bengreen.com

Ok so I haven’t posted here since April.   Why?  Suffice it to say it’s a case of writer’s block.  Sounds like a cliche, but no really that’s the case.     Posting now to say that ends today — Saturday, November 20.   You’re officially on notice.   As a heads up, here is a brief rundown of upcoming posts:

- InternetFM:  The Next Big Thing

- Web Design Crimes:  What are the motives?

- Sharepointless:  Why MS Sharepoint is a disaster for public web sites – and what you can do if those you work with have been suckered into it.

- Lumbergh vs. The Bobs:  It’s an Initech smackdown

- SXSW 2011:  Top 10 reasons why I am attending SXSW 2011

- Lou Malnati vs. Frank Santarpio:  comparing the best pizza in Boston and Chicago

So yeah it’s great to be back.   Stay tuned!

- BG

Location-based social networking broke out at SXSW Interactive in 2009 when Foursquare and Gowalla made their debuts.   The rivalry that was established has heated up significantly and reached a new peak at SXSW 2010.   Since then the battle for supremacy over this white-hot  social networking channel has continued at a fever pitch.

I had not joined either of these sites until a couple weeks ago when I was in Austin for SXSW Interactive, my first trip to SXSW.    The buzz about Foursquare and Gowalla was loud, almost deafening.    After discussing them over lunch with @rmmdc, and watching him check into both on his iPhone, I decided to try them out side by side, then blog about it.  What makes my comparison interesting is that I don’t have an iPhone, a Blackberry, or an Android phone, so experience on both has been via their respective mobile sites (http://m.gowalla.com and http://foursquare.com/mobile) on my Nokia e71 smartphone running Symbian.   (yes go ahead and laugh – I think I was the only person at SXSW who didn’t have an iPhone or a ‘Berry)

The Foursquare Symbian experience:  has been good.    Foursquare gets major props for clearly stating that users can either download their apps for iPhone or Blackberry – if you dont have either then use their mobile site.  The e71 remembers my login credentials, 4sq’s mobile UI is easily navigable and responds quickly.   Overall it has been really positive, almost flawless.

The Gowalla Symbian experience : has been bad.   Gowalla told me up front that the service is currently available only for iPhone, Android, and Palm, however they then go on to offer up a link to their mobile site as an alternative (just like Foursquare does), which is somewhat confusing/misleading because it seems to indicate that the mobile site replicates the function of the apps, but its not even close.   When i try to log onto their mobile site from my e71, browser, nothing happens.   Failure to load is the best way to describe it.

The bottom line?   Gowalla is missing a major opportunity to gain audience share by failing so miserably with their mobile site.   According to most stats I have seen recently, they are running behind Foursquare by anywhere between from 400 – 600k users.  It’s not as if they couldn’t afford to test on the e71 and other Symbian platofrms – FastCompany details the advantage they had early on in investment dollars.

This analysis by Gartner explains the value and cost of developing mobile business architectures on alternative platforms – and its quite clear that with such a large share of the mobile audience, investing in Symbian development is well worth it.

I really want to like Gowalla.  Maybe they will read this and make a better effort to extend their user experience to Symbian devices.  Until then, I will be using Foursquare.

Had a chance to meet Jon Lajoie in Austin when I was there for SXSW – Jon is a brilliant comedian with an amazing story that starts in Montreal.    For those not familiar with Mr. Lajoie, here’s a little background:   he first became popular through his YouTube music video “Everyday Normal Guy”, in which he, in ironic contrast to typical rappers, sings about his bland, run-of-the-mill daily activities and his peaceful nature.   That is the essence of his genius – an ability to portray mundane aspects of  the daily grind into humor with mass-market appeal.

Jon’s YouTube videos have recorded over 50 million aggregate views.  That online success has been parlayed into a hit series on FX called “The League”, a show which revolves around five guys who love fantasy football and they will do anything to win the league while dealing with other “everyday” problems.

Lajoie’s Twitter feed had mentioned that the cast of “The League” would be appearing at SXSW, so I took the opportunity to meet Jon.   What’s the bottom line?  Interactive Marketing professionals can learn alot from not just his methodology and general online success, but his philosophy and how it factors into an ability to achieve mainstream success.

I spent five days in Austin at SXSW Interactive and plan on returning next year.  From both personal and professional perspectives, this is an event worth attending.  I was able to reconnect with many old friends and make many new ones, while also establishing many professional connections.   Highlights for me were the panel discussion on Google’s options in China, in which Beijing author Kaiser Kuo spoke of Beijing’s aggressive censorship of online information, coined “the great firewall of China”  Kristina Halvorson’s presentation on Content Strategy, and Mashable’s “Mashbash”.

Special shout outs to @rmmdc, @brianreich, and @fififoum it was great to catch up/meet!