Stuart Foster is a marketing consultant in the Boston area. He specializes in brand management, social media, and blog outreach. He authors a blog at Thelostjacket.com.

For many, World of Warcraft (or WoW) is not just a game. People can spend days, weeks or even months engaged in it. Needless to say, it becomes more of a second life than Second Life.wow gold Dedication, relationship building, and problem solving are all key components to success inside World of Warcraft. And interestingly enough, they are characteristics that are also invaluable to the social media world.

So how does grinding for experience or organizing a raiding party relate to social media? There are a lot more similarities than you may think. Communication, strategy, approachability, and teamwork are all important elements of WoW and social media.wow gold Here are some lessons to take away from one of the world¡¯s most popular massively multiplayer online games:

1. Success requires constant dedication
Grinding: the practice of defeating a variety of enemies in the game for the purpose of a specific goal, usually to level up.

2. It¡¯s important to strategize your communication
Organization of raids: WoW is primarily built off of massive dungeons. They require 40 people (of all different classes) in order to successfully complete.

3. Set an objective and develop a strategy
Strategy development: WoW is a strategy-heavy game. Having the right goals makes for the right strategy.

4. It¡¯s about networking
Networking and interacting with hierarchies: WoW is a guild-based system. The more powerful your guild is, the more powerful you will be.

5. Join new services, create new lines of communication
Community Building: Building a great team is the key to success within WoW.

6. Earn other people¡¯s trust
Recruiting: You need fresh blood to keep your progress through the game moving. The more competent people you have, the better.

World of Warcraft and Social Media = Win!
There are many parallels between WoW and social media.wow gold I¡¯m surprised that more people haven¡¯t adopted this as a potential training platform (akin to Second Life). WoW is a microcosm of life in a digital space, which is why it¡¯s a lot like social media.

To truly understand it though, you sometimes just have to play the game.