Groupon

Back in the beginning of December Groupon decided to take a pass on Google’s offer to buy them out for $6 billion dollars.  Yes, I said 6 BILLION dollars (in my best Dr. Evil voice).  I’m still amazed at Groupon’s will power to say “Thanks, but no thanks.” The only thing that would make me pass on this deal would be a unbelievable business plan, vision and cash.  Well, they are earning the cash now but we still don’t know what that vision entails.

Local businesses have not been completely thrilled with the Groupon operation and restaurants are losing money over it. People are buying up the coupons for a quick deal but they are not coming back to the establishment.  So how can Groupon help businesses with returning customers? Groupon must do something or they will be known as one of the dumbest companies ever passing up on a 6 billion dollar buy-out.

foursquare

Another company that is at a crossroad in their existence is foursquare.  The popular check-in “game” that allows users to check into venues with there cell phones while earning them points, badges and mayorship titles.  Recently they released their Ambassador Program to help spread the word about their service to venues.  Outside of the cute little badges, users hope to earn specials or discounts for checking into local businesses offering it to them.  The problem is not too many venues are participating in the program.

No venue participation leaves users wanting more out of their check-in fun.  After awhile it gets old and easily gamed by users.  Which leaves a lot of things for foursquare to fix or they will fail.

Groupsquare, Foupon, Grouquare, SquareGroup… Whatever

Each company has its flaws and strengths.  The beautiful thing is they both have strengths where each other lacks.  To say it simply:

Groupon has many businesses on board off the start and they give great deals for consumers.  But customers don’t come back after they have used a Groupon.  Leaving businesses completely upset and losing money.

Foursquare motivates people to come back to establishments for mayorships and badges but leaving consumers wanting more for their efforts.  Plus the lack of involvement from venues is hindering the process.

This seems like a match made in heaven and could be exactly what each other needs to come out on top over their competition and maintain life for the companies.

What would Foupon Look Like

The online version of Groupon would not change much. It’s already appealing to the eye and easy to use. They would have to integrate the check-ins, reviews and mayors for each venue that foursquare has.  People can friend others and find people to get Groupons with.  Mayors would be able to get discounted Groupons for being such a great frequent visitor.  The website would turn more into a social network instead of a site you would visit when you feel you want to get a good deal.

The mobile app would combine the powers of Groupon’s mobile app and foursquare’s mobile app.  This would give you the power to buy Groupons on the fly, see places that are offering Groupons near you and check into venues with the hopes of becoming mayor and earn discounts.  Also, mayor’s would get push notifications to their phones when a new Groupon is available to buy for a currently owned venue.  You can make comments, take pictures of venues and converse with your friends just like foursquare but give the discounts and specials that Groupon offers.

I could be off my wagon but this just seems like an obvious fit for the two of them.  Who knows? Maybe that is the business plan Groupon had in mind when they turned down 6 BILLION dollars… muha – ah -ah – ah.  If that is the case, we can see foursquare getting blown to oblivion.

The popular check-in social media tool, foursquare has just opened up their Ambassador Program to the public.  If you are not familiar with foursquare head over to our article about What foursquare Needs to Change.

What is the Ambassador Program?

The Ambassador Program was released to a select group of individuals late last year in an effort to boost venue participation.  Right now as it stands many of the venues listed on foursquare do not honor the mayor for all of those check-ins and frequent visits they chalk up.  Probably for two reasons. 1.) The Venues don’t know about it. 2.) They don’t know how to use it.

So what?, you check-in on your cell phone at a venue and all you get is a stupid badge maybe?  This business model will grow very old for users unless they are getting something back.  After all, we the users are doing all the work of adding the venues!

It’s a pretty simple idea: if you’re passionate about foursquare and want to help get more Specials in your area, let us know. We’ll reach out to creative and excited evangelists who fill out the form, offering them a pack of foursquare Ambassador Cards (custom-printed with your name) to hand out to local businesses. The businesses get details about their foot traffic and loyal customers, and you and your fellow foursquare users will see more Specials at your favorite places.

You can sign up for the foursquare Ambassador Program here.  After signing up, you get your very own personalized foursquare business card! (can you sense the sarcasm) You then will spread the word to potential venues about getting on board with foursquare and claiming their venue on the website.  What do you get in return for spreading the word?  According to the site, they’re are banking on more venues signing up and providing deals and specials to you saving you money.  That seems like too much work to me for a possible .50 off of a drink.

foursquare is at a fork in the road right now.  They either gain more venue participation or they will be the next social media tool to fade away.  I like your idea of getting users to spread the word for you, but really? Business Cards? You need to give a little more than that to entice a mass crowd to hop on board with you.

Calling All Venues

This is a great way for venues to use as an avenue of social media to gain potential customers and clients.  It’s not hard and it’s free to sign up.  Take a moment and claim your venue here.  You then will be able to spread your deals to the 3 million plus users and maybe you will get returning customers in the process… Unless your product is horrible but that is another story.

Recently I read on another site about how social media can ruin your finances. But, what about the flip side?.

Can we use social media for financial help? Can it really help us save money, become more frugal, and help us be more successful with our money habits?

There is a plethora of ways that we can use social media to help our pocket books. Here are just a couple, but I’m sure we can come up with some more!

Sell Items You Don’t Need

Looking to unload a few items for some extra cash this holiday season? Let everybody know exactly what you have and how much you are selling it for! You never know if one of your friends or followers have a need.

Another tool you can use that most people don’t even know about yet is Facebook Marketplace. It’s a great way to find and sell your things locally. It could be a Craigslist killer if it catches on!

You see that Xbox 360 in the corner that has been just sitting there for months? It could give you a little coin to go towards your savings, night out, or for new Christmas presents!

Find Items You Need

One of the biggest trends I see on Facebook, especially with mothers of small kids, is asking for baby/kid’s clothes.

This is genius! Kid’s clothing is getting more and more expensive these days and they grow out of them so fast! By finding used items in great shape, you can save a ton of money.

Before Facebook if you wanted to get kids clothes from your friends or even extended friendships, you would have had to call each one of them up on the phone and ask. Let’s be honest, was that easy to do? Calling a friend and asking for kids clothes seems to me as being a little intrusive and needy.

Now, with Facebook or even Twitter, you can just throw it out there on your feed. If people have it and want to help out they can! Also, now you don’t feel the rejection of the other person saying “No” to you over the phone.

You may not want to do this all the time though. A person that constantly is asking for something through Facebook can give their friends the feeling of being used.

Get Coupons, Discounts And Sales Information

Have you heard of foursquare? This is a fun little phone app that allows you to “check-in” at the places you go. If you check-in the most at a particular place you can earn the title of “Mayor” for that particular venue.

One example is Starbucks. They were giving $1 off coupons for coffee products for the Mayor of that location. If you go to Starbucks as often as I do, this could save you some good money!

Even if you are not the Mayor of the venue, you can still earn savings just by checking-in to the location through your phone app. The screenshot above shows a coupon you could receive from Bath & Body Works just by checking-in.

Go ahead and download the app from your favorite provider and see what places you go often provide discounts.

Lower Financing Interest Rates

On the post about how social media can ruin your finances one of the commenters made an excellent point. Finance and loan providers are doing searches for you through social media networks when you apply for a loan.

They can deny you or give you a higher interest rate if they see something on your profile that would scare them into thinking you are a greater risk than you really are.

Goes the same if you seem to be a model citizen on your social media profiles. Keep your profiles clean, this could give your loan officer a warm fuzzy feeling and could make them more willing to help you out.

Use Social Media To Your Advantage

These sites are out there and they are FREE (for now). Why not use them to leverage your finance needs too! Just remember to not get addicted, because it can ruin your finances just as easily as it could help.

Let’s hear from you…How are you using Social Media to save money?

Microsoft released their ever popular Wii killer called Kinect on November 4, 2010 and since then have sold millions of units. Getting great ratings on Amazon with 4.5 out 5 stars, this product seems to be doing really well.  The basis of the product boasts the ability of you (your body) being the controller for your gaming needs on your Xbox 360.  The sensor that rests near your tv registers your movement allowing you to interact with the game, which means no controllers inadvertently being flung through the air devastating tv’s.

In recent news, hackers have been breaking the technology and using it for other needs.  Take a look at how hackers have hacked their Kinects.

1.) Generating 3D imaging using Xbox Kinect

2.) Quadrotor Autonomous Flight and Obstacle Avoidance with Kinect Sensor

3.) Real time Lightsaber

4.) Kinect Controls Windows 7

5.) Call of Duty FPS on Kinect Hack with Wiimote

Marketing

Hackers trying to make a splash in their industry or merely trying to get their 15 minutes of fame are in essence helping spread the word about this very popular device! The trend will certainly continue the more and more hackers try to push the envelope of what the Kinect can do.

Microsoft has to be eating this publicity up!  This is free advertising and news for the longtime software company that you always hope for when devising your products and marketing plan.  There are over 3,000,000 views on the YouTube videos alone that I posted.  Most people would trade their right arm for publicity like that.

Product Development

The amount of money companies spend in brainstorming, development and testing can cost them millions in research.

There is only so much time in the day for Microsoft employees and who knows if something will become popular once it’s developed.  But with these hackers working overtime the product development team gets to ride their coattails for free!  This opens the window for them to see what ideas/hacks are being talked about and which ones are getting ridiculed.   This can help them tremendously in the direction they go for games and future add-ons.

The Future Of Kinect

There is no doubt in my mind that Microsoft is watching this closely and planning their future as we speak.  The direction they go in 2011 will be directly related to the the hacks that have come out in recent months.  Expect some really cool things to happen because if Microsoft is smart they should be looking at what people are doing with their Kinects and how they are being used.

This year thank your local hacker for what you see in coming updates for your Kinect because they definitely had a voice.

The Mac App Store officially launched yesterday and that begs the question; How are the apps that are available right now?  At the launch the store had already contained over 1000 apps. Nothing helps a successful launch more than actually having content and products in it.  But first, let us review the store:

Installation & Intergration

Grade: A

Installing the store was a piece of cake.  Just run your Apple Mac Update, wait about 5-10 minutes, a restart and your ready to go.  The store icon shows up in your dashboard. No, really, it’s that simple.

If you previously owned some software that now is available in app format your App Store registers the software already and tells you that it’s already installed.  Example, I had iWorks installed with Pages before the App Store even was around.  If I browse the app store and come up to Pages, it says “installed” instead of “buy”.  Apple sure knows how to make things work and make transitions seamless don’t they?

Layout and User Interface

Grade: A

The design of the store is laid out much like iTunes which makes it very easy to get the hang of if you’re already an iTunes user.  Along the top you have advertisements for featured applications in the store.  In the right sidebar you have a list of the Top Free Apps, Top Paid Apps and Top Grossing Apps. Located in the main section in the center of your screen shows your News and Noteworthy Apps, Whats Hot and Staff Favorites.

Once you click on an item this brings you to the app details.  Here you will find the specifications of the app with screenshots attached.  In the bottom of the page you will find the customer reviews.  There are not that many reviews yet because of how new the store is, but lets hope some brave souls try them out soon and give everybody a heads up on the creditability of the app.

App Prices

Grade: B

I know the fear with some software developers was that prices were going to be 80-90% cheaper than what they deserve for their software.  I haven’t seen much of the LARGE software developers yet releasing anything to the store (except for Apple) but there are a plethora of small to mid size apps.  The small simple apps are priced about right, ranging from .99 to 9.99.

Where I feel prices are a little out of whack is when you start seeing some mid sized apps being priced for 19.99 to 49.99. Let’s take a new app called “Things” for example.  This app boasts to be a simple yet robust task manager.  Categorize and tag your tasks with ease but it can be as complex as you want it.  This app is priced at a whopping $49.99.  Seriously?  If that wasn’t bad, the app doesn’t have a built in sync for your iPhone or iPad.  You have to buy that separately.

My advice to app developers:  Please make apps that integrate with your Mac native applications with ease.  Please don’t brag about syncing but when you buy it you find out it’s a real pain to work with and sync.  It’s my pet peeve.

Overall

Grade: A-

Apple did a nice job with releasing this system of buying apps for your Mac.  The upgrade and start-up was seamless, which for most users can be a real downer if not made simple.  You can not complain about the layout of the store, since everybody is comfortable with iTunes, users can jump right in and get started.  Pricing needs a little work with mid size apps.  But can you blame Apple for that?  This really needs to be directed at the developers. I just hope the store doesn’t get filled with junk and it’s hard to find the well deserved apps.

Best Free Mac Apps

Twitter

Simple lightweight Twitter Application.  Perfect for casual Twitter users.

Evernote

You got to love Evernote.  This is a great addition to your Evernote obsession.  View and change your notebooks, add notes and images with ease.  Even take video notes with your iSight camera.

GarageBuy

A great eBay tool for the casual or serious eBayer.  Search eBay for items from your computer and not from their website.  Make a watch list and place bids directly from the app.  eBay certified!

Translator Free

Wow, a simple text translator for your Mac.  Simply drag text to the menu icon on your Mac and poof it translates to another language. Very efficient and effective.

This seems like a perfect fit and a match made in heaven for Skype and Qik to unite as one and produce a great product.  Skype finally released video chat through the iPhone a month ago and it seems their video chat hasn’t quite made traction.  The addition of Qik to the team will only enhance the features of Skype and help them grow in this area of video chat for mobile device that hasn’t quite fulfilled expectations.  Or they could just be buying out a market share straight up by taking on one of their competitors.

Qik has consistently seen a growth over the prior 12 months in traffic which means they must be catching on.  Plus, it helps when Qik got featured in commercials being used on mobile devices like the Sprint HTC.  But there are times where it’s a perfect time to sellout or partner up with another company to maintain longevity.  I see this being that moment for them, a moment that Groupon had with Goolge a couple weeks that they passed on.

Official Skype Blog Post:

I’m happy to announce that we’ve entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Qik, a provider of mobile video software and services that let people capture, instantly share and preserve great moments on video from anywhere. Qik has 60 employees, and is headquartered in Redwood City, California and has an office in Moscow, Russia. We expect to close the transaction in January 2011.

Qik is available on over 200 mobile phones running Android, iOS, Symbian, BlackBerry OS and Windows Mobile, and comes preloaded on a wide variety of mobile handsets through partnerships with handset manufacturers and mobile networks.

Skype and Qik share a common purpose of enriching communications with video, and the acquisition of Qik will help to accelerate our leadership in video by adding recording, sharing and storing capabilities to our product portfolio.

Through this acquisition, we’ll also be able to take advantage of the engineering expertise that is behind Qik’s Smart Streaming technology, which optimizes video transmission over wireless networks.

Together, we’ll focus on providing great products that will allow people around the world to share experiences in real-time video across different platforms, as well as storing those moments so they can be viewed later.

It’s going to be exciting to see what comes from this relationship. Hopefully Skype just doesn’t dump them on the way side but let us stay tuned. 

Apple launched their new long awaited Mac Edition App Store today for the masses. This gives you the opportunity to purchase and download apps right to your computer.  Ever since the iPhone paved the way for apps for your devices, the trend has been to put apps in every single electronic device out there, phone apps, cloud computing apps, TV apps the list can go on.  The move towards an app store for you computer seems logical and fitting.

This, I believe, is the start of a slow agonizing death for physical disk software .  You will no longer go to the store and buy a disk to install on your computer or will you go to a website, purchase and download to your computer.  The future looks bright for software developers and companies to develop apps into the Mac App Store and sell their products that way.  This is a huge change for the market and software developers better get on board or you might find yourself lagging behind.

A new round of overnight millionaires are about to come out of the woodwork.  You heard the stories of a guy who in his spare time at home developed an iPhone app that became really popular and made a quick $500,000.  This trend will come a live again with the launch of the Mac App Store.  It’s just a matter of time and a great idea to flourish.  Developers get to work because this could be your time!

The Mac App Store

Apple gives the overview:

The Mac App Store is just like the App Store for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. So it’s as easy to find and download Mac apps as it is to add your favorite magazine to iPad or a new game to iPod touch. You can browse Mac apps by category, such as games, productivity, music, and more. Or do a quick search for something specific. Read developer descriptions and user reviews. Flip through screenshots. When you find an app you like, click to buy it.

The Store

If you have Snow Leopard installed on your Mac, feel free to run an update on your computer and it will automatically install the store on your computer.  After about 10 minutes your computer will have the new store pop up right in the dashboard tray.

After opening the program, it is laid out much like the iTunes store.  Could you expect anything less?  The way Apple makes everything consistantly look the same through all devices and programs is really genius in my opinion.  Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

After browsing through the titles that are available through the store, I’m astonished at the fact that this could turn into something really amazing.  All the major apps that are released for the iPhone and iPad have already developed their Mac versions.

Angry Birds

Evernote

Compartments

These are just to name a few.  There is so much more and I have a feeling I will be playing with this all day.

This is a HUGE move for Apple and it’s a great way to take some of the thunder away from the CES conference, seeing that they never really are apart of or release any new products at this event.

On other Apple news, starting tomorrow they will be selling the iPhone 3GS 8 Gig for just under 50 bucks.

Recent reports are out boasting the unthinkable growth Reddit.com has encountered in 2010, a 230% increase in pageviews a month compared to the beginning of 2010.  The main reason for the boost in traffic reason?  How about the tragic self implosion of Digg.com(their main competitor).  Back in August of 2010 Digg went under a major overhaul that has left many users looking else where for fresh content.

With Digg shooting themselves in foot, this left the door wide open for another site to take control of the social bookmarking/voting market.

Some sites have popped up here and there to try to make a splash in the market but no one has made any lasting traction.  It seemed like a good fit for Reddit to take the reigns for two reasons:

1. They have been around for awhile which means they have stability
2. The traffic generation can be just as good as the “Digg effect“

However, in their current state of functions, features and layout it leaves nothing to write home about and could lead to their own failure.

The Good

• If you want funny content, head over to Reddit.  Most of hilariously funny posts you see on other voting sites are probably reposts that came from Reddit’s WTF, Funny, Pics sections.
• They’re ability to keep a clean user neutrality with little spam is extremely good.  Almost too good.  Sometimes your greatest asset is your greatest weakness though.
• You can find a variety of topics of choice to fit your indulgence, if you search long enough (but that’s the problem).

The Bad

• You cannot tell me that you have been to this site and had the overwhelming feeling that this site is eye candy.  Reddit is absolutely horrible to look at.  I beg you Reddit, improve your looks a little bit… just a little?  The typical response to this from any hardcore Redditor is “Reddit is ugly on purpose to keep those who don’t get it – out.”  So let me get this straight; You want it to be ugly because you’re too cool for the rest of us?  It kind of sounds like we are back in High School.
• Reddit will ban you in a sec.  I’ll probably get banned just for talking about Reddit in this article.  This goes back to their spam filter being an asset and a huge weakness at the same time.  There is no rhyme or reason to the madness. I’ve talked to so many people about this very issue and they still say they just don’t get it.  On a side note you could be banned for weeks and you have no idea.  No email, no notification in anyway that you have been banned comes from Reddit.  You can login like normal, use the site like normal, make comments and submit posts but you are just spinning your wheels.  The only way to know whether you are banned is to log out of your account and try to browse to your profile page.  You will get the Reddit 404 error page if you are banned.
• Automatically deleted submissions happens ALL the time.  It could be legit, interesting or funny content but for some odd reason Reddit will ghost ban the post(delete).  This is similar to ghost banning your user ID.  You can see your submission in your profile but your submission never makes it the the category you tried to submit to.  It won’t even show up in search results.  Poof, gone… It’s as if it never existed, leaving behind some very frustrated users.

Where Do You Want To Go Reddit?

One of the main questions with any business plan is; where do you see yourself in a year?  What are your goals?

Here is your dilemma, Reddit.  You have the world in your hand right now and you can call your own shots.  You have frustrated Digg users flooding your site and you have a decision to make.  Are you going to change for them and facilitate growth with the potential for higher dollars? or Are you going to maintain your status quo, leave the site the way it is and keep your core users happy with little growth?  I have a feeling if you don’t change anything all the new users are going to get bored really quick, because these are users from a different breed.

I, on one hand, am fine with either direction.  I would just like to know which direction it is so I can be a part of it.