Comments by coryobrien.com
Reply | Original | Permalink | TweetFor some reason, Google Buzz just doesn't do it for me. I think it's the way that Google presents the information, since there's a lot of unused screen real estate. Perhaps it'll grow on me (and I plan to give it a fair trial, since there are plenty of services that get useful once you get used to them) but I just don't see the huge advantage Buzz has or will have over Twitter and/or Facebook.
Reply | Original | Permalink | TweetFoursquare's partnership team must be working overtime lately to ink deals like these! I think the most interesting/exciting is the Zagat partnership, since that puts Foursquare in direct competition with Yelp and their new check-in feature.
The "Meet the Mayor" series sounds interesting, though I'm hoping they make it more informational than funny, since 'Mayor' could become synonymous with local cuisine/shopping/entertainment expert if Foursquare plays their cards right.
Reply | Original | Permalink | TweetFoursquare's partnership team must be working overtime lately to ink deals like these! I think the most interesting/exciting is the Zagat partnership, since that puts Foursquare in direct competition with Yelp and their new check-in feature.
The "Meet the Mayor" series sounds interesting, though I'm hoping they make it more informational than funny, since 'Mayor' could become synonymous with local cuisine expert if Foursquare plays their cards right.
Reply | Original | Permalink | TweetAnother reason these deals are smart for Foursquare: Users will get accustomed to seeing sponsors in the app, and Foursquare will be able to monetize without the backlash that Twitter is facing because they were sponsor/advertising free for so long.
As long as the sponsorships continue to add value to the service, they are a win for three reasons:
1. The partners help to promote Foursquare, which helps to increase its mainstream appeal.
2. Foursquare gains credibility by working with larger, big name brands.
3. Brands can experiment with geo-location in a non-intrusive way and figure out what works and what doesn’t in this new medium.
Reply | Original | Permalink | TweetAnother reason these deals are smart for Foursquare: Users will get accustomed to seeing sponsors in the app, and Foursquare will be able to monetize without the backlash that Twitter is facing because they were sponsor/advertising free for so long.As long as the sponsorships continue to add value to the service, they are a win for three reasons:1. The partners help to promote Foursquare, which helps to increase its mainstream appeal.2. Foursquare gains credibility by working with larger, big name brands.3. Brands can experiment with geo-location in a non-intrusive way and figure out what works and what doesn't in this new medium.
Reply | Original | Permalink | TweetGoing through the list (which was actually a pretty fun exercise) here’s what I’d pick, or what I’m currently doing (where applicable):
1. RSS Feeds – Full
2. Comment Sections – Comments
3. Post Frequency – Post More
4. How Many Blogs? – Having Many Smaller Blogs
5. Domain Names – Short, Non Hypens, .com, Global Domain Extensions
6. Hosting – Self Hosted
7. Post Titles – Descriptive
8. Content – Original Content
9. Paid Reviews – Happy to Write Paid Reviews
10. Design – Professional Design
11. Links to External Sources – Should Open in the Same Page
12. Ownership – Use Social Media
13. Post Length – Long in Depth Posts
14. Topic – Niche Topics
15. Dating Posts – Non Dated
16. Blogger Name – Using Your Name
17. Subscribers – RSS is Best
18. SEO – Writing for Humans
19. Personal Blogging – Injecting Personality and Personal Details
20. Comment Moderation – Highly Regulated and Moderated
21. Social Media vs Search – Focus Upon Social Media as Traffic Sources
22. LinkBait – Strong Boundaries Around What is and Isn’t Acceptable
23. Bloggers Participation in Comments – Respond to Every Single Comment
24. Blog Platforms – WordPress
25. Monetization – Blogs Should Be Monetized
26. Affiliate Disclosure – Disclose Every Affiliate Link
27. When To Start Monetizing – From Day 1
28. Text Links – Not Selling Them
29. Outsourcing – Producing Your Own
Reply | Original | Permalink | TweetSo I wonder how long it is before Aardvark gets bought by Google…
I’ve used it a few times, and it is an interesting service, though as an ‘answerer’ I often found it challenging to figure out why Aardvark felt that I would be qualified to answer the questions I was being asked.
That said, if they refine their filter to better match questions with answerers, I think the service could be a great counterpart to the factual searches that Google is so good at.
Reply | Original | Permalink | TweetI unlocked the Douchebag badge on Saturday when I checked in to AT&T Park, and since Foursquare doesn’t exactly do a great job of explaining what the badge is for, I did a little searching, and actually came across MG’s badge tweet as one of the first results in a Twitter search, which I thought was pretty funny.
Though I wasn’t personally offended, I can see how some would be, and especially the venues that get tagged as ‘douchebag’. I mean really, AT&T park? That place can hold tens of thousands of people, so I’m sure there’s going to be a handful of popped collars, but does it deserve to be labeled as a questionable establishment just because someone thought it would be funny to add the tag? Now whenever anyone checks in there that doesn’t already have the badge, they’re going to have the same ‘Huh?’ reaction that I had, thanks to Foursquare’s rather helpful explanation: “Double pop that collar, son!”
Though I can appreciate the quirkiness, I agree with MG that they’ll need to tone things like this down if they want to move out of the quirky geek crowd and into the mainstream. (Where all the advertising dollars are waiting.)
Reply | Original | Permalink | TweetPart of the reason I hate the hype leading up to an Apple event is that people start believing the hopes and dreams that others put out there as if they were reality, and then when Apple announces a device that lasts for 10 hours, costs $500 and runs a library of more than 130,000 apps, they're disappointed because it doesn't do video conferencing and automatically order your favorite pizza when you get hungry too.
In my opinion, the iPad is a great device, and as long as you only expect it to do what Apple says it will do (experience the web, email, photos, etc.) then you wont' be disappointed. It's only when you start to dream of the features that you'd want to see in a magical, do all device, and then somehow imagine that Apple can just create that device and sell it to you for the cost of an off the shelf netbook that you'll set yourself up for disappointment.
Reply | Original | Permalink | TweetI like the changes that they've made. Hopefully they keep the best interest of their customers in mind, and we see Teextile continue to roll out unique and creative designs.
Reply | Original | Permalink | TweetJust when brands are finally starting to experiment with Page design again, Facebook decides to change their Page layout, which means everyone who took a risk and designed a custom page, like Resource Interactive, will have to go back and change everything to fit it in the new, smaller tab width.
As someone who manages a few Facebook pages, I will say that it's annoying how limited the options that Facebook gives you are for designing a good looking page, and how frequently Facebook changes those options without even really documenting what was possible in the first place.
Reply | Original | Permalink | TweetI’m glad you decided to go with the full feed! I’ve had to unsubscribe from some great blogs because they switched to partial feeds, so I always feel like it’s a win when someone decides to stick with the full feed. I do all of my sorting and browsing in Google Reader, and it just doesn’t work if I can only see a headline and a brief summary. Plus, if a post is good (and long) enough I’ll open it up in my browser anyways, so you’re getting the best of both worlds.
Reply | Original | Permalink | TweetThis looks great! I've been wanting to convert my lifestream (http://coryobrien.com/) into something that gives different weights to different types of content (more room for photos, less for links for example) and this looks to do just that. Hopefully it's expandable as well so that it can easily handle new services, because if so, I may just find myself switching soon.
Reply | Original | Permalink | Tweet26 books is a lofty goal! It wouldn’t be fun if it wasn’t a challenge though, so best of luck to you. My goal for 2010 is one book per month, so I’m trying to make it through 12 this year. One of the books I recently read was “The Whuffie Factor”, and I’d recommend it, so you should enjoy that one. Currently I’m reading “Trust Agents” (http://www.trustagent.com/) which is another book I’d recommend based on what I’ve made it through so far, so perhaps you can add that to the list of 21 remaining books.
Reply | Original | Permalink | TweetI wrote a post recently about the Gowalla/Incase partnership, and in it, I predicted that location-based social networks will be THE space to watch in 2010: http://thefutureofads.com/gowalla-and-incase-team-up-for-location-based-sponsorship
As Gowalla and Foursquare have shown, the checking-in aspect of services like Twitter can easily be turned into a game that adds to the overall experience, and with a few easy tweaks, they can advertise alongside that experience in a non-intrusive way that actually adds to a user’s enjoyment of the service. Add to that the futurist’s dream of geo-located coupons and hyper-advanced loyalty rewards programs, and it’s easy to see why LBS will be a hot topic in the coming year.