Why do virtual contacts/followers/friends seem to shun connecting in real life? I’ve been thinking about this for a while now.

Every day I get a new friend request for Foursquare…from people I don’t actually know. Some are people who I literally know nothing about and are thousands of miles away. Most come from people I know via twitter, many of whom live and/or work near me. Whenever I get a request on Foursquare I email that person and ask them if they’d like to meet up and get a coffee or a drink or something. Most of the time it’s someone who’s in a related industry and like I said, usually they’re pretty close geographically. Well…so far only one person has replied to me. Out of all the people who want to know my location at all times, only one is actually interesting to meeting up in real life? You’d think that if you’re interested in connecting with someone on a service specifically intended to let you know where they are that you’d might be interested in connecting with them in real life. I’m not finding that to be the case.

When we’re talking about location based services, what good does it do to connect with people who you have no interest in ever seeing in real life? I don’t see the point. I could be wrong. I know some very smart people in social media who have hundreds and thousands of friends. If you’re reading this and have a large amount of friends on Foursquare I’d love to know how you utilize that network. Do you meet up with people? Are you looking in increase statistics? Are you looking to increase your digital footprint? In you were out one evening and one of your “friends” came over and sat down, would you be willing to chat?

Personally I’d love to connect with anyone and everyone. If you’re ever in NY say hello, and when I’m travelling I’ll do the same. So again I ask; why do virtual contacts seem to shun connecting in real life?

*This post originally appeared on www.jeff-peters.com

Recently, Apple added the ability to gift apps to people. This means that someone can purchase a specific app for you. It seems simple enough, click the “gift this app” link, make the purchase, and have a code delivered to the user of your choice.

I can’t help but think the potential this has for the gaming community (yes, it can work with all apps, but for my purposes here I’m going to focus on gaming). Think about. What do kids do when they want new toys and other things for their birthdays or holidays? They make a list. Those lists certainly include some video games. Well now they can include games and apps from the App Store in their list (provided of course they have an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad). I see some big potential here.

I’ve been hearing stories of people using the iPad more as a shared family device. And we’ve all seen the Scrabble iPad video (I’ll touch upon the community gaming potential of the iPad in a later post). Why not think that kids would want to as for App Store specific games as a gift? The quality of games keeps increasing and Apple recently announced Game Center, which is being described by some as an “Apple version of Xbox Live.” While I wouldn’t go that far, it certainly doesn’t hurt.

My point here thought is not the hardware. Some like Apple, some do not. The hardware can also be a bit cost prohibitive. My point is potential. If Apple can keep selling iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads like they have been, and if some of those devices are in the hands of a younger audience we could see a big jump in giving games/apps as presents. Who am I kidding? Just about everyone is playing some form of game these days. You could buy games for your kids, your parents, your friends, your significant others. People now have another way to say “Hey I want this.” And everyone now has a way to deliver on that.

Apple has done a great job building a content store, and the option of gifting only helps. I’m curious to see how this plays out.

*This post was originally posted on www.jeff-peters.com

Five articles I liked/thought were important/found interesting this past week.  A little NY Times heavy this week.

Telling Friends Where You Are (or Not)

by Jenna Wortham, NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/technology/15locate.html

Google and Partners Seek a Television Foothold

by Nick Bilton, NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/technology/18webtv.html

How Privacy Vanishes Online

by Steve Lohr, NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/technology/17privacy.html

It's Official: Facebook Rules the Web

by Ian Paul, PC World

http://www.pcworld.com/article/191635/its_official_facebook_rules_the_web.html

Nestle mess shows sticky side of Facebook pages

by Caroline McCarthy, cnet

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20000805-36.html

*This post originally appeared at http://www.jeff-peters.com

Each time I sign up for a new online service I see the same trend popping up…auto posting to your twitter and Facebook streams/feeds. I choose not to enable these options just about 100% of the time. Why? I don’t need to pollute my “main” feeds with updates from every single service I use. I say “main” stream because I believe that most people tend to use either twitter or Facebook (and possibly both) as their digital home base.

I use Facebook to connect and keep up with friends of mine. I use twitter to connect and follow people I find interesting. If I’m connected to you personally or professionally, it’s because I think that your stream provides value. I think you lose too much of that value when you start pulling in updates from numerous services. Do I really need to see every place you check-in at with Foursquare or Gowalla or another location based service? Do I really need to see every new badge or pin you unlock? Do I really need to see every song you’re listing to on last.fm or Pandora or blip.fm? Does everyone need to see these updates? No, consolidate those streams somewhere like Flavors.me.

Yes, there are times when it’s advantageous to share updates from other services in your main stream, and it’s certainly played a role in the growth of some services. There has to be a limit though. There’s only so much information that can be shared before the value starts to decrease. What if there was some form of a third party stream tab available for Facebook and twitter? A stream that consolidates your stream from elsewhere, but outside of your main feed could be valuable. It seems Facebook should be able do these easily since they’ve acquired friendfeed.

What do you think? Is linking all of your services to Facebook and twitter polluting the stream or do you find it valuable? Would you use a third party stream tab if it were available to you?

**This post originally appeared at http://www.jeff-peters.com.

For those who live in New York or pretty much anywhere that it snows, you may have heard the term “snowpocalypse.” Yesterday in New York we even had a “slushpocalypse” for a portion of the day. What you may not know is that you were able to check-in to both snowpocalypse and slushpocalypse on Foursquare. Yes that’s right, people are checking into events (even atmospheric ones) now.

I’ve already commented on checking in at your own home. I was initially against it, but I’ve tried it a few times and for the overall game aspect, I think it’s ok to do so. Yesterday when I saw snowpocalypse, I figured I should check-in and join everyone else who had to trudge to an office, wait for buses, shovel out their cars, or many of the other things that you have to do when you get a ridiculous amount of snow. I also checked in at slushpocalypse. Why? Because it’s rare that we get weather events like these in New York City and you can identify with everyone else dealing with it. At first I was hesitant to check in, but how many times can you check into something fun like this?

After checking in and thinking about it, I was thinking about what it might be like to check-in not only at locations, but at events. For something like a weather event, you don’t really have that many questions. What about specific events at specific venues though? Let’s say you’re at Yankee Stadium, should you be able to check-in to a Yankee game instead of or in addition to the venue? Dave Matthews is playing this summer at Citi-Field. Should you be able to check-in to “Dave Matthews at Citi-Field” instead of just Citi-Field? Let’s say the Mets offer a perk to the mayor of Citi-Field, should Mets game check-ins be weighted more than concert check-ins?

These are all interesting questions I hadn’t really thought about previously. Surely those who check-in to a Phish concert at Madison Square Garden would feel more of a bond to others who checked in to the same event over those who checked in to the venue for a hockey game. Event check-ins offer a lot of potential and opportunities. Think of how bands could reward fans who follow then on tour. Think of charity events, sporting events, and more. There are a lot of interesting possibilities.

So, what do you think about checking in to events? What do you think about checking in to something like snowpocalypse?

*This post was originally posted on www.jeff-peters.com.

Earlier today I read an article titled Facebook Is Working On A Foursquare-Killer. Prior to this article we are read about how Yelp had introduces a location check-in feature. Both article mentioned how they may have an advantage over Foursquare due to there large (or giant, in Facebook’s case) existing community. But one thing left out of these articles and features, is the game aspect of Foursquare.

That’s right…Foursquare is a game. It seems everyone keeps forgetting about this. Sure being able to check-in with your friends and fine where they are is great, but I want badges. I want points and mayorships. Foursquare allows you to be involved in an ongoing game, anywhere you go. I like to unlock new badges. I get excited when I unseat someone as the mayor of a particular location. Sometimes I even go out on a mission to find new places to help me unlock badges, and I know others who do the same. Think about that. I go to particular places because I’m playing a game. Throw in incentives at locations through partnerships and its much more fun than simply checking in at a location.

It’s not just the community; it’s how you interact with that community. Foursquare provides way for businesses to engage consumers and friends to interact with friends beyond a simple “Hey I’m here.” That’s fun. That’s important.

This leads to a few questions. Will the sheer size of a community triumph over the game aspect? Will Facebok, Yelp, and others add a game component to their check-ins? Will a larger company acquire Foursquare? For now I’m playing Foursquare, what about you?

*This was originally posted on http://www.jeff-peters.com

Apple Sees New Money In Old Media
by Yukari Iwatani Kane & Ethan Smith
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703405704575015362653644260.html

Google’s Brin And Page To Sell Off Shares; Give Up Majority Voting Power Over Five Years
by Joseph Tartakoff, paidContent
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-googles-brin-and-page-to-sell-off-shares-give-up-voting-control/

Xbox Takes On Cable, Streaming TV Shows and Movies
by Brian Stelter, NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/business/media/19xbox.html?src=twt&twt=NYTimesAd

Kids pack in nearly 11 hours of media use daily
by Larry Magid, cnet
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-10438088-238.html

Tweet Defense Merges Games and Social Networking
by Keith Andrew, Slide to Play
http://www.slidetoplay.com/story/tweet-defense-merges-games-and-social-networking

*originally posted on www.jeff-peters.com

Do you check in at your home on Foursquare?  Do you check in at your office?  Do you check in at “social” locations only, or do you check in at gas stations, grocery stores, barber shops and the like?

Originally I only checked in at “social” locations like bars, restaurants, parks and other associated locations.  I soon began checking in at most other places I began to visit, even adding smaller locations that were not yet listed.  But I have not checked in at home, though I have seen many who do, even power users of the service.  I can’t say I’m not tempted to give it a try though.

On the one hand, you have the game argument. There certainly are benefits of checking in at home, you’re pretty much guaranteed to be the mayor, you gain points on a daily basis, and it can help in unlocking badges.  It helps to keep you more active in the game, as you’d probably be checking in every single day.  But do you feel it’s cheating just a little bit?  Think about it.  If I leave and come home ten times in one day, do I check in each time I come home?  That can go a long way in helping to unlock new badges and gain points.

On the other hand you have the privacy issue.  Do you really want to put your home address out there for all to see (though most don’t list theactual address, it’s usually close enough)?  You are already listing every place you visit, and likely your office (for most that’s another guaranteed mayorship); do you want to list your home address as well?  How far do you go?  Do you add a location when you visit family and friends?  I’m just a little uncomfortable listing private residences as locations.  When you’re at home, login to Foursquare on a GPS enabled device and see how many private residences are listed nearby.  When I do this I see about eight locations near me that are very likely private residences.

I think I’d feel a little better if you could set a home address as private, and they were weighted slightly less than a “regular” check in.  What do you think?

*Originally posted on www.jeff-peters.com

Below is a quick list of five articles I liked from the past week and wanted to share.  If you would like to share any articles please post them in the comments of head over to www.jeff-peters.com where this was originally posted.

Facebook Privacy Concerts: An Open Letter
by Craig Kanalley , The Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-kanalley/facebook-privacy-concerns_b_418031.html

Harvard Teams Up With FourSquare
by Jennifer Van Grove, Mashable
http://mashable.com/2010/01/12/harvard-foursquare/

Mobile donations to Haiti exceed all in 2009
by Elizabeth Armstrong Moore, cnet news
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-10435948-247.html

Google-China showdown may alter tech game
by James Temple, San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/16/BU151BIO84.DTL

5 Ways Foursquare Is Changing The World
by Jennifer Van Grove, Mashable
http://mashable.com/2010/01/16/foursquare-world/

Earlier today I read an article today (original post here) about a KFC ad that some are finding offensive.  I’m not going to comment on whether the ad is racist/insensitive/offensive, that’s another debate.  But one thing the ad does bring into focus here is the impact of social media on global advertising. 

This ad was created for a specific market and was only intended for said market.  However, the speed of information is shockingly fast, and the ad was posted on YouTube.  Maybe the agency and/or client didn’t take social media or the global reach into account, but it’s increasingly clear that that is something that absolutely must be done in this day and age.  Ad campaigns are no longer regional.  Of course, you can and should account for specific regions and audiences when creating a campaign, and cater to those audiences and regions…but you can no longer assume that it will stay regional.  No, if anything is out there for one person to see, you can pretty much assume it’s out there for everyone to see.

Now I’m sure the agency/client specifically created this ad for Australia and not the US, and may even have had conversations about how this ad may or may not be appropriate in particular areas, but did they think that it would spread and create such a commotion?  Probably not.  The point here is that you must take social media and word of mouth into account even if that is not the tool you are utilizing.  If you put something out there it WILL end up online and a new market of people WILL see it.  It may be a benefit…or it may be a detriment.  At the very least, you should prepare for every possible outcome that your campaign can create.

Everything is global.  Everything is social. 

You can view the ad in question below (which has now been pulled from rotation):