Facebook Places … The end of the Geowar?
So it looks like Facebook just added a service called Facebook Pages to their platform that allows people to update and post their location. This is not a novel idea as this type of service is already available by way of Google Places and FourSquare and Gowalla. With FourSquare winning top place at SXSW for best web app in 2009 and being hotly contested by Gowalla this past year, it could be that neither of the two will ultimately bring home the top prize for the Geowar.
Although this is probably not the best news to hear for the other existing services, its great for Facebook users who don’t have to leave their favorite site and its even better for businesses who will soon be able to integrate their Facebook Pages with Facebook Places. This combination could be ferocious for companies smart enough and willing enough to develop an integrated social media strategy to take advantage of the services and receptive audience that the Facebook platform has to offer. Of course, Facebook is also allowing developers to access information from Facebook Places as part of the facebook graph, so integrating contests and other marketing strategies shouldn’t be too difficult.
On that note, I’m thinking about changing the focus of my web development company Replay Creative to specialize in social media integration. While most businesses now have websites, social media integration is usually lacking in their marketing implementations which is equivalent to leaving money on the table … I’ll go and ponder that business strategy now 
From Influence – The Psychology of Persuasion
I’m currently reading a book called Influence – The Psychology of Persuasion. This book was recommended in a blog post with a title along the lines of saving $50,000 on an MBA … not a bad plan. Here’s an excerpt from the book which I find so far to be fascinating:
Take for example the deadly trick played by the killer females of one genus of firefly (Photuris) on the males of another firefly genus (Photinus). Understandably, the photinus males scrupulously avoid cantact with the bloodthristy Photuris females. But through centuries of experience, the female hunters have located a weakness in their prey – a special blinking courtship code by which members of the victims’ species tell one another they are ready to mate. Somehow, the photuris female has cracked the Photinus courtship code. By mimicking the flashing mating signals of her prey, the murderess is able to feast on the bodies of males whose triggered courtship tapes cause them to fly mechanically into death’s, not love’s embrace.
Jo Dukie & Fitchie – Midnight Marauders
Jo Dukie and Fitchie
This track is so unbelievably good. If you can wait 5 minutes into the track it is so very worth it. Here’s a free download (right click, save as): Midnight Marauders
Your Web Browsing Experience is Changing …
Alamillo Bridge, Spain
Web users today are becoming more savvy in their navigation of websites. Technology is being developed and refined and it is catering to the more tech savvy users that are dominating today’s online world. Whereas in the Web 1.0 world, sites may have once told you how to use certain features, in the Web 2.0 world, features are sometimes left unmentioned, and often time remain as easter eggs to be found and enjoyed for a better browsing experience. In this blog series I will share some of those easter eggs I come across to hopefully make you think differently about the sites you navigate. You might also find some really cool things to boot!
Navigating Image Galleries
Thanks to AJAX and emerging libraries like jQuery, the way we interact with a web site is becoming much less like paging through a brochure and more like entering a true interactive experience. In many ways the web site is becoming more like a desktop application. Click here for an example of some really interesting and cutting edge technology that you might see become part of your browsing experience soon.
A more prominent example can be found in browsing image galleries online. If you didn’t already know, you can navigate through photos on facebook and flickr just by pressing your left and right arrow keys. To my knowledge this functionality isn’t mentioned on those sites, you just have to stumble upon it. Here’s a great gallery of the world’s most beautifully stunning bridges where you can test out this neat and useful little trick:
