October 4-8, MITX presents Future M week in Boston. On October 4th, brands, marketers, technologists, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, students and business people and will gather in Cambridge at the Microsoft NERD to talk about the future of geo location and the future of geo marketing. Yes. This is a promotional post for an event that my company, Allen & Gerritsen is planning, but since you have read this far, I think you will find the content helpful in making a decision as to whether or not you should attend. For the record, I think you should, particularly if you are a B2C brand or working in the B2C space.

Making Money with Location

Everyone needs to be able to make money to be able to be a going-concern. In this panel, Jason Keath of Social Fresh leads a discussion that will look at revenue streams and service models that make sense. We’ll talk to two platforms that started with revenue models. David Chang will represent Where.com and Wayne Sutton will talk about Triout’s model. We also have Josh Karpf of mega-brand PepsiCo who can tell us about how applications like Pepsi Loot are important to their marketing and revenue stream. Jason Keath is not known for shyness, so I expect he will pose the tough questions and drive panelists toward talking about useful models and cases that drive business results.

Data and Loyalty

Why does it matter? Location is an important component in doing what every brand would like to do – provide a relevant message to its audience at a time when the receiver is ready to hear and act on the message. Everyone would like a reduction of noise and an increase in overall signal. The future of marketing is not casting a wide net, rather brands conitinue to hone their communications and become trusted companions that better the lives of those who need them. In order for this to happen the way we all would like it to happen, brands need access to data and they need to be willing to give something in return to receive.

In the panel entitled “Data and Loyalty”, Melissa Parrish of Forrester leads a discussion with 2 of the industry’s top thought leaders on LBS, Aaron Strout of Powered Inc and Simon Salt of Incslingers. They have not only been vocal about the space, but built solutions that incorporate their thinking. With the focus of this panel being data, we are elated to have the founder of SimpleGeo, Matt Galligan coming out to talk about how their database / backbone aligns the ecosystem by eliminating the disparity across platforms thereby making near limitless applications possibilities – possible.

The Future of Geo

The day culminates in a visit from 3 of the top LBS platforms on the market. In the last panel we will talk to three heads of LBS technology shops and give them the opportunity not only to talk about their current plans for word domination, but about how they see the industry evolving. Jeff Holden of Whrrl, Seth Priebatsch of SCVNGR and Dennis Crowley of Foursquare, three very different location based platforms, will be asked to talk about why location is important today and what it means in the grand scheme and how it becomes increasingly useful for everyone. The end game needs to be a win for brands, consumers and for platforms and currently the fog-of-new is still very prevalent. Each company has a story to tell about engagement with the consumer, rewards, loyalty and relevant content.

This conversation will be 90 minutes so there will be plenty of time to get deep on the topic and to get the crowd involved. I’ll be moderating and as I prepare, would love to get your thoughts on some of the things you would like to hear about from these 3 gurus. Just leave a comment.

How Much?

$130 per person. Beam Interactive thinker and disruptor, Graham Nelson tweeted about the charge and I think this is the proper forum to address the question. We want to be able to provide snacks and libation to our audience and record the event while covering some of our costs. As you well know, it takes a lot of time and effort to plan an event of this size (and it’s nothing compared to the entire Future M event, kudos to MITX!). The point of this session is to provide an atmosphere to push the conversation to the next level. As one of the missions of Future M, the parent conference, is to promote innovation in Boston, we are currently talking to MIT about donating any profits to an innovation scholarship.

Where’s Gowalla?

Because some of you have asked: Where’s Gowalla? Brightkite and Gowalla both expressed regret for being unable to attend. Facebook is still a non-responder.

See You There!

Come out for a day of discussion filled with a balance of best practices, ideas, innovation and though leadership.

To register, go to the official Geo M site and click register.

“They got the Big Mac we got the Big Mick” – Cleo McDowell in Coming to America

We got the trapezoid, they got the square

Notice the 4 in the places logo and it’s nearly in a square.

Is this a sign of a partnership with Foursquare? (haha) Or does this little Easter egg openly mock the darling of location based software, Foursquare?

Thanks to Megan LePaige for pointing out the 4 and Emily Bowden for riffing on McDowell’s.

With thousands of panels listed for SXSW 2011 and an overall feeling that much of the content last year was mediocre (a statement that I vehemently disagreed with), I thought it might be nice to offer up some panels that I felt were worthy of consideration. Check them out and if you agree, please give them a thumbs up so that they have a chance of being accepted by SXSW.

The Panels

Weird Science: Lessons for Online Social Networks – Click here for more information and to vote
Submitted by: Burr Settles
Summary: What’s wrong with current trends in online communities, and how we can fix it? Virtually every CMS or development framework for the web today comes with apps, modules, or plugins for “social networking” such as friending, rating/ranking content, and making recommendations. And because they are readily available or trivially implemented, new websites are adopting these features in hordes. Surprisingly, though, recent research shows that these features don’t necessarily facilitate a pro-social user experience. Is this a problem? In this talk, Dr. Burr Settles surveys some of the scientific literature on this topic, and presents case studies from community websites—including FAWM (February Album Writing Month), which he founded in 2004. Solutions range from simple to implement design decisions (which can change community dynamics and improve the user experience) to forward-looking technologies based on machine learning and data mining to promote pro-social behavior.
Why? Burr Settles gave a talk last year about building a community. It was the single best presentation I saw at SXSW and I saw a lot of good ones. He should have been keynoting. If this talk is anything like his last one, it will take the conversation from beginner to advanced and have something for everyone in between. Burr is an academic who also activates. The guy is a genius.

A Panel About Nothing (You Don’t Care About) – Click here for more information and to vote
Submitted by ME!
Summary Preface: We listened to the feedback of influential attendees from last year’s SXSW. These people want new, interesting experiences and more advanced content. Challenge: Our crystal ball is broken, but we know that come SXSW, we will have valuable insight about mobile and social communications technology. The audience wants panels that are provocative, yet relevant. They need something that sets them up for a great SXSW by starting conversations about the topics they most care about. Goal: Create thought starters about the most important issues of the day. Bring to light how perhaps people may be currently screwing it all up and how to fix it should they care. Have the audience leave with several takeaways and viewpoints on each issue. How will we know what to talk about?: We will pick the most popular topics from the crowd, add some of our own and ask for suggestions from the SXSW panel picker team. Are there rules? Discussion will take place “Pardon the Interruption” style. Speakers on the panel will be given a set amount of time to talk about each topic and buzzed when it’s time to move on. At least one speaker must give counterpoint or divergent viewpoint. Success: Audience participation is vivid. People feel energized about SXSW feel encouraged to seek out more content. People seek deeper answers by attending other panels to take the problems we cannot solve to more pointed, focused groups. The panel is referenced in other panels.
Why? No one has done a panel like this to our knowledge. Having CC Chapman, Jenn Van Grove of Mashable and Jay Cuthrell on the panel ensure that dialogue will be vibrant and the innovative format promises to spurn debate.

Ad Agencies Need a New Model to Survive – Click here for more information and to vote
Submitted by Edward Boches
Summary: If the advertising agency is to survive in an era when the reigns of media have been transferred from a few professionals to 2 billion individuals, it will have to revamp its entire way of thinking. The mindset will have to shift from thinking about target audiences to communities. Strategy will require more insight about a consumer’s relationship to media and technology rather than just how she feels about the brand. The team will change entirely to include production, mobile, and experience design in addition to art and copy. And the consumer will play an active, rather than passive role, in the creation and sharing of everything. What does an ad agency have to do to survive? What are the practices it must unlearn? What new skills will it require? This panel, comprised of agency leaders, each in a different stage of evolution, will explore the challenges and offer ideas.
Why? Aside from a chance to ask Edward Boches the hard questions (read heckle Edward), this one has a direct impact on the agency world and the panelists are people who are not change averse and are very much testing into new and different models.

Understanding Customer Culture; Caution: May Require Cojones – Click here for more information and to vote
Submitted by Ujwal Arkalgud
Summary: A wealth of knowledge and understanding remains hidden from most marketers today as organizations refuse to acknowledge the need to study and understand their audiences culture. This panel will examine why organizations need to immerse themselves in culture, how they can go about doing so and will unearth the hidden and real underlying reasons behind why organizations continue to ignore this domain. This panel is informed through the collective knowledge of ethnographers and industry leaders who are conducting and executing such projects multiple times a year. We however warn you, this will not be easy on the ears and you may need some serious cojones to take this to the field in your own organization.
Why: This panel deals with audience. The science / psychology of audience is the most important thing for a marketer to understand. If this panel can give us new ideas about how to gain an edge, it will be worth the price of the entire conference.

Creation, Curation and the Ethics of Content Strategy – Click here for more information and to vote
Submitted by Margot “Bloomer” Bloomstein
Summary: From Monet to MTV, what practices connect the salons of Paris with Danger Mouse, NFL.com, and Facebook? More importantly, what’s your place in that continuum? If you work with content, embrace your place in the ethical debate of creation and curation. It’s nothing new—but it’s time for user experience practitioners to acknowledge it. Why? Both companies’ and consumers’ expectations of user experience have matured, promoting content strategy in interactive teams, efficient projects, and satisfying user experiences. Content strategists shape communication goals, hierarchy, and taxonomy. Innocent choices? Or politics, discrimination, and the dark side of design? If you ignore these pitfalls of content strategy, what are the ethical implications? We’ll discuss this through the lens of content correlation and “merchandising” on news sites, editing and mashing up to “create” anew, and curating in traditional settings like museums. From seemingly benign audits and style guidelines through published content packages, do curators create meaning? If so, how should content strategists confront similar choices? It’s been a breakout year for content strategy. Come hear why now we need to confront its ethical relevance—and learn about the missteps of teams that don’t—through the lens of case studies and the perspective of the new publishing landscape.
Why? This is still an emerging topic. As owned and earned media become more mainstream, it becomes more and more important to understand how this role that straddles creative and (potentially) analytics fits into the overall machine. Plus, Margot Bloomstein is a creative, dynamic speaker who in the past has brought cookies.

The ROI of Customer Centricity – Click here for more information and to vote
Submitted by Aaron Strout
Summary: While some of us are single-mindedly focused on social media as a phenomenon, we often lose sight of the source of its importance…namely, its ability to enable companies to be more customer-centric. We define “customercentricity” as the intersection of brand values with customer passion points. Some customers find value in promotions and coupons, while others in customer service. Our goal is develop a measurable strategy that successfully delivers value to our customer. During this panel, hear from leaders at Comcast, Cirque du Soleil and GroupM about how they are driving ROI by putting the customer at the center of their marketing programs. Panelists will discuss best practices and insights, methods of measuring customer-centricity and suggestions on how other companies can replicate their success. Additionally, they will cover the essential integration of paid, owned and earned strategies to a customer-centric program.
Why? First of all, it’s a case study so it promises to have quality take-aways. As a strong proponent of Paid, Owned Earned, I want an opportunity to see if we are on the same page in terms of measurement and effectiveness.

Community Failure and How to Recover Click here for more information and to vote
Submitted by Heather Strout with Jim Storer
Summary: Many communities fail. While there are no sure bets on whether a community will be successful, there are ways to turn a community from a failure to a success. Learn how to redirect your community ship by 1) evaluating the ROI of your community, 2) re-assessing your community strategy 3) turning to your company to gain support and the resources your community needs 4) expanding or scaling back your community to create success and 5) trying new ideas and tactics you hadn’t yet thought of to breathe new life into your community. Whether your community is failing or you feel your community could be more successful, you will learn how to assess the health of your community by understand what measurements are valuable in determining whether your community is on the right path. We will provide you with valuable information on how to make sure your community aligns with your business to address business needs while also providing value to members. We will also give you concrete ideas on how to communicate community success to the business in business versus community terms. This will be a moderator-lead discussion with plenty of time for Q&A. Learn from a panel with a combined 32 years of community building and management experience.
Why?: Community is ridiculously important and many companies do not understand the amount of time and effort it takes to actually maintain one. They take a Field of Dreams approach, it dies and they wonder why they failed. It does not have to be that way. The people on this panel get it and the dialogue will be full of useful and actionable information.

Most people who write software start by defining a problem to solve. They try to make the world a simpler and more efficient place through lines of code. I am not convinced that Facebook thinks that way. Mark Zuckerberg has once again gone against the grain and proven that Facebook is writing software for their needs.

Who is Places for? As of this post (see what I did there?) It isn’t feature rich enough to satisfy the nerds. There is no model to benefit a business and it does not offer anything to entice the marketers.

So what? The aforementioned audiences have (practically) been begging the LBS vendors for more options and more control. Analysts have been supposing what a Facebook LBS experience would be like, but instead of listening of listening and leapfrogging, Facebook has decided to start by releasing the minimum. The ability to check in and a Read API for application development. Aaron Strout and I had a talk about this on the Twitter. I am disappointed because for some reason I thought Facebook did not suffer from the same kind of tunnel vision that other giant organizations experience.

In my article about how LBS vendors needed to fear the sleeping giant, I gave Facebook way too much credit. I assumed that Facebook would actually look at the market and go live with:

• A clear statement of how to validate that business belongs to the person who claims the business.
• A listing of the services accessible to businesses and marketers complete with a self service model.
• A clear understanding of the activation model including costs and the associated time frames.

I even said: “Facebook will treat this like a revenue stream. Their LBS version 1 will go online with a method of business activation, tiered levels of service and a pricing model”. And why not? They have the resources available to build this functionality into their already massive platform. Instead Zuckerberg’s team has proven that they live in oblivion. There is almost got a Katanari Damacy fun-yet-near-pointless premise in play. Zuckerberg is the King of All Cosmos whose whimsy led to the destruction of the universe. We are the princes and princesses who are employed but the king to roll our katamaris through Farmville and Yoville. We are collecting pictures and videos of people, beer, cows and candy at various places reforming a giant Facebook eternity of whatever.

They are clearly employing a strategy to test whether the masses will play. And they are once again flipping the bird to privacy by allowing a user to check any friend in their social graph into a Place regardless of whether they are actually there. For example, I checked a bunch of people into my local Starbucks this morning. None of them were even in my state (but it would have been a really great group).

Instead of innovation, we got a disjointed experience. A check in is just a check in. We currently cannot associate anything (media) but other people to the place. There is no game, no campaign and no surprise and delight. At least we got the power to compromise the privacy of our friends.

I am going to my happy place now. “It’s free software. It’s free software. It’s free software. It’s free software. It’s free software. It’s free software.”

We listened to the feedback of influential attendees from last year’s SXSW. These people want new, interesting experiences and more advanced content. These influencers were very vocal about a problem that I personally disagreed with, but would like to attempt to solve anyway for their benefit and the greater good of man and womankind.

Our crystal ball is broken, but we know that come SXSW, we will have valuable insight about mobile and social communications technology. The audience wants panels that are provocative, yet relevant. They need something that sets them up for a great SXSW by starting conversations about the topics they most care about. Our goal is to create thought starters about the most important issues of the day. Bring to light how perhaps people may be currently screwing it all up and how to fix it should they care. Have the audience leave with several takeaways and viewpoints on each issue.

How will we know what to talk about?

We will pick the most popular topics from the crowd, add some of our own and ask for suggestions from the SXSW panel picker team. Are there rules? Discussion will take place “Pardon the Interruption” style. Speakers on the panel will be given a set amount of time to talk about each topic and buzzed when it’s time to move on. At least one speaker must give counterpoint or divergent viewpoint. Is we are successful, Audience participation is vivid. People feel energized about SXSW feel encouraged to seek out more content. People seek deeper answers by attending other panels to take the problems we cannot solve to more pointed, focused groups. The panel is referenced in other panels.

The panelists:

• Jenn Van Grove of Mashable
• CC Chapman
• Jay Cuthrell
• Me

Please take a moment to click here and vote for our panel http://bit.ly/nothingsxsw

According to a Forrester of study US Online adults, only 4% have ever used location based applications. The report has some very interesting data [although the definition of Location Based Social Networks is mired in ambiguity. Content based location networks like Yelp and Where seem to be excluded.]. The predominantly male audience is talked about as an influencer, but also as a “drop in the bucket” compared to the effectiveness of the audience that interacts with SMS, mobile search and display media on WAP sites.

Two things bother me. First, Forrester is late to the party and just knocked over my lamp and let my out my cat. Second is the recommendation in the report called Location Based Social Networks Show a Hint of Mobile Engagement, which you can buy here.

“Forrester recommends that bold, male-targeted marketers start testing but that most marketers should wait until they can get a bigger bang for their buck, when adoption rates increase and established players emerge from the fray.”

– quoted from the report abstract.

Conversations and Engagement, Not Impressions and CTR

Since when is social media all about impressions? As someone who constantly encourages clients and prospects to think about the quality of their social media audience before the quantity, I find this recommendation to be rooted in paid media type thinking. This is earned media. We need to switch lenses and look at the audience again.

A Smaller, Yet More Engaged Audience of Influencers

The good news is that while the audience is small compare to Facebook users or Google users, it is growing very rapidly. This audience is also willing to activate. We know that they will fill their social graphs with checkins, offers, badges and other surprises. Their mean household income is $25,500 more than the average US online household, so in theory they have more spending power (assuming they are not concentrated in higher cost of living areas). They rely on their phones for information. They are 24% more likely to look to their phone before they make a purchase, 24% more likely to want to receive a relevant (text) message from a business, 23% more likely to use their phone to participate in a sweepstakes or contest and 22% more likely to text for a coupon or discount. In other words, these people are a marketer’s dream.

This is cutting edge stuff with a ton of potential. We have only seen small pockets of fully integrated campaigns (like USA Today) that uses paid media to drive people to a LBS app to spurn adoption and engage with the brand. Most of the growth is organic, through PR and events. It is still very new stuff and the fact that there are so many large and small vendors in the space is a detriment to more widespread adoption because there is still no de facto standard for checkins, although I think Foursquare has a shot at being it if they keep up their pace and continue to innovate and appeal to and keep the interest of people who are always hungry for more.

I understand that Forrester is a group of analysts and that they need to use their data to make what they feel is the best recommendation for their clientele, but given how smart they are, I would think there would be some suggestions on how to further the industry in the report. They themselves begin the article by calling the industry “nascent”, which is a perfect word, but what about loyalty (their example is Starbucks and a “startup LBSN”, what?)? White labeling opportunities? Contextual recommendations? Usefulness of checkin data? Where’s the future?

The thinking of these platforms is very “What’s next?”. Forrester’s, in this instance, “What’s now?”. My recommendation is to test into these platforms, collect and analyze data on your influencers and engage heavily with those who are engaging with you.

The speedy evolution of location based social networking and the flexibility of Foursquare have given birth to a new kind of social loyalty. Tasti DLite is one of the first companies to use the Foursquare API to create a program that is integrated with the customer’s social graph as well as their location. 
 

 
Here is how it works in a nutshell. If you join the Tasti DLite Tasti Treat Card loyalty program you get a loyalty card. Subsequently, every time you buy something you get a point for each dollar you spend. Fifty points gets you something for free. A customer can hook their card up to their Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare accounts and get bonus points for allowing the brand to access their social personas.
 
A customer can allow Tasti DLite to post to their Facebook or Twitter accounts to announce what they are doing and allow it to check them in on Foursquare. Each of these is then tallied as a bonus points which helps them reach 50 points faster. So the customer gets a passive Foursquare check in and can let their friends know that they are getting a deal at Tasti DLite.
 
The big question however is: “What will social media look like if every brand starts doing this? Could it become a Michael Bay movie?”
 

What do you think?

If you have not yet read about Whrrl’s interesting post check in experience yet, now would be a good time. If you have or you just want to march to the beat of a different drum, read on.

Whrrl has 3 primary goals, none of which they can accomplish without you:

1. creating community

2. causing people to do things

3. spreading ideas in a viral fashion.

But that said, they need you to be a very opinionated and direct version of you.

At Internet Week NY, I had a conversation with Gary Vaynerchuk about selling wine. He said, and I am paraphrasing, people would come into the store and ask for a recommendation on wine, let’s say Pinot Noir. I could point them to a bunch of good bottles in their price range and they may or may not buy one, but if I grab the bottle and say “Here. Try this one.” That’s usually pretty effective.

This conversation that stuck with me because I have long believed that people like to be told what to do. Convenience trumps trust until trust is broken, so if you can make things easy for them and you give them an experience that is valuable, they will trust you and look to you for more advice, products or services. So what does this have to do with Whrrl? Whrrl cannot talk on its own. It needs you to tell people what to do!

Pick places you are passionate about and start adding recommendations. Start your recommendations with an action verb. Whrrl is about helping people “get out of their social rut”. These folks are barely dragging their asses out of bed in the morning. You have to give them a reason to live! OK. It’s not like that, but they are asking you for ideas. Which of these makes you want to act?

Location: Lustre Pearl – Austin Texas

Cool place to have a drink.

OR

Play outdoor table tennis in the back near the camp fire.

So go to your favorite spots in the Whrrl application and start adding recommendations.  If your recommendations are good, people will click “Want”. Want adds them to their list of ideas. Think of it like a bucket list. “Did it” takes it off the list and tells the person who made the recommendation that the person completed the recommendation. They can then decide if they “recommend it” to give even more influence points. If your ideas are enticing, people will want / do / recommend them. This will level you up in society, your community, and you will eventually be recognized as an expert. Isn’t that all you ever wanted?

The check in is the least interesting part of the location based phenomenon. Look no further than Brightkite to see that an uninteresting post check in experience is a recipe for disaster. It is a shame really as Brightkite is not only beautiful, but the founders are smart technologists who got most of the idea right. It is fun to check in to see what is going to happen next, but as you provide more information including recommendations, photos and even purchases, you should see more in return. You are not only advocating, but if you are sharing what you are doing with your social graph, you are also providing free impressions.*  We know what happens if the post check in experience is a dud, but what about the other extreme?
 

 

Get Out of Your Social Rut

Whrrl is about getting you out of your “social rut”. The behaviors that you share with Whrrl factor heavily into what happens within the experience. Yes. Whrrl allows you to check in and you can see where your friends are just like on Foursquare and Gowalla, but it takes things to a different level.

The goals of Whrrl are to:

• Create communities
• Encourage people to act by giving them good ideas
• Viral spread

Using your check in behavior, Whrrl puts you into groups that they call societies. These societies are part of their segmentation model and keep the conversations on task. Often times when people join forums or groups, they begin by discussing a particular topic. Developer forums contain code discussion, parenting groups discuss everything from adoption to potty training, but as people become familiar with one another. But bonds form and conversations veer into other areas. Sure, it’s the sign of a good community when people feel comfortable with evolving their relationships, but it also makes it tough for newcomers to break into groups and it can change the original purpose of the community.

Whrrl Leverages Context

A: You check in to places.
B: Whrrl learns as you check in and places you in societies. Societies are groups of people with one common passion. Brands can sponsor societies, for example Red Bull has a society.

C: The people in the societies are also checking in to places. They are also making recommendations based on things that they like at the places they go. These become ideas.

D: You can make a list of things you want to do by clicking Want on recommendations that you find interesting. This also validates the person who made the recommendation and gives them influence points which levels them up in societies. Presumably, the people with the highest levels in societies know the most about that topic. You can add your own recommendations and help people find fun things to do and gain influence points. Who knows, you might make new friends in the process.

A Lot To Get Your Head Around

You had no idea it did all of that, did you? I did not either because, as I explained to Jeff Holden and team, there is a lot to do in Whrrl and much of it isn’t evident to anyone who is not willing to discover it on their own. I talked to some heavy social media users about Whrrl and gave them overviews of the tool. Many of them had no idea that Whrrl could do so many things. Part of the confusion is that Whrrl does not seem to want to stick with convention. Beyond use of the standard term “check in”, Whrrl has made attempts to introduce its own terms like “societies”. The big problem is that societies are crucial to the understanding of what Whrrl can do for you so if you do not understand what a society is or why you are being placed into them from the start, Whrrl seems confusing. Whrrl has some good explanations of what it can do for you, but they are pretty well hidden inside of the tool.

When you blaze a new trail, it can be tough to get people to go your way. There are a lot of ways to go once you get into Whrrl. I have covered about 80% of the functionality. There are some cool offer based features and a whole system that notifies you when things happen. Have you tried Whrrl? What is your impression? Is it your LBS of choice? If not, why not?
 
 
* Here is an example where tasty D lite rewards its customers for linking their social graph to their loyalty program.

Eat Drink and Be Social was an event by Dialogue Consulting. Thank you Tyson Goodridge for asking me to moderate Dennis Crowley, co-founder of Foursquare and CEO of Foodspotting, Alexa Andrzejewski.

Big thanks to Joselin Mane of BostonTweetUp.com for capturing and editing the video. Follow BostonTweetUp to find out about tweetups and events around Boston.