Tag Archive for 'Twitter'

The Coke Machine Fairy: Coca-Cola joins growing list of companies in Australia using Foursquare.

Published on September 1, 2010 in Australia, Foursquare, Twitter, business, mobile and social media. Comments

Further to my recent posts, Local businesses: to use Foursquare (yet) or not, that is the question’ and 10 examples of businesses in Australia already using Foursquare for marketing, it seems that Coca–Cola has now jumped in with its own contribution to Foursquare markeing. Enter, The Coke Machine Fairy.

I just noticed this a few minutes ago when I visited my local shopping centre, Broadway Shopping Mall. There was a “Nearby Special” banner on display as I checked-in.

It appears that Coke will be leaving “goodies” in Coke machines around Sydney on a daily basis. Instructions on how to play the game can be found here.

Coke machine foursquare

COKE Machine Fairy

Coke machine Fairey Twitter

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Will you have to change your name to escape your digital past one day?

Published on August 19, 2010 in Facebook, Foursquare, Google and social media. Comments

Google CEO Eric Schmidt was recently reported as saying that because of the increasing amount of information we are sharing online, he predicts that one day people will have to change their names and reinvent themselves if they want to escape their digital pasts, should they want to. Is this an extreme point of view or already an online reality?

Google Search

I’m sure most of us have Googled our names at some point to see what results are thrown up. You’d be silly not to in this day and age. Even if you don’t spend very much time online, it’s increasingly likely that your name will be referenced in relation to something yo’ve been involved with.

The degree to which your name can easily be found online can of course depend on how popular your name is, what name you actually use online, and how much online activity you have engaged in thus far.

Take my name for instance: John Johnston. Believe it or not, that’s not a very unique name in the world. However, partly for this reason, I mostly use my online identifier (okay, personal brand if you like), jjprojects. I don’t attempt to hide my real name, it’s just more beneficial in most cases for me to use jjprojects. However, because I engage in a lot of activity online, and because I do also use my “real” name in relation to jjprojects, my name still appears on the first page of Google results when searched for. I have no problem with what is found there.

I know quite a few people who engage in a lot of social media activity but have several different names, usually to attempt to separate their work life from their personal and political views, when they feel they want or need to do that. Needless to say, I’m not going to ask you to comment and say if you are one of those people :)

Many of these people are probably a little more online savvy than your average web user, so there are many people who use Facebook and Twitter (for instance) who mix personal and professional without a second thought to the consequences. It’s getting increasingly difficult to not mix personal with professional when it comes to the likes of Facebook and Twitter. Do you ignore that friend request from that work colleague on Facebook you’d really rather not let have access to those personal pictures and comments you’ve already posted? Are many people even aware of what their privacy settings are set to on Facebook?

Even if you are aware of who could search for and read your online comments, and see the photos you’ve uploaded, it’s easy to forget. Then there’s the emerging location-based digital culture, in which more people will be leaving searchable traces of where they’ve been and at what time, without a second thought. Foursquare is verging on going mainstream and Facebook Places has just launched.

It has to be said that there is this emerging school of thought saying that we’ll eventually get over caring so much about people’s embarrassing moments and irrational emotional rants online, increasingly played out in real-time on the likes of Twitter and Facebook. The thinking there is that we are all human and we all make mistakes and do things we regret later. Let’s be prepared to forgive people their mistakes, let humans be human, and accept we are going to have more and more of our lives played out online. Let’s get over it and move on. Easier said than done.

It’s often said that common sense should lead when it comes to sharing online, but it may be a little more complicated than that. We are human after all. Humans are fallible. Who hasn’t done something they regret, especially when we were younger? If you are growing up in an culture that spends a lot of time online, those situations are no doubt going to be played out online. We all make makes, and sometimes it’s difficult (or impossible) to delete those mistakes.

What are your thoughts on this? By the way, if jjprojects suddenly stops all communication one day, you’ll know one of two things may have happened ;)

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HaHa, Twitter Movie Trailer! [parody video]

Published on August 12, 2010 in Facebook, Twitter, blogging, social media and video. Comments

Well by now you’ve probably seen the trailer for the much anticipated, and apparently quite dark, movie about the founding of Facebook, The Social Network. Now comes a new spoof (there are others) of The Social Network trailer, complete with an excellent parody soundtrack.

The Twit Network trailer relentlessly lampoons Twitter’s flood of minutiae from people’s everyday lives. It begins with Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey having a conversation with a friend which goes “I need to create a way to blog that is as random and incoherent as writing on a bathroom wall”. “Why”. “Because normal blogging is tedious and dumb and leads to fully formed ideas”.  I’m sure you get the picture. It’s funny :)

The parody trailer also begs the question, if  The Social Network turns out to be a box office success, will we one day see a feature film about Twitter too?

On a side note, as you can see from the tweet below, which is a quote from the video trailer, Twitter Co-founder Biz Stone seems to think it’s funny too.

Biz Stone Twitter

via Mashable

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Facebook Places, much anticipated “Foursquare Killer”, about to launch?

Published on August 10, 2010 in Facebook, Foursquare, business, mobile, social media and technology. Comments

The long anticipated geolocation feature from Facebook will be launching very soon. Apparently, “multiple sources” have told CNET this is the case. We have heard this before, from as far back as May, but surely it must be on its way now.

Word from said sources is that it will take the form of an Application Programming Interface (API) for other location-based services to be able to plug-into.

Facebook Places Foursquare Killer

Mathew Ingram at Gigaom has pointed out that it’s likely to be more than just a check-in API, as Facebook has said previously that it thinks of places as more than just a way to add location information to a status update, or to ‘like’ a café or bar you visit.

Indeed, I too wouldn’t be surprised if Facebook Places launches with the ability to associate photos, videos and comment-style reviews. I’ve said before that the ability to upload images and associate them with venues in Foursquare would be a welcome additional feature. I’m sure they’ll add it sooner or later. Yes, I know Gowalla fans, Gowalla already has this feature, but Foursquare has the momentum.

Facebook has partnered with Localeze to provide a business directory infrastructure  for the new location feature. This is the same company that powers Twitter’s Places directory. In addition, Facebook recently acquired Hot Potato, which is a service that focuses on user check-ins to events rather than locations. It remains to be seen how Facebook Places will be integrated with Facebook Events, but I’d have to say there must be a big opportunity there for that to happen. It could work out quite well.

Will Facebook Places be a Foursquare killer? What are your thoughts on that? Personally, I doubt it but it’s bound to attract a lot of users. Even if the percentage of Facebook users who take it up is reasonably low, with 500+ million users, it’s still bound to be a huge number!

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10 examples of businesses in Australia already using Foursquare for marketing.

Published on July 29, 2010 in Australia, Facebook, Foursquare, business, mobile and social media. Comments

This is part 2 of a two part post about businesses in Australia using Foursquare. Part 1, ‘Local businesses: to use Foursquare (yet) or not, that is the question’, can be found here.

So let’s take a look at what some businesses have been doing with Foursquare in Australia so far. Who are some of these initial experimenters and what are they up to?  There are of course many more examples than I’ve described below.

Café Foursquare Specials

There are many Foursquare Specials already being run by cafés in Australia. In fact, loyalty programs run by cafés, bars and restaurants seem to make up the bulk of all Foursquare specials right now, and perhaps into the future. Here’s just one with a bit of a difference in my hometown.

VIVO Café in Sydney (the George St location) is offering a free coffee with your meal when you check–in. In addition, Angela Vithoulkas, Director of VIVO Café tells me that VIVO is currently inviting people to unlock the Foursquare ‘Swarm’ Badge at the a VIVO Cafe Swarm event, with five dollars of the fifteen dollar cost of a specific meal going to the Sydney Community Foundation.

One thing I noticed about VIVO when I visited the café and met with Angela, is that this particular café is located very close to the Sydney Apple Store, so when you check–in to the Apple Store (which I did before going there), you see an in–app banner notifying you of the “Special Nearby”.

Apple Store on Foursquare

At present, there would have to be a higher percentage of Foursquare users visiting tech stores such as this than many other places in Sydney, so that’s certainly an added bonus for a nearby venue with a Foursquare special.

Multi–City Chain Venue Specials

The Wagamama chain of restaurants offers a Foursquare special that consists of a complimentary miso soup with every main meal, for every fifth check–in. If you’re the Foursquare Mayor you get a free juice with any main meal.

Wagamama has also trialled Twitter tweetups as a way to incorporate social media into the restaurant experience. Michael Fieldcom, who has been involved with their social media strategy, tells me they have run ‘sneak-peeks’ of the new menu to various social media groups. People receive a free meal from the new menu in advance of its release. The sneak peeks are being held at five restaurant locations around Australia.

Ah tweetups, that takes my mind back to the very first Sydney Tweetup in mid 2007, which I co-organised. Twitter was a LOT smaller back then, that’s for sure :)

Curve Cafe + Bar at Vibe Hotel (also at their other venues, including Melbourne) for every second checkin is offering a “buy a drink and get a drink for a friend” deal, plus if you’re the Foursquare mayor you receive a “buy one get one free meal”.

Considering how easy it is to become the mayor in these early days of Foursquare, that’s not a bad deal at all.

Grill’d restaurants in both Melbourne and Sydney are offering a free Mini Chips with a burger or steak sandwich purchase. If you’re the mayor you get a free burger on Fridays.

Corporate Foursquare Special + Meetup

A Microsoft Office Mayor Meetup was held in Martin Place (a central CBD location) back in mid June. Organised by agency Ogilvy 360, Microsoft hosted the “world’s first Foursquare Office Mayor Meetup”, for the launch of Microsoft Office 2010.

Foursquare office-types were encouraged to check–in at the meetup to receive a copy of Office 2010. The first 110 office mayors to queue up got copies, and 300 Office Mayor Meetup t-shirts were also available. 141 people ended up checking in at the meetup.

Potential Local Foursquare Special Clusters?

You know how people often copy what plants and features their neighbours have in their front yard? Well it only stands to reason that we may find that Foursquare offers take off in certain areas in clusters, as venues see other venues in the area take the initiative. “What’s that window cling they have there? Foursquare? What’s that?”.

Melt Bar in Kings Cross, Sydney is offering a “Staff price round of drinks on your 3rd check in”. And just along the road a bit, BurgerFuel is also offering a “buy one, get one free” offer, if you check–in with Foursquare and you bring a friend along.

Not only Food and Drinks

In Brisvegas, at Casa Perdomo, I see an offer for one free Perdomo Cigar for every new visitor who checks in for the first time. Also in Brisbane at Anytime Fitness, I see a free 7 day pass  is available on check–in; a pretty standard gym promo offer.

At the rather exclusive Sanctuary Cove resort on the Gold Coast, I see that Harry’s, boutique is offering a “Check–in and sign up as a VIP to receive a $25 voucher for your next purchase.” deal.

Over in Perth, I see that Connections Nightclub is offering free entry on Friday or Saturday if you check–in before 1am.

On the travel front, in Adelaide the South Australia Visitor and Travel Centre is offering a third night free if you check–in and book a 2 night stay from them.

These are just some examples of Australian businesses using Foursquare right now. As I said at the beginning, there are plenty of others too. If you have any other new and noteworthy examples of Australian businesses using Foursquare already, feel free to tell us about them in the comments.

If you are part of an Australian business and would like to get involved with Foursquare, and would like help with how to approach it for your specific business, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.

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