Facebook Places

Facebook places has released it's first advertisement. Check it out below.

Facebook Places Just Announced, Goodbye Foursquare

Facebook just released its brand new location feature, Places. Like Foursquare and Twitter location updates, the powerhouse Facebook has moved into the location game.

Places allows you to share where you are with friends, and what's going on around you. Lastly, Places keeps little stories tags on locations that have been visited. Link photos, images, stories and profile updates to a location that any of your friends can see. Lets take a peek into Facebook Places. Saturday night and fancy a dance? Places allows you to see what nearby clubs your friends are at. Fancy a coffee? You see your friend Sarah is nearby, how about calling her on Facebook for free with the Vonage I-phone to Facebook app. You meet up with Sarah and decide you're both wanting not just an average coffee, but a good, hard, strong one. You check out your mobile Facebook and see that Joe's coffee has all sorts of bad reviews attached. Guess Joe's is off the list. Hey, everyone's posts say Campos is great and Ronnie and Eric are there at the moment. Let's go say hi!

How does this work? When updating to Facebook you will have the option of updating your location, and your location feeds out to your friends. See the first exclusive pictures below.





Facebook looks to take a serious, great-white-sized bite out of the other location-based platforms. Foursquare can't be happy about this announcement.  Social gaming that was a central feature of Foursquare is sure to see continued growth with Facebook's large  social gaming user-base. Another step towards Facebook world domination? Remember, click the banner to vote Mark Zuckerburg for Global President!






Breaking news: Gen Y has been corrupted by the internet

Gen Y’s get a fair bit of flack in the professional realm. “Gen Y’s are so demanding” “they want everything for free” “Gen Y's want more in the workforce” “They only want things that benefit themselves”. If you fit this profile, like me you might say something like...YES this is entirely true..

Yes Gen Y’s do expect more, we want things for free and we want value handed to us on a silver platter. Yes we want to be looked after in the workplace, and yes we want things that benefit ourselves. Is this because all Gen Y’s are selfish and demanding? Perhaps, but arguably no more than the generations before us, we just know how to get things better.

Yes we do expect more, because most the world is available to us for free. Gen Y has grown up in a world where almost everything can be had with the swish of a mouse and one two threfoufvsxv clicks of a keyboard. And if it’s not, we can often work out how to get it. For example, meet a friend's younger sister Nikki Durkin. Not long ago, Nikki decided her wardrobe could use more designer dresses, but didn’t fancy always having to pay for them. She searched the internet and found it was hard to get free designer cloths. So Nikki created something special, 99 Dresses. A website and Facebook application that allows women to exchange their designer clothing for digital ‘buttons’ and then trade these for different design wear for free.



Yes Gen Y needs to be looked after in the workplace. Is this because the generation is disloyal, or could there just more opportunity and competition? The growth of social media such as Linked In, Twitter and Facebook connects users to people and businesses across the globe. How often are new opportunities delivered here? New job openings can be updated to your personal pages and mobile phones minutely. Take Twitter Job Search for example. This service delivers customised employment opportunities for free, and by the minute to your Twitter account or Google accounts meaning as soon as a job opening is available across your local or global industry, it's delivered to you. You can also upload your resume to Linked In, and now Facebook by adding this CV application. Take a look to the left. There's a good chance the competition's delivered a job offering to the Gen Y person sitting there, even while reading this article........ *glares*


Yes Gen Y only wants things that benefit themselves, and social media is our party. It’s common for companies to assault Facebook pages, spam the walls with advertisements and then wonder why Gen Y’s so stubborn. If you’re having a chat with friends, what would you think if a stranger  interrupts your conversation with the icebreaker “buy off me before the end of this month and receive a 10% discount, buy now!!!” Perhaps it’s more effective to simply join the discussion, wait for your turn and tell an interesting story. Maybe if the setting is right then give something away for free. You’re at a party and mention to a friend you’re hungry. What happens if a stranger walks over with a steaming tray and and the friendly words “who wants free pizza?” If it’s good, you and your friends might even be interested in knowing where to get more. If it’s really good, you might be tempted to “like” the pizza in a public display of Facebook appreciation, and “share” this with friends. Gen Y only wants things that benefit themselves, and we love free pizza.


How about our Gen Z siblings? What is likely to happen when this lot gain a few more inches? They can status update “this stooge came to my party uninvited with a soap coupon!!!!” to hundreds, to thousands, to millions of their Hannah Monetena i-tribes. They can do this faster than tying a shoelace, and just as fast as status updating “I love Justin Bieber”. If these guys and girls aren't kept happy, like a swarm of digital piranhas they’ll chomp unsatisfactory businesses in minutes. Is Gen Y selfish and demanding? Yes and our powers are enhanced with the internet. Is this something specific to our generation? Wait until the world gets a load of these little biters....


NSW Police uses Facebook Page with overwhelming results

Facebook has rapidly became more than a place for friends. Business groups, dentists, brands, charities, rock-stars to disgruntled mothers and fathers, politicians, even the NSW Police are getting in on the action. Recently the NSW Police began using Facebook with alarming results. The page has shot to 10,000 fans within a week. Fans actively contribute information to the NSW Police, providing real-time leads and helping to fight local crime.

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Facebook-mash-telecommunications-mash customer service business models are emerging for this reason. One such example is Parature which installs a customer service, tele-sales, and HR hub directly into your Facebook page. The evolving use of Facebook takes place as the founder of Facebook prepares for all-out war with Google's rumored new social network, who is said to be amassing a revolutionary social media army. One things for sure, social media is no longer just a place for being social.

Wieden+Kennedy Old Spice case study released

Wieden+Kennedy has released a 4.5  minute case-study of their world famous Old Spice Man social media powerhouse. The strategy used social media to become the most popular interactive campaign in history. Competing with Obama's victory speech, more people logged on to view the Old Spice Man. The videos where viewed by some 40 million people in a single week and reached 1.4 billion impressions. A further spark of user-generated viral videos spanned the globe, with unaccounted brand reach. Check out the full case-study below. Awesome!


Social media insight: Why is Twitter like public transport while Facebook is like a home?

You’ve probably heard a lot of talk across town about Twitter vs Facebook and privacy concerns particularly related to Facebook’s personal disclosure. Perhaps this reflects the lack of understanding for these two very different creatures, and social media at large.You may like to think about these two as the familiar setting of public transport compared to a glass-walled home.  

On platform Twitter, you have a quick way to get your brand’s message rattling across the airwaves. Soon your brand can become that familiar voice. Kind of like catching the train each day on the same concrete platform at the same time. After a few weeks of awkwardness, you begin to become comfortable with the strangers sitting around you. You like the sound of Joe's voice (left side-seat two) because he often talks about his children and they remind you of your own, and how much you like to talk about them. Trust can be developed without direct one-on-one engagement here. 



However, (much the same as our own) Twitter’s public transport system is lacking. While it may provide comfort and a level of trust, who wants to live in a subway? Facebook provides this home. A place where we can relax and be comfortable. Many people are expressing fears of privacy on Facebook, and perhaps this shows a gap between early adopters and laggards. Why? Because the strange and unique home that Facebook provides, is not in privacy, but in the comfort of being known by many. Mass transparency of your desirable projected self. A place to show as many people as possible all the good things in your life, and have as many people 'like' them as possible. A sense of positive-self that flows from mass-online community, into individual esteem and belonging. Facebook provides untapped and limitless sources of value creation for businesses who understand the comforts its glass walls provide.


-Jason Lewis


Google Voice leaves global telecommunications giants screaming

Googles recent attempts at social media seems to have fizzed rather than Buzzed, and Google Wave remains underdeveloped. However, the new product 'Google Voice' looks to be an instant success that will shake-up the global telecommunications industry. 

In a strategic move to hold the mobile telecommunications industry in the palm of its hand, Google Voice allows mobile phone users to email, sms, voicemail, fax, scan and make phone calls to anywhere in the world for free (less the cost of data via internet)Yesterday, the product was released to the US and Canada with over 1 million people signing up in the first day. Say good-bye to that expensive monthly bill, and talk to friends without counting the minutes when Google Voice extends globally later this year. 

Google says "Voice will take human communication to another level". 


Existing telecommunications giants are sure to be worried about this one, while Apple has rejected Googles Voice application-meaning that for now, i-phone users are left without a Google Voice.


-Jason