28th March 2011
Facebook questions are now live for all Facebook users as well as brand pages. For those brands without access to robust publishing tool platforms, this is a great quick and easy way to learn more and engage more with fan bases.
Are you planning to use Facebook questions for your brands or clients?
24th March 2011
Facebook deals made a quiet launch a few weeks ago with a lot of buzz surrounding how the largest social network would break into the group coupon model.
While the actual tool has not launched, we have uncovered a few more details around how it will work. The program will launch first in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, San Diego and San Francisco, you can sign up for deals today and Facebook will alert you once they go live.
Deals will go beyond the mobile phone. Currently Facebook users can claim a deal through Facebook Places. With the different options for check-in deals, it will be interesting to see how Facebook expands upon this feature.
Deals will work with friends. Given the social nature of Facebook, this definitely doesn’t come as a surprise, but it does come as an added extra. Other deal sites like livingsocial allow users to forward a deal to friends in order to receive perks of their own. Since this can be tough, it will be interesting to see how Facebook taps into the social networking nature to create meaningful rewards.
Facebook deals will aslo be activated through a tab on a brand’s Facebook page. Apart from check-in deals alone, Facebook has created a dedicated tab to all deals so that a user can easily see offers for local businesses. Although the future enhancements of this are not clear, it is clear Facebook is ready to make this action easy and functional for users.
What are you thoughts on Facebook deals? Have you signed up? What will you expect to see when they finally go live?
15th March 2011
It’s never easy explaining Foursquare to friends outside of the social media world. “So you check-in, get a virtual sticker and once in a while find a coupon…right.” Well yes, sort-of.
If you have downloaded Foursquare 3.0 in the last week, it’s clear to see Foursquare sees itself as far more than virtual stickers and 10% of coffee every 10 check-ins. Today, Dennis Crowley, Co-Founder of Foursquare, set the record straight and gave SXSW a glimpse into how the app is changing the way people interact through technology.
Crowley explained how the vision for Foursquare all along has always been more than badges. The vision has been taking the device in your pocket and creating an archived experience, a history of where you have been, with who and where you are off to next. Think Amazon, for daily activities he says.
Foursquare 3.0 and beyond will strike the core motivation behind location based technology of connections and then keep them all in one place for you. For example, when I arrived in Austin a few days ago and checked-into the airport I was greeted with a message saying “the last time you were in Texas was in October 2010 with Kate Larson.” Now that’s cool. It’s not all about where am I right now, but where have I been and where my friends advise I should head next.
While deals platforms like Groupon succeed in driving new customers, Foursquare is focusing it’s sights on repeat customers and loyalty. So far 250,000 merchants have activated deals on Foursquare, they are building communities, digital and physical and are reaping the rewards.
Driving users who are ready to explore their own backyard is what Foursquare is all about, and the path is quickly becoming clear. “It’s more than cute, we are making neighborhoods easier to use and encouraging people to do more interesting things” says Crowley. After today’s discussion, I now know I have a few more motivating factors in my location based defense and I personally cannot wait to see how this space expands in 2011.