Posts filed under ‘Geo-tagging’
Visualizing Our Connected World [Infographic]
The saying “it’s a small world” has become more and more true every day, thanks to ubiquitous technology and the Internet. This Infographic by Column Five and Gigaom shows a visual representation of our connected planet, with numbers showing Internet users, broadband Subscribers, mobile-only phone access and smart phone speed.
[via Gigaom]
5 Trends That Will Shape Social Media
A recent piece at The Next Web highlights key trends that we’ve already begun to see influence the collective discussion of how social media and its related applications – geo-location targeting, tagging physical objects, etc. – will evolve over the next couple of years.
These key trends have implications for brands looking to reach consumers where and when it is most contextually relevant – and should be carefully considered as brands strike the balance between engaging consumers with a truly valuable, differentiated and interesting proposition or suggestion – and not just with an onslaught of promotional offers they will subsequently tune out.
- Identity will become embedded in devices: Our social media identities (Twitter username, Facebook profile, etc.) will be entered as part of the initial process of setting up our devices, and will be propagated into all applications. This will eliminate the need to enter your Twitter or Facebook credentials to access related functionality on mobile apps – instead, they will seamlessly access your profile. The recently rumored Facebook phone offers an example application.
- Online sharing will become embedded in media life: With social identity embedded into the devices we use daily, social sharing will become an integral part of the way we enjoy media on our regular TV’s, DVD players and music players. These devices will evolve towards all being Internet enabled and allow us to share likes, links and personal commentary. Remote controls may include “like” buttons which autopost to Facebook, while music players will sync preferences to preferred identity.
- Location will be embedded into all activities: Location aware devices will employ pre-emptive use of location to alert the user to things or people nearby that may be of interest. Users won’t have to check-in to a place to see if their friends are nearby, as their device will automatically alert them. This trend bears particular implications for marketers, whom will have to be particularly careful to provide consumers with value in that message and offer – and not just another annoying discount offer that they will eventually tune out if it becomes an onslaught.
- Smart devices and web apps will automatically check-in and post updates: Identity aware devices, empowered by embeddable RFID tags, will allow this type of technology to spread beyond the mobile phone. A smart coffee thermos, for example, could enable auto-checkins and send coupons to your phone as you enter your favorite coffee shop.
- Social networking will redefine how large organizations communicate: Social media inspired design patterns applied to existing enterprise software and/or intranets increase opportunities for collaboration. Collaboration will no longer be limited to sharing documents and version control, but will expand to the ability to find colleagues by shared interest and collaborate seamlessly in a multi-channel environment.
U. of Kentucky Encourages Students to Check In via Facebook
College Tries Unique Marketing Effort Using Places
Posted by Kunur Patel
Just weeks after Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook’s location-based service at a press conference in Silicon Valley, a Places-based campaign has popped up on a Southern college campus. Literally.
The University of Kentucky has planted giant, wooden pointer thingies — like the tab that marks the map in the Facebook Places logo — on its campus to encourage students to check in at school.
“We’re encouraging students to check in, so when they do, it’ll show up in their news feed and maybe their friends still in high school will see it over and over again,” said Kelley Bozeman, Big Blue’s marketing director, adding that the university’s marketing efforts are focused on undergraduate recruitment.
So far, there are two large pointers on campus, both nearly as tall as Ms. Bozeman. She says Facebook was not at all involved in the campaign. The university’s ad agency, Lexington-based ad agency Cornett-IMS, came up with the idea after Facebook launched the service. The agency commissioned the statues to look exactly like Facebook’s icon, except in the university’s signature blue.
And, yes, with fleets of young coeds broadcasting their locations on campus, the issue of privacy did come up.
“We do think about privacy,” Ms. Bozeman said. “But this is about check-ins during the day, when you’re on campus, in the classrooms and going to athletic events. Adults use good judgment. It’s not about checking in at home.”
The university is now considering whether to make more wooden pointers, or opt for window stickers on the doors of campus buildings to remind students to check in.
