Tag: Social

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Product Reviews

Waze – Social GPS Navigation

This last week I have been using Waze on my iPhone. What is Waze? Well, it is a free “social” GPS turn by turn app. Since iOS doesn’t have built in turn by turn, it is left up to the market to fill the gap. There are the big players out there TomTom, etc but then Waze comes along. I have heard/read about them for a while now, but never got around to trying it. Pretty cool. Nice interface, and it’s social.

How is it social? Well, people can report slowdowns, accidents, police, etc and it will show up on your map as you drive. You can see other wazer’s on the map as you drive. They also gamify it by giving you points for miles and little rewards when you hit milestones, pretty cool. Works for me. The product becomes better as more people use it, and I assume as your friends or groups you are in use it more.

Check it out at waze.com Looks like they have apps for more than iOS as well.

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Reviews

Thoughts on Google+

A couple of days ago, one of my developers got me on Google+ (or do you write it Google Plus?) Anyways, it is pretty cool. New social network, yay. Kind of like Facebook, but not. More granularity on sharing to “groups” or circles out of the gate. Integrates nicely with some Google offerings.

Do I see it taking off? Well, if history repeats itself, I could say .. it depends.

First off, Google has bombed on social in recent years. Buzz? Wave? yeah, not too good. But they are adding all the pieces that other social networks have and now trying to integrate them (location, micro blogging, sharing, photos, etc, etc).

Second, Myspace is dead. Friendster is long gone. No one though Myspace would topple, but Facebook dethroned them. Can Google do the same thing to Facebook?

Hard to say, but at the current moment they have the best chance.

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Ramblings

Foursquare in Your Business

I don’t own a business. So let’s just get that out of the way. But as a Foursquare user, and someone who frequents many businesses.. how could you use Foursquare as a business owner?

First, above all, you can know what the heck foursquare is… check it out.. http://www.foursquare.com .. ok, did you find your business on there?

Anyways, some places give discounts for mayors.. awesome. 15% at the local coffee shop for me, yet an employee is the mayor. Against the rules for places that give deals.

What else can you do? Well, you can know who is coming to your place. You can say “shout blahhhhhh” for a cool new badge

You can do other cool deals, like, the 100th checkin gets this, or the 10th checkin today gets this. Sky is the limit.

Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp, etc. If you own your local business, you should be on there and know WTF is going on. Facebook – you should already be there. If not, for shame. It is 2010.

Engage your customers. Give them something, even if it is recognition, if they are utilizing these location based social apps with your business.

Your patrons will thank you and spread the word for you. Through twitter/facebook, or just word of mouth, for you.