Author Archives: Kaitlyn White

Give a Penny, Take a Penny

10th August 2011

Remember that jar at your local coffee shop that always offered a little spare change when you were running low? The concept is simple: give and take. Jonathan Stark has taken the idea of give and take to a whole new level this week with his new endeavor Jonathan’s Card.

Jonathan’s Card takes an image of Jonathan’s personal Starbucks mobile payment card and shares it with the internet. The concept is simple: download the image of his card (find it here), save it to your phone and use it at your local Starbuck’s for a cup of coffee on Jonathan. Simple enough.

Jonathan has taken it a step further and shared the card’s account information, so now any stranger can digitally give a little to the cause. The card also Tweets balance updates, and based on the stream, there are more than a few people giving a little this week.

Take a look and give yourself a little digital karma – or even a cup of coffee today. Way to go Jonathan for letting us all know that no matter how down the economy gets, charity survives. Thanks to @Mattstech for his Tweet this morning and sharing the project.

Is AmEx changing user behavior with social partnerships?

21st July 2011

Social integration took on a whole new meaning last week as American Express announced a partnership with Facebook allowing card holders to link their accounts to their cards in what they are calling “Link, Like, Love.” The program, similar to that of the Foursquare partnership announced earlier this year, allows card holders to receive automatic rewards on their card targeted by their likes and interests. The promotion is just short of amazing.

However, as I think more about the general AmEx card holder vs the average Facebook user, I wonder if AmEx is approaching something much larger here.

The average Facebook user is now nearly 40 years old, but I would imagine that that for heavy or advanced Facebook users that demographic skews much closer to the millennial generation…a generation buried in credit card options and credit card debt. Now, not speaking statistically whatsoever, I would say that the perception of AmEx, with it’s annual fees and generally high credit limits, skews towards a more financially established user overall.

More interesting than the partnerships AmEx has created are that AmEx is now A. leading a younger generation with no shortage of options to consider a card option typically out of their demographic simply because it now fits in with everything they surround themselves with – a robust social graph, tailored deals and instant gratification.

B. AmEx is now also targeting their key demographic by tapping into their exploration in social tools and recommendations. As these users begin to explore how to connect social to everything they do, this may be a perfect first step with a brand they trust financially. I can’t imagine the baby boomer generation is going to stop signing up for Facebook anytime soon.

As brands become more intertwined into every facet of our daily lives, I would bet that partnerships such as this start to carve new paths for consumer decision making on both sides of the fence. I for one know I’m a little more interested in what AmEx has to say these days and look forward to brands continuing to push the boundaries in social for user of every age.

Facebook Adds Local Recommendations

18th July 2011

Facebook has launched a local recommendation piece as a part of the new parent/child features focusing on local Facebook Place pages.

This feature allows users to easily recommend a local business to their friends, by typing a quick recommendation in the upper right hand corner of the page. Similar to a status update, this action can be targeted to a subset of a user’s friends. The post generates a powerful Newsfeed story, highligting the page in addition to the user’s review. As local businesses look for more ways to engage fans in-store as well as on-line, distinctions like this will help to add value for both fans and the pages seeking to reach them. These simple changes will begin to bridge the gap that currently exists between a user, a brand and the connection he/she establishes with a local business.

Have you taken advantage of Facebook’s changes for the parent/child connection yet? What benefits do you feel this brings to those branded pages you manage in addition?