More Foursquare Visualization

With all the talk about Facebook Places, yesterday, I decided it was time to update the Foursquare visualizations that I blogged about the other day.

Click to read more ...

Vegan cookie, cargo shorts, hemp necklace

We've been in Des Moines for more than six months now and we love it for a ton of reasons. Not least among them is getting to see most of my siblings (Sean lives in Arkansas, so we don't see him) regularly and enjoying inside jokes. One of which took place just last week and was documented on the interwebs.

Since I'm sure you're wondering what it is - I'll let you in. Check out this clip from Saturday Night Live a few months ago. 

We enjoyed it so we shared it at dinner one night. Several weeks later, my wife bought a vegan cookie at the coffee shop up the street...

 

...and informed the world on Facebook. We promptly jumped in...

 ...which made me laugh.

By the way, the last line is from a previous SNL sketch, a commercial for Jack Johnson's line of "shoes that look like feet" known as JJ Casuals.

"West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin talks about writing the Facebook movie

Here's a quick video with "The West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin talking about why he chose to write the script for the movie about Facebook's founding:

Iowa Affirms Rights for Samesex Marriage

For an expatriate Iowan(1), I think that I keep up on the news back home better than most. However, I missed the fact that the Iowa Supreme Court was set to issue it's decision regarding a challenge to state's ban on samesex marriage last Friday.

Thanks to the magic of the Interwebs, I was fully up to speed within a few minutes of logging on that morning. It started through Twitter, where there were a plethora of posts announcing that the Supreme Court's website had been over-trafficed and brought down prior to the decision being announced. Over the next several hours the site was restored and news sites like the Des Moines Register reported that news that the gay marriage ban had been (unaminously) overturned.

I don't want to get too far into the politics here so I'll just say I was pleased with the ruling.

I was more than a bit surprised at the positive reaction to the news throughout my social networks. The buzz was all over Twitter and Facebook. Tweets and status updates were littered with posts boasting pride in Iowa's progressive decision and the example that it has set for the nation. 

When it comes to politics, Iowa and it's "first in the nation" status is prominently featured at the beginning of each Presidential Election. Otherwise, we don't get a lot of notoriety - except for decisions like these.

State Senate Majority Leader Mike Grostal and State House Speaker Pat Murphy issued a joint press release applauding the decision that also featured other progressive moves the state has made in its history:

Iowa has always been a leader in the area of civil rights. 

In 1839, the Iowa Supreme Court rejected slavery in a decision that found that a slave named Ralph became free when he stepped on Iowa soil, 26 years before the end of the Civil War decided the issue. 

In 1868, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that racially segregated “separate but equal” schools had no place in Iowa, 85 years before the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same decision. 

In 1873, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled against racial discrimination in public accommodations, 91 years before the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same decision. 

In 1869, Iowa became the first state in the union to admit women to the practice of law. 

In the case of recognizing loving relationships between two adults, the Iowa Supreme Court is once again taking a leadership position on civil rights.

Great job, Iowa. 

(1)Well, kind of, sometimes Indiana seems like an entirely different country.

Social Media in the Business

 SmallerIndiana, a Ning network created by Pat Coyle, turned out to be the forum that provided the most responses to my question:

Which social media companies/consultants do you admire and what have they done to earn your admiration?

I decided to dive in a little deeper to the firms that were mentioned. When looking into a new company, I like to see how the firm describes themselves. Typically, this is done with a lengthy paragraph that is very well written. However, within that paragraph there is typically a few self-describing words that capture the essence of the firm. 

• TrendyMinds – “We are not just another PR/advertising firm, we’re an innovating firm.”
  
• Cross Creative – “a professional web design company”
  
• Silver Square – “We help business owners build a path to their next milestone.”
  
• Professional Blog Service – “We provide the perspiration”
  
• Brandswag – “We help companies incorporate new, creative marketing tools”
  
• MediaSauce – “We are a connection company”
  
• RoundPeg – “a full service marketing firm”
  

Similarities? For the most part, Smoosiers (as the Smaller Indiana folks are referred to colloquially) admire firms using social media in the marketing space (and ancillary spaces, like public relations, sales, advertising, etc). 

Interesting. “Social Media” is a collective term for several emerging technologies. As such, the technologies are still “new” and they have not been universally adopted. Businesses that are willing to take the leap on new technologies are typically doing so because they believe they will quickly get a return on their investment. The easiest way to calculate an ROI is to believe the technology will increase sales, thus the preponderance of marketing-like firms in the social media market.

While I believe using Social Media for marketing-related purposes is essential, I’m also interested to see what other uses firms are finding for social media in the business.

My favorite example Pancheros, the burrito chain based in Iowa City, Iowa. Their social media story is described well here on the Lava Row blog. (where I first heard about it). In short, they’re reaching out to engage their customers by monitoring the Twitterstream, displaying the Twitterstream live in the restaurants, and encouraging their customers to “follow them on Twitter” and they’re doing it in such a way that it doesn’t impose on the experience of their customers that either have no idea what’s going or simply don’t care. That’s what I think is great about it – they’re using social media to build brand affinity and community with their customers. 

What they’re not doing is working social media aggressively to attract new customers, at least not yet. In fact, on cursory glance at the corporate website, they don’t even mention their blog or Twitter handle. 

Another use for social media that I read about recently came from a joint study conducted by University of Evansville, in Evansville, Indiana and Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Their research found that the impressions of a perspective employee that an employer can glean from social networking web sites is a fairly accurate portrayal of that person. To quote one of the researchers, Prof Peter Rosen, “The consistency among the student raters allows us to support the claim that Facebook & Social Networking Websites in general can be used to predict performance measures like IQ and GPA, as well as the personality of the Facebook user."

Of course many of these firms know this, groups like MediaSauce have been putting on educational seminars on options for social media for some time.. I had the opportunity to attend one of their seminars several months ago and was impressed by the robust nature of their recommendations. My wife, who works for a national non-profit headquartered here locally, attended (and enjoyed) a seminar they put on last week on using social media to further a cause.

I’ll be researching many other firms, including many of those listed above, to see how they’re using social media and will record it here.

Facebook's 25 Random Things

There’s been an interesting phenomenon spreading throughout Facebook the last couple weeks called “25 Random Things About Me”. Cleverly named, it’s a list of 25 random things about me (or the person writing it).

You become aware of the list when one of your Facebook friends creates a 25 Random Things list and then “tags” you and 24 other people. You are then given the following instructions:

Rules:

Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

In effect, it’s a combination of the chain letter that’s been around for centuries and the odd e-mail “Get to Know Me”-surveys that were bouncing around collegiate e-mail directories in the last 1990s. However, unlike chain letters, there is no ill will set to fall upon you if you don’t pick up the challenge and unlike those surveys there are no common questions asked of each person.

After being tagged three times by co-workers and once by a family member I decided to capitulate and, since I took the time to create the list I figured that I should also share it here:

1. I know the difference between a Monument and a Memorial (as in Washington and Lincoln).
   
2. I will one day have a job where I can take my dogs to work.
   
3. I’ve had the same seats at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa since I graduated in 2000 even though I've lived in Indiana for four of the those years and Nebraska for one.
   
4. I still consider myself a “Chevy Truck Guy” even though I’ve happily owned an Acura sedan for over a year. The power of branding is strong.
   
5. There is a bit of a strained dichotomy in my life in that I love history and tradition but constantly seek change.
   
6. I’ve become a big enough fan of IndyCar racing in our time in Indiana that I was able to recognize 2008 Indy 500 and Indy Car Series champion Scott Dixon when he walked past me in the Indianapolis Airport this summer (we have a great picture).
   
7. I have cousins named Rustin, Justin and Dustin (in three separate families).
   
8. I pay for a home phone but don’t know the number.
   
9. I don’t understand people who have a non-geographic loyalty to a particular professional sports team.
   
10. I like to know as much as possible about the sports teams that I follow and as a result I have a hard time just turning on the TV and enjoying a casual NFL or MLB game (unless it’s the Vikings or Twins).
    
11. I visualize a map of the United States when thinking about cardinal directions (such as the Atlantic Ocean is East and the Pacific is West). Ever since moving to Indiana, I’m at times confused since the Mississippi River is now West of me.
    
12. I think that umbrellas are not masculine but have no problems with scarves and earmuffs (at least the wrap around ones). My opinion has been disputed several times by a few of my MBA classmates.
    
13. Other than at the office, as many of my friends refer to me by last name as do my first
    
14. I still refer to most of my female friends from college by their last/maiden names (only) even though several have acquired new ones for themselves.
    
15. In the last few months I’ve become an avid user of Twitter.
    
16. I met Dave Matthews at my first ever company holiday party and no holiday part since has been as exciting.
17. I never drank coffee until I started graduate school in August 2007, now I drink it a lot. I drink as much of it after 6 PM as I do before 11 AM. I only drink it black – no mochochocalatte-ish drinks.
    
18. My greatest athletic accomplishment is somewhere between riding all 471 miles across Iowa in RAGBRAI 2008 and making “Pro” in Wii tennis. Middle school basketball (2 years), high school tennis (2 years), and Iowa State Rugby (1 year) were not quite as successful. I also like to play kickball but we didn’t field a team last season.
    
19. After the first time that I went out with my wife, Hope, (we were already friends and she didn’t know it was an “exploratory” date) I decided that I wasn’t going to her ask her out again; she called and asked me out instead.
20. Hope and I started to a tradition of going to movies every weekend when we first started dating (March 2002); we still see 2 or more per month.
    
21. I was the first person I knew to have a CD player when my folks gave me one for my birthday in 5th grade. Everyone bought me CDs that they wanted to listen to: my Sister Sara - Paula Abdul’s “Shut Up & Dance”, my brother Joe – Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Poison” and my folks - Tom Petty’s “Into the Great Wide Open”. I listened to all of them at the time but Tom Petty is the only one that I’d still like to have today.
    
22. Over Christmas this year, I visited the neighborhood in Cedar Rapids, Iowa that I grew up in and it still looks like Post-Katrina New Orleans from last summer’s floods. The recovery needed from that disaster has been grossly under publicized. 
    
23. I firmly believe that almost all LinkedIn.com recommendations are crap.
    
24. Even though I’m not a Colts fan (like most folks around these parts), I think Peyton Manning is hilarious.
    
25. The tater tot is my favorite form of potato. I love the fact that I can order them at The High Life Lounge in Des Moines (though I haven't been there in a few years). 

At first I thought the 25 Random Things list was fairly silly but now I kind of dig it. One of the greatest uses of Facebook for those of us over 22 years of age is to catch up with friends from long ago (like the elementary school classmate who “friended” me this evening). What better way to learn about what they are up to then to view the 25 Random Things about their life that they’ve chosen to share with the world?

Connecting Social Media & Super Bowl Ads

So, yesterday was the Super Bowl. It featured two teams I don't care a whole lot about and 90-some commercials sold at extremely high rates(1).

One commercial that I enjoyed was the following from CareerBuilder.com:

While not a "legendary" ad, I did find it amusing.

I also found it interesting for a few reasons. First of all, in an economy where the news is announcing massive layoffs all across the country each day, CareerBuilder focuses on people that have jobs and want to change them. Second, they followed up the Super Bowl ad with an integrated advertisement (or "gift") in Facebook.

Facebook gifts are icons that can be given from one user to another. A new one is featured each day and today (the day after the Super Bowl spot ran) is "the creepy coworker" from the television spot. The gift then stays associated with the recievers profile for the foreseeable future. Careerbuilder isn't the first sponsored "gift" in Facebook but it's the first time that I've seen it tied into so closely into a larger campaign.

I believe my MBA Marketing Prof would call this an example of a tactic from an integrated marketing communications strategy featuring both the biggest TV venue of the year and the leading social media platform.

It'll be interesting to see if it works out for them.

(1)It has been pointed out by ScottHendo that many of these spots were actually sold by NBC to NBC so that may have inflated the rates/demand abit.