A Beginner's Guide to Foursquare.

Where are you? Where did you go last night? Do you know anything about this place? All of these questions can be answered by a small Social Networking application called Foursquare. If you are unfamiliar with Foursquare and have a smartphone, see this as an introduction to the newest Social Networking application that is grabbing people's attention. Foursquare just released it's latest application for the Blackberry and this will hopefully make it popular as the newest Social networking application continues to gain steam. For those of you unfamiliar with Foursquare you can simply go to Foursquare.com or continue reading for a quick tutorial. Once you have foursquare downloaded on to your mobile device, you simply go to a "venue" and check in, and write a review, or even try and the become mayor of that particular location. Foursquare uses a unique badge system, that user's of the application win under various circumstances. The person who most often visits a particular location becomes the "Mayor." The "Mayor" badge is the most prestigious badge however, there are a variety of other badges to win including Newbie, Local and even Crunked and Bender. But feel free to read the entire list at Foursquare.Com. Foursquare also offers a variety of solutions, for the regular social networker. Feel free to shout to your friends and follow them as you like, as you try and outrace them to become "Mayor" of your favorite hot spot. Now beyond the fact that it's fun to be a "Mayor" Foursquare has a variety of things that make it fun and unique. You can instantly write a tip for any visitors to a particular venue and you can also find the address to help better describe your location to a friend. Though few companies have yet, to truly adapt Foursquare into their marketing campaign many venues here in Raleigh are already experimenting with it by offering their "Mayors" free coffee and other small gifts. Is Foursquare for you? Well unless your a homebody and plan on sitting at home the rest of your life. I definitely recommend getting Foursquare for your next night on the town.

A look at our Splintered Market.

What do your Apps say about you? As our marketplace becomes more and more splintered, more and more websites are popping up in this niche market we now find ourselves in. What do these websites say about us? That we are movie buffs? That we are avid sports fans? That we are avid readers? Everything is becoming about us and getting our attention. We can now customize our phones even. Look at the Iphone and the over one million Applications that are available for it. What do your Apps say about you? The following are the top eight Apps on my Iphone's homescreen: NYTimes ESPN's SportsCenter The Weather Channel Pandora Foursquare Facebook Myspace Tweetdeck What do these top two rows say about me? Obviously one can concur that I am a Social Media user and lover, from the fact that I have four social network accounts on my Iphone. Plus I apparently like to stay on top of news, sports, and the weather from my other apps. Also I probably like to have some down time and listen to music. Our cellphones should tell us something. Our marketplaces are becoming more and more divided, as more and more people are after are after our attention and hard earned dollar. The Apple Itunes store is a prime example of this. It boasts to have over a million applications that are available to download, however that does not mean that every single application is for everybody. It simply means that every app, has a niche in this marketplace. As our marketplace continues to splinter this means a lot, not only for advertising but for the everyday marketplace as well. Obviously Wal-Mart and Target, two retailers who survive as one-stop places for everything will survive on their brand alone. But coming up with a general product is something that is hard to in today's society. One has to target a particular group and do it well. Look at the common Newspaper. One could argue that the many reasons behind it's loss of readership is because more and more people are turning to specialty sites for their information. Tons of companies are trying to capitalize this and trying to find your niche and the best way to expose your money to it. Generality is gone. You can no longer find something, with a broad range appeal in today's marketplace. The marketplace is becoming more and more segregated and it harder than ever before to keep the attention of the common person. Markets will continue to segregate as more and more niches open up, look at Cable TV for example, who would of thought ten years ago we would have such channels as Home and Garden, True TV, Comedy Central, and the Travel Channel. So good-bye general stores and brands that try and cater to everyone. I look forward to seeing things in the future as more and more people are trying to figure out what our lifestyle has to say about us.

How much will you pay for the News? The Life and Death of the Newspaper.

Where do you get your news from? If you are like the typical person, you get your news from a variety of sources. These sources probably involve one or more of the following sources: 1. The Daily Newspaper. No matter what people say, you still find yourself reading the occasional hard copy of the newspaper. 2. The Online Newspaper. Why read the daily when it costs so much money? Simply go online and read this for free. 3. The News? This might seen a bit crazy, but you watch the news for news. 4. Social Media. Have a twitter or Facebook account? Simply read the stories that your friends are talking about through links or various other messages. 5. From a Specialty News Source. Want sports info? Go to ESPN. Want to hear about Paris Hillton? Go to TMZ. Now, no matter who you get your news from, one thing stays the same, where the the news comes from. News comes from Newspapers and News programs, which publishes the hard work of journalists. What happens though when newspapers cease to exist? Or journalists for that matter? What happens to the news? This is all asked because of the decline of not just newspapers but the New York Times, the number one daily in the world. Rupert Murdock, current owner of the New York Times, and owner of TV affiliate Fox, is currently doing whatever it takes to keep his Newspaper alive. He recently took the New York Times out of Google and as of Monday, announced that the New York Times is going to create some new sort of payment system. This system will be surely monitored by other newspapers as to whether it will succeed or fail. The future of news has changed in the last five years and with Murdock's recent announcement I am sure it will change again. We will have to pay for the news. In some form, either through increased online ads or having to pay for the content online. The people who write the stories have to get paid, in some shape or fashion. Publishers around the world are struggling to stay alive in today's marketplace, where everything is free online. Why pay for your news when you can simply go online? This is the question many people have been finding themselves asking the last ten years as more and more people become Internet users. However all of this leads to the point where we are at now. Will we give up news entirely and just rely on Social Media and headlines? If we do not pay for the newspaper now, will we pay for it online? While, I am sure a few Newspapers will survive in some form such as the New York Times and the Wallstreet Journal, but I wonder what will happen to the rest. Will local news combine with local town websites, to offer there news available for all who are interested? Will Kindles take the form of paper as people get news stories beamed directly through their mobile reader? Will even the big guys, continue to be able to publish? Where do you see News going in the future? Because I am sure that with the current moves of Rupert Murdock, whether they are viewed as good or bad will change the News Industry for years to come.