Tag Archives: gowalla

The Tech Industry’s PR Problem

I love working with tech entrepreneurs. Their enthusiasm, innovative minds and passion for what they’re doing is infectious. But ask many of them what their business does, or their cool new product or service is all about, and you’re likely to get a variety of nonsensical answers rooted in geek speak:

“Well, we’re like Foursquare in that we allow people to check into their favorite restaurants, but we give them more social engagement options because our service places a box around their most frequently checked-in spots,” I actually heard one neophyte tech CEO say recently at the fantastic and very informative New York Tech Meetup.

Huh?

The tech industry has a big problem that seemingly few PR consultants or their clients want to address: tech people have no clue how to talk like normal humans when describing the value of their products or services. Continue reading

Is this the first confirmed case of Foursquare stalking?

Man standing on rural road holding road map, head obscured by mapEarlier this week I received a tweet, from a buddy of mine, someone that I know offline and just happens to be on Twitter. He sent me this link and asked my opinion, as someone who has worked on the web for a long time. He wanted to know if stalking via social media channels like Twitter and Foursquare was common. Until reading this post, I had heard stories, but always in a game of telephone, friend of a friend way. I hadn’t seen a first hand account until now. It puts a sobering sheen on the social media world. It isn’t all Old Spice Guys and Lol Cats anymore. We’re definitely not in Digital Kansas anymore. Continue reading

Geolocation 2.0: Check into Your Purchases

Check Mark On ChalkboardAs you leave the office and breeze through your post-workday errands you check prices, scan the purchasing list to be sure nothing is missed and, of course, you check in at your chosen bottle of Kraft dressing or package of Gillette razors. Makes perfect sense, right?

Geolocation is a growing trend with many checking into their offices, residences and local haunts on platforms such as FourSquare, Gowalla and Loopt. But checking into your favorite product is a bit different. Unique? Yes. A bit much to digest? Yes. The next wave of geolocation? Undoubtedly. Continue reading

Geotagging: Will it go beyond ‘Cool’

Two businessman passing business card, close-up

Editor’s Note: A special post-counterpost from two of the PRBC bloggers to end 2009 with a bang.  For the counterpoint be sure to check out Jess Greco’s post.

I don’t care if you’re the mayor of the Kirksville YMCA, or you just ousted Marcy as the mayor of Pistol Pete’s Coffee Shop in Kalamazoo. That’s great … for you. But not so much for me. Even if I am your friend, and we have all long given up hope of not knowing every intimate detail of your life, played out for us online in real time, the fact that you have “checked in” at some store, office, coffee shop, etc., whether it be in the same city that I live in or 3,000 miles from me really doesn’t matter.  Continue reading