foursquare « Five Feet of Dynamite

Social Media News 3/15/10

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Sigh. Guess what mega-huge interactive conference is happening right now in Austin? SXSW. Guess who didn’t get to go? Me… a social media blogger that blogs weekly on social media news, and I couldn’t be at the single most important interactive conference of the year. Yeah… It’s ok. At least I can pretend #fakesxsw.

(That’s “South By Southwest” for those of you who do not speak geek.)

Big News from SXSW

Universal Check-in App Confirmed: Brightkite’s Stealth Service - RWW

Big Changes Are Coming to Digg: More Power to Publishers, Less Power to Top Diggers – RWW

Twitter’s New “At Anywhere” Platform Allows For Deeper Integration Into Third Party Sites – TechCrunch

Sneak Peek: Rhapsody’s Upcoming iPhone App – Wired

SXSW: Pandora in the Car Could Kill Sirius – PC World

Foursquare and Rival Geo-Location Games Find Lots of Love at SXSW – DailyFinance

SXSW Feeds

CMS Wire SXSW News and Articles

Wired SXSW News

Mashable SXSWi

Social Media: Strategy

9 Killer Tips for Location-Based Marketing – Mashable

Exploring Why Social Business Will Drive 21st Century Enterprises – Social Computing Journal

4 Ways to Effectively Use Social Media as a Catalyst – Mashable

Why User Competency Matters in Social Design – Mashable

Social Media: Consumer Electronics

More Droids Sold In First 74 Days Than iPhones – Nexus One Sales Very Slow – TechCrunch

PayPal Launches Revamped iPhone App, Teams With Bump For Phone-Tapping Money Transfers - TechCrunch

Digital Advertising

LivingSocial Raises $25 Million to Take On Groupon – Mashable

Hitwise: Facebook Hits No. 1 In U.S. – MediaPost

What Kind of Brand Associates With Chatroulette?: French Connection Offers Shopping Spree to Winner Who Hooks Up Using the Webcam Chat Room – AdAge

Twitter Expected To Take The Wraps Off Its Advertising Platform Today – TechCrunch

Internet Trends

How Twitter and Facebook Make Us More Productive – Wired

A Short (and Personal) History of Social Media: Why It’s Important to Consider the Boring Basics That Keep Things Sustainable – AdAge

Why Wikipedia Should Be Trusted As A Breaking News Source - RWW

5 Ways to Use Google Wave for Business – Mashable

Foursquare Hits 347,000 Checkins in a Day – Mashable

Reuters to Journalists: Don’t Break News on Twitter – Mashable

Leave a Comment » | Social Media News | Tagged: facebook, foursquare, iphone, social media, social media marketing, Social Media News, sxsw, sxsw 2010, sxsw interactive, twitter | Permalink
Posted by Rachelle Maisner

Social Media News 1/19/10

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

What will Google and Apple go head-to-head on next? I think it’s going to be geographically sensitive ads. Apple submitted a patent which details how the iPhone could potentially pick up location-aware ads and apps for immediate and automatic download. Google was awarded a patent which teases real-time digital ads overlain on billboards and signs seen from Google Maps street view. It’s really interesting that news of these patents got picked up by the media in the same week.

Another thought to ponder is what does local, on-the-go mobile advertising mean for the likes of Yelp, Foursquare and Gowalla? Will one of these location-based social networking portals discover a new revenue model in location-based advertising? Maybe, maybe not. Leave a comment and tell me what you think. Each day, we’re moving closer to having our digital content on any screen, at any time, at any place. Marketers need to keep that in mind.

Many bloggers and industry analysts have pointed to how our society uses social media in a time of crisis. Haiti, of course, has seen a huge reaction in social media- the devastating loss and suffering has touched people from around the world. Like most people, I’m sure, I first heard of the news through my social media channels. And through social media, the Red Cross has raised an astounding $5 Million towards their rescue effort in Haiti. Below is a special section about the reaction to Haiti in social media.

Social Media News 1/4/10

Monday, January 4, 2010

Welcome to the year “twenty ten!” Make sure you start the year off right by reading this article about the grammatically correct way of saying “2010.” Or, check out www.TwentyNot2000.com

In this first edition of Social Media News, I want to talk about a growing fad called FourSquare. The user base of FourSquare pales in comparison to say Twitter, but I’ve touched on the geo-location social networking service in a few blog posts (the first one in my 9/11/09 post), and I believe it’s definitely worth taking notice. FourSquare allows registered uses to “check-in” at restaurants and retail establishments, or any place that has a physical address, and the service will allow users to keep track of their history and the whereabouts of their friends. Currently, apps are available for iPhone, Android, and now PalmPre. The user with the most check-ins will become the “Mayor” of that establishment, a designation that holds little value other than bragging rights.

Restaurants hip to social marketing are now exploring FourSquare promotions, such as giving discounts to their Mayors. Today, yours truly has been crowned the Mayor of Dunkin’ Donuts, and here’s hoping I can get a free coffee out of it! FourSquare promos can be used as a free distribution channel for coupons and discounts, and also spur competition between potential Mayors- who are probably your biggest local brand advocates.

Remember when I mentioned Google Caffeine way back in an August blog post? Probably not, so here’s a refresher. Google has been working on “secret project” called Google Caffeine to update how Google finds content on the web by improving the search algorithms. Though the average user won’t notice a huge difference, it’s important to note because it does change how Google indexes news and social media. Read more at TechCrunch here.

I’m an AT&T customer, and I hate AT&T. So I’m very pleased to share this snippet of AT&T’s folly in social media during the brief hours iPhones were unavailable on the AT&T website:

Something worth noting is AT&T has a responsive, stellar public relations team that uses a Twitter account, a YouTube channel and a Facebook page to interact with the media and consumers. The story could’ve been defused in a matter of minutes with a clear, believable explanation. Instead, AT&T used its PR to respond with an empty statement, leaving the world guessing the reasons for the suspension of iPhone sales in New York.

Read the full article– AT&T: The Communications Company That Failed to Communicate in 2009.

Ad Age

What We Can Learn From the Top Viral Videos of 2009

Gmail Points to Possibilities of the Coming Data Decade

Planning Your Next Move in Ad Land

Fast Company

What Can We Expect From the Consumer Electronics Show?

Uh-oh — Robots Can Learn and Generalize

Geotagging’s Seasonal Danger: Burglary

Is Google-AdMob Deal Bad for Consumers and Apple?

TechCrunch

Cheap Beer If You Check-In… Or Just Tweet

At Foursquare Venues, the Mayor Eats For Free

Google Is About To Get Caffeinated With A Faster Search Index

Privacy Theater: Why Social Networks Only Pretend To Protect You

Meebo Launches Self-Serve Meebo Bar, Takes A Look Back At Its Big Year

World Map of Social Networks Shows Rise of Facebook

Blippy Already Showing Off $1 Million Worth of Your Credit Card Purchases

The Rumors Are True: We Spend More And More Time Online

Mashable

In 2010, Your iPhone Could be a Credit Card Reader

REVEALED: The 100 Most Social Brands of 2009

BROWSER WARS: Google Chrome Overtakes Apple’s Safari

Foursquare Launches on Palm Pre

HOW TO: Do Almost Anything Online in 2010

Wired

AT&T: The Communications Company That Failed to Communicate in 2009

Boxee Beta Is a Web Video Streamer’s Dream

MySpace Replaces Embedded Imeem Playlists With Ads

Reports: AT&T Stops Some iPhone Sales in NYC (Update)

Blogs and Other News Sources

Google Nexus One Sold Directly and Only by Google, Officially Supported By T-Mobile (Gizmodo)

Apple Dominates Social Brand Ranking (Brandweek)

Leave a Comment » | Social Media News | Tagged: 2010, at&t, foursquare, google caffine, iphone, social media, social media marketing, Social Media News, twenty ten | Permalink
Posted by Rachelle Maisner

Social Media News 12/21/09

Monday, December 21, 2009

I wish I came up with this term. Guest blogger Judy Shapiro wrote about social media and building awareness at Ad Age, and describes creating “Content Campaigns” to help focus social efforts across multiple channels. What a ingenious concept. She writes, “This approach puts the value on content as an audience builder but in a very strategic way.” Be sure to check out the rest of the article.

Also from Ad Age, an awesome article about geo-targeted mobile marketing. If you need a quick primer on the key players in this field, Garrick Schmitt (a VP at Razorfish) has developed an informative who’s-who list, including Foursquare, Yelp, and Gowalla.

How would you like to rent movies from YouTube? The world’s largest video sharing site is in talks with major movie studios and is exploring a new paid subscription model. The service would be a new way of generating revenue, as YouTube currently makes its money through advertising. Get the details from this article at Reuters.

To many, online forums and bulletin websites are so 1990′s. However, three ex-MySpace executives are currently working on a project called Gravity, which TechCrunch describes as an evolved form of forums and groups. Check out the article which includes a video of the founders as well as some screen shots. Gravity will be an important startup to watch. It’s not a direct rival to Google Wave, but it might have more utility than Wave to more users; and it’s not the answer to real-time search, but it may prove to be the closest solution yet, as Gravity is interest-centric and will provide detailed analytics on interests and conversations. Plus, the group has raised $10 million in funding. Read more here.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone. My Social Media News gift to you, 5 Ways to Connect With Santa on the Web. Happy New Year!