trends
Prepare for the Era of Area Code Snobbery
Source: http://gizmodo.com/5616122/prepare-for-the-era-of-area-code-snobbery
Unbeknownst to this New Yorker, if you live in the Big Apple and don’t have a 212 area code, you’re a certified nobody. Says one privileged 212-haver: “I don’t pick up 917, 646, and definitely not 347.” Ughhhh.
While Elaine Benes grappled with the difficulties of the non-212 area code years ago, a post on the WSJ’s Metropolis blog explains how the 212 area code is now becoming a status symbol in the New York tech scene, like some really cool New York Foursquare badge. Unsurprisingly, the cool kids at Foursquare are right at the center of 212 mania:
“I had been thinking about it for a long time,” [Foursquare co-founder Naveen] Selvadurai said. After moving to New York from Connecticut, he had to get a new phone and carrier. “I swapped my number to something new – 646 – to match my New York billing address but I really secretly wanted a 212,” he says. “But I never really went after it.”
That is, until Selvadurai noticed that one of his Foursquare employees had a 212 number. When fellow Foursquare co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley pointed out that Twitter co-founder (and Foursquare angel investor) Jack Dorsey, a California resident, “rolls 212,” Selvadurai had heard enough. (Crowley admits to coveting a 212 himself. “Sure, I’d upgrade. All the cool kids are doing it,” he says.)
The idea here is that a 212 area code signifies your status as a real, old-school New Yorker—one who was around when Times Square was full of sex workers instead of tourists. Of course, that was way before cell phones were around to begin with, so this whole business is pretty silly. One internet dude described its appeal as being akin to that of “fake vintage T-shirts,” which sounds about right. Yet, as the WSJ points out, 212 numbers can fetch up to $2000 on Ebay.
I guess it’s unsurprising, in this era of jockeying for the shortest Twitter handle, to want the coolest cell phone number around. But I think I’m going to start screening 212 calls anyway. [WSJ]
Image credit alq666
Two Social Success Stories – Groupon and FourSquare
Groupon can add the following useful features:
- allow users to request the category, type, or even specific coupons they want — this can generate insights about demand and also tailor the offerings to the individuals; right now, most of the offers are local but are not relevant to me
FourSquare can add relationships with local businesses to offer specials or deals to frequent check-ins or Mayors — down to the specific Starbucks store or local hardware store.
Interesting Search Observations – chocolate covered cherries vs chocolate covered strawberries
Chocolate covered cherries are more popular (more searched) at Christmas; but chocolate covered strawberries are more popular at Valentines. By observing what people pull for, we can derive insights that are useful in business strategy, inventory planning, and marketing (by ads around chocolate covered strawberries for valentines but cherries for christmas)
Source: Google External Keyword Tool – Search Volume Trends
via Niall McKinney, uTalk Marketing. At Valentines, women need more help picking gifts (search volume for “gifts for guys” consistently higher every February for the past 5 years). But “gifts for girls” shows dramatically higher volume every Christmas.
What is Web 3.0? Characteristics of Web 3.0
2009 06 16 What Is Web 3.0 – Presentation Transcript
- What is Web 3.0? Dr. Augustine Fou June 16, 2009. June 16, 2009.
- Evolution of the Internet microprocessor 40 yrs 10 yrs 20 yrs 5 yrs present web internet 2.5 yrs social networks e-commerce 1.5 yrs Web 1.0 Web 2.0 Web 3.0? June 16, 2009.
- Evolution of the “Web” content commerce search social networks social content social search social commerce As each stage reaches critical mass, the next stage is tipped into present June 16, 2009.
- Key Characteristics present web 1.0 web 2.0 web 3.0
- Speedy
- more timely information and more efficient tools to find information
- Collaborative
- actions of users amass, police, and prioritize content
- Trust-worthy
- users establish trust networks and hone trust radars
- Content
- content destination sites and personal portals
- Search
- critical mass of content drives need for search engines
- Commerce
- commerce goes mainstream; digital goods rise
- Ubiquitous
- available at any time, anywhere, through any channel or device
- Individualized
- filtered and shared by friends or trust networks
- Efficient
- relevant and contextual information findable instantly
June 16, 2009.
- Illustrative Examples – retail/shopping present web 1.0 web 2.0 web 3.0
- what friends bought or want to buy
- drag-to-share items which friends know friends are looking for
- item collections
- value in the aggregation
overstock.com amazon.com FB app: MyFaveThings
-
- contextual reviews
- reviews of reviews
- what others bought
- individualized recommendations
June 16, 2009.
- Illustrative Examples – social networks present web 1.0 web 2.0 web 3.0
- aggregates all your online identities
- syndicates all your updates to all social networks
- social actions visible to friends
- trust networks across geography, time, and interests
- collection of personal homepages
geocities.com facebook.com peoplebrowsr.com June 16, 2009.
- Illustrative Examples – restaurant reviews present web 1.0 web 2.0 web 3.0
- Yelp content vetted through a user’s trust network and individual recommendations made based on situation and need, in real-time
- user submitted reviews
- related items based on similarity of user preferences
- infrequent publication
- centralized editorial control
zagat‘s yelp need reco for great Italian + GPS + Yelp 5-star Babbo, been there, love it June 16, 2009.
- Illustrative Examples – photos present web 1.0 web 2.0 web 3.0
- real-time, contextual “do you like this knit shirt?”
- friends give immediate feedback
- share photos with friends and strangers
- enable visitors to tag and comment
- individual albums
kodakgallery.com flickr.com ? June 16, 2009.
- Illustrative Examples – real estate present web 1.0 web 2.0 web 3.0
- information vetted by fellow users, recommended directly an in context
- listings plus relevant information like school zones, comparable sales, alerts
- listings based on parameters
corcoran.com streeteasy.com trulia iphone app June 16, 2009.
- Illustrative Examples – encyclopedia present web 1.0 web 2.0 web 3.0
- content is ubiquitous and available through any channel or device
- trust network proactively forwards relevant info to user who needs it
- created, updated, and edited (policed) by user actions
- digitized version of printed encyclopedia
britannica.com wikipedia.com chacha.com June 16, 2009.
- Illustrative Examples – online coupons present web 1.0 web 2.0 web 3.0
- coupons delivered contextually and proactively when user needs it (without the user even asking for it)
- instant feedback
- community action makes it more accurate and useful for others
- collection of online coupons – value in the aggregation
dealcatcher.com retailmenot.com June 16, 2009.
the overall advertising pie will shrink
the greater efficiencies of “digital” mean that the same amount of “advertising” can be achieved with fewer dollars because more waste can be eliminated. The decreases in ad spending in traditional media channels like newspapers will only be partially replaced by ad spending online.
For example, the dollars that used to fund newspaper classified advertising has been replaced by free online classifieds through Craigslist. While newspapers had incremental costs due to materials, printing, labor, and distribution, online classifieds have virtually no incremental cost.
Similarly print advertising, which was based on targeting ads to specific demographics of readerships are being replaced by online ads which can be more finely targeted to even more niche readerships — e.g. contextual advertising. And the revenue models based around cost per click are inherently more efficient (and thus lower cost) than the impression-based revenue models of magazines. Again for every dollar taken out of print advertising, only a few cents are needed to replace it in “digital.”
Agree with me or tell me I’m stupid @acfou
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