Oooh! Shiny! Location-based social networking, Part II (the players)

So if you find the idea of location-based tools ridiculous and unessecary, here are a few shiny applications you can play with that might just get you hooked anyway. And if you already find the idea a compelling one, these goodies will get you going…

Gowalla
Gowalla has applications for several mobile devices and they also have a mobile webpage (http://m.gowalla.com) for check-in. They do not currently have check-in available via their primary website. Gowalla uses the terminology “spots” for its check-in locations and can string together specific spots to complete a “trip”. Users can also earn “items” at check-in, some created for specific events (for example, the 2010 Winter Olympics).

FourSquare
FourSquare allows users to check-in at various locations, both buildings and retail-based locations. Points are awarded based on when the user checks-in, the frequency of check-ins and whether the user has been to that location in the past. Those that frequent locations can become the “mayor” of that spot. Certain check-ins, or series of check-ins can earn the users “badges” which are displayed on their user profile indefinitely. Badges are very popular and there has been a great deal of interest in how badges are earned, and how to create new badges.

Yelp
Yelp was not created as a location-based tool. Originally Yelp was kind of like the Yellow Pages for your phone. Looking for something? Search by name, characteristics, type of establishment, open hours, etc. to find what you need. Yelp also offers reviews and directions, plus information on other locations nearby. Over time Yelp expanded its features and it now includes the capacity to check-in to locations, however it lack many of the social connections and reward systems of other similar applications.

TriOut
TriOut is an application local to the triangle-area in North Carolina. Tri-Out is built with FourSquare and actually includes the ability to update FourSquare check-ins via their application. In addition to location check-ins, TriOut will allow users to check-in to events, a neat twist on the location idea. While Tri-Out does not utilize badges or have mayors, frequent users can earn a “key” to locations.

MyTown
MyTown is a location-based application but in many respects it uses the concept quite loosely. Users can check-in to locations and they earn a combination of money and points each time. The money and points can then be used to “buy” locations that they have checked-in to and subsequently they can collect rent on these locations. The amount of rent available depends on the popularity of the spot and the number of check-ins by others. It’s a little like Monopoly, only with real locations.

All these applications have a few features in common. The most important, at least from our business perspective, is the ability to post comments about locations (usually called “tips”) and share them with others. Businesses can also team with many of these applications to post news, information about promotions and rewards based on check-ins. These applications also include the ability to establish “friends”, other users of the application, with whom you can share your check-in status. You can also choose to post your check-ins to Facebook and/or Twitter. This opens debate for the idea of sharing too much information, a concern I’ll be addressing in a later post.

If this seems like a lot of checking in to do, it is! As you can imagine, no one checks into all these applications every time they go out of the house (ok, not very many people) so preferences in applications have begun to emerge. As of March 2010, Gowalla and FourSquare are the two duking it out for mobile-based application supremacy. While FourSquare has more users (500,000+ to Gowallas 150,000), Gowalla has won a number of awards and is increasing it’s numbers quickly. MyTown boast more that 1 million users but it’s not clear if that’s based on download of the application or actual check-ins. Yelp has a separate niche since it provides a great deal more information about the locations.

Tune in next week for more discussion about using these tools – the benefits and concerns for both businesses and personal users.

Where you at!? Location-based social networking, Part I

One of the newer social networking concepts to hit the proverbial street are “location-based” tools. These have been slower to gain acceptance by the online community, but that hasn’t stopped a slew of location networking applications from hoping into the App store.

There’s much to be said about what these tools are and why you should (or absolutely should NOT!) be using them. Some people feel pretty strongly about this but I won’t take sides in this battle; my goal is to give you a background on the technology,  share a list of the location check-in tools I know of (and use) and, of course, give you the highlights of how they can help or hurt your business strategy.

So to explain the idea of location-based services we need to think back… The year was 1999.  Jack Kevorkian had just been found guilty of murder, the Dow Jones closed above 10,000 for the first time and world was introduced to Jar-Jar Binks in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Ahh, the innocence. This was also the year the Palm VII was released, marking the first time your handheld device could figure out where you are. The Palm used this impressive new power for local information: primarily weather and traffic. Early technology was slow and located users based on their position among cellular towers; today’s tools are much more advanced and can find you quite quickly with the use of GPS.

Location-based services vastly improve a consumers level of information. Today’s information is so specific that the iPhone 3GS will allow users to hold up their phone and “see” what is nearby, including distance information and reviews of the various locations (check out the Yelp Augmented Reality image left). These tools will allow you to search for what’s nearby based on category or title, to review locations and comment about their service, to “check-in” at various locations and see who else is there, and to easily find address and phone information or get complete directions.

Clearly, this is a huge benefit for retailers, making their products easier to find than ever. But it’s also something to be monitored. Unlike Twitter or Facebook, there is no “opt-out” of this technology. If you own a shop or restaurant, rest assured people have a record of you in location-based applications and they’re probably commenting on your services whether you know it or not. This is a powerful and growing mobile tool and the prevalence of smartphone technology has put the power in the hands of the consumer in a brand new way.

My next post will cover a few location-based applications, including Yelp, FourSquare and a newer application local to the RTP, NC area called Triout. Subsequent posts will talk more about how these tools are being used for business and in acedemia and I’ll also be talking about the potential dangers of these tools.

Still excited about #igniteRaleigh…

So I’m still fired up (forgive the pun) from #igniteRaleigh last week! The website has shared pictures and slide information but there’s also a great delicious.com resource with links to dozens of blog posts about the event. Check those out here. Finally, I’m waiting with great anticipation for the video of each presentation to pop-up on the webpage. When that occurs I’ll update the blog again.

In the mean time, any of my devoted followers have questions about the event or things I posted about it?

Consider me ignited, Raleigh

Way to go Raleigh! Last night’s Ignite Raleigh event was a very entertaining blend of technology, entertainment and education. I could go on and on about the awesomeness of the event but let me try to keep things brief by highlighting a couple of particularly fantastic contributions…

Everyone Needs a Dumb Guy
Chris Moody (@cnmoody) did a presentation about the “dumb guy” in the office who asks the often dumb and difficult questions the client will ask. It was a very quick look at the benefits of broadening your advisers; diversity of POV leads to more information and better decisions… sounds like he’s read ‘The Wisdom of Crowds‘! Chris did a great presentation with some really nice slides and I enjoyed the reaffirmation of things I’ve read about from other folks who agree it has potential…

What Happens to you Digital Identity After you Die?
Evan Carroll (@evancarroll) spent five minutes making me think about a social media world without me in it. There were a number of things I hadn’t considered – the preservation of my online content, sharing passwords with the right people, and the potential for my thoughts to be heard long after I’m dead. Since I’m not sure anyone’s listening now, let alone in 50 years, this wasn’t a presentation that compelled me to action but it did make me think. And remember that I don’t have a will.

Presentation Zen
Bethany Smith (@bethanyvsmith) is a fellow NCSU-er so I have to give her props for braving the stage and sharing her advice on good presentation design. I was already sold on her agenda of short, to-the-point, bulletless presentations that use lots of pictures. But I definitely want a copy of her presentation to give to a couple people I know…

Why My Cat Can Get a Job Before You
It’s totally true. Her cat is legendary. Laurie Ruettimann (@lruettimann) did a very engaging presentation about her favorite cat (yes, she ranks her 5 cats). Scrubby, the fantastic cat has a blog, Facebook profile, Twitter account and is on LinkedIn. He’s done more than most of us to build a solid, reputable online identity and that goes a long way with employers in this day and age. Very compelling, humorous and well-done presentation.

Nerd Girls Unite! Women Don’t Have to be Lame
So I actually got into a heavy discussion (re: argument) with a couple of guy friends prior to the show about the difficulties of being a woman in technology. Guys don’t understand what you’re doing in their domain, there’s plenty of cultural obstacles and I’ve had my share of outright discrimination from men during my history in the technology field. In the end, I did a lousy job trying to explain my frustrations so I was delighted that Charlotte Moore (@cavaticat) showed up on stage to explain my challenges far more eloquently and entertainingly than I did.
Charlotte was a great speaker and had fantastic slides. Her presentation had some excellent examples of everyday frustrations girls have when navigating the Geekdom. She made me proud to be a geek girl.

I ran into about a dozen people that I know, many of which I see online frequently and IRL on rare occasions. I also observed a number of folks that I follow online but have never met IRL; what can I say, I’m chicken. And then I found about a dozen new people to follow; presenters and friends/colleagues of the presenters. Great local connections!

So to recap: #igniteRaleigh was awesome and awesomely inspiring. Kudos to the planners and ALL presenters at 2010 Ignite Raleigh. It’s tough to get up there and you all did a great job!

Can’t wait for next year!

A Little Blog Advice

Need some help convincing that boss of yours that blogs are a necessary part of business life? Want a little help developing your blog’s “business” voice? Check out this article from Mashable.com: HOW TO: Create a Successful Company Blog.

Bringing the Virtual Community to Life

One of the negatives in this giant online community we’re building is our sense of absolute isolation among thousands of voices. You get to read people’s ideas, opinions and everyday thoughts but much of the time these people are literal strangers to you: you wouldn’t know them if you ran into them on the street. It’s a sad fact that you may build strong, lasting relationships with the help of blogs, podcasts, IM and  Twitter and yet never get to know those people IRL. That’s “in real life” for you newbies.

But what if you could meet these people?! Every now and then you might find a local tweet-up in a good location, or maybe stumble across some online buddies at a conference on similar interests. This is a great opportunity to meet some of these faceless online cohorts or better yet, find new online cohorts! By default you have similar interests and clearly you have something to talk about – WIN! And who knows, you may even walk away with some real live friends!

Often we may be nervous about crossing this boundary, and one should certainly be wise and careful. But all prudence aside, don’t let this chance pass you by! The environment that brings together these kinds of groups is electric. Conversations that might be had in hours or days over IM and email can suddenly occur super-fast; I’ve seen great ideas come out of just such an environment. Besides, every now and then we have to abandon our captivating machines and talk to some live people.

As it happens, just such a fascinating event will be taking place in my local community this coming Wednesday, March 3rd! Ignite Raleigh is part of a series of events (read about Global Ignite Week); local folks submit and vote on topics of interest to the community (usually these are technology topics, but not always). Those selected have 5 minutes and 20 slides to share their thoughts on their topic. There are also local celebs and supporters who may show up to speak on their own issues and ideas, many of which directly relate to your community. Best of all, the people coming to this event are many of the people I see online daily but rarely get the chance to meet. It’s a great opportunity for building a community, sharing ideas and meeting new people who are working on cool projects.

So stay tuned. I’ll be heading to Ignite Raleigh this week and plan to blog about it shortly thereafter. If you’re in the area it’s not too late to plan to attend, yourself! Otherwise check around for your local Ignite event and get out there!

Learn more about these “geek gatherings”; see Mashable.com’s 10 Reasons You Should Attend or Watch a Global Ignite Week Event!

What’s a “#”?

Some of you may have wondered why I called my last post “numberGreatBizConnections”. I didn’t. That symbol, “#”, traditionally denoting “number” or “numeral” is also used to create  a “hashtag”. The hashtag (or just “tag”) is frequently used with newer social networking technologies, most notably Twitter.

Tags are keywords or terms assigned to a piece of information (according to Wikipedia (and it knows all)). Take these terms and put a “#” in front of them and you’ve tagged a tweet. Hashtags used repeatedly can help to define Twitter’s “trending topics”, or those topics that are most commonly being tweeted at any given time. Searching for a hashtag will give you all posts that use that tag, thereby allowing a user to find a great deal of information on a topic very quickly.

These days a hashtag is often assigned to an event so that all people tweeting about it will be using a uniform indicator. Conferences, committees, and even project teams may use a hashtag to refer to their work when posting. For example, an official hashtag was announced for the Superbowl a week or so before the event to ensure that all tweets on that topic could be categorized uniformly.

#greatBizConnections: a Twitter tale

I believe I was just saying that personal stories make for great blog content, so I’m happy to contribute one of my own. For all those who doubt the power of Twitter, please read on…

Thanks to my job and general geeky habits, I have frequent need for a screen capture program. Last year I decided to upgrade my screen capture application of choice, Jing, to the Pro version. I enjoyed the Pro version very much and used it for several projects, including a usability test for a class in my masters program. Despite the good times, when I received an email notifying me that my year was almost up and the Pro version was about to auto-update (and charge my credit card) I decided to drop back to the free version.

Unfortunately the notification email lacked instruction on how to do this, which I found very frustrating. To make matters worse, the TechSmith (Jing’s parent company) website made the solution hard to find and when I did come up with a link it didn’t work. Eventually I had to call TechSmith – something I really don’t like to do, especially with web-based technology. Twenty-odd minutes and several inappropriate words later my Pro version was finally canceled.

But I was seriously frustrated with the process, especially since TechSmith is a company that makes usability testing software (and yes, maybe I hold them to a higher standard for this reason). I decided to tweet about my concerns, including the TechSmith Twitter account (@TechSmith) in my 140 characters. I didn’t really have any expectations that it would help with anything; my account had already been canceled after all, but I was curious to see if they would respond.

And respond they did! About 15 minutes after I made my initial post I got a tweet back from @TechSmith.

@ncsumarit sorry to hear bout the frustration. Please let me know what happened. I’ll share w/team. <email>@techsmith.com if you need 140+

YAY! Twitter works! People are using it! It’s very cool when a tool can be used to improve things– it so often doesn’t go quite right that it’s super-exciting when it does.

And when it goes right, it really goes right. Later that day I also heard from @Pixetell, a competitor of Jing that makes a screen capture software of their own. While I’m a Mac girl and couldn’t use the product (currently they have only a Windows version but a Mac version should be coming “soon”), I was impressed that they were paying attention to their competitors’ Twitter account as much as their own.

Subsequent conversations with the Jing representatives via email offered explanations on where the breakdown occurred and what was being done to correct it. And they offered me a free year of Jing Pro, which I happily accepted!

I offered both companies a finally Twitter shout-out:

Kudos to @TechSmith for great Jing customer service and to @Pixetell for great marketing! #greatBusinessConnections

…which got me gratitude from @Pixetell and the beginnings of a beautiful friendship with @TechSmith (even if they are a Red Wings fan!). In both cases I’ve made personal connections and both are companies I’ll be keeping an eye on in the future! If nothing else, I know they’re listening when I have a problem, and as a consumer of their products, that’s invaluable.

Yep, it was a good day for Twitter. Got a similar story? Share it here!

Blogger Seeking Company for FT job…

Someone asked me recently, “how can I get a job blogging”? I’m not sure if this was a sign of the adoration he had for blogging or the desperation to find an industry that was hiring, but either way it made me think.

How does one get a job blogging?

First of all, no one is going to have a job blogging all the time. Even if you’re a successful, independent blogger who can afford to focus on writing, it comes with other requirements: research, making and strengthening industry contacts, representing your blog in person at conferences or other events, etc. Because believe me, you better be selling your blog as the best thing out there. If people aren’t going to your blog, you’re not getting ad revenue and if you’re not getting ad revenue you’re not eating. Skills and knowledge are the tip of iceberg; your blog has to be interesting and enticing or no one is coming back. And if you’re still reading I apologize; that last sentence was not “interesting” or “enticing”.

Ok then, how do we get jobs where we get paid to blog? This happens one of two ways- either you find a job that wants you to blog as part of your job description, or you convince your boss that your company needs a position that has blogging in its job description. One thing’s for sure: getting control of the company blog will require some knowledge of blogging. So if you’re a little lacking on blogging skills (and let’s face it, why else would you be here?) now may be your time.

Before we begin I need to clarify. When I say “personal” blog I’m not talking about your daily life and shots of the kids at Halloween. I’m talking about a business or industry-related blog, with a specific topic, though unconnected with a specific company. It’s quite possible that a good personal blog, while not making you independently wealthy, can build up your reputation within your industry. Here are a few tips:

1. Blog about what you’re passionate about. It’s infinitely more likely that you’ll pay attention to the blog and give it time and attention if you care about the content you’re contributing.
2. Blog for the benefit of the industry you’re interested in. Let’s say you work in auto sales but you L-O-V-E knitting. Focus on making a great blog about knitting. You won’t always be in auto sales; use the blog as a stepping-stone to get where you want to be.
3. Use your blog to make friends and connections within the industry you care about. Encourage participation! Help newbies! This will be invaluable later, whether you’re looking for a topic for a rainy day post or a potential new boss.
4. Provide timely, useful and relevant information. Please. No one is going to care about your blog, no matter how much they love the topic if the content doesn’t help them. This can be a challenge.
5. Share personal experiences. Blogs are, at least in part, about personality. Telling your story humanizes posts and makes them more relevant. Just don’t go too far.

Just. Don’t. Go. Too. Far. Personal stories are interesting. Personal rants are obnoxious and potentially offensive – depending on your audience and the goals of your blog. Make sure that your posts aren’t going to destroy connections or ruin future job opportunities.

As for my personal story, perhaps you should come back in six or eight months and see what’s here. This is, shall we say, the development of my experience on the topic. I really hope I know what I’m talking about!
Good luck with your own endeavors and please come back to share!

Hop aboard the Cluetrain

Once upon a time a couple of guys had the idea that traditional businesses, corporations as they generally exist today, should stop and reconsider how they do business. The changes they suggested extended throughout the company: from the corporate culture to the way the company interacted with its customers. No part of daily operations was overlooked. These guys sat down and summed it all up in ninety-five friendly little bullet points, and called it The Cluetrain Manifesto. A few high points are below.

• Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors.
• The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media.
• [People are speaking to each other in a powerful new way and] these networked conversations are enabling powerful new forms of social organization and knowledge exchange to emerge. As a result, markets are getting smarter, more informed, more organized.
• Companies can now communicate with their markets directly. If they blow it, it could be their last chance.
• Companies need to lighten up and take themselves less seriously. They need to get a sense of humor.
• We like this new marketplace much better. In fact, we are creating it.
• We’ve got some ideas for you too: some new tools we need, some better service. Stuff we’d be willing to pay for. Got a minute?
• We know some people from your company. They’re pretty cool online. Do you have any more like that you’re hiding? Can they come out and play?
• When we have questions we turn to each other for answers. If you didn’t have such a tight rein on “your people” maybe they’d be among the people we’d turn to.

There are two really interesting things about this document. One, it was written in 1999. Yep, more than ten years ago. Don’t you love it when people have foresight? Which brings us to number two, why haven’t you ever heard of this thing? Obviously it’s full of useful information for companies. Has no one read it?

I really don’t know the answer to this question but I truly believe the ideas put forth in this document, at least those listed above, have never been more relevant than they are today. Since most of my examples to support this statement will be their own blog posts I’m going to stop now. But take a moment to think about (and by all means, share if you want) the companies that you feel most connected to. I’d be willing to guess that you have engaged with them in some way. It may be as simple as going to their website. Or you may follow them on Twitter and be a fan on Facebook. Regardless of the connection, the ease of corporate-consumer interaction has become temptingly simple for the consumer and (often) alarmingly close for the corporations.

Read the Manifesto.

Read what Wikipedia says about the Manifesto.