UPDATE: Facebook 3.0 for the iPhone is now available here.
TechCrunch outlines the new design and features in the upcoming Facebook 3.0 app for the iPhone. The IU is hugely improved. The app should be available some time this week.
Read: Facebook 3.0 May Be The Most Useful App On The iPhone Yet via TechCrunch.
My priorities have changed. I am trying new restaurants, bars and museums. I plan dates and gatherings at places I have never been to in San Francisco. I am currently the ‘mayor’ of seven Bay Area restaurants and bars.
The cause and driving force behind these changes is Foursquare, which has become one of my most often used apps on my iPhone. Defining Foursquare has been compared to defining Twitter: it isn’t easy to do.
Here is the gist – Each time you visit a bar, restaurant, store, museum or park, you open Foursquare and ‘check-in’ using the iPhone’s GPS to locate where you are (there is a SMS process for non-iPhone users.) Each check-in earns you points, unlock badges related to your behavior, and if you visit the same establishment often enough, you may become the mayor of that venue.
In addition, you follow your friends on Foursquare with updates on their current location and activities. (It also ties into your Twitter and Facebook accounts.) This has already helped me meet friends who were nearby when normally we would have passed like ships in the night. Finally it offers recommendations on what to do at your current location
The single objection to playing I hear from friends is “But I don’t want everyone to know where I am all the time.” Foursquare is completely optional. You pick when you check-in, what you say, and who can see it allowing those with privacy concerns to play while not broadcasting their location.
Still not convinced? I have collected a few articles and quotes below from the press on how the app works, its value and potential business model.
Foursquare has changed my behavior for what I consider to be the better. Try it and it might do the same for you.
If you are in the Bay Area, there will be a Foursquare Mayor Meet-up starting at Zeitgeist at 3PM on Saturday, Aug. 22.
With Foursquare, Dennis Crowley Aims Past the Nerds
New York Future Initiative
“Where we’re trying to get to with it,” Crowley said, “is that you can be walking down the street in a neighborhood you don’t know around lunchtime, and your phone will suddenly buzz with the location of a sandwich shop near you that your friend has recommended.”
Why Yelp (And Every Retailer) Should Jump On The Foursquare Bandwagon
Silicon Alley Insider
What Foursquare does is even more valuable than the Yelp mobile app itself. It not only records where you’ve been, but it also encourages others to visit the same place and join you. If I was a business, and I had the choice of getting all my customers on Yelp or on Foursquare, Foursquare seems much more compelling. It’s not about reviews so much, so I have less downside of a bad rating or review killing my business. Plus, it encourages others who aren’t even on the app to come join their friends and check out my business.
Foursquare Shows The Business Potential Of Location-Based Services
Techcrunch
It’s still being worked on, but in version 1.4 of the iPhone app, “ideally, when people checkin into places that have some kind of special / offer / etc, we’ll show a banner at the bottom which you tap to slide over and see the promo info. If the promo requires some certain level of “local” (e.g. you’re currently the mayor / you’ve been here 10x / etc) then you’ll see a special screen that you can show to bartender / waitress etc that makes it easier to identify that you’re entitled to the freebee,” co-founder Dennis Crowley tells us.
Building an Army of Hyper-Local, Mobile-Connected Advocates
Advertising Age
San Francisco’s public radio station, KQED, did an excellent piece on how museums are incorporating more user generated content. Some curators are calling on guests to help select, design and contribute content for new exhibits.
In May of 2000 I moved to the Bay Area to start a new job at AvantGo. At the time the company was about 200 employees and I was part of an expansion to build out our consumer product, the AvantGo Mobile Internet service.
Over the next year and a half I experienced our IPO, traveled across the country, helped grow our content providers from 200 to 1,500, worked with the top media brands in the world, watched our user base grow into the millions, saw good friends receive pink slips and finally received one myself. After 14 months and an acquisition by Sybase/iAnywhere Solutions, I was invited to return and spent three more years working on the AvantGo team.
Just like any other career, the job had its highs and lows, but on the whole working at AvantGo was one of the best professional decisions I ever made. I had some of the best managers and co-workers of my career, learned volumes, and made life long friends.
I made the decision to leave AvantGo to pursue new opportunities in 2006. Today the service is shutting down and the brand is being transitioned to a new product line. In honor of that, former employees are meeting in Palo Alto tonight to raise a pint and share memories. If you are a former employee, please stop by.
June 30, 7 pm
Blue Chalk Cafe
www.bluechalk.com
630 Ramona St
Palo Alto, CA 94301-2545
(650) 326-1020
Last night I met with an old colleague of mine, @pddooley , for drinks at Kate O’Briens to discuss Web 2.0 marketing strategies. He is just about to complete a class on the subject taught by Peter Young and wanted to pick my brain on how he should use Twitter.
My friend’s concern was around the proper mix of personal and professional content and the affect mixing may have on his online reputation/personal brand. I found myself reaching back to a post I wrote regarding a Mashable article on the do’s and don’ts of Twitter and reiterating the same point I focused on from that article – 3. Do let it all hang out.
After reviewing that post today I decided and that the subject needed to be explored in more depth. The mix any person chooses is ultimately up to them, but I have found that mixing is better than not.
My blog, which you are reading, is my professional voice, yet it also features links to my accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Yelp which are either a combination of personal and professional or purely personal. I am a person with thoughts and opinions which not everyone will agree with, but providing a one dimensional voice online tends to create one dimensional posts. These sites add depth and substance to my identity online and in turn to my blog and to me this is a good thing.
Think of your last job interview. Did the conversation strictly adhere to your skills and performance, or did it wander? Did you discuss personal experiences, hobbies and attributes that were not directly associated with the position? Employers look for the whole person, not just your body of work. Twitter and other social media help round out my online personality.
Do I censor myself on Twitter? Yes (as I do on other social networks as well), but I try to do so in a way that still allows me to communicate effectively. Could some of my comments on Twitter (or this blog) prevent me from professional opportunities? Perhaps, but if that is the case, I would bet that those are opportunities I am better for not taking.
Thanks to The Business Insider.
One of the most used third-party applications on my iPhone is Yelp (iTunes link). From finding restaurants nearby to looking up a number for reservations, the app has proven immensely useful. In the next few days they will be releasing an update that will make it even more valuable.
New Features:
The enhancements look great. You can see a tour of the new application below and read a full review is at TechCrunch.
March Tweetness launched today, the result of a partnership between AT&T and Federated Media.
From the ‘About‘ page:
March Tweetness alllows fans to find, follow and engage with the most exciting March Madness conversations happening in real-time. You can follow specific games, teams, players, fan groups.
Users can comment in favor or against a team in any game. The window for any particular team appears to be pulling posts from Twitter directly, including those that are not basketball related. The UNC window has ‘tweets’ regarding the upcoming game against Gonzaga, the rights of unborn children in NC and a bar tending competition currently occurring on the NC coast. It looks like the use of # posts may not have been implemented correctly.
The site looks interesting and has huge potential. At previous companies we had discussed the value of fan ‘taunting’ due to the high level of involvement around college and professional sports. If they could only limit the content to that of the game at hand this might be a real winner and a new revenue source for Twitter.
From TechCrunch –
The British government is proposing that Twitter is to be taught in primary (elementary) schools as part of a wider push to make online communication and social media a permanent part of the UK’s education system. And that’s not all. Kids will be taught blogging, podcasting and how to use Wikipedia alongside Maths, English and Science.
This is an incredible proposal to embrace emerging trends rather than hiding from them. It is commonly accepted that reaching kids in meaningful ways includes using the mediums and tools they use while not forsaking the pillars of education. It would be great to see the American school system incorporate similar strategies.
Via TechCrunch
There isn’t much I can add to the plethora of coverage from yesterday’s iPhone 3.0 event so I will corral a few of my favorites.
Initial Thoughts On iPhone OS 3.0 – TheAppleBlog
iPhone 3.0 feature roundup
iPhone 3.0 OS Guide: Everything You Need to Know
iPhone 3.0 Beta OS Impressions And Walkthrough Gallery
The areas of new functionality that get the content/news geek in me excited are the application subscription and expanded content purchases. Look out for some exciting new apps from paid content providers.
Oh yeah, CUT/COPY/PASTE Yay!
My name is Kemp Mullaney and I have been in the mobile industry since 2000. This blog covers my thoughts on products and practices in the mobile and general technology spaces.
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