Clinging To Those Mayorships

We all know about Foursquare's meteoric rise to fame, but here's something that was a bit a shock. According to Compete.com, the number of unique visitors in May dropped by 400,000.

Now I'm sure those numbers will vary between different web analytics services, not to mention the fact that it doesn't take into account actual users or registrations.

But Foursquare might be feeling the pressure, especially looking at their latest move.

The location-based social network sent out window clings to businesses to display in their storefronts, reminding people to check in. The most prominent franchise set to display these window clings is the Whole Foods grocery chain.

I can't say whether or not this latest promotion is a reaction to their drop in numbers, but the timing makes sense. Now we'll just have to wait and see how well this offline move helps the online startup.

Microsoft: Notify Your Next Of Kin

While Verizon's recent price drop on the Microsoft Kin isn't necessarily the nail in the coffin for the social media-focused phone, it does signal that the handset may be in critical condition.

The Kin's struggle doesn't really surprise me, and there are 3 reasons why it's time for Microsoft to start the grieving process.

1. Not very app-ealing.

Even though the phone itself is aimed at the social media savvy, it has no apps. The problem is that apps have become the new mobile phone staple. App development is becoming a legitimate industry in its own right, and the Kin wasn't able to capitalize.

2. Cheap phone, steep plan.

You would think that a phone without smartphone capabilities would at least be able to cut down on service costs, right? Unfortunately not, with the $30 phone requiring a $7o monthly data plan. And although I really like the design of the Kin (especially the turtle-like Kin 1), the price was just too much for a phone without apps.

3. No Android? No iOS? No thanks.

Apps are important in a mobile phone, but the operating system is even more important. Right now, anything that doesn't run on the Android or iPhone operating systems is going to have a very difficult time gaining ground in this market.

Maybe that will change when Microsoft launches their Windows Phone 7 OS in a few months, but for now they might as well say their goodbyes to devices like the Kin.

Axiom's Going To The Dogs

Despite what this blog may suggest, our biggest passion here at Axiom isn't social media or technology trends. When we go home at the end of the day, many of us are greeted by our pets...especially dogs.

And with today being National Take Your Dog To Work Day, we decided to take some time to show some office-wide appreciation for our favorite furry friends.

But since building regulations wouldn't allow the dogs to run around here at the office, we are meeting later on today at 3pm at Centennial Lakes Park in Bloomington to let the dogs meet and play.

So if you're in the area and want to stop by, feel free to come meet the dogs behind Team Axiom or bring a four-legged friend of your own.

I'm sure it's going to be a fun afternoon, and I'm still thinking of a way to sneak my dog Buck underneath my desk one of these days.

Facebook Gives Twitter An App-Kicking

The story that broke yesterday about Twitter's Facebook app (which allows you to automatically follow your Facebook friends) didn't take long to dominate the social media news headlines.

It also didn't take Facebook long to slap the idea down.

Many social media junkies, myself included, were looking forward to seeing some real integration between the two social networking giants. However, the move by Facebook shows that this power couple is not going to happen anytime soon.

Twitter has yet to issue any sort of response, but my guess is that they won't be pleased with Mr. Zuckerberg. More importantly, we could see Twitter making more efforts to integrate other smaller social networks to offer some real competition between the two.

We'll Leave The 'Like' On For You

Now that more people are taking vacations rather than stay-cations, the hospitality industry is focusing less on just surviving and more on competing and thriving.

And lately, we're seeing more and more hotels working to build buzz and get room bookings rather than worrying about the dollars themselves.

For instance, I just read how the Hyatt Regency Cambridge is offering customers a chance for free Wi-Fi for one night. The catch? You have to "like" them on Facebook.

This move by Hyatt just goes to show the extent to which hotels will go to establish a social media presence. And considering the per-night charge for Wi-Fi at the Hyatt is $12.95, they are essentially paying 13 bucks for a Facebook like.

This could prove to be a good move on Hyatt's part, but considering how many hotels are offering free Wi-Fi already, it's hard to say how this promotion will play out.

What we do know is that the decline of the stay-cation should signal the rise of the hospitality industry.

What's The Next Chapter For E-Readers?

Since it's Monday I thought I'd look at what's going on in the world of technology, and one story in particular stood out to me. Barnes & Noble dropped the price of their Nook e-reader and released an even-cheaper Wi-Fi Nook as well.

Some people are saying this is the beginning of a heated e-reader war, but I'm not convinced.

The major theme in technology over the last couple of years has been devices with multiple capabilities. I mentioned it in a post last week about the gaming industry, and it holds true here.

I think it's a good move on B&N's part that will hopefully push other e-readers to innovate, but I don't know if it's enough to keep the market afloat long term. Tablets have been hailed as an e-reader killer since before their release, and the early success they've had points to that being the case.

I do think that the Nook has the best chance of success versus the Sony Pocket Reader or the Amazon Kindle, because it's being marketed and sold in the stores themselves. That's a smart move because it's capitalizing on their existing demographic that's already passionate about reading and loyal to the brand.

Only time will tell if this move will lead to continued success, or if newer multi-function mobile devices will close the book on the e-reader market.

Axiom's 140-Character Conundrum

For the tweeting masses out there, the thought of having your account hacked is a nightmare.

A couple of months ago that fear became a reality for us here at Axiom when our @AxiomPR account was hacked. Okay, maybe that's a bit melodramatic, but it was still a headache.

So we called in the problem to the Twitter police/tech support and created a new account, @AxiomCom, assuming that @AxiomPR was a lost cause.

Well just last week @AxiomPR was returned to our control, leading to a bit of a dilemma. Do we go back to our @AxiomPR account? Or do we stick with our newer @AxiomCom account and ditch the old one?

Our @AxiomPR has over 3,000 followers, but many of them are spam or inactive. On the other hand, @AxiomCom has a little over 200 followers, but those are all active followers that made the switch when we made the new account.

Part of the reason for creating the Axiom Twitter account was to help promote this Daily Axioms blog (which, on a side note, is approaching it's 15,000th visit!), and it's been successful. But this issue raises an important question that many people and businesses have had or will have to face.

Should we return to the old account with huge numbers? Or should we ditch the old account and stick with our newer account? What do you think?

Online Wine No Longer Bottled Up

While I'm definitely no wine connoisseur, I do enjoy a glass of pinot noir or merlot every now and then. And I won't lie, one of the perks of working here at Axiom is the wine tasting parties we host each month.

My passion for wine was sparked a mere two years ago when I went to a tasting at a vineyard in Tennessee. I was hooked from there. And nowadays, that love has been crossing paths with my other (not so secret) passion for years: social media.

There's everything from podcast wine tasting courses to online wine dictionaries. Today, I ran across a story about a website that lets you search for or post wine tasting events. It also allows you to then rate the wines that you tasted.

I think it's a nice idea, because there's a lot of opportunity to be creative with wine tastings and it's great to see more and more sites taking advantage of it.

Good News For YouTube

In today's world, if it's newsworthy, it's on YouTube.

There have been videos posted by people at the forefront of any disaster or headline since the site was launched. Now, YouTube is taking steps to filter those headline-worthy videos into a news feed. The news feed can be found at Citizen Tube, YouTube's news and politics blog site. It will showcase videos by both amateur videographers and professional news outlets.

There is also an @citizentube Twitter feed updating the latest clips, essentially turning it into a Twitter news feed like the feeds for CNN or New York Times. It's a smart move considering the number of people who utilize Twitter solely for that purpose.

I definitely like the concept, but the success or failure of this new feature will be in its execution. If they can curate the videos that people will want to watch, Citizen Tube could really take off.

And while it could help legitimize YouTube as a news source, there's always the chance that it just won't be able to compete with people's desire to see cute animal videos or the next Justin Beiber.

A Losing Game?

The gaming industry and fans alike are on the edge of their seats, because today is the annual E3 conference, one of the biggest gaming expos in the world.

Even though I'd only consider myself a casual gamer, I am very interested to see what comes out of this year's E3. Not necessarily because of any particular game or console, but because this will be a crucial year for the entire gaming industry.

Think about how prevalent smartphones and multifunction mobile devices have become. GPS devices are becoming less popular because of apps like Google Maps, and gaming-only devices like the Nintendo DS are starting to fade with hundreds of games (many of which are free) for both iPhone and Android phones. Not to mention the popularity of games like Farmville and Mafia Wars on Facebook.

Gaming isn't what it used to be, back when it was an arms race between Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft to see who would release the next hit game or unveil a new console. Nowadays, independent developers are the ones dictating the direction the industry is heading.

There are rumors of Microsoft previewing controller-free gaming and Nintendo showing off a 3D hand-held console that doesn't require glasses, but we'll have to wait until after the conference to see if these latest innovations will gain any ground.

The nature of gaming has changed because of social media, and the industry is going to have to change along with it.

Pet-Based Networks Go To The Groomers

There has been one over-arching lesson I've learned from my past studies of marketing, PR, journalism and broadcasting...

Know your niche.

It's a simple, yet powerful idea to keep in mind, and one that many people have accused social media powerhouses like Facebook of forgetting as it's made the highly-monitored changes that it has over the past few months.

Well, changes or no changes, social media is becoming more and more of a numbers game, and there's two smaller social networks that for the past 3 years has boasted the most important number: profit.

The pet-based social networks Dogster and Catster have both been profitable for the past couple of years, without making any major changes to either site.

The reason for their success?

Both networks know their niche and have stuck to it, offering lots of pictures (what pet owner doesn't love looking at pictures of other cats and dogs?) and petcare tips.

However, both sites, which are owned by the same company, have undergone complete overhauls.

And while the reaction to the visual redesign will vary from person to person, there are two keys to this overhaul that should be applauded.

First, Dogster and Catster saw that most visitors were coming to the sites for information and pictures rather than the social aspect, so there has been a greater emphasis placed on content.

Secondly, the sites have made some key partnerships with other sites like Petfinder.com, allowing Dogster and Catster users to search the adoptable animals from Dogster and Catster and share their favorites with other users.

Major website overhauls can be risky (just ask Facebook), but I really like what Dogster and Catster have done with their sites because they utilized strategic partnerships with long-term thinking.

More importantly, all of the changes from content to design were done with their audience in mind because they knew their niche.

Can Social Media Save Soccer?

Tomorrow, the U.S. and England will face off in a much-anticipated soccer match in the 2010 World Cup.

And while the world is in a near-frenzy over this and all of the World Cup matches, the fact is that soccer hasn't achieved the same level of fandom here in the U.S. that it enjoys around the globe.

But the major difference between this year's World Cup and previous tournaments is that social media has never been as prevalent as it has been over the past few months, whether it's location-based services, mobile apps or the explosion of Twitter and Facebook use.

There's been a wave of new Soccer-themed social media tools and games, from mobile Droid apps that give the latest play-by-play of the matches to a huge increase in World Cup-related Twitter traffic.

And even though to me "football" will always be the sport about quarterbacks and helmets, I am interested to see if these new opportunities for fan engagement can help elevate the sport as a whole in a country dominated by touchdowns, hoops, and bases.

New Focus for Vocus

While the general public may not haven given it a second glance, the news of Vocus acquiring Help A Reporter Out caused (or should have caused) anyone in the PR, journalism or media industries to sit up and take notice.

The reason this is so newsworthy is that the two services have always had a similar goal, but with polar opposite means of achieving them.

Vocus, the traditional media list builder used by many PR professionals (including myself), and Help A Reporter Out (HARO), the grassroots-style service that started as a Facebook group to connect reporters with sources directly.

The two services are at odds because HARO's process circumvents the need for using PR to gain media attention.

So on the surface, this may look like Vocus getting rid of a competitor, but that's actually far from the truth. Vocus has already stated that they don't plan to change or start charging for HARO, nor did they go into any details about future integration between the two.

So what does this acquisition mean?

It means that even those in the traditional PR sphere are looking to social media as a viable influencer, and recognizing the problems of outdated media lists and ignoring individuals such as sources and journalists that HARO has been focusing on.

As someone who has had a love-hate relationship with Vocus, I hope that this acquisition leads to a middle ground that combines the best qualities of both services.

Don't Forget the Basics

The intersecting worlds of social media, technology, advertising and public relations that Daily Axioms aims to illuminate is very, very forward-focused.

Everyone is constantly looking for that next great idea that will spark conversations across the blogosphere and generate buzz.

But the other day I came across a press release that really put all of that in perspective. And no, it didn't talk about some amazing campaign or a new promotion.

To be honest, I couldn't tell you what it was about because I didn't even read the first sentence...because the writer misspelled a word in their headline (an egregious offense in any professional writing field).

The type-o did inspire me to be more vigilant in double and triple checking my writing, however. Because in a world of blogs, tweets and quick pitches, the basic writing skills we learned years ago can get lost in the shuffle.

Often times it's a simple fix, but not fixing can be disastrous. For instance, take a look at how one misspelled word in this Australian cook book left a bad taste in many readers' mouths.

This just goes to show that even though it's important to look ahead in the fast-paced social media world, don't forget that a little mistake can turn just as many heads as that great idea or creative promotion.

Grocer Has A Lot At Steak With New Billboard

If you've ever driven on highways through the rural Midwest, then you know that billboards outnumber trees on many of those roads.

There will literally be 20 or 30 billboards in a row at times, to the point where it's impossible to pay attention to any one billboard in particular.

And that's the problem with billboard advertising. It's impact becomes largely subliminal, seeing as how drivers rarely focus heavily on the billboard at all. Not to mention that due to safety concerns, drivers can't look at a billboard for more than 2 seconds or so.

But Bloom Grocery may have solved this vision impairment billboards face, when they recently put up a billboard in North Carolina to promote their new line of beef. The catch is that the billboard actually emits the smell of cooking steak to entice drivers.

The aroma was artificially created and is stored in tanks behind the sign, which is then wafted with industrial fans.

While this will probably disgust vegetarians, I'm sure it will attract more than a few meat-lovers, if only out of curiosity over steak-scented sign. More importantly however, this is a new venture into a largely untapped resource: the power of smell to attract customers.

If this billboard is successful, we could end up seeing many more of these scented billboards spring up across the country.

I just hope my local Waste Management company doesn't decided to go this route.

Follow the Leader (or Mayor)

Over the weekend, Yelp announced that they would be adding the ability to earn badges and "rule" a location if you check into it more than anyone else.

Sound familiar? Well it should, because it seems that Yelp is borrowing heavily from their main competitor: Foursquare.

Some people will view these latest changes by Yelp as competitive, while others will just look at it as copycat tactics.

But what I see is the idea of "badges" and "mayorship/ruling" becoming not only an integral part of location-based social networking, but that Foursquare will be the monitored more and more by current location-based services and future startups as well.

We saw this same thing in 2006.

That was when Facebook was launched globally, utilizing a few major social media concepts like "friending" and "status updates" that the general public really seemed to connect with.

The meteoric rise of Facebook that followed caused every other struggling social network to start copying what Facebook was doing in hopes of achieving that same level of success.

Just like that, Facebook became the gold standard of friend-based social networking.

Fast-forward to 2010, and Yelp's transparent attempt to surpass their biggest rival could actually solidify Foursquare as the top location-based social network, giving it that same gold standard status Facebook acheived in 2006.

Can Charity Be A Team Sport?

The main purpose behind this Daily Axioms blog is to provide a voice to help shed some light on the constantly evolving world of social media.

And although social media is always changing, some things never change.

Like, for instance, the unfortunate fact that there are many people out there in need of blood transfusions.

I bring this up because despite the huge need for donations, only about 3% of Americans give blood.

The reasons for not donating range from a paralyzing fear of needles to just having a hard time actually taking the time to make the appointment.

I myself hadn't give blood since high school, and the only reason I went then was because they came to my school.

Well on Thursday, a few of us here at Axiom decided to roll up our sleeves and go over to the American Red Cross Blood Donation Center to give a few pints.

It was the second time in 9 weeks I had given blood, and the second time we made it more of an office event.

It's much easier to go and donate if you go as a group and can actually be a nice team-building activity, not to mention the fact that 1 pint can save up to 3 lives.

So, in 8 weeks I'm sure Team Axiom will be heading back to donate again, and we encourage you all to give as well to help alleviate this massive need.

Bueller...Bueller...Bueller...

If you read the title of this post with a deadpan tone, then you know exactly what movie I'm talking about.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off was an awesome movie about a kid and his friends who ditch school and spend the day in Chicago seeing the sights and having a blast.

Seriously, what kid didn't want to be Ferris Bueller?

Well even though the movie came out in 1986, fans can still experience their own day off Ferris-style in Chicago.

Chicago's Tourism Department, called Explore Chicago, has put together a really cool promotion that lets Foursquare users to earn a badge for reliving the events in Ferris Bueller's Day Off by checking in at designated spots listed on the Explore Chicago website.

If a user checks in to all of the listed locations, they'll earn Explore Chicago's On Location Foursquare Badge.

The only other prerequisite is that the user follows Explore Chicago on Foursquare, which is a smart move that should increase their Foursquare traffic and following.

Maybe it's just because I'm such a big fan of the movie, but I think this is a very clever promotion that users will actually want to participate in. And if the badge isn't incentive enough, there's always the bragging rights of being more Ferris Bueller-y than your friends.

Axiom Productions Take Home a Telly

If a picture’s worth a thousand words, what’s a video worth?

If you’re Axiom Productions, a video is worth an award and recognition from the visual arts community.

Axiom Productions, the video production division of Axiom Marketing Communications, was recently recognized for a video project it produced for The Toro Company.

The Shoveling Stinks video was awarded a bronze Telly Award, which acknowledges outstanding visual art in multiple categories. The Shoveling Stinks video was entered in the Public Relations video category.

This was the 31st Annual Telly Awards, which acknowledges the finest local, regional and cable television programs, commercials, video and film productions. They also recognize work created specifically for online. There were more than 13,000 entries received last year from all across the globe.

This is a huge honor for the Axiom Productions team and we’re really proud of the work they’ve done. Video production is an important (but often overlooked) key to online success, so it’s great to see it being recognized like this.

Feeding Your App-etite

Foursquare, Gowalla and Yelp are by far the big dogs in the location-based yard, with Foursquare being the obvious alpha male out of the group.

And while all three have been picking up some partnerships with big name clients over the past few months, the business side of location-based marketing is still being tweaked as marketers and programmers jockey for position in this fast-growing network.

A majority of this tweaking has been in the restaurant and food industry, as more and more eateries have been offering promotions and discounts to customers using these services.

But the new Snapfinger app for the iPhone and Android may be a legitimate location-based competitor, mostly because of the niche it has carved out for itself.

While Foursquare and Yelp provide information and reviews for restaurants and fast food joints, Snapfinger allows you to order take out from your phone as well.

The big news though is that the company just recieved $7 million in investments to broaden the number of franchises they work with (which already includes Applebee's, Subway and Outback Steakhouse) to include independent eateries.

So will Snapfinger overtake Foursquare? No, since it's a different type of location-based service with a different purpose. However, this new investment and more partnerships could push Snapfinger towards the forefront of this emerging market.