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.