Whoa! How Shit Infographics Explain the World (the wrong Way).

November 2nd, 2011 • 3 comments Blogs, Location, Reports
Tags: Apps, Burglars, crime, Foursquare, Location, People, PR, Report, Shit, Study, visual, World, Zeitgeist

So Mashable again explains us the world through an info graphic wallpaper. And every self-proclaimed social media expert retweets it. Usually this is just boring. Sometimes dangerously misleading and pretty embarassing. Such as this time.

Latest example of such pure and utter shit: A ‘study’ (actually a joke) that was published as an infographic on mashable, retweeted today by thousands of Lemmings who only seem to be interested to share the next bullshit-infographic as quickly as possible.

The claim sounds credible: “78% of burglars use Facebook, twitter, or Foursquare to target potential properties.”

Whoa! That’s a lot, isn’t it? And it sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? After all the gods punish those freaks who keep on checking in to any location they enter. If only it would not be all so wrong and only if this handy info graphic wouldn’t be a big PR stunt that everyone keeps on retweeting.

• The mashable article features the notorious info graphic by Credit Sesame, “a personal finance tool” claiming that 78% of all burglars use social media to gather intelligence about their next victim
• If you browse the article on Credit Sesame you will find out that the “study” was not at all conducted by Credit Sesame: they apparently just built an easy-to-consume info graphic. The actual “study” was conducted by UK’s security company Friedland: yes, a company that earns money with your fear of burglars.
• If you read the original “study” you stumble upon the following text: “An overwhelming 78% of ex-burglars interviewed said that they strongly believed social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Four Square are being used by current thieves when targeting properties.”

google Plus. Why it’s not about becoming another Facebook.

Juli 2nd, 2011 • 6 comments Social, Strategy, Tools, Trends
Tags: Facebook, Foursquare, google, Social, Social Networks, Strategy, Tools, Twitter

Unless you have been hiding under a rock you probably have heard about google+ or you are already registered user. And just in case you hid under a rock, I let the guys from NMA News explain what google+ is…simply because I love their videos.

So after testing google Plus for two days I am as positive about it as most others I talked to. google simply built a platform with more Pros than Cons. Something you can imagine to use in the future because it combines some of the best features of everything you already use and wraps them in one platform. Ooooh…and a couple of nice new concepts come with the package: google hangout for example (definitely a winner). And I guess Facebook really jumpstarts now to get the Skype cooperation up and running. Among other things.

Stupid debates usually start with terms like (fill blank) killer. Can you remember one game changing product that was announced as the iPhone/Facebook/whatever killer and lived up to it? Not one product out there. And I think the industry has become smart enough not to put this into the focus of discussions around google+ too much. Simply because it is pointless.

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Fake of the Day. The GranataPet Snack Check Billboard.

März 30th, 2011 • 5 comments Ads, Experimental, Fake
Tags: Ads, Advertising, Fake, Foursquare, Germany, Ideas, Out of Home, Social Influence Marketing, Tech, World

Time for a new category on davaidavai – the fake of the day.

More and more I get sick of unapplicable fake campaigns that get retweeted over and over again to generate PR for the phantasies of an agency. The beauty of (tech) creativity is to work under certain limitations. And is absolutely legitimate to play and experiment with prototypes. But to mark an unapplicable prototype with a reach of 3 persons in your bathroom and a Youtube video to promote it as a campaign is strictly unethical.

The fake of the day came via geekosystem, Creativity Online, and mashable and is currently getting retweeted all over the web. The idea goes like this: ‘GranataPet brand dog food figured out a clever way to beat the problem with food ads: In most forms of media, consumers generally can’t taste or smell the food being advertised. When one checks in at the billboard via Foursquare, some of the dog food slides out of a dispenser and into a bowl, ready for dogs sample.’

Yeah, right. On one billboard?

Questions:

• I am German. Has any German ever heard of this dog food brand?
• Has any German ever seen one of these billboards?
• How should this billboard work if (in 2010) only ~20,000 Germans were actual Foursquare users

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KLM Surprise. How to effectively stage a small social idea.

Januar 5th, 2011 • 7 comments Brands, Experimental, Mobile, Social, Twitter, We like
Tags: Airline, Amsterdam, Brands, Cool, Creativity, Foursquare, Funny, Ideas, KLM, klmsurprise, Location, Netherlands, Social Influence Marketing, Tech, Tools, Twitter

Big ideas? Well sometimes you can make a difference with a nice little idea that costs $100 and makes people smile. What happened was simple – KLM Surprise follows passengers who tweet or login to Foursquare while they wait for their flights. KLM has checked out their profiles in advance and gives little personalized travel presents to them. Total costs? $100? $150? A small team with a low end social listening solution. And even though I doubt it was a highly effective campaign idea it at least generated this image video below. Something you would have called a TV commercial in 1994. A TV commercial about a caring, tech-savvy airline. Well done KLM. (via)

Foursquare. Seven days in Frankfurt.

November 27th, 2009 • 15 comments Allgemein
Tags: Android, Apps, Cool, Foursquare, Germany, Gowalla, GPS, Ideas, iPhone, Local, Location, Mobile, Social Influence Marketing, Social Networks, Tool

Today’s topic may not be completely new for my American readers but probably for some of those from Germany. On November 19th the third wave of cities for Foursquare has launched. Among them now my hometown Frankfurt in Germany as well as about 50 new cities worldwide. It’s been around in a lot of bigger cities for quite some time. In Germany it’s now live in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Frankfurt. Zurich and Vienna are Foursquare cities in Switzerland and Austria.

So what is Foursquare? Basically it’s a local location based social network (I will use this word in the presence of my granny in the next couple of days). That means: You download a client to your iPhone or Android phone, connect with some friends and start your day in the city.

The big difference to…let’s say Facebook…is, it only works in specific cities (well…yet)  and it’s all about exploring and recommending locations and events. Let’s say for example, you know this fantastic little bar around the corner and you think the White Russian there deserves a little more attention – then you simply locate your favourite nightly hangout via GPS (or start a new venue) and leave a shout to all other Foursquare users in the area to make them try the White Russian here.

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