Social Media Hits DC with Insight

As I mentioned in my previous post, I went to the Social Media Club - DC event at the National Press Building on social searches versus Google searches (not how they phrased it but it addresses the point). The speakers were Chris Seline (@dumbfounder), Laurence Hooper (@lhooper), Jared Goralnick (@technotheory), Greg Gershman (@greggersh) and Aaron Brazell (@technosailor). The reason I have names in parenthesis are because these are all their twitter names. I'll explain that more in a bit.

They started off discussing the difference between social searches and Google searches. There were many conflicting views amongst the board but here is what I got. Google searches will get what you want but it cost time. Social searches are more customized and personalized to the user. Aaron Brazell gives the example of Thomas Hawk whose goal in life is to publish 1,000,000 photos on flickr. He has already posted about 20,000. If Aaron wanted to find a photo that Thomas took of New York a couple years ago then it would take him awhile searching Google to find that pictures. If he searched Flickr then he would speedily find what he was looking for.

These social searches interact with people because the results are based on other opinions. It comes down to the perception of trust in social networks. We tend to put a trust value on the information we find by ratings like Yelp.

Julie Minevich, who also attended, gives a good run down of the remaining questions that were discussed:

• Is there any value in organizing and archiving old social networking actions?
• Are mobile communities the next step in this media revolution?
• What are the ways social networking sites are trying to create revenue?
• Why isn’t Google more involved in this social media space?

I'll try and highlight some of the responses from the panel on these questions from the notes that I took. (Yes, I took notes with a pen and paper! I felt very lame. Especially because it was on an HP paper notepad)

• The reason Google has not gotten involved in social searching is because they have not found a way to make money off of it. They are waiting to see how to make money off of Facebook and Twitter.
• Blogging, twitter and all these other mobile communities are affecting the future by creating a universe in social networks. These social networks describe who we are as a person and/or company. It is becoming a way in which we create our identity.
  
• Some sites for tracking social media: Trakr, Twitterbox, Radiant 6?, Blogpolls? and Relevant Noise (Someone let me know if these are correct...)
• Facebook is behavioral advertising and behavioral marketing. The new form of advertising.
• The great thing about social networks are that they are free. Compared to the past where you would have to pay to go to a social networking event.
  
• Social Networkers are finding ways to make money by finding ways to share ads on things like FanBox.
• Keep an eye out for Aardvark, a new start up that is like Yahoo Answers and Twitter meshed together.
  

The last point of discussion was on what's next. As Aaron responded, "we are finding ways to merge real life and online life. The closer you bring both together is better." We are constantly on our phones and online. For example, the best thing about this meeting was that every person was on their iPhone, Blackberry or mobile device (sadly I have not gotten an iPhone and am very uncool). While the speakers were talking everyone was on Twitter responding and making comments. As Julie said, "It was almost like there were two interconnected conversations taking place concurrently but separately. The second, the one on twitter, was, of course, a result of the in-person discussion and the twitter comments were mentioned a few times in the live discussion, but again, for the most part, they were taking place independently and simultaneously."

By the end of the night, I walked away with more than I expected. The discussion won't end due to all the new twitter friends I have attained. ( Follow me @cbenton!) It gave me a new perspective on the future and my career in life. I am looking forward to more events like these.

What are your points of view on some of the questions.

Audi A4 Challenges IPhone Users Driving

The first major car manufacturer to tap into the iPhone phenomenon would be Audi. They created a new iPhone application called the "Audi A4 Challenge." As the news release states,

"a driving game that utilizes the iPhone's accelerometer (motion sensor) to steer
a digital version of Audi's entirely new 2009 A4 through a series of
progressively challenging courses. Players maneuver the course and race against
the clock to beat their own personal best time. The application is now available
free of charge on Apple's iPhone Application Store. The 2009 Audi A4 will be
available in Audi dealerships nationwide starting in September of 2008."

The game was created in two weeks and is featured on their specifically designed for the iPhone website: http://www.truthinengineering.com/a4/iphone. As Scott Mellin, CEO of Factory Design Labs (the ones who created this ingenious marketing campaign) says, "This is the first application by an automotive OEM, but it's also reinventing the shopping experience. In combination with the A4 iPhone web site, this is the first viable mobile marketing solution in the automotive space. Importantly, it is also a unique way to engage the consumer with the DNA of the Audi brand."

As a person that values a good marketing campaign and a company that embraces technology; I commend them on their approach to engage consumers. The other part of me is screaming at the idea that every car maker will be looking for a way to up the ante. It's only time before they find a way abuse this idea. hopefully it will not come to that and companies will continue to leave the choice to the consumer as to whether they want to learn about the product.

More infor go to http://www.audiusanews.com/

Kill Long Phone Waits with Fonolo

While checking out Seth Godin's blog, I ran across his post on "Deep Dialing." A company called Fonolo (Phone-Oh-Low) has created a "beta that spiders phone trees at big companies and promises to make it easy for you to go straight to the spot you want. Then it calls you when the phone is answered and records the call so you can keep a record.

Let me break this down a bit more. How many times have you called a company only to hear, “please listen carefully as our menu options have changed…” or “If your language preference is English, please press one now. Si su preferencia de la lengua es español, ahora presione por favor dos.” As GTDTimes explains, this is usually the company's IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system that takes up countless productivity hours. The time spent listening to menu choices, disgustingly annoying music or random promotional jargon could be spent doing something productive like blogging! FONOLO has answered companies and consumers prayers by saving them time which is money.

Go to their site, find the indexed company, go through the visual map of the automated menu and click on the location in which you want to reach. " Fonolo will now place a call, do the navigating and waiting for you and then ring your phone once it has reached the location in the IVR system that you had previously specified." (See picture of map to the right from GTDTimes).

As I mentioned, this will definitely benefit companies as well as consumers. For example, health providers and consumers can get through medical insurance companies long IVR systems without losing productivity during the normal workday hours. Saving time and money is the first aspect that most people seek in a service. The next thing is the reliability and quality which the company seems to have at the moment.

I'm looking forward to this service because I know the company I currently am working for could really BENEFIT from this. Meaning I will no longer have bruises from banging my head on my desk while listening to automated voices!

iPhone's That Give Light

For those of you using an iPhone or planning to buy one, here's something to keep in mind. Do you want to make the Apple logo do something cool like GLOW?!?

If there weren't already enough things that you could do to your iPhone, let's find some more! (I'm not saying this is stupid but it amuses me to see that there are tweaks being done. Let's add a pull out keyboard and a mini DVD player to it!)

It's a iPhone mod that some Russian iPhone fans created by replacing the Apple logo on the back of an original iPhone with a glowing version. The source claims it's just a matter of, "removing the aluminum 'fruits' and inserting the glowing ones." (what the hell does that mean!?!?) Basically, it involves replacing the metal insert on the back of the phone with an LED-equipped plastic one. Hacked Gadget suggests there is a similar step-by-step mod.
See video below:


[Engadget Via Hack a Day]

Virgin Mobile Fest Greens Technologic

I did not get a chance to blog at all this past weekend due to the Virgin Mobile Festival that I worked at.

I thought I would share some of the things that worked and some things that didn't work.

The festival wanted to focus on being green and eco-friendly. At the same time, they want to increase brand awareness by associating themselves with many non-profit organization and music. I felt they did a fairly good job at this but they lacked in some areas. For example, they did not train or inform their event staff of everything that was happening. (I found this out when I was passing out free sunscreen. This woman (an event goer) thanked me and mentioned that she wished she had known there was free sunscreen earlier. This was due to the fact that a 15yr old staff member told her there was no sunscreen to be found throughout the concert venue and another staff member told her there was NO FIRST AID! When has there ever been a music festival with NO FIRST AID!) They did not clarify what type of trash was designated for the different recycling bins. The initiative to recycle at the event was not prominent and the music line-up was poorly done. (They spelled Kanye West's name as "KAYNE" West. How does that happen!?!? As well as all the best bands were playing at the same time and at opposite sides).

There are many ways they could have fixed these problems but it was only their third year holding this music festival. I should say some things they did right.

The use of eco-friendly technologies such as recharging your phone, camera or Ipod via bike was very convenient. They had a Dell Dome where people could make their own buttons, T-shirts and use computers to sign up for Buzzd (a new social networking service like Twitter and Yelp.)

Real quick rant on Buzzd: It is described as a "location-sensitive entertainment
listings service with branded editorial and real-time user generated content on
the mobile device.'Your city, in real-time,' buzzd allows consumers to know
what's happening at any venue right now, rate events, and connect with friends
and people in the area." I can see how this could beat Yelp but they really need
to keep pushing it. They need to get more publicity if they want to beat their
competitors. When I heard about the service I automatically thought it was another social network trying to make it big. It did not strike me as a "OMG! THIS IS SOO COOL!" It needs to offer more to users.

On that note, let me finish what I was saying before this post gets to long. They had a spiffy VIP areas that gave free drinks and had actually beds to sleep on outside. They had a Recharge Dome for people to check out the new Kyocera Special Edition Virgin Mobile Festival "Wild Card" mobile (texting from this phone made my hand cramp up) which they could use to make phone calls, send a text message to the concert stage screens or ride a bike and recharge their phone. They had a Refresh Dome for people to cool off and they had a recycling program where people could get stuff for collecting empty bottles and cans.

There were more positive and negatives that I could list about the music festival but I don't want to drag on. They should have integrated the idea of charging your phone by dancing . . . Maybe I'll make a list and send it to Richard Branson.

[picture via Mobilecrunch]

Slydial to Voicemail

When reading about this new technology service, I thought that everyone already had this capability featured on their phone. You might want to check your voicemail features before getting excited about this service. I'm sorry I should probably mention what the service is first before commenting on it.

Slydial is a new service that connects you directly to some one's voicemail. In other words, you can avoid speaking to a person directly by using Slydial. It saves you time (if you don't count the ads that you have to hear before getting connected to the voicemail.) and awkward or long conversations. For example, you want to call in sick to work and are afraid if the boss answers then you have to answer questions and explain yourself. This makes it a lot easier to be a coward and go straight to voicemail. By the time your boss has gotten the voicemail; he will be to busy to call and check up on you (to make sure you are not playing hookie.) Here are some more situations. (Please do not use this service to voicemail break-up, unless your dating a psycho or your dog.)

The service is free to use but you can get a membership if you want to get rid of the ads. This leads me to what I was taking about in the beginning of the post. When I listen to my voicemails, I have the option to record a message and send it to a number. This is basically the exact same thing. To my surprise, this option is not available to all.

If you don't have this feature then I would suggest it as a great way to speak to your mother or girlfriend without having to listen to an hour long session of yapping. (No offense, but women can talk for hours!)

From another perspective, this service is making us more of a coward and continuing to change our way of communicating with each other. We are trying to find ways around directly communicating with people.

NEW DANCE - The Phone Charger

A friend of mine thought it was important for me to share this nugget of news. How many times have you been out clubbing, at a concert or music festival and your mobile phone starts to die? There is no socket in sight and without a powered cell, how are you going to be able to phone home! You will be stuck in the land of music . . . FOREVER!!! (Just kidding. I was trying to make a joke). Anyway, the phone operator Orange and the firm GotWind have created a portable kinetic energy charger that recharges your phone when you dance called "Orange Dance Charge."

"Attached to the user's arm, they employ a system of weights and magnets which
provide an electric current to top up charge in a storage battery. This can then later be used to recharge the phone."

The prototype will be given a test run at this year's Glastonbury festival happening this weekend (RIGHT NOW! I can't believe I'm in the states blogging and not there. I think I REALLY need a time machine).

Finding another means of energy is always a good thing due to the rise in gas prices. If there was only a way dancing could provide energy to run a car, then we would be getting somewhere. The other thing that this new gadget could be good for is runners. Strap it on and start exercising, then produce enough energy to charge your Ipod or mobile.

Getting to the point, maybe this new renewable energy gadget can start a new dance move that will sweep the nation AND create a new source of energy.

MoSoSo Cell Culture

While I was away this weekend in Atlanta, GA for the Passion Conference, I found it amusing that the part where people usually wave lighter’s or matches in the air during a slow song was replaced with people waving their cell phones in the air. Things have changed since cell phones have become a predominantly necessity in our culture. We use cell phones for everything and the While I was away this weekend in Atlanta, GA for the Passion Conference, I found it amusing that the part where people usually wave lighter’s or matches in the air during a slow song was replaced with people waving their cell phones in the air. Things have changed since cell phones have become a predominant necessity in our culture. We use cellphones for everything and the phenomenon of texting has impacted the way our culture predominately communicates. Here's a perfect example of what I'm saying:
Other than texting, the next biggest thing to change the cellphone culture is "MoSoSo" (Mobile Social Networking Software) as discussed by Gloria Goodale. The new consumer technology that combines cyber-social networks with GPS on cellphones, so you can be even more connected than you already are! They have created various MoSoSo software to appeal to consumers but for some reason it seems it has not caught on yet. Maybe it could do with what Goodale says:
Not only do they point to possible security issues with GPS running on a cellphone, but cultural observers worry about the growing preference of young users to stay plugged into a virtual network, often oblivious to the real world around them.
I have to admit that I'm somewhat interested in testing this out, but at the same time. Do I really want less security and to have people know where I am every second of the day? We already have a lack of privacy, even if we aren't celebrities. Is this going to far? Do we really need another tool to add to our phone to keep us consistently available and in demand? of texting has impacted the way our culture predominately communicates. Here's a perfect example of what I'm saying:


Other than texting, the next biggest thing to change the cell phone culture is "MoSoSo" (Mobile Social Networking Software) as discussed by Gloria Goodale. The new consumer technology that combines cyber-social networks with GPS on cellphones, so you can be even more connected than you already are! They have created various MoSoSo software to appeal to consumers but for some reason it seems it has not caught on yet. Maybe it could do with what Goodale says:

Not only do they point to possible security issues with GPS running on a
cell phone, but cultural observers worry about the growing preference of young
users to stay plugged into a virtual network, often oblivious to the real world
around them.

I have to admit that I'm somewhat interested in testing this out, but at the same time. Do I really want less security and to have people know where I am every second of the day? We already have a lack of privacy, even if we aren't celebrities. Is this going to far? Do we really need another tool to add to our phone to keep us consistently available and in demand?