Social curation
Today’s GigaOM has an interesting article on “curation” sites. We’ve all seen Facebook evolve from a place where we share our status updates and our vacation photos to a place where we curate the wider library of images, links, and content that we “like”. And the past few years have brought an explosion of new tools for curating content on the internet, led of course by Pinterest. The GigaOM article highlights the degree to which sites like Pinterest represent the latest evolution in a fundamental human interest.
Check out the link here.
LocalResponse – Targeted Real Time Offers
Poking around on the internet this morning, I found a company called LocalResponse. LocalResponse is apparently the first platform to use tweets and check-ins to push sponsored tweets and offers back to consumers in real time. (e.g., you tweet that you’re in a store and they push an offer back to you). Coupled with the targeting data they’re inevitably compiling, this could prove to be a fantastic way to upsell.
Check it out here.
[Check out the great new Marley documentary here.]
Google+ Local
Google today announced that they’re adding Zagat reviews to Google+. Users will be able to see information about nearby restaurants whether or not they’re logged in, but users who are logged in to Google+ will also be able to see reviews and information from people in their circles.
Google+ is taking baby steps towards monetizing an untapped market – local commerce. I’ll bet you a dollar we’re going to see an enormous amount of local commerce integration into social media networks in the next year or two, and that this integration (properly understood and executed) will help level the playing field between small businesses and national retailers.
Check it out, via Mashable: Google+ Unlocks the Power of Zagat With ‘Local’ Tab.
Market-Based Solutions to Childhood Malnutrition
Today’s GOOD blog has a great article on Nutriset’s “Plumpyfield” franchising system for Plumpy’nut, a fortified peanut-butter like product designed to treat acute malnutrition and save the lives of starving children at low cost. Under the program, they’ve franchised production of their core product to local producers in markets like Haiti, Sudan, and Uganda, empowering local producers to build their own market-based distribution networks and businesses while helping save lives.
The article also talks about Living Goods, which uses an Avon-style army of door to door saleswomen to sell cooking products fortified with nutrients that are often missing in poor families with access to only or two staple foods. In both cases, local entrepreneurs are being tapped to created a broader market for important products.
Check it out: Should Fighting Hunger Be a Franchise Business?.
