Evernote

Bob says, “You never know when inspiration will hit, so Evernote has become my way of instantly capturing and organizing info – be it ideas, photos, web clippings, or fodder for blog posts. I jump from device to device throughout the day, so whether I wake up in the middle of the night or sit in a conference, I jot down my idea or record a voice memo- Evernote syncs the data so I can easily access it later.”

Chipotle 

Margot says, “The Chipotle app. Seriously, it combines two of my favorite things: iPhone apps and burritos. Plus, users of the app get to skip the lines!”

Kickmap Lite

Sloan says, “Wake up in a strange part of the city or need to hightail it somewhere? The subway map tells you where the nearest subway stop is, which ones are express or local, and where your train stop – or doesnt.”

Google Maps

Warren, who heads our West Coast office, says “I have a near obsession with the traffic layer on Google Maps. Sorry world, but sitting in traffic is for suckers!”

 NetNewsWire

Sloan says, “This awesome interface pulls in RSS feeds from Google reader – something that gets me through my commute when I don’t have a book.”

Fun-Putt Mini Golf

Warren says, “Fun-Putt Mini Golf helps pass time on an underground commute when there’s no service.”

ChartBeat

Rob says, “Real time traffic alerts for our sites at my fingertips, so I know immediately if we’re getting a spike in traffic or if our sites are down.”

Radian6

Patrick says, “I can access data and analytics on-the-go, as well as update content and respond to customers right from the app. I’m anxiously awaiting the Android version.”

Twitter

Andrew says, “On days when I actually have a few moments to take a walk, or days when the local deli’s selections seem uninspiring to my grumbling stomach, I take to Twitter to check out my local food trucks list to see which roaming restaurant-on-wheels is in my neighborhood. While there are many apps that are devoted to finding food trucks near you, they tend to cull their info from Twitter, so why not just go right to the source?”

TripIt

Bob says, “The worst part of traveling carrying around a folder full of printouts for flight info, rental car and hotel reservations, and maps. TripIt simply forwards all of my confirmation emails and automatically organizes everything into an easy-to-use, mobile-based itinerary that I can share with colleagues, friends, and family.”

Yelp Mobile

Erica says, “Love my Yelp app. Not only is it good for finding new places to go, it’s a good way to look up places nearby to keep the party going while you’re out and about.”

Words with Friends

Andrew says, “Words with Friends is my second favorite thing about my lunch break.  It keeps the brain engaged while distracting from the day at hand, and if your opponent is especially verbally dexterous, it can even inspire you by reminding you of a word you haven’t used recently. (Dexterous – 20 points minimum!)”

The marathon is this Sunday, November 6th. It has been a long and often painful road getting here and my anxiety at the thought of running 26.2 miles is currently mounting, but I wanted to take time out to give you some tips on how to support or track your favorite runner on race day!

The Official Mobile Spectator App
Available in the iPhone and Android marketplace for $2.99, the official mobile spectator app – powered by MapMyRun and MyCityWay - allows you to track up to 10 runners simultaneously on race day and shows you nearby points of interest along the race course including restaurants, landmarks, and more. You can also watch live streaming of the men’s and women’s pro races, as well as NBC4 New York’s live coverage.

RunKeeper Live
If you want to keep closer tabs on your runner, RunKeeper Elite broadcasts activity in real-time GPS through their application for iPhone and Android. The program also delivers stats like elevation and speed, so you can make sure your runner is on pace and know when they might need a little extra support to get over those challenging hills.

ASICS Support Your Marathoner
Sponsored by ASICS, Support Your Marathoner encourages marathon supporters to record videos, upload images, and share messages with their runners that are displayed on giant screens during the race (triggered by RFID tags the runners receive prior to their race and affix to their shoe).

Spotify Streaming
If your runner is planning to listen to music during the race (which is discouraged by NYRR, but I am probably going to do this), encourage them to use Spotify and connect it with Facebook. You’ll be able to listen to the same song at the same time as your runner so you can share that special moment as they cross the finish line while you’re both listening to “Chariots of Fire”.

The Old Fashioned Cheering Squad
If you’re close enough to be there in person, make sure you review the marathon course and coordinate with your runner exactly where you’ll be. Go in groups so your cheers can be heard loud and clear. Check the marathon spectator guide before you go and take a look at the ‘secret spots’ to have the best chance of connecting with your runner.

Make A Donation
Crowdrise is helping support thousands of runners in their efforts to raise funds for non-profits. Every donation to a runner’s cause contributes to the overall goal of raising $1 million per mile. Make a donation to your runner’s cause and show your support through charitable contribution.  I’m using the Crowdrise platform along with my teammates to raise money for Camp Interactive.

Over 40,000 people will attempt the NYC marathon this year, make sure your runner feels like one in a million!

About Camp Interactive
CI is a Bronx-based nonprofit that inspires inner-city kids to step back into nature and forward into technology. They execute their goals using a two pronged program. First, CI takes students on outward-bound style adventure trips to open their minds and enhance leadership abilities. The students are outfitted with cameras, journals, and video equipment, and they are encouraged to record their experience. Upon returning to NYC, the students create a video, edit their photos, write stories, and build a website using their experience to fuel the content. This process gives students real-world applicable technology skills and the courage and leadership to use them.

Reddit 

Andrew says, “I like it when sites use humorous videos in their error pages.”

Foursquare 

Patrick says, ”I’d be sad too if I were the Mayor of broken links.”

Design Bomb 

Katie says, “My favorite fail mascot is from Design Bomb because of its design and fun wording – ‘Holy Funk Ship You Just Got 404′d On Son!”

The New Yorker 

Andrew says, “The New Yorker. Because I am classy like that.”

Hootsuite 

Erica says, “This fail page makes me laugh even though I am angry when Hootesuite fails, I mean how can you be mad at the cute owl on the milk carton?”

Affinitive
 

Bob says, “Because it’s ours (and I created it). ”

Tumblr  

Christina says, “Back when Tumblr used to have a sense of humor, they adopted a mascot that the Oatmeal created for them. Since then they’ve reverted back to their default message, even though their servers still crash like the world is ending.”

Bit.Ly 

Patrick says, “This is beyond a fail, the fish is dying and the bird is waiting patiently. Grim.”

Coco Twitter Fail Whale  

Erica says, “It’s a bearded Conan riding the Twitter whale–do I have to say why this is genius? LOL, 404 error pages should make you laugh BEFORE you scream at the inanimate object known as your computer, this does that well.”

Lockerz

Adam says, “This one is just great!”

Git Hub  

Rob says, “Star Wars reference and an octocat mascot?  What’s not to like?”

Twitter Fail Whale 

Christina says, “I was inspired to write a haiku, titled “fail.” It goes like this:

The cutesy whimsy

Does nothing but stoke my ire

Why won’t you just work?!” 

I’ve never been much of a runner. The longest race I’ve completed was 3.2 miles when I participated in the Mets 5k race to home plate in 2005, back when Shea stadium was still called Shea and I had just moved to the ‘big city’ from Iowa.  So, you know there must be a really good reason if I’m volunteering to run 26.2 miles on November 6th.

I’m supporting my favorite NYC nonprofit, CampInteractive (CI).  Camp Interactive is a Bronx-based nonprofit that inspires inner-city kids to step back into nature and forward into technology. Learn more about Camp Interactive here.

I’m pushing myself to my limits to help provide the opportunity for inner-city youth to reach theirs. I have joined TeamInteractive – a dedicated group of 20 runners – to raise money in support of CI’s mission.  You may have heard of Team Interactive last year when foursquare founders Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai, along with team captain Usain Bolt (yes, that Usain Bolt, on the team again this year,) also ran the marathon to support Camp Interactive.

I believe in CI’s mission and I am committed to raising $5,000 to help keep these programs running. I would truly appreciate your help in reaching this goal! Every little bit counts, and on a personal level every dollar donated stokes the fire that keeps me motivated and thinking, “it’s only a 5k plus 7 more 5ks.”

What’s in it for you?  Well, in addition to being a good person and super awesome in my book, I’ll publicly thank you on my crowdrise page, this blog, on twitter and on facebook.  You’ll get so much social media love your Klout score won’t know what hit it.  If you donate $150 or more, I’ll send you one of these.

Thank you for your support and generosity, and be sure to cheer on all the Team Interactive runners on November 6th!

Donate securely through my Crowdrise page:
http://www.crowdrise.com/cimarathon2011/fundraiser/PatrickCourtney

Follow my progress here

And please spread the word! Like, tweet, share and forward this post!

Thank You!

Margot Wood – @margotwood

Pete Engle

Bob Troia – @bobtroia

Warren Ackerman – @warrenackerman

Laura Teusink

Andrew Farrell

Brad Hofbauer – @bhofbauer

Twitter Coordinates Cleanups with #riotcleanup

Like the riots seen in Egypt and Iran earlier this year, Twitter and social media has been seen as playing a major role in the London riots this week. Although some have blasted Twitter and Facebook for somehow causing the destruction, there’s been a positive use of the medium as well. The morning after of rioting, microbloggers and users tapped into Twitter and riotcleanup.org to coordinate mass cleanups. The result was a mass outpouring of support and community unity in an effort to reclaim neighborhoods.

Avoid the Noid with Nostalgia and a Facebook Campaign

Domino’s mascot Noid was briefly called back from retirement to man a Facebook campaign (we didn’t realize how much we missed those commercials until we found some on Youtube). The hot pizza hater has been the star of an 8-bit Facebook game that rewards high score users with a $10 Domino’s gift certificate (though our attempts were constantly rebuffed with an “out of order” sign). You can still catch him if you can – he’ll be around until August 15^th.

QR Codes Get Cheeky

Brand shilling and sponsorships with sports teams is hardly news – we’ve long become used to seeing the shilling commercials and the logos on stadium walls. But for a bare minimum sport like women’s beach volleyball, what’s an athlete to do? British beach volleyball players Shauna Mullin and Zara Dampney will be sporting QR codes on their bikini bottoms during Visa FIVB Beach Volleyball International. A different approach, but we’re wondering just how close one would have to get to capture a clear shot.

Random Buzzers Up For the Vote at Forrester Groundswell Awards!

We’re proud of our work with Random House on their young adult community Random Buzzers, so we’re pleased to announce that we’ve submitted Random Buzzers to win a Forrester Groundswell Award in the  Energizing Category! Give our entry a read and vote for us!

Fury and Confusion at Facebook get Dialed Up a Notch

Earlier today, Facebook users spawned a mass upheaval with alarming statuses alerting others that Facebook had synced phone numbers and contacts to publish for the public. Needless to say, this left a spew of vitriol accusing Facebook of another invasion of privacy. However, it appears that these warnings are unfounded and bogus. According to this announcement on All Facebook, the contacts one would see are pulled from Facebook’s Phonebook, which has already existed for quite some time.

Facebook has responded to the uproar with this public statement:

 “Rumors claiming that your phone contacts are visible to everyone on Facebook are false. Our Contacts list, formerly called Phonebook, has existed for a long time. The phone numbers listed there were either added by your friends themselves and made visible to you, or you have previously synced your phone contacts with Facebook. Just like on your phone, only you can see these numbers.”

If this still bothers you, you can delete your number from Facebook’s Phonebook or unsync your phone from your Facebook contacts.

LinkedIn Sincerely Imitates Facebook’s Most Unflattering Features

Unfortunately, this is not a hoax: LinkedIn has updated your account with all sorts of new default settings, including opting you in to use your image in their advertising. One small blog post shedding light on the situation was all it took for a social media storm to erupt, causing the company to address and re-consider their position. Kudos to the company for responding quickly – we wouldn’t expect anything less from a social media company. That said, blog posts and banner ads announcing changes to privacy policies are (clearly) not enough to get the word out, so perhaps it’s time for these platforms to stop offending users with the automatic opt-in. Why not use those banner ads and blog posts to announce the new opportunities they’d like the masses to check-out?

Facebook and Google Pelt Each Other with Angry Birds

While the “friendly” rivalry for web dominance between Facebook and Google has been anything but secretive, both companies have made some public moves. Google Plus put the heat on Facebook by tapping into one of its lucrative revenues – its games. Google recently added a “games” tab, rolling out 12 new games, including Zynga Poker, Bejeweled Blitz and the very popular Angry Birds. In addition to allying with Zynga (a major Facebook game developer), Plus offered to take a 5 percent cut of virtual goods transactions, while Facebook takes 30 percent. Facebook immediately revealed its own update after Google’s unveiling: a separate stream of gaming activity which includes a ticker, scores, and updates; the option to add FB games to ones’ homepage bookmark section; and the ability to expand games full screen. We’re pleased at the option of playing Angry Birds on Plus, but we really want to hear about the supposed sequel – Angry Pigs.

4Sq Wants You to Join (and Write)

In an effort to create more content, Foursquare has rolled out the option of creating your very own follow page to leave tips. While current users cannot convert their accounts into follow pages, new users – who don’t have to be brands – can do so. Ordinary joes must meet the minimum requirements which includes posting at least five tips and uploading a picture to their account; helping to compete against other location-content providers like Yelp. We hope someone takes the time to create a page dedicated to tips on free (and clean) restrooms across the city.

Did we miss a bit of buzz? Let us know and join in on the conversation here!

To get you up to speed, “Get On The Bus” was a contest encouraging US-based travelers to Like Contiki on Facebook and create virtual buses heading to one of eight Contiki vacation destinations, fill the buses with four of their friends and campaign to get the most votes of any other bus. You can learn more about this contest at the Facebook Studio.

The campaign generated over 10 million impressions through press coverage and sharing, and millions more impressions through offline WOM and advertising that supported the contest. Contiki additionally benefited from nearly 10,000 new US-based Facebook fans and thousands of newsletter signups.

Get On The Bus was deemed a success, but even the best campaigns have challenges and lessons learned. Here are some of ours:

Don’t

Overcomplicate. Buses could be made private (invite-only) or public. Not all users understood how the Facebook invite friends feature worked, if their invites were sent, where they could be found and how to accept an invite. It goes to show that sometimes features can easily overcomplicate, even if those features are native to Facebook.

Draw It Out. The contest ran for 6 weeks, and while the application shot up to tens of thousands of active users in that time, in hindsight the same contest might have been executed with the same results with a shorter duration. The best contest is one that keeps participants on their toes and engaged in the event, so it’s important not to draw it out and lose interest from fans.

Make Rules You Can’t Enforce. It was decided prior to the launch of the contest that vote-swapping and vote-buying would not be permitted. This was more difficult to monitor or define than originally planned. Once it was discovered that participants who were caught vote-swapping/buying were being disqualified, contestants began setting each other up to look like they were breaking the rules. The intention behind the rule was good, but the varying definitions and scale of incentives and swapping was too much of a gray area to enforce accurately.

Do

Personalize The Experience. Bus creators could name their own bus and give it a story.  Bus pages pulled in passengers’ common likes and interests from Open Graph to display the music, movies, etc. the passengers on the bus liked most as well as their average age, gender breakdown, and whether they were “Party” or “Culture” travelers.

Pages also included Facebook comments and activity streams updating the latest happenings on the bus. Participants had a ball with the personalization built into the contest experience and it showed with impressive time spent metrics.

Promote Sharing. Millions of impressions were generated through pass along on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms. The contest made sharing and spreading the word a core component of the campaign, and it paid off in reach and awareness numbers. The critical piece is to make sharing a natural extension of the contest, and not just a mechanism to spam friends.

Create A Sense Of Urgency. The contest leader board showed, in real-time, which buses had the most votes. Participants were glued to the leader board checking in on how their bus was doing as voting wound down, which was in turn a huge motivator to get more votes. Additionally, email notifications were sent as the contest neared its conclusion, which drove many people back to the contest to turn their campaigning into high gear.

We had a blast working on this project with Contiki, and are happy to see them getting the recognition they deserve for hosting an innovative contest like this one.  We hope these learnings can help your team execute some great Facebook contests down the road.  There are many more Dos and Don’ts, so please share yours in the comments!

We’ve put together some bits and pieces that had us buzzing over at the water cooler.  As the week comes to a close, we’re logging out with these in mind.

Facebook Announces a Preggo Status, and Reaction Wise, “It’s Complicated”

STFU Parents just got a whole lot of ammo. Facebook has ushered in an update where expecting parents can edit their “friends and family” tab to announce a pregnancy to their entire newsfeed. While individual reactions in our office have run the gamut from horrified to amused, two things are for certain: this feature will be heavily utilized, and people are going to use this addition by listing non-fetus Facebook friends as their progeny-to-be.    What’s next, fetal tweeting?

Google + to Add Businesses

Since the initial surge on Google +, we’ve been thinking about how brands would mix. Although Google has announced that Plus for Businesses will be unveiled in a few months, they’ve kept mum on anything else. After a deleting spree of pages by brands that had jumped the gun, there’s been a bit of tension lingering since Ford  and Ford Europe were allowed to keep their accounts as beta models.  We particularly liked this blogger’s take on how Plus could be best utilized for brands. At the moment, Plus is accepting applications for brands and businesses, but their link is down. Keep hitting “refresh.”

Klout Factors in 4Sq, Gives Us Social Anxiety

We work hard to stay relevant and influential on our respective social media sites, but Klout just threw in a bit of a wrench to our carefully calculated Tweets. Klout has decided to factor Foursquare into their mysterious influence algorithm. We’re assuming that our Foursquare Klout will be according to our check-ins and mayorships, so even though we’ve previously set a truce over the office mayorship, who are we to argue with the gods of Klout? Let the great Affinitive Staff Mayorship Race begin!

Yeezy and Gaga Invest in Turntable

Despite some shaky legal issues, Turntable has smoothed things out by signing a deal with ASCAP to legally license music and landing Kanye West and Lady Gaga as investors. While there’s no word on how much each artist put down, the duo were part of a venture round that raised $7.5 million for the site. With these two huge names (and egos) backing Turntable, the fears of hesitant artists and labels might be slightly assuaged.  Perhaps we’ll soon be hanging out in Lady Gaga’s Little Monsters Room on turntable, DJing next to the popstar in our little robo-bear suit.

AirBnB Issues an Apology

In a day and age where customer service interactions are becoming more transparent, AirBnB made a serious misstep when they inadequately responded to a user whose home was ransacked after using their services. After much media attention and scrutiny, the company issued a public apology, launched a Trust & Safety Center dedicated to protecting their users against fraud and robbery, and issued a $50,000 retroactive insurance guarantee. In addition to these new measures, the company has also announced that its customer service will now be 24/7.  A costly make good for AirBnB, a wonderful case study for brands to learn how important a Crisis Management Plan really is.

Did we leave out some buzz? Let us know and join in on the conversation!

We’ve rounded up all the recent news that had the inter-office IMs dinging. As this week comes to a close, we’re logging out with these in mind:

Spotify Has Landed in America!

Spotify has been on everyone’s lips this past week, and it’s no surprise why. Designed with the joy of sharing playlists in mind, Spotify’s popular, accessible and seemingly limitless model has finally arrived Stateside. Invites to this music service have been highly coveted; the rollout targeted influencers by offering invites first via Klout, then via influential singers and bands, and then finally to those who signed up for a Spotify notification when the service was first unveiled across the pond years ago. For those whose Klout scores weren’t high enough or who couldn’t finagle an invite from Lady Gaga, don’t fret! There’s an option to jump queue by signing up for Spotify Premium or Unlimited.

Domino’s Bares All in Times Square

Move over, Naked Cowboy: Domino’s Pizza will also be baring all in Times Square. They’ve installed a ticker on a  billboard that will livestream “unfiltered” Tweets (Tweets with inappropriate language will be excluded) culled from the Domino’s order tracker. The Twitter campaign will run till August 23 and coincides with a new TV campaign. This is either brilliant or mad, but we’ll be reading along to see the outcome.

Top Chef’s Quickfire Challenge on Twitter

Padma and Tom from Top Chef decided to take to Twitter to crowdsource inspiration and ideas from savvy foodies. Fans were invited to participate in a Quickfire challenge – all they had to do was tweet at @bravotopchef with their genius ideas. To ensure that their suggestions were seen, fans were asked to use the #TCQuickFire hashtag. While our coworker’s bacon desserts suggestion went unheeded, a friend of the office’s rather tongue-in-cheek suggestion of a hash dish for a hashtag challenge was picked!

Next Web Inspires with 10 Facebook Campaigns

Affinitive’s Get on the Bus Contiki campaign is listed on the Next Web’s “10 Facebook Campaigns to Inspire Your Business”! Needless to say, we’re pretty pleased! We had a lot of fun working with Contiki on this, and the fans definitely seemed to have fun participating. be sure to check out all the inspiring campaigns.

Have a favorite bit of buzz we didn’t highlight? Share it with us and join in on the playground conversation.

As Facebook puts it:

What separates a PDC from most other development firms is the ability to understand social mechanics and technical possibilities on Platform.

Affinitive was chosen in recognition of our innovative Facebook Platform solutions ranging from Facebook applications and platform integrations, to brand social management, to social sweepstakes and loyalty/CRM integration.

We look forward to continuing to deliver innovative social experiences for our clients and their customers on Facebook Platform!

Here’s a summary of our discussion:

Random House | The Building Blocks of a Successful WOM Platform

Through its “Random Buzzers” online community platform, Random House is facilitating conversations between the publisher, authors, and Millennial readers. In this session, you’ll not only learn the mechanics behind this program (2010 Gold WOMMY Award Winner), but also find answers to questions like; How do I best utilize a ‘Give to Get’ philosophy to drive WOM? How can I sell that concept internally? How can brands act cross-functionally to maximize consumer experience and program ROI? How do I employ segmentation strategies to optimize engagement? What are optimal content development and frequency strategies? How important are engagement incentives? How can I report on and measure online and offline WOM?

Visit the School of WOM site for more information as well as registration details. Hope you can make it!