Many people have given up or limited their use of Facebook and Twitter for forty days.

Now that Lent has begun, many Facebook and Twitter users have revealed that they are reducing, limiting, or even eliminating their use of the services, which could cause the effectiveness of social media marketing to temporarily dip.

Until Easter, the ads on these networks may not be seen and used by those making their individual sacrifice.

Lent is a period of personal sacrifice that occurs over a period of forty days that starts on Ash Wednesday (this year, it was February 13). This year, social media marketing experts have discovered that many of those who observe this time are choosing to give up their participation in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and other platforms, until the forty days is complete.

This social media marketing trend has illustrated the growing importance of this technology in our daily lives.

According to the St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church webmaster, Lisa Hendey, “In the past, it might have been giving up the extras, like chocolate or TV, but Facebook has become such a big part of people’s daily lives they’re contemplating giving it up, praying about it and discussing it.” That church has the largest Roman Catholic congregation in Fresno, California.

The Redeemer Lutheran Church associate pastor, Dan Hues, said that “Facebook is huge”, and that “It’s blown up to be almost ubiquitous. It’s almost compulsive; that’s why it makes sense to give it up for Lent.” He stated that he feels that its popularity represents the ideal opportunity for the sacrifice of an activity of self indulgence.

Social media marketing analysts have been closely examining the patterns of use and traffic over the forty days of lent in order to be able to observe whether there is a perceptible dip in the use and effectiveness, or whether the impact is truly negligible. Due to the popularity of the use of Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and other platforms, it is being predicted that this will become an increasingly common sacrifice over the period of Lent this year and in coming years.

Sony shows more interest in mobile games

Mobile games have become a major phenomenon and a hugely lucrative sector for the game industry. The proliferation of mobile devices has secured mobile games as a major part of the lives of consumers. Many people enjoy these applications because of the entertainment they provide, and many independent developers have found significant success in focusing almost exclusively on the mobile space. Sony, which boasts of a very strong presence in the game industry, has seen the promise that can be found in mobile games and is looking to take advantage of it.

New app store launched by Sony and WildTangent

Sony has teamed with WildTangent, an online game network based in the U.S., to launch a new online store for mobile games and applications. The new store will offer mobile games for Sony’s Xperia smart phones. WildTangent games will also come pre-installed on all new Sony laptops. The new application store can be roughly compared to Google Play or Apple’s App Store, but will not have the extensive portfolio of these two platforms.

New app store could have ties to Playstation 4

The new store is expected to open within the coming weeks to and will help expand the availability of mobile games on Sony mobile devices. There are rumors within the game industry that Sony’s new venture could have ties with the companies forthcoming Playstation 4 console. Sony is scheduled to make a major announced on February 20, which is expected to be an official reveal of the highly anticipated console.

Playstation 4 expected to have strong mobile elements

Rumors suggest that the Playstation 4 will have strong mobile elements. This is due to the aggressive interest Sony has been showing in mobile gaming lately. The company believes that mobile games are on their way to dominating the game industry and has been positioning itself to ensure that it is not left behind as gamers become more mobile. Whether the company’s new venture is tied to the Playstation 4 is not certain, but it is also not unlikely.