The hottest check-in play of the moment isn’t Foursquare (though its my personal favorite). It’s Monopoly-like MyTown from Booyah. More clout was recently thrown their way:

• Jim Breyer of Accel Partners, a Facebook and Walmart board member, is joining their board while Accel is leading a $20 million investment in Booyah.
• MyTown users have gone from 450,000 to nearly 2 million since January, and they now expect to have 6 million by Summer’s end. By comparison, it took Foursquare a year to reach one million users.

Meanwhile, there’s no shortage of news at Foursquare.

• The company continues to successfully enlisting new business partners, most recently NBC’s Today Show. The show unveiled its own Foursquare page and Toyota Concert attendees this summer can check in, earn badges and compete for mayorships.
• At Starbucks nation-wide, Foursquare “mayors” will now receive a $1 discount on their next Frappuccino.
• Also, news this week that Twitter client Seesmic has now integrated Foursquare checkins, which means you won’t need to use Foursquare’s dedicated smartphone app to check-in.

MyTown is looking beyong the act of checking in.

With Facebook about to join the location app space, MyTown may be right that a different spin beyond the checkin will become the differentiator.  They’re betting that the gaming aspect of MyTown will create an unforgettable experience to help achieve customer loyalty.

Facebook’s move awaited next.

Keep in mind that rumors still abound that Facebook may either acquire or partner with Foursquare, which could explain the delay in the their location deployment, which was expected last month.  Facebook may be betting that omnipotence will rule location apps and that the shear force of nearly 500 million users will be all that’s needed for dominance.

In the interim, Facebook has partnered with McDonalds as their featured partner for its upcoming location feature roll-out.

The future of location aware applications appears very bright (and competitive).  It just isn’t clear who is going to lead and what will make that final determination.  It’s definitely a space to get involved in and start using so that you won’t miss this huge plane’s take-off.

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If you offer a professional service under your name, you can use your Facebook profile for both business and personal use. For example, perhaps you are an attorney and want a way to communicate with friends and clients.

Facebook offers a list feature that allows you to place people in categories. You can then send updates to a specific list that only can be viewed by those designated.

No matter what your profession, this is a great way to separate personal friends from professional associates.

If you’d like to create a similar list on your personal Facebook profile, here’s how to get started.

1. Go to Home page and click “Friends” in left sidebar.

2. Select “Edit Friends” and then “Create A List,” which will appear at the top of center section.

3. Name your list and add friends.

Tip: As you accept or invite new friends, immediately add them to an established or new list.

Here’s how to send a unique message to a specific list:

1. Write your status update and click the padlock icon.

2. Select “customize.”

3. Choose, “Make this visible to,” and then, “Specific People.”

4. Type in the name of the list you want the message to go to.

5. Click, “Save Setting” and then share your update.

Tip: If you mouse over the padlock, you’ll see the name of the list or person the message will be sent to. This update will also appear on your Wall but is only visible to you and the individuals receiving the update.

To see the News Feed from a specific list you created do the following:

1. On your News Feed page, click the down arrow next to “Most Recent.”

2. Select the group you want to see and their updates will appear.

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It was our pleasure to speak on Social Media yesterday at a forum hosted by the Kauai Chamber of Commerce. Our topic for small business owners was how to drive success using Blog, Facebook and Twitter. If you were not able to attend a copy of the handout is below.

Also participating was a panel of local businesses using Social Media: Jonell Kaohelauli’i (Kukui Grove Center), Sara Miura (Deja Vu Surf Hawaii), Cyndi Ceballos (Grand Hyatt Kauai), and Ryan Esaki (Ukulele Underground). The panel was facilitated by Frieda Frietas of The Project is You.

Let’s keep the discussion going. If you have any questions or comments about yesterday’s presentation please let us know.

TechSpokes Presents to Kauai Chamber, April 28, 2010

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Fan Pages

Facebook users are now going to like pages instead of become a fan of them. I’m updating my clients’ customized landing pages to reflect the change in terminology. You may want to do the same.

Functionality hasn’t changed at this point.

“Like” is the same as “Become A Fan.” When users “like” your page they will receive updates the same way as they did before. We’ll be watching for more developments this week from the F8 Facebook Developer’s Conference in San Francisco.

Facebook felt that users are just more comfortable with “Like” instead of “Fan.”

Therefore, there is the anticipation that more people will be liking pages going forward, which should result in more interaction for businesses.

Community Pages

Facebook has also just unveiled its “Community Pages” feature. A cousin to fan pages, some like Facebook meets Wikipedia and Google.

Community pages apply to concepts, places, and ideas instead of a businesses or brand. Facebook says this will be “the best collection of shared knowledge on a topic” (think Wikipedia).

I keep thinking how a community page could help business. For example, let’s say there’s one for “Home Coffee Roasters” and anyone on Facebook with that interest can join its community page. Perhaps your business is selling green coffee beans or roasting supplies. You might have an employee become a frequent commenter which in turn draws people to your company. We’re watching closely to see if this scenario might be one to play out.

According to Facebook, “we’re starting by showing Wikipedia information, but we’re also looking for people who are passionate about any of these topics to sign up to contribute to the page. We’ll let you know when we’re ready for your help.”

Stay tuned.

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