Grown Up Thinking

On November 6^th, 2011, our city hosted one of the world’s greatest road races, the ING New York City Marathon. With over $600,000 in prize money, over 100,000 applicants and over two million spectators, this iconic event is one that tops the charts for many.

In its 41^st year, the Marathon went social in a variety of ways. Here are some of the latest and greatest ways spectators were able to support their runners on another level through technology:

Official ING New York City Marathon Mobile Spectator App: This app let users track up to 10 runners simultaneously, as well as watch live streams of the race and view an interactive course map. Another fantastic component of this app is that runners could use it to push out live notifications of where they were at along their five-borough journey.

TrackMyRunners via Web and SMS: This service allowed users to track up to five runners through their web browser or track up to three runners through text alerts. This service allowed tracking on race day and afterward, and there was no advance registration needed.

SupportYourMarathoner.com: Created by Asics America, this service allowed people to support their marathoners via pre-recorded videos, images and text that played over a large LCD screen triggered by the runner’s personalized RFID tag. Click here to watch the informational video of how this technology worked.

As someone who knew several runners participating, the ING New York City Marathon App made a world of difference when it came to tracking down my runners. Starting off in Brooklyn I was able to track my runners’ progress in real-time at mile 12, then headed to Manhattan where I was able to convince spectators who were already there to let me cut in front of them by showing them my app and telling them my runners would be approaching mile 18 at any moment.

It’s great to see a sport which is usually pretty isolated find ways to engage with spectators and aspiring runners alike. Which sporting events do you think would be a great fit for this type of social technology?

Since last year, the University of Southern California has been using Foursquare to foster a sense of campus community by embracing everything from venues and specials to tips and lists. With over 18,000 followers and 135,000 check-ins to date, USC’s adoption of the location-based social platform has proven that Foursquare can do so much more than dish out badges.

In this case study we see a traditional institution proactively reach students in a way that resonates with them. True, our Class of 2015 study tells us only 12% of college students are on Foursquare. However, with the right formula and a little innovation, USC has proven that Foursquare can thrive among college students when used in a way that benefits them. Bucket list for seniors? Campus event updates? Bookstore discounts? Yes, please.

USC isn’t the only university jumping on the Foursquare bandwagon, and it’s not “new news” either. Last year Foursquare forged a relationship with 20 universities across the country to, as the Foursquare blog says, help “students, alumni, and staff connect with each other, find new and interesting things to do, and earn rewards for exploring their campus and nearby areas.”

So, on your next trip to SoCal be sure to take the virtual campus tour via Foursquare and check into at least five spots along the way. This could earn you some sweet campus swag and maybe even the True Trojan badge!

Key takeaways from this SXSWi panel:

Alexa Andrzejewski, Cofounder and CEO of Foodspotting: People don’t interact for the sake of people. With Instagram and Foodspotting, people interact over a photo, an object. Apps don’t engage people, people engage people.

Jake Mintz, Cofounder of Bump Technologies: It’s hard to get the information/content noise down to a level where it’s valuable.

Boris Bogatin, CEO of NearVerse: Someday, there will be (50 people with) 50 devices in a room, each with their own profile, and mobile will automatically organize and connect everyone in the room. (As for right now?) At the end of the day, apps don’t make sense for the physical world. No one app is going to fit all your needs.

Chidi Afulezi, Director of Product Management at Turner Broadcasting: We don’t need apps for news, we need platforms. Can any one app handle the onslaught of citizen journalism during an event like the Japan earthquake/tsunami?

Keys to audience engagement: 1 – Creating compelling content: that is engagement. 2 - Build a colony of experiences around a flagship. 3 - Create two-way dialogue. 4 - Mobile web. Applications are the sexy thing right now, but we need to work on getting mobile web up to par.

This article originally appeared as part of MediaPost’s Engage:Teens Publications.

Nearly everyone is pointing to 2011 as the year of mobile, but it’s time we start getting more specific about what this means to better capitalize on this new form of interaction. I’ve been taking a look back on 2010 to see what we can learn about how people are using their mobile devices, from texting to the web to apps. The first stop in this exploration took me to “social scrapbooking”: the potent mixture of mobile, social, and photo-sharing. This is going to be big for teens in 2011, and here’s the why/how of it:

It’s obvious that mobile has taken on a life beyond simple communication with a friend or family via voice or text. The combination of mobile and social sharing has put a powerful broadcasting tool in the hands of teens. It’s a world in which the on- and offline worlds are constantly bridged. This is a game-changer for the teenage mindset. Teens, who, as Frank O’Brien articulated on the Engage:Teens blog back in October, are primarily concerned with crafting and maintaining their image among social circles, now have the ability (if not also the social pressure) to constantly broadcast the defining elements of their lifestyle and image to their social networks.

Marinate on that while sprinkling in some data from the likes of Pew, Neilsen, and other 2010 studies that have told us one of the top uses of mobile devices among teens is the taking and sharing of photos. There’s no simpler way to offer up a rich slice of your life than by sharing a photo on your social networks for all to see, like, comment on or retweet — or even by sending a mass MMS to your inner circle. Every photo shared is an opportunity build ego and define one’s self in the eyes of one’s friends.

So this social scrapbooking trend has a lot of potential, that much is clear, but can we point to any tangible results or specific instances of how these habits are being capitalized on? I explore a few over at the Engage:Teens blog, jump over there to read on!

This week, the Twitterverse has been buzzing about a new Foursquare visualization tool, Weeplaces. And with 100 million check-ins under their belt, it’s about time Foursquare found a way to visualize them.

How does it work? Blue circles represent places you have visited and even bigger circles with numbers represent places you visit frequently.  A time series chart below the map shows how long you have been a Foursquare user.  Once the animation begins to play, a yellow line connects all your check-ins and the timeline at the bottom follows along.

One of the best features of the visualization is the shaded regions, as places in the areas that you often frequent show up lighter than places you haven’t been.  This way you can see which neighborhoods you’ve been neglecting. @VishalSapra (shown above), for example, seems to have something against the Upper East Side.

All in all, I’m always looking for a new way to impress my friends with my check-in prowess. Thank you Movity for thinking of a way to reinvigorate my Foursquare addiction.

If you missed last week’s media coverage of the iPad; well then, probably time to switch from that dial-up connection. Somehow we at Mr Youth managed to go this far without commenting on this new potentially game changing device. Rather than another review on the device or the hottest apps, I figured I’d talk a bit about how the iPad, its competitors and the eco-system of a multi-device world will change the way we live.

Disclosure: I have not yet gotten my iPad as I’m holding out for the 3G model. I can; however, already envision the changes it will bring in my life.

Death of Paper (sorry Michael Scott)

As someone who hates paper and does not have a paper filling system, I’ve welcomed doing things digitally for some time. I use Evernote to save any web content I find, Yelp to keep track of places I want to check out, e-mail to send notes to myself  as reminders and TripIt to save my travel info.

Now with the iPad, I envision accessing my list of delivery menus on Yelp, taking and reviewing notes on Evernote, and showing my boarding pass at the gate on TripIt. While I already read the NY Times and other publications on my iPhone and books on my Kindle, the iPad will soon replace magazines and any other print media I still consume.

A Fully Synched Life

Prior to getting a Kindle, I never highlighted or took notes in books I read, but with the first book I read on it, I found myself highlighting. Why? Because I knew I’d be able to access the data easily whenever I needed it and would always have those notes on me on my iPhone.

My iPhone also enabled me to access Yelp, Evernote, TripIt and other sites on my phone so I always have everything I need wherever I am. As a result, I use each more frequently. With each device came different uses, bookmarking restaurants online became more valuable to me once I knew I could always access on my phone and I started using TripIt once I realized the iPhone app would update me automatically when the flights I e-mailed to it on my desktop were delayed.

Now with a third device, these sites and data in general becomes more valuable as you have more ways to access. Not having to boot up your computer or the freedom of having a larger screen with you more of the time will continue to create new business models and entrench existing ones that can leverage your data across these devices.

Multi-Multi-Media

I have found being able to rent movies on iTunes and watch on my Apple TV, iPhone or laptop a nice feature. I rarely find myself renting them when I am not going to watch them at home however. Usually when I am out or travelling, the iPhone screen is too small or battery too low to watch and often don’t have my laptop with me. The iPad is an ideal device to watch movies on so now, being able to watch a movie at home, finish it on the iPad and maybe even catch the last few minutes on the iPhone becomes a lot more enticing.

Books similarly can be shared across the iPad and iPhone making it easier to always have the entertainment you want at your fingertips. Then there is YouTube and the rumored iPad Hulu app to consume web and TV content on the go. Sling gives you access to your home cable and DVR on the go and the cable companies can’t (well they can) be far behind. And, imagine carrying around hundreds of board and video games that you can pop out and play with friends or yourself at any time.

So, what does this mean?
Does it mean life even further tethered to a screen? I don’t think so. I think it perhaps means less time tethered to a desk or couch. Does it mean increased distractions? There might be some of that but I think it could still mean increased productivity (or at least personal productivity) as we are better able to consume and create content using the right device for the right place. Does it mean the world will never be the same? Well, I won’t go there yet but these are just a few ways a device I have not yet used will likely change my life. Imagine what it will do for little league managers’ scorecards, waiters’ notepad, small business owners’ credit card terminals, doctors charts, and thousands of other daily life experiences. The iLife is here and it almost lives up to the hype.

Last week I stumbled upon a new iPhone app called CauseWorld, which allows users to check in to places and receive Karma points. The points can then be donated to nine potential causes including Support A Classroom, Give Clean Water, and Donate A Book. The model is basically Foursquare with a charity tie-in, allowing users to gain badges while giving back to charity through small micro actions. The app is free and sponsored by Kraft Foods and Citi. There’s also a feed via Facebook Connect which allows you to publish your donations to your Facebook wall.

CauseWorld is a great example of brands connecting with causes and amplifying their message through social media. In December, Foursquare launched a cause campaign with CampInteractive sponsored by Pepsi that donated $0.04 for each check-in. While the program was a great way to bring CampInteractive’s cause into the mainstream and align Pepsi, the CauseWorld app takes it a step further by allowing consumers to choose what cause matters most to them, and amass ‘do-gooder’ badges.

Another solid example of brands aligning with causes to rally consumer participation across social media is the Chase Community Giving program, which just announced their winners (congrats to my peeps at Invisible Children, who won a $1 million donation). The program gained over two million Facebook fans, and aligned cause with 500,000 charities that participated for a chance to receive $25k, $100k, or $1 million grants. In total, Chase Community Giving handed out $5 million to a variety of worthy organizations.

The beauty of the program is it unlocked the potential of these charities’ reach through social voting, with top charities generating over 100k user votes and rallying their fans to support their cause in a central social space. Excellent use of tying together social media, cause, community and a brand under a single campaign.

In the wake of Haiti’s massive and devastating earthquake, we’re now bearing witness to the largest text-based fundraising campaign for disaster relief to date.

Countless compassionate individuals combined with the girth of our social media world have led to an outpouring of financial and emotional support for the people of Haiti. As of Thursday morning, the American Red Cross had collected nearly $3 million in donations through text messages.

Both the American Red Cross and the Yéle Haiti Foundation have set up “text to donate” services and have asked Twitter users to text a number to make a donation, which is then added to your cell phone bill. #Text, #Help Haiti and #Yele are currently among today’s top 10 trending topics on Twitter.

Text-based donations get aid swiftly to those in need- Yéle Haiti’s technology partners Mobile Giving and Give on the Go have even waived the typical two-week waiting period to deposit the donations. As a result, Yéle Haiti says they’ll have nutrition bars, candles, blankets and flashlights on the ground in Haiti this Friday. Many text-based donation services even let you sign up for tweets to see how their donations are being spent.

These past few days have truly been a testament to the power that technology and social media hold- and as a wise man once said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

To donate $10 to the American Red Cross’s earthquake relief efforts, text “Haiti” to 90099.

To donate $5 to Yéle Haiti, text “YELE” to 501501.

When I first downloaded Foursquare, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I mean, I’m already a Facebook and Twitter addict- how much more social media can a girl really need? Do my friends even care to know where I am at all times of the day? How often am I supposed to check in? Do I accept all friend requests or only people who I know? Do I really want complete strangers to know where I am?

After much thought, I came to the conclusion that everyone uses Foursquare for different purposes. Here are the five types of Foursquare users I have encountered:

The Cheater: Every Sunday night at 11:59pm EST the Foursquare leaderboard resets. Ever wake up on Monday morning and wonder how one of your friends already has 150 points? The truth is you probably need to get more honest friends, because this friend is a cheater.

The Hungry Tiger: Have any friends on Foursquare who check in at every single place they go- including every subway stop or convenience store? The friend may be classified as “The Hungry Tiger”, someone who can never get enough of Foursquare.

The Hot ‘n’ Cold: I have a few friends like this- those who can’t decide how they really feel about Foursquare. Sometimes they will check in and once they get a badge they quickly turn into The Hungry Tiger, but that rapidly slows down after about a week.

The Commitment-Phobe: This type of user (such as Melvin) has an account, but never uses it. Simple as that.

The Star Performer: This user in my opinion is the ideal Foursquare user. They check in at the appropriate places, such as restaurants and bars, yet refrain from checking in while simply purchasing a pack of gum at the deli across the street.

Given Foursquare’s rapid popularity, users are bound to encounter at least one of the above types. Some people even believe Foursquare could become the next Twitter. Keep your eyes open, folks- this is one social networking bus you won’t want to miss.

You can almost hear the sound of rubber balls bouncing around the walls of Mr Youth these days, as the epic battle to reign supreme in all things #Foursquare has swept the agency. Our resident mayor recently explained the craze in an earlier post, but developments over the weekend have added a new dimension to the biggest game on the social media scene today.

I was gleefully surprised to receive an email from Foursquare notifying me that I had been upgraded to “Superuser” status based on my, well, super (over)use of the service. While the lack of a VIP card, limited edition sunglasses and other self-identifying accoutrement is slightly disheartening, I was informed that I have the ability to make  edits to the game’s venue database, like de-duplicating venues and matching venues with twitter accounts. The more I exercise my Superuser status the more abilities I’ll unlock.

Foursquare is really hitting the mark when it comes to tapping into its enthusiastic fanbase to drive and improve the game. By inviting users into the fold and allowing them to affect elements of the service, they’re fostering deeper loyalties and creating layers of exclusivity that encourage would-be-Superusers to increase their usage of the game to reach the great heights of Superuser status. Lucky me. Question is…how do I translate this into a Halloween costume?

Where my other Superuser peeps at? Holler below in the comment section.