Freshly Baked @Foursquare Ideas – Explore events

Read Part I of the Freshly Baked @ Foursquare Ideas series.

This is Part II of the Freshly Baked @Foursquare Ideas series. In this post, we focus on exploration...particularly around events.

Exploration (or discovery) is core to Foursquare's model. You only have to view the homepage (...Find your Friends. Unlock Your City) or play with the latest 3.0 update (which features an Explore tab) to realise the value that's been placed on exploration.

Currently, users explore via direct search or through filters (food, coffee, nightlife, shops and arts & entertainment) and the Foursquare recommendation engine returns a list of locations to the user. But whilst searching for locations is an effective means to explore a city, it's just one angle, one approach.

Imagine if Foursquare were to partner with an events network such as Plancast or Yahoo Upcoming. This would add a new dimension to a user's experience of exploring their city. No longer would users just explore by locations (already added in the Foursquare ecosystem), but by upcoming events (e.g. art exhibitions, flea markets, food markets, live music gigs, etc) as well.

Imagine this:

1. You're in New York City and you have nothing planned for Sunday.
2. You load the Foursquare app to explore what's happening.
3. You're presented with a list of events on Sunday along with their opening hours and tips.
4. You see that the Brooklyn Flea Market is open till 5pm, at Williamsburg, Brooklyn. You also notice that four of your Foursquare friends have already been there.
5. Finally you read the tip, "Check out the bank vault whilst you're there...you'll be in for a treat!".
6. You add this to your to-do list, throw on a jacket and head out to check the markets.

Exploring by events...A simple, yet a new and powerful way to explore a city. No longer will you miss out on an event of interest to you. No longer will you have to read another pocket-size pamphlet or visit another external website to list upcoming events. The beauty with this solution is that the entire exploration experience from planning to physical check-in is all contained seamlessly within one convenient environment for the user: the Foursquare app.

Below is just a sneak preview of the Foursquare Events prototype I've been developing. I've viewed the 'Events' feature as an entirely new Foursquare product offering and have thought through some of the workflows.

What do you think?

Freshly Baked @Foursquare Ideas - Check into transporation, not just locations

Currently, Foursquare allows users to check into one location at a time. A local cafe. A new kitsch bar. A grubby metro station.

But what if Foursquare supported check ins to more than just locations? What if Foursquare supported check ins to major modes of transportation. A flight. A cruise liner. An interstate train.

What I find interesting about this idea is that it opens up a new dimension to Foursquare. No longer are you bound to just one location at any one point in time. By checking into a major mode of transportation, you're now interacting with an object that ties multiple locations together  - your origin and your destination. I think this could have major business implications as it could enable Foursquare to widen its service offerings in the future to both the consumer and business markets.

Let's look at checking into major modes of transportation as an example. Users are already doing this - they're just treating it as another legitimate location. How many times have you seen some flight/cruise/train code, an AA33, a QF108 or an OA815 (only if you're in LAX), already entered in Foursquare? Whilst confusing at times (surely checking into the airport tarmac isn't legitimate) it does confirm one thing: people are already familiar with checking into modes of transportation. From a UX perspective, it's somewhat reassuring to know that this behaviour is already part of a user's mental model of Foursquare.

My own personal user journey for this use case would look like:

1. I'm at JFK and I check into flight AA33.
2. Foursquare confirms this is the JFK -> LAX bound flight.
3. I am able to read up on LAX and am presented with useful data about my flight (e.g. whether it is on time or delayed, departure gate, etc.) and my destination location: LAX. In this case, I would expect to be presented with data such as the location of airline lounges, transfer gates, customs offices, rest rooms. I may even be presented with the different forms of local transport (train/bus/cab) and estimated rates (e.g. the cab fare from LAX to Downtown LA). And all this occurs in addition to the tips functionality that exists on the current Foursquare platform. Imagine how powerful and relevant this would be for travellers!
4. LAX is 'cached' on a quick-access list, so when I land and get mobile coverage, it immediately pops up for a rapid fire check in.

In this simple example, it is clear that the user group that is benefitting is the consumer group. They're benefitting from the useful and relevant data...and this occurs because we've shifted focus from a single location to an object (a mode of transportation) that ties multiple locations together simultaneously.

But what about the business group? I can feel people itching to know how this service could be monetised. I think this service is perfectly aligned with the travel guide industry - and if the recent Guardian article on Foursquare is anything to go by, it appears that Foursquare is perfectly lined up to enter this particular industry. But rather than competing against the travel guide giants, I'd recommend partnering with them (at least for the short term). Lonely Planet (@lonelyplanet) is infamous for it's PDF guides of cities, and it's pre-planned sight-seeing routes. Foursquare could be leveraged as a distribution network for Lonely Planet.

Just imagine this: Foursquare confirms that flight AA33 is bound for Los Angeles. You've never been to LA before, so Foursquare offers a $10 mobile guide to Los Angeles with all of the travel hot spots laid out on the map within the native Foursquare mobile app. Pretty neat huh? Foursquare could charge a retainer fee for being the distribution network and a percentage cut of every transaction made. Obviously, issues will have to be ironed out with pushing travel guides only when its relevant (i.e. only when users are travelling for holidays). This is just one minor example of a new revenue stream for Foursquare just by focusing not on a single location, but an object (a mode of transportation) that links multiple locations together simultaneously.

I've calculated that since the start of 2010, I've averaged at least one flight a week with business. I also know I've  personally added my weekly flights as locations on Foursquare (for both points and mayorship purposes). Crowley (@dens), please don't hate. I've seen other commuters check into my faux-locations too! But if randoms and I are checking into these faux locations...doesn't this mean something?

So readers, I'd be keen on hearing your thoughts. Do you think this functionality would be useful? What other travel-related functionality would you like to see on Foursquare? Drop me a comment below with your opinions!

User Experience (UX). Steve Jobs'ing the Newspaper Industry.

Over the next 5-10 years, one question will cause many restless nights for the CEO's of newspaper companies. This question, one of multi-billion dollar proportions, is:

"How can we successfully convince and convert readers to pay for online news?"

Many people think this is an impossible task, and there's evidence to prove it. The New York Times launched a subscription program called TimesSelect in 2005, charging readers US $49.95 per annum. (Non-loyal) readers proved reluctant to pay for online content and the program was abandoned in 2007.

With British newspapers, The Times and The Sunday Times, recently announcing that they will charge for online content from June 2010, I thought I'd pitch in my two cent's worth.

In this blog post,  I propose 3 ideas:

1. The problem- Newspapers are not innovating enough.
2. The strategy- Newspapers need to focus on their readers...not their revenues
3. The solution- Really Rich User Experience

The problem: Newspapers are not innovating enough.

Most people think the problem is that news is free and so readily available on the web. This is what makes content so impossible to charge for online - if you can't get news from one news provider, there are many more just one click away. Additionally, there's blogs, Twitter and other social media technologies which can be leveraged for free, to obtain news and information. But these alternative are not the problem; they merely form the digital landscape which we're growing up in and currently inhabiting. More importantly, they form the baseline for all of our (user/customer) demands and expectations.

The problem is that newspapers are not innovating enough. An examination of existing and future chargeable online content offerings shows that they are nothing to be desired. In these initiatives, newspapers are re-packaging existing news services into 'sparklier' offerings and then they differentiate by the bells and whistles they hang off (more up-to-date news coverage, more images and/or more information).  In the case of The Times and The Times Select, its "video, interactive graphics, personalised news feeds and the chance to engage directly with our journalists" (James Harding, the editor of The Times). Most of these offerings we can already get on the web today. This is why newspapers have all failed in the past with charging for online content, and this is why they will fail in the future. Reinventing the wheel got nobody anywhere. The same rule applies for newspapers. If newspapers really believed in the value of their journalism, they'd provide a much superior product and service to their readers than what they area already providing.

The strategy: Newspapers need to focus on their readers...not their revenues

If newspapers really focused on their readers, they'd know that charging for online content (in the present climate) is a futile move. More importantly, they would have a better understanding of the information needs of readers today.

In no specific, order, the information needs of readers today can be distilled down to 3 key pillars:

1. Succinctness

The supply of information well exceeds our demand and consequently, we have to consciously manage the equilibrium. This balancing act is a challenge as most of us are time-poor, i.e. we don't have enough time to identify, process and consolidate information (this is one reason why RSS became popular).

We don't need more information. We don't want more information. But what we do want is information presented in a succinct-manner and then have the ability to access that information. It is maximum factual impact within minimal time (this is one reason why Twitter became even more popular).

2. User Experience (UX)

Apple is a leader in the UX market. From the time each Apple product is unpacked to the time it is retired, customers revel endlessly about their amazing experience with the product. What Apple has done is not just revolutionise the technology market, but the consumer expectation market. Consumers now demand from every new generational technology release, much more sophisticated environments and capabilities that are just as, if not even more, easy-to-use.

In addition to this, consumers want the ability to control their information. They want an information pipeline that can be tailored to their information needs and interests. It's all about personalising the user experience.

The implications of increasing consumer expectations on the newspaper industry are huge, as it creates a massive opportunity for newspaper to innovate and offer game changing products and services that will revolutionise the way we browse and consume news content.

A perfect example is the collaboration that's between occurring between Wired Magazine and Adobe to develop their magazine content on the iPad. I believe Wired Magazine will be:

1. A market disruptor within the magazine industry and 2. A market leader in shaping the way we consume print content in the future.

3. Accessibility

There are three dimensions to information accessibility:

1. Physical - Information has to be physically accessible everywhere, from the mobile to the desktop, both online and offline.

2. Time - It also has to be accessible in real-time. The quicker you have access to information, the sooner you can position yourself in front of your competitors.

3. Societal - Information also has to be presented in a manner that it does not discriminate against those mentally and/or physically disadvantaged.

The solution: Really Rich User Experience

The only way newspaper companies will be able to convince and convert online readers to pay for online news is if they completely change the way we consume news. I believe that one way to achieve this is to provide consumers with a really rich user experience.

This isn't rocket science and you'll see why in the next two scenarios.

Scenario 1: The Portable Music Industry

Just less than a decade ago, MP3 players dominated the portable audio market. They synced seamlessly with the desktop, were highly portable and allowed music to be played on the go. In October 23, 2001, Apple released the first generation iPod. It synced seamlessly with the desktop, was highly portable and allowed music to be played on the go; it provided the same services as the MP3. The technology and the functionality was not revolutionary.

What was revolutionary, however, was the way users interacted with their music content. Apple provided a completely new and refreshing user experience for managing audio content. No longer would tracks have to be viewed individually (as in the Mp3); they could be viewed collectively grouped per album or per artist. No longer would volume be increased/decreased at the press of a button; it could be increased/decreased through sliding your finger across a track pad. Apple completely disrupted the existing model of interacting with a portable music device and offered a really rich user experience. Now the Apple iPod holds over 90% of the market for hard-drive based music players.

Scenario 2: The Mobile Communications Industry

Touch-screen smartphones have been around for decades, harking back to the days when names like Palm Treo, Personal Digital Assistance (PDA) and Siemens were considered 'radical'. They were compact computers with nifty features like GPS, WiFi, calendars, calculators, notes, email and an address book. However, none of these technologies took off.

Jump forward in time by a decade - in 2007, Apple officially announced it's smart phone, the iPhone. It was a compact computer with nifty features like GPS, WiFi, calendars, calculators, notes, email and an address book amongst other things. The feature set wasn't revolutionary. What was revolutionary, however, was the way users interacted their mobile device. The iPhone user interface (UI) was sexy, intuitive and consumers became completely immersed within it (and they still are now). At the time, the phone didn't even support basic functionality such as copy and paste, or even allow for multitask processing. But users loved the really rich user experience. Now the iPhone constitutes over 60% of the Australian mobile market.

It appears that revolutionising the way we consume content and providing even richer user experiences with each new technology release is key towards shifting an entire market towards a new convention.

One idea I have of a really rich user experience that I'd like to experience in the near future is reader immersion. Essentially this is my term for virtually embedding the reader within the real-life context of the content they are consuming.

The best example I can think of is the recent events in Haiti. Our perception of the situation was only conveyed through news articles, video snippets and online photo galleries. However, each of these mediums are mutually exclusive, and as such, are unable to collectively provide a complete experience of the situation in Haiti.

Through reader immersion, I foresee technologies such as Microsoft's Photosynth and Augmented Reality being combined to provide a richer user experience. Through Photosynth, readers will be able to see a three-dimensional rendering of the environment, and they will be able to view and move around in it. Overlaying textual information, via augmented reality, within this three-dimension virtual environment enables readers to drill down to more specific news content regarding the situation. The combination of these technologies would completely immerse readers within the world of Haiti, right from their home, and would enable them to have a fuller comprehension of the situation.

Conclusion

It's not about providing more news, more video or interactive graphics. We simply don't have the time to consume more content. The existing newspaper model is bunk.

It's about disrupting the market and way we consume news content now. It's about delivering a game-changing news service with an even richer user experience than the one we have now.

If any newspaper company is able to do this, they're just Steve Jobs'ed the newspaper industry, and they've lined themselves up for the billion dollar bang.

Case Study: Jesus All About Life, Part II

This blog post contains recommendations for the Jesus All About Life campaign. Majority of these may appear as trivial and extremely obvious, but I believe they are the fundamental basics that individuals/groups/corporations have to get right if they wish to utilise the web technologies of today and more importantly, maintain an image of control and competence.

These recommendations, whilst focused on this specific campaign, are still highly relevant for everyone. They are also easily implementable :)

GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Think online. Not only is the Internet a cheaper medium to advertise on compared to traditional mediums (television, broadcast, print, radio), it also has far greater reach than any of them. It is a well-known fact that the Internet transcends local and even national communities, countries, cultures, time zones. One goal of Jesus All About Life Campaign is to increase the public’s awareness of Jesus. The internet is the perfect medium to assist in achieving this goal.

   Another reason for focusing on web technologies (as opposed to traditional medium)  is that there has been a mass movement from the traditional "old" media to the "new" media by the younger demographic of global society. A proportion of Gen X and the majority of Gen Y are less inclined to read physical print. Interesting fact: according to a study conducted by the Pew Research Centre, a tipping point occurred in early 2009 in America, where more individuals sourced their news online for free, than paid for it by buying newspapers and magazines. Putting one obvious reason aside (online news is free, for now at least), I think it is fairly obvious where the storage, retrieval and publishing of information is headed: online.

   I recommend the campaign continue using the web technologies used in the past campaign and  offer Foursquare, the geo-location service (not the ball game), as another platform to be utilised in future campaigns. I do not see much relevance in exploiting the mayor and badge models for a campaign of this nature. While these bread-and-butter features of Foursquare are proving invaluable for many businesses today, I offer that which is on the horizon - the Foursquare   Promotions Functionality. This new feature identifies nearby specials based on your location.

   What attracts me to this feature is that you are easily able to instantly increase your potential audience. No longer are you bound to static individuals who view the event information behind a computer screen. You are now interacting with the mobile users. Through a simple mobile data connection and being in the neighbourhood, individuals who may not have known about the event or campaign, can be accessed.

   This functionality is suitable for Jesus All About Life events, such as the free barbecues.

2. Reconsider television as a campaign medium. From my research of the Jesus All About Life television advertisement, there has been mixed feedback regarding its reach and exposure. Some individuals had seen the advertisement on Channel 7, whilst others (including myself) had not. Considering this mixed response, I question the effectiveness of television as a medium for this campaign. Furthermore, considering the high costs associated with brainstorming, producing and broadcasting the advertisement, I question whether television should be part of the strategy in the next campaign.

   What I would like to see is the data of viewer behaviour when the advertisements were aired. Did viewers instantly flick away (a potential sign of television not being so effective) or did they watch the whole advertisement. Another trend I would look for in this data would be viewer behaviour towards subsequent showings of the advertisement after they viewed the first screening. Yes, this data can be mined for many other trends. I am only highlighting two , which I find particularly interesting.

3. Reassess the print strategy. At the start of, and even during, the campaign, I observed several news articles informing about the theft or vandalising of banners and posters associated with this campaign. The printing costs of this media is extremely high, and instantly lost when this occurs. I recommend that the funds towards banners, posters and similar articles be minimised and/or channelled elsewhere within print media (such as providing more teaching resources to the involved churches) or elsewhere in other communication channels.

The following section details recommendations per channel/touch-point utilised in this campaign.

WEBSITE

1. Become W3C Compliant. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has a free, online mark-up validation service. Becoming W3C compliant is important as invalid mark-up can affect the accessibility of the site from users using older browsers, or mobile devices. Invalid mark-up has an even greater impact on disabled users who completely rely on screen readers. Whilst some screen readers and other assistive technologies have been developed to be more 'tolerant' towards invalid markup, its recommended to follow best practice and develop with standards and accessibility in mind. The W3c has published a Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) which explains how to make online content more accessible.
2. Practice Progressive Enhancement. Progressive enhancement is a web design and development strategy that adopts a layered approach towards content and functionality. It assumes a fundamental belief that content will always be accessible to the user. The progressive enhancement comes in the user experience, which can be enriched through other means such as JavaScript.

   I believe progressive enhancement can be implemented on the Google Map widget, which is found on the homepage. When JavaScript is disabled, users are unable to access the functionality or data associated with this widget. I recommend that the data accessed by the widget be output to another page, to improve accessibility.

YOUTUBE CHANNEL

1. One brand. Multiple Platforms. Campaign branding should be consistent and seamless irrespective of the platforms used in the campaign (website, Facebook, Twitter or YouTube). This not only reinforces the  image associated with the campaign, it improves user experience when bouncing between platforms.I recommend that the YouTube Channel be customised, to be more in-line with the website. I have listed the steps to achieve this below:

   i. Login > Click 'Account' Click 'Edit Channel' (see screenshot) ii. Click 'Channel Design' (see screenshot) iii. Customise your Channel (see screenshot) (An an example, I lifted the website background and temporarily used it as the background to my YouTube channel).

FACEBOOK FAN PAGE

I am unable to make any recommendations regarding this touch-point. The overall utilisation of the Facebook Fan Page is excellent. This channel is well maintained and the content published (photos, notes, events, etc.) keeps the audience constantly engaged.

The number of fans (approx. 22,100) is impressive, and I believe is a good sign of the campaign achieving one of its goals, i.e. "Get the churches in the advertising target area, active." Yes, it's highly likely that most of the fans are Christians, but here is one channel that unites individuals from across New South Wales and Western Australia, in one campaign for a common objective. Now that’s exciting!

I'm confident in saying that there is traction around this page - there is a healthy stream of wall posts and comments even to today (some 4 months after the campaign has finished). This may be one good indicator of the campaign's persistence and 'stickiness' within the general public.

TWITTER ACCOUNT

1. Contextualise every link tweeted. It is important to provide followers with a summary of what the link is about. Rather than tweeting "http://bit.ly/1tXEnj", tweet: "Thanks for Summer & Friends [img]: http://bit.ly/1tXEnj" or something similar. This is more user friendly for your followers.
2. Stick with one URL shortening service. This will make it easier to manage the analytics surrounding your campaign. Although, tracking statistics across multiple URL services is not that hard, it is less efficient. I have noticed that bit.ly and tinyurl have been used throughout the campaign, with a move towards bit.ly more recently. I recommend finding the URL shortening service that is easiest for your staff to use and stick with it. I am a huge fan of bit.ly as it smoothly integrates with the various Twitter clients I use (e.g. TweetDeck, Chromed Bird).
3. Link back to your content. Rather than posting two links (one to the original source, and one to the JAAL Facebook page) for the same content, just link to your content, i.e. your JAAL Facebook Fan Page. This eliminates redundancy, and improves the readability of your tweets. More importantly, you're channelling your audience towards your content.

   Worried that this practice will artificially inflating statistics for your Facebook Fan Page? Despite the fact that there are not many tools in the market to measure traffic to Facebook Fan Pages (most are aimed towards traffic surrounding Facebook Applications), I have found an excellent resource that enables Google Analytics for Facebook Fan Pages.

4. Screen/QA tweets. The following tweet is not user friendly: <object width="560" height="340"><param... http://bit.ly/poNy5

   If communication is occurring between two social platforms (such as Twitter and Facebook), check that the tweet has been published as intended. One can never go wrong with a bit of quality assurance (QA).

5. Utilise screen real estate. There is ample amount of space on the Twitter page that can be better utilised. Currently, only the Jesus All About Life Logo has been posted on the background, but other details can also be published, such as: - A summary of the campaign - Website URL - Contact details (phone, email, mail address) - Facebook Fan Page name and URL - YouTube Channel name and URL

   The moral of the story: make it simple for new (and returning) users to access general information about the campaign.

6. Be more conversational. Rather than constantly pushing content to the Twitter followers, engage with them more. Start conversations. Create connections. Maintain relationships.

That's all the recommendations I can provide for the Jesus All About Life Campaign. I may not have covered all of them, but I believe it is a fairly exhaustive list.

Let me know what you think.

Case Study: Jesus All About Life, Part I

Over the past weeks, I've been brainstorming topics to kick-start 2010 with. I won't list them but I'll say (to the relief of some) that I intend on harping less about social media and more about other 'things'. I'm not going to dump social media (a bad move, considering it's increasing dominance in the current online world), but I'll be mixing things up.

Having said that, I've selected this article from Mumbrella to christen my blog for 2010 (all puns intended). Why?

1. The differentiation factor- Not many bloggers in the online strategy/advertising arena blog about religion. Why? Because it isn't sexy (or the trending topic)...or maybe there just isn't enough traffic (or dollars) in religion to attract enough attention. I mean what'd you prefer to blog (and read) about? God or Gowalla, and it's geolocation deliciousness?
2. The takeaway - After digging into this campaign, I've hit on some insights, which I've personally benefited from, and which I believe are applicable for all organisations, great and small.

I intend on breaking up my analysis of this campaign into two blog posts. The first post will provide an overview of the campaign, and what I've learnt from the campaign. The second post will be a list of recommendations to the master puppeteers behind the Jesus All About Life Campaign, which can be implemented for JAAL 2.0 (if there will be such a thing).

The following sections provide a summary of the Jesus All About Life campaign. If you want to skip it, jump to the section titled "What have I learnt from this Case Study" and read on. The juicy stuff will be there :)

So what is Jesus All About Life (JAAL)?

The Mumbrella article has summed it up pretty well and a more detailed explanation can be found at the JAAL website, but here's JAAL in a nutshell:

• It's a mass media movement (television, print, broadcast, internet) developed by Australian independent creative agency, 303.
• The campaign ran from Sept 15, 2009 for 6 weeks, across NSW & WA.
• The campaign is non-denomational - Anglicans/Baptists/Catholics/etc alike cooperate and work towards common goals.
• Total media buy in : ~ $1.5 million

What were the campaign goals?

1. Increase the public's awareness of Jesus (and what he said about life). (Note the goal was not to convert the public).
2. Get the churches in the advertising target area, active.

What advertising channels were involved in this campaign?

I've identified 5 main channels:

1. INTERNET
   • Dedicated Website
   • Twitter - @JesusAAL
   • Facebook Page
   • YouTube Channel
2. TELEVISION
   • Campaign Commerical
3. PRINT MEDIA
4. BROADCAST (RADIO)
5. OTHER
   • Gen Y says Thankyou BBQ
   • Skywriting
   • Jesus Racing Team
   • City2Surf Jesus All About Life Team
   • Campaign Prize Giveaways (2 exclusive tickets to the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000)
   • Public Talks
     • Andrew Fisher, from Jesus Racing, talked to the detainees at the Reiby Juvenile Justice Centre.
     • Mark Scott's, Managing Director ABC, presentation to Christian business people.

This list has been generated from my own tracking of the campaign. A more detailed list of media mentions can be found in the JAAL Media Room, under the 'JAAL Media Monitor' section.

WHAT HAVE I LEARNT FROM THIS CASE STUDY?

1. The traditional media marketing platform is evolving The August 09 Media Report (slide 2), details that Internet claimed the largest media coverage (33%), compared to other media channels: Newspaper (27%), Magazine (20%), Broadcast (18%) and Television (2%). I believe this is just one sign that the traditional media marketing platform is evolving , and there are two main reasons for it:

   i. The people (users) of today demand constant, poly-directional real-time engagement. Users require many channels of interaction with the content or platform they are dealing with. This type of interaction isn't as readily provided by traditional marketing means which tend to be more uni-directional. However, the Internet is able to support this communication model and this is what makes social media web technologies such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook so popular. Don't believe me? According to Pete Cashmore, CEO of Mashable, real-time communication will only increase even more next year.This following statistic, which surprised me greatly, also supports my idea that the traditional media marketing platform is evolving: "60% of tv watchers in the USA have a laptop with them at the time." (via @markc at the Future of Technology in Entertainment Event, Sydney). Perhaps this is the start for a different approach to advertising, blending the real-time online environment with the time old television box. Perhaps this form of 'fusion advertising' will be even more effective than the advertisements that are purely designed for television or solely crafted for the Internet.

   ii. The internet can be leveraged at low cost.Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.  involve no major initial/operational costs...unlike television and radio. Advertising space on the traditional channels are extremely expensive. Unless you have deep pockets to burn holes through, I'd consider advertising online.

2. The public perpetuates publicity. Once the campaign is launched, the public will talk about it, no matter what. Whether it’s positive or negative, in the blogosphere or in the twitosphere, it will be talked about. This is important to remember because what it means is that all you need to do is to nudge your campaign into the public arena. The public will sweep it away. This means that the amount of time, effort and money thrown into manufacturing the marketing campaign really only needs to be condensed at the start. Once it’s out there, the campaign only needs to be monitored and measured.
3. Most humans have memories like goldfish. I may be wrong in saying this, but I still believe, most humans (including myself) have memories like goldfish. Why do I believe this? We are bombarded with so many advertisements, to the point where only a low percentage of advertisements are actually remembered. These advertisements are what we call  'sticky' advertisements, i.e. campaigns that have impacted the audience so much so that they are still remembered even after the campaign's termination.I think it'll be interesting to listen and measure the traffic surrounding the 'Jesus All About Life' campaign, across different online channels (Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, blogs, discussion boards, etc) over the following months to see if the campaign has persisted after its operational period. The Mumbrella article referred to earlier was published approximately 4 months after the campaign terminated. Is this enough  show the campaign has persisted? No, most likely not. But it's pretty cool that Mumbrella picked it up. So...was the 'Jesus All About Life' campaign a 'sticky' campaign?
4. Budget is a limiting factor, only if you let it so. This point may be slightly contentious, but I'm going to throw it out there. If there's one thing we can takeaway from this case study, it's that budget isn't always proportional to campaign success. 303 has done a remarkable job in delivering a campaign that is on par with some of the industry's best. This statement bares even more weight when you consider that the subject matter, Jesus, is a topic that isn't easy to sell. I personally believe that using a low/tight budget as a reason for a failed/unsuccessful campaign is one excuse for poor creativity. This statement, I believe, is extremely relevant to the online industry, where web technology can be utilised at minimal cost. As such, the real limiting factor is what you can do with the technology, i.e. your creativity. As I said...a point that's slightly contentious :P

Well this basically wraps up Part 1 of my case study on the Jesus All About Life Campaign. I'm keen to hear what others have to say on the matter, and even on some of the ideas I've raised.

Stay tuned for Case Study: Jesus All About Life, Part II, where I'll be making some recommendations that are economic, realistic and easy to implement.

Facebook: Search (or stalk) the Web

If you are reading this, you have most likely been Facebook stalked and/or have Facebook stalked someone else. You shouldn’t be too surprised. This isn’t new news, and on that note, locking down the privacy settings on your Facebook assets (personal information, photos, videos, notes, applications, etc) isn’t either. But even when you take these measures to ensure you’re privacy, let me assure you that you still won’t be free – “Facebook has [you] by the balls”  - Nick Barron. Since Facebook’s recent privacy setting enhancement bungle, there have been mass quantities of chatter over the privacy implications on individual users, as well as the sub-standard default privacy settings offered by Facebook. So successful has Facebook been in implementing this new privacy ‘curtain’, that they even managed to expose their own CEO.

Whilst much of the attention has been geared towards these privacy policies, I’ve noticed that one feature has managed to slip under the radar. I’ve only recently noticed this feature (call me a slow adopter) which is known as, Search the Web or Web Results. According to Facebook's Help Centre, “The web search feature is powered by Live Search. Please note that the result lists websites and content from across the internet, not just Facebook”.

And so, readers...this is why, no matter how many Facebook privacy hoops you jump through, Facebook will still have you by the balls. No matter how hard you try to protect your privacy within Facebook, this Search the Web feature allows anyone to find information on you, information that extends far beyond Facebook. Examples of other social media platforms that were returned in my searches include The Usual Suspects: Twitter, Myspace, LinkedIn, Last.fm as well as the unexpected: FriendFeed and Gowalla (similar to FourSquare). Facebook's Search the Web even returns the individual's posts/comments on other websites as search results (TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb and Mashable were a few that I stumbled across).

What does this mean for you?

Your content and information that you originally thought to be safe and shielded from the rest of the world may not be anymore. Facebook’s Search the Web functionality adds to the plethora of existing tools in the typical Facebook stalker’s arsenal...and from what I've seen of it, it's a very powerful & revealing tool to have.

I suggest you go search up your name (especially if you have a unique name) and trawl through each search result. I’m sure you’ll be surprised (and most likely, not in the good way).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you're interested in reading more about Facebook and the privacy issues surrounding it, I recommend you read 'Open Wide, Come Inside, It's your Facebook' and 'Maybe You're Protected?' written by Jess Nichols. I found these a great read and a great motivator to increase the privacy settings on my Facebook account.

Foursquare. Untapped Potential.

After much deliberation, I gave in to creating a Foursquare account.  The reason for my hesitant uptake boils down to one reason: I don't think it's a great investment of one's time. Stripping away the badges and points (which makes the game engaging for users), it's just Twitter...only for your location. However, after test-driving it, I've discovered that Foursquare is not just a game. It has immense, untapped potential to shift the community closer towards the 'real-time web' and make Augmented Reality a mainstream reality, rather than the experimental project it currently is.

For those who aren’t familiar with the ‘real-time web’, here is a nice primer.

THE CURRENT PROBLEM

With the ‘real-time web’ in mind, I want you to consider Google Street View. I think that one of the largest obstacles for Google Street View is the validity of its image data, i.e. how contextually relevant the data is. Have you ever looked at Google Street View and noticed that the Street View Environment sometimes differs to your real environment? A new road isn't present on Street View as it was just constructed. A house is different coloured to what it is now. A business is present on Street View and it doesn't exist now. These discrepancies exists because the image data Google stores is directly reflective of the period in time in which it was captured. In the context of Sydney, Australia, the data is reflective of the environment prior to August 2008 (when the images of Australia were introduced). Yes, Google will be doing another sweep over the city (which will be an expensive and laborious task), but that's not the point. The point is that the environment changes significantly over a year - businesses have come and gone on the same property lot (multiple times over), whilst buildings have been demolished and erected. These changes aren't reflected within the image data provided by Google Street View.

A couple months ago, at the TechCrunch 50 conference , I thought that a solution to this obstacle existed. A Japanese company, Tonchidot, presented its product called the 'Sekai Camera'. For those unfamiliar with their product, basically, it's Augmented Reality based off tagging the entire world.

Here's quick video clip, in their Q+A session with the TechCrunch 50 panel.

For me, two key questions can be extracted from that Q+A session.

1. "How do you get people on board [to tag the entire world]?"
2. "When everything has moved around and all the data has changed how do you deal with it?

FOURSQUARE: THE (POTENTIAL) SOLUTION

And so, here I bring to you the potential of Foursquare and the power of crowd sourcing.

How do you get people on board to tag the entire world?

Foursquare's model is all about exploring new locations (on top of existing locations) in a fun, and more importantly, addictive manner. The community is totally immersed in a competitive environment (that's healthy...so far) to acquire more points or out-do each other by sporting more badges. And the only way to get these? Explore your city and continuously add new locations to your city. If a thousand monkeys working with a thousand typewriters are said to be able to write the greatest novel known to man :P, it does seem somewhat more of a reality that the entire world can be tagged.

When everything has moved around and all the data's changed how do you deal with it.

Whilst this serves to be Google Street View's largest obstacle, it forms the fundamental framework on which Foursquare operates off. If data has changed, a foursquare will simply just add a new location. No biggie. Plus, there's a massive bonus for Google, Australia as it will be able to significantly reduce its operational costs associated with Google Street View.

Imagine the endless possibilities if Foursquare were to be mashed up with Google Street View, and having this data back a product like the Sekai Camera.

CURRENT OBSTACLES

Unfortunately, there are several obstacles that are preventing this from becoming a reality. Many other blog posts and articles have already covered the potential privacy issues associated with Foursquare, and as such, I wish not to rehash this.

1. Currently, Foursquare users don't have the ability to directly edit locations. As a result, a mistake on behalf of the user can impact the validity of the system. A perfect example is the location of Fitness First Gym, Maroubra Junction, which has been located incorrectly in the Sydney CBD on George St (see image below).

2. Currently Foursquare allows for multiple entities to reside at a unique address. For example, 15 Broadway, Ultimo has two different results: the University of Technology, Sydney and SuperTAFE. If we truly want to move towards a real-time web, there must be a mechanism to facilitate the processing and validating updates to the data set.

3. Essentially this (potential) solution is based off the notion of crowdsourcing. As such, the success of the project is dependent on trusting that the community will provide accurate data and will operate together towards the common goal.

Whilst I know I haven't identified every single obstacle, and that my idea of the untapped potential of Foursquare may not be bullet-proof, I do believe that it's one side of Foursquare that definitely plays in its favour of becoming potentially the next 'big' market mover.

Let's just wait a couple more years and see what eventuates.