Facebook launched a MAJOR new feature on their iPhone app yesterday, called “Places.” It’s a location based service (“LBS”) where you “check in” to locations, letting your friends know where you are.  If you use Foursquare, Gowalla or BrightKite, you are very familiar with these types of apps.  Or, if you have friends who cross-post their Foursquare updates to Facebook and Twitter, you may also know what they are (and may not have a positive opinion of them!).

Since I just got the feature enabled on my phone, I haven’t had too much of a chance to play around or think about it, so this post has just a few of my initial thoughts.  More to come soon, and I’m sure Facebook will be making a lot of changes along the way.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Basics

When you’re on the Facebook iPhone app, where you normally type in your status update, you’ll now see a “map pin” icon, that you can click and it brings up nearby locations for you.  Just click the location, or tap the plus to add a new one, and then click “check in.”  You’ll notice that there is also a “Tag Friends With You” button, so you can say who you’re there with.  And, you can make a comment about what you’re doing there.

Once you check-in, it automatically posts your check-in to your Facebook profile, and tags the people you’re with.  In addition, it creates a “community page” for the location you have checked in at.  A community page is similar to a Fan Page, but is automatically created by Facebook from information on Facebook.  Eventually businesses will be able to “claim” these pages, and manage them, but for now, you can’t do much with them.  BUT, your post shows up on that community page.

So, why would you want to check-in?  Well, it’s an easy to tell your friends where you are.  And, many Facebook status updates are about people’s location, so it’s a more descriptive way to do it.

Privacy

Always a biggie with Facebook… they assume you will share you’re information, until you turn it off.  In Twitter language, we call that #FAIL :-)  They’ve assumed 3 things:

1. You want to share your check-ins with all of your friends
2. You want to be included in “People Here Now” (shows who is at the location even if you are NOT friends with them)
3. You give your friends permission to check YOU in to a location

Those are some pretty big assumptions, Facebook! To change them, do this:

Account –> Privacy Settings –> Customize Settings (small text link in middle) –> Under Things I share, the last 2 settings should be looked at.

AND

Account –> Privacy Settings –> Customize Settings (small text link in middle) –> Under Things Others share, the last setting should be looked at.

The other consideration is what I mentioned above about Community Pages — your check-in ends up on the community page, essentially making it completely public information.  I don’t like that at all (stalkers can see where you hang out), but there currently doesn’t seem to be an option to change that.

Update on 8/24: There’s one more privacy setting…

By default, Places is set to share your location information with applications your friends use. If you want to change that, go to your privacy settings page –> edit your settings (under the “Applications and Websites” title, in the lower left corner of the screen) –> edit settings (next to “Info available through your friends”) and uncheck the box.

Will Places replace Foursquare?

It’s too soon to tell at this point. Why did people use Foursquare in the first place?  There are a number of reasons, and not all of them are currently satisfied by Places:

√ – Find out about new places

√ – Share your location with your friends

√ – Meet new people who go where you go

NO – Earn points and badges

NO – Get deals from local businesses

But, one of the biggest complaints I hear about Twitter is “I just don’t  have time to use ONE MORE social network”.  If that’s true, many people would not have wanted to use Foursquare, but since Places is integrated into the most popular social network, they may just be more likely to use it.

Apparently Places will be integrating somehow with Foursquare and Gowalla, but how that will happen exactly is yet to be determined.

Other random thoughts

For me, the biggest downside is that your Places check-ins automatically post to your newsfeed.  I’d rather just have it visible if someone goes to my profile, but not clutter their stream with all my check-ins. I didn’t like it with Foursquare, and I don’t like it any more here.  In addition, unlike other Facebook apps that you can permanently hide, you CANNOT hide Places.  So, you will see everyone’s check-ins, whether you like it or not.

I think eventually, probably sooner rather than later, Foursquare will die.  They have a good lead on Places now in terms of the deals and badges, but unless they keep innovating faster than Facebook, they’ll lose out quickly.

As with Foursquare, I was most intrigued about how it would be used from a marketing perspective, and it is proving to be a great way for companies to interact with customers. I think Places will start to serve the same role, but more on that in the next post!

What do you think of Places so far?  Will you use it? Why or why not?  Do you think they approached the privacy correctly this time?

I found out about these cool iPhone apps on Twitter, and wanted to share! They’re created by a company called JumiTech, who makes these 2 apps and a few more that I’m not using.

JumiTech just gave me free coupon codes for 10 for each app, so if you want one, either Tweet or update your Facebook Status about this post, and send me an email specifying which app you want the code for, and I’ll send it to you. rachel (at) rachel-levy (dot) com.

JumiMouse+

This app basically allows you to completely take over your computer right from your iPhone.  You can find files, access apps you don’t have on your iPhone, or access Skype video!  If you ever forget something at home or at the office, you can access it using the JumiMouse.  You can also use it as a mouse for your laptop when you don’t have  a full-sized mouse available.

The price of this app is$3.99, which in the world of iPhone apps, is quite expensive.  But when I step back and think about $4, it’s really not that much money!

JumiCam

This app is basically a “nanny cam”, and streams your webcam to  your iPhone.  So far, I’ve only used it to spy on my dog Stella, but can see other uses for it, including watching parts of a meeting when you have to leave (as JumiTech suggests on their website).  The big downside versus a real “nanny cam” is that your webcam is static, so you can’t scan  a room to see what is going on.  It has to be positioned correctly when you leave your computer.  In addition, it doesn’t allow for audio capability (correction: It DOES do audio!). Setup is easy, and it takes just a few seconds to connect, and you have a live stream from your iPhone.

But, the price is right — it’s only $4.99, which is much less expensive than a traditional “nanny cam”!

What do you think of these apps?  Can you think of ways these might be a benefit?

I’m struggling to get more members to join my WebinarListings LinkedIn group.  Every week, I go and look to see how many members I have… each week, it’s 41, 41, 41, ooh, 42!  But that was my new intern joining :-)  LinkedIn can be incredible beneficial at spreading the word about a topic/company, and building relationships, so I’d like to leverage its power more.  Here are all the things I do to try to get interaction and members, and I’d love to hear any other thoughts you have!

Post the Link Whenever Possible

I post the link to my LinkedIn group wherever I can… for example,

• my email signature
• the background of my Twitter page
• my Facebook Fan page
• in other related LinkedIn groups
• as a Facebook/Twitter update to encourage people to join

Add Content to the Group

As they say, “content is king”, and this is no different on LinkedIn.  When you add content to a group, members get notified (if they have their account set up to allow that).  If the content is interesting to them, they may choose to comment.  Then in the weekly emails that go out with LinkedIn updates, their participation will be noted in that newsletter.  That way, then their friends know about the group, making it that much more viral.  The content I add to the group includes:

• Blog posts on the WebinarListings website
• Other related articles that group members may enjoy
• Conversation starters (discussion topics)
• RSS feed (in our case, any Featured webinars are automatically posted to the group)

Invite People to Join

I have invited my personal contacts from LinkedIn and my email account to the group to try to get more visitors.

Advertise

I am not currently advertising on LinkedIn, but I had in the past, in order to try to get more group members.

I also do a lot of participating in other groups on LinkedIn (I am a member of 50 groups), but that doesn’t promote my group, it just promotes my personal profile/business.

What other ideas do you have to build membership in LinkedIn groups? Anything I’m missing that can help get me out of the flat membership of 42 people?

I try not to write posts about only Twitter, because many people who read my blog are not on Twitter.  But this is one of those I just needed to write. I’ve made a change to the way I follow people back so thought I’d explain:

Old Method

As you may know from my Indispensable Online Tools post, I use Topify to inform me when I have a new Twitter follower.  I rely more on those emails versus looking at the follower list in Twitter.  I also have a filter setup in Gmail so all the new follower notices go into a separate folder, which works really well so they don’t clutter my inbox.

For my personal account, I don’t want to auto-follow, as I don’t think I’m interested in everyone who is necessarily interested in following me (but on @WebinarListings, I do auto-follow).  I feel strongly about reviewing each new person… My thought process is, you never know who you might miss if you don’t look at each one!  The problem is that they pile up really quickly, and keeping up this pace is overwhelming.  At one point last week, I had 600 new followers to review, and was stressed out just thinking about it.

New Method

I resisted changing for a long time, as I really didn’t want to do anything differently just because I now have 7,500 followers, than when I had 75 followers.  But, unfortunately, I just can’t keep up!  So, here’s the new plan…. if we interact, I follow you.  Pretty simple.  After all, that’s what social media is about, right?  Interacting, and building relationships.  Am I upset that I might miss out on great people who follow me and I don’t end up following  them back?  Yes.  Might I follow some people who I have no interest in what they have to say?  Yes.  But, both of those are worth it to streamline this process that has gotten out of control for me!

So, if I’m not following you, and you want  me to, just send a tweet to me at @BostonMarketer.  Not sure?  Look for your face below :-) or check out DoesFollow.

What do you think of this new method?  Do you have any other suggestions to handle the overload? How do YOU manage your new followers?

Twitter Mosaic of some of the new people I’m following:

I will be appearing on the “Mind your Own Business” Radio Show this week talking about my social media consulting business and WebinarListings. The show provides advice, information and connections for entrepreneurs, service providers and established companies. Tune into MYOB this Sunday between 9-11 AM to hear my segment!

Local Stations:

WBNW 1120 AM - Needham, MA
WPLM 1390 AM – Plymouth, MA
WESO 970 AM – Southbridge, MA
WSMN 1590 AM – Nashua, NH

or stream online at MYOBTheRadioShow.com

Join MYOB on the following sites:

Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

Lately I feel like I’ve been discovering some REALLY cool online tools that now that I am using them, I can’t imagine not having them! So, I thought I’d put them together into one post.

Followup.cc – This is one of the simplest, but most useful tools!  Basically, instead of having to remember to follow up with people you’ve sent emails to about something, followup.cc will take care of reminding you. All you do is put a date/time code into the bcc field of your email, and it will send you a reminder when you specified.  So, if I want to be reminded to followup with someone in 3 days, I bcc 3d@followup.cc, and in 3 days, it sends me a reminder!  Using this with Gmail is awesome, because with nested conversations, the reminder email comes with the whole prior thread.  I also have a label setup so they’re flagged green when they come in.  I feel such a weight off my shoulders about not having to remember to follow up with people!

Delicious – If you like browser bookmarks, you’ll love Delicious.  I used to use bookmarks, but then could never find anything, as I had way too many, and they weren’t organized in any way (yes, there are folders, but within each folder, it’s just a long list).  Delicious allows you to tag articles with as many keywords you want, so you can easily go back and find things later.  You can also send a link to a keyword to someone to show them all the articles you have on a particular topic.  Very helpful.

Shop Shop (iPhone app) – This is a simple iPhone application that allows you to make lists of things, and easily cross them off.  I used to use “Notes” on my iPhone for this, but Shop Shop lets you cross things off with one click.  I use this for everything… my standard shopping list, remembering what I need to get at CVS, packing up my dog for the weekend, etc.

Zosh (iPhone app) – Ever get a PDF that you need to sign and send back to someone?  You need to open the PDF, print it out, sign it, scan it, and then attach the file in the email.  It’s a bit of a pain.  Zosh lets you open a PDF on your iPhone, add a signature, image, date or other text, save it, and send it back right from the application.  No printing and scanning.  It’s awesome!

Topify (Twitter app) - This is one of my favorite Twitter applications, that no one seems to know about!  There are two Topify features I use… reply to a DM via email and reply to a new follower notice by email to follow the person back. Both are very useful, and allow you to do a lot via email.  Their follower notices are also more comprehensive than Twitter’s.  What I do is have the new follower notices go automatically into a folder, and then review them all at once (ugh, I have over 600 to review now!)

Tweepml (Twitter app) - Twitter’s list function can be a great way to find new people. The confusing part is that when you click “Follow List” on Twitter, you don’t actually follow those people, you are only following the list, so only see the tweets from the people on that list when you CLICK on that list.  If you actually want to follow the people on the list, you can use Tweepml.  You just put in the list name, and all the people come up.  You can then choose to follow everyone, or just certain people.  Click Follow, and you’re done!  Very easy.

Twitter Gadget (Twitter app) - Because it’s easy to get sucked into Twitter, I try to take a “get in, get out” approach.  I open Tweetdeck, do what I need to do (make posts, reply to people, RT things, etc) and then I shut it down.  If I leave it open, I find myself clicking back to see what’s going on, and get sucked right back in.  Twitter Gadget runs right in the sidebar of Gmail, and is a simple interface.  Because it’s simple and not very advanced, I can use it quickly to tweet something I think of, or check to see if I have any replies, but manage to stay mentally more out of twitter.

What are your indispensable online tools?  Please share them in the comments below!

Today, I heard Seth Godin speak in Boston, promoting his new book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?. He’s an unbelievable public speaker, marketer, entrepreneur and author.  He’s the founder of the “permission marketing” concept.  Below are my tweets from the day (most of the quotes below are directly from Seth; my favorites are in bold).  You can see more from the hashtags: #sethbos, #sethgodin and #linchpin.

What revolutions do is that they create opportunities about things that are seemingly impossible

Is all you did during the revolution was to increase Twitter followers to 10,000?

If the system is changing and everyone has access to the machine (internet), you need to do something different.

The value in being creative is making a new map

Once you graduate from school, you can say “I successfully graduated from school”. You need to do more

We don’t need human wikipedias, we need people who solve problems.

Permission marketing = Personal relevant messages are better than spam.

Human beings like to do what other human beings are doing. We like to be in sync (clapping exercise)

In this new market, there are many pockets of “in sync”

People think buying a book is the same as reading a book. Ha ha

Doing something remarkable gets people to “remark” on it. Ppl need to TALK about you.

Krispy kreme was “remarkable” because they sold dozen for price of 4. Ppl brought them to work so everyone talked about it!

Messages spread to Tribes (Connect to one another in same way such as a mission)

You don’t have to have charisma to be a leader. You get charisma from being a leader (I disagree)

Little mismatch socks is not a sock company. They just mastered “being in the conversation”

9:51:26 AM: What learn in B-school? How get ppl to do what u want and how fund it. NOT how to figure out what YOU want.

9:52:56 AM: More ppl are killed by deer in the US than sharks. But sharks R a visceral fear for us. Another visceral fear is being laughed at.

10:00:27 AM: Forgot my real camera so this is the best I can do!  http://moby.to/o3ap18

10:00:48 AM: The risk of failing has never been lower in the history of mankind  (LOVE this)

10:03:57 AM: Do you get invited to meetings because you’re going to make things happen? Make yourself indispensible.

10:04:43 AM: Key thought for today so far. Be REMARKABLE. Do something ppl will talk about

10:07:52 AM: Challenge the lizard brain (status quo, visceral reaction)

10:08:37 AM: Think about who your tribe is… If you don’t show up tomorrow, who would miss you?

10:14:52 AM: Little mismatch socks is not a sock company. They just mastered “being in the conversation”

10:22:00 AM: Do you have to be a visionary and someone who makes things happen? NO: you can find ppl to execute your ideas

10:24:20 AM: Another pic  http://moby.to/v0h93z

10:28:12 AM: Access to information is no longer scarce. (we don’t need to go to library anymore)

10:28:59 AM: Parents who home school ON TOP of regular school will set their kids apart (aren’t kids busy enough already???)

10:31:54 AM: Seth defines freelance work diff from entrepreneurship. Hmmmm. How? Is see freelance as a type of entrepreneurship.

10:34:10 AM: This idea that “my boss won’t let me” is BS. you’re asking wrong question. Need to make a SMALL success first.

10:35:41 AM: What is company politics? Conflicts, fear and power between people

10:46:56 AM: If you’re doing something and the market isn’t noticing, it’s not the market’s fault. It’s yours.

10:47:36 AM: RT @LBKinson “Every once in a while you meet an American Airlines’ employee who *does* care.”

10:49:38 AM: Everyone is motivated by diff things. If you’re going to lead you need to figure out what that is for each person.

10:52:06 AM: Talking about a newsletter he started that showed what ppl in co are doing. Everyone wanted to be in the NL. (Sounds like blogging)

10:55:20 AM: How do you know if it’s lizard brain speaking?   when lizard says no, do it. Lizard always sounds same (same voice)

10:57:12 AM: Make the lizard your friend. If you don’t listen to it, it will go away.

10:59:49 AM: The day before vacation you get more done than in whole week before. Why? We dont procrastinate and put things off.

11:01:19 AM: If all you’re going to do is make change happen, you can compress your day. (don’t go to meetings, Seth says!)

11:02:26 AM: Think of the idea through the lense of “will ppl give me permission to talk to them” without it feeling like spam

11:04:19 AM: If the ppl who you’re trying to reach, have a place (or community) they go, your idea has more of a shot than if they don’t.

11:11:30 AM: “I think college marketing is the biggest scam ever. There’s no evidence that it really should cost what you pay for it”

11:15:42 AM: It inconceivable to me that google, Twitter and Facebook will be the 3 legs of the stool

11:16:39 AM: You can’t have a business book without an x axis :-)

11:20:31 AM: I don’t know the inside of your brain. I’ve never been in there. (ha ha, and a good lesson for relationships)

11:22:03 AM: Get in the habit of overcoming the trivial fears. That’s ignoring your lizard brain.

11:23:21 AM: Do you ever get tired of blogging? No.  All blogging is to me, is to write down what I’m noticing. (LOVE this)

11:24:51 AM: Ever see a plumber who has plumber’s block? Or a talker who has talker block? No! So? No writer’s block. It’s part of who you are.

11:25:37 AM: Freelancers get paid when they work. Entreprenuers get paid when they sleep. They have a system that works when they’re not there.

11:26:35 AM: Job of entrepreneur is to ask difficult questions, make diff decisions and hire ppl

11:35:22 AM: What should you say to ppl who push traditional ideas? Which people? My parents! (ha ha!)

What do you think? He’s pretty amazing, huh? For those who were there, is there anything I missed?

Now that Tweetdeck is integrating more social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Buzz, Foursquare, MySpace), I’m guessing there will be a name change soon. Ideas? Take this poll!

Click here for the results so far.

If you haven’t heard, the past few weeks have not been good for Facebook.  They’ve made a number of changes in how the privacy settings work, and have not been completely clear in explaining the changes. They’re not respecting people’s privacy.  “Facebook changed the rules and this information was unexpectedly shared with perfect strangers. That is, simply stated, a profound invasion of privacy.” (Gizmodo, 5/10/10). Rather than reshashing all of the issues, I’ll direct you to a few articles:

Facebook: The ‘Evil Interface?’
10 Reasons To Delete Your Facebook Account
Facebook keeps crossing lines and the last one may be a line too far
(Thanks to Derek Peplau for the list of great articles)

People are in an uproar about this. There’s even a formal revolt for people to quit Facebook on May 31st.  I understand why people are mad.  Facebook hasn’t been clear about what they’re changing, and people don’t trust them to keep their data safe.  I agree that Facebook should have some backlash for this, as they are not keeping promises made to consumers, and are playing around with potentially sensitive information.

So What?

On Facebook, I do protect my privacy (unlike on Twitter).  I only friend people I know, I put people I don’t know very well into lists so they don’t see certain things (status updates, photos of my nieces) and I don’t use my real birth year or high school graduation year to protect against identity theft.

But as someone who is also VERY public with my online life through my blog, Twitter and LinkedIn, my question is, what should I be worried about? (note that I’m NOT asking why is it wrong that Facebook is doing what they’re doing.  I get that they are wrong). What are the risks to me? In the worst case scenario that ALL of my data is exposed, what’s the problem?  I see a few possibilities, none of which concern me enough to quit Facebook:

• Facebook’s advertisers have more information to target me with –> I don’t really care about that, if I get ads that are more appropriate for me
• People will see photos of my nieces –> OK, not great (and my brother-in-law would not be happy), but not the end of the world
• People see information about my work history –> It’s all very public on LinkedIn and my website anyway
• People will see my private status updates –> I’ve probably posted something similar on Twitter anyway!

So, is it just me being naive, or are there other security risks I”m not seeing?  Identity theft?  Using my information in a way that could harm me?  I’m really trying to understand this, so comments, as always, are encouraged!

(Photo credit: Facebook Trash)

This week I was in  NYC for the 140 Characters Conference, which is a conference about the “State of Now.” It’s my 2nd year here (recap from last year), and a lot has changed for me in the past year. Below are the top 30 highlights for me from the conference. The schedule is here if you want more information on the speakers, and there are videos of each of the session on the site too.

If you’re looking for more tweets from the conference, take a look at my post LiveBlog from #140Conf.

1. The half life of a tweet is 4 minutes, and falling – wow! ~@johnborthwick
2. Children are learning and soaking in things all the time. “My fear is that school will break them of that habit” ~@chrislehmann
3. Sometimes, the teacher is the one adult in a kids life who make a difference. Never forget our teachers. ~@chrislehmann
4. People can tweet their prayers, I print them, and put them in the wall ~@thekotel (I LOVE this idea!!)
5. Even the mere act of writing the prayer can change someone’s life ~@thekotel
6. Why are you doing so much social media? Because it works. ~@jeffreyhayzlett
7. People don’t take pictures, they capture memories, moments. That’s what Twitter is like ~@jeffreyhayzlett
8. Every tweet you send out is sharing a part of yourself ~@jeffreyhayzlett
9. Even if there’s a new way of selling, the basics of communication and rules of engagement are the same@Donny_Deutsch
10. Don’t forget the brand. Always reflect your brand value in everything you do. Don’t let the technology get in the way. @Donny_Deutsch
11. Any selling that’s self-serving will fail @Donny_Deutsch
12. Worry more about being impressed rather than impressing. Women say that about men in dating a lot ~@AndreaSyrtash (she said that, I didn’t!)
13. I respond to everyone who writes me, because they took the time to write me ~@AndreaSyrtash (I wish everyone did that, but they don’t)
14. You can’t have intimacy without vulnerability. In dating and in Twitter. Ask questions, admit you’re wrong. ~@AndreaSyrtash
15. People want to be challenged, not changed. ~@AndreaSyrtash
16. The more you can engage people, the more they get engaged ~@AndreaSyrtash
17. There’s a core “goodness” in Twitter… they want to do good ~@AnnCurry
18. We thought Twitter was really dumb when we first saw it ~@SomeEcards (but now it’s a major part of their business)
19. Risks of engaging and being able to communicate in a more human way, are not as problematic as not engaging. ~@jnjcomm #pharma
20. Sometimes you’re at a game and want to tell people. Other times, you’re at dinner & there’s no need to push that to Twitter ~@jwYES!! (talking about Gowalla)
21. It’s not a game, it’s a utility to help people learn about places. The game is just the tool to do that. ~@dens
22. A “ghost” tweeter? that sounds like the basis for a new album right there. ~@mchammer
23. You’re only a stranger once ~@lizstrauss
24. Monitoring aggregates the data. Listening is a 1:1 thing. ~@lizstrauss
25. Bring your community in, open your heart, and listen. Align your goals together. ~@lizstrauss
26. If they help you build it, not only will they come, but they’ll bring they’re friends back to help you build it too ~@lizstrauss
27. Journalism is NOT dying, it’s changing ~@msholman (I couldn’t agree more… so sick of hearing that phrase)
28. 5 tips to grow your business on twitter ~@SmallBizLady
    • Know your target customer — make sure your stream communicates consistently with that customer
      • On Twitter you have to give to get. You should use a 4:1 ratio of promoting others to promoting yourself.
    • Participate in twitter chat (#smallbizchat) – end small business failure by learning how to avoid the failure
    • Use @replies… don’t just RT, tell them why you liked content
    • Auto-DM’s are OK. Don’t tell me to go to site or FB, but tell them why I should care (I don’t agree with this!)
    • If you use Twitter the right way, it can grown your business
      • Twitter has leveled the playing field.  You can have power on Twitter if you use it the right way. You have to communicate consistently
29. 5 reasons why small businesses fail: ~@SmallBizLady
    • People don’t realize what running a biz is going to be like
    • People don’t save enough money before you start your bis. Need no paycheck for 1-2 yrs
    • They don’t focus on target market
    • No network; Network = net worth — twitter is great for that
    • Financials/budget – know your financials
30. Comments exploded. No one was talking to the host, they were talking to each other. ~Media Roundtable Panel

If you’re interested in following the people above, you can follow my list here, or follow everyone on the list here.

What did I miss?  What were your highlights from the conference?