Bai Bai Google
It’s rare that I simmer on a blog post for days and then write away, but this is one of those posts. It’s also rare I go through about 5-6 iterations of a post title, but this is one of those posts. Actually, I almost named this blog post the Tang Dynasty vs. Hu Jintao’ Dynasty. A title too esoteric for most readers, but those who have lived in China probably know where I’m coming from. More on that later. Either way, the sense in the blogosphere seems to be that Google’s threat to leave China has deeper reprecussions than one firm vs. regulators. I agreed wholeheartedly.
A very brief summary for those unaware: Google has said it is no longer willing to censor of search results in China, and may end its operations in China altogether following a “sophisticated and targeted” cyber attack originating from the country. That “sophisticated and targeted” is a euphemism for “the attacks were conducted either at the behest of or at least the tacit acceptance of the Chinese government” – as direct an accusation as Chinese culture permits. What makes Google so sure is that the attacks most targeted Chinese dissidents, and thus any of Beijing’s denials wouldn’t likely pass the smell test. The government hasn’t even tried. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokespeople dodged the question of hacks originating in China instead issuing the boilerplate statement “Google will not be treated as an exception to China’s demand foreign companies obey its laws”. Google upped the ante just today by suspending the introduction of the Google Nexus one phone in China.
“Routine”
Google’s moves aren’t entirely altruistic of course, but rather economic. Google’s entire business model is built on an open web and open standards as has often taken sides in the political debate on net neutrality for instance. The firm’s entire operating model is built upon promoting users to trust their information to Google, which is precisely what is under siege for what Google calls coordinated attacks. “I believe this is the largest and most sophisticated cyberattack we have seen in years targeted at specific corporations,” McAfee Chief Technology Officer George Kurtz wrote on his blog Sunday. He continues to write ”what really makes this is a watershed moment in cybersecurity is the targeted and coordinated nature of the attack with the main goal appearing to be to steal core intellectual property.” That’s precisely the issue. The threat of lost confidence along with the cost of mitigating the risk of systemic hacks drives up Google’s operating costs and potentially reduces it revenues in China. At the risk of seeming glib and simplistic, all of this makes China a “diminishing returns asset” for an investor backing an open web like Google.
The Chinese and commentators seem to have a sense of where this is headed. A number of Chinese Twitter users have been unsually vocal on tweets. One Twitter user writes: “It’s not Google that’s withdrawing from China, it’s China that’s withdrawing from the world.” Blogger and friend of mine Elliott Ng writes “I feel such sadness and disappointment for the Chinese people. They deserve to have access to the same resources and information that most people in the world have.” Some in Beijing have even held candlelight vigils, and some have been seen in a traditional bow of mourning in front of Google’s Beijing headquarters:
Nothing to Discuss?
“Over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law” is the official line from Google, but I have to ask the question: what is there to discuss? Google has become increasingly vocal about censorship everywhere in the world, not just China. Public Policy Director Bob Boorstin, writing in a post in the Google Policy Blog, criticizes the Australian government’s efforts to censor the web down under. Just below, you’ll find a December 14th post about an internal anti-censorship workshop at which Ron Diebert of the Open Net Initiative gave a presentation about the spread of Internet censorship all over the world.” In the U.S., Google has directly fired salvos against telcos in Net Neutrality debate, and has railed against the secretive and appallingly evil ACTA trade agreement. I’m not suggesting Google is Mother Teresa here, only that their business is predicated on an open network. There lies the issue: Beijing perceives its power to come from a closed network. Siva Vaidhyanathan, author of the forthcoming book titles “The Googlization of Everything” captures this perfectly: “The Internet has enough diverse interests and players that it demands governance. No traditional state is in the position or willing to assume that role, so Google governs the Internet.” That’s why the issue plays out on a global stage: Google would prefer to have national governments cede control of the web to Google, and prickly China is an easy target. This is also why Google is taking on a statesman like role. This issue is worth more air time than I’ll give it here, but it is fleshed out in Rebecca MacKinnon’s highly recommended post.
The Fallout
Those of you who know me know I have a peculiar view of “anti-Americanism” – namely, that it stems from a feared loss of national and cultural identity in an age of globalization and ubiquitous McDonalds/CocaCola/Starbucks/etc. It’s worth noting that fear may be real or perceived, and thus I’ve felt for a long time America needs to stand for the right to information and the right to choose rather than “our way”. The prevailing wisdom is that economic openness would lead to societal openness. That’s particularly true since most Chinese with a solid sense of history will point to the Tang dynastic period (where china opened up the the world) as China’s “golden age”.
But there’s always been a nagging little voice inside my head wondering if growing economic clout doesn’t make China easier to bring into the rest of the world. Commentator Fareed Zakaria puts it this way: “We have assumed, perhaps too easily, that China’s rise would be accompanied by a process of modernization within that country that would make Beijing easier and easier to deal with. And in many ways that has proved true. But now we must confront a prospect that I have worried and written about—that China’s rise will reinforce Chinese nationalism and a sense of uniqueness and actually make the country less likely to easily integrate into the global system.” (emphasis added).
Several recent events have supported Zakaria’s fears (and mine). Take the COP 15 climate change summit for instance. Second-level Chinese officials showed up at critical meetings of heads of state and lay out open dissent. That includes one member of premier Wen Jiabao’s delegation shout and wag his finger at President Obama—suggests that Premier Wen had lost control over his own negotiating team. Now comes the spat with Google, and local competitor Baidu’s reaction to the events. In a blog post, the chief architect of Baidu said Google’s decision to quit was for financial reasons, rather than a human rights issue, as Google had failed to dominate the Chinese search market. ”What Google said makes me sick,” he said. “If you are to quit for the sake of financial interest, then just say it.” (I must admit I laughed as I copied this over).
I’m sure in some sense Apple’s Steve Job is flipping cartwheels in Cupertino, since the threat of a Google smartphone in such a large market may now vaporize. But the concern is that China is trending towards monopolies (particularly those with ties to the government), less choice and less disparate voices. It’s not hard to see how China would be harder to incorporate into the rest of the world as it grows economically if the country’s leadership operates with a different set of “facts”.
My sense is that virtually all other asian nations not only maintained but expanded an outward facing orientation during periods of rapid economic growth, where as China appears increasingly fixated on internal dynamics. It may be the result of a divided and confused government at odds with itself, or it may be indicative of something entirely different. Author Thomas PM Barnett’s geopolitical model of the world divides the world into a “core” of nations which share information and conduct commerce relatively freely, and the “gap” which is comprised of nations who are walled off for various reasons. The worst case scenario is one where a rapidly aging Chinese population ends up in the gap, with noses pressed up against the glass, looking at the rest of the world as it goes about its business. Google leaving China is a firm step in that direction.
Speculations on Haiti’s Future
First things first – please consider helping out via The American Red Cross, World Vision, Yele, or other organizations. You can also text “Haiti” to 90999 on your mobile to donate $10 through the American Red Cross. There are a number of other Charities which can provide assistance listed via Charity Navigator (highly recommended link there).
The devastation caused recent 7.0 magnitude earthquake beneath Haiti’s capital city of Port au Prince is heartbreaking – I’m simply thunderstruck by the pictures coming out of the small, enpoverished island nation. It’s so bad even the President is homeless:
I’ve been to Haiti (albeit it as a youth), and what struck me then is how “crowded” or overpopulated the city of Port-au-Prince seemed in comparison to the other national capitol on Hispanola. All told, estimates are that a third or more of Haiti’s population was based in Port-au-Prince and the surrounding Gulf of Gonâve areas. When you consider that any remaining standing buildings are considered risky to inhabit, It’s entirely possible thus that nearly 33% people in the country are now homeless. Twitter is the only means of communication at times. The government and law enforcement have both ceased to function (although it never did function effectively, even before the quake). Electricity and water have collapsed completely. Basic social services exist only as international relief efforts.
Sadly, I have to wonder if Haiti as we’ve known as a sovereign country may no longer exist.
I’m not the only one. I noticed Tyler Cowen has postulated the same, via the Economist. To quote the salient part of his blog post:
From the reports I have seen, my tentative conclusion is that the country as a whole is currently below the subsistence level and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Hundreds of thousands of people have died, the U.N. Mission has collapsed, the government is not working (was it ever?), and hundreds of thousands or maybe millions of people are living in the streets without reliable food or water supplies. The hospitals and schools have collapsed. The airport is shut down. The port is very badly damaged. The Haitian Penitentiary has collapsed and the inmates — tough guys most of them – are running free for the foreseeable future. There is no viable police force or army. In other words, it’s not just a matter of offering extra food aid for two or three years.
Very rapidly, President Obama needs to come to terms with the idea that the country of Haiti, as we knew it, probably does not exist any more.
Some wonder if we may have the first ever UN governed country in the world. Rubbish. The UN has difficulty running itself effectively; a country is out of the question. I don’t see Haiti becoming a protectorate of the United States (as have Puerto Rico and Guam for example) either. The real question is what’s to stop everyone from fleeing and depopulating Haiti to the point of economic non-sustainability? As far as I can see, nothing is. We may be seeing the next massive refugee crisis, right on the heels of Sudan.
To make matters worse, Haiti is nearly entirely deforested and has no resources to speak of to collateralize a rebuild. Below is a satellite image taken on the border of Haiti (left) and the Dominican Republic (right). It’s pretty easy to demarcate the borders: one side is green, the other is not.
You can see another example on Google maps for yourself here.
Haiti’s rebuild will almost certainly have to take place under the direction of outsiders, with resources provided by outsiders. What does that mean for a country’s future (not to mention sovereignty)? One of the biggest reasons the tiny island nation is as poor as it is is due to a history of indebtedness to outsiders. Back in 1838, France would not recognize Haiti unless indemnities were paid for lands of former slave owners taken over after the revolution. Eager to gain acceptance, then President Boyer accepted a 150 million franc debt to pay this indemnity to acquire formal recognition. This debt saddled the economy of Haiti for over 80 years and was not finally paid until 1922. Quite a hole to dig themselves out of, among many things keeping Haiti poor. Now it appears history is about to repeat itself. Even assuming the funding is granted without payback, how do we funnel funding to critically needed investment rather than immediate consumption? Haiti’s past heads of state make up an all-star roster of corrupt leadership. You’ll notice most them are out in less than a year.
Looking at the bigger picture however, this isn’t just a Haiti specific problem. Indonesia needed the same after the tsunami wreckage. There may be other catastrophes in the future which may lead to inhabitant relocation or reconstruction if climate change predictions are to be believed. What’s needed is a formalized, documented, funded, audited, and international “Marshall Plan” which is ready to fire off in response to a sudden ecological disaster which throw a country’s future existence into question. Far easier said than done of course, but now is the time to start that conversation before the next Haiti surfaces.
Further resources:
Missing Haitians interactive list, by Google : http://haiticrisis.appspot.com (thanks @sarahstandish)
En Español: http://humanismoyconectividad.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/haiti-pais-colapsado/
Haiti discussions on Twitter: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=haiti
Photographer in Port-au-Prince: http://twitter.com/Haiti
Where Do You Go?
If you’re on foursquare and are into data visualization, you’ll probably get a kick out of this nifty Foursquare check in heatmap generator by Steven Lehrburger.
Below is a preview, which displays a heatmap of my recent activity in the San Francisco bay area:
I figure it’s only a matter of time before visualizations of this sort make it into Gowalla, Foursquare, Hotpotato, and even Twitter. I’d blog in a bit more discussion around privacy, stalker enabling, etc, but it’s my birthday and I’m off to eat a bit of birthday cake.
To be continued!
Social Network Adoption (Infographic)
Courtesy of the Chicago Tribune, here are the three most common social networks compared by growth rates, as well as a quick blurb for each on monetization strategy:
A note on issues I see with this infographic is warranted. Notice the term “unique visitors”, which means the data refers to visitors to the site (based on the comScore count). That would mean all are somewhat under represented to some extent since 3rd party access is not counted. Twitter in particular is likely more understated, since a higher percentage of Twitter use is via client apps relative to Facebook or Myspace. How much of a drop in user count is largely proprietary information, so it’s tough to say just how much activity really goes through Twitter. Come to think of it, there’s a business model in there somewhere.
Colin Powell’s Keynote, Live from Dreamforce
The Thursday keynote delivered by former Secretary of State Colin Powell marks the closing bell for the Dreamforce conference. I’ll be live blogging the event from San Francisco shortly. First, a quick introduction to readers from outside the Unitied States who may not be familiar with Secretary Powell’s background.
Before becoming Secretary of State in 2001, Powell served as a key aide to the Secretary of Defense and as National Security Advisor to President Reagan. He also served 35 years in the United States Army, rising to the rank of Four-Star General and serving as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989 – 1993).
4:15 pm. audience and press have mostly settled in. Surprisingly high number of foreign journalists, particularly from Japan in attendance.
4:25pm Room just went dark. Dreamforce foundation video goes up on the screen encouraging donating time to community projects.
4:28pm Mark Benioff takes the stage, recalls a story about a conference in which he recalls sitting in a crowd listening to Bill Clinton and other former presidents who encouraged corporate giving. Mentioned that Colin Powell specifically called up on Mark and his team at Oracle to wire up a school. Recalls that many of his employees at previous businesses didn’t show up to help install computers at the needy school because of quarter end business pressures. A call to Colin Powell leads to marines showing up to help wire up the school. “It’s good to be a general”, quips Benioff. He mentions the event was an inspiration to make philanthropy a core part of salesforce’s DNA.
4:40pm Benioff announces a 2 million dollar grant for a planned children’s hospital in San Francisco, a project UCSF is spearheading.
4:42pm Benioff welcomes Colin Powell on stage. Standing ovation. Powell begins by saying the needs of society go beyond providing outstanding software. He continues by saying “it’s a great pleasure to be here with you.. although at this stage in my career, it’s good to be anywhere!”
4:48pm “One day you’re the secretary of state, the next day you’re not. That’s a huge drop off. It’s tough to go from a position where heads of state are clamoring to see you to sitting across from your wife and telling her you won’t be waking up the break of dawn to go see the President. But I’m more energized now as I work with dynamic companies and entrepreneurs. I wish I could bottle up some of the energy out here and take it back to Washington DC.”
4:55pm Secretary Powell speaking about how barely graduated from his alma mater with a 2.0 GPA, and graduated by the yet he is now welcomed back as a distinguished professor. He thinks back on his experience and finds it a national embarrassment that in some municipal areas, plans for new jail builds are based on local dropout rates. He calls it a shameful hypocrisy than education is encouraged and yet kids treated as statistics. Instead, he encourages looking at failed schools as wasted precious resources.
5:10pm “The people who used to clean up my offices as Secretary of State weren’t simply janitors. They were people creating a gleaming image for visitors who come to speak with the United States. We all have a higher purpose in the day to day things we do.”
5:22pm “Some of the great Presidents I’ve worked for maintained an aura of optimism and purpose. They didn’t always know all of the details behind policies or the dynamics of geopolitical issues, but they knew there’s a greater purpose. He recalls one conversation with Gorbechev back when Powell worked for President Reagan. He was sitting across the table from the Soviets who kept speaking about aggression and strategic plans. None of it stuck except for one thing Gorbechev said to Powell: “You will have to find a new enemy.” Gorbechev realized a new purpose was needed as the Soviet Union began to implode. Powell realized The United States’ purpose is now to shift from “us versus them” thinking to a shift in purpose: the goal was now to bring the rest of the world into the free world.
5:30pm Powell adds: “it’s easy to focus on Hugo Chavez ranting on television. If you want to know where we’re really headed, don’t look at Venezuela – look next door to Brazil. They have a sense of purpose: to fulfill their hopes by becoming an economic powerhouse.”
5:40pm Powell finishes by telling the crowd than in an age of information technology and spread of ideas: our purpose has become to be the example, the blueprint which other nations follow to build their own purpose. Crowd gives Powell a standing ovation as he heads to his right to exit the stage. Benioff takes the stage and thanks Colin Powell for the “best speech he’s ever heard in his life.”
Social Media is Enterprise CRM’s Research Lab
Salesforce.com announced its “gamechanger” at today’s Dreamforce conference keynote: the introduction of Salesforce Chatter which incorporates microblog capabilities into the CRM platform. To paraphrse blogger and heavy Twitter user Robert Scoble: “How much Twitter Koolaid did Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO drink this morning? This much…”
Am I at Twitter Con or Dreamforce? (photo credit: Robert Scoble)
Can they pull it off and change the way sales organizations work? Can these organizations evolve from walled garden type processes to something more akin to the way sharing happens on Twitter or Facebook? The short answer is “maybe”.
There’s plenty of coverage on capabilities so I’ll focus on an adoption issue that is rather nuanced one. Chatter isn’t terribly revolutionary, but the move is significant in that it should quell any remaining illusion that microblogs are not for those who “get real work done.” Terrific. However, microblogs have proven successful in lines of work involving collaboration and serendipity among several individuals working on similar problems. Microblogs are particularly powerful when it comes to distributed work where combining yields work far more valuable than the sum of the parts. But the people who use salesforce are, well, sales people. They’re not known for collaborative work and typically sport a rather independent nature. That nature is reinforced by management policies encouraging competitive hunger (good thing) and individual achivement (good thing in some ways, bad in others).
For example, I can’t see a salesperson using Chatter to “tweet” something like “Can I offer flexible terms” or “I need help to close a deal”:
For the intended users of Chatter, it becomes a bit more of a medium to broadcast issues, which they’ll feel makes them look incompetent. That’s heresy in a sharing social media culture, but it’s important to understand that management policies and countless sales methodologies promote sharing successes and promotion individual accountability for results. IF a collaborative selling approach is something salesforce is driving (rather than just hopping on the fad of the moment) then change is necessary to promote team selling models, which changes sales organizations’ DNA. Specifically what’s needed is a fundamental shift to team incentives instead of traditional individual commission structures. That’s MUCH easier said than done – expect a burst of activity from salesforce and third parties consultancies to spring up to offer “training solutions” to just that problem.
The Boom of Social Networks
There’s been a tidal wave of social networks launching for the better part of the decade – below is an infogrpahic providing launch date of these networks (active and defunct) along with their relative subscriber base sizes.
Original source: www.focus.com
Top 12 iPhone Apps You Need to Download Now
For iPhone users, there’s pre-iPhone life and post iPhone life. Few devices have changed the way we live, work, and play the way Apple’s little mobile gem has. Ultimately, the change is less about the actual phone and most about the ability to carry around a pocket computer optimized for mobile use; The buzz about the iPhone largely has to do with the apps.
A number of new and prospective users have asked me what I use, and hopefully the following list of iPhone apps I can’t live without will help them get the most of their new Jesus phone. In addition to this list, O’Reilly’s Best iPhone Apps website is a terrific resource where you can discover new apps vote for your favorite apps each week.
Raise Cingular from the dead. There's an app for that.
A few words about this “Top Dozen” list and the biases I’m going into this with are in order. First, I’m a sucker for slick design, so several of the apps listed below sport stylish interfaces. I’m also particularly partial to social and location aware applications, which the iPhone enables unlike any mobile device prior to it. In fact I’d argue iPhone applications which do not leverage the network effect are incomplete. Finally, a word on free apps bias: all else being equal, I recommend the free app over the paid for obvious reasons, and denote paid apps whenever referenced with this: ($).
So without further ado, I humbly present the top dozen apps I strongly recommend checking out..
What is it? A digital prepaid card which can be scanned from the iPhone itself to purchase a beverage at your local Starbucks.
Why it Rocks: If you’re like me, you often leave gift cards in your car or otherwise forget to carry them on you, particularly when you happen to drop by your local coffee shop impromptu. Since it’s unlikely you’ll forget your phone, it’s a handy little app to have.
#11. Photoshop Mobile
What is it? A small app which allows frequent picture takers to quickly edit and share photos with simple gestures directly on an iPhone. Photos can be cropped, rotated, resized, and color adjusted among other options.
Why it Rocks: Posting a picture from the iPhone without an editing app is an all or nothing proposition: you take a picture and upload it as is, or use a computer to upload it later on, if you get around to it. The photoshop app i simple to use even for non artistic types like this humble blogger.
Dont like Photoshop? Try Photogene($), which provides several cool features over the simpler Photoshop app. While not free, the app is surprisingly powerful for such an inexpensive app.
#10. Amazon Mobile
What is it? The app allows iPhone owners to quickly search, shop, compare prices, read reviews, and make purchases on Amazon.com. The application also includes a new feature called “Amazon Remembers” which allows roaming users to use the Phone camera to create a photo list of items for later purchase on a desktop. The Amazon Remembers feature is fully tied into user accounts, and lists can be accessed from a computer’s web browser.
Why it Rocks: Let’s be honest: the shopping and searching is boring, mundane table stakes stuff. The Amazon Remembers feature is why the app makes it on my Top 12. I’ve often taken pictures of interesting things I’ve found while away from my Mac with the iPhone, only to return to my desktop later to find Amazon has organized and identified my photos into a shopping list. Awesome.
Don’t like Amazon Mobile? Want to snub your nose at “the man” and use Craigslist instead? Try CraigsMobileList($) instead, which has a killer interface and responds very quickly. I’m hoping the CraigsMobile team includes location aware searching in the future rather than having users self select their location, but all in all a nice second hand sales option.
#9 Skype
What is it? An iPhone version of the popular Skype application, which provides free calls and instant messaging capabilities to iPhone road warriors.
Why it Rocks: Because Skype to Skype calls are free, which saves you cellular calling minutes. That’s particularly handy considering (at the time of this writing) Phone data plans are priced at flat rates. While there are a number of instant messenger clients available for the iPhone, no one ties together voice and text like Skype does.
Don’t like Skype? Yahoo Messenger is also available on iTunes, althoug there are no voice based capabilities on Yahoo. For those who prefer Mandarin language-based chat, Tencent QQ provides Mobile QQ.
#8 What is it? An application which allows mobile users to manage AT&T wireless account settings, view remaining minutes, and shop for additional service options on an iPhone.
Why it Rocks: Who wants to make a call and go through an automated voice response system just to look up your remaining minutes? This app is far easier than using mobile Safari or calling 611 for info.
Don’t like AT&T myWireless? Try Cell Minute Tracker, which looks pretty sharp as well.
#7 Evernote
What is it? A GTD productivity app allowing mobile users to remember anything that happens, be it via snapshots, notes, or recordings. Evernote synchronizes from the iPhone to the web, and organizes all the bits of information debris collected on the mobile device.
Why it Rocks: It goes beyond creating GTD checklists and allows integration of data points from among different types of media. The best thing about it is that the iPhone app syncs with the Evernote desktop app, ensuring users won’t miss a beat.
Don’t like Evernote? Evernote is less a checklist than a system for organizing chaos into a pseudo-list. If the Evernote approach doesn’t work for you and you prefer a more structured approach to recording GTD items, Things($) might just be the .. thing.. for you. Things also syncs with a desktop just as Evernote does.
#6 Textplus
What is it? An application which allows mobile users to exchange text messages on the iPhone data network, which means there’s no SMS metering and no SMS costs.
Why it Rocks: First of all kiss SMS overage costs goodbye. Beyond the cost savings, the Textplus app also threads conversations with multiple chat partners in an slick interface. The best part about the Textplus app is how it turns SMS messaging into a tool similar to Twitter, where a single message can reach several conversation parties with minimal effort. Frankly, I can’t believe this app is free.
Don’t like Textplus? Check out Textfree.
#5 Mint
What is it? a mobile personal finance tool which allows users to track, budget, and manage money on the go. The iPhone app syncs seamlessly to the Mint.com web application
Why it Rocks: Online banking and budgeting sounds boring, but Mint is one of those apps you will not want to give up once you try it. Mint syncs with the web app, it’s free, and best of all, it combines several online banking accounts, obviating the need to load several apps if you bank in several places. Mint’s budgeting tools extend typical online banking tools.
Don’t like Mint? Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Chase all provide native iPhone applications you can use if you bank at any of these providers. I’m expecting other banks to follow suit, and some may already have as you read this.
#4 Urbanspoon
What is it? An application which uses your GPS enabled iPhone to list nearby restaurants and select one for you based on criteria you select (type of food, budget, etc). The app also allows users to recommend or forward restaurants to members of your social network, and provides a summary of user reviews.
Why it Rocks: The interface is what sets Urbanspoon apart from the pack. The slot machine look and feel is pretty clever, but the scope feature by far the coolest thing about Urbanspoon. The scope features allows users to position their phone and provides a line-of-sight view of local restaurants (see this link for photos). Point the camera at the horizon and on screen you see nearby restaurants in a kind of periscope view, projected on the world. For each restaurant, users can see distance and popularity, and tapping on a restaurant provides additional info and reviews. Very nicely done, and worth paying for, but is free for the taking.
Don’t like Urbanspoon? Opentable also provides a convenient way to find local eateries and even book a reservation online.
#3 Facebook
What is it? If you haven’t heard of Facebook, please find your nearest 20 something and ask him/her about it ASAP. You need an intervention.
Why it Rocks: Because it’s Facebook without the tether to a laptop or desktop. Facebook by its very nature lends itself to mobile applications, although I’d love to see new friend connections on the mobile app (rather than just existing friend lookups).
Don’t like Facebook? Linked in is Facebook for business relationships, and probably the best mobile “CRM-lite” system on the iPhone.
#2 Foursquare
What is it? As a Foursquare user, you can “check-in”, which is a way of telling your social network your whereabouts. When you check-in someplace, we’ll tell your friends where they can find you and recommend places to go & things to do nearby. People check-in at all kind of places – cafes, bars, restaurants, parks, homes, offices. as your friends use foursquare to check-in, you’ll start learning more about the places they frequent. Not only is it a great way to meet up with nearby friends, but you’ll also start to learn about their favorite spots and the new places they discover.
Why it Rocks: Foursquare isn’t just useful, it’s fun. Building a social network while earning brag rights as you achieve badges or other rewards for checking in is a particularly engaging way to discover new places recommended by members of your social network. Foursquare sounds a bit similar to Urban spoon mentioned above, but there’ a difference: Urbanspoon is restaurant specific, whereas Foursquare is broader in scope, which makes it that much more indispensible. More info on why I think Foursquare rocks here and here.
Don’t like Foursquare? There as a few potential alternatives, but HeyWAY in particular stands out due to privacy management features not found in most location based social networks.
#1 Tweetdeck
What is it? TweetDeck is your personal browser for staying in touch with what’s happening now, connecting you with your contacts across Twitter. Tweetdeck mobile allows users to sync with the Tweetdeck desktop version, create Twitter groups, and easily post tweets, photos, and links to twitter from the iPhone. In a nutshell, Tweetdeck is my defacto social desktop on the iPhone.
Why it Rocks: A Twitter app was almost certain to take the top spot on this list, given the obvious synergies between the iPhone and Twitter. Tweetdeck earns top billing with a solid design and terrific functionality however. The interface is uncluttered, responds quickly and provides fantastic group management features. Adding photos and links is a breeze, and the added location aware capabilities Tweetdeck provides are a potential boon to local businesses.
Don’t like Tweetdeck? Tweetie($) is absolutely terrific, and is what I’d use if Tweetdeck wasn’t available. The interface is clean, responsive, and obviously designed for Twitter power users.
Foursquareonomics
Premium users or Ads – those two options have been the primary mainstay of web and mobile application developer/operators who are looking to monetize . A few have gone beyond the basics and have successfully captures a portion of the network effect value they co-create with their users. The creators of the popular mobile application Foursquare may be on the road to achieving free user monetization nirvana.
Foursquare was launched at South By Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) earlier this year, and aims to be part social network, part geolocator, and part metro area guidebook. For those who are iPhone/Web app savvy, it might be helpful to think of Foursquare as what you get if you crossed Yelp, Brightkite, and Facebook Vampires. The application is designed to provide users (gamers) with the ability to add friends, broadcast visits to locations to them, and pull up a list of frequented places others visit in your vicinity. Foursquare provides a competitive twist to city guides: users can compete to check in more often than friends to unlock badges (similar to cub scout badges), become the mayor of a location, and top the list of check-ins in a metro area.
The punchline? Friends provide better suggestions than static guidebooks, and the competition for social recognition keeps the information relevant, targeted, and fresh. For example, I’ve added a tip below indicating a particularly good drink at a local bar nearby my office. Another user by the name of Alexander F. provided a tip related to the New York Museum of Modern Art, writing: “Want a meditative place to work? On the 4th floor there is a ‘nook’ directly at the huge window front overlooking the sculpture garden.” Good stuff.
An example of a user's achievements and suggestions summary
At any given time, another player can “out-visit” another, becoming mayor of a location, which keeps the interest in checking in strong. There’s a natural tendency to check into the local TCBY for a frozen yogurt fix just to keep a mayor title, for example. The competitive achievement system is the addictive part of the game, and it is where both the challenge and the opportunity lie for Foursquare.
Challenges to Foursquare
For all the success, there are a number of challenges intrinsic to the game, driving some people like blogger Arsenio Santos away from playing. The challenges are roughly as follows:
1. The Grounding Effect. I recently left on a trip to China for roughly 2 1/2 weeks, which means I did not “check in” during the time (Foursquare is specific for metro areas in the U.S. until this month). Which means I’d likely lose my status. When you consider locations in Las Vegas, many of which are frequented by visitors from out-of-town, you’d imagine mayorships and achievements would be fleeting. It’s not much fun to be the mayor of the Bellagio hotel only to lose it a week later. Also, once a player is in another Foursquare metro area, the user effectively starts over as statistics are confined to specific metro areas walled off from one other. Thus success at Foursquare tends to require “grounding” a player to a specific metro area, penalizing frequent travelers.
2. Anti-Social Network? Arsenio Santos unintentionally grabbed hold of the mayor achievement at a local Peet’s coffee, and later on noticed the following Tweet scroll across the public twitter timeline:
“I’m sick of this @arsenio guy bouncing my mayorship of Peet’s. I guess I know where I’m going for coffee tomorrow…”
While Arsenio and the aggrieved former mayor of Peet’s developed a friendship, the introduction wasn’t based on the best of circumstances. While the competitive nature of the game might drive participation (especially with type A folks like your humble blogger), social relationships are driven by competition are an entirely different breed from those on Facebook, Linked in, Twitter, or other networks.
3. The Atomicity Effect I’m the mayor of my office (and likely the only person on Foursquare). Anyone who would join Foursquare who would like an achievement of their own would have to dethrone me, or could be more creative – they could set up a second floor area. Or become the mayor of the kitchen space. Foursquare allows users to enter in new areas, allowing a proliferation of areas, each with its own mayor. As areas become subdivided up, relevance (and thus interestingness) take a nose dive. I wouldn’t mind checking into the Bellagio hotel, but having to wade through a list of Bellagio locations would be annoying.
Business Use Cases (or How to Kill Two Birds with One Stone)
While Foursquare otherwise sounds like a bit of a timesink, there are some pertinent uses in a business context. The social network provides a low barrier-to-entry promotional locus for local businesses. Some venues have gone beyond simple listings and have begun to offer drink specials to those who check in on Foursquare (an inexpensive way to “buy” buzz advertising). Perhaps businesses can offer special perks to mayors of an establishment. Even more powerful, Foursquare can provide brick and mortar businesses with the kinds of visitation metrics online businesses have enjoyed for years. Can this be done via Twitter? Certainly, but Twitter is not the optimal tool, since Twitter is not generally location aware, nor does it provide the achievement system to drive check in.
The bay area’s BART mass transit system sees value in Foursquare: Regular BART commuters will now be able to unlock a BART-themed badge, and also become eligible for $25 in promotional tickets that will be awarded randomly to Foursquare users who check-in at stations during the months of November, December, and January. The goal of course is to drive greater mass transit use: “A lot of BART riders are already having fun with this game,” said Timothy Moore, BART website manager. “We hope this partnership will encourage them to check out different stations and neighborhoods, and will show people who aren’t already BART riders some of the great things to do that are easy to get to on transit.”
But there’s a second and powerful benefit to Foursquare when a local business takes ownership of a location in Foursquare: there’s the ability to capture and bill for a portion of the value generated by Foursquare to be sure. However, the atomicity problem above is also solved in a rather graceful way – there’s only one official “21st Amendment bar in San Francisco” location which drives rewards and special offers if the management takes ownership of the listing. The spinoff location achievements become shallow and unsatisfying as a result, and tend to vanish into obscurity.
The grounding problem may also be gracefully mitigated via business ownership of Foursquare listings. Consider the fast food chains signing up (and paying a royalty) which in turn allows the chain to publish a top visitors list around the country. Becoming the top McDonalds Big Mac consumer in the world may be a dubious lead to a portly waistline, but is a location-independent achievement which addresses the Grounding Effect quite nicely. The McDonalds mayor thus has a chance to retain title while traveling, increasing engagement.
What Lies Ahead
Sell to Yelp? Who? Me?
If there is an exit strategy in place, Foursquare cofounder Dennnis Crowley is keeping mum about any plans. According to coverage on Jen Leggio’s terrific blog, Crowley has been quoted as saying “No official comment, but we’re not ready to do an acquisition this early. We had a real early exit with Dodgeball and it hurt the product. There’s so much we can build and innovate on very quickly right now and I think we’re best doing that independently.” There’s also some question around Twitter’s upcoming geolocation capabilities, which would seem to compete directly with Foursquare’s core value prop.
Ultimately business use on Foursquare drives value to the social network, the businesses who drive foot traffic, and the users themselves. What’s most impressive is that Foursquare seems poised to introduce a monetization model which also blunts the Grounding Effect, the Atomicity effect, and the Anti Social effect. That’s the sort of nirvana achievement the web is all about.
Best of all, it’s fun.
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