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It looks like Harvard may turn out to be the epicenter of all things from the social web. Urban legend has it that it was there that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg borrowed discussed developed the true beginnings of today’s social networking giant. Now foursquare has struck a deal with the school to have a ‘branded’ version of the product. Foursquare has been busy cutting deals as of late that range from business applications to good causes. The deal with Harvard is interesting for sure as TechCrunch elaborates Harvard is the first university to use Foursquare to help its students explore the campus, the school notes today in its paper. Foursquare has set up a special Harvard page on the site that includes a special logo, and a series of tips. If you follow this special account, you’ll be able see and contribute to all the tips for the school involving the various venues on campus. “We believe that Harvard’s participation will allow our community to engage with friends, professors, and colleagues in new ways. We also hope visitors and neighbors will benefit from the platform as it grows through use,” Harvard’s digital director of communications tells the schools’ paper. The paper explains how students can earn mayor badges by checking-in to venes, and earn points by leaving these tips. Foursquare apparently made a special Harvard Yard badge to mark the partnership. Students that check-in a certain number of places on campus will see it. You can see where something like this is heading from a revenue standpoint. The more that foursquare becomes ingrained in the community of Harvard or any other affinity group the more likely it is to be sold as a marketing vehicle to that audience. Of course, there is fear that marketing and advertising might ruin the fun but I think we are all getting over this free nonsense. Free is a beautiful entrée (entrance not meal) into markets but it doesn’t pay the bills or the payroll in the long run. I would love to hear from our readers about how they use / interact with foursquare because I will be honest I have never used the service. I am not the right demographic and that’s more than fine with me. As a marketer, however, it doesn’t matter whether I use it or not. It only matters that I understand what value is derived by foursquare’s users. Heck, if we had to all be full-on users of every tool out there in order to be ‘legit’ no one would get any work done. So you foursquare fanatics check in and give us your location opinion.

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Foursquare Goes to School

Maybe you can have too much of a good thing. As the Internet allows advertisers to slice and dice large segments of desirable markets into thinner, more defined slices it also creates something that is much less desirable: smaller profits. How is that you say? How is it possible to make less on my advertising spend when I am advertising directly to the group that most needs or wants my products? Well, it’s simple supply and demand. While you are targeting a much more defined market you are not going to be alone in that quest to advertiser to just the people that will buy. Remember those pesky competitors? They want those people too because their claim is that they are better than you. Now you are going to find a price war that drives up costs for advertising and makes customer acquisition costs rise which in turn hurt the bottom line. So maybe there is too much of a good thing after all. MediaPost tells about a study performed by the MIT School of Management that has looked at this in detail Professor Alessandro Bonatti, working with Yale University economics professor Dirk Bergemann on this research, says “… newspapers have a very limited ability to target audiences… specialized magazines can do better… Google has a very good ability to target who’s browsing each page… (though) online advertising has the potential to drive out traditional advertising, it does not necessarily follow that online advertisers will make more money… ” Bonatti continues, “…as technology keeps improving, more and more web sites can sell very narrow products to very specialized audiences… with lots of people targeting the same audience the profits to be made through specialized advertising become more and more spread out… instead of competing for one large pool… you will have price war in each targeted segment as the slice gets more and more narrow.” Bonatti concludes that, “… the better the technology, the lower the profits for advertisers… “ Not the news that advertisers want to hear but it sure is music to the ears of the niche ad networks that attract these more narrowly defined groups. Advertising price war? We’re in! Woo-hoo! Different verticals are responding more rapidly and it also is dependent on just how far CPM’s fell during this downturn / recession / economic morass. Real estate is seeing an increase in CPM’s jumping 17% from Q2 to Q3 of last year while foodies are driving that category up almost 91% in the same period. Here is a chart from Adify Vertical Gauge for you to gloss over and wonder what it really means. So be careful what you wish for advertisers. Sure it’s great to advertise as close to the buyer as you can but you’re not the only one with that strategy. Let’s hope you are the one with the deeper pockets at least.

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For Ads the More Targeted May Mean Less Profitable

As our lives become increasingly busy we are condensing everything we do into shorter periods of time and cooking is no different. Most people lead crazily busy lives where time for cooking is at a premium but luckily help is at hand and twitter offers a variety of great ways to learn how to cook. Here are our 5 resources for cooking better food using Twitter… Rouxbe Online Cooking School @ rouxbe One of the slickest online cooking school in the world has daily video tips for you as well as handy little tips on how you can improve in the kitchen. Their blog is full of some great tips and their team of professional chefs are on hand to answer your questions when you get stuck in the kitchen. @ jamie_oliver One of the most famous chefs in the world has over a quarter of a million followers and he is constantly dispensing cooking information and will fill you full of creative ideas from his numerous Twitpics. Shares what he is eating and is a real inspiration to foodies all over the world. Twecipe This is one of the handiest tools you will ever come across on Twitter. Simply send three ingredients to @twecipe and the cute little onion will send you back a DM with a link to a recipe that matches your ingredients perfectly. You can also use the website if you want and the little onion behind the twitter account has been known to share food tips and funny food stories from around the world. @ Tastespotting One of the most stunning food websites on the planet has a vibrant and engaging twitter account that never fails to deliver equal parts inspiration and quality recipes from the world’s top food bloggers. @ simplyrecipes Elise Bauer is well known as one of the top food bloggers in the world and her recipes have fed thousand of hungry mouths around the world. Not only does her website contain an abundance of recipes but she is nearly always available on Twitter answering questions and discussing her cooking. A real angel of the cooking world who seems to be out to help everybody on the planet to cook better food! © 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips . 5 Ways To Improve Your Cooking Using Twitter

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5 Ways To Improve Your Cooking Using Twitter

In recent interviews, I’ve talked about the future of online reputation management. In that future, I see a desensitizing towards negative content found online by employers, parents, and schools. In essence, as more and more of us post content online, any embarrassing photo or rude remark will be brushed off, as we learn that we live in a transparent world. As the current generation of 18-24 year olds enter management, they will be more forgiving–having lived through that same era. Anyway, I expected this transformation of standards to take place slowly and organically. Well, that may change now that two sophomore girls are suing their school district for unfairly disciplining them for risqu é photos they posted to MySpace. The Huffington Post picks up the story: The girls, identified only by their initials in the suit, took the photos during a sleepover with friends before school started this summer and posted them on their MySpace pages, setting the privacy controls so only those designated as friends could view them…[the Principal] initially suspended both girls from all extracurricular activities for the year but reduced the penalty to 25 percent of fall semester activities after the girls completed three counseling sessions and apologized to the coaches board. The school wasn’t referenced in any of the MySpace entries, but the school has a policy that allows the Principal to take action against any student that “creates a disruptive influence on the discipline, good order, moral or educational environment” of the school. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has taken interest in this case and filed the suit on behalf of the girls–claiming the action violates their free speech rights and was humiliating. The ACLU will have an uphill battle winning this case, because the US Supreme Court has already ruled that students can be disciplined for activities outside of the school. The unclear part is whether the students’ actions are disruptive or harmful to the school. We’ll let you know as and when we see updates on this case. My guess is that it will be dropped–maybe with the school expunging the incident from the girls’ records. If not, and the ACLU wins, we may quickly get to the era of online reputation apathy–but by force, not progress. ( via )

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Teen Girls Sue School for Wrongful Discipline Over Risque MySpace Photos