It’s a digital world. Why are you still analog?

We are a digital generation.

Our lives are inextricably intertwined to technology.

Wherever you look, there are signs of the digital era.

Think about the last major storm or natural disaster you heard about.

Mobile phones and Twitter were how most people first reported or got wind of them.

That’s powerful.

If you look at your own behavior, you’re checking your email, text messages or social media accounts on your phone.

These activities didn’t exist a decade ago.

There was no Facebook, YouTube or Twitter.

Smart phones were still several years away from being mainstream.

Or affordable.

But today, things have changed.

Smartphones, social media, texting, instant messaging, wifi.

We can’t imagine living without them.

See something interesting? What do you do?

Whip out your phone, take a snap or shoot a video and post.

Can’t remember the name of song on the radio? What do you do?

Dial up the Shazam app on your phone or Google the lyrics.

Need directions? What do you do?

Hit up MapQuest for turn-by-turn directions.

Why am I going into all this?

Because for all the advances that are taking place in technology, I still hear people say “why do I need this or that” and it drives me absolutely bonkers!

I was in Miami for a few days, and I came across (yet another) brand, a hotel, without a mobile website, app or any form of social media.

When I started talking about all the reasons why they should have any one (or all three) of these things, they pashawed me like I was talking gobbledygook.

They went on and on about how their demographic used computers.

Wouldn’t use mobile phones to make reservations.

Weren’t on Twitter or Facebook.

And have no need for an app.

Despite my eloquent arguments to the contrary, they gave no ground.

It was only when I showed them the mobile site of one of their competitors that the lightbulb went off, and they finally understood what I was talking about.

But it shouldn’t be this way!

How is the digital world growing, changing and advancing by leaps and bounds, but folks are missing it wholesale?

Sure, traditional ways of doing things still work.

Want to advertise a sale at your store? You could take an ad out in the paper.

Or place an ad online.

If anyone sees either, they’ll know that you’re having a sale.

The one who sees it in print will have to get in their car, drive to the store and then check out what’s for sale.

The one who sees it online can go right to your site and check out what you’ve got for sale, right then and there.

If they’re on a mobile device they can browse and buy on the go.

The difference between the two are night and day.

Know ye this: I’m on a mission.

To bring analog cave-dwellers to the digital light.

It’s going to be a long road.

But I’m ready for the challenge.

Analog heathen beware!

iPhone 5 vs. Galaxy SIII. And the winner is…iPhone (of course)

So I’ve had both my iPhone 5 and my Samsung Galaxy SIII for several months now.

And while I’m an unapologetic Apple fan boy, I have had the opportunity to rock the SGIII for a minute.

As such, I’ve formed an appreciation for both Samsung products and the Android OS.

If you’ve been following the mobile space, you know that Samsung has been making aggressive moves to compete with Apple.

Indeed, for most tech observers, it really is a two way contest, Apple vs. Samsung (and iOS vs. Android).

Apple’s once unmatched dominance has been tested, and fissures are starting to appear in the foundation.

But just because folks are buying Samsung devices in droves doesn’t necessarily mean that they make better phones.

Or that Apple isn’t the King of the Hill.

So lest anything think that the fact that Samsung’s shipping millions of new units each quarter mean that Apple is slipping, I decided to do a head-to-head comparison between the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy SIII.

And put such foolishness to rest.

Spoiler Alert: the iPhone wins.

Now we already know that the SGIII is bigger (and wider) than the iPhone 5.

We know that the SGIII has NFC (near field communication) and the iPhone 5 does not.

The SGIII can view Flash content and the iPhone 5 cannot.

Wirefly already broke it down for you Android lovers.

I’m not interested in the things we already know.

So I narrowed my focus to the activities or functions that aren’t really assessable on paper, and which I rely upon most:

• Battery life
• Apps
• Texting

Battery Life

I don’t know about you, but I HATE the fact that mobile phones die so quickly. I don’t care what kind of phone you’ve got. If you use it with any degree of regularity, your phone dies. The batteries drain so quickly it’s laughable. Both the iPhone and SGIII get poor marks for performance in this area.

On paper, the SGIII seems to have longer standby and usable battery life. But in my unofficial field testing, and in real life, that’s not the case.  I’ve never actually measured the amount of usable (vs standby) time I get, but this weekend, I left both devices alone for four hours, to see which would have more juice left when I returned. They were both at 100% before I started my test. However, when I got back, the SGIII was at 67%, while the iPhone was at 92%.

In my day-t0-day, I routinely pick up a dead SGIII, which infuriates me to no end, considering how lightly it’s used.

Advantage iPhone.

Apps

Apps are my business. As such, I’m constantly testing UI, functionality and usability. For many of my clients, apps have to work in both iOS and Android environments, so having the iPhone 5 and SGIII is more function over fashion. Even though the Android marketplace has been around for a bit, app developers have not seen fit to create apps with the same fervor as they have for Apple. As a result, you’ve got more ‘launcher’ apps in Android, which open mobile websites than you have pure apps.

Those apps that do exist on both platforms, simply don’t perform the same. For one, the SGIII is so unwieldy that it’s difficult to manage with one hand. Plugging in your username and password, or simply navigating from thing to thing is a challenge.  The fact that you can’t simply go back a step on apps, from within the app, and have to use that quirky back icon on the phone to reverse is another thing that I can’t stand about the SGIII. Especially if you’ve been using the phone for a minute and the icon isn’t illuminated.

On the SGIII, apps are crap.

Advantage iPhone.

Texting

In the US alone, mobile phone users send over 200 billion text message a month. Texting has replaced traditional phone calls as the preferred mode of communication. And it’s uber important to the kid because it lets me communicate with clients, colleagues and family, quickly and easily.

Before I got the SGIII, I was pretty comfortable texting. I could fly over the iPhone’s touch screen keyboard, authoring and sending text messages with ease. But ever since the SGIII hit my palm, I’ve regressed into a fumbling bumbling idiot. The keyboard is also one of my biggest issues with the SGIII. The buttons are so small and cramped together, that I frequently hit the wrong button, and end up having to delete and re-enter things. And did I mention that wacky back button?

I’m sure folks who are familiar and comfortable with the SGIII keyboard will protest, but WHATEVER!

Advantage iPhone.

Conclusion

The iPhone 5 beats the SGIII for battery life, the usability and functionality of apps, and the ease of texting.

I’m sure I’m going to get a flurry of comments (or at least one comment – Winston Clayton) about how I’ve been somewhat less than objective in my assessment.

To be fair, I am biased.

Note the spoiler alert above.

But when you’ve been rocking with the best mobile device maker for the past decade, toppling them is no simple task.

And despite the opinions of the Samsung bandwagoneers, Apple still rocks!

Don’t f*#k!ng text and drive!!

Anyone who knows me knows that people who can’t drive is one of my biggest pet peeves.

If you’re just a bad driver, by no fault of your own, I despise you still, but I tolerate you on the road.

But if you’re actively engaged in behavior that diminishes your driving capacity, I struggle with my road rage to restrain myself from forcing you off the road and pummeling you with my size thirteens.

Why all this hostility, you ask?

I was heading into the city from Jersey on Route 280, when I happened upon this Zipcar, a grey, weaving Toyota Corolla.

Dude was in the left lane, the fast lane, intermittently stepping on his brakes, when no braking hazard existed.

Despite the fact that there were no cars ahead of him, he was driving like an absolute ninny, and refused to either speed up or cede the lane (to the growing line of cars behind him).

It wouldn’t have been so bad if I could have gotten around him, but the traffic in the right lane was equally anemic, so I was trapped.

Mind you, for like 3 or 4 miles, this dude was weaving, braking, and generally causing me to curse his very existence.

When the opportunity to pass this fool (on the right) presented itself, I floored it, pulling astride him to deliver my fiercest what-the-f*ck-is-up-with-you glare.

Imagine how much angrier I was, when I realized that dude was TEXTING on his phone!

His head was down, and he was furiously typing with his right hand, while steering with his left.

As his head was down, my fierce what-the-f*ck-is-up-with-you glare was totally wasted on him, and I sped off angrily, wondering how many other drivers this dude was going to frustrate before getting to his destination.

From the amount of time I spent behind this jerk, he must have been carrying on a complete conversation via text.

If dude really had to send off a text that badly, he could have simply pulled over, tapped out his little message, and saved us (or at least me) unneeded aggravation.

But noooo, he had to get me all riled up!

Now look at what he made me go do!

I already ranted about bad drivers before!

Anyway, I feel much better now, and that moron lives to text and drive another day.

Mobile Engagement: SMS, Apps, Mobile Web, QR Codes, SnapTags

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression: “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”

I’ve got a new (and far less catchy) one for ya: “There’s more than one way to engage your audience via mobile.”

I told you it was far less catchy.

But to my point, there are numerous ways for businesses and brands to create effective engagement using mobile.

These include SMS (short messaging system aka texting), mobile applications, mobile websites, QR codes and SnapTags.

There are definitely more than these five, but for the purposes of this exercise, we’re going to focus on these.

SMS

SMS isn't just for clamshells anymore!

What is SMS? If you’ve ever sent or received a text message to your mobile phone, you’ve used SMS. SMS stands for short messaging system, and it’s a protocol for communication between mobile devices or mobile devices and computers. The maximum length of an SMS or text message is 160 characters, hence, ‘short.’

How does texting work? Text messaging works by sending packets of data (information) over cellular networks. You send a message that is delivered to your wireless carrier’s message center. From there it’s processed through several switches until it’s received on the recipient’s device.

Along the way, it picks up and shares crucial information about the sender, the sender’s location, timestamp and other data, which can be utilized to track data sent over the network.

Pros

Targeted. The beauty of text messaging for brands, is that users opt-in, only when they actually want to receive messages, information and alerts. Thus, the mobile mailing lists your brand creates, consists of motivated users who have identified themselves as tuned-in members of your brand’s tribe.

Simple to Integrate. Adding a few lines of text, with a mobile call-to-action, to your current marketing tools is a simple way to expand the breadth and depth of your brand’s current marketing efforts.

Unobtrusive. If you’re like me, you look at your phone whenever it’s convenient. You don’t necessarily respond to every beep or buzz at the moment you’re notified. SMS allows you to collect messages, review and respond at your leisure.

Permission-based. Unlike email lists, which are freely shared, bought and sold, mobile is an extremely regulated industry. Mobile marketing companies can only send messages to users who have specifically opted-in to receive messages from the particular brand that acquired their number.

Cons

Frequency. Sometimes brands send out too many messages. At other times, too few. Without being able to ascertain the messaging appetite of a particular user, your message frequency may not match that of the intended recipient(s).

Delivery failure. No system is infallible. SMS is no different. Between users traveling in and out of locations with low/no signal strength, to mis-entered phone numbers, to users switching between providers (but maintaining the same number), there are any number of causes for failed delivery of messages.

Opt-in Requirements. Since you can’t communicate with your audience across their mobile devices unless they’ve opted in, getting users to opt in to your service in the first place can be challenging.

Mobile Apps

Apps, apps everywhere, and not a bite to eat!

What’s a mobile app? A mobile app is an internet application that runs on smartphones and other mobile devices. If you own an iPhone, Blackberry or Android, you’ve probably already used the App store, and have a few apps already on your device. Other device manufacturers, like Nokia, Samsung and Motorola, all have their own version of apps that run exclusively on their devices.

How do mobile apps work? Mobile applications work by connecting users to Internet services that are typically accessed from their desktop or notebook computers. Mobile applications also make it easier to use the Internet on user’s portable devices.

Pros

On-deck. Having an app directly on a phone’s dashboard or dock, is a convenient way for a user to access your brand. When an app is ‘on-deck,’ it provides both utility and convenience within a few clicks.

Targeted. An app is typically a scaled down version of a brand’s website, focused on the few interactions a brand is interested in driving through the use of mobile devices. Well-crafted apps provide baseline information and functionality, taking advantage of the native features and functions of the mobile device.

Cons

Too many apps. There are over 1 million apps in the iTunes App store. There are almost 400,000 Android apps. Making your brand stand out among all these apps can be daunting. Getting people to know that your brand has an app may also be challenging.

Spotty performance. Some apps work great. Others work well. Some work poorly, and a few make us want to throw our phones against the wall. Getting your app to perform right every time is also very difficult to accomplish.

Platform specific. If you’re thinking about a multi-platform app strategy, it’s going to cost you because the app you develop for one device, invariably will not work on another device. If you want to cover the widest range of devices, you’ve got to have a multi-platform approach.

Mobile Websites

What’s a mobile website? Simply put, a mobile website is a site capable of being accessed and rendered properly on a mobile device. As distinguished from a standard website, mobile sites are scaled or designed to take advantage of the features mobile devices and mobile browsers.

How do mobile websites work? Mobile websites work in much the same way as standard sites. Enter a URL into the mobile browser of your device, and you’re taken to the site you’ve requested. But rather than being presented with the typical layout you’d see on a standard web page, you’ll probably have a list of tabs, finger-sized buttons and navigation options formatted for your mobile phone.

Pros

Made for mobile. The beauty of mobile sites is the fact that they’ve been optimized for small screens, and enable users to access a wealth of content on-the-go.

User-interaction resembles an app. While there are architectural differences between mobile apps and mobile web applications, the user experiences on both interfaces are increasingly similar. Most apps utilize real-time web connectivity and mobile web apps provide offline modes which continue to be accessible in the absence of network connectivity.

Cons

Navigation. The mobile phone usually comes with a small screen and no mouse. This means that navigation on a mobile phone may get difficult for the user, even if it has a touchscreen.

Interoperability. Sometimes things just don’t work wel together. Interoperability issues stem from the multitude of competing mobile devices, mobile operating systems, and browsers, developed by the various handset manufacturers, chipset makers and software developers.

Usability. Usability relates to how easy it is to use a thing. Usability problems are presented by the small physical size of the mobile phone form factors (limits on display resolution and user input/operating).

QR Codes

This is an example of a branded QR code. Looks nice doesn't it?

What’s a QR Code? A QR Code is a two-dimensional barcode consisting of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be made up of four standardized kinds (“modes”) of data (numeric, alphanumeric, byte/binary, Kanji), or by supported extensions virtually any kind of data.

How do QR Codes work? Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader application scan the image of the QR code to display text, contact information, connect to a wireless network, or open a web page in the telephone’s browser.

Pros

Use of QR codes expanding. Initially, the adoption of QR codes was slow, especially in the United States, where various standards exist. But the technology is gaining traction in the smartphone market, and many Android, Nokia, Blackberry handsets, have QR code readers pre-installed.

Multiple applications. QR codes are used in a wide range of applications, including commercial tracking, entertainment and transport ticketing, product/loyalty marketing and promotions.

Free to use. There are any number of free QR code generators, which will create a unique QR code for your brand, pointing to any destination or location you chose. You QR code can open a URL, play a video, send a user a text message or deliver content. All for free!

QR Code Error Correction. Through error correction, it is possible to create artistic QR codes that still scan correctly, but contain intentional alterations to make them more readable or attractive to the human eye, as well as to incorporate colors, logos and other features into the QR code block.

Cons

Requires a QR Code Reader. While many smartphone now have QR code readers installed, many older generation phones, and none of the iOS devices have a native reader application. This may impact adoption of this mobile engagement method.

They’re ugly. One of the main complaints that folks lodge against the use of QR codes is the fact that they’re unattractive. Highly stylized brands feel that the black and white block isn’t aesthetically appealing enough to be used with their brands.

SnapTags

This diagram lays out SnapTags quite succinctly. It came from their site, so it better!

What’s a SnapTag? SnapTags are rings, with visual information aligned in a pattern of bars and breaks, that impacts what content is accessed by a compatible reader app. They have been popularized by Spyderlynk, a mobile activation and marketing platform company.

How do SnapTags work? You can either scan a SnapTag with a SnapTag reader or simply take a picture of the snap tag, text the picture to a short code, and receive a code message in return.

Pros

No reader required. What makes SnapTags unique is the fact that each tag also has a unique short code, enabling people without smart phones to send and receive text messages which will connect them with the associated campaign.

Use your logo. SnapTags are appealing because they use the logo of the brand, which enables companies using SnapTags to take advantage of their pre-existing brand recognition, and not get lost in the shuffle of indistinguishable QR codes.

Cons

No widespread adoption. While SnapTags are the proverbial “princess” to the QR code “beast,” they have yet to gain any real traction in the marketplace. It’s difficult to project whether brands will adopt yet another mobile platform to engage audiences.

Too many steps. For users without smartphones, taking a picture, composing a text message, sending it and waiting for a response, may be too much work to interact with a brand. The rule of thumb with mobile is “less is more.” The fewer steps to connect with your brand, the more likely the user is to take those steps.

Ultimately, the appropriate mobile engagement tool is the one that fits your brand’s overall marketing strategy.

You may find that some campaigns warrant the use of a mobile marketing built around a text messaging strategy and print calls-to-action.

Others may fare the best with an iOS app leading the way.

But whatever tool you use, adding a mobile engagement strategy to your brand’s bag o’ tricks is a smart strategy.

Digital Stewardship: PAL Digital U.N.I.Verse.City

A PAL Digital U.N.I.Verse.City workstation.

If you’re a forty-something like me, computer classes in high school involved learning to program in ASCII or DOS on a monochrome screen.

If you attended college, there may have been more advanced computer classes, for which you likely moved and stored content on floppy disks.

After college, you used a PC running some version of Windows at the job, and computer proficiency meant that you knew how to use Microsoft’s Office Suite.

You’re up on the latest gadgets, even if you don’t own an iPad or mobile tablet.

You probably have a smartphone, a laptop and an mp3 player.

And you probably consider yourself pretty savvy when it comes to digital technology.

Right?

Wrong!

We are dinosaurs!

Present company excluded, of course.

Today’s youth are exposed to technology, not as a stiff class taught by some bored out-of-touch professor, but as a natural extension of their everyday existence.

Their access to and adoption of technological gadgets, is second nature to them, almost intuitive.

And unlike us, who came into the ‘technological age’ of massive building-size ‘super computers,’ today’s youth have microprocessors in virtually every device they touch.

The Macbook Pros, Xboxes, Playstations, Wiis, Leapsters of today are tens of thousand times more powerful than anything we ever used growing up.

With Facebook, Twitter, texting, etc., kids are more immersed in interactive technology and applications than we ever were.

They can access and touch virtually any part of the digital universe, and regularly use technology to communicate, socialize and interact with one-another and others.

This intimacy, however, has it’s consequences, though.

Cyber-bullying, internet plagiarism, and the regular posting of questionable (and often inappropriate) content are norms, that we didn’t experience when we were using computers and cell phones.

Social media, as we know it today, didn’t even exist.

It’s no wonder that kids are acting…like kids, when they use them these different tools.

I think it’s important that we take stock of what our children are exposed to (from a digital, content and technological perspective), and give them real guidance on the appropriate and responsible use of technology.

To that end, I want to share a project that I’ve been working on with the Police Athletic League of New York City (PALNYC).

It’s called the PAL Digital Digital U.N.I.Verse.City and its a class being offered as part of an apprenticeship program.

The apprenticeship program is the initiative of Marcel Braithwaite, the Director of Centers for PALNYC.

Marcel manages PALNYC’s eleven (11) centers, located in the five boroughs of New York City.

And he wanted to develop a program that exposed kids to technology as a means of both skills/workforce development and keeping them off the streets.

The curriculum we are using for the program was developed by Mark Hines, a graduate of Princeton University, and the CEO and Founder of Marksmen Productions, Inc., a New York city-based creative agency.

Mark has designed a program that teaches real life skills to the youth, using live scenarios which give the students active participation in projects with real time results.

The Digital U.N.I.Verse.City (DU) is a six (6) month intensive audio, video and technology training program, tailored to students of varying degrees of technical proficiency.

Digital U.N.I.Verse.City classes meet two (2) times a week to provide students instruction in digital media production, it’s cultural impacts and ethical and moral responsibilities that accompany the use of these tools.

The program officially launches next Wednesday at the Harlem Center on 119th Street, and Digital Uni.Verse.City students will study media (news, tv, movies, music, art), how it is produced, and begin rudimentary hands-on manipulation of video and audio (DU101/102) in preparation for the Advanced Studio Workshop (DU201).

The Time Warner Center in the Harlem Center has been converted into the PAL Digital U.N.I.Verse.City classroom.

Students who successfully complete the intro courses will be invited to participate in the Advanced Studio Workshop, focusing on professional skill development in (one of the following) music production, audio/visual engineering, video production and direction, video editing, motion effects, journalism and musicianship.

Digital U.N.I.Verse.City instructors include many of our professional colleagues, who are experts in their respective fields.

From Grammy-winning musicians, to New York Times best-selling authors, the Digital U.N.I.Verse.City instructors will offer students hands-on training and skill development on live projects.

The Digital U.N.I.Verse.City curriculum starts with a review of the DU Acceptable Use Policy, which lays out the foundation for every student’s participation in the program.

Most people have never seen (much less read) an acceptable use policy.

But it is the most important thing, for people living in a highly interconnected digital world – and the point of this rambling post.

I helped to develop (read: wrote) our acceptable use policy, which came together after many long sessions, during which we worked diligently to draft something that actually made sense.

For the majority of people who have ever read (read: scanned) an AU Policy, you know its a statement by the owners, administrators or other gatekeepers of any digital or online environment, which provides a code of conduct that users must observe while utilizing (or as a member of) a particular system.

As an advocate for technology, the Digital U.N.I.Verse.City program, gives me a constructive way to address the issue of responsible use of technology by our youth.

More importantly, working on this project has forced me to address the fact that most of us operate without a set of guiding digital principles.

Obviously, I always promote best practices with my clients, and have helped draft numerous Terms of Use, Privacy Policies and various other online instruments governing the use of certain online programs or environs.

But that’s not quite the same thing, when the audience for my usual written verbosity is the youth.

Next Wednesday is our first class (did I say that already?) and I’m excited.

The pictures above were from our dry-run, when we set up the local Moodle we’re using for the class.

Be sure to look out for future posts about how the program is coming along.

Also, feel free to donate to or volunteer at your local PAL!

The Mobile (R)evolution: 5 Reasons You Need An App

Apps, apps everywhere, but not a brand in sight!

I’m mobile obsessed. I’ll admit it.  It probably started with my first smart phone, a Palm Treo, but my obsession has grown exponentially from there.

With certain technology trends, I was very much ‘wait-and-see.’ But with mobile, I was definitely an early adopter.

As recently as a few years ago, mobile phones were still very much a luxury, the domain of corporate executives and titans of industry.  We all remember the phones in a bag. They were expensive, and therefore, exclusive.

Today virtually everyone has a mobile device. Some (like myself) have two.

With the elimination of two-year contracts, and the entrance of pay-as-you-go services, such as MetroPCS and Boost Mobile, getting a quality phone and inexpensive service, has eliminated any significant barrier to entry.

Where standard feature phones used to be the norm, smart phones are becoming commonplace. Wireless networks are prolific.  Texting has replaced calling as the primary means of communication between people.

What used to be the exclusive domain of PCs has been co-opted by mobile devices. The mobile device has become the first screen.

From my vantage point, educating, training, and generally evangelizing the adoption of technology to further one’s business objectives, brands have been caught off guard by these advances.

As the mobile revolution advances at breakneck speeds, I continually find myself justifying a given. We are beyond ‘proof-of-concept’ and very clearly at widespread adoption (if not completely mainstream).

If you’re asking yourself ‘why do I need an app?’ here are five reasons:

1.  Mobile is ubiquitous. About 78% of the world has a mobile device with a mobile subscription.  Everywhere you look, you’ll see someone on a mobile phone. They’re talking, texting, browsing, playing games, listening to music, watching videos or movies, reading emails or engaging in some other productive activity.

2.  HTML5 will not replace mobile apps. For web productivity, HTML5 will certainly enhance a user’s ability to get things done online from mobile devices. Salesforce is a great example of mobile web utility. But for rich media apps and games, having these processes take place on the device, rather than in the cloud, makes more practical sense.

3.  Apps are hyper targeted. When a person downloads an app to their device, they’ve already determined that they want it. And once it’s ‘on deck’ (and the appropriate preferences are selected by the users) your brand can continuously push targeted messages to the users.

4.  Apps are sexy. Let’s face it, Apple has made mobile sexy. And there is nothing sexier for your brand than having a iPhone or iPad app. Shoot, if you’re really trying to get your sexy on, a universal app (that works across multiple platforms and devices) is even sexier. An app is like wearing a red dress to a funeral – it may be inappropriate, but you’re gonna get noticed.

5.  Apps are unique to your brand. The great thing about apps is that they are all unique. Even when you’re simply re-skinning a templated app, the fact that it’s your brand over that functionality, makes it valuable to the end-user who selects and downloads it.  When a user downloads your app to their device, they do so because they want it. In doing so, they’ve allowed your brand to be a part of their inner circle.  Your brand has become a part of how they identify themselves.

Now there are certainly more reasons than these to justify getting an app, but I’m winded. If you think that there are more compelling reasons for having an app, I’d love to hear them!

My nieces are so over Facebook.

Facebook, some people are so not into you.

As a technology and social media evangelist, I regularly recommend that my clients explore using technology and social media platforms to reach niche audiences, by employing the medium used by these audiences. Invariably, services like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and their progeny feature prominently in my discussions.

With the ever-increasing number of users, and the development of widgets and other technologies, like Tweetdeck, which enable users to access platforms on-the-go, social media services are becoming inextricably intertwined in the way many of us live our lives.

Conventional wisdom dictates that the younger you are, the more familiar you are with advancements in technology, and the more readily you adopt them. Conversely, the older you are, the more out of touch you are when it comes to technology and social media platforms.

Take me, for example. I’m fairly adept at texting, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. But when compared to my 21 year old brother, I’m a sloth, groping blindly to grasp the nuances and intricacies these platforms have to offer. I figured that my little microcosm reflected the real world. However, as of recent, my assumption has been turned on it’s head.

You see, this weekend, I spent some time with my nieces, students at Spellman, and I was amazed to learn their perspective when it came to their use of, and familiarity with technology and social media platforms.

My older niece is a texting monster. Every few seconds, her Blackberry Curve is buzzing. She regularly engages in multiple conversations simultaneously. With many of her friends far away at their respective homes, texting became their main form of communication.

She loathes Facebook and Twitter, as unnecessary invasions of privacy. She sees no purpose in posting every intimate detail of one’s life online and believes that it gives strangers (i.e. friends of friends) access to information that they would otherwise not be privy to if they didn’t know you personally. Her younger sister, also an avid texter, is similarly Facebook and Twitter averse.

Both of them regaled me with stories of the various ‘beefs’ raging on Facebook, caused by one person posting a status update or picture that offended another. They narrated one instance in which the reputation of one Spellman student was put on full blast, because people she had friended, engaged in a smear campaign using the viral nature of the platform to spread misinformation about her.

This lack of privacy and ease for abuse has made many, like them, very Facebook averse. So while Facebook and Twitter are all the rage for some, for others, not so much.

As this little insight into social media from my nieces demonstrates, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. And while brands may have different concerns from college students, many of the issues they face will be similar.

Knowing which nodes to tweak to reach which person becomes invaluable as user preferences differ widely. The digital and social media marketing mix employed by brands should be designed to tap into the digital spaces in which folks naturally congregate.

At the end of the day, I encourage my clients to jump, feet first, into the technological/social media fray, because you can’t have a dialogue with folks, if you don’t speak the language.

Virtual Promotions

So last night I threw a party at this great little spot in Soho called Gallery Bar.  I haven’t thrown a ‘proper’ party for years, and just decided one day, that I wanted to.  So, being a digital person, I determined that the best way to create the event was to only use viral tools to promote the party.  I wanted to see if I could get people to come out to an event ONLY using viral methods (email, text, social network sites, blogs, etc.).

The first thing I did was hit up a few folks via IM, using IMO.  I got my boys Ben Tannenbaum and Richard Burroughs, and my brother, to all agree to promote the party through their networks.  From there, I sent a text on my iPhone to my boy Phil Graci, with TriAgency, to shoot me over some logos for the e-flyer that Ben and I were creating.

One of the online party flyers for ReFLIX courtesy of Ben Tannenbaum

Richard hit up a bunch of his contacts with clubs in the city to find one suitable for our event, by IMing, texting and placing calls to folks until we landed at Gallery Bar (big ups to Darren and his crew!)  We put our e-flyers on a few select online party destinations, such as Fusicology, Yelp, Metromix, Going, and had over 25 RSVPs within a few moments of those postings.

Ben set up a Facebook event called ReFLIX, and invited all of our friends to join the group.  We then created the ReFLIX event within Facebook, as well, and once again, invited people to attend.  In total, we sent out invitations to about 300 people, and reminders and alerts thereafter.

One of the options we offered, was the ability to RSVP via text, by simply texting in the word RSVP to our short code.  They received a confirmation message, and another alert on the day of the event, which included directions to the venue.  Of course, people were also able to RSVP via email, but we expressly didn’t let people call to RSVP.

We had a running ticker counting down to the event, presented as status updates on our respective FB or Twitter pages.  Each day, we put up a new flyer, comment or picture on the event page, and kept people informed of new sponsors, films or items of note.

Despite the fact that it was a cold Wednesday (humpday, boo!), by 9:30 p.m., the place was packed.  We hit a technical glitch or two, which I exascerbated with my lateness (note to self: never show up late to a party you’re hosting if an element of the party has to be in place before you arrive).  But all-in-all, it was a nice party.

What made it especially unique was that there was not one paper flyer, no mass street team campaign, no crazy phone calls.  Facebook, texting and a few emails were all it took to put about 100 people in the spot.  The night ended well before the scheduled time, but I had proven my point: virtual promotions work.

In hindsight, it would have served me well not to neglect traditonal methods, like word-of-mouth, because I forgot to invite most of my friends, who (for privacy reasons) remain off the Facebook grid.  I just assumed that everyone uses Facebook, the way I do, and took the simplest and most effective form of communication for granted.

My advice to anyone interested in promoting an event, small or large, make sure you tap into the resources available to you right at your fingertips (oh, and make sure you call your friends!).