“I don’t see the point in Twitter!“

Here are 3 examples that highlight one great aspect of Twitter, all of which happened in the last fortnight.

1. While conversing with a friend for two minutes in the US, I was drawn into a conversation with Shel Israel and Robert Scoble (co-authors of the book Naked Conversations).

2. After watching a movie “The Freedom Writers” and posting a tweet about the movie, I was drawn into a conversation and a potential meet-up with one of the original “Freedom Writers” – Manuel Scott (the movie is based on a true story).

3. After setting up a donation page for Drop In The Bucket, I posted a tweet about extra donations. Within a few hours, it had been re-tweeted and shown to tens of thousands of Twitter users.

Still struggling to get your head around Twitter? Hopefully that makes it easier to grasp one aspect.

Getting in touch with people.

Here’s some links providing a few different viewpoints:

It All Changes When the Founder Drives a Porsche (learntoduck.com)
Groupon Turns Down Google’s $6 Billion Offer [REPORT] (mashable.com)
Thanks, But No Thanks: Groupon Pulls a Facebook (kara.allthingsd.com)
Should Groupon Sell Out or Not? (blogs.wsj.com)
A Silicon Bubble Shows Signs Of Reinflating (dealbook.nytimes.com)
Groupon VC’s Model: Invest, Sell to Google. Repeat (blogs.wsj.com)

If you’re a small business with (or without) an online presence and want in, there’s still time

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Last week you would have received an email from me about an amazing one day event I had the pleasure of attending recently and have since decided to be part of as a project sponsor.

The Achieve More Online project is a one day Internet marketing workshop that is simply a must-attend for business owners and managers across Perth.  There are still limited places left at the workshop on the Tuesday 7 December, so make sure you register your place today by visiting www.businessbalance.com.au/bloo. However places are filling fast and the event looks like it will be a sell-out by Friday, so don’t delay!

Presented by 7 small business and online marketing specialists, you will learn:

• Which powerful tools can deliver substantially more foot traffic to your retail store or office in less than 7 days even if you don’t yet have a website
• What to look for when selecting a web designer & how to get the site you can update yourself without having to pay every time you want to do an update
• Learn how to immediately get more hits to your website without a costly redesign – we’ll show you the simple-to-implement search engine optimisation techniques the experts use
• Understand how to take advantage of Google Adwords, one of the cheapest & most powerful forms of advertising available to small business owners today
• How to use Facebook to build a follower base of thousands of fans that want a closer relationship with you & your business

PLUS MUCH MORE

Who should attend?

• Business owners who want to leverage the marketing power of the internet but have no idea where to start
• Business owners & managers who are seeing diminishing returns from Yellowpages and other traditional advertising mediums
• Web & graphic designers who want to learn more about SEO, Adwords & Social Media
• Anyone considering a website redesign or who are in the process of redesigning their site
• Entrepreneurs and business owners who already have a successful website and want to further optimise their website presence

What we find is the workshops really do have something to offer for attendees at every stage of their website lifecycle. Almost everyone walks away with at least 5 quick wins they can action to immediately improve their online presence (yes even without a website!).

You’ll also be provided with a detailed action plan & strategy document that’s over 80 pages long detailing the specific strategies and a step by step action plan for you to follow to build a more effective & profitable online presence.

This is a Federal Government Initiative funded by the Small Business Online Program

For more information:
Phone: 1300 856 274
Email: info@businessbalance.com.au
www.businessbalance.com.au/sbo

Looking forward to seeing you there,
Brian Gillett
Director

BLOO

Gowalla 3 reduces the barriers to checking in. They’ve improved the visuals of the interface, and added new tools to make checking in more fun and useful.

Gowalla has enabled users to check in and broadcast via its app, Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook Places and Foursquare. You can also utilise Foursquare badges, tips and Facebook Deals. There’s also a unified activity feed, fed via the external applications meaning there’s no longer a reason to open multiple apps.

There’s a host of other improvements and additions, but it’s the integration with Foursquare that has caught my attention.

First Amazon dropped them from their servers. Then their DNS provider EasyDNS removed their domain in light of DDOS attacks. Thirdly, Paypal has blocked their account, preventing donations.

These actions have certainly polarised many bloggers, but perhaps the biggest backlash is against PayPal, with Twitter buzzing with people closing accounts and boycotting their service. It will certainly be interesting to see what happens from here on both sides.

In November 2010 I was named in Anthill’s inaugural Top 10 Emerging Digital Doyens for my work at The Frontier Group, the Achieve More Online project and being a committee member at the Australian Web Industry Association.

Thanks to Anthill!

I’m not even sure the NBN is the right choice, but there is a need for improved infrastructure and it should be taken seriously if this country is actually going to continue progressing at an acceptable rate. I don’t know if Labor are proposing it based on the reasons here, but this is my take.

Gareth describes the NBN as a “nerd’s wet dream”. Commenters claim “why would I want to download a movie in 10 seconds”, “how fast do you need to access a web page”, “my son already uses up his bandwidth quick enough”, “We don’t even need the Internet”. People actually insult other people who have an interest in a better Internet solution for Australia.

Sure there’s a lot of education to be done here for those people, but lets look at it logically from a today-forward point of view.

Most homes I visit have at least 1 computer. The average in my social circle (which is probably a fair representation moving forward) is a family computer, a business laptop, maybe a laptop for a child, Internet enabled phones, and a games console (maybe foxtel too). And that’s today. 6 or 7 Internet-enabled devices, right now.

I would imagine in the next 5 years, the average number of Internet enabled devices will at *least* double. The content distributed down onto those devices will increase tremendously with HD content, updates, human behaviour. So how does all of that operate all at once on your “Lite” ADSL plan. It doesn’t. Not even close.

Maybe they can get more out of the faltering copper network. Maybe they can patch up the system and stop going in to exchanges and manually switching ports to solve customer complaints ad-hoc. There’s not a lot more to gain out of that crusty network. And then what? Keep revisiting this issue every year for the next 15 years?

So, is $43bn the answer? I’m not sure. Is fibre-optic the answer? I believe so. This is a valid issue, just like every other being debated. I just hope the right people start debating it soon and come up with the answers to spend the money to get on track.

Why is it good?

Helping you find venues – If you’re driving around, or walking around trying to locate a business, open up the Foursquare app and you can view the business and the map, even without having to search in most cases.

Making businesses focus on people – Foursquare gives you the ability to have “specials” if you’re a retail business. This has provided an opportunity for many brands to put the focus back on their customers. Check in at Starbucks and get a free coffee, check in at the local pub and get 2 drinks for the price of 1. Considering you’ve usually got your phone with you at these venues, claiming (and offering) specials is easy. Foursquare is about the customer, not the business.

Find your friends in same venue – Going to a concert or a restaurant and wondering if your friends are there already? Foursquare shows you who’s currently checked in at that venue.

Travel – The app is awesome for travelling to a foreign town or country. Seeing things to do in the area you’re in, or tips for that exact venue, meal suggestions, ways to get more for your money, all by real people who have been before you. Like Lonely Planet in real time.

Integrate with other applications – Foursquare has an API, which means software developers can take advantage of their location tools and implement applications that complement or replace Foursquare.

Number of users – There is over 2 million users, with over 6 million venues as of last month. With approximately 30% growth per month, Foursquare isn’t going away any time soon. More users = more useful platform.

Getting users into the real world – Foursquare isn’t a way to hide on the Internet, it’s bringing the online into the offline world. Twitter and Foursquare are actually causing people who would have never met, to socialise in real life. This to me is a great thing.

Why is it bad?

Privacy – There’s a lot of discussion over the fact that you’re letting people know where you are. There are websites that announce when you’re not home, so thieves can take advantage. In my opinion this doesn’t really make it any easier for thieves. Thieves have been operating for a lot longer than the Internet existed. Maybe this helps them, but the only burglaries I ever encountered were before Foursquare and Facebook existed.

Constant updates – Foursquare shares information with your Foursquare friends on the website. The applications allow you to share check-ins with Twitter and Facebook. Some people have written off  Foursquare for this reason. When I check in, I make an active choice not to share outside of the Foursquare website (unless it’s something I would have updated separately anyway). If your friend stream is bombarding you with annoying updates, I’m sure that goes further than just Foursquare. A friend on Foursquare should really be a friend that you’re ok having them know where you are (if you so choose).

Round up

Personally I think this has a lot of promise and could be moulded into something that is a real benefit to most smartphone users. Like most things, dislike starts from a lack of knowledge and it would be a shame to see Foursquare disappear, or just be labelled as another “thing for teenagers”.

I would expect Foursquare to start rolling out more functionality in the coming months too. I’m looking forward to it.

It’s exciting to be part of the committee that can hopefully take AWIA to a new level this year. I’m looking forward to our first meeting to get the ball rolling.

From their website:

Formerly Port 80 Inc, the Australian Web Industry Association represents businesses, individuals and students involved in the web industry and aims to:

• Further the advancement of the web industry within Australia;
• Educate the general public about the role of professionals in the web industry;
• Foster greater ties with like-minded organisations.

The Committee

As Managing Director of The Frontier Group, I have nominated to be on the committee in one of the upcoming vacant positions.

As a reasonable size business in the industry it would be good to have a voice within the association and help craft the future of the web industry Australia wide. Paid AWIA members can vote at the AGM (as well as submit a proxy vote).

The 2010 nomination statements are on their website today. AGM details can be found here.