppers have the status (as a Web member), access (to the store's inventory and like-minded shoppers), power (to select the best outfits), and stuff (the clothing in question.)

"You can leverage customer and user-generated content to your benefit," adds Bieda. "It allows you to create the right products at the right price points, and not have products on the shelves that nobody wants."

I'll throw my own example into the ring: Kobo's Reading Life social interaction service for its e-reading Android and iOS applications and the new Touch e-reader. As users read books, they receive awards relating to things like reading times, length, and number of books. They can unlock rewards as they reach pivotal parts in books, track reading history and progress, and share information about their reading habits through social networking Websites like Facebook and Twitter.

Gupta uses the tech-savvy and literal example of the popular Facebook game Farmville to further get his point across. You click once and receive a ton of "stuff." Click again, keep playing, and you continuously get rewarded. As you keep going, your status is raised, and now you're an invested consumer. But in order to get further at some point, you need to part with some money. You do so, and get deeper and deeper involved. Why Because the deeper you get, the more access, status, power, and stuff you receive.

Don't believe it? Zynga, makers of the Farmville game, are about to go public. When it does, the public market cap for the company is pegged at about $20 billion. Still don't believe it? The biggest spender on Farmville dolls out $15,000/mo. on the supposedly "free" game.

"When you give consumers more," Gupta concludes," they will pay more than they normally would."

Vikas Gupta, President & CEO, TransGaming

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