Social Media NZ

27/11/2009 Twitter Follow Friday #3 Video

Social Media NZ

One thing that my friends have always loved about me is that whenever we are out or traveling, they can (almost always) count on me to take enough pictures to capture the full effect of fun that we had on that adventure.  Back in the days of the film camera, I was known to take several rolls of pictures just to ensure that I did not miss anything.  In this digital age, I've been able to minimize the millions of duplicate pictures that frequently ensued from the film days ... :)

One of the things that I truly love to do is to take pictures of neat things that I see through my adventures.  A picture to help you to hold onto your memories of great experiences and to share those experiences with your friends.  Posting pictures online, or sending them via text and email has become commonplace in this day and age.

Last week I created a post comparing two great social awareness applications: Gowalla and Foursquare.  After reading my post, one of our amazing readers introduced me to a new product to try out.  This product is called Flook.  I would definitely like to thank @ambientwit for introducing me to this application.  I have been playing around with it since Saturday and I love it!!

Flook is a social awareness application on a different angle from our friends at Gowalla and Foursquare.  Whereas Gowalla and Foursquare tell your friends "where you are," Flook tells them "what you are looking at."  As I mentioned above, I love taking photos, and I love sharing those photos with my friends, so this application is actually kind of perfect for me.  This application still works on GPS, and it still provides tips as to what you should do and try in different areas, but the main difference is that it's more of a visual interpretation of what you should do and see in the city that you are in.  Before I go on, I want to share with you some screen shots that I have taken of places that are near me:

One of my current favourites is the picture of the bathtub.  This picture alone shows you what this application can do that others may not.  In other applications, you can describe what you are seeing, but nothing compares to an actual picture!! 

As I was only introduced to this application this past weekend, I am still learning about all of the great things that it has to offer.  Quite simply, however, this application is setup for you to create "cards" of whatever you want to showcase to other flook users. 

The picture that you attach to a card is then geo-tagged to your current location so that other users can collect them and check out what you saw for themselves.  The pictures that you take can be of whatever you want: something funny that you saw, something amazing that you saw, or simply a sign of an amazing restaurant or bar that you want to share with the world.  This next screen shot shows you the categories that you choose when creating your cards: 

I noticed recently that there is also a points syste m, whereby you collect points for making cards, collecting cards, and gaining followers.  I currently only have a couple of points, but can see how they can quickly add up as I continue to take pictures of great things that I have found in my travels!

I love traveling, and I really love checking out new and exciting things.  By using Flook in conjuction with Foursquare or Gowalla, I now have the tools to enjoy my travels that much more.  Sometimes you want to know what the locals like to do.  With these apps, you can find out exactly that!

I have definitely added this application to my social awareness addiction, and I would highly suggest that you do so as well!  It's a new product, so it is up to us to help add in some great new cards.  Hopefully I have provided a good introduction to this application.  As I use it, if I find anything that I may have forgotten, I will be sure to share it with all of you.

What are your thoughts on this application?

I hope that you all have enjoyed my posts so far.  As you can see, I love trying out new things and love writing about them.  If you know of any apps that you would like me to try out, leave it in the comments section or send me twitter mention.

Nicole Ferreira @Nicola_Bola

   

First Murdoch announced that he would charge for all content in his media empire. This was a shock in itself – it defies the free models that have dominated media since the internet’s conception, and threatened to end the era of free quality news that we have enjoyed.

And now, Murdoch plans to remove all his content from being searchable through Google. Why? He says that it’s not about the quantity of traffic his sites get, but rather the proportion of those visits that are paying customers. He believes that people who will pay for his content will not need a search engine to discover it; therefore he sees no benefit in keeping his sites searchable.

What I don’t understand is why he NEEDS to remove his content from Google’s search engine. It’s not like it reduces the number of paying customers – if anything, it will simply increase consumer awareness of his newspapers. At least, I didn’t understand until it was announced that Microsoft was in discussions with News Corp. to buy sole rights to their content.

Imagine a world in which you had to remember which search engines would contain the exact content you are looking for. In other words, imagine a world where there are no useful search engines – as this is what Murdoch is threatening by even entering into negotiations with Microsoft.

Let’s run through the scenario. Microsoft pays News Corp around $20 million (as this is what estimates point towards, by looking at the share of News Corp.’s revenue that is driven through search) in return for the right to make News Corp’s content solely searchable through Bing.

Obviously if this deal goes through, it will be plastered upon news websites, papers, and blogs for days, if not weeks. People will realize that if they are looking for news, they should turn to Bing as it now has all of News Corp.’s content (a huge chunk of the international newspaper media). So Bing will get a large increase in traffic. Until Google buys sole rights to Time Warner’s content (think CNN).

What happens now? Well, besides the desperate bidding by search engines and the looks of glee from the news companies, news consumers are faced with a dilemma.

The purpose of a search engines is, as Google’s Marissa Mayer puts it, “to make the world’s information universally accessible and useful”.

But is it really accessible OR useful if we are forced to choose between different search engines depending on what information we are searching for? A key component to what makes search engines of today so useful is the ability to choose the content that best matches your search, with all the options laid out in order of relevance before you. However, if the Bing-News. Corp deal happened, you would be put in a situation where only certain news would show up on any given search engine. Therefore, to see a wide range of news of which some is m ore likely to match your search, you will need to be searching multiple search engines.

Microsoft and News Corp. both have unquestionably large p ower and influence. There is a real possibility that this deal could happen, and search will be fundamentally changed forever.

In turn, there is also a possibility that Microsoft could come out worse off than when it started. With an already negative image, Microsoft cannot afford any more mistakes that could worsen this public image. With a move such as this that stifles innovation and competitiveness, there is a chance that Microsoft could be held up for another antitrust suit. Microsoft simply cannot afford to have this happen, and if I was them I would not take the risk.

While the move may be positive for both Microsoft and News Corp., it is most certainly negative for all consumers. In my opinion, Microsoft and News Corp. will feel a backlash of negative press and will both come out worse off than when they went into the deal.

Google should simply stick to their motto of "Do no evil" and they should come out the other side unscathed. 

Would love to hear your thoughts on this..

Michael Moore-Jones @mmoorejones

Recently there has been a storm online over Nielsen's research into who is driving Twitter's growth. You can find the report Here. After looking through reader's comments of the report, which consisted of adults making wild guesses and assumptions as to the reasons, and teenager's themselves offering insight, I have decided to report my first-hand experience. My statements are based upon what I hear every day from teenagers of all ages (12-19 year olds) about Twitter. It is likely there are geographic differences as to why teenagers don't use Twitter, so bear in mind my statements are based mainly upon teenagers in New Zealand.

I believe the most obvious and most important reason as to why teenagers don't use Twitter is for the reason that they are not trying to build a presence online - they are merely wanting a service that allows them to communicate with people in their lives. Whereas Facebook, Bebo, and MySpace are based around your friends, Twitter is based upon you having the largest presence online. Teenagers do not care how many people their actions online reach, only that it reaches their friends. Privacy is more important to teenagers than any other generation (even if they do not realise it), and Twitter offers less privacy than any other social networking site. Some parents have banned their children from using Twitter, citing that letting anyone in the world know "what you are doing" is potentially dangerous.

Twitter is set up to allow you to share with anyone who wants to listen, and for you to listen to anyone that is willing to share. While adults want to hear from experts or professionals in certain fields that they do not know personally, teenagers only want to hear from their friends. The only exception to this is that teenagers do want to hear from celebrities in their areas of interest, but they have managed to find other sources such as newspapers or gossip websites.

Twitter is the world leader in live search. Whatever you want to hear about, whether it be elections or music, Twitter lets you search in real-time what people are saying on the subject through Twitter. The older generation may find this incredibly useful for a number of reasons (which I will not try to guess), but quite frankly this is boring to teenagers. If they want information on a subject, there is google. Live search is of no advantage to them, and it may even be a disadvantage. Google offers information on their desired topic in an order of relevance, where Twitter offers information in order of most recent to least recent. When searching for a topic, teenagers want relevance above almost everything else.

Social networking sites such as Facebook, Bebo, and MySpace are feature-rich. They offer more than just status updates and live search. When on a computer, teenagers want features above simplicity. Simple is boring. On Facebook they can comment on photos, view videos, play games through applications, and instant message. Customization is also a huge factor in which social networking site teenagers use, which is an attribute as to why Bebo is so popular amongst teenagers in New Zealand. Apart from background image and colour sch eme, Twitter offers next to no customization options.

Whereas adults might use Facebook or Twitter through mobile web, very few teenagers use mobile internet because they can wait a few hours until they are home (most of the time when they are out they are with friends anyway), and then access the full features , which aren't available through the mobile web. There is also the cost issue of mobile data which in New Zealand is still relatively expensive. However, every single teenager I know text messages every day. Twitter can be used through text messaging, and I believe teenagers will be drawn to Twitter if enough people in a group of friends start using the text messaging service. Being able to text message a large group of friends for the cost of one text, and recieve these texts from your friends for free, is highly appealing. The problem is that nearly all teenagers do not know this service exists. Most people only realise this service exists once they are a member of Twitter, and because next to no teenagers are on Twitter, it is almost non-existent. If Twitter spent money on raising awareness of this service, teenagers would flock to Twitter in no time.

Twitter is more than capable of attracting teenagers. It just needs to realise teenagers do not desire the same service as adults. With adjustments, additions, and money spent on advertising to raise awareness, teenagers could quite easily soon be driving Twitter's growth. Since next to no teenagers are on Twitter currently, what does Twitter have to lose? Would love to hear your thoughts on this..

Michael Moore-Jones @mmoorejones

If you haven't heard yet New Zealand, another new gadget has taken center stage in the technology world called the Kindle Reader, brought out by Amazon.com. If your someone that enjoys reading or if you are like me who hates carrying around huge amount of books when you travel, and likes the convenience of using electronic gadgets, then you might want to consider buying a Kindle for all your reading needs. This wireless electronic portable reader allows you instant access to more than 90.000 books, blogs, magazines and newspapers.

Since the first release of Kindle 1 several years ago from Amazon, Amazon went on and created Kindle 2 and the recent Kindle DX, Here is a quick overview of all three kindles

The Kindle DX

The Kindle DX was introduced on May 6, 2009 it has native PDF support, which allows for reading of the vast bulk of formal business literature, the ability to download Copyrighted works of actual literature. Externally, the DX's larger 10-inch screen makes it better suited to handle the content, not just PDFs, but textbooks, whose heavily formatted pages would look shabby on the smaller Kindle's 6-inch screen. This Sexy device is retiled at USD $489

Kindle 1 and Kindle 2

The Kindle 1 The "Original Gangster" of all E-book Readers seen on the right hand side of the picture was introduced in the United States on November 19, 2007. this device is retailed at $399 USD. The Kindle 1 has a 6 inch (diagonal) 4-level grayscale display, it has 250 MB of internal memory, can hold approximately 200 non-illustrated titles, and the memory is expandable with an SD memory card. But this model is no longer available as amazon has discontinued the production of it but it was replaced by the Kindle 2, seen on the left hand side of the picture. The Kindle was released On February 9, 2009, The Kindle 2 features 16-level grayscale display, improved battery life, 20 percent faster page-refreshing, a text-to-speech option to read the text aloud, and The Kindle 2 has 2 GB of internal memory of which 1.4 GB is user-accessible.

As you can see there are 3 awesome awesome version of the kindle, well two because the original one has been discontinued, god bless klindle 1's soul....

There are reports on Stuff, saying the kindle will be on it's way to New Zealand sometime next year and also in the one of their articles it said "sources within Vodafone say the mobile phone giant is talking to Amazon about bringing the Kindle to New Zealand", if this goes through this will be another amzing coup for Vodafone, the last significant coup they had was only the iPhone :)

So this is my question to you, do you think New Zealand is ready for such a device ? Would love to hear your thoughts

John Lai @whoisjohnlai

A couple minutes ago Hootsuite came back online looking leaner and meaner with it's new features, which includes Twitter List integration, New Social Networks Being added to the site which includes Facebook and LinkedIn and another interesting soon to be released addition (seen in the picture above) is the Hootsuite iPhone App, definitely looking forward in checking and reviewing that App out.

Lets take a look at the First New Feature that is the Twitter List addition on Hootsuite:

As you can see Hootsuite Imports the list you have already made previously for you and also you can create your own lists using HootSuite. These lists can be be saved as a column. You can further modify your lists and who’s on them using your column preferences.

The Second Feature is the two additional social network site add ons, Facebook and LinkedIn:

A Hootsuite Developer said "We’ve decided to push HootSuite functionality beyond Twitter", Which means the New Hoosuite updates gives user's two additional social network site, Facebook and LinkedIn. Before you could only update your Facebook and LinkedIn through the Ping.fm functionality, things are different now. Facebook and LinkedIn accounts are treated similarly to Twitter accounts and also another cool feature to mention is users now can post schedule status updates on both Facebook and LinkedIn.

Those are the major update Hootsuite's been working on in the last couple of hours. I would love to hear your thoughts on which updates are you the user looking forward in using the most

John Lai @whoisjohnlai

Without a doubt Microblogging is the future. Even Tweets can be considered microblogging, in 140 characters or less.

Well, a picture is worth a thousand words. So isn't simply posting pictures a way of explaining and saying a lot more in the same amount of time?

I think so, and DailyBooth is here to provide me with the service. Launched just months ago and funded only weeks ago (from a high profile investor group including Digg founder Kevin Rose), DailyBooth is the Twitter for photos.

The service uses the same following/followers system, which I am happy with. I really don't know how you could improve it, so DailyBooth has done well to recognize that Twitter had that right.

DailyBooth's homepage stream is simply all the people you follow's latest pictures. You can toggle options like also seeing comments on people you follow's photos. 

DailyBooth is becoming a huge hit in the United States, and is gaining momentum in Europe after a lot of media attention. The high profile round of funding certainly gave it hype, which is drawing new users to the site in flocks.

One thing to note in how DailyBooth differentiates from Twitter is how there is a lot more "noise". I.e., anybody can comment on your photos even if you do not follow them. This could be very controversial, and I can definitely see it driving some away from the service. Comments are not always welcome, and this does change the fundamentals of the service provided.

Obviously it's in its early days, which is an opportunity for many people to be early adopters and gain a head start in what could quite easily become the next social media phenomenon.

Like Twitter, DailyBooth is incredibly simple. Now go try it out for yourselves!

Would love to hear your thoughts on Dailybooth, what you like or hate about it, and also would this be a site New Zealanders would love ?

Michael Moore-Jones @mmoorejones

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What Social Media NZ TV is about is Keeping New Zealanders up to date with the latest news, reviews, interviews, and the latest happenings internationally and in New Zealand in a weekly video cast.

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Here at Social Media NZ We Believe in giving a voice to those who are spreading their message of Social Media in New Zealand. So this Space we have created #SMiNZ will give that sort of opportunity. 

Recently one of our Awesome Contributors Justin Flitter who is a Very Passionate Social Media-ist, see's that NZ Businesses are not utilizing social media to it's full potential especially in the customer service sector. So he went on and started SocialTalkNZ.Com. 

Here is an Overview of SocialTalkNz, what they stand for and the vision justin has for it.

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