The 70,000-strong army of volunteers who will be helping the London 2012 Olympic Games to run smoothly have been told that they mustn’t mention details of their location, their role or any backstage information about athletes, celebrities or “dignitaries” on social media.

Considering the nature of social media on sites like Twitter and Facebook is to share precisely that information the London Olympics organisers appear to be issuing rather optimistic social media guidelines for volunteers. Read More »

Foursquare: more developments

Foursquare is the latest social network to look towards businesses to monetize its website, with a report in the New York Post saying it is planning to start charging registered merchants.

The newspaper interviewed Foursquare co-founder Naveen Selvadurai, who said: “[The check-in] comes back to me in forms of recommendations. It goes back to [users] in interesting ways.”

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Foursquare: 500,000-plus businesses on board

As we know, geo-location social network Foursquare is operating in an increasingly tough market, with competition on two fronts: rival check-in sites like Facebook Places, and the increasingly popular coupon companies like Groupon.

Nonetheless, a fortnight after it revealed it had 10 million members, it has said that it has more than 500,000 merchants signed up – the companies that do special offers for people checking in or for people with ‘Mayor’ status (meaning they’ve checked in the most) and so on.

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Foursquare: deal with Amex

In spite of predictions that Facebook Places would kill off Foursquare, the geo-location social network is still going strong, revealing this week that it has 10 million members and a new partnership with American Express.

The deal works in the United States and will see American Express users required to sync their cards with a Foursquare account in order to get discounts at retailers and restaurants.

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Groupon: coupons that can be used instantly

Deals, coupons, discounts: it’s the big thing right now, and the most talked about brand in the market place, Groupon, has upped the stakes with discount coupons that can be used instantly, otherwise known as Groupon Now.

In the past, Groupon ‘deals’ usually had to be redeemed at a later point. Groupon Now, in case that name is too confusing for you, means that if you have a smartphone and are walking around Chicago (which is the only city currently testing Groupon Now) with nothing to do, you can find turn to Groupon to fill the hole in your life.

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I signed up to Scoville today, having picked up on a hashtag doing the rounds this morning.

It’s a mash up of foursquare and Twitter, allowing users to share favourite check-ins with followers each week using #TopTuesday.  It’s still in beta, but has been open to foursquare ’super users’ for a couple of months already. Read More »

Twitter: where in the world are you?

Do you pay any attention to Twitter trends in your area? Do you even know what they are, or do you only ever log in via one of the Twitter clients that doesn’t bother with Twitter trends or their geographical breakdown?

Twitter has just extended its locations to over 100 cities and countries, meaning you can now see what Venezuelans or Ecuadorians are all talking about at any given moment.

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Color: just gone live

If you haven’t heard about Color yet, it’s being tipped as the new big thing in social networking. It exists only as a smartphone app and through other social networks and is a way of people who are all at the same event (be it a wedding or a football match at Wembley) to share their images of that event. Unlike other social networks, the only information about you that is given away is your chosen screen name.

It just launched yesterday and was immediately a hit, in terms of downloads, but the response has been less positive.

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Do your travel dreams involve a visit to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania? It’s probably not in your top-10 must-visit places, but nonetheless, there exists a Pennsylvania Tourism Office to try and tempt you. And they’ve done a deal with Foursquare to promote the town’s biggest attraction: the weather-predicting groundhog Punxsutawney Phil.

Punxsutawney Phil Badge: available for one day only

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You can’t deny it: social media does lack the grandeur held by an emotive, sweeping TV advert; lacks the visual ‘punch’ of a colossal billboard passed by hundreds of thousands of people every day.  Which I presume, is why so many people question its relative value as a marketing investment; especially considering the ROI debate continues to rumble on. Read More »