I saw a press release today from Dunkin’ Donuts that made me pause. Get this. Their new Twitter campaign is all about how to EAT HEALTHY and keep your New Year’s Resolution to lose weight. By going to Dunkin Donuts.

How clever marketing agency!

Sorry, anything with the word donuts in its name isn’t where I’m going to get healthy food, no matter how low calorie your other items might be.

For one week they are asking people to tweet weight loss tips using the hashtag #DDSMART. They are promoting their “better-for-you” menu (which is way too healthy to be a mid-level calorie choice). One winner per day gets a $50 gift card. And yes, if you are actually on a diet going into a doughnut shop to spend that $50 might not be that smart. Or are you going to pass up your favorite glazed with sprinkles for an egg white sandwich on multigrain bread? And the rest of the menu, well, it’s a landmine! You’re in the war zone, so don’t even tell me you’re going to eat healthy.

Here’s how your tweets will be judged (from their contest rules): A) 40% – Overall Appeal; B) 30% – Adherence To The Theme; and C) 30% – Originality/Creativity.

They got it all wrong. Well, not all wrong. They are capitalizing on a trend with a social media campaign (this would be perfect for my book). That’s good. People are coming out of the holiday fog/binge and want to lose weight. They are onto something there. But here’s what their Twitter campaign should’ve been.

Everyone makes and breaks New Year’s resolutions right now. Almost everyone decides to go on a diet. Almost half of us have fallen off the wagon within 6 months.

“Within the first week 25% of people break their resolutions. After half of the year, only 46% of people are still keeping their promises.”

People on diets dream of things like donuts all day until they go crazy and eat one. So why not help them out a little by suggesting they break their resolution with you? Or, if you’re like me and a lot of other people you have a cheat day (another trend, diets that have cheat days) that you dream of all week long.

Why not have people tweet what they plan to eat on their cheat day? And, oh, btw, if you want healthy, we have you covered. They can make some suggestions off their healthy menu item but focus on the large percentage of people who break their diets.

That’s how I’d do it. I don’t think I’m the only one either:

I’m very tempted to tweet snarky suggestions such as: Park as far away from the front door as possible then sprint to the front door. That way if you die of a heart attack, at least you can get a donut on your way out. But I’m too nice for that.

What can you learn from this? Capitalize on large trends like New Year’s resolutions in your social media campaigns. But don’t confuse customers with competing messages. Stick to something that will reinforce your brand image. Because donuts and diets just don’t go well together.

Over 10,000 in the crowd! Photo from Search Engine Land

I wrote my more serious post about Mark Zuckerberg speaking at Brigham Young University for my upcoming American Express OPEN Forum post. Now I want to talk about the culture clashes and funny lines.

Though I was glad to get a last minute upgrade to the 3rd row (thanks for inviting bloggers and for hosting the event, BYU), there are many times I wish I was still sitting next to a blogger. I wanted to turn to the person next to me to ask, “did he really just say that??”

With due respect to his position, it’s tough to see how Orrin Hatch got to be head of the Senate committee for anything tech. He seemed either completely behind or unwilling to discuss technology. Maybe it’s better just to let Mark do the talking.

The questions submitted by BYU students were pretty pedestrian. How do I get a job at Facebook? What college classes should I take? What advice can you give entrepreneurs? So it was funny when Mark tried to turn the tables, asking if he could start asking Hatch some questions. Here’s where the fun could begin I thought. But Hatch deflected almost every comment by saying what a sweet, successful, smart young whippersnapper man Zuckerberg is. Again and again.

Mark Zuckerberg and Orrin Hatch in a staring contest:

Photo by Jesse Stay of http://www.staynalive.com

Mark let it roll off despite Hatch’s marketing ploys (and you think Facebook runs a lot of ads!) He wanted to get Mark to marry a BYU student, hire more BYU students, move to Utah and gift a large sum to the college. And of course he couldn’t resist bringing up BYU basketball (Hatch was really playing to the crowd on that one). Mark said he didn’t think his girlfriend would like that. Hatch just fell short of asking Mark if he wanted to take the missionary discussions (you could hear a brave soul from the crowd yell out, “ask him about the church!”) And it was the first time I’ve ever heard anyone mention Facebook in a prayer.

Did I just imagine that Hatch said he brought Napster’s founder SEAN PENN (instead of Sean Parker) to BYU? Hardly helped his case that he was forward thinking and trying to court younger voters in his bid for re-election.

At times it was difficult to understand exactly what was being said. Example: it sounded like Mark said his girlfriend is pregnant, which I thought I heard and confirmed in Search Engine Land. It turned out to be false, but it made for a funny rumor.

Twitter had fun with it all. Here’s one of my favorites:

What I loved is how BYU got students from every university in Utah to present Mark with a hoodie from their school. Jesse Stay snapped this great shot of it:

If you want a gentler review of the event, I’m sorry, I tried. I was star-struck but also a bit incredulous at the odd pairing that never got very deep. It was in stark contrast to the Kyntex Impact conference with Robert Scoble a few nights before where I couldn’t even understand one of the questions. The brain power and success in Utah this week could’ve supplied the entire city with power for a day. This discussion, not so much.

Here’s a more romantic view of things, which I also appreciated: http://economicspolitics.blogspot.com/2011/03/why-i-love-facebook-mark-zuckerberg.html

7-Eleven could be like any other convenience store — boring and predictable.  But they’re not. They are relevant, creative and fun. It all comes down to their PR. When I was researching companies for my book I was drawn to how 7-Eleven follows my PR philosophies. While mine are online, they translate well to both traditional and social media.

They create their own news, tie into current events and look for opportunities to “grease the wheels” when what they do captures national attention. I know 7-Eleven isn’t a sexy choice to love. I don’t see them as examples of social media success at all the conferences but I’m a big fan of their PR (along with Sharpie).

I wrote about how they predict election results by how many people bought their Slurpees in red cups compared to how many bought blue cups. They run their own campaign during every election and they can predict the outcomes with surprising certainty based on sales numbers.

At a press conference the day after the elections, President Obama made a funny crack about how he might hold a “Slurpee Summit” with the new Republican leadership. That set off a lot of free buzz and the company tried to make it a reality. Instead they gave free Slurpees at a DC location near the capitol and went on tour.

Note how much fun they had with this besides getting a story about it in USAToday (link above). I like this idea from the article:

“Strategy guru Mark Coopersmith says Slurpee should quickly go big in social media, nudging folks to have Slurpee Summits to solve problems.”

- USA Today: Obama’s ‘Slurpee Summit’ joke makes icy drink hot

My Thanksgiving had some ridiculous fighting about who was bringing what food and other trivial matters. I should’ve suggested we hold a Slurpee Summit and bought a round for everyone to try to lighten the mood (it all turned out well).

This is what I’d put in my book if I wrote it today – think of how you can start conversations and engage your community before, during and after a PR campaign.

Here’s how 7-Eleven did it. They ask a funny question:

Then they declared their own version of Black Friday: Purple Friday. They created a hashtag around it and got people into their store with a promise of free Slurpees. Some suggest it’s too cold and they should’ve offered free coffee in purple cups instead (you do lose a lot of sleep if you’re hitting all the sales).

You can create your own version of any holiday or current event too.

On Facebook they turned their profile picture purple:

7-Eleven (who is one of the few companies who might be better with a hypen in their Twitter name) got a TON of free coverage from both of these ideas. NPR, CBS News and lots of blogs picked up the story. Their stock even went up.

Let these campaigns from 7-Eleven inspire your creativity. What can you learn from these examples to promote your small business?

Related articles

• Slurpee Summit: 4 social media lessons (holykaw.alltop.com)
• GOOD RETURNS: 7-Eleven stock rises (politico.com)
• Black Friday Is Free Slurpee Day At 7-Eleven! (popcrunch.com)

What better way to see a movie about Facebook than with a few hundred of your Facebook friends?

This very fast social media campaign started with a question from my friend Sarah: want to go see The Social Network with me this weekend?  Then we decided to invite some of our other friends to join us.  This was the start of a successful PR and social media plan.

Here are the steps we took:

1. I Tweeted my idea.

We decided we should try to rent out a theater. Since theaters were posting their show times already so this had to happen fast. Megaplextheatres in Sandy, Utah saw my tweet and got me in touch with the right people, which is key because it’s tough to get through the showtime recordings.

I know people say Twitter doesn’t pay. The ROI of that tweet for that theater? About $2k.

2. Find a sponsor.

We needed a sponsor and pay for the theater. My first choice was OrangeSoda where I’m the social media specialist. They got exposure and good pr value with the local social media community. We got a theater.

3. Send out a press release.

We wrote and distributed a press release to local Utah media through Sarah’s web site Utah News Source. It focused on the story first – how we wanted to see this movie about Facebook with the social media community. Our friends. Then it talked about OrangeSoda the sponsor. Of course the company would like to see it be the other way around, but unfortunately it wasn’t a story about them or internet marketing. If you try to inject that story too much into the main one it will likely get edited out anyway. This caused some friction I later learned.

4. Social promote the event.

We tweeted about the movie and invited people to RSVP on Evite. We posted it as an event on Facebook. We emailed, blogged and otherwise got the word out. I DMed or @ messaged people on Twitter with local influence.

Note: Don’t use Evite again. No downloading of our list possible and one admin only.

4. Contact sponsors.

We got amazing support from sponsors like Megaplex and area businessses who donated gift cards, popcorn, gift certificates and more.  I donated some tshirts, books and CDs. OrangeSoda gave away a bike.

Spaghetti Mamas a restaurant right across the street from the theater hosted an after-show dinner. Note: They have a gluten-free portion of their menu and the chocolate brownie that is on that menu was the best part of the meal.

5. Put together a team and plan details.

The marketing team at OrangeSoda came through to help run the invite list and pre-show activities. We showed live tweets from the audience on the big screen with VisibleTweets and played a social media trivia game. Names for prizes were drawn from the tweets and by answering the questions. I missed this part entirely.

6. Assign someone to talk to the media.

We got great media coverage for this event. However, with some planning it could’ve been better. We could’ve had someone assigned to talk to the media and mapped out the key messages. However, you can’t control what the media asks, writes or shows.

Sarah owns Big Star Public Relations - so as the pro she spoke with the media beforehand and got me involved (a bit reluctantly) at the event itself. Fox 13 News in Salt Lake City covered the event on both live and taped TV.  Unfortunately the taped version which was best is not online. The recorded segment was on the 9 o’clock news and again the next morning.

We also got mentioned on KSL’s radio show and in a blog post by the Salt Lake Tribune’s film critic Sean Means the day before. The post had links to OrangeSoda’s web site and blog post about the showing.

I had a bad experience being on KSL (local TV show) and wanted to avoid being on TV again. Looking back I thought someone else would take over but no one did so I was on. I would’ve coached everyone to please say, “Local internet marketing company OrangeSoda” so that it wasn’t just “OrangeSoda” which to a new audience could be mistaken for a bottling company.

It’s also a good idea to have someone take pictures and someone to take video – that’s their only job. The pictures can then be put on Flickr and shared on the blog and other social sites. Video on YouTube. All this around a very hot topic (optimized with keywords). As far as I know this did not happen.

7. Have fun, evaluate results.

We had dozens of tweets (mentions) including from the president of the area Chamber of Commerce and Sean Means at the Tribune. OrangeSoda was mentioned several times in the media and got to reach new people in the local social media community. Not to mention the blog post, TV and radio visibility.

I compiled a report of the results which I believe were far greater than the spend. But I learned this is subjective based on what you wanted to get out of the event.

You cannot control what happens and you don’t even know to plan for some of it. Contrary to popular belief I’m not a PR person or even a media person. I’m an author, blogger and online marketer. I’m still learning what I write about when it comes to the PR part. Even though there is overlap, it’s not the same. I’m a student.

Most of all the campaign was fun, for me and for the people who came (though I didn’t get much sleep). And for the record, to me the most brilliant scenes of the movie was the story of Napster co-founder Sean Parker. With a glance at the screen he saw Facebook as a billion dollar idea. Then he inserted himself into the company as president and left with 7% of the company.

There’s the infamous words of Harvard president Larry Summers (head of the Dept. of Treasury under Clinton) who mocks the idea of Facebook making any money at all.

The worst is how the film made me hate Mark Zuckerberg and what a horrible friend he was who ultimately had no true friends. It was so detached and in his own head that he seemed like practically psychopathic.

Related articles

• Students looking forward to ‘The Social Network’ movie
• ‘The Social Network’ Tells Facebook’s Story in Theaters Today (jsyk.com)
• Laurel Papworth: Social Media Marketing Campaign course | Laurel Papworth | @SilkCharm (laurelpapworth.com)

More than 42 million women are involved in social media weekly, about half of them moms with children at home! Mommy bloggers reach many millions of these consumers, and they influence mothers’ buying decisions.

I call prefer to say mom bloggers or social media moms. Most people say mommy bloggers (which I don’t like as much because it sounds so patronizing for a grown adult to call someone else a mommy in any context. Would you like to be known as a daddy to your professional contacts or a dad?). Either way we’re referring to mostly stay at home moms who are actively blogging, tweeting and Facebooking. They have a lot of influence and if your product or service fits, you’ll want to pitch them.

Want to know what brands are working with mom bloggers? Just check out #GNO on Twitter or www.MomItForward.com or attend a conference like BlogHer or Evo. Can’t wait? you can attend a webinar next Thursday and hear from 5 mom bloggers who will share their PR tips from the trenches.

Leading “mommy bloggers” are going to talk about how to pitch them in a live 90-minute audio conference from Bulldog Reporter’s PR University.

“Pitching Mommy Bloggers: Top Women Online Influencers Reveal Best PR Pitches and Strategies to Drive 42 Million Consumers to Your Product or Service”

Day and Time: Thursday, October 14 (1PM EDT; Noon CDT; 11AM MDT; 10AM PDT) (Go to http://bit.ly/MomBlogs for more info)

Stephanie Azzarone, President, Child’s Play Communications; Blogger,
“MomMarketTrends.com”

Renee Ross, Publisher, “Cutie Booty Cakes”

Liz Gumbinner, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, “Cool Mom Picks”

Christine Young , Blogger, “FromDatestoDiapers;” Ambassador,

BackyardDiscovery; Contributer, WalMartMoms

Here’s what it will cover:

** What Motivates Mommy Bloggers: Key insights into the mindset fueling the momosphere—and how to use that knowledge to protect and promote your brand or product

** How each of our mommy bloggers approach what they do so you can make sure your ideas match their pitch preferences.

** Best ways to find, monitor and analyze online influencers in your particular market . . . and what to do with them once they’re on your radar.

** How mommy bloggers are using the recently updated Twitter, and PR can (and can’t) join the conversation

** New rules for crafting irresistible mommy blog pitches—the story elements and exclusive pegs that resonate with these bloggers and how to use them to generate wide coverage

** Hot Topics: Family, safety, children, economic pressures in recessions and recoveries—the concepts, trends, products, services and influencers that appeal most to the “mom market”—and how to incorporate them into your pitches and programs

This event will give you

• “rules” to follow when pitching mommy bloggers

• case studies of major brands that have been successful in social media

• PR faux pas to avoid with these bloggers

• how to communicate (without getting into trouble) in the “momosphere”

• how to build a PR campaign around mommy blogs.

Gather as many people in front of a speakerphone and a computer screen as you want for $199. No travel expenses. Use as a cost-effective, time-efficient means of training staff, while reinforcing key issues in a fresh, new manner that they will remember and act on.

I’ve been working on a national campaign that involves working with mom bloggers. It’s been very educational because I’m more used to being the blogger or participant than the one pitching. I’ve done live events with local bloggers but I’m doing more national campaigns recently.

I’m very interested in how mom bloggers have successfully worked with brands in product development and social media campaigns.

Do you want to learn more about how to tap into the social mom network?

I hope to ask a question to the panel about what charging for posts. Either way, I’ll be live tweeting from the call on Twitter – @Newspapergrl – please join me!

Related articles

• What Mom(my) Bloggers Want (ghdialogue.posterous.com)
• Mommy Bloggers: Tips for Marketing to the Mom Crowd (dontdrinkthekoolaidblog.com)
• Two levels of getting it right with blogger relations (getgood.com)
• Write a Review that’s as Sparkly, Interesting, and Delightful as You Are (blogher.com)

If you know the right people you don’t need to send a press release. You just pick up the phone.

Forbes Magazine just did a story on my friend Scott Lazerson. Scott is friends with a lot of celebrities – and when I say “friends with” I mean they take his calls. And yet he still makes me feel like I’m one of his close friends. He just happens to have a lot of them!

Scott finds celebrities to sponsor humanitarian projects. Now he’s a one man PR firm – or as Forbes says – a professional friend.  This is new. He just started in August. He already got his new client Liberty Taxes on Fox News.

Media Tour.

Scott and his client flew to New York and met with a lot of producers. They got some killer PR in the process (and it looked like fun). I’m sure Liberty Tax was dying for that kind of access. You can’t buy it. I’d love to know the ROI on that trip!

I got Scott on Twitter just so I could keep up on his adventures and philanthropic work. He already talked in tweets so I thought it would be perfect medium for him.

Scott seems rich because of the company he keeps. He’s always at Sundance and the Emmy’s and all that. So it’s tough to believe until you see the car he drives (older model) and learn he makes $70k a year and he and his wife Heidi have 5 kids. I didn’t know that until I read the article.

Scott’s Facebook profile has pictures that look like People Magazine.

I particularly like this quote from one of the comments:

Scott is like a living, breathing Facebook or Linkedin.

Congratulations Scott – and I’m glad we’re friends! Oh, and Sundance is coming up in January…

MarketingSherpa just put out a helpful article on a topic I love: how to influence influencers. I like to watch how people get my attention (almost never with just 1 try). I resist at first but if they persist I may eventually find myself giving in. Alternatively I want to find and woo influencers I want to work with.

Why do you want to reach influencers? They have far more reach than you do. It’s a difference between you tweeting something and getting a few clicks and having someone with influence send it and getting thousands of clicks.

Who are influencers? It depends who your audience is.

Influencers don’t always have mass followings on Twitter or lots of Facebook friends. They are not necessarily celebrities either. They are more often experts.

A study in the UK found that “most “influential” users on Twitter were actually people with much lower profiles but who were experts in their own fields rather than celebrities with the most followers,” (see Popular Twitter celebrities ‘hold no influence’ online.)

“Influencers in consumer markets are often journalists, publications, website operators and celebrities. Influencers in B2B markets are often individuals rather than organizations. They may be experts in a large company, or they may be consultants who work for several companies.”

RULE: DO NOT use sales techniques on influencers.

“Most influencers have a common trait: they hate being sold to.”

Actually most people hate being sold to but people who are frequent targets hate it the most. They can see through it immediately. They will not like you for trying.

Don’t market to influencers or be pushy.  Give them [relevant] information.

I like this approach a lot – to give influencers enough information so they can form an opinion (which requires they know a bit about you in depth). “We try to reach influencers so they at least have an opinion. We can’t necessarily make that opinion positive, but we want them to have an opinion and we want it to be as informed as possible,” Hayes says.

IDEA: Help Influencers connect with other influencers.

Successful bloggers like to meet other successful bloggers and people. We like to meet people we consider powerful or important because it means we’re part of the same group. Yes it makes us feel important. It also helps us feel part of a successful group of peers. We like to compare notes.

The article suggests giving influencers access to the most powerful people in your company. Don’t have them meet with someone on the marketing team.

Be selective — don’t send your pitches to everyone.

If everyone is special, no one is. You can’t interact and keep relationships going with too many people at once. Start with 10 or even less. That way you can get to know each person. You can find something to appeal to their ego, their interests or their needs. Always think what they may want and how you could help first, then what you hope to get out of the exchange.

Be careful how you word emails – sometimes I can’t tell if a pitch is a mass email or a personal pitch. I’d even suggest following up with a phone call. For me everyone new that I meet online stays virtual to an extent until we talk or converse enough that I remember them.

Example: I was flattered when Love Harnell of Love Jingles reached out to me — but not until I learned that they carefully chose just a short list of bloggers to reach out to. I thought they probably sent their pitch to hundreds of bloggers. If they’d called me or sent another more personal email I would’ve written about the company based on their pitch. Instead I wrote about them later. It was a rare and great example of a social media campaign that had immediate ROI.

I would say something like, “We made of list of 10 of our favorite bloggers and you were one of them. We’ve been a fan of your blog for years.” Just don’t say it if you don’t mean it. This happened to me last week. When I realized the person just fed me a line it felt cheap and again, I like him less.

I like this reason why you should flatter influencers – it makes them feel good: “Some influencers do not realize they are influential and will be delighted by the news. Others are very aware of their power and appreciate the confirmation.”

Even though I don’t like how flippant and crass this is – Shoemoney has very blunt but informative post about getting press. Getting press is a lot like engaging influencers. I’m not a fan of his attitude though. He comes off more like a pickup artist who wants something from you. Then he embarrasses you by telling everyone.

Any tips you want to share?

Related articles

• Finding and Working with Influencers Online (newspapergrl.com)
• Website ranks most influential tweeters (reuters.com)
• How Ogilvy and Adobe manage Influence and Blogger Outreach with eCairn. (ecairn.com)

I love to read newspapers and blogs on Sunday. It’s my catch up day. Other people visit friends and family, I read a lot. Here’s something I learned that might help you.

Tip: Use your social media profiles to welcome people.

What do I mean? Here are some examples:

Let’s say your blog is featured in the newspapers - welcome your new readers. I read about a web site for weight loss today and went to the site. I looked for an intro and guidance and found none. The blogger could’ve written a post welcoming new readers and I would’ve felt more at home instead of like a newcomer – a little disoriented and lost.

Here’s someone who got it right. GeekDad blog was featured on Time.com and writes:

Hello and welcome to any and all new readers of GeekDad! We’re glad you decided to check us out, and hope you find something here that interests you enough to return…Enjoy, and thanks again for stopping by!

The entire post tells readers what to they’ll find on the blog, links to archives and introduces readers to the team. It’s very welcoming.

Another example is if you’re a hotel on Twitter and you know there’s a big convention in town. Or a wedding party. Or, people told you they are coming via your Facebook Page. You should welcome them. It makes people feel special, appreciated.

Or maybe you’re a spa, or visitor’s convention or state that has a group of special guests coming. High rollers know that when they show up the venue expects them. It’s easy to recreate that feeling by welcoming the group on social networking sites the guests are on.

A Missed Opportunity
I let a local restaurant know that my husband’s company was coming to dinner that night. And the CEO was in town. On their Facebook Page. They could say welcome, please let us know if there’s any special requests we can accommodate for you in a message back. Or, they could greet us and ask if we were the people who wrote on their wall and welcome us and thank me for being a fan. They didn’t. The place wasn’t very crowded and we were obviously there straight from work.

Trump Las Vegas Tweets a Welcome
Trump Las Vegas welcomed people in town for conventions. This would be especially effective if the convention were held at the Trump. They could also give tips because while we’re there we’re going to want to know things like where to eat, the best shows, how to get a cab, etc.

Here’s the tweet:

This hotel gets it too

If you’re active on social media sites – consider yourself the welcome wagon. Let guests know you’re glad they’re there. It’s a great way to do some online PR and build some loyalty by treating your guests like stars. It doesn’t cost anything to do — just some extra thought.

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• 25 Essential Social Media Resources You May Have Missed (mashable.com)

As with any new and hip social media trend there can be some side effects such as addiction and annoying your friends. There are times when Foursquare check-ins may be just a bit obnoxious. A funeral comes to mind. Or a wedding.*

Some brides aren’t happy with someone live tweeting or checking in to their weddings. (Not this bride – her finance proposed to her via a tip on Foursquare and she said yes)

Although right now I’m not sure that’s a huge issue when it comes to Foursquare I can see how live tweeting a wedding could get annoying. (Note: According to Forrester: 84% of respondents aren’t familiar with location-based apps like Foursquare & Gowalla).

You may be so tempted to give your “friends” a constant update. But before you tweet,  “Bride walking down the aisle now,” remember the bride might not appreciate it. As this article says take the bride’s lead and, “Let the bride check-in to her own wedding if she wants.”

Why shouldn’t you live report private events to friends that aren’t at the wedding and probably don’t care anyway?

“In an over-sharing online world, guests are posting Facebook status updates while they’re at the wedding and even trying to RSVP on Twitter, leaving brides feeling frustrated and over-exposed.”

Or, you might just embrace the whole thing and have a lot of different perspectives on your wedding – a live history. It’s all up to you and your embracing or your obliviousness to this new wave of storytelling. Or reporting. Or sharing. Oh, and if you don’t have any wedding bells there’s help for that predicament too – you can check people out when you check-in. I think Nigel should check it out.

The press release I got this from — issued by the Wedding Channel — also has some other advice. Don’t forget a gift. And what should the modern couple do no matter how open they are to live reporting? Register online, of course!

Source: PR Newswire press release (a creative use of a press release from WeddingChannel.com):
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dont-tweet-about-my-wedding-weddingchannelcom-gives-the-download-on-wedding-guest-etiquette-in-a-digital-world-95407034.html

*unless it’s Gwen Bell’s wedding” and then there would probably be a wedding badge.

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• Don’t Tweet About My Wedding!…Not Yet Anyway (alwaysablogsmaid.com)

What if your car could tweet and check in? It could be the ultimate mobile device or smart car and gives new meaning to the word auto.

I love a good summer road trip and Ford is testing some killer ideas with their “American Journey 2.0″ research project. They’ve teamed up with Intel, Microsoft and students from the University of Michigan to give their custom apps a spin. The apps connect the car to social media.

The road trip started in Michigan and ended at Maker Faire in San Mateo, California on May 22th.

Ford developed an app called “Auto”matic Blog which tweets from the car called @AJFiesta on Twitter. Another app auto check-ins at stops. It also looks for nearby sites to see like gas stations, restaurants and points of interest. They tweet pictures too (which are actually sort of funny in their nerdiness).

If Mark Cuban has anything to say about it – auto check ins from Foursquare are going to be the norm using face recognition software. You’ll have to curate your privacy settings but you won’t have to worry about manual Foursquaring.

A car that doesn’t tweet or checking in with Foursquare? That is so 2010!

Source: PRNewswire press release