COMMUNITIES
Cold Stone Transforms the Ice Cream Social With Facebook
Cold Stone ice cream has always been a favorite amongst dessert lovers, but now they are also becoming a favorite amongst social media enthusiasts. This week, Cold Stone launched one of the very first eGifts on Facebook. Rather than receiving a virtual gift, Cold Stone is allowing users to send other Facebook users an actual coupon for their ice cream. This information is then directly pushed to the user’s newsfeed so that all of their friends can see the news about their purchase. While this is an extremely effective way to reach consumers through social media, it has also had an immediate effect on Cold Stone sales. Even in the short time that the campaign has been running, Cold Stone reports that their sales have already been positively affected.
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGIES
Facebook Alternative Diaspora Releasing Private Alpha Invites
A few months ago, flurrying talks about a new social network were all over the Internet. After another one of Facebook privacy issues, a group of New York University students got together and decided they would start their own network, one that will “put individuals in control of their data.” And so was born Diaspora. The site is currently sending out invitations for alpha users, so hopefully much more information will soon be out about this new site. But as of right now, we do know that they have received a substantial amount of donations, all the way up to $200,641, with some pretty hefty backers, including Mark Zuckerberg.
MEASUREMENT
The Beatles Sell 2,000,000 Songs in Their First Week on iTunes
Last week, iTunes announced that they would begin selling music of The Beatles. Many assumed that Beatles fans already had most of the albums, but ooh were we wrong there! Within the first week of the music being available, over 2,000,000 Beatles songs have been sold, and over 450,000 albums have been sold. With no surprise, Here Comes the Sun has been the best selling song, while Abbey Road has prevailed as the best selling album.
INFLUENCERS
New Stream Checks Into Foursquare
Location based services are currently all the rage, with Foursquare leading the pack. However, there are still many people who are unaware of Foursquares offerings. This video features an interview with Foursquare co-founder and CEO, Dennis Crowley that explains the basics of the feature, as well as give an astounding statistic of how many people are actually checking-in.
PARTNERSHIPS
Silicon Valley’s Latest Geek: Barbie Gets a CS Degree
Within the past 20 years, the number of women receiving computer science degrees at universities has dropped substantially, and the industry is worried about it. So what better way to get little girls excited about computers, other than Barbie? That was exactly the thought behind the newest partnership between Mattel, Girl Scouts of America and Microsoft. It may seem like an odd group, but the three have teamed up in order to create a mentorship program for young girls interested in computers. And of course, a new Barbie has been created to headline the campaign, complete with a Bluetooth wireless headset.
FUN STUFF
Navigate Black Friday Crowds With Milo’s Real-Time Product Inventory And Deal Tracker
If you’re one of the thousands of Black Friday shoppers, but are weary of crowds this year, Milo has a solution for you. Milo has created a feature that will allow Black Friday shoppers to check a store’s inventory to make sure what they are looking for is in stock, before schlepping all the way over. The feature will also track products in order to let users know when an item has sold out, or where the product is located if it is still in stock. This feature is sure to make this Black Friday a lot less hectic, and a lot more enjoyable.
