Real World MyBlogLog, Brick & Mortar Ning

1. I got a fund raising email from Alley Cat Allies a few weeks ago. It said in exchange for a Valentine's Day donation, my cat would get a spot on a "wall of hearts". My immediate reaction was, why not make it a virtual wall, where donors could post comments and upload photos? They do have a Myspace profile, which doesn't feel like a focused community. But what about Ning? Dennis talks about Ning for clients of the same accounting firm, so why not Ning for supporters of non-profits?

2. David and I met up at Sparky's the other day. It's a coffee place down the street where lots of local folks regularly hang out. Was thinking they could create a Ning community also - until I saw my photo on Cote's MyBlogLog widget while reading his post on Twitter. He suggested projecting conference attendees' Twitter streams in a public place... What if Sparky's had a projection screen that showed photos of the last x visitors? (David would sooo not approve, but he doesn't have to sign up.) And maybe their Twitter streams while they're in the store?

3. Some sort of Ning/MyBlogLog combination might be useful for the MidCity Business Association, a cluster of neighborhood retail stores that host events together, hand out each other's coupons, etc. Wouldn't it be great if the stores had data on the extent to which their visitor traffic overlapped? That opens the door to Aggregate Knowledge for the real world. Imagine Amazon-like recommendations of where 67% of shoppers like you go after lunch at Ben's Chili Bowl? Meanwhile, a network of Minority Report style billboards could show you contextual ads...

Ok, maybe that's getting a little too far-fetched. But it seems there lots more room for declarative living in the world beyond our computer screens?

Comments

[Blendah Tom]

Hi Isabel,

I like your idea of building "bridges" for real world applications.. I think combos like the one's that you are mentioning are the next step in taking the New Web to the mainstream...

Great Post!

[David Snead]

Well I'd approve only if I got to choose flattering photos. But more to the issue, what's the point of doing this? My, admittedly crumudegonly, view on these things is what does this do to enhance Sparky's bottom line? Is it tech for tech's sake, or tech that solves a problem or need that Sparky's customers have?

[Cote']

I like your ideas. I have no grasp of retail/service "bottom lines," so I don't know if it'd be worth it for coffee shops other than to constantly remind people that they exist, thus, choosing to stop by there instead of somewhere else.

For example, a new coffee shop opened up in my neighborhood. I rarely go there because I can make my own coffee (I work at home). But, if there was that Cheer's sense of community there, I might go each day. It'd probably be easier and faster to establish friendships online (via Twitter or whatever) and them cement them in meat-space. Then I'd buy coffee at the local coffee shop instead of make my own and sit (alone) at home as I work.

That's all hand-waving, of course. I just want to the fun technology ;)

Anyhow, if you try some of this out, I'd love to hear how it goes ;)

[Isabel Wang]

David - I think Cote' answered your question :) If the neighborhood coffee shop offered a sense of community, he might stop by more often. I probably would too.

BTW, was reading the "presence" post on GigaOm (http://gigaom.com/2007/03/06/does-presence-really-matter/), about how Talk-Now, a Blackberry plugin, can show each of your contacts' red-yellow-green status (indicating how available they are to talk). Maybe in-store Twitter backchannels can play the same role?

When I see people reading or typing at coffee shops, I always wonder how many of them are hoping for social interaction. Wouldn't it be neat if they could identify themselves to each other, so that they can establish on and offline friendships at the same time?