And here’s a clever idea from Asia, demonstrating how well Supor non-stick pans work. Wish I’d thought of it!
On the Rails
We’re sitting at the Oshawa train station, barely outside of Toronto and it’s been a little over an hour since I checked-in on Foursquare, broadcasting to those who follow me on Twitter and Facebook that I was heading to Ottawa. Thanks to such modern conveniences as free Wi-Fi, I’ve been able to check my email and get a bit of work done. When I logged into Facebook, I noticed a couple of messages linked to my original post. One, from an old college friend who warned me that it’s only 13ºC and rainy in Ottawa, hoping I’d brought a jacket. Another from a friend who asked if I was visiting for business or pleasure.
I explained I was in town to help out family and wouldn’t have time to get out. It was then that he asked what time my train was arriving and offered to pick me up. Here we are again, serendipity, much as I discussed in my last post that was oh, so long ago. A few minutes later I got a call from my Mum, telling me someone would be picking me up. I told her not to bother; that was already taken care of.
Tweetindipity
I love Twitter.
Like everyone else, it took me a period of adjustment to “get it” but once I did, I fell in love with Twitter wholeheartedly. Why? In part because of it’s immediacy. It can also lead you to so many different places; down the rabbit hole, as it were. If you’ve ever spent an evening at home clickling your way through “if you like this artist, you’ll like…” links in iTunes, you’ll know what I mean. But mostly, I love Twitter because of serendipity. In my opinion, it is by far the most serendipitous social network out there. Let me give you an example.
This morning I was scanning through my Twitter list when I came upon this tweet from C.C. Chapman: “One of my favorite views…”. Naturally curious,
I clicked through to see a picture taken from his perspective in the back of a canoe. His son is paddling in front of him, his daughter sits squarely in the centre and his wife is at the front. The canoe floats quietly on a lake covered in lily pads and the scene is very peaceful. As an outdoorsy guy myself, it inspired me to look into canoes at Mountain Equipment Coop (MEC).
Upon landing on their home page, I spied a link to MEC Paddlefest, an annual celebration of canoeing and kayaking. I clicked through to discover that the event will be in Toronto, in our neck of the woods, in two weeks. I called to check the availability for the Canoeing for Parents and Kids program and $11.30 later, we were booked.
I then returned to my Twitter client—Hootsuite—and tweeted: “Inspired by cc_chapman’s photo, I’ve signed up for Canoeing for Parents and Kids as part of MEC’s #paddlefest. Can’t wait!” He responded with: “Awesome! It is a great family activity and SO peaceful. Hope you guys enjoy it.” and then re-tweeted my original post adding “This made my morning.” Indeed, and my morning too.
How has Twitter opened up the world for you?
Is this the beginning of the end for facebook?
I’m not too sure if you’re all aware, but today is “Quit Facebook Day”. Not familiar? Check out Facebook and search for “Quit Facebook Day” and you’ll surely see the new group and movement taking charge on quitting the addictive application. Searching their group I found their description:
“As controversy swells around Facebook’s latest changes to its privacy policy–which is now longer than the Constitution and offers some 50 settings and over 170 options–users’ interest in deleting their Facebook accounts has soared.”
On the way back from lunch CityTV stopped me to ask “So, are you quitting facebook today”? It took me a while and I said “no”. My reasons are the photo sharing capability. Even though some of you may argue that that’s what Flickr is for, you can only comment on images on Flickr if you’re a member and most of my friends are Facebookers.
What are yours thoughts, ready to take the plunge and quit Facebook?
When Will It All End?
That’s a common question we get from people entering the social fray. “Facebook. Twitter. Foursquare. When does it end?”
It doesn’t. And that’s a good thing.
The latest social network I’ve looked into is called Stickybits. Where Facebook connects you to a network of friends and Foursquare connects you to a location, Stickybits does this with both and a brand. How does it work? First, you download an application to your mobile device (only Android and iPhones thus far), then scan anything that has a barcode–a granola bar, a box of Band-Aids, a bottle of Coke. Stickybits then asks you to attach a note, photo, video or audio clip which it then sends (with your location) to a stream where others from around the world can share.
What’s the point?
Well, I could scan a can of Guinness and send like-minded drinkers a cheers from Toronto. I could scan a food product and send along a recipe for others to try out. As David Berkowitz from Inside the Marketer’s Studio explains: “People are already experimenting with Stickybits in cases such as scavenger hunts and business cards. Soon enough, brands will get to take control of their own bits and share their own messages with consumers. Right now, it’s all about having fun, and with any luck it will largely stay that way.”
But what about the numbers? Exactly how many people are doing this and do I really need to be there? The answers: not many and probably not yet. Maybe never. But with all things social, you should be less concerned with how many people you’re hitting and working toward conversing with those that matter to you and your brand. Will Stickybits work for you and your business? Perhaps. The key is to keep yourself open to these new opportunities and decide for yourself if you should embrace them or not.
Are you ready for the next thing?
