Foursquare: Carrots Are the Killer App

By Mark Evans in Social Media 2 Comments Tags: , , ,

Last weekend, I went to the Old Spaghetti Factory in downtown Toronto for dinner. It’s a large family-oriented restaurant that’s been around forever. For the most part, little has changed at the Old Spaghetti Factory. The decor and menu are exactly as they were a decade ago, although the prices have obviously climbed.

There are some signs of change, mostly notably the large, flat-screen televisions in the bar and, if you look closely, the use of social media. I say “closely” because as you wait in the lobby for a table, there’s a small sign slapped on the host’s dais that suggests you check in on Foursquare to get a deal.

Not being a regular Foursquare user, the opportunity to get a deal was impossible to resist so I whipped out the iPhone and checked in. Unfortunately, the deal had either ended or it wasn’t part of the database so I never got the much-anticipated discount. (Note: It turned out the restaurant dumped Foursquare for Facebook. The head of marketing suggested Foursquare will disappear soon, although I don’t share his bearish view.)

I did, however, gain some valuable insight into Foursquare’s value proposition – at least the value it holds for me and likely many other people. It’s all about the discount or the coupon. If Foursquare has a “killer app”, it’s not the strange joy of becoming the mayor of someplace you patronage far too often, or the even more bizarre pride in earning badges, which reminds me of my days long ago as a Cub (aka mini-Boy Scout).

The “killer app” for Foursquare is the deal. Give me a good deal and I’ll use Foursquare, even if means having to check in (but don’t expect me to pepper my Twitter stream with updates on my whereabouts). In the world of social media and the increasing need for brands to provide something to get something, the “carrot” rules. Consumers want carrots so they will happily do things such as check in, “Like” or “follow” to get one.

Foursquare has the potential to be a carrot machine that brands could use to attract and reward consumers and, as important, differentiate themselves from the competition who may not be offering carrots on Foursquare or not as many carrots. If a brand offers lots of carrots, consumers will check in.

In my humble opinion, Foursquare should focus on carrots, not badges or mayors. Badges and mayors are fun and entertaining but they’re candy that comes and goes quickly. Carrots, meanwhile, have staying power because everyone likes a deal and we’re willing to make an effort to get one.

Twitter’s Purchase of TweetDeck is a No-Brainer

By Mark Evans in Social Media No Comments Tags: , ,

In February when it appeared that Bill Gross’ Ubermedia had purchased TweetDeck, the most popular third-party service to use Twitter, it seemed like a huge coup for Ubermedia and a major strategic blunder by Twitter.

With about 5% of the market for people looking read and publish tweets, TweetDeck was the biggest prize for anyone looking to establish a strong foothold within the TwitterSphere. So when Ubermedia apparently agreed to acquire TweetDeck for $30-million, it looked like Bill Gross had outmaneuvered Twitter. At the same time, it was also more evidence of how Twitter has been stumbling strategically, highlighted by the fact it has failed to make acquisitions that seem like no-brainers (e.g. TwitPic, Bit.ly)

But now it appears the Ubermedia-Tweetdeck deal was never consummated, and that Twitter is now in discussions to buy TweetDeck for $50 million, according to the Wall St. Journal.

A Twitter-TweetDeck deal makes complete sense, mostly because Twitter.com sucks as a way. While Twitter claimed earlier this year that 90% of Twitter users used “official” Twitter applications, a study by Sysomos (a client) found that only 58% of people use official Twitter applications to tweet.

Twitter would never admit it but Twitter.com continues to be a low-frills platform to use Twitter, while dozens of third-party companies such as Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and Seesmic have developed much more feature-rich, user-friendly and more interesting services and applications.

In theory, Twitter should have acquired TweetDeck long ago when it became apparent it was becoming the most popular way to use Twitter other than Twitter.com.

When UberMedia made its move for Tweetdeck, it was a shot across the bow for Twitter given that UberMedia has emerged as a pesky rival after acquiring a portfolio of applications and services. In many ways, Twitter had little choice but to acquire Tweetdeck with some of its venture capital booty.

The winner in this battle between UberMedia and Twitter is TweetDeck founder Iain Dodsworth (left) who has found himself as the belle of the ball. Armed with $4-million venture capital from the Accelerator Group, Betaworks, Ron Conway and Howard Lindzon, Tweetdeck’s popularity has been propelled by its growing number of features, including the ability to create multiple tabs to monitor direct messages, lists and keywords searches.

For more on the TweetDeck-Twitter discussions, check out VentureBeat and GigaOm.

Could Twitter Get “MySpaced”?

By Mark Evans in Social Media 14 Comments Tags: , , , ,

As difficult as it might be to believe, it was not that long ago that MySpace dominated the social networking market, and made Facebook look like a pipsqueak. MySpace ruled the roost in such a major way that Rupert Murdoch spent nearly $600-million to make it part of his News Corp. empire. Now, MySpace is evaporating before our eyes while Facebook is battling Google for digital dominance.

…which brings us to Twitter, which dominates the micro-blogging world after vanquishing wannabes such as Jaiku and Pownce. Right now, there is no competition to Twitter – not even a weak and feeble MySpace. Instead, Twitter dominates while micro-blogging startups such as Yammer happily operate in the enterprise market.

Even so, there is growing speculation Twitter is about to face new and serious competition. The biggest threat appears to be Bill Gross’ UberMedia, which already has a strong foothold with a portfolio of Twitter applications.

According to CNN, Gross is considering a new, user-friendly service. The service would differentiate itself based on ease-of-use, and allow users to post messages longer than 140 characters.

As well, a group of developers disgruntled about how Twitter changed its API rules have launched rstatus.us, which is billing itself on two concepts: simplicity and openness.

Meanwhile, Twitter continues to search for a business model and ways to better connect and serve its users – something highlighted by GigaOm recently. When there was no threat of competition, Twitter could afford to struggle, knowing that even if it made mistakes, there was no one to capitalize on them.

But now, the landscape seems to be changing. As a result, Twitter no longer seems as impenetrable. While there’s still not a major rival on the horizon, something seems to be different.

The question is whether a new service could challenge Twitter, let alone do what Facebook did to MySpace. Does Twitter have such a dominant hold on the marketplace that it would be very difficult for a new player to make a serious charge?

My take is “no”.

As much as people love Twitter, social media users are fickle, disloyal at the drop of a hat and always looking for the next new and shiny object. If something better, different and more interesting than Twitter came along, it wouldn’t take much for it to attract a lot of attention.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t expect the masses to abandon Twitter but if Bill Gross can come up with a new and compelling service, anything could happen. It would be a challenge because the barriers to entry are extremely high. One false move, and you’ve got a Color.com, RockMelt or Flock on your hands.

But if you could hit one out of the park right away, watch out. In theory, all you’d need are breathless reviews from a Guy Kawasaki, Robert Scoble, Mike Arrington and Walter Mossberg for a service to go from zero to 60 miles an hour. Once the cool kids deem something to be wonderful, the masses could jump on board hard and fast.

If I were Twitter and its investors, I’d be nervous. The world is good now but there are competitive rumblings. They may not be loud but they exist – something we haven’t heard in a while.

More: For some other coverage about Twitter, check out this TechCrunch story looking at the-sky-is-falling story that appeared in Fortune Magazine.

Is The Half-Baked PlayBook DOA?

By Mark Evans in Apple/iPod, Wireless 11 Comments Tags: , , ,

Would you buy car with no brakes or doors? Would you buy a pair of hockey skates with no blades? What about a laptop with no keyboard?

In what can only be a riddle wrapped up in an enigma, Research in Motion will be launching the much-anticipated PlayBook next week that is, at best, work in progress. From Walter Mossberg’s review, the PlayBook lacks many of the key features that would make a reasonable consumer consider purchasing one, let alone make the PlayBook a viable rival to the iPhone.

For one, the PlayBook lacks cellular connectivity, as well as built-in apps such as e-mail, a calendar, contacts and BlackBerry Messenger. To use these bread-and-butter apps, you need a BlackBerry, which then synchs using software called Bridge. For non-BlackBerry users, they have no choice but to use Web-based applications.

To be frank, the PlayBook’s shortcomings are stunning given RIM announced the PlayBook’s launch months ago. With so much lead time, it’s a complete head-scratcher as to why it would launch something that isn’t ready for prime-time.

RIM says the PlayBook will see many upgrades and improvements in a few months but the biggest danger is it may be too little, too late. High-tech consumers are fickle and not terribly patient so the PlayBook’s half-baked finish will likely see it dissed and dismissed long before RIM can push out newer, better versions.

RIM is clearly hoping consumers will give it the benefit of the doubt for putting out a product prematurely. RIM must believe it needs to move now, otherwise it will give the iPad even more time to dominate the market, and provide Android-powered tablets with the opportunity to stake out more ground.

As someone who has sat on the tablet sidelines to see if an alternative to iPad could emerge, the PlayBook’s launch is disappointing. There is no chance I would buy one, particularly at $499. In fact, the PlayBook’s launch may be the final push for me to finally purchase an iPad.

RIM has never been a terrific marketing company but if this will have to change dramatically if there is any hope for the PlayBook to recover from what appears to an inauspicious debut.

For more, check out Matt Hartley’s story in the Financial Post.

The Marriage of Social Media and SEO

By Mark Evans in Social Media 2 Comments Tags: , , ,

When Magazines Canada asked me to do a presentation on social media and SEO, my immediate reaction was “Well, that’s interesting and different” because it wasn’t a topic I had explored much.

In doing research for the presentation, which happened earlier today, I realized I had been spending a lot of time on SEO without realizing it. When you boil it down, the creation of content and leveraging social media to distribute it (and get others to distribute content for you) is a pillar of SEO – at least the organic kind.

Content thrives when it’s easy for people to find it. With the major search engines now starting to embrace and index social media activity, there’s a natural marriage happening between social media and SEO.

In doing my research, one thing was stood out was a blog post by Rohn Jay Miller, which included this statement:

“The fabulous collision between social networks and search engines is the most important change to the Internet in the last ten years. And it’s changing the Internet forever.”

Here’s my presentation, which can also be found on SlideShare.

The Marriage of Social Media & SEO

Things I Don’t Do With Social Media

By Mark Evans in Social Media 5 Comments

I love social media, and probably spend too much time using the different services. That said, there are some things that I don’t do with social media. These include:

1. Checking-in. I have no interest in checking-in anywhere. It’s bad enough I have to check-in at the airport yet alone voluntarily do it everywhere else. To me, there’s no value in telling my friends or the world where I’m at. In theory, checking-in is a way of connecting with other people or broadcasting what you’re doing but it’s not for me. And according to ReadWriteWeb, checking-in is on its way out.

2. Use Twitter or Facebook to talk about personal stuff. It amazes me how much information people disclose on social media. And I’m not just talking about their coffee habits or workout routines. For whatever reason, they use social media as an online diary about their day-to-day personal lives, including details (including photos) about their children,

3. Spend copious amount of time on social media. Social media can be a time-suck and a productivity-killer. You log in to Facebook to see what your friends are doing, and the next you know, an hour has gone by. From what I can tell, lots of people spend hours and hours creating and reading content. This makes it a mystery about how and when they get any work done.

4. Worry about collecting followers or “Likes”. In many ways, social media is a competitive sport in which people battle to build up their followers on Twitter, “Likes” on Facebook or RSS subscribers on a blog. While it’s great to have people interested in what you’re doing or saying, quantity isn’t a big concern for me. It doesn’t define how much I get out of social media or what I do with it.

5. Bitch too much about bad products or services. If there’s a “killer app” for social media, it’s how it has been embraced as a medium for complaining when things go wrong. A product doesn’t work, there’s bad service or something breaks, and the next thing you know people are pounding away at social media to tell the world. When companies bend over backward to deal with these complaints, it only exacerbates the situation by encouraging more people to complain as well.

What don’t you do with social media?

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