This video blog discusses the rising importance of the location-based, social media platform known as Foursquare. Foursquare was “lovingly created in NYC” and is becoming a huge hit with consumers as they check-in here and become the Mayor of that. However, business needs to step in NOW and embrace this location-based social media platform for the marketing and loyalty-program that it is in order for user population and density to grow.

In other words, business CANNOT wait until there is “critical mass”… it must start offering things on Foursquare now and the more that do, the more users will join and want to use it because they won’t have to carry around loyalty cards that make their wallet thick or that they leave home because they forget them. In short, businesses must create the critical mass that will ultimately bring them huge success!

Businesses, meet the NEW generation of consumers… we want points and we want you to participate. Have fun with us and reap the benefits!

Water coolers.  Pre-Internet, we met around our respective office water coolers for commraderie and to dish the latest office gossip.  Those water coolers were mini-communities where like-minded professionals met daily.

Fast forward to 2010. Internet water coolers are just a mouse click away, according to a recent online New York Times article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/business/media/24cooler.html?hp . These “water coolers”, “birdbaths”, whatever you want to call them, come in the form of Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms.

In fact, the combination of Social Media usage with other media (i.e. television and the music Industry, to name two) is the latest buzz among industry leaders. As the article points out, “The Recording Academy, which presents the Grammys, mounted a digital campaign to promote the awards show this year, signing up Facebook fans and monitoring Grammy-related Twitter messages.”

Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter allow people to get involved in communities that are larger than simply their local physical presence as well as communities that might not exist in a certain locale. They also allow for people to take place in real-time “conversation” and join ongoing conversation for a real group interaction. Just ask any “social media junkie”… they feel “disconnected” when they haven’t been active in their communities for whatever reason.

Another great example of this was this past Super Bowl. Millions of people met and took part in conversations that would never would have taken place had it not been for social media. People discussed the game, the commercials, the halftime show and the hoopla in general. Fans and rivals alike shared in the fun. It simply didn’t matter if that you might not be in New Orleans or New England (or Miami for that matter)… the cities became larger than themselves. This age of connectivity is amazing and invigorating to say the least!

Play like the big boys in the Recording Academy and wage your own super-effective and state-of-the-art digital campaign. Contact Chris Isaac (me) at birdbathBUZZ cisaac@birdbathBUZZ.com.

FoxyTunes Update: Share What You’re Listening to on Twitter, Facebook, Last.fm

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While we all sit back and wait for iTunes 9 and the rumored support of Twitter (), Facebook (), and Last.fm, Yahoo decided to beat Apple to the punch with a major FoxyTunes update.

FoxyTunes () is the browser add-on that gives you the ability to control any media player — iTunes, Last.fm, Pandora (), Windows Media Player — while browsing the web. Now the nifty plugin has added its side project, TwittyTunes, as a defaut feature. With the new FoxyTunes you can manually or automatically share the music you’re listening to with the social web.

The FoxyTunes team has built in the ability to share your music with Twitter, Facebook, Skype (), Yahoo Messenger, Last.fm, and Yahoo Status. You can manually share with each service by clicking on the share button (the double arrow button) as you listen, adding and customizing text to include, selecting your service(s), and hitting send.

Your status updates will then include a link to the FoxyTunes music page (like this one) for the shared song. You can turn auto-udpates on for Last.fm scrobbling, as well as automatically update your Skype and Yahoo Messenger status with each new song.

While FoxyTunes was already an incredibly useful browser add-on, it’s now a social music service giving us one-click sharing options to our favorite social sites. It’s the features we’ve always wanted from iTunes, but on a much broader scale because it works for any of our favorite media players.