Why Entertainment Will Drive the Next Checkin Craze

In recent months, a crop of services have popped up that re-purpose the checkin concept, popularized by Foursquare, and connect it to media and entertainment, as opposed to location.
In theory, the idea of checking-in to cultural concepts (like media, music, etc.) and not places is one that doesn’t jive in the real-world. It would follow then that the apps that provide this service — GetGlue, Philo and Miso — are silly and far too extreme in ideology to attract anything more than a testbed tech audience.
In practice, this alternative checkin behavior is one that is more cultural and familiar than anything the location checkin offers. In fact, it emulates the way we experience entertainment in our everyday lives. The desire to share is unchanging — it’s how we share that will continue to evolve with the help of social media and entertainment checkin services.

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The Culture of Entertainment

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Television shows such as Mad Men may not be monster hits when it comes to traditional ratings measurements, but those who do watch tend to do so religiously and with a fervor nearing obsession.
Watching Mad Men is a shared experience, whether you’re at a viewing party or alone in your bedroom, simply because of the culture surrounding the show. There’s a connected feeling you get when you experience a new episode for the first time. That’s why passionate viewers, if they’re socially inclined, are the type of people who will no doubt run to Facebook() and Twitter() to share their anticipation and viewing experience with the world.

A Social Media Diva Reveals Her Formula for Winning The Influence Project

Visitors to The Influence Project have no doubt seen the tiara wearing, turquoise phone-wielding, beatific smile bearing Mari Smith. But who is she and how did she emerge as one of the front-runners in this project? Her bio says she's a "Social Media Speaker & Trainer, Chic Geek & Facebook Passionista!, author of @FacebookMktg and Spiritual Truth-Seeker." We spoke last week and discussed her YouTube tutorial for The Influence Project, Twitter hijackers, and how she went about dispatching her influence campaign.
Mark Borden: One week in, you've kept your place in the front row. What made you decide to participate in The Influence Project?

Android Versus Android: Which Phones Are Winning on the Web? [STATS]

Smartphones are one of the most talked-about and hotly debated consumer electronics on the block these days, and manufacturers are pumping out more of these devices each month.
So, how are these devices measuring up in the arena of public opinion? A few 140-character user reviews can say a lot about a phone’s early success or failure, and we’ve got details on what social media junkies are saying about a few Android () devices, including the Droid X, the HTC Evo, and the HTC Incredible.
In the past year or so, we’ve gone from “smartphones” to “superphones” — slick, sexy pieces of hardware with huge screens, HD capabilities, powerful cameras, zippy processors, impressive browsing capabilities and more apps than you can shake a stick at. Technology has accelerated quickly over these months, and Android devices are competing nicely with Apple’s iPhones. How they compete amongst themselves, however, is another story.
Many of these phones are selling faster than they can be built. And each one is making a significant media splash at its launch. In the public eye, is there one Android to rule them all?

Facebook’s Open Graph and Like Button are Going Mobile

Facebook’s Open Graph, the platform that extends and spreads Facebook’s social network throughout the web, is going mobile, according to Facebook’s Head of Mobile Products Eric Tseng.
At the MobileBeat 2010 conference in San Francisco, Tseng said that Facebook () “really sees mobile as the future,” and that we can expect to see Facebook’s “Like” buttons in mobile applications soon.
Tseng used geolocation as an example to illustrate the power of the mobile Open Graph. If you were to walk near a coffee shop and get a location-aware notification that there’s a happy hour going on there, you’ll probably be even more inclined to visit it if the notification comes bundled with recommendations from your Facebook friends.
He also had some interesting ideas about mobile app discovery, which he thinks will become more social. Without going into the details, Tseng said that “Inevitably, app stores will become more social. As we get more apps, that’s going to be great. But the average user isn’t going to go through thousands of apps on their phone.”
As far as Facebook’s mobile user base goes, Tseng puts the number at 150 million users, adding that mobile users have fueled Facebook’s immense recent growth.

Social Media Use in the Workplace on the Rise [STATS]

A new study from Trend Micro shows that more workers around the globe are using social networks while in the office and on the clock.
The survey took a look at the habits of 1,600 Internet () users from the U.S., UK, Germany and Japan and found that over the past two years alone, social web use in the workplace has risen from 19% to 24%. In Germany specifically, social media use at work saw a 10% increase.
It’s still unclear whether this gradual but significant rise is being used to drive our businesses ahead, or if we’re instead wasting our companies’ time and money — a distinction that’s especially important to managers concerned with network security and productivity issues.

Domino’s UK Foursquare Promotion Helps Increase Profits by 29%

According to Domino’s UK financial earnings report, the company has increased its pre-tax profit by nearly 29%, which equates to roughly $26 million. The UK pizza retailer attributes social media initiatives and its Foursquare promotion for the gains.
In the earnings statement, CEO Chris Moore points to the rise in online orders — which now account for 32.7% of all orders — as proof that their web and social media efforts are paying off.
Moore reports that when it comes to the web, “Our main Facebook () site now has in excess of 36,000 fans … In addition, we have led the way with social media initiatives such as affiliate marketing, our superfans programme and the development of a link up with Foursquare.”
Moore concludes that, “all of these web-based activities offer a dual benefit of driving pizza sales online and building customer loyalty.”
You may recall that the Foursquare promotion rewards mayors of UK stores with free pizza; other patrons who check-in receive a free side dish. The promotion was initially piloted in select locations but later rolled out nationwide after the program proved to successful.
Though we don’t know exactly how prominent Foursquare () factored in to Domino’s UK financial gains, we do think its encouraging that company executives are acknowledging the value of social media in helping improve the bottom line. When coupled with the fact that Starbuck’s used social media to get one million customers to stores in one day, the sales potential of social media is proving to be ever more tangible.
[via Marketing Magazine]

BROKEN: No One Could “Like” Anything on Facebook

For about an hour, Facebook’s Like feature wasn’t working at all, either on-site or off. Many websites depend on likes for incoming traffic, so outages like that can be big problems for a lot of people. Facebook moved very quickly to correct the problem.
When the error occurred, anyone who liked something using the “Like” button on a website didn’t see it register on his or her Facebook profile, and they couldn’t even like status updates in their news feeds. Attempts to like news feed updates, photos or other Facebook-hosted content were met with the above database connection error.

Oxygen: Women Are Addicted To Facebook, But Unsure Where To Draw The Lines

For a large segment of women, checking Facebook has become a primary part of their morning routine, with the act of scrolling through status updates the first thing they do when waking. In a poll last month of 1,605 U.S. adults who use social media, 34 percent told NBC Universal’s Oxygen Media Facebook comes before brushing their teeth and nearly 40 percent are self-described “Facebook addicts.” The survey also found that 26 percent of women 18- to 34 get up in the middle of the night to read text messages and 37 percent of that group say they have fallen asleep with a PDA in their hands.

Social Media And The Future Of Film

by Juliette Richey on Sunday, March 14, 2010

The entire experience of going to the movies is magical to me.  From the moment your ticket stub is ripped and you settle into your seat, and the lights dim and the projector heats up, you are transported away.  There is a desire to be captivated by these stories, a chance to escape into a world different from our own if even for just a short time.

But there is also for me a connection from this magical world to the real job I do every day. As much as I succumb to the magic, I wonder what happens if your audience isn’t going to the theater to watch your movie?  How will anyone see it?  What are the opportunities to tell stories and make media in new ways, taking advantage of new forms of communication channels that will resonate with twenty-first century audiences? How is social media transforming the film industry?

HOW TO: Better Serve the Social Media Customer

Maria Ogneva is the Director of Social Media at Attensity, a social media engagement and voice-of-customer platform that helps the social enterprise serve and collaborate with the social customer. You can follow her on Twitter at @themaria or @attensity360, or find her musings on her personal blog and her company’s blog.
When it comes to social media for business, there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy. But to ensure results, you must align it with your overall business objectives and avoid falling for “shiny new objects” simply because they are trendy or hyped.
For example, a new business or “first mover” may want to focus on establishing thought leadership, while a more mature business should aim for customer support. In all cases, creating a product that actually solves problems for customers, present and future, should be every business’s top priority — and you should be using social media to help you figure out what that product is.
Below, we’ll take a closer look at how each department can blend traditional and social media to drive business goals and collaborate on a seamless customer experience.