Evan brought up some very good points that many people are probably thinking:

1 – Why should anyone care where he is?
2 – What’s the point of Foursquare?
3 – Why do we have to let anyone know where we are at any time?

My counter/bright side is this:

1 – There’s a spirit of camaraderie and competition in Foursquare. Kind of the point of the game. And I should say that word again: game.

2 – The point is to connect with people, leave information about a place, and potentially meet up with friends. That’s the consumer side. The biz side is to connect with your consumers, offer them a discount, market the hell out of your biz.

For instance, I just moved to Brooklyn (again), into a neighborhood with which I’m unfamiliar. So, I used Foursquare to check in and see what’s trending (where there are a lot of check-ins) and see if there are any local tips or special deals. One benefit of Foursquare is that it’s gotten me excited about exploring. Who wouldn’t want to earn the ‘Brooklyn for Life’ badge after just moving there?

And when a bunch of us went to SXSW this year, we all lived on the app. Not necessarily because we wanted to beat each other and get the most badges, but because I knew if I checked in at XYZ bar, my friends would know to meet me there later if they were around. And vice versa: we coordinated a number of times based on ‘not sure where we’ll be, but we’ll check in when we get there.’

And finally, whenever I go to a new city, I will definitely be using Foursquare as my Fodor’s. Logging into the app tells me what’s around, what’s trending, etc. What a fun way to sightsee – while earning badges and rewards.

3 – We don’t *HAVE* to let everyone know where we are. Just like Facebook filters (No need to cancel your account. Use your filters, check your settings, be responsible for your own content.) Don’t broadcast that you’re in line at the drug store, if you don’t want. Don’t follow people, if you don’t want to hear where they are. For that matter, don’t play. It’s like MySpace – I appreciate that there are still millions of people there, but I’m choosing not to be there and I’ll focus my energy on other outlets. Not a big deal.

And now, I’ll step into Marketer mode. If you’re a business, you should be looking into Location Based Social Media. I mean, why not?! If you’re a book store or library, why wouldn’t you prompt your readers to ‘check in’ to receive a 10% discount or special access to a signed copy or ‘firsties’ for the next author event? Why wouldn’t you add an upcoming event or book launch or author signing to your location? You can, you know!

I think Evan was right for bringing up these questions because he’s echoing a lot of what’s being asked. But, when people start to ‘get it,’ like they did with Twitter, wouldn’t you want to at least know how to meet them there?

Post on:

As I sit at the airport waiting to fly back after the conference—and a successful panel, something which was not necessarily a given—I’m thinking back to the things that pop out at me as highlights of the past few days. So here, in no particular order and through the haze of a gnarly head cold which will be made oh-so-much-better by my impending plane ride, are my highlights. I reserve the right to add or subtract to this list as time goes by and I can further digest all of the stimuli of the past few days:

New people: meeting with, knocking heads with, drinking with. I got the chance to meet a few people IRL whom I follow on Twitter or otherwise have my eye on, most notably Jeff Newelt, editor, PR consultant, and reggae promoter; Rick Klaw, editor, writer, friend of Michael Moorcock, and geek curmudgeon; and Molly Crabapple, webcomics creator extraordinaire, and one of the nicest ladies I’ve ever met (also, more humble than she needs to be. Because she kicks ass).

Same people: It was wonderful to hang out with and brainstorm with people like Richard Nash, Kassia Krozser, Brian O’Leary, and Kirk Biglione. I’ve met all of them before, and have hung out with them previously or correspond continually, but being away from the day-to-day bustle and being able to stretch out over a beer or three and spitball concepts, ideas, feedback and takeaways from panels, as well as engage in general foolishness was amazing.

The panels: Publishing was in fair force at SXSWi this year, but aside from the panel I was on along with Kassia, Debbie Stier, Matt Cavnar, and Kevin (a nice, straightforward recap of which can be found here), I de-prioritized attending some of them in favour of panels outside of my comfort zone (new horizons, remember?). The ones I did attend were interesting as hell, including a panel featuring presentations by Matt Migursky, Chris Heathcote and James Bridle (who I unfairly maligned in my tweeting during the panel—I call fuzzy head on account of cold as an excuse), and a fantastic, balanced, nuanced and collegial panel on corporate participation in subcultures, which featured Richard Nash, Raymond Roker from URB, Gala Darling, Jeff Newelt, and Molly, who brought up one of my pet peeves, corporate-sponsored creative contests (to find out why they are Evil, go here). Of the publishing panels I missed, I could count on my cohorts from this blog and DBW, Kate Rados and Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, respectively, to fill me in over drinks after the day was done.

On the non-publishing-related side, things were even more interesting. Some of the panels I attended:

An amazing panel entitled: Moon 2.0: The Outer Limits of Moon Exploration, which turned out to not be about that at all, but rather a great overview of public and private efforts to revitalize the American manned space program (and in which I proved yet again that I can’t watch footage of the Space Shuttle lifting off with out either getting goosebumps or tearing up).

A party at the Austin Museum of Art sponsored by Effective UI, which featured an amazing show of Hatch Show Print posters from throughout the 2oth century. For a printmaking junkie like me, seeing the history of one of the few old-school printers still alive and thriving was worth the trip alone.

A fascinating keynote by social media academic Danah Boyd on privacy and publicity (transcript here; well worth a read).

A mind blowing workshop by the guys at Opera on the upcoming HTML5 spec, and how it will simplify coding and further semantic approaches to web development (the <video> tag is a thing of beauty, let me tell you; and the forms functionality in HTML5 is AMAZING).

An enlightening look at a custom CMS from the fellas at Spoonfed.co.uk, which tackled a lot of the back-end issues I wrestle with on Tor.com.

A conversation with Gustavo Santaolalla, legendary music producer (often collaborates with one of my favourite bands, Café Tacvba) and film composer (Amores Perros, Babel, Y Tu Mamá También, etc)

And of course, the closing keynote by futuraist, science fiction author and critic Bruce Sterling.

In short, an amazing experience, and I’ll come back next year, by hook or by crook; this is a place I need to be at. For anyone in publishing—or any industry—who wonders whether they’ll find something of value here, I say: Yes. Most of all, as I leave Austin for NYC, I’m filled with a renewed desire to get back to making things: books, websites, posters, design, communications, etc. I find a renewed urge to leave my mark on the world, and to join the wonderfully creative and prolific crowd of people with whom I shared the last four days with.

Post on:

From the publishing side

First, I think that each publishing house should have a set of guidelines on how to interact with a community of readers.  The guidelines will help the editors and marketers have certainty regarding their behavior online so that these individuals can participate without fear of internal reprisals.

Second, the publishing house should have some kind of time set aside each day which would allow for the editor or marketer to participate in online communities whether it be message boards, blogs, twitter or facebook.

Third, the publishing house needs to allow the editors and marketers to have a personality.  Readers want to interact with people, not marketing machines.  People have personalities. It’s what makes them interesting.

In the community

Once the editor and marketer is allowed to be set free on the internet, I would offer these helpful tips in participating in online communities.

First, choose a community of which you actually want to be a part.  In other words, that community doesn’t need to be a specific reader community.  Perhaps you have great interest in knitting and would be more interested in interfacing with other knitters.  I get quite a few link backs and referrals from ravelry.com.  The point is to find a robust community around a topic or two that interests you the most.  This way, participating in a community won’t be a chore, but a pleasure.  Readers are everywhere, even at knitting sites.

Second, don’t push your books right away.  At Tools of Change, one presenter said that you have to talk up other products, goods, services, etc twelve times to build credibility before you can push your own products, goods, services, etc.

Third, go with the purpose of being part of the community.  If you go with the specific purpose of being part of the community instead of seeing it as a target for marketing books, then one and two fall into place.  Further, your interaction in that community will be far more natural.

Fourth, don’t be afraid to toot your horn.  In almost every community, there is a time to introduce yourself and make known your background.  You don’t have to hide the fact that you work for a publisher.  You should wear that badge proud.  This way, when someone has a question about publishing or books, you are the go to person for this knowledge.  (Just don’t preface every comment or post with “As an editor” or “As a marketer”.  That can get old fast).

I feel like readers are always looking for recommendations and if you are part of a community and have built credibility in that community, readers will trust you and your recommendations.

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