Archive for the ‘Featured’ Category
Posted on September 2, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton
Infographic: Why do you follow companies on Twitter?
As the infographic boom continues, here’s an interesting infographic showing why people follow companies on Twitter. The infographic comes from the results of a survey by ExactTarget in which more than 1,500 consumers list their top motivations for following brands on Twitter. Take a look.
The infographic was created by Gerardo Obieta, G_Obieta
Why do you follow companies on Twitter? Let me know in the comments
Posted on August 31, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton
7 new social networks your company should be monitoring
flickr photo by: Intersection Consulting
If you ask most marketers or individuals they are up to their neck in social media and social networking sites. Many say they don’t have time to manage them. Especially if you work for an agency. I was speaking at a recent SocialFresh event about location-based apps/@Foursquare and mentioned how there are over 60 plus location based services. One lady responded, we have Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and now Foursquare how many more sites/apps will there be? My response was sadly a lot more and if you manage a companies brand with various tools such as Argyle Social, Trackur, Radian6 http://www.argylesocial.com, Trackur and Radian6 get ready for more analytics products to integrate with some of the newer social networks and/or location-based services.
Even though Facebook has 500 million users, Twitter over 11 million and Linkedin over 70 million users that doesn’t mean there’s not a place for a new social networking site to launch and be successful. Especially if it has a niche audience with a great brand. In the past year to six months there has been a recent wave of new niche social networks launched. A few based off of the question and answer format and others are new micro-blogging communities. If you’re an agency or brand I think you should at least create company profiles or have those managing your brand to preform search queries across these new sites for see if they are discussing your products/services or your competitors. Here are seven new social networking sites your brand should monitoring.
Are you aware of or using any of the seven social networks above? If so how?
Posted on August 30, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton
10 iPhone QR Code Reader Applications to get you ready for the QR marketing madness
It seems that major brands are jumping on the QR Code bandwagon. Earlier this year it was Calvin Klein, now FOX Network has announced that viewers can gain instant access to content for FOX shows via FOX CODES (custom QR codes for Fox). Just last week I saw Gap use QR code in stores for user generated apparel recommendations. Both Best Buy and AT&T have released mobile apps with QR code readers too. Soon you’ll see QR Codes at Best Buy locations like the one above as well. The question I have about the FOX Network QR code/ Fox Code what if you don’t have a DVR then you’re going to have to be quick with your favorite QR reader or just keep watching FOX for the next QR code to flash on screen if you want to scan it. That’s probably what FOX is going for but note, QR codes stand for Quick Response not quick rush to show a code. For example look for the QR code at the end of the video below. It shows for 1 second.
Video via @gavins
Regardless here are 10 iPhone QR Code Reader Applications to get you ready for the QR marketing madness
- NeoReader [ itunes link]
- Optiscan [ itunes link]
- StickyBits [ itunes link]
- Barcode [ itunes link]
- QuickMark [ itunes link]
- TagReader [ itunes link]
- Redlaser [ itunes link]
- ScanLife [ itunes link]
- Mirascape [ itunes link]
- Best Buy [ itunes link]
Also note that we’re building in a QR Code reader with the next version of TriOut iPhone app to enable quick check-ins. We believe QR Codes and location-based services are a perfect tech mashup.
What QR Code reader do you use?
Posted on August 29, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton
Blog Confessional: Seven personal career mistakes to avoid and the lessons I learned from them
flickr photo By griffithchris
They say confession is good for the soul and it is Sunday so here we go. Starting tomorrow I’m venturing into another new project with high expectations for success but it also includes a lot of work. Along with having a new baby on the way due in January, to say I’m nervous, stressed and excited at the same time is an understatement. Plus with working with a bootstrapped startup, TriOut that’s has huge potential. Now I’m about to help launch an incubator/coworking office downtown Raleigh. I love what I’m doing, the community in NC and I believe both will work over time. This year at SXSW when Leo Laporte was live video streaming from the Mashable party, Robert Scoble stopped and asked me on camera when I was moving to Silicon Valley to become a millionaire. I told him never, I love NC and I believe we have the people, companies, etc for entrepreneurs like myself to become successful and on the East Costs in general… or something like that. But money does talk…. #justsayin
Regardless, I just finished listening to Tony Hsieh of Zappos audio book “Delivering Happiness” and it has positively inspired me to become not just motivated about upcoming projects but making me want to be a better person in life and “deliver happiness” with everything that I’m involved in. The book did make my have a few flashbacks on past mistakes, missed opportunities and failures of past ideas. But taking a note from Tony, don’t look at failures as just being a …”fail” but look at failures as one step closer to success. So here are a few “failures”, I mean steps to success I’ve made over the years that I hope you can learn from.
1. SXSW 2009: Telling Dave Morin and Gary Vaynerchuk no thank you.
It was my first SXSW and I was with a group of friends, Kipp Bodnar, Jason Keath (I think), Jason Flint, and George G. Smith Jr. and we were walking to some party when Dave Morin and Gary Vaynerchuk passed by. Dave said hello and asked if I wanted to join him and Gary for dinner. I looked at my friends and said no thanks to Dave but I would catch up with them later. My friends looked at me like I was crazy and we kept walking. At that point Dave was still working at Facebook and Gary was still crushing it as usual. Note, I haven’t seen Dave any more since then and we didn’t catch up later during SXSW. Dave has left Facebook to launch his own company and as for Gary… you can now listen to him on XM radio.
Lesson: If you have an opportunity to network with individuals who you may never see again or are in a good position to further develop your career or relationships… Do it! Besides Dave and Gary are two of the smartest guys in the startup social web space. #WayneFail
2. ForDaGame.com – 2001-2002
I’ve been a web/tech/geek/entrepreneur for years. Back around 2001 two business partners and I launched ForDaGame.com. It was an online sports marking company. We were planing sporting events for charities, highlighting local athletes online via videos and blog articles. This was before ESPN and blogging was huge but right around the first dot-com bust. My partners freaked out and we shut the site down. Think about it, if we would have continued with the site we could have been millionaires by now… maybe.
Lesson: If you’re passionate about your startup or idea. Don’t stop, never give up… Jimmy V!
3. Not writing for Mashable.com – 2008
Before the “social media” bubble really started to bust and Mashable was a growing tech blog. One of their writers asked me if I was interested in writing for the site. At that time I was working for a local TV station, was getting SocialWayne.com off the ground and my primarily responsibilities was blogging, video and email. I asked my boss if he was ok with the station and said sure go for it. I wrote one article, it was called “Is Plurk the MySpace of Microblogging?”. I had too much going on, started to focus on SocialWayne.com more and the guest blogging opportunity slipped through my hands. I saw Pete Cashmore at SXSW 2009 and he told me to continue to submit post but by then everybody wanted to write for Mashable. Since then I’ve submitted maybe two post but they didn’t make the cut and I’ve kept what could have made it for SocialWayne.com. Even though I think it was smart of me to post more content on my blog, writing for Mashable would have paid huge benefits and possible other opportunities in my career.
Lesson: Write your behind off! Especially if someone asked if you’re interested in guest writing for their site.
4. Not blogging for Vincent Nguyen – 2007
When the iPhone first launched every smart blogger was buying iPhone domain names, Vincent purchased a few and I purchased iPhonesinRTP.com and the both of us were blogging about … you guest it, the iPhone. After seeing my blog he contacted me about writing for his site for a small fee. I was interested especially since his site was generating more income and had a lot more visitors than my site was receiving. I can’t remember how many post I wrote if any, but I do remember sending him an email saying due to time constraints I can’t continue. I think I was switching jobs or something. Regardless Vincent Nguyen has continue to be a successful blogger and entrepreneur.
Lesson: Balance your projects and life. Make time for projects. Especially ones and that can generate some extra income.
5. SXSW 2010 – What was her name again?
This situation hurts me every time I think about it. It was one morning during SXSW and I was headed to the bloggers lounge. I was with Kipp Bodnar and was very tired from everything. The LA trip right before SXSW, the road trip to SXSW, the sessions, the people, I was just tired. No, I don’t drink or smoke so that had nothing to do with it. But right before going to the bloggers lounge a rep from, I think Sony walked up and introduce herself to me. I said hello, shook hands and said nice to meet you. I then said I’m going to the bloggers lounge and take care. Kipp was like dude! Do you know who that is? I said no, he said her name and the company she works for and was like dang! I believe she and I had been sending tweets back and forth about meeting at SXSW to discuss some projects. Ouch!
Lesson: Make a note of people you plan to meet at conferences. Write down their names and look at the list through-out the day. Also take the time to ask how may I help you or just stop everything and have a real conversation with individuals who you meet at events. They will value the time and you can build a strong a relationships that may lead to future opportunities for the both of you.
6. My Gadget blog /Blog Network joins the dead pool
I launched a blog and blog network called the “W4Network” It stood for the “wayne on the world-wide web”. I had a gadget blog that was started around 2004 the same time as Gizmodo, Engadget and others. It received a decent amount of traffic and making some money via online ads. Because of the blog it help the local TV station hire me for their community content creator position. Due to all of the blogging responsibilities for the TV station I let it go. I started spending more time on Twitter and other social networks and soon after realising that was a mistake I launched SocialWayne.com in 2007 and have been blogging constantly ever since. You can also add a few video blog shows and podcast to dead pool the list too (talksocialnews.com).
Lesson: If you have something working, stick with it. Maybe ask for guest bloggers to keep the site going but don’t let your blog die.
7. Not having the Social Media Business Forum Conference in 2010.
In 2009 OurHashtag held a very successful social media conference in Durham, NC. It was the first real social media conference in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill area. We had sponsors, guest speakers, great wi-fi and more. We planned it in three months. For 2010 we had big dreams/goals for the conference. We wanted to bring in speakers such as Evan Williams, Dennis Crowley, Pete Cashmore, Matt Cutts to put together with the awesome local talent we have here in NC for another Social Media Business Forum. Well, what happen was… I gave the agency world a try, Kipp moved to Boston, Jeff took Kipp’s old Job, Ryan continued to code, and it seems as if there was a social media event every other week in the beginning of 2010. I was about “social media” tired out and once we started planning the conference we looked at two different venues. One took a while to say no and by that time it was too late. Take all that in consideration with me focusing on TriOut and traveling, the conference will not take place this year but we are planning one for 2011.
Lesson: Plan ahead as much as you can, prioritize and work with people who can get things done around you. Also learn to delegate, something I’m bad at doing.
Whew, it’s posted, said and done. Now I can move on. Someone once told me in life there are “opportunities and situations, the outcome of both is up to you”. I may not have made the best decision with each opportunity or situation I’ve had over the years but I’ve learned from each one of them. Tomorrow starts another journey in my life and I’m as motivated as ever to be successful and provide good customer service to partners, clients and friends. Emails will get answered faster, phone calls will take place and events/meetups in NC will continue. TriOut will become success and the new incubator/coworking space will open doors soon.
In closing from Tony Hsieh, via Delivering Happiness “No matter what your past has been, you have a spotless future!, author unknown.
Flickr photo by: Search Engine People Blog
Posted on August 28, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton
This Week in Location: SCVNGR says they will win, Foursquare helps you become the mayor, Foodspotting $ & more
Looking back at the last seven days there was no where near the amount of location-based news as there was last week due to Facebook Places announcement but there still was plenty of buzz floating around the location industry. One location-based service this week did stand out over the rest, even the blog/media giant Foursquare and that service was SCVNGR. From the Techcruch post about their secret game mechanics playdeck to their new AT&T partnership. SCVNGR is one LBS to keep an eye on. Not to be left out of the spotlight this week Foursquare updates their Mayor algorithmic and Foursquare founder @Dens was misquoted saying Facebook Places is boring. Yelp also made a little news this week by announcing their group deals as they try to keep up with not only the other location-based services but Groupon too.
Another location-based service called Foodspotting received funding this week and TriOut continues pound away with version two of their much anticipated iPhone app with another video sneak peek. Also this week we saw two location twitter hashtag community chats launched. One called #GEOChat and the other @LBSChat. GeoChat is held on Tuesday’s at 2:00 P.M. and #LBSChat on Thursdays’ at 9:00 P.M. Here are 52 location-based articles and videos you may have missed from last week.
Videos:
Seth Priebatsch runs SCVNGR,
TriOut version two beta video uploading features
Really!?! with Mike and Eric: Facebook Places
Location Based Real Time Stalking w/ FourSquare, GoWalla, HTML5 vs Flash CageMatch (Warning profanity used)
SCVNGR
Facebook Places: Google-backed SCVNGR Says It Will Win
SCVNGR’s Secret Game Mechanics Playdeck
AT&T Teams With Location-Based Game SCVNGR To Help Launch Samsung Captivate
SCVNGR Launches Support For Facebook Places
Checking in While Driving? Zipcar Partners with SCVNGR
Foursqure
There is Toyota and there is BMW
Looking into the foursquare crystal ball: 10 things “coming soon” to foursquar
Foursquare building self-serve tool for brand profiles
Facebook Places ‘boring’ says Foursquare chief
How I Became A Cyber Stalker…On Foursquare…
People Magazine points you toward celebrity hot spots on foursquare
7 Awesome Foursquare infographics showing how users are collecting badges and checking in.
How beneficial is Foursquare for businesses and individuals?
TriOut
5 recent check-in specials from local businesses using TriOut
TriOut v2 Dev Journal: Photo and Video Sharing
New 3rd Party Integration: TriOut
Other Location-Based Services and news
Foodspotting & Zagat Partner to Share Restaurant Photos and Guides
It’s Still Too Early to Value Location Services, Businesses Say
TIME’s 50 Best Websites 2010: Gowalla Picked over Foursquare?
Why Recommended Places Are the Next Big Thing in Location
Start Location-Based Conversations With Qilroy
Facebook Places: What are Facebook users saying about Places one week later
Amid LBS Storm, Booyah’s MyTown Hits 3.1M Users With 15M Checkins Per Week
Why Loyalty and Mobile Marketing is the Future for Retail
Location, Permission, and Receptivity
The Price Isn’t Always Right: How Courting Customer Loyalty Through Discounts Fails
Geo-location and Privacy: A Subtle Balance
Grindr – A Gay Location Based Service
Yelp Officially Testing Yelp Deals
Facebook Places: The McDowell’s of LBS
Location Based Real Time Stalking w/ FourSquare, GoWalla, HTML5 vs Flash CageMatch
Foodspotting Investors Put Their Money Where Their Mouths Are With $750K Seed Round
Why the future of mobile is hyper local
LBS for Close Friends and Family Only
Facebook Launched Places to Bore Me Silly
Exclusive interview with the AARP: How the 50+ crowd sees geolocation and social media
Why Location-Based Social Media Needs to Get “Passive” Aggressive
Two Types of Consumers Are Using Check-in Apps: Hyperactive and Hyperpassive
Beyond Foursquare: 5 Location-Based Apps for Your Small Business
What location-based services, brands and marketers need to know from 11 tweets of #GEOChat one
9 location-based infographics showing how and why the mobile world is checking in
Follow Friday: The Location Edition. 15 twitter users to follow who’s all about location
House Hunters Stickers from HGTV
Should Hollywood Begin Rewarding the Most Frequent Moviegoers?
Waze Review and $25 Gas Gift Card Giveaway!
GetGlue, Miso and Philo: Check-in apps for couch potatoes
Posted on August 27, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton
Follow Friday: The Location Edition. 15 twitter users to follow who’s all about location.
It’s Friday and you know what that means! Follow Friday on Twitter. Millions are tweeting with the hashtag #FF or #followfriday. There are so many people to suggest to follow on Twitter I usually avoid it. But this week due to all of the location conversations between #GEOChat and #LBSChat I decided to post a Follow Friday location edition blog post. Hat-tip to Chris Brogan for the blog idea.
Follow Friday the Location Edition:
- @jodiontheweb
- @incslinger
- @maxgladwell
- @EricLeist
- @mrahmey
- @ShannonRenee
- @rojoroach
- @HarrisonPainter
- @GreggVM
- @LawPower
- @aaronstrout
- @bryanperson
- @schneidermike
- @holaphil
- @Jakrose
- @lawrencecoburn
If you’re looking for Twitter list to keep up with the growing list of location-based apps and other geo related news here are 10 geo location Twitter list to follow.
- http://twitter.com/ericleebow/geo-location-services by @ericleebow
- http://twitter.com/Scobleizer/geolocation by @Scobleizer
- http://twitter.com/lawrencecoburn/geolocation by @lawrencecoburn
- http://twitter.com/jeffcarroll/location-checkin by @jeffcarroll
- http://twitter.com/jasonbirch/geo by @jasonbirch
- http://twitter.com/GeoEntelechy/geo by @GeoEntelechy
- http://twitter.com/tlists/gis-geolocation by @tlists
- http://wefollow.com/twitter/location by @wefollow
- http://wefollow.com/twitter/geo by @wefollow
- http://mashable.com/twitterlists/tech-science/gis-geolocation by @Mashable
Posted on August 27, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton
16 SXSW 2011 Panels to Vote For! The NC + friends edition
The SXSW Panel Picker closes today and there are thousands of panels to choose from. I’m sure by now you’re tired of all the “please vote for my panels” tweets, Facebook messages and Twitter direct messages but don’t worry it’s almost over. There tons of SXSW panels from friends across the web from my social graph and I’m not going to post them all but here are a few of my favorites that I hope you will vote for.
27 (Fun!) Ways to Kill Your Online Community |
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| Your vote | Yes No |
| Organizer | Patrick O’Keefe, iFroggy Network |
| Description | In this fun and extremely fast-paced session, you’ll learn how to manage an online community backwards. You’ll become an expert in the quickest ways to kill your online community, using tips you can take and use today to kill yours as soon as possible! You can even take these skills and work with clients who want to hire you to kill their community, too. Of course, if you want to attend the session to learn from those bad methods and do the opposite, in order to build a successful and well-run online community, you can. But, I’m not sure why you’d want to do that. |
Luck is a Four-Letter Word |
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| Your vote | Yes No |
| Organizer | Brandon Eley, EleyMedia |
| Description | Are you tired of being unlucky? Are you sick of seeing other people land great opportunities, when you just can’t catch a break? Bad luck, karma, or whatever you want to call it — it’s not the cause of your misfortune. You are. Luck is more than a four-letter word. It’s a poison. Opportunities are very easily within your grasp. Find out how to “watch out” for opportunities, and recognize when they’re knocking on your door. Learn how to make the most of them, turning your “bad luck” into astounding success. No, this isn’t some cheesy self-help seminar. I want to show you real, practical ways you can seize more opportunities. It’s not magic, and it’s not rocket science. Learn simple tactics that will help you make the most of your business, and your life, and tell “bad luck” to take a hike. |
Everything You Know About Social Media is Wrong |
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| Your vote | Yes No |
| Organizer | Jeffrey Cohen, Howard, Merrell & Partners |
| Description | Seemingly every day new statistics are released about the adoption and success of social media. Many of these studies suffer from small sample sizes, niche audiences and online data gathering methods that prevent these studies from being applied broadly. Through case studies, best practices and relevant data, we will examine the real value of social media in a variety of companies, including ones where it does not work. By understanding the true value of social media, rather than headline-driven studies, session attendees will leave with a better understanding of how social media can help their businesses succeed and thrive in the changing online landscape. |
Curation Is King and Content Is Its B**** |
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| Your vote | Yes No |
| Organizer | Kipp Bodnar, HubSpot |
| Description | Never in the history of the world has more free information and data been public. Conversely, all of this data has created more noise for information consumers, causing a need for information consolidation. This means that although original content is still important, the overflow of it has made curation the most important information related activity on the web. Business and individuals who want to build credibility and reach online must become master curators of information. Through quality curation they can become the pulse of an industry and the leader of a tribe. |
You Don’t Own Social Media; They Do |
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| Your vote | Yes No |
| Organizer | Jay Dolan, The Anti-Social Media |
| Description | All of the major social networks are controlled by private companies. You and your business are putting your social strategy in the hands of people you’ve likely never met. You pray they don’t change the terms of service yet again. You hope that another fail whale doesn’t surface just as you start trying to launch your next campaign. All the while, they glean information you put out there for their own money-making purposes The time is now to start telling our stories in a way that isn’t controlled by a handful of corporations. The problem of the closed social network goes beyond just making one based on values of open-source and privacy such as Diaspora. It involves deeper questions of the value of our real identity online, and whether the convenience and entertainment of social networks is worth the sacrifice. It’s time to start realizing how big the problem is and why the time for an open solution is now. |
Making Sustainable Attainable: Energy Efficient Computing |
|
| Your vote | Yes No |
| Organizer | Jessica Commins, Renewabelle |
| Description | Our electronic world has given us the freedom to work anytime, anywhere – so long as we have access to a power source. We’re plugging in more than ever, hindering our independence and losing resources in the process. We can do better. Unmasking the energy hogs on your network, at your desk and in your laptop bag is the first step toward greener computing. This session will also give you a heaping handful of DIY strategies you can employ immediately to start saving money, energy and the environment. |
The Cost, Commitment, & Satisfaction of Starting a Blog |
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| Your vote | Yes No |
| Organizer | Jayson Flint, PinTECH Systems |
| Description | Many people believe the cost associated with blogging will keep them from creating something that people will be interested in reading. While cost is a factor depending on what type of blogging your going to create, you have a choice to create a totally free blog, or one that comes with immediate cost that you have to pay up front. We all have a voice and blogging is one way of expressing that on a global scale immediately. We will learn ways to keep your cost down, while possibly creating a little money in your pocket at the same time. Many blogs were started for the creator alone, and one day turned from hobby to business over time. Commitment is something that every blogger has at one time or another, some loose this commitment over time so we will show you ways to keep the commitment and keep a level head at the same time. Planning is one of the many keys to keeping your commitment to blogging, with planning you have a blueprint to take you in to the future, without it your success will be limited. In the end you are most likely to experience satisfaction in blogging, from financial rewards, personal recognition, to becoming a trusted source for your subscribers. Depending on what your blog is about you can gain personal rewards, invitations to trade shows, special beta tester, or product tester. Your satisfaction comes from the commitment and desire to succeed at the level you choose to reach. |
Learning 2.0: Academia in the Digital Age |
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| Your vote | Yes No |
| Organizer | Fiona Barnett, HASTAC Scholars |
| Description | We will address questions that arise at the intersection of technology and higher education, such as how education is changing in the digital age, and how to both implement and create technology for teachers, academics and students. The opportunities and demands of the interactive digital age have already fundamentally changed academia — how we learn, what we learn, how we evaluate and give feedback to students, and of course pedagogy itself. We will touch on social networking and building a professional community, the importance of digital humanities projects, new ways to grade and evaluate student work, and the unique challenges and opportunities posed by using the Web to bring together an interdisciplinary group of scholars. Digital scholars are addressing fascinating and provocative questions, and their impact spans well beyond the Ivory Tower. For example: * What does it mean to ‘democratize knowledge?’ * What are the benefits and risks to consider when developing community-driven or joint projects (‘town and gown’ relations)? * How can different methods of evaluation better reflect the changing demands of education, knowledge formation and students’ learning styles? * What would the perfect evaluation tool for user-generated content look like? * How do academics use digital storytelling and how is it different than non-digital storytelling? * How might we use games to teach students various skills and social techniques? |
Lawful Intercept: I Saw What You Did |
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| Your vote | Yes No |
| Organizer | Jay Cuthrell, Cuthrell Consulting, LLC |
| Description | Social network privacy concerns? Step back and consider this: Lawful Intercept (LI) is how all network users are able to be monitored and analyzed in real-time. While many are concerned with privacy on a popular website, LI empowers an elected or appointed authority to know our digital comings and goings around the clock. This presentation will highlight the latest in LI technology, LI challenges , and how each of us can shape future of how LI is perceived and used. |
Internet Evolution: Hyperconnected, Hyper-real |
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| Your vote | Yes No |
| Organizer | Janna Anderson, Imagining the Internet |
| Description | What are your fears and hopes for the future of the Internet? People who do not understand the potential threats may never get to benefit from the possible opportunities. Most technology experts foresee: wireless devices embedded in everything – including us; nearly invisible cameras recording activity in all public spaces; databases cataloguing our online actions; massive data centers that allow that information to be sorted and understood in new ways; changes in work and home environments as the Internet of Things and everyware applications become widespread and immersive, invisible, ambient, networked computing makes us available to more people in more ways. And what about the implications of a direct brain-to-computer interface? Join in a discussion aimed at illuminating the concerns that should be addressed today to prepare for the potential future scenarios predicted by experts as documented by Pew Internet & American Life Project surveys and other current research. Top trends already illuminated in expert surveys will be covered, and the audience will be invited to participate. We’ll also use an interactive element such as twtpoll.com to allow the group to speak out about best practices for the best future possible. |
Make Your Event Pop with Location Based Services |
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| Your vote | Yes No |
| Organizer | Christina Coster, CRC Productions |
| Description | Everyone goes out to events. Every Friday night is an event. How do I get people to come to my event, both offline AND online? Technology has advanced to the point that people are able to interact with your event before, during and after the event – all while on the go. Are you as a brand prepared for the oncoming wave of technologically empowered individuals? How are you embracing them at your events, your competitor’s events, your partner’s events? This panel will delve into the different types of social media services that individuals and businesses planning events can rely on. Location based services and mobile apps will be heavily looked at in conjunction with more traditional social networks like Facebook and Twitter. We will show you how you can embrace and engage your audience leading up to the event by seeding information in these mobile networks as well as pulling out the metrics and analytics after the event. Events don’t just take place the day of the event. They now take place online for a duration before and after. We’ll look into all the different mobile apps you can use for your event including, but not limited to: Foursquare, Gowalla, Scvngr, Foodspotting, Whrrl, Plancast, Hot Potato and PegShot. Don’t think that only formal events are events. If you have a house party then that’s an event. This panel is for anyone who’s ever thrown a party, impromptu or formal. |
Panel About Nothing (That You Don’t Care About) |
|
| Your vote | Yes No |
| Organizer | Mike Schneider, allen & gerritsen |
| Description | Preface: We listened to the feedback of influential attendees from last year’s SXSW. These people want new, interesting experiences and more advanced content. Challenge: Our crystal ball is broken, but we know that come SXSW, we will have valuable insight about mobile and social communications technology. The audience wants panels that are provocative, yet relevant. They need something that sets them up for a great SXSW by starting conversations about the topics they most care about. Goal: Create thought starters about the most important issues of the day. Bring to light how perhaps people may be currently screwing it all up and how to fix it should they care. Have the audience leave with several takeaways and viewpoints on each issue. How will we know what to talk about?: We will pick the most popular topics from the crowd, add some of our own and ask for suggestions from the SXSW panel picker team. Are there rules? Discussion will take place “Pardon the Interruption” style. Speakers on the panel will be given a set amount of time to talk about each topic and buzzed when it’s time to move on. At least one speaker must give counterpoint or divergent viewpoint. Success: Audience participation is vivid. People feel energized about SXSW feel encouraged to seek out more content. People seek deeper answers by attending other panels to take the problems we cannot solve to more pointed, focused groups. The panel is referenced in other panels. |
People Power: Leveraging Personal Stories to Build Influence |
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| Your vote | Yes No |
| Organizer | Samhita Mukhopadhyay, Feministing.com |
| Description | Now, social is personal. From finance site Mint.com’s anti-immigration blog post gaffe to YourTango CEO Andrea Miller’s “How to Date an Indian (Advice for the Non-Indian),” social media fuses personal with public in a way never seen before. Whether sharing taste in hiphop, dating preferences, provocative political ideas, or insider information about a soon-to-be-launched business, social media strategically develops personal and professional reputations. Stories can build audiences, grow support for campaigns and change mainstream ideas about social issues. They can also alienate various communities, compromise business information confidentiality or damage brands. If social media has shown us anything, it’s that stories still matter. This panel will be a concrete conversation on how successful online personalities have managed their personal and professional lives using social media: telling authentic stories about our experiences, and using those stories to build powerful, engaged communities. |
Death of the Relational Database |
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| Your vote | Yes No |
| Organizer | Hank Williams, Kloudshare |
| Description | People have begun to realize the enormous gap between the relational database abstraction and the way people actually think about information. To be clear, I am not suggesting that relational databases will stop being used or that they are going to go away, but that developers are going to stop thinking of their data in relational database terms. Everyone from regular users to sophisticated developers thinks about information in a pretty simple way. There are objects, and there are connections or relationships between objects. For example if you have two objects, a cup and a table, the relationship between them might be “sitting on”, indicating that the cup is sitting on the table. What makes this model so sturdy is that we can continuously add new objects: tables, cups, chairs, floors, table cloths, etc. And we can add infinite relationships, such as sitting on, sitting under, covering, etc. Computer scientists, and now, thanks to Facebook, everybody else, refers to this structure as a graph. New data models such as the graph provide new ways to think about persisting data. The death of the relational database means the death of the relational database *abstraction* as a way that programmers think about data. What programmers need is to model data in the most natural way possible, and we are starting to see storage abstractions that are closer to how humans think instead of how computers need to. |
The Elevation of Black Women in New Media |
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| Your vote | Yes No |
| Organizer | Deanna Sutton, Sutton New Media LLC |
| Description | Over the last three years thousands of blogs and websites have launched that are ran by black women of all ages and backgrounds – covering topics that range from technology to fashion. Though all of the websites/blogs seem to have had some increase in traffic and garnered some acknowledgement – most do not have the skills, resources or proper knowledge to take their site to the next level. Currently there has not been one black blog/website ran by and for black women that has been VC or Angel funded and the most common reasons potential investors state are 1) the quality of site design and content, 2) lack of traffic, 3) a clear editorial/marketing strategy and 4) failure to have more than one successful revenue stream or lack of revenue stream altogether. Potential investors also claim that our demo does not have any spending power to truly make a return on their investment – which is completely untrue. This panel will not concentrate on funding and/or advertising – though it will discuss – but will give attendees the opportunity to hear successful tools, tactics, how-to’s – (such as why moving from a “blogspot.com” or “wordpress.com” site to their own domain is a must to grow), resources, lessons learned and guidance on how to get off the discouraging wheel most black women on the web continue to run on. |
Augmented Reality for Marketers: Future of Consumer Interactions |
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| Your vote | Yes No |
| Organizer | Lynne Johnson, Advertising Research Foundation |
| Description | Augmented Reality (AR), is an emerging technology that allows for digital images and information to be overlaid on smartphone screens or computer monitors. While still an emerging technology, many major players in retail and technology are executing successful AR campaigns that move beyond catchy 3-D graphics to deliver ROI by connecting to people’s social networks and providing clear incentives to purchase. The presenters will demonstrate how Augmented Reality (AR) provides a ‘touchstone technology’ that layers mobile commerce, social networking and location-based advertising in a seamless format for consumers and brands. This session will also cover: How brands are getting attention with Augmented Reality, How brands are seeing ROI from Augmented Reality, The multiple B2B and B2C applications for Augmented Reality, How Augmented Reality links to Location Aware Advertising and Predictive Modeling, Why Augmented Reality is not a gimmick but the future. |
Also be sure to check out the list of SXSW panels submited by Bandwidth/Phonebooth here: A few interesting SXSW panel proposals from Bandwidth
As for my panel? It’s about diversity and I could use a few votes too. You can vote for it here: Exploring Lack of Diversity In the Technology Industry”
Posted on August 26, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton
Facebook Places: What are Facebook users saying about Places one week later
It has been one week since Mark Zuckerberg along with the Facebook Location team stood on stage, told us scary stories about sharing life experiences around locations and announced Facebook Places. The announcement sent ripples through the location space as Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp and MyTown each had a moment to share how excited they were to see Facebook launch Places and how they we’re early beta testers of the places read/write API. After months of rumors and dealing with a backlash of privacy concerns from previous updates Facebook Places was now live. You can now visit touch.Facebook.com or launch the Facebook iPhone to preform the following seven core Facebook Places task and more.
1. Create a location
2. Check into a location
3. Tag a friend and check them into a location
4. Like a location
5. Comment on a location
6. Claim a location if you’re a business
7. Mark a location a duplicate or inaccurate
As expected some have called Facebook places a Foursquare killer, others have said Facebook Places main target is Google and Yelp. It was misquoted that Foursquare founder @Dens called Facebook places boring although a lot of people tend to agree with the statement and more have said, Facebook Places just misses point altogether. Regardless Facebook Places is hear to stay and being used by early adapters, geeks and users who would never checked in before via another location-based service. I asked via a Facebook Status Update the question “Has anyone stopped using other check-in/location based apps since Facebook Places was announced”? Here are a few of the responses:
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Adam Holden-Bache Nope and don’t plan to. Just add it to the list of check-in apps. Wondering how this category is going to play out. I figure we’ll start seeing some services merge, others drop off, etc. Anyone have any projections?
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Anjuan Simmons Nope. Foursquare is still my location based service of choice.
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Herb Hernandez No still using multiple. But I’m seeing people who NEVER used Foursquare or Gowalla (for example) now checking in on Facebook.
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Ryan Boyles No. still haven’t tried Place yet. I just got my new iPhone 4 last night. Using Triout only for now.
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L Curtis Muldrew Still using Foursquare
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Roger Benningfield I quit messing with Foursquare and Gowalla a long time ago, since no one I knew actually used either. But having similar capability in FB means checking in actually has an impact on people who might care.
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Corvida Raven No in fact I forgot to use both of them today.
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Anjuan Simmons @Corvida: You raise a great point. Location based services won’t be adopted by the masses until they become easier to use. There is no reason why these services can’t automatically check me into places I frequently visit. They should also recommend nearby places to visit. Smartphones know where I am and apps need to do a better job of using that information.
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Niguel Valley I still use nope Gowalla.
Also here a six must read blog post about Facebook Places
- Top Five Ways to Use Facebook Places Effectively
- 5 Initial Thoughts on Facebook Places
- Is Facebook Places Boring? Foursquare CEO Crowley Thinks So
- Facebook Launched Places to Bore Me Silly
- A Field Guide to Using Facebook Places
- 5 Ways B2B Companies Can Use Facebook Places
Since the launch of Facebook Places how are you using it and do you see value in checking in?
Posted on August 25, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton
What location-based services, brands and marketers need to know from 11 tweets of #GEOChat one
Yesterday kicked off the first #GEOChat about all things location on Twitter. It started at 2:00 P.M. EST and lasted to 3:00 P.M. During #GEOChat I asked four different questions and received a lot of great feedback from location-based fanboys/ladies and a few from existing location platforms such as Pegshot and TriOut. You can read a full archive of #GEOChat via the TriOut blog here: #GEOChat one Archive .
Below are the four questions I asked during #GEOChat:
1. Who’s using Facebook Places as their primary location-based service?
2. What is your number one concern about privacy using location-based apps & what apps has the best privacy features?
3. What will drive the success of location-based services in the future? Gaming or group buying or coupons and why?
4. What features not in your favorite location-based service you would like to see implemented?
There were a lot of great tweets/feedback from the #GEOChat participates and if I was location-based service, brand or an agency I would pay close attention to what users are saying about the location space. Here are a few highlighted tweets from #GEOChat.
What I want is real-time, geo-specific, personally-relevant information (content) about what’s happening around me #geochat @MomentFeed
Max Gladwell
maxgladwell
A3: Gaming is only sustainable for a small subset. Discount promos and long-term customer engagement will drive growth. #geochat
Carissa O’Brien
CarissaO
Consumers don’t care about the app or technology. They care only about the value and relevance of the deal! #geochat
Asif Khan
AsifRKhan
I anticipate a tradeoff Privacy for Relevance via mobile shopping. Mobile banking will change the meaning of loyalty #geochat
Deanna Lawrence
DeannaLawrence
@waynesutton I’d like to be able to private message people on Foursquare via the Android app. Don’t think I can do that now. #geochat
Matthew Gallizzi
notixtech
I’ve seen many of my non-tech friends trying Facebook Places where they hadn’t used any other LBS before #geochat
MomentFeed
MomentFeed
@HarrisonPainter @ripsup and value for the masses is discounts, coupons or cash rewards…virtual “dukedoms” only lasts for so long #geochat
ShannonRenee
ShannonRenee
@waynesutton Places is pretty lame as is IMHO, I don’t plan on using it. Will stick with @gowalla, @foursquare, and of course @triout
Lucas Myers
unthunk
Q5 biggest “features” missing from LBS? real value, non-gimmickable need, 1000 more experiments to see what sticks #geochat
Dan Rockwell
floozyspeak
RT @AsifRKhan Brands need to think LBS in the context of a multi-channel media buy that’s location-centric. #geochat [savvy guy]
Gregg Morris
greggvm
Q1: Foursquare is still my primary LBS. Facebook’s “places” database isn’t as accurate. #geochat
Mike Templeton
miketempleton
@waynesutton Shopkick has carved out a nice niche. But it will be limited by implementation & adoption. Still powerful #geochatMomentFeed
MomentFeed
Again, thank you to everyone who participated. Next week we’re going to cover a slew of new location-based apps, QR Codes and mobile coupons during #GEOChat.
Looking for more location-based conversations on Twitter? @LBSchat will be starting this Thursday at 9:00 P.M. and/or join us for #GEOChat two next Tuesday.
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The Social Wayne blog covers: Blogging, Social Media, Location Based Services, Marketing, Gadgets, Social Networks, Events and Mobile Technology.
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Wayne Sutton helps individuals, startups and businesses succeed in understanding how to communicate on the social web via brand strategy, social networks and location-based services. Wayne is the business development/marketing strategist for TriOut and partner at OurHashtag.
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